The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America’s Finest Hour
By Andrei Cherny
This is truly a beautiful story. I knew something about it from reading the life story of General Lemay who was in charge of the Air Force in Europe at the beginning. I was a young GI serving in Japan while it occurred. I guess we were preoccupied with our own sphere of concern to understand what was happening in Germany. This fine book filled in the gaps for me and I will guess would for you as well. This would be particularly true for those too young to have been around at that time. I highly recommend reading by anyone interested in history and in particular American history.
It begins with the joyous meeting of Russian and American soldiers at the Elbe River. This is where our forces were ordered by General Eisenhower to stop. He saw no good reason to lose more lives fighting for Berlin since the war was essentially won. The book reports that the Russians lost 350,000 men taking Berlin. That is a larger number than the West lost in the European war to date. That was a wise decision.
The Russians were brutal in their revenge; looting, raping and killing citizens of the city. The partition of Germany into four zones; Russian, English, French and American also included the city of Berlin. Each country shared in administering. As the years advanced from 1945 to 1948 animosity built between Russia and the Allies. Russia lowered the Iron Curtain over the countries to the west of Russia and was on a mission to make all Europe Communist States. They refused to co-operate on issues large or small. During these years hatred of Germans was shared by all parties. The hardships they were suffering were what were owed to them after the devastation they had brought to Europe.
In March 1948 President Truman asked the Congress for prompt passage of the Marshall Plan to save Europe. This was not acceptable to Premier Stalin. Berlin was located deep in the Russian Zone. It was supplied by narrow corridors for planes, trains and trucks. On April 1, 1948 all routes into the city were blocked except air. Air became the only way to supply the Allied Forces and the two and one quarter million citizens. An airlift was immediately started. No one had any faith it would be able to sustain a population that large. All of Truman’s advisors recommended pulling out our troops and giving the city to Russia. Truman held firm. He said “We will not leave Berlin”. The Chief of Staffs refused to send additional aircraft. They were overruled by Truman.
The Airlift was haphazard at best until General William Tunner arrived. Under his leadership it became a well oiled machine with planes landing every three minutes night and day. One of the pilots was Hal Halvorsen. On one of his trips he wandered over to where German children were standing watching the planes coming in. He reached in his pocket and broke two pieces of gum and handed it thru the fence. He immediately got the idea of dropping candy with handkerchiefs as parachutes. He was able to communicate his intention. He told them to watch a plane that wiggled its wings. He did that and continued whenever he could get rations.
To make a long story short, let me just say that this small act of kindness mushroomed into a complete change between the citizens and our forces. They endured hardships thru that winter but held out in their resolve to be free. On May 1, 1949 the Russians opened the corridors and normalcy returned. American citizens were absorbed in the drama. It is suggested that President Truman was elected for a large part because of “Operation Candy Bombers”.
I found this book at the Tucson Public Library.
Jack B. Walters
September 22, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Teach our children the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
(Letter to the editor of the Arizona Daily Star)
I feel compelled to write in response to your lengthy editorial in today’s Star entitled “Ethnic-studies defense group must be open”. I support your insistence that the Ethics Group clean up their act. Have any of your reporters checked into where the funding is coming from? If you did I am convinced you would realize that it is being supported by the organizations that were responsible for the Legislature passing House Bill 2281 in the first place. Check the La Raza web site as a good place to start.
Teaching Hispanic youths that the white founders of our country were evil and that white people today wish to hold them down is completely wrong. Whether America was wrong about taking the territory of New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California from Mexico is of no interest. There was a war and that was the result. The home is where families can discuss their heritage, not the schools. That goes for the children of all immigrant families whatever their race or creed.
What should be taught to all students before they reach High School is a full year curriculum about our Constitution and the men and women who placed their lives on the line to give us today the freedoms we still enjoy? That the men who wrote the words were white and wore powdered wigs does not detract from the fact that they forged the greatest government doctrine of all time, a doctrine some, I fear; believe to be outmoded and needing correction. Should it need to be improved there is a Constitutional process to accomplish that change.
I will be thankful should you be able to assure me that what I propose is already happening. Since my children have long ago attended High School I do not have information from them. I am convinced however from the attitude of students showing disrespect to speakers who do not mouth the words they want to hear, that the Constitution is not a part of all students curriculum.
Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 22, 2010
jackbwalters@yahoo.com
I feel compelled to write in response to your lengthy editorial in today’s Star entitled “Ethnic-studies defense group must be open”. I support your insistence that the Ethics Group clean up their act. Have any of your reporters checked into where the funding is coming from? If you did I am convinced you would realize that it is being supported by the organizations that were responsible for the Legislature passing House Bill 2281 in the first place. Check the La Raza web site as a good place to start.
Teaching Hispanic youths that the white founders of our country were evil and that white people today wish to hold them down is completely wrong. Whether America was wrong about taking the territory of New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California from Mexico is of no interest. There was a war and that was the result. The home is where families can discuss their heritage, not the schools. That goes for the children of all immigrant families whatever their race or creed.
What should be taught to all students before they reach High School is a full year curriculum about our Constitution and the men and women who placed their lives on the line to give us today the freedoms we still enjoy? That the men who wrote the words were white and wore powdered wigs does not detract from the fact that they forged the greatest government doctrine of all time, a doctrine some, I fear; believe to be outmoded and needing correction. Should it need to be improved there is a Constitutional process to accomplish that change.
I will be thankful should you be able to assure me that what I propose is already happening. Since my children have long ago attended High School I do not have information from them. I am convinced however from the attitude of students showing disrespect to speakers who do not mouth the words they want to hear, that the Constitution is not a part of all students curriculum.
Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 22, 2010
jackbwalters@yahoo.com
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Grand Jihad-a book report
How Islam and the Left Sabotage America
By Andrew C. McCarthy
I don’t even know where to begin in reviewing this powerful book. Mr. McCarthy is another brave person who is willing to stand up and be counted. In my searching for answers over the past nine years I have read many books to try to grasp what is happening in the world and in particular America. This book in its entirety conforms to the knowledge previously gained. It is always amazing to me that writers like Mr. McCarthy can compile so much information and then share it so the reader can understand it as well.
I highly recommend reading. I found it on Amazon.com. All who seriously consider that they are patriots must learn the truth of what is happening in the world and especially in America.
There are several chapters devoted to our current president. This book asserts that he is deliberately and systematically abetting the Muslim community in their stated goal of transforming our Constitution by replacing it with Sharia law. Obama has stated over and over that America will never be at war with Islam, conveniently refusing to accept that Islam is and has been at war with America for decades. Obama has allowed these people to be infiltrated in his administration but also throughout the legal system including the Attorney General’s Office, Homeland Security, the Courts and the FBI. He has ordered all agencies including the military to purge all words that might suggest the Muslim community is perpetrating acts against us. Words like; Islamic terrorists, Muslim terrorists, jihad, war, long war, global war on terror. War is now referred to as “Overseas Contingency Operation”. Enemy combatants held at Guantanamo are simply referred as “individuals currently detained at Guantanamo Bay”. Islam is never to be uttered in conjunction with terror. Those guilty are instead referred to as “violent extremists”.
Under Islam, blasphemy is a capital offense. Anyone found guilty is to be put to death. Had the Florida Pastor burned copies of the Koran as he boasted he would do, not only would a call be put out to kill him but in my opinion the entire Muslim world would have exploded with thousands or more lives taken. There is no tolerance. How many examples do you need to hear about before you become convinced? Author Jytte Klausen wrote a scholarly book on the Danish cartoon controversy. It was to be published by the Yale University Press. It was only done after purging the guts out of the book making it meaningless. The same thing occurred to two writers in Canada, Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn. Steyn’s book was entitled “America Alone”. Levant’s was “Shakedown”, about Canada’s human rights racket. In England the Cambridge University Press apologized for publishing an academic book called “Alms for Jihad”. They agreed to pay damages, retrieve the books and pulp any unsold copies. A Dutch Parliamentarian after the famous cartoon drama studied the Koran and made a 15 minute film called Fitna. It recites faithfully the exhortations to violence such as Sura 9:5 that “when the sacred months have past,” Muslims must “slay the idolaters wherever you find them”. He was found guilty by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals for inciting hatred. Suspected al Qaeda members are welcomed in the British Parliament. Just in today’s Arizona Daily Star (9/17/2010) was a very small article about a cartoonist in Seattle. Her name is Molly Norris. She had written a satirical piece called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day”. She has gone into hiding on the advice of the FBI, told to change her name and wipe away her identity. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I JUST WROTE? WE ARE TALKING ABOUT AMERICA. If I were in charge I would order the FBI to track down those who have threatened her life. It won’t happen while Obama is president.
There is a complete chapter about the Enclave in Minnesota. It is a precursor of what is happening all over America including right here in Tucson. Islamicization is seeping into the classrooms where a study has been introduced called “Islam in the Classroom”. The content purports how peaceful and loving the religion is. There were enough Muslims to elect a member of Congress, Keith Ellison. This is where it gets scary, the melding together of Islam and the Left. The community supported Al Franken in his successful campaign for the US Senate. Muslims find comfort and support from the Democratic Party. I wonder if the Tea Party folks are aware of this. If so, I have not heard any statements showing that they are now on the side of the angels in striving to maintain America as the founding fathers gave it to us. Perhaps a copy of this report will reach one of them and a fire gets started.
Islam is totalitarian in its designs. It would usurp almost all of what, in American society, is the secular space controlled by free people governing themselves in accordance with their own desires, under no obligation to heed any creed. This would not be possible under Sharia law. There you are either Muslim and live according to the tenants or you are dhimmis, second class citizens forced to pay tribute to your masters.
Not all Muslims share the goal of converting the world. He estimates a third are content as we are to live and work in a free society enjoying the fruits of their labor and living with neighbors who may share the faith or not. The other two thirds are divided between the violent ones who want to force the issue. There are the al Qaeda types who strap bombs to their bodies, fly planes into buildings, etc. Then there are those who are patient and are willing to devote the time and effort to conquer by infiltrating and weakening the people until their goal is reached which is the same as the violent ones.
My conclusion after absorbing the contents of this book and others I have read recently like The Muslim Anti-Christ is that the elections this November are vital. I will swallow my pride and support Republican candidates as I want Obama’s presidency to weaken to where the damage he can commit is lessened. I believe he is guilty of treason and should be impeached. Many, if not all of you, will disagree with this strong statement. If I am wrong then give me your suggested books or other information for me to read which might prove me wrong. I don’t think that is possible.
Jack B. Walters
September 17, 2010
By Andrew C. McCarthy
I don’t even know where to begin in reviewing this powerful book. Mr. McCarthy is another brave person who is willing to stand up and be counted. In my searching for answers over the past nine years I have read many books to try to grasp what is happening in the world and in particular America. This book in its entirety conforms to the knowledge previously gained. It is always amazing to me that writers like Mr. McCarthy can compile so much information and then share it so the reader can understand it as well.
I highly recommend reading. I found it on Amazon.com. All who seriously consider that they are patriots must learn the truth of what is happening in the world and especially in America.
There are several chapters devoted to our current president. This book asserts that he is deliberately and systematically abetting the Muslim community in their stated goal of transforming our Constitution by replacing it with Sharia law. Obama has stated over and over that America will never be at war with Islam, conveniently refusing to accept that Islam is and has been at war with America for decades. Obama has allowed these people to be infiltrated in his administration but also throughout the legal system including the Attorney General’s Office, Homeland Security, the Courts and the FBI. He has ordered all agencies including the military to purge all words that might suggest the Muslim community is perpetrating acts against us. Words like; Islamic terrorists, Muslim terrorists, jihad, war, long war, global war on terror. War is now referred to as “Overseas Contingency Operation”. Enemy combatants held at Guantanamo are simply referred as “individuals currently detained at Guantanamo Bay”. Islam is never to be uttered in conjunction with terror. Those guilty are instead referred to as “violent extremists”.
Under Islam, blasphemy is a capital offense. Anyone found guilty is to be put to death. Had the Florida Pastor burned copies of the Koran as he boasted he would do, not only would a call be put out to kill him but in my opinion the entire Muslim world would have exploded with thousands or more lives taken. There is no tolerance. How many examples do you need to hear about before you become convinced? Author Jytte Klausen wrote a scholarly book on the Danish cartoon controversy. It was to be published by the Yale University Press. It was only done after purging the guts out of the book making it meaningless. The same thing occurred to two writers in Canada, Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn. Steyn’s book was entitled “America Alone”. Levant’s was “Shakedown”, about Canada’s human rights racket. In England the Cambridge University Press apologized for publishing an academic book called “Alms for Jihad”. They agreed to pay damages, retrieve the books and pulp any unsold copies. A Dutch Parliamentarian after the famous cartoon drama studied the Koran and made a 15 minute film called Fitna. It recites faithfully the exhortations to violence such as Sura 9:5 that “when the sacred months have past,” Muslims must “slay the idolaters wherever you find them”. He was found guilty by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals for inciting hatred. Suspected al Qaeda members are welcomed in the British Parliament. Just in today’s Arizona Daily Star (9/17/2010) was a very small article about a cartoonist in Seattle. Her name is Molly Norris. She had written a satirical piece called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day”. She has gone into hiding on the advice of the FBI, told to change her name and wipe away her identity. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I JUST WROTE? WE ARE TALKING ABOUT AMERICA. If I were in charge I would order the FBI to track down those who have threatened her life. It won’t happen while Obama is president.
There is a complete chapter about the Enclave in Minnesota. It is a precursor of what is happening all over America including right here in Tucson. Islamicization is seeping into the classrooms where a study has been introduced called “Islam in the Classroom”. The content purports how peaceful and loving the religion is. There were enough Muslims to elect a member of Congress, Keith Ellison. This is where it gets scary, the melding together of Islam and the Left. The community supported Al Franken in his successful campaign for the US Senate. Muslims find comfort and support from the Democratic Party. I wonder if the Tea Party folks are aware of this. If so, I have not heard any statements showing that they are now on the side of the angels in striving to maintain America as the founding fathers gave it to us. Perhaps a copy of this report will reach one of them and a fire gets started.
Islam is totalitarian in its designs. It would usurp almost all of what, in American society, is the secular space controlled by free people governing themselves in accordance with their own desires, under no obligation to heed any creed. This would not be possible under Sharia law. There you are either Muslim and live according to the tenants or you are dhimmis, second class citizens forced to pay tribute to your masters.
Not all Muslims share the goal of converting the world. He estimates a third are content as we are to live and work in a free society enjoying the fruits of their labor and living with neighbors who may share the faith or not. The other two thirds are divided between the violent ones who want to force the issue. There are the al Qaeda types who strap bombs to their bodies, fly planes into buildings, etc. Then there are those who are patient and are willing to devote the time and effort to conquer by infiltrating and weakening the people until their goal is reached which is the same as the violent ones.
My conclusion after absorbing the contents of this book and others I have read recently like The Muslim Anti-Christ is that the elections this November are vital. I will swallow my pride and support Republican candidates as I want Obama’s presidency to weaken to where the damage he can commit is lessened. I believe he is guilty of treason and should be impeached. Many, if not all of you, will disagree with this strong statement. If I am wrong then give me your suggested books or other information for me to read which might prove me wrong. I don’t think that is possible.
Jack B. Walters
September 17, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Lincoln
President-Elect
By Harold Holzer
I found this book at the Public Library. I am not going to recommend reading except for those who can absorb great detail. It is nearly 500 pages covering almost daily events between the times Lincoln was elected until his swearing in ceremony, November 6, 1860 to March 4, 1861. Much of it has to do with the endless petitioning for patronage jobs. The author introduces thousands of names I found difficult to keep track of.
Nearly four full months elapsed before he could take control. Had the process been shortened as it is today, perhaps the secession of the Southern States might have been avoided. The current President James Buchanan could not or would not take decisive action. One by one the States declared their independence from the Union. Before he was sworn in Jefferson Davis had already been elected as the President of the Confederacy.
Lincoln worked tirelessly perfecting his inaugural address hoping he could persuade the South to re-enter the Union, to no avail. In it he agreed to uphold their right to slavery and also pledged to enforce the return slave policy which had been enacted by the current Congress. The only point he would not accept was allowing slavery in States yet to be admitted into the Union. By this time the Congress had also outlawed bringing more slaves to America. Lincoln’s theory was that if contained in the original States that over time it would end of its own accord.
I can only ponder what might have happened had they accepted his terms; might slavery still be in effect today?
Jack B. Walters
September 5, 2010
By Harold Holzer
I found this book at the Public Library. I am not going to recommend reading except for those who can absorb great detail. It is nearly 500 pages covering almost daily events between the times Lincoln was elected until his swearing in ceremony, November 6, 1860 to March 4, 1861. Much of it has to do with the endless petitioning for patronage jobs. The author introduces thousands of names I found difficult to keep track of.
Nearly four full months elapsed before he could take control. Had the process been shortened as it is today, perhaps the secession of the Southern States might have been avoided. The current President James Buchanan could not or would not take decisive action. One by one the States declared their independence from the Union. Before he was sworn in Jefferson Davis had already been elected as the President of the Confederacy.
Lincoln worked tirelessly perfecting his inaugural address hoping he could persuade the South to re-enter the Union, to no avail. In it he agreed to uphold their right to slavery and also pledged to enforce the return slave policy which had been enacted by the current Congress. The only point he would not accept was allowing slavery in States yet to be admitted into the Union. By this time the Congress had also outlawed bringing more slaves to America. Lincoln’s theory was that if contained in the original States that over time it would end of its own accord.
I can only ponder what might have happened had they accepted his terms; might slavery still be in effect today?
Jack B. Walters
September 5, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Muslim structure near ground zero
( letter to the editor 8/27/2010)
This is another attempt to get the attention of the editorial staff of the Arizona Daily Star about the opposition to the one hundred million dollar Muslim structure planned to be constructed near the place that used to be the World Trade Center.
It is my belief that it is an affront to all Americans or should I exclude those high and mighty all knowing who consider us bigots, racists, etc. I leave it to you to add other negative traits showing our ignorance and backwardness.
Since these people probably won’t even notice I will now report on the article in today’s Star from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It seems a supermarket had hired eleven women as clerks. Under pressure from strict religious groups the women were discharged.
When will the women of America start to speak up in defense of women all over the world who are demeaned on a continuing basis whenever Muslims are in the majority and Sharia law is enforced? A good friend who is female wrote to me and said American women would never stand for it. I replied that when that time arrived she would not have a voice in the decision.
This is another attempt to get the attention of the editorial staff of the Arizona Daily Star about the opposition to the one hundred million dollar Muslim structure planned to be constructed near the place that used to be the World Trade Center.
It is my belief that it is an affront to all Americans or should I exclude those high and mighty all knowing who consider us bigots, racists, etc. I leave it to you to add other negative traits showing our ignorance and backwardness.
Since these people probably won’t even notice I will now report on the article in today’s Star from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It seems a supermarket had hired eleven women as clerks. Under pressure from strict religious groups the women were discharged.
When will the women of America start to speak up in defense of women all over the world who are demeaned on a continuing basis whenever Muslims are in the majority and Sharia law is enforced? A good friend who is female wrote to me and said American women would never stand for it. I replied that when that time arrived she would not have a voice in the decision.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
A wake up call for America
I am grateful that the Islamic leadership has chosen to shove our precious commitment to religious freedom down our throats. What they have done is bring out into the open their program to take over America without dropping bombs. They are using our Constitution to further their aims. They have been exceedingly successful throughout most of the world including Europe. Shariah courts are allowed to function in England right now.
The number quoted to erect this Mosque is $100,000,000. I don’t know about you but that is a large sum to me. I feel proud to drop a twenty dollar bill in the collection plate on Sunday morning. Where is the investigation journalist to dig in to find out who is supplying these funds? I would venture to guess it is Saudi Arabia. It is well documented that they contribute large amounts providing Islamic education in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are called Wahhabi madrassa and are a conservative fundamentalist offshoot of Sunni Islam and the official religion of Saudi Arabia’s rulers.
In today’s Star there was an article about the stoning to death of a young couple in Afghanistan found guilty of adultery by Muslim Taliban militants. It is considered legal punishment in Iran. If you follow the news you should be aware that a young woman was sentenced to die in this manner recently. It has been postponed due to condemnation from outside Iran but her fate is still in their hands.
Our so called leaders including the President and the Mayor of N.Y. are spouting religious freedom garbage. They should instead condemn this sacrilege. It boggles the mind to think that they want to build this structure at ground zero of the dastardly attack on the World Trade Center by Islamic terrorists. People like to refer to them as extremists. I think not. Just check out the atrocities others have committed over the last decade all around the world.
Again I say thanks for the wake up call. The question is will it be heeded by those in leadership positions.
The number quoted to erect this Mosque is $100,000,000. I don’t know about you but that is a large sum to me. I feel proud to drop a twenty dollar bill in the collection plate on Sunday morning. Where is the investigation journalist to dig in to find out who is supplying these funds? I would venture to guess it is Saudi Arabia. It is well documented that they contribute large amounts providing Islamic education in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are called Wahhabi madrassa and are a conservative fundamentalist offshoot of Sunni Islam and the official religion of Saudi Arabia’s rulers.
In today’s Star there was an article about the stoning to death of a young couple in Afghanistan found guilty of adultery by Muslim Taliban militants. It is considered legal punishment in Iran. If you follow the news you should be aware that a young woman was sentenced to die in this manner recently. It has been postponed due to condemnation from outside Iran but her fate is still in their hands.
Our so called leaders including the President and the Mayor of N.Y. are spouting religious freedom garbage. They should instead condemn this sacrilege. It boggles the mind to think that they want to build this structure at ground zero of the dastardly attack on the World Trade Center by Islamic terrorists. People like to refer to them as extremists. I think not. Just check out the atrocities others have committed over the last decade all around the world.
Again I say thanks for the wake up call. The question is will it be heeded by those in leadership positions.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
After Empire by Dilip Hiro-a book report
The Birth of a Multipolar World
Whenever I see a title like this I can’t resist reading. I wrote an article dated June 9, 2005 entitled American Empire by Andrew Bacevich. In it I referred to two others, After the Empire by Emmanuel Todd and The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson. The article summed up my conclusions of all three books. This was included in My Last Angry Man book. I just recently wrote a review of The Post-American World by Fareed Zakara dated 7/19/2010. I had sent this to you by e-mail and also placed it in my blog, http://jackbwalters.blogspot.com.
This book I am reviewing was published in 2010. It takes the theme from the earlier ones and brings us up to date on where we stand as a nation at this time in his estimation. His conclusion mirrors Zakara’s book which was published in 2009. Much of the earlier predictions have been proven true. Having lived through the decades where we became the strongest and best nation in my time on earth, it continues to sadden me that the decline is accelerating with a total lack of understanding by our elected leaders on what is needed to reverse the downward spiral. I am convinced it doesn’t have to be this way. We need to recognize that we cannot go it alone in the years to come and we must accept that dropping bombs and sending our carrier fleets to trouble spots around the globe will no longer be acceptable to the rest of the world nor with our own people.
The tragic preemptive wars started by George W. Bush have done the greatest harm to our standing in the world. The loss of lives of our servicemen together with the lives of Iraqis and Afghans and squandering over one trillion dollars has hurt us greatly. While all of this was taking place President Bush gave away billions in tax breaks mainly benefiting the richest among us. We as a people were not asked to shoulder the financial burden, just go out and spend to keep the economy moving and leave the fighting and dying to others. At the time I felt this was disgraceful. Now that President Obama echoes this thought I haven’t changed my mind.
Before I start with the review I just have to share information on page 45. He reports that a team of American experts calculated the IQs of the U.S. presidents since George Washington using a complex process. They found that George W. Bush scored poorly on “openness to experience, cognitive proclivity that encompasses unusual receptiveness to aesthetics, actions, ideas and values”, a factor closely associated with intelligence. Compared to Bill Clinton (182), John F. Kennedy (182), Abraham Lincoln (195) and Thomas Jefferson (199), Bush’s score was zero.
If you took the time to read my Last Angry book will know my low opinion of him. He was a disaster for America and the world. How he got thru college is beyond my ability to comprehend.
There is so much I should report but the enormity of it all prevents me from condensing the book content into sound bites that might spur you to read. The sum total of it all is that America continues to extend itself militarily throughout the world and exhausting itself financially by going deeper and deeper into debt. The rubber band can only stretch so far and then it will snap. Our perceived enemies need only to wait us out while they grow stronger.
Communism is defunct now replaced by pseudo capitalistic systems that mirror capitalism but remain managed under tight control. It appears to be effective. Countries like Russia, China and India have been increasing their GDP by healthy percentages on an annual basis improving the lives of their citizens while America has floundered with stagnant growth, increasing joblessness and decline in the standard of living we had enjoyed for decades. These countries while allowing some freedom still keep a tight lid to prevent the excesses that are rampant in America as seen by the financial meltdown that has still not run its course.
Our political system has deteriorated into warfare between the major parties. Billions are spent annually swaying the voters which in the end changes nothing. No candidate has the courage to take controversial positions if not wanting to seem radical. Staying the course is the most radical position they should take. With Corporations free to spend all they wish I see no hope of getting sanity and honesty back into the system.
In his epilogue chapter he says, “By strictly regulating the appreciation of the Yuan against the dollar, China continues to sell its products at prices lower than those of American-made products”. He also states, “That China and Russia will prevent the United Nations from authorizing military action against Iran, no matter what it does with its nuclear program”. This means we go alone or with a few allies. A multi-polar world is taking shape. His last sentence is, “That marks the end of the American Empire”.
Jack B. Walters
August 14, 2010
Whenever I see a title like this I can’t resist reading. I wrote an article dated June 9, 2005 entitled American Empire by Andrew Bacevich. In it I referred to two others, After the Empire by Emmanuel Todd and The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson. The article summed up my conclusions of all three books. This was included in My Last Angry Man book. I just recently wrote a review of The Post-American World by Fareed Zakara dated 7/19/2010. I had sent this to you by e-mail and also placed it in my blog, http://jackbwalters.blogspot.com.
This book I am reviewing was published in 2010. It takes the theme from the earlier ones and brings us up to date on where we stand as a nation at this time in his estimation. His conclusion mirrors Zakara’s book which was published in 2009. Much of the earlier predictions have been proven true. Having lived through the decades where we became the strongest and best nation in my time on earth, it continues to sadden me that the decline is accelerating with a total lack of understanding by our elected leaders on what is needed to reverse the downward spiral. I am convinced it doesn’t have to be this way. We need to recognize that we cannot go it alone in the years to come and we must accept that dropping bombs and sending our carrier fleets to trouble spots around the globe will no longer be acceptable to the rest of the world nor with our own people.
The tragic preemptive wars started by George W. Bush have done the greatest harm to our standing in the world. The loss of lives of our servicemen together with the lives of Iraqis and Afghans and squandering over one trillion dollars has hurt us greatly. While all of this was taking place President Bush gave away billions in tax breaks mainly benefiting the richest among us. We as a people were not asked to shoulder the financial burden, just go out and spend to keep the economy moving and leave the fighting and dying to others. At the time I felt this was disgraceful. Now that President Obama echoes this thought I haven’t changed my mind.
Before I start with the review I just have to share information on page 45. He reports that a team of American experts calculated the IQs of the U.S. presidents since George Washington using a complex process. They found that George W. Bush scored poorly on “openness to experience, cognitive proclivity that encompasses unusual receptiveness to aesthetics, actions, ideas and values”, a factor closely associated with intelligence. Compared to Bill Clinton (182), John F. Kennedy (182), Abraham Lincoln (195) and Thomas Jefferson (199), Bush’s score was zero.
If you took the time to read my Last Angry book will know my low opinion of him. He was a disaster for America and the world. How he got thru college is beyond my ability to comprehend.
There is so much I should report but the enormity of it all prevents me from condensing the book content into sound bites that might spur you to read. The sum total of it all is that America continues to extend itself militarily throughout the world and exhausting itself financially by going deeper and deeper into debt. The rubber band can only stretch so far and then it will snap. Our perceived enemies need only to wait us out while they grow stronger.
Communism is defunct now replaced by pseudo capitalistic systems that mirror capitalism but remain managed under tight control. It appears to be effective. Countries like Russia, China and India have been increasing their GDP by healthy percentages on an annual basis improving the lives of their citizens while America has floundered with stagnant growth, increasing joblessness and decline in the standard of living we had enjoyed for decades. These countries while allowing some freedom still keep a tight lid to prevent the excesses that are rampant in America as seen by the financial meltdown that has still not run its course.
Our political system has deteriorated into warfare between the major parties. Billions are spent annually swaying the voters which in the end changes nothing. No candidate has the courage to take controversial positions if not wanting to seem radical. Staying the course is the most radical position they should take. With Corporations free to spend all they wish I see no hope of getting sanity and honesty back into the system.
In his epilogue chapter he says, “By strictly regulating the appreciation of the Yuan against the dollar, China continues to sell its products at prices lower than those of American-made products”. He also states, “That China and Russia will prevent the United Nations from authorizing military action against Iran, no matter what it does with its nuclear program”. This means we go alone or with a few allies. A multi-polar world is taking shape. His last sentence is, “That marks the end of the American Empire”.
Jack B. Walters
August 14, 2010
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