Challenging The Sacred Cows As 2023 Comes To An End

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

The American media—or “Fake News,” as Donald Trump prefers to call it—fills us with a daily barrage of “tripe.”  It is intended to shape our opinions; and our views of ourselves, our communities, our states, our nation, and yes of our wider world.  Products are sold in countless ways; and we are buffeted with advertising from dawn to dusk, birth to death.

When such “attacks” crater—as in the case of Anheuser-Busch’s use of a “freak of nature” to pitch its Bud Lite beer brand—billions of dollars in sales revenues can evaporate overnight.[2].  Disney, which has been part of our lives since we were kids, was hit hard by similar problems.  Indeed, as I draft this article on my phone with the TV on in front of me and its sound muted, there are two men kissing in an ad for some drug.

Few of us grew up with such cultural challenges; and parents are rebelling nationally against their young children being indoctrinated from an early age.  Similarly, university administrators are being fired for any equivocation about anti-Semitism, instead of vigorously condemning it.  The abortion issue is “hot-wired,” as many women assert that it is their right to choose, while opponents claim that every life is precious, and any abortion constitutes the crime of Infanticide that must be punished.

In this context, several “sacred cows” can be considered:

•  Are Americans such colossal dupes they fail to realize that brain-addled Joe Biden is leading us to multiple military conflicts globally, and putting our military forces in harm’s way, which may result in a full-fledged World War III?

In the Middle East including Iraq, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal; in Ukraine; off the Korean Peninsula; relating to Taiwan; and here at home.[3]  Are we the protectors of the world?

Also, Americans are realizing how totally corrupt the Biden Family Crime Syndicate and their co-conspirators are[4]; and how the Democrats—and yes, I began as one—are distorting everything that we cherish and hold dear.[5]  And how the eco-Nazis have distorted the world in which we live.[6]

•  Israel is our ally, and must be supported fully and unconditionally.

This is pure poppycock.  Long before Hamas’ attacks of October 7th, Benjamin Netanyahu and the so-called “Settlers” and rabid Zionists were attacking Palestinians and others.  Barack Obama hated the Apartheid in South Africa, which he has compared with the Israeli Apartheid.

Any notion that Jews have some God-given right to the land is a fairytale, and tantamount to saying that all of America should be given back to the Indians—or trillions of dollars in reparations should be paid to them.

Decades ago, Netanyahu morphed into his ancestors’ Nazi oppressors.  He was hated by such giants as Ariel Sharon and the Rabins; and Leah Rabin blamed him for her husband Yitzhak’s tragic assassination.  She believed that peace was impossible with Netanyahu at the helm of Israel’s government; and her views were prescient and prophetic.

In the last decade or more, anti-Semitism has been growing exponentially, with fewer globally believing in what the Israelis are selling.  Tragically, innocent Jews are denying their “Jewishness.”  Some of us remember Israel’s unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty, and believe something similar can happen again.[7]

Also, no one should forget how Israel pushed us into the tragic Iraq War by falsely claiming that Saddam Hussein had WMDs.  This resulted in 5,000 Americans dying, and many more being maimed for life—our “Wounded Warriors”—and more than a trillion dollars wasted.

When will the butcher Netanyahu be taken out?  At the very least, he must be tried by the International Criminal Court for his many crimes.[8].  Tragically, Jews are the most hated group of individuals globally; and Netanyahu has fanned the flames of anti-Semitism, and embarked on genocide.[9]

•  The United States is a democratic country, and its elections are free and fair.

More and more, as we analyze the elections of 2020, it is clear that election abuses took place, which are being covered up to this day.  Many Americans rightly ask: Did my vote really count?  Clearly, the integrity of our elections must be restored.[10]

•  We are a nation of immigrants, who should welcome those from other countries.

Even those who have supported open borders are saying now that enough is enough.[11]

•  We are not at risk of annihilation, nor should we worry about rising crime nationwide.

We have enemies globally who seek to weaken if not destroy us.  By committing our military to areas of the world that subject us to maniacal risks, we engage in destructive heresy.  We are not the policemen of the world.  Those days are long gone.  For example, protecting or perpetuating the Apartheid state of Israel is not in our best interests, if it ever was.  Few Americans realize that President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General George Marshall opposed the creation of Israel; and then FDR died.

Crime seems omnipresent in America today.  The thugs, slugs, hoods and mongrels of “Black Lives Matter,” Antifa and other far-Left groups have burned our cities and killed innocent Americans including our police.  They have destroyed black and other businesses; and they have unleashed massive fears among elderly blacks and others, as the latest crimes are the news of the day, every day.  Yet, they have not been punished.  It’s as if the inmates are truly running the asylum.  Those days must end.

•  Is our greatest enemy, the thought police?

When all is said and done, is nothing sacred in this world?  It’s as if the Pigs in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” have triumphed, and we have given up—if we let them.[12, 13]  Authoritarianism would reign over democracy.  Despite the Stalinist, Hitleresque attempts to regimen us, we have a Higher Power, to which everything else is subservient.[14]

Americans can handle the truth, even the unvarnished truth.  But they will not tolerate lies.  Is the assassination of John F. Kennedy one of those lies?[15]

. . .

Next, why would anyone who is not a rabid Democrat ever want to run for the highest offices in the land, after witnessing what Donald Trump and his family have endured, and continue to be subjected to—along with their supporters?[16]

. . .

Lastly, Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes to you and your families for the new year ahead.  Long live free speech!

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© 2023-2024, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at The Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business.  He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., https://www.newsweek.com/has-bud-light-bounced-back-1846362#:~:text=Bud%20Light%20might%20no%20longer,conservative%20customers%2C%20according%20to%20experts. (“Has Bud Light Bounced Back?”)

[3]  See, e.g., https://justthenews.com/government/security/us-launches-air-strikes-against-hezbollah-iraq-after-attack-troops (“U.S. launches air strikes against Hezbollah in Iraq after attack on troops”) and https://apnews.com/article/royal-navy-shot-down-drone-red-sea-38940c6d0f653f7a6a53920c47b19097 (“American warship downs 14 suspected attack drones in the Red Sea, US military says”) and https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/16/houthi-attacks-red-sea-u-s-warships-00132146 (“Houthis launch more attacks in Red Sea as US warships head to region”) and https://apnews.com/article/attacks-red-sea-navy-mission-missiles-286d51bfd65e741e839e185f0f4a455b (“Pentagon announces new international mission to counter attacks on commercial vessels in Red Sea”) and https://www.semafor.com/article/12/16/2023/us-is-considering-striking-yemeni-group (“U.S. is considers striking Yemeni group”) and https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/bp-to-pause-all-shipments-through-red-sea-following-attacks-cd603dad (“U.S. Vows Naval Forces to Protect Ships Passing Through Suez Canal”) and https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-778377 (“North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile, condemns US”) and https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12875665/North-Korea-fires-nuclear-capable-missile-range-target-ENTIRE-United-States-Japan-says.html (“North Korea fires nuclear-capable missile with range to target ENTIRE United States, Japan says”) and https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/kim-north-korea-nukes/2023/12/20/id/1146694/ (“NKorea’s Kim Warns of ‘Nuclear Attack’ If Provoked With Nukes”) and https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12887169/Top-Republicans-alarmed-unnerving-report-Xi-warned-Biden-China-reunify-Taiwan-blunt-message-crunch-talks-San-Francisco.html (“Xi warned Biden that China WILL reunify with Taiwan in blunt message”)

[4]  See, e.g., https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12877961/ashley-biden-jim-james-sara-hunter-david-marcus.html (“Meet the Bidens: A tax dodging daughter… an access selling brother… and a sister-in-law flush with foreign cash. If you think Hunter is shady, says DAVID MARCUS, read what else is being revealed about Joe’s family”); see also https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12878519/joe-biden-lower-approval-kamala-harris.html (“Joe Biden sinks to be LESS popular than Kamala Harris”)

[5]  Legal scholar Jonathan Turley rips Colorado decision to disqualify Trump from presidential ballot: “This country is a powder keg, and this court is just throwing matches at it.”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12883629/Trump-Colorado-disqualified-legal-Jonathan-Turley-Supreme-Court.html

See also https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/alan-dershowitz-colorado-supreme-court/2023/12/20/id/1146629/ (“Dershowitz on Colorado: ‘Never Seen a Decision That’s So Anti-Democratic,’ ‘Absurd'”)

“Biden says there’s ‘no question’ Trump engaged in an insurrection in his first response to Colorado disqualification as Republicans threaten to take Joe off their state ballots as revenge”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12886597/Biden-says-theres-no-question-Trump-engaged-insurrection-response-Colorado-disqualification-Republicans-threaten-Joe-state-ballots-revenge.html; but see https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12887009/DAN-MCLAUGHLIN-suicidal-Democrats-Colorado-Trump-ballot.html (“Will the suicidal Democrats EVER learn? Like the endless indictments, Colorado’s bogus ruling only makes Trump stronger – and Biden look somehow even more spineless”) and  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12894827/Supreme-Court-REJECTS-request-fast-track-Trumps-immunity-case-Win-ex-president-justices-rebuff-Jack-Smiths-bid-expedite-increase-chances-trial-delayed.html (“Trump celebrates Supreme Court refusing to fast-track January 6 case”)

[6]  See, e.g., https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12880469/Saudi-Arabias-100-mile-long-megacity-line-deathtrap-birds.html (“Saudi Arabia’s 100-mile-long megacity ‘will be a deathtrap for birds'”)

[7]  See https://www.usslibertyveterans.org/ (“USS Liberty Veterans Association”); see also https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-hostages-killed-idf-white-cloth-protests-netanyahu-rcna130049 (“Anger at Israeli government mounts after military admits to mistakenly killing hostages”)

[8]  See, e.g., https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-16/netanyahu-faces-protests-as-more-hostage-death-details-emerge (“Netanyahu, Under Pressure Over Hostage Deaths, Vows to Press On”) and https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12875993/How-did-Israel-kill-elderly-woman-daughter-grounds-Gazas-Catholic-church-One-victim-desperately-tried-carry-safety-gunned-latest-civilian-deaths.html (“How did Israel kill mother and daughter on grounds of Gaza church?”); see also https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/is-israel-doomed/ (“Is Israel Doomed?”)

[9]  See, e.g., https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/gaza-palestine-displacement-rafah-maps-photos/ (“Photos, videos and maps show Palestinians have no safe place to go in Gaza”) and https://news.yahoo.com/more-20-000-palestinians-killed-052707251.html (“Gaza death toll exceeds 20,000 as Israel expands ground war against Hamas”) and https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hk1zqobdt (“Europe and its Jews: Is the clock ticking until they part ways?”)

[10]  See supra n.5.

[11]  See, e.g., https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12875473/Over-67K-migrants-living-NYC-shelters-triple-2022-holiday-season-total-Mayor-Eric-Adams-calls-Bidens-lax-immigration-policies-baffling.html (“Over 67K migrants are living in NYC shelters – more than triple 2022”) and https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12881409/More-12-600-cross-southern-border-day-highest-HISTORY-migrant-record-smashed-Biden-thousands-waiting-Eagle-Pass.html (“More than 12,600 cross the southern border in a day”) and https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12899949/Christmas-crisis-Eagle-Pass-Texas-border-migrants.html (“Eagle Pass in Texas has been flooded with at least 10,000 asylum-seekers a day for weeks and the surge did not take a break for the holiday as many more crossed the river into the US”)

[12]  See, e.g., https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/biden_administration/media_bias_worse_than_ever_voters_say (“Media Bias Worse Than Ever, Voters Say”)

[13]  See, e.g., https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm (“Animal Farm”)

[14]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/what-and-where-is-god/ (“What And Where Is God?”)

[15]  Compare https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jfk-assassination-gary-hart_n_4302598 (“Former Presidential Candidate On JFK Assassination: ‘American Journalism Never Followed Up On That Story'”) with https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/ronald-reagan-and-john-f-kennedy-a-question-of-character/ (“Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy: A Question of Character”)

[16]  But see https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-supreme-court-capitol-riot-1854375 (“Supreme Court Hands Donald Trump a Lifeline”)

Are Afghanistan, Iraq And Pakistan Hopeless, And Is The Spread Of Radical Islam Inevitable, And Is Barack Obama Finished As America’s President?

By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Arnaud de Borchgrave—editor at large of The Washington Times and of United Press International—has written another brilliant and very sobering article entitled, “Playing with fire,” which is worth reading and reflecting on.[2] In it, he states:

Unless [Gainesville, Florida Pastor Terry Jones, who decided to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11 by proclaiming “International Burn a Koran Day,”] canceled his Koran book burning . . . , Christians throughout the world’s 1.2 billion-strong Muslim nations and Muslim communities would suddenly feel threatened. Those who converted from Islam to Christianity would be prime targets.

I will always remember the senseless killing of film director Theo van Gogh, who was the great-grandson of Theo van Gogh, the brother of the famous painter Vincent van Gogh.[3] I vehemently disagree with a burning of the Koran or the Bible.  However, is the Western world and culture going to be intimidated by and held hostage to the radical followers of Islam?  Is this “The Clash of Civilizations” that political scientist Samuel P. Huntington and former President Richard M. Nixon were concerned about?[4] Will Westerners be forced to subjugate their beliefs on the subject of Islam and Islamic terrorists, to the will of Islamic fanatics?  I think not.

Arnaud de Borchgrave adds:

Even if a superannuated preacher canceled the public burning of the Koran, the damage had already been done.

Yes, it would appear so.  Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall already.

Next, de Borchgrave notes:

NATO members pledged 2,796 trainers [to Afghanistan] but only 500 showed up. The NATO bureaucracy in Brussels couldn’t make it happen, according to one U.S. officer involved in the program. Most NATO countries are steadily reducing their defense budgets.

This is ominous.  Among other things, Germany’s “vaulted” military has been a paper tiger for years, in actuality.  Also, it seems that all of Europe will be weak, which might foretell America’s military future too—certainly if Obama were to get a second term in office, which is unlikely.

Lastly, de Borchgrave compares the collapse of the South Vietnamese army with that of the Afghan army, and describes the hopelessness of America’s Afghan adventure.  While there are certainly parallels between Vietnam and Afghanistan, the stakes are even higher now with a nuclearized Pakistan next door.

If Obama cuts and runs from Afghanistan, the war’s failure will be hung around his neck politically like Vietnam was hung around Lyndon Johnson’s neck.  It prevented Johnson from running for reelection in 1968; and the same thing might be true of Obama as the presidential election of 2012 approaches.  The foremost concern, however, is America’s position in the world and that of our military, which has been so brilliant in recent years.

Enormous amounts of money are being spent on the Afghan war—while the country’s GDP is a mere fraction of that amount—which seems absurd.  Also, there is no al Qaeda presence worth mentioning in Afghanistan today.  And even if the Taliban were to return to power, it is not likely to invite al Qaeda back to its former safe havens. After all, the Taliban lost Afghanistan because of al Qaeda and 9/11.  Thus, why should anyone care whether the Afghans’ future is led by men who feel more comfortable living in prior centuries?  The answers are complex but clear.

Afghan women and their supporters around the world care deeply.  Afghan women will suffer greatly if the Taliban return to power.  Americans and our NATO allies would become parties to the process of turning back the clock once again, and subjugating Afghan women and destroying their lives and any hopes for the future.  The plight of women in Afghanistan is something that America has been addressing, with the help of former First Lady Laura Bush and others.

Also, a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan would be another step in the process of spreading Islam beyond the region, and destabilizing Pakistan, thereby potentially unleashing its nuclear arsenal on the world (e.g., for terrorists to buy and sell weapons-grade materials, at the very least).

Some Americans argue that Iraq is hardly a U.S. geopolitical success story, because it cost America enormous monetary and human treasures to get rid of Saddam Hussein, who—it is argued—was our best defense against Iran; and that Baghdad today has less electricity, among other services.  I was against our Iraqi “adventure,” primarily because I believed Saddam had WMDs, which he would not hesitate to use against our military, just as he had used them against the Iranians and the Kurds.  Also, I believed we were “fronting” for Israel, and doing its dirty work, which some people (such as former UN Ambassador John Bolton) are arguing we should be doing right now vis-à-vis Iran, which is madness.

However, the “surge” worked, which George W. Bush, General David Petraeus and Senator John McCain championed; and at least Iraqis have a real chance to build a viable and stable democracy.  I agree with the Wall Street Journal’s assessment that was contained in an editorial prior to Barack Obama’s recent speech to the American people concerning Iraq:

The U.S. kept hundreds of thousands of troops in Germany for decades after World War II, and it still has tens of thousands in South Korea and Japan. It would be a tragedy if after seven years of sacrifice, the U.S. now failed to assist Iraqis as they try to build a federal, democratic state in an often hostile neighborhood.[5]

I agree too with the assessment that Iraq and Afghanistan together will probably be Obama’s undoing unless the American economy does it first.  They are all running neck and neck, but my betting is on the economy.  It will be sinking even farther during the balance of this decade, despite occasional “green shoots” appearing—which is similar to what happened during the last Great Depression.

The economy and the wars will be Barack Obama’s undoing, if something more tragic does not define his presidency (e.g., assassination, an EMP Attack), which I hope and pray never happens.[6]

© 2010, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  He practices law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, which specializes in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (see www.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/naegele_resume.html).  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He is a member of the District of Columbia and California bars.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal.  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., http://www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2] See http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/2010/09/08/Commentary-Playing-with-fire/UPI-32611283952855/

[3] See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director)#Assassination

[4] See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clash_of_Civilizations

[5] See http://www.naegele.com/documents/ThePresidentonIraq-WSJ.com.pdf and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/the-speech—is-barack-obama-smoking-pot-again/

[6] See also https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/the-end-of-barack-obama/ and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/emp-attack-only-30-million-americans-survive/ and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/barack-obama-america’s-second-emperor/ and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/26/obama-in-afghanistan-doomed-from-the-start/ and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-great-depression-ii/ and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/is-barack-obama-a-racist/

The Silent Voices Of Stalin’s Soviet Holocaust And Mao’s Chinese Holocaust

By Timothy D. Naegele[1][2]

Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung were the most ruthless killers of their own people in the 20th Century, and perhaps in the entire history of mankind.  They were responsible for the world’s deadliest holocausts—or the mass destruction of human beings—yet their victims have never been identified or honored.  It is time for the silent voices of those who died to be heard, and for these human tragedies of epic proportions to be recognized fully.

The famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal once spoke about the duty owed by survivors of the Nazi Holocaust to Jews and non-Jews alike to insure that other holocausts did not occur again, and of course he was correct.  Memorials have been erected to those who died at the hands of Adolf Hitler’s thugs.  However, those noncombatants who were killed by Japan prior to and during World War II, and by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot in Cambodia, and in Africa and elsewhere are forgotten.

Saddam Hussein’s brutality with respect to the Kurds and Iranians, and those Kuwaitis whose fate has only been determined recently in shallow Iraqi graves, pales beside that of Stalin who was Hussein’s hero.  Aside from ordering the killing of those in the Soviet hierarchy, it is estimated that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of more than 30 million men, women and children—his own countrymen—including millions during the collectivization of the Soviet farms in the 1930s.

History has focused on Hitler’s rise to power during that period, and his atrocities in the Nazi death camps and on the battlefields of World War II.  Memorials have been erected to the fallen of many nations that brought an end to his cherished dream of a “Thousand Year Reich,” and to the Jews who were persecuted and systematically killed by the Nazis.  However, there are no memorials or tributes to those who perished under Stalin.

He was revered in the former Soviet Union for having defeated Hitler on his Eastern Front, and for the Red Army’s capture of Berlin—even though as the Soviets moved through Germany, they raped at least two million German women in what is now acknowledged as the largest case of mass rape in history.  As the truth about him became known following his death, a program of “de-Stalinization” was implemented.  However, never in the Soviet Union’s history were steps taken to honor fully those whose only crime was working on the land.  They were peasant farmers, most of them, but they stood in the way of “progress,” Soviet-style.  To increase agricultural production and to implement the multi-year plans that were being devised for their confiscated farms, which became state-owned lands, they were expendable—and liquidated.

For such a colossal crime to go “unnoticed” outside of the Soviet Union can only be explained by the gathering storm clouds of World War II, and the march of Germany and Japan, which focused the world’s attention elsewhere.  China and other parts of Asia came under attack and were later occupied by Japan, while Hitler marched into Poland and then conquered Europe.  Straddling the Atlantic and Pacific with Hitler in the East and Japan in the West, and still dealing with the Great Depression’s aftermath, the United States was preoccupied prior to World War II.  Also, there was a strong sense of isolationism—that America was an island, bounded by the Atlantic and Pacific—which militated against our involvement in the Soviet Union’s “internal affairs.”

China’s Mao Tse-tung was directly responsible for an estimated 30-40 million deaths between 1958 and 1960, as a result of what Mao’s regime hailed as the “Great Leap Forward.”  Like Stalin, Mao’s crimes involved Chinese peasants, many of whom died of hunger from man-made famines under collectivist orders that stripped them of all private possessions.  The Communist Party forbade them even to cook food at home; private fires were outlawed; and their harvests were taken by the state.  Those who dared to question Mao’s agricultural policies—which sought to maximize food output by dispossessing the nation’s most productive farmers—were tortured, sent to labor camps, or executed.

More than 60 million human beings are forgotten, seemingly having disappeared without a trace in the Soviet and Chinese Holocausts of the 20th Century, as if they never existed or were swallowed up by history.  Yet they did exist, and they might have produced descendants numbering in the hundreds of millions today.  One can only conjecture as to the contributions they would have made to mankind, which are forever lost like the contributions of those Jews, Gypsies and others who were killed in the Nazi Holocaust, and by Japan, and by Pol Pot, and in Africa.

Approximately 70 years have passed since this human tragedy of epic proportions occurred in the Soviet Union.  Approximately 25 years have passed since the comparable tragedy occurred in China.  It is time for the world to pay tribute to more than 60 million people who perished under Stalin and Mao.  While the precise numbers of the victims may never been known, each of us has a duty to honor their memories and take steps to insure that holocausts do not occur anywhere again.  China, Russia and the other former Soviet-bloc countries whose citizens numbered among the silent voices must take the lead, and other nations must join as well.

It is possible that relatives and people who knew those who died are still alive today, and can bear witness to what happened and give new meaning to their lives.  However, the likelihood of that being true diminishes with each passing day, and it is a race against the clock before they too are gone—certainly in the case of those who might remember victims of the Soviet Holocaust.  It is time for the silent voices to be heard again, so they are not forgotten, which would compound their catastrophic fate.

© 2010, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass), the first black senator since Reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War.  He practices law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates (www.naegele.com).  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He is a member of the District of Columbia and California bars.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal.  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years.  See, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles

[2] This article was published first at MensNewsDaily.com on August 9, 2005.  See http://www.naegele.com/documents/StalinMaoHolocausts.pdf

Because more than four years have passed, the number of relatives and other people who knew those who perished, and can bear witness to what happened and give new meaning to their lives, has continued to diminish.  It is even more of a race against the clock before they are gone too, which would compound the catastrophic fate of those who were victims of Stalin’s Soviet Holocaust and Mao’s Chinese Holocaust.

Russia’s dictator-for-life Vladimir Putin is every bit as sinister and evil as Stalin, and it is unlikely that he will be of any help in such an effort.