Stalin's War by; Sean McMeekin

I found this at the Public Library. It is a huge book with 656 pages of text. I never miss an opportunity to read something new about WWII. It was depressing to me. It was devoted to the actions of Russia. There was little difference between Russia and Germany. Both countries were led by evil men. Stalin signed a pact with Hitler and after the German’s had beaten the Poles, his Army rolled in and took control of half of the country. He fought a war with Finland. This little country held his forces out for three months before having to give in and cede large parts of their country. Next he defeated Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The two dictators fell out and Germany launched an all-out war with Russia in 1941. I have always praised Roosevelt as one of our greatest presidents. For the first time I became depressed because of his ardent support of Stalin. America was not yet in the war but had been supplying England with Lend-Lease supplies since 1940. As soon as the two countries commenced conflict he started giving supplies to Russia without any requirement for compensation. This was intensified after America was attacked by Japan. Incredible amounts were given including whole factories and industrial secrets Soviets were allowed into our factories. Anything they wanted was given to them even at the expense of our own military. Even when Germany surrendered, ships continued to sail. The absolute worst part to me was pleading with Stalin to fight Japan. In order to get his agreement the conquered countries between Russia and Europe were given over to Stalin. We continued to supply his forces in the Far East. He, knowing of our achievement of creating the Atomic bomb, declared war just days before Hiroshima and the surrender of Japan. This allowed him to gobble up large areas including Korea. Had he stayed out perhaps the Chinese Nationalists could have survived and the trauma of Korea never happened. Much of Europe did not benefit and lived in misery for decades after the war was over. J

America in Crisis

Because of the loss of American jobs to Asia and in particular China, we have lost our ability to function as a viable entity. So much is produced outside of America that any hiccup can cause problems. These jobs have been lost regardless of which party is in power over the past 60+years The worst part is the loss of skilled technicians needed in factories. Americans just want cushy jobs with lots of free time and benefits. With the massive giveaway programs many have found they like not working and are satisfied to just get along. Truck drivers receive high earnings and still thousands of these jobs cannot be filled to say nothing about small business struggling to carry on with labor shortages. The answer is to copy China. They make it easy to promote industry by subsidizing. Our private industries cannot compete. We did it to win WWII and still do for defense. Just declare a product of national importance and find the way to subsidize. Start with drugs and medical products. It took 60 years to get to where we are now. It will take decades to reverse but if we don’t start we will continue to lose our worldwide status. The current strike at Deere I believe is because of the higher wages being paid to flip hamburgers compared to the stress of factory work. The higher American earnings grow the more difficult it will be to compete with other countries. We are on a death spiral. It may be too late already to reverse Jack B. Walters October 14,2021

Marine Lt. Col. Stu Sheller

I am writing to you not as a member of a political party but as a concerned American. You were elected as a member of the Democrat Party but your responsibility is to serve as an American for all of our citizens. I could write about many issues but will only comment on one issue and that is the imprisonment of a great patriotic Marine who has served his country faithfully for 17 years. He is in solitary confinement for speaking out against the outrageous disaster that has just occurred in Afghanistan. His trial will be swift, after which he will be sentenced for many years in prison. He has already lost his pension and health care for his wife and three small children. He certainly broke the code of silence that all military personnel are required to adhere to. I am not aware of the normal punishment for doing so, but it appears to me and others I have spoken with that he has been singled out for swift punishment to discourage others who feel the same as he from also speaking out. I am requesting that you join with others and let him retire with dignity with an honorable discharge and his pension and health care be restored.

Justice Rising By; Patricia Sullivan

Robert Kennedy’s America in Black and White I give this book my highest recommendation for others to read. It is 450 pages of facts and details, most of which I had little remembrance. Together with his brother Jack he devoted a great deal of energy and effort into understanding the plight of poor people living in a land of plenty. The Blacks in the South were severely segregated and impoverished, but he also found pockets of struggling Whites in places like Appalachia. He went to places like South America and South Africa. Everywhere he went it seemed that many were living in want and discrimination. Discrimination was fierce in the Northern States. It was more subtle but was prevalent everywhere. He and Jack pushed had for legislation to allow Blacks the privilege of voting and to eliminate segregation of public places. LBJ was able to get these enacted after J.F.K.’s tragic death. Legislation alone did not miraculously solve the problem. Inherent racism didn’t disappear overnight. In fact conditions worsened. Bob worked side by side with L.B.J. to enact the Civil Rights Legislation even though there was hostility between them. The break came over the Vietnam War. He was opposed as were increasingly the majority of Americans, M.L.K. also opposed even though many Blacks feared that this would detract from solving the race problem. Bob decided to run for President in 1968. He was scheduled for a campaign speech in Indianapolis. He arrived late in a light drizzle. He had learned of the death of M.L.K. but the crowd did not yet know. He gave a beautiful, soulful speech that night advising the mostly Black audience telling them he felt their pain and how he had lost his brother in the same tragic manor. They dispersed quietly while other cities erupted in violence. He was winning Primary majority in most States after he entered against Humphry and McCarthy. L.B.J. had refused to campaign. In L.A. after winning California he was assassinated as he was leaving the victory rally. It is my contention that he would have been elected in a landslide. I also believe we would have become a better country with harmony rather than discordance. We might have been more responsive to sharing the blessings of Liberty with all who were of a different color. We will never know as that Planet spun off into the Universe. How sad we are living in the most divided country we have ever known. I was fortunate to be alive during WWII when we were all united and feel sorry for those of you who have not experienced that feeling. Again I encourage you to read and learn.

Hospitals Have it all Wrong

Every day there are reports of people requiring emergency care and being deniedm while Covid cases fill all available beds. The vast majority of these are people who have refused to take the vaccines, so easily available. Why should they be given preference? If it was up to me they would be allowed in after anyone else. I suppose there is a rule somewhere. If so it should be rescinded immediately.

America's War For the Greater Middle East By,Andrew J. Bacevich

There have been countless books published about the conflict in the Middle East but none I have read can compare with this one. It was released in 2016 while Obama was still President. With the never ending loss of lives and treasure in the Middle East and Africa there existed a feeling of dissatisfaction at that time by enough voters that a person like Trump without experience could be elected President. The author’s note to readers “As an American who cares deeply about the fate of his country, I should like to state plainly my own assessment of this ongoing war, now well into its fourth decade. We have not won it. We are not winning it. Simply trying harder is unlikely to produce a different outcome. Some may consider this history premature. Yet only in remembering and confronting what we have chosen to disregard will Americans be able to choose a different course.” He clearly states that our involvement was to ensure that Saudi Arabia’s oil would continue to flow and starts his report with the failed mission by Carter to rescue our Embassy personnel captured in Iran. It actually started years before. Iran had a dully elected government. At the urging of Prime Minister Thatcher while Eisenhower was President our C.I.A. successfully staged a coup which brought the Shah to power. We believed things would go our way and supplied him with Billions of weapons. It was when Nixon was President that we became defendant on oil from the Middle East. Prior we actually had surplus. I contend this changed as a reasonable decision to preserve our reservoirs and use their cheap oil. I also contend that when OPEC cut off supplies and greatly increased the cost that our Congress should have reversed the tax program and utilized our resources. Except for minor arms flows to the Middle East our concern was the nuclear threat from the USSR and the spread of communism. During Carter’s term the Russians invaded Afghanistan. We have all heard of “Charlie’s Wilson’s War” where we supplied weapons to the Afghans. At that time Osama bin Laden was our friend. Carter also created bases in Diego Garcia and other countries to enhance military endeavors by America so that we could have troops and supplies available as required. The Shah was overthrown and a radical Islamist was brought to power in Iran. The Ayatollah was fervently anti America and anti-Israel vowing death to both. The Shah required surgery and Carter allowed him entrance to America for treatment. Iranian students were outraged. They attacked our Embassy and took the Americans prisoner. A failed rescue mission followed. The day Reagan was sworn into office they were released. It was a bitter pill for Carter to swallow. The Iran/Iraq War was from 1980 to 1988 during Reagan’s term. It was in 1982 that we sided with Saddam. Have you ever seen the picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein? You can’t make the following up. There were American hostages in Iran. Reagan wanted them released but could not pay directly so he conjured up what came to be known as the Iran/Contra affair. In it arms were given to Iran to provide aid to the Contras. So in effect we were providing arms to both countries. At the end of this war Iraq invaded Kuwait. This action resulted in President Bush demanding withdrawal. Saddam refused. After eight years of supporting Iraq now they were our enemy. Over 300,000 troops were assembled in Saudi Arabia including coalition forces. Desert Storm commenced 1/17/1991 Iraq was expelled quickly. Bush called the end of fighting while Iraq still had viable forces. Once feeling safe they attached their own Shia citizens in Basra and the North Country where Kurds lived. A no fly zone was established to protect these areas. During Clinton’s eight years, he reluctantly used boots on the ground. He continued the “No Fly Zone” to protect the Kurds. He got involved in Somalia in a humanitarian effort to keep the people from starving as a result of Civil War. It started with air drops but when this was ineffective he brought in troops. We all know how that ended. If not, just watch “Black Hawk Down”. After the disaster the troops were withdrawn. Kosovo and Bosnia occurred on his watch a fight between Serbians and Muslims. He fought these with air power successfully, ending these conflicts. Osama bin Laden started his personal war with America. His reason was that we had not kept our promise to remove our forces from lands he considered holy, the Arabian Peninsula. Bombs were detonated outside a hotel in Aden, Yemen where American troops were billeted. Next bombs were detonated in the garage of the Word Trade Center, followed by Nairobi, Kenya, and then the U.S.S. Cole was nearly sunk. Clinton did try to respond with missile strikes in places like Afghanistan where al Qaeda was located but mostly he left the problem for George W. Bush to resolve. With Bush were Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Together they determined that strategic use of our military could overpower smaller states in the Middle East to act as we wished. After 9/11/2001, Osama bin Laden had been operating in Afghanistan so that was their first effort, called “Enduring Freedom”. Small forces assembled in Uzbekistan supporting the Northern Alliance were able to drive the Taliban from Kabul in short order. In his State of the Union speech Jan. 2002 he identified Iran, Iraq and N. Korea as the “Axis of Evil”. Without evidence that Iraq was involved with 9/11, Iraq was designated as their first victim. Statements like smoking gun and mushroom clouds convinced the American Public and Congress to allow him to proceed. He was able to celebrate on an Aircraft Carrier with the banner overhead “Mission Accomplished”. Their plan had worked but soon thereafter fell apart as sectarian rivalries and resistance formed to keep the country in turmoil. In 2008 Obama became President. He had campaigned on getting out. Because of this, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Shortly thereafter in a speech to West Point Cadets he announced a surge of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. In 2011 he attacked Gaddafi’s Libya with air power and destroyed is forces. Gaddafi was brutally murdered and the country was left in turmoil. In his second term ISIS “Islamic State” became a new player in the conflict. Their goal was to create an Islamic State without regard to the artificial borders created after WWI by England and France. At first Obama considered them a JV group. It grew even after heavy losses to over 50,000 men. They conquered the City of Mosel with a population of three million. This is as far as the author took us. Author’s Concluding Remarks Ultimately, the game that will decide if Americans succeed in preserving their privileged position will play out at home rather than in some far off place like Iraq or Afghanistan. At the end of the day whether the United States is able to shape the Greater Middle East will matter less than whether it can reshape itself, restoring effectiveness to self-government, providing for sustainable and equitable prosperity, and extracting from a vastly diverse culture something to hold in common of greater moment than shallow digital enthusiasms and the worship of celebrity. Perpetuating the war for the Greater Middle East is not enhancing American freedom, abundance, and security. If anything, it is having the opposite effect. One day the American people may awaken to this reality. Then and only then will this war end. When this awakening will occur is impossible to say. For now, sadly, Americans remain deep in slumber. Jack B. Walters September 3, 2021

When the Center Held

Gerald Ford and the Rescue of the American Presidency By; Donald Rumsfeld This was published in 2018. I believe he was compelled to write it to compare the 1974 episode to the Trump election in 2016. The ongoing dysfunction in Washington by some is considered as if it were a new phenomenon. In 1974 for the first time a President resigned in disgrace. Spiro Agnew, the Vice President had previously already resigned in 1973 for corruption. As a result the Presidency was transferred to the Speaker of the House, Gerald Ford. A man few Americans had even heard about outside of the Michigan district that elected him to the House of Representatives. The country was in turmoil. Many wanted Nixon to go to prison. Ford knew that the process of the legal system would drag on for months. He believed that would consume so much energy that the Nations work would suffer so one of his first decisions was to pardon him. He was severely criticized. The author and I agree he did the right thing. His term in office was just 895 days. He lost a very close election to Jimmy Carter. Ford had to contest for his party’s nomination with Ronald Reagan which is probably the reason he lost. He met with General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in Vladivostok and successfully reached agreement on the “SALT” Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. Both countries agreed to limit their nuclear arsenals. The twenty year Vietnam War ended on his watch. It was foreordained before he took office. In March the North Vietnamese Forces were advancing rapidly. Ford did what he could to evacuate as many Vietnamese that he could together with Americans. The Democrat majority in Congress refused to admit Vietnamese advisors to America. This was led by the outspoken newly elected Senator Biden. Undeterred, the President went around government, and with the help of citizens and volunteer organizations, some 120,000 found a new life in America. The overriding conclusion was that Ford was the best man to replace Nixon. His honesty and moral fiber was just what was needed at that time. It is an easy book to read. If you are a student of history as I am you will enjoy reading. By the way the reference to the “Center” was because Ford had been the center on the University of Michigan football team from 1932 to 1934. The first two years they were National Champions. The last year they only won one game. Ford remained at the center.