A Matter of Honor, &c.
On Japanese-American soldiers; the Ukrainians; the Iranians; a late Assad; Richard Nixon; Orwellian language; and more
Honor is an interesting and tricky subject. It has been written about since ... since man could write. In any event, honor, of the right kind, is indispensable to an individual and also to a nation.
I thought of this simple truth when reading this news article. It begins,
Seven Japanese-American soldiers were promoted to officer ranks in a solemn ceremony Monday, eight decades after they died fighting for the U.S. during World War II despite having been branded “enemy aliens.”
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A report from the Wall Street Journal is headed “Here in One Kyiv Apartment Building, They Are Freezing—but Not Giving Up.” The subheading reads, “Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have plunged much of Ukraine into darkness and cold but haven’t broken its resilience.”
The writing is by Anastasiia Malenko and the photos are by Emanuele Satolli. Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of the Journal. He has done invaluable work. Two years ago, I talked with him and wrote about him: here.
Yaro circulated the Malenko/Satolli report on social media, and I thought his framing was just right:
Read this, about how ordinary Ukrainians cope with Putin’s genocidal effort to make Kyiv unlivable. And imagine what would you do.
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From the National Catholic Register: “Russian Forces Are Liquidating the Catholic Church in Occupied Ukraine.” That article is here.
There are many people who defend Vladimir Putin on religious grounds. I know such people. They believe that Putin is some guardian of Christian civilization, and he has to pummel Ukraine because Jesus or something.
Really, there are such people.
About Russia’s assault on Ukraine, there are lots of lies told. The Putin-as-Christian lie may be the most galling.
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Ukraine is difficult to read about, and so is Iran. The bloodshed there has been atrocious. Government forces are mowing down people as they protest in the streets. Here is a stark report from Tess McClure and Deepa Parent in the Guardian.
Amazing, how ungodly and murderous theocracies turn out to be.
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On to happier news—in the form of an article by Dhriti Jagadish, published at Persuasion. The title is “Lincoln Would Reject ‘Heritage America,’” and the subtitle is “He’d ask us to remember what truly makes us American.”
The author is still a college student. Which—may I say something sappy?—gives me hope for the future ...
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Two things are true—well, many are, but here are two: (1) Immigration to our country should be lawful and orderly. (2) Immigration is part and parcel of the American story.
The importance of immigration to our story is illustrated in the life of President Trump. His mother was an immigrant. His father was the son of immigrants. Two of his three wives have been immigrants.
All very American ...
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Did you note this death? “Rifaat al-Assad, Paramilitary Leader and ‘Butcher of Hama,’ Dies at 88.” That is the heading over the obit in the New York Times. The subheading: “The brother and uncle of Syrian tyrants, he commanded a unit that killed up to 40,000 civilians in a 1982 uprising against his family’s rule.”
Rifaat figures in my book Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators. Maybe I could paste one passage:
The Hama massacre was carried out in February 1982. Late the next year, in November, the dictator [Hafez] suffered a medical crisis: a heart attack and other problems. Rifaat, itching for the throne, thought it would be a good time to stage a coup. He almost succeeded. Rifaat had his factions, Hafez had his. But Hafez rose from his sickbed in time to block this rebellion.
They are a soap opera, the Assads (a blood-soaked one).
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Another obit: “Stephen Hess, 92, an Eminent, and Quotable, Political Scientist, Dies.” I have one Hess story for you. Or rather, one from him.
In 1984, he was speaking to a group of college students, which included me. He told a story about Nixon—for whom he worked in the 1962 California gubernatorial campaign. Remember, Nixon had been vice president for eight years. He had been his party’s presidential nominee in 1960. He was really and truly interested in foreign affairs—the titanic struggle for the world after 1945.
Well, Nixon lost the governor’s race. And Hess talked with him on the phone that night, offering his condolences. Nixon said, “That’s okay, Steve. At least I won’t have to talk about crap like drug abuse anymore.”
(I’m sure that Nixon did not use the word “crap,” but that’s how Mr. Hess related it to us students.)
(For the record: I think there are few issues more important than drug abuse. But, the point of the story is: Nixon was interested in foreign policy, more than in domestic policy.)
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Shall we do some language? Many years ago, I decided that I would not use the word “Orwellian” or the word “Kafkaesque” unless it was truly appropriate. Unless it was the mot juste. I think I have pretty much kept that vow.
Trump, as you know, has invited Putin, plus the little Putin in Belarus, Lukashenko, to join his “Board of Peace.” (He has rescinded an invitation to Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada to join the board.)
Putin and Lukashenko on a peace board? That is Orwellian, in classic definition.
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Another language item—springing from the below missive:
In 1991, as the Gulf War began, Saddam Hussein spoke of “the mother of all battles.” Saddam may be gone—good and hanged. But the formulation lives on.
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One more language item? Warning: I’m entering the realm of the profane:
Someone owes me a lotta backpay.
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Let’s do music. Here is a post (from me) on a concert of the New York Philharmonic, which included works by Ives and Rautavaara. The conductor? Thomas Adès (who is also a composer and a pianist). A soloist? Yes, Yuja Wang, in Rautavaara’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Interesting stuff.
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More music? Bear with me, please:
In what opera does the USS Abraham Lincoln feature? Correct: Madama Butterfly (Puccini). (“Eccolo: Abramo Lincoln!”)
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Snowtime in Central Park, y’all:
Plus:
Vive la démocratie!
And long live you all.
Brilliant piece on honor being tested when legitimacy collapses. The Japanese-American soldier story captures somethng we've kinda lost: serving a nation tht simultaneously labels you enemy. Back in college I had a prof who framed this exact paradox as civic courage, not blind patriotism. Fighting when everyone backs you is one thing, showing up when the system calls you alien is entirely another.
The Black Tom explosion during WWI gave me some insight on US enemy alien worries in WWII. FDR, assistant secretary of the navy during the Wilson administration, told John Jay McCloy, assistant secretary of war during WWII, “We don’t want any more Black Tom’s.”
(My wife’s grandfather was first generation German. He fought for the US in Germany, and brought back a garden spigot from Wolf's Lair as a souvenir.)