Tag archives: war
Westmont alumna Victoria Harbison (‘78) spent four decades in the classroom teaching local students, but her retirement has been defined by a mission to provide education to children half a world away. Harbison, the founder of the nonprofit Turn the Page Uganda, will host award-winning author Brian K. Barber for two local speaking engagements on […]
The only war objective that the Administration has had success with is the degradation of Iran’s military capabilities. The other goals have not been achieved. – There has been no regime change and the people have not risen up in rebellion. – We have not eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat. We have degraded their programs, but […]
On the day this article reaches the newsstands it will be the 19th day of the WAR in Iran. Things are still uncertain and moving fast. My Part I article on the war yielded a lot of comments, good and bad. I’m accused by critics of a lot of things – mainly that I ignored […]
Oh, my dear Jeff!I’ll be the first to confessYour acerbic finesseSinges my skin like a spark to a dress. But your piece on Ms. Flagg–Well, on that I will brag!I laughed out loud–truly cackled, by gag!Every phrase, every turn,Had a bright comic burn;What a picture you painted–what language! What swag! So bravo, good Wing–Let the […]
Since my last column two weeks ago a lot has been going on in the world, but nothing as significant as the war against Iran. At the time of writing this article (Sunday) it’s moving too fast and it’s far too early to come to any conclusions as to its outcome. Regardless of what you […]
One thing wars are good for (if anything) is the spawning of new words and expressions. Soldiers are particularly involved in this, especially when they’re far from home, and have chances to leave their own form of calling-card. In World War II, one of the most widely spread expressions inscribed, usually by American troops, was […]
In a famous passage from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, the character Portia, disguised as a lawyer, is defending Antonio from being required to pay Shylock, to whom he is indebted. By the laws of the time and place, the debt is legitimate – and only by being shown mercy can Antonio escape paying it. Portia’s […]
When I was in my teens and still living in England, both that country and the U.S. still had what was called a “Draft.” It applied only to men within a certain age range. But there were stiff legal penalties for failing to register. You might be exempted for medical reasons, but for healthy young […]
What’s remarkable about human conflicts – even very nasty ones – is that they usually do get settled, one way or another. Here are some ways this can happen: By overwhelming force (war).By negotiation and compromise.By some kind of payment or reparations.By legal process, i.e., “going to court.”By persuasion.By agreed-upon arbitration.By intervention on the part […]
The Chabad of Montecito led by Rabbi Chaim presented a talk with disaster management specialist Gavriel “Gavy” Friedson on Sunday, February 25 at the private home of Ben and Cheryl Trosky. The event program commenced with a welcome by Rabbi Chaim. He shared, “One of the most famous words in Hebrew is l’chaim – which […]
Although I have officially been a Doctor of Philosophy in American History for many years, it was only recently that I got interested in reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This came about through reading another book, Winston Churchill’s History of the English Speaking People, which makes a big point about how important the Uncle Tom book […]
More than a year ago, in “sleepy” Santa Barbara, long before Hamas ever slaughtered 1,400 innocents at a peace festival or Israel retaliated, a special group of Central Coast locals were incubating a project that could just very well help with this mess. Maybe a lot of messes. Ironically, we may owe a debt of […]
Growing up in D.C. in the ‘60s and ‘70s, my parents took me with them to marches, rallies, and demonstrations against the U.S. War in Vietnam. Note that I do not call it the “Vietnam War.” For my parents, I think they saw it as an extension of the lessons of the Holocaust: that we […]
What ever happened to the League of Nations? You know, the global organization founded on January 10, 1920, by the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War? It was created in order to get all willing nations to band together in an attempt to prevent all future wars. The U.S. never joined, and […]
While Ukraine can seem very far away and hard to help from here, these are some stories of local organizations and people that are helping Ukrainians both close by and afar. ShelterBox USA For years ShelterBox USA has been helping communities in crisis around the world, even being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in […]
The Russian military strategy for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has been to unleash a campaign of genocide, defined as “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation (or ethnic group) with the aim of destroying that nation (or group).” A deliberate attempt to maximize civilian casualties using targeted cruise […]
The war in Ukraine is leveling cities and devastating lives, including friends and family of the Westmont community. Igor Rozhko, Westmont’s network manager since 2005, has shared the desperate need from his sister-in-law, Vera, in Kyiv, where she and her husband are missionaries with Ukraine Christian Radio and Video and where they attend the large […]
One of the best tests of a civilization, is how disputes are settled. You can’t prevent them from arising. There are just too many different ways people can come into conflict with each other, particularly over territory, property, or sexual relations. Methods of settlement can range from pure force to peaceful adjudication. Of course, both […]
This is the story of three Vlads. Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Volodymyr Palahniuk, whom you knew by his stage name: Jack Palance. I did not know until recently that Jack Palance died here in Montecito at the home of his daughter Holly. Nor did I know until fairly recently how much Holly Palance has […]
A great many things about the Russian invasion of Ukraine bother us, as well they should: the genocide, the war crimes, the images of starving children intermingled with dead bodies and urban wreckage that hasn’t been seen in Europe since the bombing of Dresden. Through it all, we in the U.S. have imagined ourselves tucked […]
