Both of these cigars are ones that I go to for a serious smoke, with a nice cognac (my current favorite is Pierre Ferrand, 1st Cru) or scotch (a 12 year old Yellow Spot is nice). They are steady and reliable and each has their own strengths; they are well made, develop a firm whitish ash and produce a beautiful plume of smoke while not dropping any ash.

It is dangerous to draw parallels in history, but there are certain trends and facts that seem to run through history. In this excellent interview from the Wall Street Journal of Gary Saul Morson, a professor of Russian history at Northwestern University, he points out the role of the “intelligentsia” during the Russian Revolution and in today’s protests. The concept of “the right side of history” or “an idea whose time has come” is believed by the highly educated who see themselves as the movers of history, the only ones able to lead the lower classes. They believe they are the movers because they are the “intellectuals” and “know” what is best. For over 50 years we have been governed, since the Kennedy Administration by the “best and the brightest” and we have gotten to a point where Freedom of Speech has become passe on the liberal left. https://www.wsj.com/articles/violent-protest-and-the-intelligentsia-11591400422?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

DeGaulle was a major figure for almost two decades in post-World War II Europe.  After being the lone voice for a free France after its collapse in the face of the German invasion, he managed against all odds to create a movement which was often at loggerheads with the very forces (the British and Americans) who paid for, fed, equipped, and supplied his small forces (most of French rescued at Dunkirk had decided to return to France rather than stay in the U.K. and continue the fight).  He was egotistical, dogmatic, tightly controlled, and he shaped Europe more through his inactions than through his actions.