Mideast Turmoil

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The media infatuation with the “Arab Spring” reminded me of the high hopes when Fidel Castro overthrew Batista in Cuba. There was a celebratory feel to the reporting about that event. The bloom was quickly taken off  when Che Guevara presided over show trials in a sports stadium and the summary execution of large numbers of people. There weren’t that many executions after the overthrow of dictators in the Middle East, although Moammar Gadhafi may have thought there was at least one important execution.

Democracy is always messier than dictatorships, and the recent protests, riots, and U.S. embassy attacks are a good reminder of that. There were two headlines in the Sunday, September 16, 2012 Denver post pertinent to the current events in that part of the world. One that doesn’t require much more explanation is “No Plan for Syria” by Albert Aji of the Associated Press. “The new international envoy tasked with ending Syria’s civil war summed up his first foray to Damascus on Saturday with a startling and frank admission that he has no plan for stopping the bloodshed that he warned could threaten world peace.”

The second headline was “Don’t give up on Arab Spring” by Shadi Hamid. He points out there is irony that Barrack Obama’s decision to intervene in Libya resulted in the overthrow of Gadhafi’s dictatorship. That set up the conditions for the attack on the U.S. embassy and the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stephens and three other Americans. Frighteningly, Mr. Hamid observes that Libya is “…the most pro-American country in the Arab world.” He also says anti-American sentiment “…will almost certainly increase after the NATO operations fades from memory. In fact…U.S. favorability ratings have been lower under Obama than they were in the final years of President George W. Bush’s administration.” There might be wisdom in observations that demonstration of strength results in respect and conciliation results in contempt.

U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is in a terrible mess, and that probably shouldn’t be a surprise in an area where the control provided by brutal dictatorships has been removed. People have learned that they can gain political power with violence. I find it curious that the policies of the Obama administration are not being questioned by much of the U.S. media.  Reports seem to focus on Romney “getting in the way” with comments suggesting our foreign policy should not be based on apologies.

Getting a Leg Up

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This expression is said by a web site to mean to get a boost or advantage. It is said to originate from the act of receiving help in mounting a horse when a helper creates “…a foothold by cupping the hands to heft the driver upward, throwing a leg up and over the steed.”

The Cross and the Crescent: A History of the Crusades

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crescentI’ve always believed I am quite poorly informed about the Crusades and have read that Muslim resentment continues to this day about the many invasions to “cast the infidels out of the Holy Land.” I don’t think my understanding of the crusades improved much after reading this book by Malcom Billings. There is significant detail of people, alliances, paths taken to the various battle sites, battles, and outcomes. What the Crusades accomplished for the Catholic Church still seems to me to be a mystery. The Church certainly sent several Crusades of tens of thousands of loyal worshipers off to what was death or slavery for many or most. Crusaders often had to give up everything to fund their preparations to arm and equip themselves and their entourage for a brutally hazardous trip for the honor of dying on the journey, fighting to the death or being enslaved in a faraway location. The book was prepared as a companion to a BBC radio series, and perhaps the radio shows in combination with the book would have left me feeling a bit more comfortable.

I’m not going to try to sort out the overwhelming amount of information about the countless Crusades, but there were some interesting factoids, and I did learn a few things. For example, the Pope Urban II “preached” the first crusade in 1096, and a key figure was a very strange sounding man called Peter the Hermit. The beginning of that crusade was consistent with what happened on many of the crusades. There were 800 Jews slaughtered by the crusaders as they were setting out for the Holy Land.

There are references to towns at various locations along the path to the Holy Land being sacked and inhabitants raped and murdered during many of the crusades. It seems the Crusaders often contained bands of murderous thieves. On the other side there were the Knights Templar who were generally quite admirable and the Knights of Saint John, or Hospitalers, who dedicated themselves to caring for the sick and injured.

I challenge anyone to keep up with the numerous popes “preaching” Crusades and threatening to cast anyone failing to answer the call from the church. There was one remarkable time when there were three claiming to be pope, and they were calling for Crusades to support their claim to the position.

Many of the battles were over some location where there was supposed to be a religious relic to be recovered. It sounded as if there were enough “splinters of the true cross” that someone could have assembled several crosses. Two gruesome relics were the decapitated heads of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. There were also numerous references to pieces of bones of various saints. The battles were often sieges against massive castles, and the book has photographs of the remnants of many of those.

It sounded as if the greatest challenge to crusaders was to survive the trip to the battle. The journey was long and the paths often took them over mountain ranges with brutal weather and little food to be scavenged. Many of the crusaders and their horses and other livestock died on the way. Then they faced well rested and equally dedicated foes intent on killing them. The battles were vicious affairs. There was one description that so many arrows were launched at the crusaders that it wasn’t uncommon for someone to survive but “look like a porcupine” with all the arrows that had struck them. There were some acts of kindness, but mostly victors slaughtered the fallen indiscriminately. The only survivors of a defeated city, regardless of whether the defeated were Christian or Muslim, would be sold into slavery. The value of slaves plummeted because of the Crusades. One man was sold for the “price of a shoe” in a time when there was such a glut of slaves.

I mentioned some interesting factoids. Richard the Lionhearted defeated the followers of Isaac Ducas Comnenus, who called himself “Emperor of Cyprus” and had made an alliance with Saladin (I include these details to demonstrate the level of detail in the book). The “Emperor” was brought before Richard and said his only request was, “…that he might not be placed in fetters and manacles of iron.” The King “…ordered fetters and manacles of silver and gold be made for him.” Richard died of infection after he was shot by a crossbow bolt during a siege of a castle in Aquitaine (just as portrayed in the Russell Crowe movie “Robin Hood”).

A good example of the senseless brutality was a battle where Christians fought alongside Muslims against a Crusader assault on the town of Beziers. The Crusaders won and 7000 people from the town packed themselves into the church. The church was ordered to be burned, and when told that there were Christians in the church the “…papal legate then made a remark that has resounded through the centuries. ‘Kill them all, God will know his own’.”

Perhaps the most interesting factoid was the siege of Kerak by Saladin against “…Reynald of Chatillion who had been Prince of Antioch…” Reynald was hosting a wedding party when Saladin’s forces arrived, and the festivities continued while the artillery barrage pounded the walls. The bridegroom’s mother sent some dishes from the wedding feast to Saladin’s tent. “He chivalrously responded by enquiring where the newlyweds were sleeping, and gave orders to his artillery to ease up on that part of the citadel!”

I’ve been interested in the insanity of the “Children’s Crusade,” and there were only a couple of pages with little information about the Crusade. A shepherd named Stephen preached a Crusade in 1212 for children based on what he said was a vision of Christ. There is a picture of the Crusade, which was said to be consisted of thousands of children aged 6 to teenagers, riding hobby horses on their way to the Holy Land. The only survivors I noted were those who were loaded into ships that sailed to Egypt where they were immediately captured on arrival and sold into slavery.

Popes did not learn from the insanity of the Children’s Crusade. There were Crusades being “preached” by Popes as late as 1798.

Another Reset in Russia and U.S. Relations

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Diplomats had a good time three years ago when Hillary Clinton gave Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a “mock reset button” to symbolize U.S. hopes to improve relations with Moscow. The big news at that time was that the “peregruzka” label on the button that was intended to mean “reset” instead translated to “overcharged” or “overloaded.” The presentation of the button was said to have been in response to one of Vice President Biden’s gaffes. This one had something to do with the new administration wanting to reset ties with Russia after years of friction.

The recent termination of a U.S. aid organization’s activities by the Kremlin represents an ominous reset in relations. The September 20, 2012 English version of Pravda by Oleg Artyukov reported that the “…decision to terminate the activity of the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, in Russia has expectedly caused a great deal of noise. Human rights advocates are in shock…” The Russian Foreign Minister said the decision to shut down the agency was made “…due to attempts of the agency to influence political processes, civil society institutions, and elections…”

The agency had distributed $2.7 billion in Russia since 1992.  A State Department spokeswoman said, “…not very confidently…” that a third of the money went to “…development of democracy.”  A New York Times article by David M. Heszenhorn published in the September 23, 2012 Denver Post said the money funded “…programs touching nearly every facet of society in the former communist state — fighting the spread of tuberculosis and HIV, developing judicial systems and training lawyers and judges, promoting child welfare, job readiness, youth engagement, human rights and democracy, even helping modernize the electric grid.”

It is apparent there is justification for the Russian accusation that the agency was being used to meddle in Russia’s internal affairs in addition to all the positive activities. An association that monitors elections in Russia called “The Voice” put out a statement that “The hastiness and sudden nature of this decision is apparently related to the elections on October 14.” There are continuing protests about that election, and Vladimir Putin has sent another warning to the protestors.

The U.S. media coverage of the story is perhaps as interesting as the story itself. The story was published on page 23A of the Sunday Denver Post, and I found little else about it except on the English Pravda site.  Senator John McCain described the closure of the USAID mission as “an insult to the United States and a finger in the eye of the Obama Administration.”  Is it possible the U.S. media doesn’t want to publish news of a major setback to Mr. Obama’s foreign policies when there is an election coming up?

Going Dutch

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The term means that each person pays their own part of a bill. Goradio.com writes that the origin was from a feud between England and the Netherlands, and the English used “Dutch” in several phrases that had negative connotations. Examples were “Dutch courage” (meaning cowardice or someone gaining courage by getting drunk) and “Dutch treat” (which indicated that someone was too stingy to give a treat). “Going Dutch” therefore originally indicated that someone was too miserly to pay for someone else’s meal or other things in an evening out.

True Grit

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true-gritThis book by Charles Portis is considered a classic, and it deserves the title. I normally don’t review fiction books, but decided to review this one because it was the recent selection of our “Denver Read and Feed” book club. The main character of the story is fourteen year old Mattie Ross, who is on a mission to avenge the murder of her father at the hands of a hired hand who had been treated kindly by the father. Tom Chaney had not only killed her father but had taken his horse, $150 in cash, and two California gold pieces. Mattie hired Marshall Rooster Cogburn (played by John Wayne in the first movie) and they were joined by a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (pronounced LaBeef) who is also seeking Tom Clancy for another murder. 

One book club member who reviewed a draft of this review commented that it doesn’t have enough information “…about the characters,the scene, the mood, the story line, or the writing style.” That’s all true, and I will refer to the many reviews on Amazon that can fill in that information (because I’m too lazy to add it myself.) Better yet, read the book. You’ll be glad you did.

I’m going to first put aside some quibbles I have with the story and then turn the review over to some selected comments recorded by some members of the book club. The first quibble is mention of a drummer staying in the boarding house with Mattie and others who sold “pocket calculators.” Various other True Grit fans have tried to figure this out also. One theory was that it referred to an “Addiator,” but those weren’t made until about 1920 and the time frame for the story is about 1870. There was a “Gem” calculator made in England between about 1880 and 1890, but it was used to calculate English money. One credible idea is that the reference was to slide rules, which were around in the proper time frame.

Another quibble is that newspaper editors were called “cheap skates.” I’ve described the origin of that term on the expression link of this web site, and it is said to not have come into existence in late 1800s to describe a worn out horse or “second-rate sportsman.” It was also used to describe roller skates made beginning in the early 1900s that were literally so cheap that it was difficult to keep them on. Also in the early 1900s there was a panhandler named Kate who became wealthy but continued to beg. People began to say about thrifty people that they were as “cheap as Kate,” which soon evolved into “cheapskate.”

There is a description of Mattie fetching water for the evening campsite, and she was staggering under the weight of two buckets. Rooster told her she looked like a “hog on ice.” The origin of that term was the first posting on the expression link of this web site. Hogs are said to be more or less helpless on ice, because their hooves do not give them traction. Anyone looking clumsy could be described described as a “hog on ice.” It also was used to describe someone who is so full of themselves that they ignore others and charge ahead without regard for consequences.

I will concede that the historical “inconsistencies” might have resulted from the fact the author (Mattie) was “writing” several years or decades after the events described in the book. Regardless, I consider this to be a wonderful book!

I’ll now turn the review to the book club members, who gave the book an above average score of 7.6 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Steve—”I found the book somewhat appealing. It had some great narratives… (7)

Sheryl—”Fun to read. I liked the movie better.” (6)

Farrel—”Interesting book despite some…inaccuracies. (8)

Stephanie—”Hilarious dialogue and a fun story…I liked Mattie Ross and found the story interesting.”(7)

Barb—”I love the use of language in this book and the story is genuinely gripping.” (A later email comment added, “I think Mattie’s early adventure with Rooster and LeBoeuf spoiled her for less dramatic relationships, and that’s why she never married.” (9)

Cathy—”Once I got started, I really enjoyed it. I liked Mattie. Rooster annoyed me at times, but I thought it was a good story.” (7)

Paul—”Even a hick 14-year old doesn’t speak like this. Regardless, she was annoying. I kept thinking, ‘I don’t care’.” (5)

Sally—”I loved this book. It was an engaging and quick read. I loved Mattie Ross…” (9)

Tara–True Grit was interesting but not believable.” (8)

Frank—I liked this book and liked the feeling and I guess the sense of time. It was great. (9)