OK folks, let’s take our eyes off of all the troubles at home with the riots, political mudslinging, and Covid 19.
I know what you are thinking. Why would professor Pasley not do his show on one of those items. They are all over the news.
The answer is simple my friends. History.
What if I told you that throughout history, the times that countries are most vulnerable are those times of internal strife?
You see, while a country finds itself dealing with internal strife, its enemies look upon them as being at their weakest.
Don’t believe me? Here is a short list.
The Czar of Russia, Nichols Romanov found himself dealing with student protests and riots in the streets throughout Russia in 1917. What happened? Vladimir Illyich Ulanov, Lenin stepped in and helped organize the protestors which eventually led to the communist takeover of Russia.
How about Germany? After WWI, the people of Germany felt they had been sold out by the government and blamed their leaders for the defeat of their country in the war. In addition, their economy was suffering from massive inflation. What happened? People took to the streets and rioted. Adolph Hitler stepped in, just like Lenin and organized his National Socialist Party, the Nazis, and led the rioters in the overthrow of the Weimar Republic of Germany. You know what happened from there.
Meanwhile in Italy, people organized riots in an attempt to overthrow the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel. The rioters were socialists wanting to create a socialist government in Italy. What happened? An opposing political party led by Benito Mussolini, went to the King and said if he gave Mussolini’s party access to the military, he would put down the socialist rebellion. The King agreed and Mussolini now took to the streets with his fascist party, bombed socialist headquarters, and gunned down socialist protestors. Once the socialists were defeated, Mussolini went to the king and told him that he would be allowed to remain as king, but Mussolini would now run the country.
Now let’s look at Spain. Prior to the outbreak of WWII Spain found itself with riots in the streets. The people wanted a socialist government instead of a king and took to the streets. However, just like Italy, a new party emerged led by fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who had the backing of the military of Spain. Seeing the chaos in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini sent troops and air support to Franco who won the Spanish Civil War and created a dictatorship that he ran until 1975.
Let me give you one more example. China. At the onset of WWII China was experiencing extreme internal strife. On one side you had the ruling class of warlords descended from the old Samurai class who were ruling with an iron fist. The people revolted and took to the streets led by a fellow named Sun Yat Sen who wanted a representative form of government not unlike that of England. As the civil war in China escalated, Japan, seeing its opportunity, invaded Manchuria, Northern China, and from there, launched an all out war on the Chinese people. We know what happened from that point.
So have I made my point? See now why I keep trying to inform you all of what is happening in the rest of the world.
Folks, every day we continue with our internal strife, the rest of the world is watching and feeling more empowered.
Think about it. Over the past three years we have heard Russia, Russia, Russia when it came to the impeachment hearings. Yet Russia really was for the most part out of the news cycle.
Now all of a sudden we sit here and self destruct. Look at recent events involving Russia.
Let’s start with Belarus.
Belarus was the hardest hit country proportionately during World War Two.
It’s thought that the country lost about 25% of its population during World War Two, when Nazi Germany invaded the USSR.
More than 1.6 million civilians and 600,000 Soviet soldiers died in Belarus during the war, including almost the entire Jewish population.
About 85% of the capital Minsk was destroyed in bombing raids and was rebuilt in the 1950s and 60s.
After seven decades as a soviet state in the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991.
It was one of the original 15 soviet states making up the former USSR
(Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine etc. with Russia being the largest of the 15 states).
It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than have any of the other former Soviet states.
Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for a two-state union on December 8, 1999 envisioning greater political and economic integration.
Since his election in July 1994 as the country’s first and only directly elected president, Aleksandr LUKASHENKO has steadily consolidated his power through authoritarian means and a centralized economic system.
Government restrictions on political and civil freedoms, freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religion have remained in place.
Needless to say, the people of Belarus are not happy about this.
Official results say President Lukashenko won his election with more than 80% of the vote.
However, no observers were present, leading to fears of vote-rigging. The main challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (tea-con-off -sky-ya) has refused to accept the outcome.
Mr Lukashenko once warned that anyone joining an opposition protest would be treated as a “terrorist”, adding: “We will wring their necks, as one might a duck.”
Human rights groups have accused him of widespread abuses.
According to a recent article in the BBC, Europe’s longest-serving ruler, President Lukashenko has been in charge of Belarus for 26 years, coming to power in 1994 amid the chaos caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Often described as Europe’s “last dictator”, he has tried to preserve elements of Soviet communism.
Much of manufacturing has remained under state control, and main media channels have been loyal to the government. The powerful secret police is even still called the KGB.
At the same time Mr Lukashenko has tried to style himself as a tough nationalist with a direct manner, defending his country from harmful foreign influences, and a guarantor of stability.
The opposition protests have been fuelled by complaints about widespread corruption and poverty, a lack of opportunities and low pay. Dissatisfaction was compounded by the coronavirus crisis.
Tens of thousands have again taken to the streets in Belarus, facing off against riot police to protest against President Lukashenko.
A huge police presence cordoned off areas such as Independence Square in the capital, Minsk, and the interior ministry reported at least 140 arrests.
Protesters chanted “disgrace” and “leave” in standoffs with police.
Mr Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, has said he has no intention of stepping down and denies electoral fraud.
Reporting at the height of the protests, the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Minsk said there were far more police than on the past two Sundays when similar rallies were held. Some protesters lay down on the road to try to prevent riot police from moving, with others chanting “disgrace” and “go away”.
Some mocked Mr Lukashenko on his 66th birthday, carrying a cockroach puppet and chanting “happy birthday, you rat”.
Many streets were blocked off by police to try to prevent people reaching the main protest areas.
Journalists continue to face issues reporting the unrest. On Saturday, the authorities withdrew the accreditation of 17 reporters, most of them Belarusian citizens who have been reporting for foreign media outlets.
Two journalists with the BBC’s Russian service were among those affected. In a statement, the BBC said it condemned “in the strongest possible terms this stifling of independent journalism”.
What happens next in Belarus depends on many things: on the determination of protesters to keep taking to the streets; on whether Mr Lukashenko’s security forces stay loyal to him; and on decisions taken to the East – in the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin has already made it clear he’s keeping a close eye on events in Belarus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned Mr Lukashenko on his birthday and reportedly invited him to visit Moscow.
It appeared to be the latest sign of Kremlin support for a president who has not always been seen positively by Russia.
But Mr Putin has said he has formed a police reserve force to intervene in Belarus if necessary, although “it won’t be used until the situation gets out of control”.
To me, this sounds pretty familiar to events we have seen throughout history.
Could Putin be sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to get out of control like Japan did with China?
Let’s turn to one more recent Associated Press story.
The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (Na val knee) is in a coma and on a ventilator in a hospital intensive care unit after a suspected poisoning his supporters believe is tied to his anti-Kremlin activism.
An outspoken critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Navalny was returning to Moscow by plane from Siberia when he fell ill, prompting the captain to make an emergency landing in Omsk, where he was taken to a hospital. A mobile video shot on the plane showed medical personnel rushing onboard as Navalny screamed in agony.
The 44-year-old’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh told the Echo of Moscow radio station that Navalny had begun sweating and then lost consciousness shortly after take-off.
“I am sure this was deliberate poisoning,” she said, added that she suspected a cup of black tea he drank at an airport cafe was the source. She tied the alleged poisoning to upcoming elections in the Siberian regions they had visited.
If confirmed as a poison attack, it would be the latest in a series of high-profile assaults, often with poison, against opposition figures and Russian dissidents.
So who is Alexei Navalny?
“There was always a worry [about an attack] because Navalny has been the main opponent of Putin and the main opponent of the Kremlin,” said Lyubov Sobol, an ally and lawyer at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Even as he lay in a coma in hospital, there were signs of pressure on the opposition leader’s family members and political allies. Hospital officials had initially barred Navalny’s wife and a personal doctor from visiting him.
Hospital staff had also refused to show them the results of tests that would indicate a poisoning, she said. Investigators who said they wanted to check for medicines or other potential toxins had also seized his belongings, she said.
The German organization Cinema for Peace Foundation said it was sending an air ambulance to pick up Navalny on Thursday evening and take him to Germany, where it said Berlin’s Charité hospital was ready to treat him. Supporters had earlier in the day indicated that they wanted to move Navalny abroad for treatment but it was not clear whether Russian authorities would allow it.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that there would have to be test results before an investigation into poisoning could be opened. Peskov told journalists that he would provide help to have Navalny transferred abroad, if asked. “Just like any citizen of our country, we wish him a speedy recovery,” he said.
Navalny, who has campaigned against Putin’s rule for years, was travelling through several cities in Siberia to back candidates he supports in local elections involving 40 million voters next month. He posed with supporters for a photograph from Tomsk posted on Wednesday, calling for more volunteers. “These crooks won’t kick themselves out of office,” he wrote.
He may also have been gathering information for an investigation into local United Russia politicians, the local news site Tayga.Info reported. Revelations of corruption in his investigations into senior members of the Russian government have fuelled street protests and provoked angry threats from powerful officials.
“There is no doubt that Navalny was poisoned for his political position and activity,” said Vyacheslav (Vash es slav) Gimadi, the head of the legal department of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Interestingly, Navalny has noted with enthusiasm the protests in Belarus against its president, Alexander Lukashenko.
In a recent appearance on his YouTube channel, Navalny spoke of how successful strikes by key workers in Belarus had forced authorities to start engaging with protesters.
Now folks, you may think I am way off base here. But here we have people fighting for freedom in both Belarus and Russia. Meanwhile, the US is dealing with one of the nastiest political campaigns in our history, a worldwide pandemic, and rioting in our streets.
Do you really think that Putin and Lukashenko believe America will put all our problems on hold to come to the aid of the the people of Belrus and Russia?
All you have to do is look at the history.