Who were the most geopolitically significant individuals in world history? Columbus is the first obvious example, given the holiday. He served as the catalyst for the Western migration to the Americas. Who else ranks up there? The first three names that come to mind are Jesus, Mohammed, and Karl Marx, the founders of Western civilization, Islamic civilization, and world Communism, respectively. Communism is relatively new compared too many past civilizations, but the scale of its global impact far exceeds that of the greatest individual empires. Any other nominations?
History
Quote of the Day
What Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, and the other Islamist enemies of Israel have forgotten is that God chose the Jews to be a light unto the nations. Dispersed throughout the world, their light seems small and weak when times are good, but shines most brightly in the deepest darkness. The attacks of October 7 have stirred in the Jews — Hasidic and atheistic; Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, and Sephardic; Indian, Chinese, Australian, and American — what Lincoln called “the mystic chords of memory”. Today, in an existential crisis that may turn out to be the denouement of the central drama of Western civilisation, these unwilling protagonists — the whole people of Israel — are determined to defend themselves and the light they carry.
He’s got a point.
Don’t Fear the Beeper
I have to admit that I am snickering still over the Mossad’s targeted beeper offensive against Hezbollah … who ought now to go by the nic of “Hezball-less” – snickering in those intervals between genuflecting in respectful admiration to a national intelligence organization who can actually undertake an operation of such … intelligence. And sneaky, original creativity. And command of technological aspects. And a complicated operation conducted by a sub-rosa organization over a long period of time, without a single desk jockey blabbing to a fool like Seymour Hersh. And pulling the detonating cord at a time calculated to inflict the most damage on an enemy chain of command.
From the liver to the knee, indeed.
Reagan Memories
Coupla things have jogged me into writing this post. First was the finding an old “Reagan For Governor” button in one of my dresser drawers a few days ago. There are many things that have been lost for decades lurking within those drawers. Still looking for my German Volksmarsch medal I got for walking 25 km one Saturday along the Moselle (culminating with a beer and a bratwurst!) during my Army days so long ago.
Second was seeing the great biopic starring Dennis Quaid today that opened in theaters a week ago. The movie reminded me of a lot of Reagan stories that I had forgotten.
Book Review – Stalag Wisconsin by Betty Cowley
Since I could read I have been interested in WW2 and all that it encompasses. After a while, you pretty much have read about all of the major battles, campaigns and skirmishes. For the last several years I have been trying to read biographies or other books about tiny slices of WW2 that are of interest.
Stalag Wisconsin is one of those books and it is amazing. Before I get into the book review, a quick aside.