History 1A

Why A Nations's Military is so Important

2011-12-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

Show me a nation that is great and I'll show you a nation with a great military. If you look at all the great nations or empires of the past you will see a common thread: a great military. No nation can call itself great without an efficient military. Let's look as some examples:

The United States has been a world power since the late 19th century. After the defeat of the Spanish in Cuba and the Philippines in 1898 you had the beginning of a new world power. World War I and II put a definite stamp on it. There is no stronger power in the world than the United States. There are many reasons for this, but a strong and efficient military is one of the biggest reasons.
Great Britain ruled the world through its empire for two hundred years. One of its biggest assets was and still is the efficiency and prowess of its military forces.
Japan has been a strong nation on the world stage for the last hundred years. Japan's military was feared for its prowess. They conquered most of China, Malaysia and the Korean peninsula prior to World War I, then they made a fatal mistake: They dared challenge the strongest military power in the world: The United States in World War II and were destroyed in the process.
Germany lost two world wars in the period of 20 years but no one will laugh at the German military for its efficiency and power. For a small country, it nearly defeated the rest of the world. the German military was next to none in efficiency and prowess. German soldiers in World Wars I & II were considered some of the best soldiers in the world.
The Ottoman Empire ruled a large part of the world from the Middle East to the borders of Russia to the north and North Africa to the south from the 14th Century to World War I. One of the strongest reason - the Ottomans had one of the best military in the world.

Let's look at some countries who do not have a strong or efficient military. The military may not be the only reason why a nation is weak but it is one of the biggest reasons.

Italy has had a weak military since the unification of the country in 1860. After 150 years it still has a weak military. As a descendant of the great Roman Empire which ruled the world for nearly 1500 years, Italy has little to show for it now. The Romans defined military science and tactics. Most modern militaries still use the Roman Army method of military structure. Roman military tactics are still studied today in war colleges. In World War I, the Italian military was less than stellar. At the battle of Caporetto, Italian forces were defeated and many of them deserted. A huge embarrassment for the country. Although they managed to finish the war with their victorious allies, the Italian military failed to impress anyone. In World War II they were inept at best. The Italian military did show some flair in their conquest of Ethiopia in 1935, but this was a very short lived exception. Today, Italy is not a significant player on the world stage militarily.
France was a big military power starting in the Napoleonic period. Next to Germany, they still have the strongest military in Europe. With the huge cost of fighting World War II and then the Vietnam war which culminated with their loss at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, France began a decline as a military power. The French fought brilliantly in Vietnam but lost for reasons other than their military efficiency.
Greece became a great empire before the Romans because of their military prowess. The Greeks defeated the greatest empire of their day, Persia. Later on Alexander the Great conquered the known world all the way to India. For hundreds of years Greece ruled the world. When Jesus was born, Greek was the spoken language of commerce in the world. Greece eventually declined. First the Romans took over from them; when the Romans declined, Greece was swallowed by the Eastern Roman Empire, otherwise known as the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines were conquered by the Muslim Ottoman Turks in 1453 and Greece became part of the Ottoman Empire. Greece finally got its freedom from the Ottomans in 1821. To this day, Greece is still secondary to Turkish military prowess as evidenced by the 1974 Turkish conquest of the half of Cyprus. To this day, half of Cyprus is still occupied by the Turks. In 1922 Greece was defeated by the Turkish Army as it tried to conquer Turkey after the defeat of the Ottoman Turks in World War I.

A House Divided Cannot Stand: The Struggle Between Islam and Christianity

2011-10-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Islam has been on the march against Christianity since the death of Mohamed in 632 AD. Two of the main goals of Mohammed's followers were to convert all infidels (non-Muslims), and conquer the world, not only to gain land but to win everybody else to Islam. The Middle East and North Africa were the first areas to fall to the forces of Islam. Once North Africa was taken, the Muslims set their sights on Europe. They started with the conquest of Spain in 711 AD when the governor of Tangiers, Tariq ibn Ziyad landed in Gibraltar with 10,000 troops. Within months the Muslims had taken most of the Iberian Peninsula. It was not until the 11th century that the Spaniards started to drive the Muslim back, starting in Northern Spain and pushing south. The final battle was won in 1492 when the Muslims were completely driver out of Spain by the forces of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

In 740 AD Sicily fell to the forces of Islam after a long struggle with the Byzantine Empire. The Normans, led by a brilliant military commander, Roger de Houteville, drove out the Muslims from Sicily for good in 1071. De Houteville became Roger I, the first king of Sicily. If you go to the seacoast resort of Cefalù you will find a Cathedral there built by Roger II, the son of Roger I.

The Muslims became dominant, not only in the Middle East, but in Southern Europe. The Ottoman Turks created one of the greatest empires since Rome. By the 15th century the Ottomans had conquered the eastern Roman Empire in 1453, known then, as the Byzantine Empire (modern day Turkey), with its capital in Constantinople. Constantinople was then considered the center of Christianity. The Byzantines made many pleas to fellow Christian nations around them but no one responded to help them. The Republic of Venice promised ships but none ever appeared. One exception was a private army of 7,000 troops led by the brilliant commander, Giovanni Giustiniani who was from Genoa. Giustiniani and his men fought bravely but were overwhelmed by the superior Turkish forces. Click here for a map of Ottoman Empire at this time. The Ottoman Empire reached from the Middle East, North Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Greece and the Balkan states. A fine book on the history of the Byzantine Empire is Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth.

The Ottomans never stopped trying to conquer Europe by military force. After the defeat of the Byzantine Empire, they set their eyes on the rest of Europe. Soon, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece and the Balkan countries fell to the Ottoman onslaught. The Ottomans had the best trained, the most efficient, army in the world. Brutality was their calling card. The Ottoman Army had two sets of special forces which specialized in brutal tactics and sow fear in their enemies, the Tartars and the Janissaries. They spread fear everywhere they went. These troops fought to the death because they knew that if they failed they would suffer a brutal death themselves at the hands of their leaders. On approaching a location, they would ask the people to surrender. If they failed to surrender they would kill every man, woman, child and animal and then burn any city or village to the ground. After slaughtering the locals, they would cut off the heads of the men and stick them up on poles along the road to sow fear among the rest of the territory who failed to surrender. This is described in great detail in a book about the Ottoman siege of Vienna of 1683, titled, Enemy at the Gates by Andrew Wheatcroft, Most of what I describe here related to the Ottoman military is from this book.

Enemy at the Gates, chronicles the final siege of Vienna in 1683. The Ottomans first attempted to conquer Vienna in 1521. They were driven back and Europe was spared. Between 1521 and 1683, the Ottomans constantly attacked Europe. They had many successes and many defeats. The Ottomans reached as far north as Poland and Russia before being driven back. By 1683, the Ottomans had Vienna in their eye again. They figured that if Vienna fell then the rest of Europe would be theirs. They put all their resources to accomplishing this goal. At the time Vienna was part of the Habsburg Empire, later called Austria-Hungary Empire. World War I started here, in the Austria-Hungary Empire.

The Ottomans were feared all over Europe. Their wars were a combination of religious fervor and desire to dominate the world for Islam. The Christians also saw this as a religious war on them. Although most Europeans were Christian, they rarely ever cooperated or supported other European Christians under attack by the Muslim Ottomans. When they did cooperate, as when they created a coalition with the Holy League, Venice, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and the Papal States for the purpose of stopping the Turks from attacking them. On October 7, 1571 this coalition defeated an Ottoman fleet at Lepanto, in southern Greece.

The fact that the Christians failed to help each other had disastrous consequences. The list is endless: Byzantine Empire defeated in 1453; Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, Armenia, to name a few all fell to the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks while their fellow Christians sat on their hands. The Turks were so confident of success that in 1683 they attempted to conquer Vienna for the second time. The Habsburg Empire was on their own. After months of a fierce siege, the Ottomans were close to victory when their neighbors, led by the king of Poland, John Sobieski organized a relief army. After gathering his forces Sobieski arrived just in time to save the exhausted and nearly beaten Viennese. Without this help, most of Europe would have been Muslim then, and perhaps today.

The Ottoman army, led by a brilliant military commander, Kara Mustafa, performed incredibly well and the Habsburg troops fought brilliantly with heavy losses, however, they also inflicted very heavy casualties on the Turks. After the Habsburgs were relieved by the coalition led by the King of Poland the Ottomans were finally defeated. When the defeated Ottomans returned home, their commander was called in and told he had been condemned to death. Wheatcroft, describes what happened: "Kara Mustafa met his death with stoic Ottoman calm, as befitting a Koprulu. First he removed his rich-trimmed robe, then his turban, then, with practiced ease, his executions flipped the soft cord over his head and tightened it around his neck, pulling steadily with all their strength." After his death they cut off his head. They continued to brutalize his body in detail that I'd rather leave off, because of its gruesomeness. A man who had dedicated his life and talent to his country and was defeated through no fault of his own was rewarded by being executed like a common criminal.

The Failure to Learn From History

2011-08-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

Economics can be complicated but there are plenty of historical data that is easy to follow; a second grader can understand it. I'm referring to the historical facts about the failure of government spending and tax increases to solve economic troubles such what we're experiencing today.

It is a well-documented fact that all the government spending of the Great Depression of the 1930s failed to do any good. Case in point: The unemployment rate in 1932 was 23.6%. After eight years of massive government spending the unemployment rate was 19%. The great American economist, Thomas Sowell, explains what happened in the Great Depression and how government spending had the opposite effect of what was intended. Watch this four-minute YouTube video.

In a Wall Street Journal article of November 21, 2010 economists Stephen Moore and Richard Vedder describe the results of their study of what happens when there is a tax increase. Most people believe this will solve the problem of deficits, or at least help. What Vedder and Moore found was that from World War II to 2009 (a 66-year span), for every additional dollar increase in taxes, government spends $1.17. Does raising taxes solve the problem? No. The answer has to be reducing out of control spending. Why do we fail to learn from history? Again, I'll go to one of my favorite philosophers, George Santayana: "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." Case closed.

The Rape of Japanese Americans in World War II

2011-06-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

World War II stands out as an example of man's inhumanity to man as no conflict in human history. There are too many to describe here but here are a few examples that stand out: The murder of over six million Jews by the Adolf Hitler and the Nazis; The rape of Nan king China by the Japanese Army; the Soviet Dictator, Josef Stalin's murder of over 1.2 million of his own citizens during the "Great Purge" of 1936-38. In the siege of Stalingrad, the German Sixth Army was destroyed by the Russian Army and Hitler's refusal to see the futility of the operation. When his Field Marshal, Friedrich Paulus, relayed the hopelessness of his situation Hitler refused to let him withdraw, thus leaving over 500, 000 soldiers to die, either in battle, from the brutal winter weather (many froze to death) or capture. The Soviets captured over 100,000 German soldiers, all but 6,000 lived to return home.

In the United States, one of the most tragic and appalling act was the forced internment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast of the United Sates. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt ordered the arrest and deportation, to what can only be described as concentration camps, of all American citizens or resident aliens of Japanese ancestry. What makes this a most despicable act is the fact that this was done with no proof of any threat by these innocent people. Their only crime was to be of Japanese ancestry.

Just image, if you will, you're an American of Irish ancestry, for instance, The U.S. is attacked by the Irish Nation and all Americans of Irish ancestry are arrested and driven to prisons surrounded by soldiers. Would you say that this was a rational thing to do? Did any Americans who were not Japanese complain? There is no record of any demonstrations in support of the Japanese Americans. Can you imagine what would happen if an African Nation attacked the United States and the American President interred all citizens who were African-Americans in a concentration camp? This was the insanity of what President Roosevelt did.

Now, you might ask, how did the courts react to this insane act by President Roosevelt? Good question. Read the U.S. Supreme court case of Korematsu vs. The United States: The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling sided with President Roosevelt. This heinous act was "constitutional."

Now, you might think that this act by an American President would diminish his status in history. You would be wrong. Roosevelt is still revered to this day as the ideal Democrat. Some survivors of this era still call themselves "Roosevelt Democrats." Some even regard Franklin D. Roosevelt as one of the greatest presidents of all time. No one ever mentions the rape of the Japanese Americans by FDR whenever they speak of him. Historical amnesia is rampant; especially among the left.

To add insult to injury the Japanese Americans lost most of their property, personal and real estate. Some, very few, were successful in getting neighbors to look after their farm, for instance, but the majority, lost everything, farms, houses, personal belongings. At the end of the war the U.S. Government made a feeble attempt to reimburse these people but very few got very much.

Land Transfers that Defy Reason

2011-06-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what the Russians were thinking when they decided to sell Alaska to the United States for two cents an acre in 1867? Or how about the Louisiana Purchase, 828,000 square miles for $11.2 million in 1803? The Louisiana Purchase, equalled about 23% of the entire United States; a land area that stretched from present day Louisiana in the south to Canada to the north. Suffice it to say that this exchange was practically a free land exchange. These represent some of the largest land transfers of all time.

In Europe there are also some mystifying transfers as well. In 1860, at the time of the unification of Italy, the Italian government, based in Sardinia, with Torino as its capital, ceded an entire Italian province of Savoia (Savoy) to France in exchange for military support for a military campaign in Lombardy. To put in in modern-day terms, let's say that the United States ceded San Diego County to Mexico in exchange for support in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. What would you think of our leaders? Exactly! That is the same rage I feel for the incompetent leaders of the Italy of 1860, led by the inept Camillo Benso di Cavour. In researching this I believe that one of the reasons the Italian government made this deal was due to the inner conflict between the Italian leaders of the time and the charismatic leader of his day, Giuseppe Garibaldi, one of the best military commander since Julius Caesar. Garibaldi was from Nizza, present day Nice. This was a way to stick it to Garibaldi, to give away his home town to the French. This has to be one of the most pathetic action ever undertaken in history. Garibaldi was, perhaps singly, responsible to the unification of Italy. Rather than thank the great Garibaldi, they insulted him by giving up his home town, along with the entire province where it stood.

The other major land transfer also happened in Italy, the sale by the Genoese in 1764 of the Island of Corsica to France. Can you imagine, in today's terms, if all of the sudden the United States said, hey we don't need Hawaii anymore, let's sell it to Japan. Land deals such as these are bizarre in the least and criminal at the most. This year Italy celebrates its 150th anniversary as a united country. These land deals will haunt them forever.

Paradise Lost

2010-12-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

Most of us have heard of the World War II Nazi holocaust, and many have heard of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 during World War I (WW I), but who has heard of the holocaust that occurred in Smyrna in September, 1922, committed by the Turks - four years after the end of WW I? Why we have not heard about it is a good question. Paradise Lost - Smyrna 1922, the Destruction of a Christian City in the Islamic World, by Giles Milton, is one of the most compelling history books of the century. The book was published by Basic Books in 2008. Brilliantly written, documented and researched, it tells the heart wrenching and most astounding story ever told - a story that will shock the reader with the brutal genocide by Turkish forces immediately after WW I. Man's inhumanity to man is the best example of what happened in Smyrna in September 1922. The Turkish holocaust is only one of the astounding stories that comes alive in every page; the other example is how the Allied forces watched people being butchered in front of them and they not only refused to intervene but passively let it happen.

Smyrna, one of the seven Biblical cities of the New Testament, was a majority Christian city that had prospered in the Muslim world of the Ottomans; it was the jewel of Asia Minor, very successful and prosperous. Its inhabitants were unlike the rest of the Ottoman world, mainly of European stock, British, Levantines, Greeks, Italians, Jews and Armenians. Most of these people's roots went back to the Byzantine period. Smyrna was the Hong Kong of its day. Many of the top citizens were successful businessmen who hired hundreds of thousands of Turks to work their factories. A port city as cosmopolitan as Paris or London with a great night life, culture, music and the arts; an oasis in a sea of Islam.

After the Ottoman Turks were defeated in WW I the European powers could not decide what to do with the defeated Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey. They finally decided that they would let Greece send troops to occupy Smyrna which they did in May 1919. After landing troops in Smyrna, the Greek soldiers, along with the majority Greek population of Smyrna, started celebrating as if they had just won the lottery. As they're marching through the city a shot is heard. The Greek troops go crazy and proceed to murder about 500 citizens, mostly Turks, as they shoot randomly all over the place. It was believed that the shot was an intentional provocation by an Italian military officer stationed in Smyrna. It is later discovered that the Italian government had supplied arms to the Turks. After securing Smyrna the Greek Army moved to occupy a large part of the interior of Turkey. Initially, they had many successes, but as they stretched their forces out deeper and deeper they suffered setbacks when their rear supply lines were successfully attacked by the Turks. Milton describes how the Greek soldiers committed atrocities as they rampaged through a large swath of Turkey. When a Greek commander was questioned as to why his soldiers were committing atrocities he responded that he liked the idea.

The Greek occupation of Turkey was condemned to failure from the beginning. They had no hope of success. After fighting wars since 1912, the Greeks were near collapse, physically and financially. Additionally, they were led by incompetent civilian and military leaders. Their defeat was a foregone conclusion. The Greeks called their adventure in Turkey, the "Megali Idea," the great idea to re-establish a Greek empire. The British mistakenly saw them as the up and coming power in the Mediterranean. The French and the Italians, perhaps jealous of the Greeks, stabbed them in the back by supplying the Turks with weapons and sabotaging the Greeks whenever possible. It was the most pathetic picture. All the Turks, led by the future founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk, had to do was bide their time; which they did to perfection. Besides being a brilliant military commander and a charismatic leader, Kemal was a shrewd politician as well; he played the allies like a violin. Milton describes Kemal as a heroic figure.

After the defeat of the Greek Army, the Turks advanced toward Smyrna. They advanced as the defeated Greek soldiers moved on their own as best they could to reach Smyrna where they hoped to get on ships which would rescue them. Milton is at his best in telling the story of what happened once the Turks arrived in Smyrna. The Turkish Army, which included many irregulars called "chettes," were on their own and each soldier did whatever he wanted to whomever he encountered. Most soldiers acted like gangs of thugs on a rampage. They began by robbing and raping young women. They would force their way into a house, steal valuables, money and whatever they wanted and rape the women. After raping the women they would kill them and dismember their bodies. Milton is more descriptive, but to save the reader revulsion, I'll be less descriptive. It was as worse as you could imagine it.

At other instances, armed Turkish soldiers would stop people on the street and demand all they had; if someone had nothing the person was tortured and killed. In one instance, a man who had nothing for them to steal was hacked to death in front of the others. As Milton describes it, the troops were completely undisciplined and without leaders. Whether this was by design is not stated, but my impression is that this was by design. The Turkish leaders basically told them to do whatever they wanted.

When the Turkish military commander of Smyrna, General Noureddin finally appears on the scene, he calls for a meeting with the leader of the Greek church, Metropolitan Chrysostom. The meeting lasts less than a few minutes. The General turns the bishop over to the mob outside and tells them to do whatever they want with him. The mob proceeds to hack him to death.

After a month of pillaging and killing at will, the Turks set the city on fire by bringing in barrels of gasoline, spreading it everywhere and lighting it. The city, with the exception of the Turkish quarter, is set ablaze. Over 500,000 screaming Christians fled to the waterfront desperate to escape. Professor M.H. Dobkin in his book on the Smyrna genocide describes how the European powers watched from their ships in the Smyrna harbor: "While a flotilla of twenty-seven Allied warships - including three American destroyers - looked on, the Turks indulged in an orgy of pillage, rape and slaughter; which the Western powers condoned - eager to protect their oil and trade interests in Turkey - through their silence and by their refusal to intervene. Turkish forces then set fire to the legendary city and totally destroyed it. A massive cover-up followed, by tacit agreement of the Western Allies, who had defeated Turkey and Germany during World War I. By 1923, Smyrna 's demise was all but expunged from historical memory."

No one would offer a hand. All requests were coldly turned down by the Europeans and Americans. As the fire got bigger and closer to the waterfront the mass of humanity could go nowhere else, they were trapped by the Turks who refused to let them escape. No food or water was allowed to the desperate people who, by now were hysterical. Many were driven mad and they jumped into the ocean where they drowned. Milton describes how the bay of Smyrna was filled with bodies; yet all those warships just stood there as if nothing was happening.

There is a heroic story in the book which gives some hope for the human condition. Milton describes the heroic exploits of a Methodist preacher from New York, Asa Jennings. A short, diminutive man with a large face, he arrived in Smyrna determined to do all he could to save as many as he could. In one occasion he boarded an Italian ship and confronted the captain. He asked for people to be let on board; the captain refused, saying he had orders not to intervene. Refusing to take no for an answer he then went to the Italian Consul in Smyrna and confronted him. He was able to get the Italian Consul to give the ship's captain permission to take on refugees which he did. Later on Jennings goes to the nearby Greek Island of Mytilene. He confronted the cowering remnant of the Greek fleet and convinced them that they need to go to Smyrna to save their fellow Greeks (most of the refugees were Greeks). Over 20 empty ships were sitting in the harbor doing nothing.

The Greek Navy was hesitant to go back to Smyrna, fearing a Turkish attack. Jennings tricked them by saying that the American ships there would protect them, although he had no approval of this. The Greeks gave in and appointed Jennings as an Admiral and gave him command of about 20 Greek ships. Jennings orders all ships to head to Smyrna to rescue the desperate people who would otherwise perish within days. Through his efforts, over 300,000 people were rescued from the waterfront. One man, on his own, did what the Allied powers, including the Americans, should have done, yet they watched a Christian city being raped and destroyed.

Smyrna, the jewel of Asia Minor, the Paris of the near east was completely burned to the ground. It is estimated that over 100,000 Christians were slaughtered by the Turks in Smyrna; all civilians, all innocent people living in their homes as they and their forefathers had for centuries. 160,000 were deported into the interior by the Turks, most died from exhaustion on the way and many other were shot dead at the whim of their captors. All of this happened while representatives of all the European powers watched. How can this have happened?

Divided We Fall

2010-11-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

When it comes to the conflict between Christians and Muslims the lack of any cooperation among Christians stands out. A few examples:

1. The Byzantine Empire falls to the Muslim Turks in 1453.   The Byzantine Empire was the eastern half of the Roman Empire. After the fall of Rome around 460 AD, the eastern empire continued and prospered until its defeat by the Muslim Turks in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople. The Muslims had been on the march, conquering surrounding territory ever since the death of Muhammad in 632 AD.

After the Christian schism between the Roman church and the Greek church in 1054 AD the Roman and Greek (Byzantine) churches became enemies and have never reconciled to this day. Nothing could have been more tragic in the history of Christendom.   This is the equivalent of a family divided.   In 1453 total victory arrived for the Muslims with the conquest and destruction of Constantinople, the seat of Christianity for 1300 years. No Christian country in Europe offered any help.   Only seven hundred private soldiers from Genoa, Italy, led by Giovanni Giustiniani, a brilliant siege commander, came to aid Constantinople; they fought valiantly against overwhelming odds until they were overrun by the superior Turkish forces. The Muslims did not stop with the Byzantine Empire; eventually they reached to gates of Vienna Austria in 1529 in their thirst for territory. The Europeans failed to see that the loss of the Byzantine Empire was not just a loss of territory but a religious defeat that would continue to harass them to this day. We're still paying the cost of the loss of the Byzantine Empire today. Lars Brownworth, in his book, Lost to the West, tells the story of the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

Some say that "war is not the answer." The Europeans believed this and did nothing, but war continues to be waged upon Christians to this day without ceasing. There are those who see a mountain and refuse to recognize it. This is what most Christians are doing today when it comes to their Muslim opponents.

2. At the end of World War I, the European allies, which included Britain, France, Italy, and Greece defeated the Ottoman Turks and Germany. After 500 years, the Europeans had a chance to reverse all the Muslim advances of territory conquered by the Muslims.    When the victorious allies of WW I sat down to decide what to do with the defeated Ottoman Turks, they squabbled and could not come up with a cogent decision. Finally, they acted - they decided to let Greece occupy Smyrna, a coastal city in Turkey - called Izmir today. The Greeks, desiring to re-occupy their Byzantine land lost in 1453, moved out and occupied a large portion of Turkey. They blundered militarily very badly and were crushed by the Turks, who took horrific revenge on anyone not of Turkish descent; committing unspeakable atrocities, including the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. No one knows of the atrocities committed by the Turks after the end of WW I. We've heard of the Armenian genocide but not anything else. I will review the book Paradise Lost, Smyrna 1922 in a later post. This book details the Turkish atrocities in Turkey after they defeated the Greeks.

3. Today, we still face a hostile Muslim foe. The difference today is that it is not one country against another, but a fanatical part of Islam, in the name of Al Qaeda, Jihad and many others who still fight against the infidel, non-Muslims. This war exploded on 9/11/2001 when Muslim terrorists attacked and murdered 3,000 Americans who were busy working at their desk in New York City. Whereas before armies would attack and overrun territories, today the Muslim terrorists attack innocent people wherever they are. and murder them at will. Muslim terrorists also attack other Muslims they disagree with such and they do in Pakistan and Iraq.

Historical Amnesia

2010-11-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

According to the politically correct worldview, anyone who opposes the building of the World Trade Center Mosque, is intolerant, a bigot, or a racist; perhaps all of these. When Bill O'Reilly appeared on the "View," a daytime soap opera of a TV talk show, two of the very liberal hosts, Joy Behar and Whoopie Goldberg, were so incensed when Bill suggested that building a Mosque next to the World Trade Center was an abomination that they stormed out of the set. I'm sure they thought that Bill was all of the above.

I'm afraid that most people, including Bill O'Reilly, are for the most part, ignorant of history. I find that most people I talk to are about the third grade level when it comes to history. This is devastating to our worldview and our culture. You cannot have a proper world view without knowing basic history. Let's review here quickly why a Mosque near the World Trade Center in not appropriate.

1. Since the beginning of the Muslim religion, around 632 AD, the Muslims have made it their goal to conquer, convert, destroy and obliterate all vestiges of Christianity and replace it with Islam. Why were we attacked on 9/11, for instance? Whom had the United States attacked? What was the reason for Pearl Harbor type of an attack on the United Sates? When the Muslims conquer an area or a people, the will destroy all vestiges of the conquered people's religion, including churches. They will take a Christian church and turn it into a Mosque. Historically, Muslims will erect a Mosque on the spot where there used to be a church, such as, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Cordoba in Spain. Why did they call the Ground Zero project, "The Cordoba House"?

Let's take some examples of this destruction of conquered people's religion. In the Sudan, there has been a war on Christians for over 30 years. The goal of the Muslims in the Sudan is total elimination of Christians in Sudan. Does Darfur mean anything to you? A genocide against Christians is going on right now.

In 1974, Turkey, a Muslim country, forcibly conquered the island of Cyprus. They've occupied half of the island ever since. The other half is semi-independent. The entire island, with a small Turkish minority had been Christian majority. The Turks have demolished most, if not all of the Christian churches in their occupied half of the island.

Smyrna, a coastal city in Asia Minor, part of Turkey, was majority Christian until 1922. After the Ottoman Turks lost WW I they blamed the Christians of Smyrna for their troubles and accused them of undermining them. They systematically killed all of them and burned the city to the ground. This story is told in the new book "Paradise Lost" by Giles Milton, published in 2008. This book is a compelling story that cannot be put down. Superbly researched and written. Milton recounts how the Christians were forcibly removed from their homes and marched through the desert until they died from exhaustion or were summarily murdered in cold blood. Reading the story of Smyrna is a human tragedy and a Holocaust of epic proportions, yet no one knows anything about it. After the destruction of Smyrna, one of the seven cities of the seven churches of the New Testament, they re-named the city Izmir. The Turks also renamed their capital of Constantinople - a thousand year old city, to Istanbul at the same time. Could there have been an anti-Christian reason for it? Constantinople had been the capital of Christendom until it was conquered and destroyed by the Turks in 1453. Smyrna, as noted earlier, was one of the original seven churches of the New Testament. The entire country of Turkey was conquered from the Christian Byzantine Empire and made into an Islamic country.

2. Amnesia, is a condition where one cannot remember even one's own name. The ignorance of history, especially the history of the persecution of Christians by Muslims is another amnesia. This amnesia will do grave damage to our country. Does anyone care?

3. We can agree that not all Muslims are terrorists nor do they share the hatred of the United States. However, the Muslims of the world, in general, and the the Muslims of the United States in particular have failed to condemn the Muslim terrorists. On the contrary, after 9/11, the Muslims of the Middle East celebrated the murder of US citizens. The developer of the Ground Zero Mosque, Faisal Abdul Rauf, stated in an interview by"60 Minutes" stated that the United States shares responsibility for 9/11. Click here to watch what he said. He also refused to say if Hamas was a terrorist organization. Additionally, he refuses to discuss where the finances come from for the Mosque.

We Have Met the Enemy and it's Us

2010-08-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

We just lost one of the best military commanders of our day, General Stanley McChrystal, the last commander in Afghanistan. Those of us who love history and learn from it, know that no military, no matter how large or competent, can win without a brilliant military commander. A good military commander is crucial to winning. There are many examples: General David Patreaus in Iraq. As soon as General Patreaus was appointed to lead the Iraq war, he turned it around and we were successful. General Norman Schwarzkopf the brilliant commander of the 1991 Gulf War. It was in no small measure the ability of General Schwarzkopf that the US and coalition forces had such blitzkrieg success.

In World War II, it was the brilliance of Generals Eisenhower, Patton (check out this youTube video on Patton) and the British General Bernard Montgomery that the US and its allies won the war decisively. On the German side, it was the brilliance of Generals such as General Erwin Rommel that they had the success that they had. If you study the war in North Africa, you can see the military brilliance of this, one of the greatest military mind of all time. Another brilliant German commander was General Friedrich Paulus, the commander of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad in the Eastern Front. Although the Germans lost this battle, it was not because of the leadership of General Paulus, but the insanity of Adolf Hitler who, basically condemned those who perished there to an avoidable death. Hitler refused all advice by the commanders on the ground that they could not succeed given the weather, lack of equipment, food, proper winter clothing, and the obstacles that they faced. Hitler refused to have his forces withdraw and condemned them to death. The battle of Leningrad is, perhaps the saddest story in military history. Man's inhumanity to man screams out at you when you watch a documentary of this battle. About two million soldiers and civilians died in 900 days of the siege. Many starved to death or died of the freezing weather. Among the dead were soldiers from Russia, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania and other European countries.

In Roman days, the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC stands out. A better equipped, trained and numerically superior Roman Army was defeated by a lesser army commanded by one of the most brilliant military commanders of all time - Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian General and son of another famous Carthaginian General, Hasdrubal. The Romans lost most of their 50,000 troops who engaged Hannibal at this site, the worst military defeat the Romans had ever had. Again, Hannibal won by his military brilliance over his Roman counterpart, the Roman Consul Varro. When the battle was over, there were an estimated 60,000 dead bodies on the battlefield. In comparison, the United States lost 59,000 dead in 10 years of the Vietnam war. The battle of Cannae was so significant for military strategy that the US Military studies it to this day in the War College.

Back to General McChrystal. As you are aware, the General was forced to retire after an unflattering article by the leftist magazine, Rolling Stone, called "The Runaway General." Rolling Stone and their supporters are anti-war and set out to sabotage the US military. They caused our best general to leave the field. As the saying goes: with friends such as these who needs enemies. The left is an enemy of the United States. They only care for their ideology, not for the welfare of the United States - they are the enemy as much as the Taliban.

Mosque at Ground Zero & No Church in Saudi Arabia

2010-07-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

In my last post I argued why it is a very bad idea to build a Mosque at Ground Zero in New York City. The mind boggling contradictions are never ending and stupefying as to why no one notices them. For one, in Muslim countries, Christians are not only persecuted but it is illegal to bring a Bible into one. In Saudi Arabia, as in all other Muslim countries you cannot build a Christian church anywhere. Can you imagine if we in the West had this rule? Can you imagine how the Muslims would be rampaging everywhere? Yet in Christian lands this discrimination goes unnoticed. We approved a Mosque on the site where the Muslims committed the worst atrocity in U.S. history, but no one complains about Christian persecution in Muslim lands.

The United States provides billions of dollars in aid to Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and so on yet we allow them to persecute our Christian brothers and sisters. Since 1979, for instance, the United States has provided Egypt with over one billion dollars in military aid. Just this past January, Egyptian Muslims killed six Christians as they were leaving their church. No one complains. Why does no one raise one finger against this?

In 1991, the United States went to war to liberate Kuwait, a Muslim country. Later in 1994 the United States went to rescue Muslims in Yugoslavia. In both campaigns many American soldiers were killed and the U.S. spent billions of dollars yet, we allow our Christian brothers and sisters to be persecuted in these same lands. In 2003, the United States went to war in Iraq to liberated the people from a murderous despot, yet no one notices all the atrocities against our Christian brothers.

Check out this short video on how Muslims like to build Mosques on sites they've conquered.

Condemned to Repeat it Again

2010-07-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it as the noted philosopher George Santayana famously stated. We have a perfect example of this today. As you may have heard, American Muslims are trying to build a Mosque on the Ground Zero site in New York City. City fathers, including the current Mayor Bloomberg have approved the project. How can such an abomination go without notice, you may have asked? It boggles the mind to think that these city fathers are totally blind, deaf and dumb to history. I may have the answer to this blindness. I believe this is because the political left does not think critically, but emotionally. According to the left, if we are just nice to our enemies they will become our friends. President Obama is a big believer in this. His idea of dealing with Iran, for example, is to speak nice to them and negotiate ad nauseam. "Stupid is as stupid does" said that other philosopher, Forrest Gump. This tactic has never worked - it is known as appeasement. History has shown that this is a bankrupt policy; just ask Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister in 1939.

Let's start with a little history. Muhammad charged his followers to conquer and kill the infidel according to Surah 9:5 in the Koran. When the Muslims first conquered what is now the area of Israel, they built their most important Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, on top of the Jewish Temple, the holiest site in Judaism. They did this for two major reasons: To show the world that they had replaced Judaism and Christianity as the only true religion and to show the world that they now rule - it was an "in your face" show of force and raw arrogance. Such humiliation of Judaism and Christianity later led to the Crusades.

To put this act in modern day terms, this Muslim act would be like having a Muslim army conqueror Rome, demolish the Vatican and build a Mosque right on top of it. Can you understand the arrogance of it?

Fast forward to what we talked about at the beginning of this piece. The scene is New York City. In the year 2001 AD Muslims hijack numerous American commercial jets full of travelers and crash them into the World Trade Center, a site very much representing American economic success and power. This murderous act killed over 3,000 innocent Americans. Now, nearly 10 years later, they want to build a grand Mosque on the site their followers destroyed in their attempt to kill the infidel. The city fathers not only not object but approved the project. Stupid is as stupid does. There is no other description here.

The Bankruptcy of Socialism

2010-07-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

Socialism is a bankrupt political and economic philosophy. This is not just an opinion but is borne out by history and facts. Let's look at a socialist country such as Italy. In Italy, for example, unemployment in the last seven years has been between 7.5% to 9.10%. What is most disturbing though, is the youth rate of unemployment which usually hovers around 30%. This is devastating to any economy.

Why is this the case? It is very simple. A socialist system such as in Italy, discourages employers from hiring. This is due to the fact that unions have a virtual stranglehold on the economy. You see, in Italy workers are practically guaranteed a job once they're employed. An employer cannot fire them unless there are unusual circumstances. It is not hard to figure out that no employer would hire a worker, knowing that he can never get rid of him/her, so employers do not hire. This in turn has the devastating consequences that follow. In the United States, we just had an example of what socialist policies can do. One of the biggest companies in the world, GM, had to be rescued from bankruptcy by the U.S. government. The main reason for this failure was that the unions strangled GM into bankruptcy. GM was paying nearly full salaries to workers that were laid off - a requirement of the union. What started out as a movement to aid the workers, has resulted in the workers getting shafted by unions. Unions only care about their own power, they care little for the common man.

Despite this glaring example, socialism is on the rise in South America and now in the United States with the Obama Administration. Socialism flies in the face of sound economics policy, yet we keep on going to it. This type of behavior is self-destructive. When will they learn? They never will because socialism is not about sound economic policy, it's about making people feel good, it's an emotion not a reasonable position. Socialists will never understand this. This is what we have coming to America.

The Turks Aim for Europe

2010-07-05T13:58:00.001-07:00

The New York Times reports today that Turkey is nearly ready to join the European Union. I have no doubt that Turkey will be admitted sooner or later by the Europeans. What is a puzzle is that Turkey is still regarded as a legitimate country at all. Turkey was established by the conquest in 1453 of the Byzantine Empire, a Christian country. As you may remember, Constantinople was the center of Christianity for a thousand years. Today, Christians are persecuted in Turkey and can't even have a seminary. Christian churches, the very few that have not been demolished, cannot even ring a bell without permission, usually not approved.

The Muslims, remember, had their goal since Muhammad to conquer all non Muslim lands. From the seventh century on the Muslims pursued this goal with reckless abandon. When in 1453, the rest of Europe slept and refused to help their Christian brothers in Constantinople after numerous desperate pleading from the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, the Ottoman Turks took advantage of the weakness and conquered this sovereign Christian country. "War was not the answer" then too.

After conquering Byzantium, the Turks proceeded to commit genocide on all Christians and turn all Christian churches to Muslim Mosques. Today, the non-Muslim world is careful not to offend the Muslims. Funny, that the Muslims have never had this problem. They've left no opportunity to crush Christians at every opportunity. On the other hand, in the West, if someone speaks ill of anything Muslim they are targeted, yet when Muslims persecute and eliminate Christians no one even notices and no one says anything nor complains. What am I missing here?

When Will They Learn?

2010-06-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed how socialism has experienced a strong resurgence in the world? If you look at Europe, socialism reins unabated. All European countries have socialized medicine. All of them, with few exceptions, have a political system that can only be described as hard left. Just look at Spain and Greece for instance. Both countries have socialist governments; both are nearly broke and waiting to be rescued by their sister Europeans. Let's move to South America. All South American countries are ruled by socialist regimes. All of them, with the exception of Chile, are nearly broke. The only reason Chile is not as bad as the others is because Chile has followed a more capitalist form of government and because it follows free market economics more than the others. How about Venezuela? Ruled by a self-proclaimed socialist and lover of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez has succeeded in ruining this rich country.

Let's now look at our own back yard, the USA. With the administration of Barack Obama, a swing toward socialism has begun. Just look at all the spending that has happened in the last year. Are we better off today than when this spending started? NO.

Now, the important question. Can you name one socialist country that has been an economic success? NO. Then why have we not learned our lesson? This is a rhetorical question that I keep asking. I've found no answer. Socialist like Keynesian economics - the idea that government spending is what will cure economics problems. Question again: When has a country, and which one, has had any success with government spending? The answer is none. When will they learn?

Repeating Another Economics Mistake With Obamacare

2010-04-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

Philosopher George Santayana stated a now famous proverb that "those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The best current example of this is what just happened in the United Sates with the huge government spending in rescuing the criminals of Wall Street who took us over the financial cliff by their irresponsible speculation, led by Wall St. big-wig, Bernie Madoff. Madoff was the only one to go to jail so far, the rest got bailed out by the taxpayers and the socialist policies of President Obama. If this was not enough, Obama has now passed health care reform, commonly referred to as"Obamacare;" increasing government spending like drunken sailors on a night out.

Historians have confirmed that the heavy government expenditure by the FDR administration during the depression of the 1930s did nothing to end the depression. In today's Wall Street Journal this point is well documented in an article titled "Did FDR End the Depression?" After all the spending made by the Roosevelt administration in its first eight years, the unemployment rate in 1939 was at the same rate as in 1932 - 20%. Obviously we've failed to learn from history so we have been condemned to repeat it. In Europe where they did not have such government spending the unemployment rate was 12% during the same period according to the article.

Another historical economics lesson we've failed to learn is minimum wage laws. In his popular book, "Basic Economics" economist Thomas Sowell states: "By the simplest and most basic economics, a price artificially raised tends to cause more to be supplied and less to be demanded than when prices are left to be determined by the free market." Economist in the US, Europe and Canada have long known that minimum wage laws have the opposite effect, increasing unemployment, yet we routinely keep passing these damaging laws. The main reason, for this is thought to be that this is popular for politicians and will gain them goodwill from the voters, even though it makes no economic sense.

The Crusades: Facts vs. Fiction - A Very Brief History of the Crusades

2010-02-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

If you were asked to explain what the Crusades were could you give a clear response? The Crusades are the most misunderstood, maligned and falsified historical story ever told. If you’re a product of a U.S. University or any other school system you’ve probably been told that the Crusades were a Christian atrocity committed against the Muslims and that is why they hate us today. Since this is a huge subject I will try to be brief in what I discuss. First, I want to clarify what the Crusades were in fact, second I want to provide some documentation and examples of what really happened. Finally, I will make an objective assessment of the Crusades as well. As Sergeant Friday of Dragnet fame would say: “Just the facts ma’am.”

If you listen to the popular culture of today you hear that the Crusades were a Christian holocaust against the Muslims and we, as Christians, should not only be ashamed, we should apologize. In fact Pope John Paul II in the year 2000 did apologize to Muslims for the Crusades. Muslims, in turn, say that their hatred of the West is due, in part, to the Crusades. Former President Bill Clinton, when he spoke after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City made this statement: “Those of us who come from various European lineages are not blameless” vis-à-vis the Crusades as a crime against Islam. He then summarized a medieval account about all the blood that was shed when Godfrey Bouillon and his forces in the First Crusade, conquered Jerusalem in 1099.[i] Check out this YouTube video for more on this. This is representative of what our culture today believes about the Crusades. Most people have bought into the lie. The truth is that the Crusades were not unprovoked, as you will see here.

First, the Crusades were not a Christian holocaust or genocide against the Muslims, it was quite the opposite. Let’s start from the beginning. After the death of Muhammad in 632 AD, the Muslims began a military conquest that started in modern day Saudi Arabia. In what became known as his farewell address, Muhammad told his followers: “I was ordered to fight all men until they say, “There is no god but Allah.”[ii] The Muslims aim was to conquer the entire world and make everyone convert to Islam. They proceeded to conquer militarily all of the Middle East, Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, and large parts of Europe, including Sicily, Southern Italy, Cyprus, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete and Spain. North African, also fell to the Muslim onslaught. All of these conquered areas were Christian territory.

When the Muslims conquered Jerusalem, they desecrated all Christian shrines and murdered all the Christians and Jews that they found there. Many were brutally butchered like animals. The holiest site in Jerusalem, the Temple, was desecrated and replaced with the Muslim Dome of the Rock, still standing today, to symbolize that Islam had succeeded Judaism and Christianity; the dome was built between 685 to 691 AD.

The Crusaders had some military successes but all were short lived. The Muslims, in turn, showed no mercy. In 1266, in a battle in Egypt, the Crusaders were forced to surrender. They negotiated surrender to the Muslim commander named Baibars. Baibars agreed to allow the Crusaders to leave unharmed if they turned over the fort they occupied. The Crusaders agreed, opened the gates and let the Muslims in. The Muslims, in turn, failed to keep their promise, seized all the Crusaders and beheaded all of them. In 1268, this same Baibars, conquered Jaffa, in modern day Israel, and butchered all the inhabitants.

The Christian Byzantine Empire which was surrounded by the hostile Muslim Turks, appealed to the Europeans for help since the Turks had conquered a large part of their empire. The Europeans were becoming very alarmed. On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II, in the French City of Clermont, in front of a large crowd, gave an impassioned speech that moved the large crowd. He called for the First Crusade, in large part due to the Muslim conquest and the slaughter of all the Christians, but also because of reports that Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem were being murdered along the way. Rodney Stark, in his book God’s Battalions, lists some Muslim atrocities of Christian pilgrims: Early in the eighth century, seventy Christian pilgrims were murdered. Shortly thereafter 60 pilgrims were crucified in Jerusalem. In 796 Muslims burned to death twenty monks in front of the Monastery of Mar Saba. In 809 multiple attacks occurred in many churches, convents and monasteries in and around Jerusalem, many were raped and murdered.[iii]

By the late 11^th Century, the Christians of Europe were well aware of all that Christendom had lost, as well as the atrocities committed against their brothers and sisters. They had seen the Holy Land conquered and their fellow Christians murdered, crucified and annihilated like street dogs. They had seen the land of the New Testament, modern day Turkey, conquered. Most Byzantine Christians were forced to flee their homes and country, knowing that the Muslims would persecute or kill them outright. Today, the population of Turkey, the land of the New Testament and the Seven Churches is 99.8% Muslim. The few remaining Christians live under severe oppression and religious persecution.

Warfare during the period of Muhammad and the Middle Ages, was exceptionally brutal. They had no Geneva Convention that we have today where we prescribe rules for treating combatants and prisoners. In this period, for example, if a besieged city failed to surrender upon request and the attacking forces were successful in overrunning it, they would slaughter everyone they found in the city as an example to others. Everyone would be killed, men, women and children. Not one person or animal would be left standing. The Muslims used this tool to deadly effectiveness wherever they conquered. After all inhabitants were killed, the city would be burned and razed to the ground. Today, Muslims complain that we have prisoners of war in Guantanamo, Cuba where they’re treated like honored guests at a five star hotel. President Obama ordered it closed so that the world would like us better and they would stop attacking us.

It is no secret that Muslim governments practice religious persecutions against Christians. These persecutions go on today unabated. In an article in the “Weekly Standard” February 1, 2010 issue, entitled “Bare Ruined Choirs,” it describes the persecution going on in the island of Cyprus. In 1974 Turkey attacked Cyprus and still occupies half of the island today. During this time Turkey has destroyed many Christian churches: “Some of the recent destruction, such as the bulldozing of St. Catherine Church in Gerani in the summer of 2008, and cannibalizing for buildings in the nearby village of Trikomo. Incidentally, the razing of St. Catherine is not an isolated case: In the past five years 15 churches have been leveled.”

The Crusades were private armies recruited by nobles, knights and individuals. Most Crusaders were French, and a smaller percentage were German. The French were commonly referred to as Franks. King Richard the Lion Hearted of England led the Third Crusade from 1188 to 1192. King Richard was a brilliant military commander and he had the best success against the Muslims, due in large part to the exceptional discipline of his troops and his leadership ability. King Louis of France, who later was made a saint, St. Louis, led two Crusades from 1249 to 1252. In all there were eight Crusades from 1095 to the beginning of the fourteenth century, around 1305 AD. The Crusaders were motivated by piety – they wanted to reclaim the Holy Land from the infidels. Crusaders had to raise their own funds. Most sold all they had to go on the Crusades. Most Crusaders never made it back home. In the First Crusade, it was estimated that 130,000 departed. Only 15,000 survived to return home. About half of the casualties were due to health, disease or the stress of the trip, the other half died in battle.

I want to make it clear here that I am not approving of the Crusades or what they did, on the contrary, the Crusades were a bitter disappointment and a monumental disaster of epic proportions. Every one of the eight Crusades committed atrocities, not only against Muslims, but also against their own Christian brothers and sisters and Jews. The Crusades were a very sad chapter in human history. What they did cannot be excused. So what did the do? Right from the beginning, as some Crusaders left Europe, they committed atrocities that were totally uncalled for or necessary.

The Crusaders that left Europe made it a point to meet in Constantinople so they could martial their forces before heading towards Jerusalem. From the start, they committed unspeakable atrocities against Jews and other Christians. For example, in the First Crusade, led by Peter the Hermit, as they left Germany along the Rhine Valley the Crusaders attacked and slaughtered the Jewish populations of Speyer. In another German city of Worms, the Bishop tried to protect the Jews, the Crusaders broke down the walls of the Bishop’s compound and murdered about 500 Jews. This was repeated again in Cologne and in Metz.[iv]

In the modern city of Split, former Yugoslavia, this Christian city was attacked and plundered with many Christians murdered like dogs. Constantinople itself, the jewel of Christendom of their day was attacked and plundered by Crusaders of the fourth Crusade. The City was burned to the ground and robbed of most of its treasure. The list goes on and on.

Conclusion

The Crusades were a total disaster in any human term, but they are not what Muslims say they were or why they hate us today. They are not what our popular culture tells us today. The Crusades, even though a complete and total failure, were started with good intentions due to the fact that they had lost so much Christian territory and so many fellow Christians to the Muslim sword. It is fine to give an opinion on the Crusades, but first we must be informed with the truth. Good intentions are not enough. They must be followed with good works. We cannot say that about the Crusades. We cannot deny the truth.

See No Evil

2009-12-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday the weekly TV program "60 Minutes" had a piece on the Patriarch of the Eastern Catholic Church, also known as the Orthodox Church. The bishop is the world leader of Orthodox Christianity with over 300 million followers worldwide. As I pointed out in my last post on this blog on the history of the Byzantine Empire, after the Ottoman Muslim Turks conquered what was Asia Minor in Roman times, the Muslims have been on a genocide against Christians. This is the area where Christianity was born, the seven early churches of the New Testament are all here. Today, it is reported that there are 4,000 Christians left in modern Turkey.

One of my parish priest, Fr. Tom, who spent time in Turkey as a US Air Force Chaplain said that he had to get permission from the town mayor to ring the church bell. Suffice it to say, if you're Christian in a Muslim country you're the same as a lamb in a wolf's den. Among the things that the Christians of Turkey cannot do is to operate a seminary. The last seminary was closed and it is against the law to operate it.

Which leads to my question: What happened to the Christians of the world that they let this genocide continue? The United States is a close friend of Turkey. The fact that they persecute our fellow Christians is never mentioned. What about the Europeans? They're about ready to admit Turkey into the European Union. No questions about Muslim persecution of Christians - never mentioned. Can you imagine what would happen, for example, if the U.S.A. persecuted Muslims in America? The Muslims killed a bunch of innocent people and burned some towns when a Danish newspaper published a cartoon they deemed "offensive," but we do nothing when the Muslims kill and persecute our brothers and sisters. There some things in life that I will never understand; or am I in a different planet?

Divided We Fall

2009-12-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered why Christians are so divided? It is estimated that there are over 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. The very first and greatest division in Christianity happened in 1054 AD when the Roman church split with the eastern church over some minor differences, one of them being when one word, filioque, was added to the Nicene Creed, in what became known as the Great Schism. This was not only the beginning of the end but the fatal blow to Christianity as a unified religion. The first deleterious consequence of this split happened in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Muslim Turks. Constantinople, today known as Istanbul, was the capital of Christianity since 335 AD. The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople was the greatest and most grandiose Christian Church in the world. With the fall of Constantinople, the last vestige of the Roman Empire ended forever; Christianity lost half of its geographic territory and was seriously wounded.

The Eastern Roman Empire was more commonly known as the Byzantine Empire after the fall of the Western Empire, around 476 AD. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of a Christian era and the elimination of Christianity in a large part of the world. Imagine what it would be like today if we lost all of Europe to a Muslim power. Today you know The Byzantine Empire as the modern country of Turkey. Turkey was known as Asia Minor in Roman days and was the cradle of Christianity. We are still paying the price today for the loss of the Byzantine Empire. The Muslims gained not only a large area of land the size of a continent, but they gained enormous political and military power that they still exercise today.

The Ottoman Empire was one of the world’s strongest and most enduring empires of all time, certainly on par with the empires of Persia, Babylon, Greece of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire. The Ottoman Empire ended with the end of World War I. With the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, the British became the dominant power broker in the area and they proceeded to cut up the area in a hodgepodge of countries such as Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. In Iraq, they drew the national borders to include three diverse ethnic groups, the Kurds, the Sunni Muslims and the Shia Muslims, which in turn gave us the problems we have today.

I’ve often wondered out loud how the Western Europeans could let their Christian brothers be conquered without lifting a finger. A very small army from the City state of Genoa, a force of about 800 soldiers, did answer the call from the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, but the rest did nothing. I’ve often verbalized this rhetorical question, knowing that there is no answer coming. The Muslims did not just start fighting us on 9/11 they’ve been fighting us since the death of Mohammed around 632 AD. A brief summary:

At the death of Mohammed, the Muslims started their military and religious conquest of everything they could take, starting from the area of current day Saudi Arabia. They not only conquered land but also killed all those who refused to convert to Islam. The Muslim conquest was so enormous that it was breathtaking. For example, they conquered not only the entire Middle East and North Africa, but also large parts of Europe, including Spain, Greece, Yugoslavia, Sicily and Southern Italy. They were finally stopped just short of Vienna. Spain was finally liberated from the Muslims in the famous war with the Moors in 1492. The Spanish King, Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, could not approve Christopher Columbus’s exploration of the America’s until the defeat of the Muslim Moors. Sicily and Southern Italy were liberated by Norman-French private armies in 1095, Led by Roger de Houteville, who later became the first King of Sicily, Roger I. In my hometown of Geraci Siculo in the beautiful Madonie Mountains of north central Sicily, there are splendid Saracen ruins such as castles and huge escape underground tunnels. The Muslims in Sicily and Southern Italy were known as Saracens.

Many liberal people today argue that we should never go to war. Yes, technically, that is true, war is very bad, but wars in some cases are necessary. In 1453, Western Europe decided, “war was not the answer.” They let their Christian brothers be slaughtered, annihilated, and have their entire empire be conquered. During the conquest of Constantinople, the Turks murdered anyone that refused to surrender. The defenseless Byzantines were crushed, never to be seen or heard of again. Download Lars Brownworth’s pod cast of the history of The Byzantine Empire called “12 Byzantine Rulers”. Brownworth, a scholar of this area, delivers a compelling tale with great narration that will leave you spell bound; a gem for any history buff.

Today, most Christians will not even cooperate with each other even when they agree. For example, they rarely cooperate to end abortion, even though they agree on the dignity of life. Recently, a group of Protestants and Catholics did cooperate with the signing of the Manhattan Declaration. I urge all of you to sign this declaration by clicking on this link. Some people grumbled that they would not sign it because they claim that some liberal Christians signed it. What? How can you fail to cooperate with someone who is on your side? The Manhattan Declaration is a great move since it marks one of the first time that Christians have decided to cooperate. Together they can accomplish things like political power to prevent liberal domination of the abortion issue in law. Apart they can have little effect. Being divided is exactly what the opposition wants. Divided we fall, united we win. We must learn from history or we will be condemned to repeat it as it was pointed out in my first post on this blog.

“Peace in our Time” Obama and the Coming Iranian Train Wreck

2009-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Within a few days of my first piece on this blog, “Why History is Important,” I received my December 7, 2009 issue of “The Weekly Standard” magazine. Upon opening the magazine I found a story written by a German political scientist, Matthias Küntzel, titled “Obama’s Search for Peace in Our Time.” The article is an uncanny comparison to what I discussed in “Why History is Important” and why we will repeat history rather than learn from it. It looks like President Obama either has not studied history, or has failed to learn from it. Click on the link above to read this important article.

The Küntzel piece details the history of how the “5 +1” powers, France, Britain, China, Russia + Germany and the United States have appeased Iran for the last 10 years and how the Iranians have played the “5+1” powers like a champion yoyo player rocks the baby. Küntzel is especially hard on his own country, Germany, on how they have impeded any sanctions for their friends, the Iranians.

Just when the Europeans were tired of Iran’s intransigence and wished to start meaningful sanctions, the United States got a new President, Barack Obama, who’s strategy is to appease, be nice, apologize and twist himself into a pretzel just to gain favor with the Iranian thugs and world opinion. To quote Küntzel: “Whereas George Bush denounced the Islamism of the Iranian regime, his successor attempts to ingratiate himself by offering compliments and apologies. Whereas before it was the Europeans who packaged their failures as successful “dialogue,” now it is Washington that does it.” This is no surprise since Obama campaigned on the promise of being anti-war, anti-Bush and so convinced of his ability to convince anybody that he will hold out till hell freezes over for negotiating with Iran to stop their nuclear program. As with our friends and neighbors, some people will never learn; the only problem is that when the leader of the strongest nation in the world does it, we will pay a heavy price.

War and the Nature of Man

2009-12-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

Victor Davis Hanson is a great scholar of ancient history. In his latest article on Imprimus, the Hillsdale College publication titled "The Future of Western War," he makes a great case about how war is in the nature of man and part of who we are. Now this, in no way glorifies war, but discusses our human nature and how it is in our human nature to make war. When I was a child, I recall that I would think about whether I would end up in a war, since my dad had been involved in one, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, and in World War II. I wondered whether that would also be my fate. Sure enough, although I was in a world completely different that I was born in, the hills of Sicily. As a child of 12 years old my family moved from Sicily to Los Angeles, California. In 1968 I found myself in Saigon, South Vietnam in the U.S. Army. My fears had come true. I was now in a war just as my father had been.

I highly recommend this article by Dr. Hanson. Very true and revealing of the heart of men.

Why History is Important

2009-11-30T20:02:00.000-08:00

Besides the Book of Proverbs in the Bible, my favorite proverb is one made famous by the Spanish Philosopher George Santayana: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I believe that this is one of the most important lesson anyone can learn in life. It is important in our personal life and in the life of any family, nation, peoples, tribe or group of people. In your personal life, I’m sure that each of us has learned many important lessons just by our experiences; things that we want to repeat and things that we would never repeat. Now, if we fail to learn such lessons, then we will repeat them, whether it’s a relationship, a political philosophy, or a business strategy.

One of the most important lessons in our recent history is the famous meeting between British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler in September 1938, which produced the famous “peace in our time” agreement. Chamberlain was an honorable man who had gone through the worst war in world history, World War I, and he did not want another one less than 20 years later. After Hitler invaded the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, the Europeans were very worried about an all out war with Germany. Determined that he would do whatever he could to avoid war, Chamberlain went to Germany to meet the Führer in September 1938. Hitler signed an agreement with Britain that, in exchange for peace, Czechoslovakia would give up the Sudetenland and Germany would be allowed to keep parts of Poland that they wanted. Chamberlain returned to England and proclaimed that he had achieved “peace in our time.” See this You Tube video of Chamberlain proclaiming“ peace in our time.

In summary, Chamberlain had given Hitler part of Poland and part of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland, if he would not make war on the rest of Europe. We refer to this as appeasement, meaning giving in to a bully so that he will leave you alone. As the world well knows, Hitler had no intention of abiding by this agreement, which he had signed. The next year, 1939, he invaded Poland and Russia and World War II exploded. Here is where I go back to the quote from George Santayana mentioned earlier. Have we learned from history or are we repeating the same thing? In politics, for the most part, those who are of the left always argue, “war is not the answer.” They always argue that diplomacy is what we need and it is the only way to solve problems. Now, I agree that diplomacy should be used, but there is a limit to what it can do.

Giving in to bullies never works. Starting from your childhood bully down the street, to a world bully such as Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il, the North Korean dictator, we’ve learned that you can never appease them. For the last 20 years the United States has tried to appease Kim Jong-il to no avail. The same can be said for the Ayatollahs of Iran, or the tyrants of Palestine, Syria, Cuba or Venezuela.

History is important because it teaches us lessons in life that we can never learn from books, lectures or flowery eloquent rhetoric. There is a saying that children should be allowed to make their own mistakes because that will be the way they learn. If mom and dad tell them they will not learn, but experience will be a better teacher. Again, if we fail to learn from history, we are condemned to repeat it.