Jackie Robinson: A light on a Hill

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden." Mat 5:14

 I came to America at the age of 12.  One of the first American passions I quickly developed was the love of baseball.  Before I realized his greatness, I used to listen to the voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully.  He is perhaps the reason I developed my baseball passion.  The year was 1958, the same year the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn. No one could paint word pictures better than Vinny.  As an example, and before I learned all the baseball lingo, when Vin would say, "sharp grounder, through the hole, into left field." I thought there must be an actual hole in the infield.  I heard Vin tell stories of the great Dodgers Brooklyn teams of the late 40s and 50s. Within a short time I had a complete history of the  of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  I idealized the Brooklyn Dodgers and thought it was a shame they moved out of there. No team has ever had a connection with the city they played in as the Brooklyn Dodgers.  I also heard many stories of the 1951 playoff against the New York Giants, when Bobby Thompson hit the historic home run to beat the Dodgers and go the World Series that year.  In 1959, a Los Angeles radio station, I believe it was KFWB, re-broadcast that game and I heard the entirety of it. Here is a six minute YouTube summary of that famous game.

The undisputed leader and the most consequential Dodger of that Brooklyn period, and perhaps the last 100 years, was the great Jackie Robinson; the first black player to play in the major leagues. There is no doubt in my mind that what Jackie did was instrumental in finally ending the vicious discrimination against black Americans years later. He paid a heavy price for it, but it was his dignity, despite brutal discrimination, that showed the world the evil of discrimination. He was the first step, followed by Martin Luther King, which eventually ended the horrors of discrimination. 

As a recent immigrant, I had no idea of the terrible discrimination American blacks were going through in other parts of the country. In Los Angeles where I lived I saw no such discrimination.  I lived in an integrated neighborhood in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles.  Jackie, on the other hand, could not stay at the same hotel or eat at such hotel as his team mates; he had to go to a private home or elsewhere. He had to put up with racial epithets and control his rage.  In Matthew 5:14 Jesus tells us believers that we are the light of the world and that we must show such light so others can see it and glorify God.  Jackie was such a light.  He should be a saint.

For a fine history of Jackie Robinson, I highly recommend a book called "True, the Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson" by Kostya Kennedy.  The book covers his rise from the Negro leagues and his hiring by Branch Ricky of the Brooklyn Dodgers, his first year in the minors in Montreal to his famed Dodger career, ending in 1956 and the period after his baseball career.  Click here to see the book.  

War and Man's Inhumanity to Man

 When I arrived at my US Army post in Nha Trang, South Vietnam in May of 1968 I saw a sign that read :  "Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for I am the evilest son of a bitch in the Valley" (a bad reference to Psalm 23).   Welcome to the hell of war, I thought.  Don't think I would say such a thing here nor anywhere. I could not believe anyone could say such a thing.  I learned later that war makes people lose their moral compass.  Ordinary men become monsters.  On an outing in town one evening, as I was returning to base a drunk GI was trying to grab people passing on motorcycles so he could throw them down and possibly injure or kill them.

Today I read a sad story in the Wall Street Journal of a Russian Wagner group, private army recruit.  Click here for the story.  This man was recruited out of prison with the promise of freedom if he survived after six months of war.  He did not know what he was getting into.  He surrendered to the Ukrainians and was later turned over to the Russians in a prisoner exchange.  Now, the Ukrainians knew that this would be a death sentence; yet they did it.  The Russians brutally butchered the man upon his arrival into their hands.  How can men be so brutal to each other?  Life means nothing in such circumstances. 

The Wagner Group is brutal in their treatment of their own soldiers.  You do what you're ordered to do even if it means a suicide charge of enemy positions.  If you retreat, you're shot by your own people. Welcome to the hell of war.

The Failure of the United Nations

 The United Nations (UN) was originally established after World War II to promote peace in the world.  It's no secret that it has been a complete failure at this.  Let's start with the present and go back.  Last year the Russians invaded Ukraine for the purpose of conquering it and re-establishing the old Soviet Union.  Have you heard any condemnation from the UN about the Ukraine invasion?  If they have, I've not heard it.  The Russians are committing horrible war crimes against humanity in Ukraine.  Where is the outrage?  The Russians have bombed hospitals, children centers and leveled most of Ukraine.  Where is the outrage from the UN? 

The UN has a big microphone; they could make use of it regularly but yet it's silent.  This is par for the course.  When have you heard the UN make any attempts to stop a conflict?  Oh, yes, they have sent some soldiers to hot spots such as Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia, but what has been the result?  

China has recently made it known that they want to conquer Taiwan.  Did you ever hear the UN raise a fuss about it?  No.  Silence.  This is the MO of the UN.  See no evil, hear no evil.  Now they do make their voices heard at times, such as for global warming, for the "woke" agenda and the like, but for world peace?  Nothing.  Stalin was famous for asking the question, "how many divisions does the Pope have?"  The same can be said of the UN.  They have no power and they refuse to use the big pulpit that they have to promote peace.  

When I was studying Public Administration in college there was a saying that once a bureaucracy is established its impossible to get rid of it.  This can be said of the UN.  Even-though they're useless, we can't get rid of it.  I would propose that we stop paying any of their costs.  In business, if you fail, no one will give you money; the same should be done with the UN.

The Importance of Helping Ukraine

 As a conservative I'm amazed at some of my fellow conservatives' animus toward helping Ukraine win their war against Russia.  The other day, one of my friends mentioned that he had heard that there are a lot Nazis in Ukraine.  What?  Where did he hear this from?  This is the false propaganda put out by the hallucinating Putin, as one of his delusional reasons for invading Ukraine.   I've heard similar false fantasies similar to this from other hard-right followers.  Few countries have had a more devastating and murderous history than the Ukrainians. If we just go back to World War II, the Soviet leader Josef Stalin starved four to seven million Ukrainians so he could force them into his farm collectivism.  Click here for the history of this.  After Stalin, the German Nazis came in and invaded the Soviet Union;  devastateing Ukraine, killing millions.  The Nazis were especially adept at getting help from the local population in killing Jews.  In Kiev alone, over 30,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis.  The Nazis MO was to surround a big city such as Kiev and starve it to death.  A method they repeated in Leningrad.  After the Nazis we had 60 plus years of Soviet Union oppression. For a more detailed history of the Nazi invasion of Russia see the book, "Kiev 1941 Hitler's Battle for Supremacy in the East" by David Stahl, Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Many Ukrainian deniers of our day will say such things as what do we have to do with a "border conflict" that does not affect us?  What?  This is akin to what Neville Chamberlain said when he made "peace" with Hitler over the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia in 1938.  When the Ottoman Turks were conquering the world, the Europeans had the same "I don't care" response.  It does not affect us so we will ignore it.  Well, the Ottomans were not satisfied to conquer the Byzantines, nor the Balkans, they wanted the rest of the world.  They finally reached the door of Europe.  First in the Siege of Vienna in 1529 and again,  the second Siege of Vienna in 1683.  So, a war far away from your border is not your problem?  Wait until they reach your back door.  Europeans today have the same "not interested" attitude.  Sure they're providing some weapons to Ukraine, but their heart is really not there. I recently saw an Instagram video by an Italian politician criticizing the NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg for his support of Ukraine.  When I commented that I agree with the NATO leader, I got some ad hominem attacks.  One (an Italian) responded to my comment that I would be sent to war and then "I would cry for my mommy."  I never mentioned that I was a soldier in a war - Vietnam.  This clueless person exemplifies the malicious nonchalance of the "if it's not in my backyard, I don't care crowd." This attitude has had deadly effects in history.  If the Europeans had been more involved during the Ottoman Turks conquests, Turkey today would not occupy the former Eastern Roman Empire, aka, Asia Minor.  I often hear criticism of Americans in regard to our helping others militarily.   Europeans owe their life to American help.  Without it, Europe would have been under the Nazis after WWII.   The French still do not understand this, after being rescued by Americans twice in 20 years. WWII was far away from America, but America responded to save their European brethren, with little appreciation to this day.

If Russia conquered Ukraine, they will demolish, as they have already done, much of the country and slaughter the Ukrainian population in the process.  Even if you're one of the "not in my backyard" crowd this alone should awaken you to a moral peril that affects every one of us.  Second, Russia will not be satisfied with Ukraine.  They will go after Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, the Baltic states and others.  When will you awake?  When rockets rain down on your city?  Third, a Russian victory will embolden China to conquer Taiwan.  They will not be satisfied with Taiwan either.   Do I have to draw you a map? Was Hitler satisfied with the Sudetenland?  Was he satisfied with occupying most of Europe?  After he accomplished all of this he attacked Russia.  What more examples can I give? 

Mindless Land Transfers in History - Italian Edition

 Jealousy is one of the most corrosive acts of the human heart; it can have destructive personal affects and sometimes national affects.  Throughout history there have been many border and land changes.  Some have been just plain bizarre.  In 1860 the Italians, eager to unify the Papal States and their numerous city states, which had warred with each other for centuries decided to surrender the Province of Savoy and the city of  Nizza (Nice) to France in return for support of their unification.  The area of Nice was in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia at the time.  Italian unification was led by Giuseppe Garibaldi and his long time adversary, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour.  Click here to see a short summary of the history of Nice.  One of the main reasons that the Italians decided to cede Nice to the French, was Cavour's jealousy of Garibaldi, the hero of Italian unification, and a native of Nice.  The Italians also wanted  French help  in holding back any challenge from the Austrians.  

Garibaldi had spent most of his life fighting wars of freedom and unification in South America, specifically Brazil and Uruguay.  His most famous battle, however,  was in Rome in 1849, where he was defeated by a large, 30,000 strong, French Army who had come to help Pope Pius IX retain the Papal States, against his people's will.  The Pope was the absolute ruler and dictator of the Papal States.  Garibaldi had a small band of seasoned fighters that he brought from Uruguay and a rag tag army of Roman volunteers.  The French army had all the heavy weapons; Garibaldi had none.  Garibaldi's men fought a brave, ferocious, battle but it was a lost cause. Their fate could be compared to the famous Greek Last Stand of the 300 at Thermopylae in 480BC. The French bombed Rome with impunity and killed over 2,000 Romans in the process.   Despite the pleas of the French not to punish the rebels, Pius IX executed many people who had fought with Garibaldi, or supported the rebel cause.  There were no trials or verification of what they were accused of; many were publicly  executed in such places as Piazza del Popolo in Rome.  The French Army remained in Rome to help the pope rule until 1870 when they had to return to France to fight the German invasion of France in what became known as the Franco-Prussian war of 1870; a war France lost. The French Army posted signs all over Rome stating that anyone caught with a weapon would be summarily executed.

Garibaldi was the best military commander of his day.  He was enormously  charismatic and popular wherever he went.  After the end of the war in Uruguay, over 1,000 of his fighters followed him to Rome to help the people establish a free Italian state.   they all willingly gave their lives for Garibaldi.  One of those 1,000 was a brilliant black former Uruguayan slave and  warrior, known as Andrea il Moro, Andrea Aguyar.  This fierce fighter brought with him a tactic not known in Europe, the ability to lasso enemy cavalry, pull them off their horse and eliminate them.  Aguyar was killed on the last day of the battle for Rome; his last words were “Long live the Republics of America and Rome!” Aguyar, was one of the best soldiers of his day.  Garibaldi had appointed him as his aid-de-camp and his right hand man.  Among the truly remarkable warriors of all time, Aguyar is certainly one. Click here for a short story about Aguyar. Garibaldi got an equestrian statue in Janiculum Hill in Rome, but not Aguyar; a shame.  

One of the best biography of Garibaldi is a 1974 book by Jasper Ridley called "Garibaldi."  For a fine history of Garibaldi's 1849 Battle of Rome, see a very fine book by Tim Parks called "The Hero's Way," published in 2021 by W.W. Norton & Company.  This book brilliantly details the battle for Rome and the legendary retreat that followed.

To this day, we have regions in many countries who want to separate and become independent, such as Catalonia and the Basque Country in Spain.  The Italian city-states are another example from past history.  This experiment in local independence has been a complete failure throughout history, yet many still desire it.  

A second bizarre land transfer, again, involves France and Italy with the transfer of Corsica to France in 1769.  Corsica had been a part of the City state of Genoa. The Genoese sold the island to France two years earlier. Again, France got the better part of it. 

At the end of World War II, Italy, again, was forced to cede territory in the north eastern border with Slovenia and Croatia; the area known as Istria.  Italians living in this are were forced to abandon their property and vacate the land.  One such famous person who was one of the evacuees was the auto race driver, Mario Andretti.  Click here for a YouTube video documentary by Mario about how his family was forced to abandon their home in 1948.  The Italian government never paid these people for the lost property.  A very fine book, in Italian, called "Il Lungo Esodo" (2005) by Raoul Pupo, details the painful, and tragic events of this terrible exodus.  This territory was then given to the communist dictator and tyrant, Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia.  The Yugoslavs murdered many Italians in this area during this period.  This, without doubt, was the most disgraceful surrender of national territory.  Men have fought and died for far less than this.  This will live in infamy in Italian history. Viva Garibaldi.

The Winds of War

 The current Ukrainian success against a much stronger Russian military may or may not be surprising. The history of war is full of examples of small, outnumbered forces beating larger armies. Here are some examples:

The United States vs Great Britain in 1776 and 1812.  Britain was the greatest empire of the world at the time the United States declared their independence.  The British military was the number one power in the world.  Yet they were decisively beaten by a rag-tag American army made of of private citizens for the most part.  You could argue about what the cause of the British failure, but one reason for the American success was its leadership under George Washington.  In Roman times this proved to be the deciding factor in victories or defeats.  During the time of Julius Caesar, his leadership was so esteemed that whenever he appeared to his troops, they would turn the time of the battle.  In World War II the United States was blessed with strong, proficient leaders such as General George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, or General Douglas MacArthur.  The same could be said of the German military with such competent leaders as Erwin Rommel, Herman Goering, Friedrich Paulus, who commanded the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, and others.

The French Indochina War of 1946-54.  The French had a formidable army.  The Vietnamese were a third world colonial country. The French had modern weapons and an Air Force and help from the United States.  Yet, the Vietnamese soundly defeated the French in the final decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

Italy loses to Ethiopia - 1895-96.  A modern European power loses a war against tribesmen of a backward country like Ethiopia.  

In ancient history we have the example of Greece vs Persia.  The Greek city states were not all united; some even fought for the Persians. The Persians, at the time, had the largest and greatest empire of their day.  Then they got greedy:  the wanted to take Greece too. Two Persian invasions of Greece took place. The first was under King Darius in 492 BC.  It ended with a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.  The Persians were so humiliated that Darius vowed revenge.  Revenge took place in the name of Darius's son Xerxes.  This second war took place from 480 BC to 479 BC, again, it ended in a humiliating Persian defeat. Some of the famous battles in this second war include the naval battle of Salamis, the Battle of Plataea and Thermopylae Pass. 

The Tyranny of Tyrants

Tyrannical regimes have very little crime.  Saddam Hussein had a way of dealing with criminals that democracies do not have:  they were summarily executed, whether guilty or not. Iraqi soccer players who did not win international tournaments were turned over to Saddam's sons who would torture them.  During Mussolini's tenure the Sicilian Mafia did not move a finger.  In North Korea, you can be executed at the whim of the tyrant there at the time.  Currently it's Rocket Man, aka, Kim Jung Un. In Communist China, if you criticize the tyrannical regime you're history.  Today the Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen is in prison for not being a supporter of the Chinese tyrants.  If you protest in Hong Kong, there is a good chance you'll end up dead or in prison for a long time.

Tyrants have come in history in many guises, Kings, dictators and tyrants of all stripes.  The English King, Henry VIII, not only ordered the execution of anyone who displeased him but his wives too. When Henry did not get what he wanted from the Catholic Church, he started his own church.  To this day, England follows that example.  In ancient history, for example, King Xerxes of the Persian Empire, decided to go to war against Greece because his wife wanted a Greek woman servant.  So King Xerxes mobilized hundreds of thousands of his troops to wage war on Greece, a war that he eventually lost at enormous costs.  Tyrants tend to get greedy.  Persia had one of the largest empires of all time in the 5th Century BC.  Their territory stretched from the entire Middle East, modern day Iran, to Egypt and as far as India.  Click here for a map of the Persian Empire of Xerxes. His empire was the greatest of his day. For a terrific history of this period there is a great new book, "The Harvest of War" by Stephen Kershaw.  Click here for a review of the book.

Nothing has changed.  Today we have tyrants such as Vladimir Putin of Russia, who, on his own accord, decided he wanted to reestablish the old Soviet Union, beginning with parts of Georgia and then followed by swallowing up the Crimea Peninsula and today, war on the entire country of Ukraine.  After less than a year of war it is estimated nearly 100,000 Russian soldiers have either been killed or wounded in battle, not to mention the loss of military equipment and the destruction of Ukraine.  A similar number of casualties for Ukraine.  All for the glory of one man.  During World War II Europe had an insane tyrant by the name of Adolf Hitler.  Just to satisfy his ego he invaded, conquered  and occupied most of Europe.  Not satisfied with that, he decided he wanted Russia too.  He lost.  On the way to doing all these misdeeds, he caused the death of about 50 million people.  German casualties in Russia alone amount to over three million soldiers.  The insanity goes on.  In the early 19th Century Napoleon of France had a big ego and wanted all of Europe and Russia too.  He waged war his entire life at the expense of the French solider. And the beat goes on.