Memorial Day 2023 Thoughts

The purpose of Memorial Day is to honor the sacrifice of those who were killed in action in service to the United States for the sake of liberty and representative government, as I have posted every year. It is not for honoring those currently serving or veterans, living or deceased, and it certainly is not a celebratory holiday, despite the customary practice of regarding it as an unofficial start of summer. Although focused on armed service members, it is appropriate to recall those civilians who also were killed by hostile forces while serving America. This year is the second year in a row in which there had been no additional servicemembers killed in action since the previous Memorial Day. This fact reflects not only superior U.S. military power, but mostly the reduced activity in the War on Terrorism, especially since the disastrous Trump-Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, as well as an increased reliance on drone strikes over manned combat missions. There have been only occasional strikes from aircraft or ground raids against Islamist terrorists in Syria and Somalia, particularly. The U.S. relies also on supporting various allies in the War on Terrorism. Although violent jihadists have suffered major blows since the war began after the September 11, 2001 Attacks against America that killed a record of nearly 3,000 people, they remain a deadly threat to world security. It is good, of course, that no Americans have been killed in combat, but a reluctance to risk lives ought never to take precedence over protecting the security of the United States and lives of the American people, especially against the threat from terrorism, which is the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians to terrorize them to give into the demands of the terrorists. Vanquishing the Islamist terrorists would save more lives of Americans and others around the globe and safeguard freedom. It is hoped that no more Americans will have to make the ultimate sacrifice, but also that the continued various efforts by brave volunteers and others against terrorism will also prevent the deaths of any more innocent civilians.

Foreign Digest: Moldova, Italy, Greece, Papua New Guinea and Turkey

Moldova: Moldova announced last week that it is leaving the Commonwealth of Independent States, the organization set up by the Russian Federation of former Soviet Republics because of Russian aggression against the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine. On Sunday, there was a large pro-European demonstration. The people of former Communist States, including Soviet Satellites and former Soviet Republics, desire to be close to Europe and the West than to Russia, especially now that Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, seeks to restore the Soviet Union. Italy: There was a pro-life demonstration in Rome last week, led by Catholic clergy and Religious. Thousands attended. Italy has liberal abortion laws, but the practice is relatively rare there, as most medical personal object to killing unborn human beings. There has been a movement for assisted suicide and even euthanasia for which the Italian pro-life movement must also offer the choice of life as an alternative. Greece: The ruling conservative party easily won the most votes and seats in the Greek Parliamentary elections last Sunday. Because the center-right party was close to winning a majority, however, it opted not to seek a coalition with other parties, but a second election in a few weeks to try to win a majority so it can govern on its own. Greece is an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Papua New Guinea: Papua New Guinea and the United States signed a defense pact that grants American access to air bases and ports, in yet another measure to counter an increasingly assertive Communist China. Turkey: The authoritarian Islamist Turkish President will win the presidential runoff today because he has persecuted opponents, controls state media and gave out government largesse before the vote. Having served as either Prime Minister or President for two decades, he will guarantee himself another decade in power as he takes Turkey further and further away from its original principles of a secular state with liberty and representative government, guaranteed by the army. The Sultan had been forced into the runoff with a center-left candidate backed by Kurds by failing to win a majority two weeks ago. Turkey is a NATO ally of the U.S., but an unreliable one as it has warmed to Russia and opposes Sweden’s bid to join the defensive alliance in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

First Anniversary of the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Victims of Communism Museum (https://victimsofcommunism.org/) in Washington, District of Columbia, recently celebrated its first anniversary. I have posted about the Victims of Communism Memorial established in the 1990s by the United States to document victims of Marxism and Communism in all its bloody forms. The Museum is near the original location of the memorial. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation that maintains the facility engages in advocacy for human rights and opposition to Communist regimes, such as Communist China, as well as to Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer who is nostalgic about the Communist era and is trying to restore the Soviet Union. The Victims of Communism Museum awarded its Dissident Human Rights Award this year to the people of Ukraine, who are heroically resisting the Russian aggression against the former Soviet Republic. The popular Museum also conducts programs, hosts speakers, and develops curriculum, for which there is encouraging demand, lest people forget or younger people never learn of the horrors of a totalitarian tyranny that has killed tens of millions of people and left more than a billion unfree even to this day. The principles of equality, liberty and representative government must be maintained vigilantly against the ideology of Communism and other totalitarian threats.

Turkey’s Islamist Dictator Fails to Win the Turkish Presidential Elections

Turkey’s longtime Islamist increasingly authoritarian President failed to win a majority of the votes to avoid a run-off election Sunday against a close second-place opposition leader, despite controlling state media, limiting freedom of expression and persecuting opponents. His main challenger, who leads a secular center-left coalition that also includes Kurdish parties, pledges a restoration of representative government and the kind of secular government that was established when Turkey was founded after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War. The second round of the presidential election are scheduled for two weeks the first round. Strategically located Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and thus officially an ally of the United States, but in practice is unreliable. The Turkish “Sultan,” who has ruled as prime minister or president for 20 years, has disputes with fellow- NATO ally Greece over borders and Cyprus, is hostile toward the Kurdish allies of the U.S., and has been increasingly warming to Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to restore the Soviet Union. Turkey has become one of the most significant recent examples, like Russia and Venezuela, of a dictatorship established by a freely elected leader who gradually undermines liberty and representative government.