Christmas Message

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. When times are difficult, let us trust in the One who gives us Hope.

Reflections on the Roman Defense of the Right to Life on the Eve of the Feast of the Nativity

As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity, a reflection on how the Romans defended the right to life would be enlightening. The Romans had defeated Carthage, their Mediterranean rival in the first two Punic Wars in the Third Century Before Christ. As a result, the Carthaginians were no longer a military or economic threat. But Rome destroyed the North African city in the early Second Century B.C. in a third war strictly because of its cultural threat. The Romans practiced multiculturalism the reasonable way, accepting what they thought was good from other cultures and rejecting what they thought was not. The Carthaginians worshipped a god they called “Moloch,” to whom they sacrificed babies, a practice the Romans regarded as barbaric. Therefore, the Romans destroyed the Carthaginians’ entire civilization because it was evil. Today, some people worship a god called “Choice” to whom they sacrifice babies. They make idols of Privacy and Convenience. Worshipping such false gods undermines the right to life of all human beings, who are created equally human by their Creator. We should remember that the Romans defended the right to life of babies as we commemorate the birth two thousand years ago of a Child in their Empire.

Foreign Digest: Russia and Bolivia

Russia: Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, bullies and threatens neighboring former Soviet Republics because he laments the breakup of the Soviet Union. When these neighboring States then seek defense from the West, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he then defines their seeking of defense as a threat, which the Russian strongman then uses it to justify his aggression. Putin invaded Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. In the former, he created two puppet states out of breakaway regions, and in the latter, he seized the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea and backs separatists who have gained control of part of eastern Ukraine, despite a treaty recognizing Ukrainian independence, sovereignty and in territorial integrity. Currently, tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed at its border as the Russian dictator issues threats. In addition to opposing the expansion of NATO, a defensive alliance, Putin has similarly objected to the placement of defensive anti-missile weapons. He obviously hopes to reconstitute as much of the Soviet Empire as he can and wants to be able to continue to intimidate neighbors and prevent the West from defending them. Bolivia: the former center-right President who took power after the former leftist President fled after a popular uprising has been charged and incarcerated for fulfilling her constitutional role. The former leftist President had served three terms, despite a constitutional limit of two terms, and then sought a fourth before mass demonstrations forced the increasingly authoritarian anti-American leader from power and out of the country. His leftist party later won elections and allowed him back into Bolivia. The international community should demand the release of the former President and her absolution and use its diplomatic and economic leverage to defend the rule of law and the liberty of the Bolivian people.

Foreign Digest: Germany and China

Germany: Conservative Angela Merkel completed her service this month as Chancellor of Germany for 16 years. The Christian Democrat, who sometimes had to govern in a coalition with parties of diverse views, led the Federal Republic through a series of major crises, including the European debt crisis, the refugees crisis (particularly because of the Syrian Civil War), the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and the Coronavirus pandemic. Merkel, who had lived in Communist East Germany, was an ally of the United States in the War on Terrorism and against the aggression of Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer. Meanwhile, a German court recently convicted two Russians for the assassination of a Georgian man of Chechen ethnicity in 2019 and found that they had acted on state orders. The Russian Federation routinely kills political opponents in Russia and even abroad, sometimes using chemical weapons, among many other roguish behaviors. China: There was low turnout in today’s legislative elections in Hong Kong, as the opposition boycotted them because Communist China has broken its promises made to the United Kingdom in 1997 when the territory reverted from British rule that it would respect the city-state’s autonomy and liberty. The legislature is partly appointed and only candidates loyal to Peking are allowed to stand for election. The freedom of peaceful assembly is among the freedoms not tolerated, as more dissidents have been arrested and convicted for peaceful protests.