One of the pleasant things about histories by Figes is that they are so readable. Like two of other histories of his I have read, (“The Whisperers” and “A People’s Tragedy”), Figes has the ability to bring the past alive and make you feel as if you are part of the action. He does not concentrate on battle scenes (although battles are covered), but he centers on the lives of the ordinary soldiers. In this book he gives short shift to Florence Nightingale but points out the breakthrough of a Russian surgeon, Dr. Nikolai Pirogov who used an early form of triage as well as anesthesia.

Despite the common view of the war, it was the French who supplied most of the troops, not the British and it was the French, not the British who better supplied their men with everything, from tents to food to warm coats for the cold Crimea winter, etc. Among the allied armies, approximately eighty percent of the deaths were due to disease, frostbite, etc.

It is also interesting to note that there were very real plans for a coalition whose goals was the breakup of the Russian Empire, including invasions of Russia from the Baltic, uprisings in Poland and an invasion from the Crimea into the area of Kiev. But as the causalities began to mount, the enthusiasm for such great plans began to wane and in the end a settlement was made.

For all the loss of blood and lives, Russia was able to regain her position within 25 years and continue to create problems in the Balkans. Her meddling and ambitions led to World War I thanks to a system that refused to believe that the world was changing and was all too often in the hands of a single man who could be unbelievably foolish.

A big book (about five hundred pages) but an interesting one which never goes off into tangents that do not serve to tell the main story. This is my third reading of these excellent history and each time I pick up some interesting tidbit in which historians (even amateurs such as myself) delight.

I am just back from a quick (four night) visit to Montreal: the weather was beautiful, spring is in full bloom, and it was great to see the smiling faces of those who faced such a difficult Covid trial, with lengthy lock downs, strict police enforcement of family holiday celebrations and of course a frigid winter. It is also a city that is both beautiful and yet facing several challenges on many fronts. In a way it is a glimpse into the future and a real revelation.

Firstly, I call it the city of dandelions as I was struck by how that weed has taken over vast patches of lawns and green belts along the highways and around industrial parks. The government, to help the environment has banned several consumer weed killers so if a homeowner or park manager wishes to maintain a weed free lawn, they must use the services of licensed commercial lawn maintenance companies which can be quite costly. Or they can get down on their hands and knees and manually root out hundreds of dandelions which are in full bloom and determined to increase their numbers even further. My dislike of dandelions may sound silly to some, but image driving down a typical neighborhood block and all one sees are thousands, no, tens of thousands of dandelions up and down the block, all waving gracefully in the wind. It looks apocalyptic, as if humanity has suddenly disappeared from the area. In fact, a local attitude seems to have developed as if to say that there is nothing you can do about it, so the pride of home ownership seems to have taken a step backward. I admit, I grew up in a time when lawns were considered a sign of order, cleanliness and were envied. Perhaps time has passed me by, but then I was never happy with the concept of mankind regressing.

Jordan Peterson once answered when asked his decision-making process regarding a new policy, said that he would not look at the upside, but rather at the downside, the consequences if things do not work out as planned. This goes along with the idea of playing the odds in life; if you follow the basic rules of society, chances are you will come out ahead. On the other hand, if you go against the rules, the odds are that you are not going to do particularly well. In fact, the only time you go against the rules is if the reward is so great that you are willing to face the consequences.

Victor Davis Hanson in his article points out the failures (in most American’s minds) of the Biden administration. It would be fascinating to be able to ask President Biden, or whomever is making these decisions, what exactly do they perceive as the upside of the open border policy, the negating of U.S. energy independence, the upside of inflation, etc. Of course, we shall never really be able to logically understand that type of thinking as it goes against not only the history of our nation, but against the lessons we have learned throughout history.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when the Administration makes their decisions.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/05/20/is-bidens-success-our-mess/

What makes a civilization decline?  Is a decline caused by economic or moral faults or do they simply grow old and cannot face the challenges of younger, stronger forces which challenge them?  For Britain after World War I, this topic was discussed at various levels of society.  Having entered the first world war as a great Empire, within four years the average Brit could see the Anglo colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa clamor for more independence while the crown of the jewel, India, began to make small steps towards independence.  What were the causes and could such a decline in power be stopped?

Richard Overy, whose outstanding analysis of World War II, Why the Allied Won has once again created a history that is overwhelming in detail and argument.  Beginning shortly after the end of World War I, numerous books, pamphlets and debates centered on the decline of Western civilization.  These debates were not shallow exercises, but serious discussions as to causes and possible remedies.  Going back to Nietzsche who felt that history was cyclical, was civilization, “merely the current expression of man’s futile efforts to fight the reality of decay with the weapons of illusory order.”?  If progress was illusional, then the certainties of the 19^th century were null and void.  Civilizations, according to Nietzsche come and go, rise and fall, are born and die so there was not a great moral lesson to be learned from the decline of the West.  Nietzsche’s thesis became the starting point for Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West which was hugely popular especially in Germany after the war.  Unlike Hegel who saw a progression of history, Spengler’s saw civilizations almost like plants, which rise and fall as part of a great cycle.  Spengler listed eight ‘ripe’ cultures, “…from the Chinese through the Indian, antique, Arabian and Western” and that each had a cycle of about 1000 years from birth to death.

I am re-reading Orlando Figes’ (for the third time) excellent The Crimean War and I was struck by the plight of all the soldiers (particularity the British, Russian and Ottoman). The daily trials of poor food, lack of medical facilities, diseases, abuse from officers including whipping enlisted men can make the horrors of actual battle seem less terrible.

In this reading, I have come to realize that alone among armies in the West, the Russian army seems to have consistently been the worse abuser of its own men. From the time of Peter the Great, through the list of Czars, into the First World War, to today, the average Russian soldier has been seen as truly expendable and faceless. With that mindset, we have seen repeatedly the failure of the Russian Empire and today, the ability to field a successful fighting force against a lengthy list of enemies. Yes, the military was effective in WWII, but in face of the brutality of the German opponents and given the total ruthlessness of Stalin and his generals, the average Russian soldier had nothing to lose by throwing himself into the cauldron of war. Throughout history, the Russian soldier has been poorly led, poorly equipped, lacking in logistical support and abused by his own officers. Indeed, such a luxury as a graves unit was virtually unknown. During Czarist times, until WWI, returning soldiers were often not allowed to return to their own villages (to disguise the human losses). When peasants were drafted for the military, their send off was an actual funeral procession while in WWII, when a high Soviet officer was asked about the lack of care for the dead, he is reported to have said that if a man does not return home, it will be assumed he was killed in the war.

The following from Figes’ book captures the pity those soldiers at the time of the Crimean War earned. As Figes writes,

It appears that most of the cost for going “Green” will be paid by the lower and middle classes; rising electricity costs, food costs, inflation, slow job creation, etc. will be placed squarely on the shoulders of those who can least afford them. We are already seeing this and the type of pretzel logic that is used to jam more people into an unworkable timetable based on the dreams of planners who believe they can ignore the realities of the marketplace.

Consider the real-life situations in the article linked below, by Bjorn Lomborg, hardly an eco-Luddite. The inefficiencies of organic farming have hit hard at the nation of Sri Lanka which had been an example of solid “Green” thinking. With falling crop yields, the nation is facing not only political instability, but food shortages while fuel, medicine, and other necessities in part due to their inability to export for hard currency. The solution again is simply to put more land under cultivation which would mean destroying more forests and increased labor hours for the farmers.

Originally published in 1932, this excellent little novel is still in print, thus testifying to its excellence.  A story set in the waning days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the main characters, three individual men, spanning 3 generations face first their sudden leap into the nobility by the grandfather as a young man, then the solid life of a district bureaucrat of his son and finally the life of the grandson who is cut out for either the military or the bureaucracy.

Chicago use to be know as the “city that works” while under the control of the last of the old-time political bosses, Mayor Richard J. Daley from 1953-1976. Personally honest, he created a patronage system and managed to balance the greed of his cronies, the demands of the teachers’ unions, the civil rights community and collaborated with the interests of big business to remake much of the Chicago landscape while other cities such as New York, Detroit, etc., began their long slide into disaster. With his passing, the power of his machine began to decline and after him, a series of weak, ineffectual Mayors managed to lose control of the city. Certainly the city was not perfect, but for the average citizen, the city seemed to be on the right course.

Today, Chicago is a city in chaos; murder and crime rates have reached record highs, the teachers union dictates educational policies while test scores are in free fall and the city is in debt as services are cut and the middle class flees for other cities and states.

The attached article from Imprimis points out how Chicago has followed other cities in manipulating statistics in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. This is not unique to Chicago by any means and is happening in your own city. How is this possible?

One reason is that during the reign of Mayor Daley, there was a strong, independent press which was willing to take the mayor, his cronies, and his policies to task. Real journalists such as Mike Royko, Alex Dreyer and others who took immense joy in lampooning the powers that be in Chicago. Yet, despite their barbed words, I believe they felt that Mayor Daley was working for the people of the city.

It is hard to believe that today’s power managers in Chicago have the best interests of average citizens at heart. How can they when they manipulate crime numbers such as:

• Killings on the cities expressways (freeways) are not included in city statistics as the expressways are not under the city’s authority (unless you are speeding in which case the Chicago police will act)
• According to records, only 147 felony defendants were released in one fifteen-month period when the actual number was 400% higher
• To make the numbers look better, County Chief Judge Timothy Evans failed to count at “at least six different felony crime categories as felonies.”

The list goes on and on and a close examination of crime numbers in your city may show the same type of duplicity by officials.

Finally, the article addresses issued which is so carefully ignored, births by single women. It is well known that broken homes are in neighborhoods with the highest murder rates. There are numerous studies that show that children, especially boys born into single parent households suffer the most from lack of education, earn less as adults and have a higher rate of incarceration.

The truth can be ugly, and the answer has been shown is not in additional money. We spend more than ever on education but test scores and reading levels continue to decline. Despite the best efforts of the police, the unwillingness to punish the criminals only leads to more death and destruction in the poorest neighborhoods (in 2021 Chicago police took over 12,000 guns off the streets but we know that we have not locked up 12,000 criminals for illegal possession).

There is not easy set of answers but the combination of lack of moral leadership, and lack of accountability over the past years has led a once proud city that worded into a dead end that is costing the lives and futures of tens of thousands.

I hope you will indulge me as I have put together a rather lengthy recap of our latest vacation.  Why?  Well, hopefully you will pick up a few tips, ideas, etc to help you have a great vacation.  Why learn the hardway?  So feel free to read as much as you care (or can bear) and I hope you pick up a tip or two!

ABOUT COVIDMany people have asked me about how the threat of Covid was handled during a long trip.  Here is how it was handled aside from the normal airline requirements:
1) The cruise line would only allow passengers who had two regular vaccinations plus a booster.  2) Proof of #1 was required before boarding, as was proof of no covid within the previous 24 hours.3) All crew members had a covid test at least 3 times a week4) Free covid tests were provided by the cruise line to any passenger5) When leaving the ship, some ports required proof of vaccinations but not all6) When leaving the ship at the final port, all passengers had to be tested (free, on board) for covid.  7) If anyone had a positive covid test during the cruise, they were quarantined in a separate section of the ship and their former room was thoroughly disinfected by a crew in hazed suits8) Each country had its own requirements, re wearing a mask indoors, etc.  Italy still requires masks indoors until May 1st.
We were on a ship for over three weeks with over 2,000 staff and guests, visited 13 ports in several countries, visited a very crowded Venice for six days and suffered no problems.  That is all I say.

With the easing of regulations regarding Covid, Carolyn and I decided to take a twenty-six-day cruise from Miami to Trieste, Italy and then to spend five nights in Venice. This trip would be different as we would be crossing the Atlantic on the Oceania cruise ship, Marina as opposed to a true ocean liner like the Queen Mary II which we enjoyed in December. The Marina is still a large ship at over 70,000 tons, but the crew to guest ratio is about 1.5 to 1 which is excellent in terms of service and care. We had sailed with Oceania several times before and found their food to be excellent, well above the norm, and the staff and ships to be outstanding. The ships are smaller and cater to an older clientele (not a cruise if you have children, pets or expect a lively nightlife). It is a great cruise line if you want to get away from the cares and woes of an outrageous fortune.

  The cruise industry has been closed for two years but with the re-opening, so many of the staff which hails from about seventeen countries was eager to return to work. The staff on Oceania is always a cut above, but you could feel and hear how happy they were to return to work. Yes, of course they are happy to find steady work, but they are also happy in the way they are treated by the cruise line. Talking to crew members, especially those who have worked on other lines, they comment on how well they are treated by management regarding pay, work breaks, and time off. Even though the crew had to wear masks (they were not mandatory for guests), their voices and eyes were smiling, providing a real welcoming to the passengers.

What is wrong with this picture? An individual to help mold the minds and values of children is caught in a swindle regarding the achievements of the children he is there to help. Instead of firing him quickly, to make an example of him to the children, he is awarded a multi-year contract that will pay him nearly $2,000,000.

A system that operates like this, which rewards a thief and liar is in major trouble. At the very least, the teachers and their union should demand this type of reward for bad actions. We always hear the teacher’s union yelling about how what they do is “for the children.”  Then why not take a strong stand and demand his expulsion without pay from their ranks. And those folks at the local DOE are examples of why the average citizen looks on distain at government bureaucracies. Is there a more glaring case of lack of leadership, morals and doing what is best “for the children.”

It appears that the old saying that “crime does not pay” only applies to the taxpayers but not to those who are entrusted to help create well educated future citizens with solid values. What a shame.

https://nypost.com/2022/04/16/queens-principal-booted-for-fraud-will-get-paid-for-7-years/