Dietrich Bonhoeffer - on Stupidity

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

VE Day Plus Eighty Years

As the world today celebrates the eightieth anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day--the end of the Second World War in Europe--it is good to pause and reflect on what that means.  

For nearly six years Europe had been at war, a war that claimed an estimated 20 million European lives, nearly one third of whom were civilians, murdered in industrial-scale concentration camps, for no reason other than their ethnicity, nationality, disability, or sexual orientation.  

There was still a great deal of fighting ahead in the Pacific war against Imperial Japan (the invasion of Okinawa had only just begun), but the war in Europe was over.  

The surrender of Nazi Germany ended that fascist regime's continent-wide terror campaign.  But the defeat of a nation is not the defeat of an idea.  The danger of fascism, and the hatred and prejudice on which it feeds, has never been defeated.  The dictatorship of Franco, which Hitler and Mussolini made possible, remained in power for another thirty years.  Fascist cliques in Greece, Chile, Argentina, and many other places around the world have sprung up over time, with the resultant ruin.  Greed knows no nationality, nor ethnicity.  There is no place that is immune.  Vigilance, and the willingness to resist dictatorship wherever it appears is the only defense - the only way to honor those who have suffered in the past, and who sacrificed so much to end that horror eighty years ago.  

Operation Market-Garden

We love to remember and celebrate our past military victories.  But the most instructive lessons from history are often from our failures and defeats.  We don't often hear about them - but should.  

Just such an opportunity occurred eighty years ago ago, along the front lines of the Western Front in Europe.  Since the success of  the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and the struggles in the hedgerow country, the allies were experiencing an unbroken string of successes. Progress came so quickly, that they began to believe that the Germans were on the verge of collapsing.  But with this rapid success, as the Allies continuing east, new problems arose.  Their progress began slowing, not just due to German resistance, but to to the  incredibly difficult logistics of trucking supplies the increasing distance from Normandy and Brittany to the front lines.  The search was on for a port closer to where the supplies would be needed.

In address this, and to accelerate the defeat of Germany, allied leaders developed a bold plan to leapfrog over the front, landing thousands of paratroops in Holland; closer to Rhine River, and Germany.  Operation Market Garden was a highly complex attack; starting with the largest airborne drop in human history, followed by a coordinated assault from land forces to strengthen the bridgeheads.  

The complexity and necessary coordination of the operation was such that any part that failed, or was even delayed, could cause the entire operation to fail.  But such was the confidence of the Allies since D-Day (The Greek playwrights had a word for this kind of confidence - 'hubris', and it rarely worked out well for the protagonist), that they went forward with it anyway.  

As it turned out, many key dependencies proved to be flawed, and elements of the plan began to fail very early on.  But, because the first element of the operation was to strand thousands of paratroopers well behind enemy lines, there was no turning back.  

Facebook is no place to discuss this in detail.  This operation is well documented, including a book and movie, 'A Bridge Too Far', which are considered among the most historically accurate recreations of war ever committed to film.  

As an interesting counterpoint to the failure of Market Garden, the German military developed a bit of hubris of their own, that led to their invitation of the Ardennes a couple months later, in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.  

Berlin Airlift 75th Anniversary

OPERATION VITTLES

Tomorrow will be the seventy-fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Berlin Airlift; the fifteen-month campaign to supply West Berlin by air with all its needs—from food and medicine to clothing, and even coal to operate their power plant—in defiance of a Soviet blockade of all other methods of supply.  

The events that led to the blockade comprise another complex story - though one that is well worth learning.  This post celebrates the tightrope walk of Harry Truman and his counterparts in London and Paris; ready to do everything required to preserve the freedom of West Berlin – while taking precautions that these efforts not trigger World War III.  These efforts were not only successful in that, but transformed nations who were, just three years earlier, hated enemies, into allies - and friends.  

Richard Reeves' history of the airlift 'Daring Young Men', is a tribute to the veterans who were suddenly called back to duty to help save the same people they had only three years earlier been bombing into oblivion.  He includes a story that illustrates this transition. He tells about Captain Arlie Nixon, who was called up from his job as chief pilot at TWA (that paid $750 per month) to go back rejoin the military (at $150 per month).

"Arlie tells the story of before the Airlift really got underway, he would go into a restaurant in Frankfurt and every German would stand up and walk out when he went in," Reeves said. "Two weeks after the airlift was underway, he went back and walked into the same restaurant and everybody stood up and went to the bar and bought him a stein of beer and cheered him as he drank the first one."  

I'm not among those who drape themselves in the flag, but this chapter in our history makes me feel very proud.  

There's a particularly heartwarming sidebar about the 'Candy Bomber', and the effect that 'Operation Little Vittles' had on children who gathered near the airport for treats.  

Candy Bomber

Macron Reelection

It was gratifying to see that Emmanuel Macron won a second term as president of France.  

The vote was not particularly close, until one considers who his opponent was.  The fact that a far-right anti-immigrant, anti-minority candidate such as Marine Le Pen garnered over 40% of the vote is as terrifying as the sway Donald Trump holds over the American right wing.

Macron's speech included a note of conciliation toward those who have been disaffected during his first term of office - and the realization that his shortcomings are directly related to the attraction of somebody like Le Pen.  French people who feel left behind by economic changes, and ignored by politicians who focus more on urban and suburban interests are a powder keg.  Another series of 'yellow vest' demonstrations could be enough to tip the balance to dangerous populists, who might spell the devolution of the European Union and NATO into fractious individual countries, vulnerable to manipulation by tyrants like Vladimir Putin.  

So I celebrate his victory, but more so, the lessons to which he offers promises.  It is critical that he finds a way to make those promises a reality.  

Slow Strangulation of Putin Regime

I commend the approach our nation, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere, have taken in response to Putin's brutal, criminal, invasion of Ukraine.  

As viscerally satisfying as direct military retaliation would have been, such rash action would have led to escalation - perhaps even including the use of nuclear weapons.  Once things escalate, it becomes easier for each side to point to the other, with tangible evidence that the other is the aggressor - obfuscating the historical record.  

The more measured, more effective, approach the world has taken has already begun to devastate the Russian economy.  While Russians can't speak out publicly, this damage will serve to delegitimize the Putin regime, and may eventually even topple it.  

It is important, even after Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine (or at least whatever part of Ukraine negotiations call for them to evacuate), sanctions must not be lifted immediately.  Aside from the cruel human toll, this unprovoked aggression has caused a great deal of damage to private and public property, utilities, and other infrastructure throughout Ukraine.  That nation must be restored to it's pre-invasion state before sanctions are lifted.  The costs of repairs to these must be borne by Putin and his supporters.  

Additionally, those who commanded and/or oversaw the well-documented campaign of atrocities must be brought to justice.  An international warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin must be issued.  Though he is unlikely to turn himself in, he will become a prisoner of the nation he rules - his most inner circle of victims.

Critique of a Critique of Obama

 https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/23/a-man-child-in-a-promised-land/?fbclid=IwAR046KKaS80JStkvnakyPnpFK7T8O77PBVskqagznbouZ3_9qBAjY9st8Rs

I understand the perspective offered in the Counterpunch article, but with most of the reservations Tony mentions.  

Barack Obama, along with his many other roles in our culture, served as a Rorschach test.  As the first Black president—elected a mere forty years after Martin Luther King gave his life to make it possible for such a man to be elected for the content of his character (or perhaps his charisma), rather than his pigmentation—his ascendancy was attended by all the expected range of aspirations and fears.   

Many of the hope and fears were based upon the same two-dimensional caricature of the beholder, rather than by Obama’s promises or policies.  For every paranoid racist who feared a military-backed Mau-Mau uprising, there were others for whom that would be a prayer answered.  

But Barack Obama was not without a track record, and was not silent about his plans.  The author compares him disparagingly to the Clintons.  I feel that the comparison has merit, we should consider the alternatives.  I personally consider myself somewhat to the left of President Obama.  But when we consider the domestic and international ecosystem we inhabit, how much more progressive a candidate could be elected; indeed, how much more progressive could policies be, and hope to be enacted by a Congress which represents a center-right constituency?  Would we prefer a president whose administration went down in flames ‘fighting the good fight’ for a public option on healthcare, or one who will settle for a program that meets most of the needs, but leaves this important program to be taken up by a future administration?

We need perspectives like Paul Streets - though they could better be phrased more civilly.  We need to remember what has been left on the table, lest we forget and leave it there indefinitely.  But, as painful as it can be, we need to remember that politics plays out in the theater of the possible.  And we need to evaluate the success of an administration compared to the promises the candidate actually made, rather than those we imputed upon him or her, based upon our own aspirations.