Over the centuries, the mix of politics, religion, government, sovereignty, boundaries, language and culture have become a toxic mélange that often erupts into war. Although war is often defined as killing people and breaking things, there is another more latent definition that might be equally fitting: ‘War is the first and last resort of budding tyrants that want resources (human and natural) and property currently owned by someone else that cannot be acquired by diplomacy, discussion or negotiation.’
Novice tyrants start by building a consortium of persuaded underlings and turn to propaganda programs of disloyalty to the current government and loyalty to the revolutionary regime under development. This was the technique employed by Fidel Castro between 1953 and 1959, becoming an avowed Communist state in 1965. Assistance of Russian missiles was not needed because Cuba was a sovereign nation. The Castro revolutionary forces were competent to overthrow the Batista government but lacked the skill to develop a thriving prosperous economy.
The people of Cuba, hoping for jobs, benefits and improved lives of work, recreation, commerce and travel found themselves victims of the very concept they had hoped would be transformative. No person or organization has found the will to form a counter-revolution so the citizens of Cuba leave when they can, then stay and suffer when they realize they are stuck on the fly-paper of oppressive authoritative government.
Some of the characteristics of oppressive, anarchical governments are suppression of religious faith, limitation of learning by population segments and close regulation of media. Additionally systems of juris prudence are severe and broad in reach including disarmament. Adolph Hitler burned books, Fidel Castro urged people to embrace atheism; the official religion of China is atheism although about 18% are Buddhist with a few Christians and Muslims. Chinese troops rolled over Tibet in 1951 and within a generation had destroyed the monasteries and other antiquities of the Tibetan Buddhist culture. The Tibetan Dalai Lama remains in exile in India today.
In our present world society, ISIS has destroyed the antiquities and artifacts in Palmyra, Syria. They are so dedicated to eradication of symbols of past religions and cultures that they decapitated Khaled al – Assaad, a scholar and antiquities expert who refused to leave his Palmyra home when the city was demolished.
Christians in the Middle East are suffering mightily. More than a million Christians have been killed or fled Iraq since 2003. Mosul was home to 35,000 Christians only a decade ago but ISIS has completely cleared Christians from the city and other cities and villages. Another 125,000 were driven from their homes in 2014. More than 2 million Syrian Christians have been killed or sought refuge in nearby countries and Europe. Here is a sordid story that has not appeared on newspaper front pages. Italian police reported that in April a boat loaded with expatriates left Libya headed for Europe. Among the Muslim passengers, 12 were Christian refugees who were thrown overboard and drowned. Mr. President, don’t tell us that all those Muslim refugees you want to bring to our shores are wonderful people.
In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rabbis Abraham Cooper and Yitzchok Adlerstein opined that, “Mideast Christians Deserve U.S. Refuge.” The article mentions that Christians are ‘hunted’ by ISIS. Christians are afraid to enter refugee camps in fear of being confronted by ISIS members posing as refugees. According to this report, ISIS seeks extinction of Christians wherever they are found; especially in their caliphate.
Currently the FBI has about 1,000 probes in progress related to terrorist threats. Reports from Europe indicate that there are Muslim radicals embedded among the refugees. Yet our President wants to bring 20,000 undocumented Syrian refugees to our shores. FBI Director Comey has said publicly that that we won’t be able to distinguish between legitimate refugees and ISIS imposters. Remember this: we need to be right 100% of the time, terrorists only need to succeed once out of 100 attempts or 1% to execute their evil.
As we approach Christmas, one of the Holiest of Christian celebrations, we face the specter of pervasive religious hatred. And we are warned by government of Islamaphobia and told that Islam stands for peace. God Bless America.
Dick Baynton
