I made the papers for Cazbah in my hometown area paper! The Reading Eagle published this artcle in the Sunday Business Section today!
On this Grandparent’s Day, I thought it only fitting to remember what my grandfather gave for this country. Growing up during the Great Depression, he fully understood the meaning of sacrifice and hard work. It takes a lot to shake the faith and resolve of my grandfather, such that only I could only dream of someday matching.
Toward the end of World War II, he left High School at the age of 17 before earning his diploma. He left to serve his country in what remains the greatest war fought for the greatest cause that humanity has ever witnessed.
Although it was common practice at that time to prudently enlist before getting drafted, my grandfather still had the determination to finish High School by 1947 after returning from the Pacific.
Which brings me to my recollection of the monumental nature of his service. He served with one of the greatest battle fleets ever assembed: Admiral Halsey’s Daunting 3rd Fleet. It was comprised of no less than the USS Missouri, the USS New Jersey, and the USS Iowa (otherwise known as “the big stick”, pictured above).
The 3rd fleet was strong as a whole, yet its ranks were bolstered by “Fletcher Class” Destroyers, often referred to as “tin cans”. The flecher class was cheap and quick to roll off the line in mass quantities, but still packed one hell of a bang for the buck.
Serving on board the flectcher class named the USS Bullard (pictured in black & white below), my grandfather was a mere 9 miles off the coast of Tokyo when the Japanese surrendered. Having endured several Kamakazi strikes and what must have been countless sleepless nights, it is to him that I tip my hat today with the utmost respect, and to my grandmother as well for standing with him to this day.
The situation on the ground in the Georgian Republic is becoming more desperate by the day. Ramifications of what Russian and Georgia are now referring to as an all-out war will inevitably leave their mark on the region for decades.
Some in the international press seem to suggest this war is once again about oil pipelines and natural resources. While that may indeed factor into the equation, it’s merely an ancillary cause.
This is a conflict that is rooted deeply in the history of the region, more than most casual observers have yet to comprehend.
Traditionally known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans as Caucasian Iberia, the region we know today as Georgia was located inextricably on the eastern fringes of both Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar’s vast empires. As with a great many things in life, the location sometimes determines just about everything.
If a house is built on a fault line, the prudent owner ought to expect and prepare for earthquakes.
The Georgian people bore the brunt of Persian Empire’s wrath as it rather quickly laid waste to what was once Alexander the Great’s territory. Not long thereafter, the Georgian’s experienced more tumultuous times as the balance of power in the world toppled steadily toward the Romans and subsequently into the hands of the Ottomans.
Georgia, by the 18th Century, had finally turned to the Tsar’s of the Russian Empire for protection–of which seldom arrived. Georgia eventually joined the Russian Empire, only to declare independence by WWI.
It has been an ongoing conflict both domestically as well as internationally over who should ultimately govern the Georgian people. Familiarity with the oppressive hand of their former Soviet possessors and the promise of powerful new allies from the west help make the argument for continued independence.
Putin, on the other hand, having just completed a “statue of liberty” power play, seems to favor the notion of the Russians as the traditional peacekeepers of the broader region, with Georgia being the key.
“Georgia’s aspiration to join Nato … is driven by its attempt to drag other nations and peoples into its bloody adventures”
–Vladimir Putin, quoted from The Times Online
Ironically, as history would have it, Georgia is once again at the farthest reaches of western influence and protection as the world’s great western powers are occupied elsewhere.
The war ravaging parts of Georgia is not as much about sacking Georgia as it is about deciding who get’s the right to protect Georgia. Thus, it begs a couple of questions: what great threat does Georgia need protection from, and what does that suggest about the state of global politics?
