HISTORY – REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

IRAN’S FUTURE?

This is a powerful story that shows the strength and importance of women in Iran despite their harsh and unequal treatment.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Lion Women of Tehran

Author: Marjan Kamali

Narration by: Mozhan Navabi & 1 more

Marjan Kamali (Author, Iranian-American novelist, born in Turkey to Iranian parents, lived in Kenya and Iran before moving to the U.S. in 1982, received a BA in English literature from U. of California, an MBA from Columbia, and MFA from NY University.)

Marjan Kamali’s book is an informed fictional view of Iran in its transition from monarchy to Islamic Republic to an unknown future, i.e., a future made more complicated by America’s invasion. Its two main characters are Ellie and Homa, two pre-school children that grow to adulthood in Tehran. It is written by an author with Iranian parents that gives some credibility to her story about women in Iran during rule by a former Shah and today’s ayatollahs.

Kamali describes an upper-class Iranian family that experiences a fall from wealth and a return to the upper middle-class during the Shah’s reign. Ellie’s mother loses her husband to tuberculosis and has to leave their upper-class home because of his death. They move to a home in a lower-class neighborhood near the beginning of Ellie’s grade-school years. Ellie’s mother is crest-fallen by her move but appears to make the best of what she seems to believe is a temporary circumstance. In their fall from wealth, Ellie meets a precocious young girl of the same age. Her name is Homa.

The ideals of communism is a preferred alternative to royal leadership by some Iranians.

Homa becomes Ellie’s friend and gives one an idea of the difference between families in the 1950s that have no wealth who might challenge monarchy for a different form of government. Homa’s father believes in communism and is imprisoned by the shah for his activity.

MOHAMMAD REZA SHA PAHLAVI (The deposed shah of Iran in 1979.)

Ellie, because of her upper-class upbringing, is initially reluctant to engage Homa but is lured into her orbit by her exuberant personality and Homa’s family’s friendliness. They become close friends despite their different economic backgrounds. What one gathers from Kamali’s story is an historical view of the circumstances of Iran before the revolution. Homa believes communism is a better form of government than rule by a King and chooses to follow her father’s beliefs. Homa is eventually imprisoned. However, her sentence includes being raped by her imprisoner. A daughter is born from that rape when she is eventually released. Iran of the 1950s is a country of the rich and poor with growing discontent with a monarchal government that seems to care little about the circumstances of the poor. An attempted coup in 1953 illustrates the rising dissent of the Iranian people.

Ellie’s mother remarries and returns to an upper-class life and Ellie loses touch with Homa. In the 1960s, Ellie pursues higher education and re-connects with Homa at a school that Homa attends because of her intelligence, her earned income from part time work, and help from her family that supports her interest in becoming well-educated. The renewed friendship becomes a focus of great changes that eventually lead to the 1979 revolution.

Kamali cleverly tells a story of three generations of women from Tehran who survive the 1979 revolution and the repression of the Ayatollahs in Iran. Ellie and Homa are the principal characters of “The Lion Women of Iran” but two girl descendants of Homa are meant to show the strength and continuity of Iran’s people. Whether Kamali’s fictional characters are real or not, the author’s point is that many Iranians are determined to have a country that is ruled better than by either a Shah or Ayatollah.

This is a powerful story that shows the strength and importance of women in Iran despite their harsh and unequal treatment.

Gender Inequality

Raising children is the responsibility of all, i.e., both mothers and fathers, and the society in which they live. The future depends on our children.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Lessons in Chemistry (A Novel)

Author: Bonnie Garmus

Narration by: Miranda Raison & 2 more

Bonnie Garmus (American author and former copywriter.)

Bonnie Garmus’s main character represents the truth of gender inequality in society. The author’s main character, Elisabeth Zott, is an example of a woman who achieves success despite gender discrimination. As an idealized character, Zott represents a brilliant woman who is smarter, more self-motivated, and confident than any other character in “Lessons in Chemistry”. Zott is a self-educated woman who overcomes the ignorance of personal and social inequality. She is an aspiring scientist who is derailed in her career by male associates who steal her research and claim it as their own. It is presumed by the research firm for which she works that her science papers come from association with her male partner’s accomplishments rather than her own work. Zott’s value is believed to be her attractive appearance rather than her intellect, personal work, and ambition.

Equal opportunity in society is a fiction.

Zott’s male partner is a renowned scientist in the same scientific research firm for which Zott is employed. They become an intimate couple with marriage on the mind of the man, but independence insisted upon by Zott. Her companion dies in an accident and Zott is left with what is an unexpected pregnancy. Alone with a child, Zott presumes she will continue to work at the research firm but is fired by the male director of the enterprise because of her having a baby out of wedlock. Zott uses what financial savings she has to create a research lab in her house, raise her child, and find another source of employment. The author illustrates how motherhood, particularly for a single woman, limit women’s opportunity in society. The responsibilities of life for a woman with child and no partner often trap women in poverty.

How Zott escapes a life of poverty is a meaningful fairy tale in Garmus’s story.

Zott is hired by a TV production manager to host a cooking show. Zott’s intelligence and experience as a chemist combine with her drive for independence to make the show a success. What Bonnie Garmus shows is the mountain for success one climbs as a single woman is steeper and more difficult than it is for men. The “Lessons in Chemistry” are that a woman’s right to think, work, and live independently are denied because equal opportunity and equal pay is thwarted by gender-related discrimination.

All in society, both male and female, need to step up to their responsibility for raising children.

The “Lessons in Chemistry” suggest men need to step up in society and take responsibility for gender inequality by providing an environment that allows women to achieve the same level of success as men–whatever that success may be to the individual. Raising children is the responsibility of all, i.e., both mothers and fathers, and the society in which they live. The future depends on our children.

THE U.S. & CHINA

Both America and China need to change. Both are making authoritarian errors that are unnecessarily threatening world comity, human progress, and the potential for peaceful coexistence. This seems simple on its face but hard in reality.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

THE THIRD REVOLUTION (Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State)

BREAKNECK (China’s Quest to Engineer the Future)

Authors: Elizabeth C. Economy, Dan Wang

Narration by: Anna Perrin, Jonathan Yen

These two authors were listened to because of their similarities and differences about America’s and China’s political/economic systems. They show some similarity that reinforces their arguments about America’s and China’s economies. Ms. Economy was born in America while Wang was born in Canada. Wang’s parents fled China just before he was born. Ms. Economy is an American political scientist, foreign policy analyst, and noted expert on China’s politics and foreign policy. Wang, as a son of Chinese parents, is a Canadian technology analyst and writer. Ms. Economy is a co-chair of a program on the US, China economic/political studies at the Hoover Institution. Wang is a visiting scholar and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.

America/China-Worlds Apart?

These authors analytic approach to the political economy of America and China are viewed from different perspectives. Ms. Economy approaches the Chinese economy from a governance and global strategy perspective, while Mr. Wang views America’s and China’s economies from a technological and manufacturing perspective.

Ms. Economy explains how Xi has centralized power that is reshaping China’s institutions and extending China’s global influence. Xi recognizes a level of greed and corruption that infected communist functionaries and began firing many of the party leaders to restore his vision of the ideals of communism. In contrast, Wang focuses on an engineering mentality of Chinese governance and its strategy to make China the most powerful nation in the world.

Example of China’s largest production automobile, the BYD.

Ms. Economy shows strategy is not enough to make China, or for that matter, America great. She notes great advances China has made but criticizes the quality of China’s industrial production, i.e., particularly an auto industry that has become the largest in the world but with many product features that fail its buyers. There are safety, quality, durability, and reliability criticisms of China’s cars. BYD is one of China’s strongest brands. As an example, China recalled an estimated 110,000 electric vehicles due to battery defects. In 2024, 32 million vehicles have been produced in China. Its closest competitor is America which only produced an estimated 10.5 million vehicles.

“The Wealth of Nations” is about politics as an essential ingredient of economics.

Both authors agree that China is a deeply state-driven economy. However, Ms. Economy suggests China’s strengths and weaknesses are based on political ideology while Wang argues it is because of China’s focus on engineering and technology. This seems a “Potato-Pototo” argument that leaves a reader feeling there is little difference, i.e., China’s power and growth is limited by its system of governance with technology being only a part of its strength and weakness. The same is true of all forms of government, including democracy.

The risk of authoritarian power.

Ms. Economy notes the fragility of China’s authoritarian political power that refuses to allow openness to citizen opinion about new projects or ideas that change their lives. In contrast, Wang notes America’s failure to capitalize on engineering and the capitalist capabilities of America’s economy because of too many lawyers. Wang explains America’s resistance to economic growth is constrained by a lawyer mentality of “not in my backyard”. In contrast China’s economic growth ignores human impact of projects (like dams) that displace millions of Chinese citizens without political voice. Both authors seem correct with the implication of a solution that is within the capabilities of both systems of government, i.e., China should become more concerned about its citizens welfare and America should invest in public works that benefit all Americans.

The digital age magnifies power and influence.

The two authors see different solutions for America’s and China’s quest for world influence. Ms. Economy argues America needs to compete with China’s global ambitions by using some of the same financial and political investments that demonstrate the value of capitalism over authoritarianism. Wang agues engineering, manufacturing, and industrial capacity must be reinvented in the U.S. Some may argue that is what Trump is trying to do but many would argue he fails to make a distinction between technological growth and polluting industrialization. Both America and China need to change. Both are making authoritarian errors that are unnecessarily threatening world comity, human progress, and the potential for peaceful coexistence. This seems simple on its face but hard in reality.

RUSSIA

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY (A Very Short Introduction)

Author: Richard Connolly

Narration by: John Pruden

Richard Connolly (British author, Associate fellow at the Centre for New American Security (CNAS) in Washington D.C., former director of the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Birmingham.)

Richard Connolly offers a brief and informative overview of Russia’s economic growth from the days of Stalin through today. He explains Russia’s economy has grown into a blend of state control and market demand that became the 20th century’s USSR. The common objective of every Russian leader since the 1917 revolution is stabilization of the country and any territory they rule. From the early days of Lenin and Stalin there is the goal of transitioning Russia from an agrarian lifestyle to an industrial power that could compete with other nations. In the process of that decision and from the spoils of WWII Russia became the USSR.

The goal of industrializing Russia for what became the U.S.S.R. is to create a powerful nation-state, by any means necessary, to compete with and/or dominate other nations. The shortest road for an agrarian nation to become an industrial power is dictatorship which fit the personality of Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin.

Joseph Stalin (1878-1953, General Secretary of the Communist Party 1922-1952.)

Stalin is a born martinet. He views Russia’s agrarian workers without concern for human or economic cost to turn their labor to industry with the intent of creating a military/industrial power. He redirects Russia’s people to work for the betterment of the state. At the same time, Stalin transitions farm laborers to industrial workers managed by government apparatchiks. Five-year plans are created by the government. Those who fail to achieve five-year plan goals are punished. Agriculture is forcibly collectivized and controlled by the government. The methodology Stalin uses to industrialize Russia is repeated in countries Russia claims after World War II.

The hardship one hears in traveling to Poland and the Baltics opens one’s eyes to the terrible experience their citizens endure from Stalin’s rule. The revenue from agricultural and mineral production goes to the State for purchase of machinery to industrialize Russia and newly acquired territories after the defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII. Thousands die of starvation because of Stalin’s ambition. Economic independence is not tolerated, either in agriculture or industry. Stalin focuses on steel, coal, and machinery to transform the economy. Living standards of workers is of no concern with goals that must be met. Profitability, consumer needs, and human life are sacrificed with the singular goal of maximizing industrial production.

The Soviet economy advanced because of Stalin’s political goals. Stalin’s goals are state security and survival. Human cost is no concern. Those who opposed Stalin’s goals were either suppressed, tortured, or killed as enemies of the State. Stalin rules for 29 years, from 1924 until his death in 1953. Stalin achieves enormous strategic economic gains by building a heavy-industrial, militarized economy that gave Russia, then the USSR, great-power status. Despite his methodology and the duplicity of Stalin’s early support of Hitler in WWII, Russia became a critical world power with the defeat of Nazi Germany. For that success, the world owes some measure of gratitude for an amoral and inhumane tyrant.

Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971, Secy. of the communist party 1953-1964)

When Khrushchev came to power after Stalin’s death, he shifts Stalin’s model of governance to a more sustainable, technologically oriented system for Russia to remain a superpower. Khrushchev rebalances the Soviet economy in a way that keeps Russia militarily competitive and capable of global engagement. He shifted the economy toward science, technology, and space exploration. One is reminded of Russia’s Sputnik moment. Technology became a core component of economic power. Khrushchev moves Russia toward consumer welfare to illustrate his belief in the superiority of socialism. Connolly suggests Khrushchev began raising the living standards of the Russian people. The Soviet Union became more of an international partner by aiding other countries, selling arms to other countries, and using trade and technical assistance as a geopolitical influencer. Brezhnev solidified the vision of socialism as a stable and predictive governmental system. However, the Russia economy became less dynamic in the modernizing world. In the 1980s, the Russian economy falters.

Yuri Andropov (1982-1984 General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, born in 1914-died in 1984.)

When Brezhnev dies in 1982, Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party. In his short tenure, he revives discipline in governance of Russia by fighting corruption and trying to improve Russia’s economy. Andropov’s tenure is short, approximately 15 months. Andropov wished Mikhail Gorbachev to succeed him, but the Politburo chose Chernenko who only served for 13 months.

Konstantin Chernenko (General Secretary of the Communist Party 1984-1984, born in 1911-died in 1985.)

Chernenko’s successor is Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev transformed the USSR. He ended the Cold War and reduced hostility toward the West. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. On the one hand he democratized Soviet politics but on the other he unintentionally triggered the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Gorbachev’s replacement is Boris Yeltsin who effectively dismantled Russia’s planned economy and opens Russia to global markets. His short tenure is chaotic, but it creates a foundation that leads to Putin’s reign.

“The Russian Economy” is written before Putin invades Ukraine. Putin reasserts the Russian government’s control over the economy.

Energy, defense, and finance are state controlled. In a sense, Putin returns to something like the rule of Stalin. Putin chooses to reorient Russia toward Asia rather than the United States. Putin rebuilt Russia’s wartime military capabilities. However, Connolly argues Putin fails to diversify or modernize Russia’s economy. He has successfully created a durable, state-centered model of government with geopolitical power, but economic prosperity seems, at best, a faltering work in progress. Connolly believes Russia will be able to withstand pressure from the West with its nuclear capability and economic power. Connolly believes Russia will survive its present semi-isolation. Connolly believes the State will remain the central actor in Russia’s future with (at least a near term) orientation toward Asia rather than the West.

CURING DISEASE

Green questions the profit motive of drug companies that ignore the benefits of drugs that poor societies cannot afford that would cure tuberculosis. At the same time, Green implies the political will of all nations fail to provide known curative drugs for tuberculosis.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Everything is Tuberculosis (The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection)

Author: John Green

Narration by: John Green

John Green (Author, YouTuber, and philanthropist.)

“Everything is Tuberculosis” is an apt title for John Green’s book but unlikely to attract many listener/readers. However, those who have read John Green’s books are attracted to his story because of the humor and insight he offers to living life. Green offers an interesting human perspective about a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year and is both preventable and curable. Recognizing this critic’s own biases, “Everything is Tuberculosis” is a belief that there are only two important issues for human species’ survival, i.e., world peace and personal health. “Everything is Tuberculosis” deals with the principal of health while others write about world peace.

Tuberculosis transmission.

Peace is only indirectly addressed in “Everything is Tuberculosis” while health is the primary focus of Green’s book. Today, approximately 1.23 million people die from tuberculosis every year. Surprisingly, it remains the deadliest curable infectious disease in the world. An estimated 10.7 million people are presently diagnosed with tuberculosis. This high infection rate is for a disease that is curable and preventable. Green explains in countries with high rates of poverty, undernutrition, overcrowding, high HIV infections, and poor medical services tuberculosis becomes a greater killer of human beings than any other infectious disease.

The fear and anxiety of Covid mimics the fear of tuberculosis.

Green personalizes his story by being its main character. He writes in the first person and uses his personal anxiety driven thoughts to explain tuberculosis’ illness and vulnerability. As a child, Green recalls his own illnesses and anxieties that required hospitalization. He contrasts his life of economic security with the lives of many people in the world that have little to no economic security. He views tuberculosis, not as a scientist or patient, but as an observer of poverty in Sierra Leone and the personal life of a young boy with the disease.

The cost of medication.

The young boy’s recovery experience is on-again/off-again, in part because of his father’s skepticism about the effectiveness of drugs and his belief in God, but also because of a failure of experimental drug treatments from other tuberculosis patients that die. There is a happy ending when a new drug cure is found and started; the boy recovers, resulting in eradication of the infection. He finishes high school and goes on to college. Other stories of the disease in Sierra Leone show distances patients have to travel, the cost of treatments, and different economically challenged families who are discouraged by continued treatment. Those patients that do not continue the medical treatment often see regrowth of the Tuberculosis bacteria which ends their sons, daughters, fathers, or mother’s lives.

Green’s point is that human beings are dying from tuberculosis, a curable disease that kills; not because it is often fatal, but because of a human-systems’ failure.

TB deaths are a predictable outcome of poverty, undernutrition, overcrowding, political neglect, and global indifference. Green gets at the heart of the problem of societal indifference. The indifference is both political and economic. The political indifference comes from every government that is only concerned about their country’s health and welfare. The economic difference is similar but more pronounced in capitalist countries that focus on profit more than societal benefit. Political difference is in nation-state’ leadership whether countries are democratic or other.

WORLD INIQUITY

One comes away from Trevor Reed’s book with the feeling he tilted at Don Quixote’s windmill. One’s heart goes out to Ukraine and their fight against an implacable Russian President who tilts at a different windmill.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Retribution (A US Marine’s Fight for Justice, from the Russian Gulag to Ukraine’s Front Lines

Author: Trevor Reed, Jim DeFelice

Narration by: Roger Wayne, Joey Reed

Trevor Reed (on the left) is the subject of Retribution. It is co-written with the novelist Jim DeFelice (on the right).

U.S. Marine infantry.

Trevor Reed is a former Marine infantry soldier who was imprisoned for being drunk and disorderly in Russia. He became a victim of Russia’s hostage exchange system. The story of his young life and how he became a marine and a Ukrainian combatant against Russia is explained in “Retribution”. As a strong-willed youth who challenged parental control, he became an athletic wrestling champion in high school. His disciplined physical work ethic made him a 145 lb. highly self-confident young man who decided (contrary to his father’s council as an ex-marine) to enlist in the marine infantry.

The risk of travel to foreign countries.

Reed’s story of being arrested in Russia is a lesson about the risks of traveling to a foreign country that disagrees with America’s form of government. Reed became romantically involved with a young woman in Russia who he had corresponded with after completing his 4-year commitment in the Marines. Alina Tsybulnik, his Russian girlfriend, visited America, became a friend of his family, and invited Trevor to Russia. They became intimate friends.

Alina Tsybulnik and Trevor Reed.

Tsybulnik is enrolled in a Russian college to become an attorney. When Trevor visits her in Russia, they go out on the town. Trevor gets drunk and disorderly and is arrested by the Russian police in 2019. In what is characterized as a gross exaggeration of Trevor’s actions on their night on the town, Trevor is sentenced to prison for nine years in a Russian penal colony. In April 2022, after three years, Trevor is released in a prisoner exchange.

Trevor Reed’s parents.

Reed shows himself to be a tough-minded person who refuses to cooperate with the Russian prison guards’ orders to work while being unfairly imprisoned in a work camp. He is visited by his father who works to have the Biden administration get his son released. Alina Tsybulnik uses her legal experience with the Russian legal system to get Reed released. The corruption and purpose of incarceration in Russia is shown to be political by Reed’s story. Reed explains how even some Russian administrators, not to mention his girlfriend, resist the political ministrations of the system but are unable to change its policies.

Alexei Navalny, a Russian dissident, is sentenced to an Arctic penal colony and is poisoned. He dies in that Arctic colony at the age of 47 in 2024.

The last chapters of Reed’s book recount his effort to get a level of revenge against Russia’s injustice by volunteering in Ukraine’s war against Russia’s invasion. Reed had become a fluent Russian language user because of his intellect, his relationship with Tsybulnik, and his imprisonment. He used that skill to join the Ukrainian resistance. One comes away from Trevor Reed’s book with the feeling he tilted at Don Quixote’s windmill. One’s heart goes out to Ukraine and their fight against an implacable Russian President who tilts at a different windmill.

COVERT OR OVERT

“The Fort Bragg Cartel” exposes a glaring weakness in a secret service meant to protect American citizens. The ironic truth in Trump’s Iran bombing campaign is that every American has a chance to decide.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Fort Bragg Cartel (Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces)

Author: Seth Harp

Narration by: Dan John Miller

Seth Harp (Author, investigative journalist, foreign correspondent, contributor to Rolling Stone, Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas.)

“The Fort Bragg Cartel” is a frightening look at the gray world of a special forces’ organization that recruits and trains American residents who have undoubtedly aided but also undermined the ideals of justice and freedom in America. Personally, as a military veteran, this is a particularly disappointing story of an important governmental organization in America.

Abdul Saoud Mohamed in 1989.

Ali Mohamed (aka Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed) was a Fort Bragg soldier, a former Egyptian Army officer who Harp identifies as a man who trained al-Qaeda. Mohamed was a participant in a special program for foreign officers at Fort Bragg in the early 1980s. He enlisted as a U.S. Army soldier at Fort Bragg in the 1980s. Harp infers “…Fort Bragg…” has trained and protected a small minority of soldiers who may have contributed to one of the worst disasters in American history, i.e., the disaster of 9/11 that killed 2,996 people in the collapse of World Trade Center in New York City.

Harp’s story begins with a confrontation between an unstable character named William Lavigne (pictured on the left below) and Freddie Huff, two soldiers trained at Fort Brag. Lavigne pulls a gun and threatens to kill Huff. Huff disarms Lavigne and calls the MPs, but the confrontation is covered up. It illustrates how dangerous Lavigne could be and how the military covers up a confrontation that should lead to an arrest and formal investigation. This incident characterizes a disregard for justice by America’s secret service.

Decorated Delta force operator and Army vet (inset) found murdered on Fort Bragg grounds.

Timothy Moss

The murder of a special force’s operator named William Lavigne II and a quartermaster named Timothy Dumas (inset picture above) is an entangled story of drug use, drug dealing, and weapons trafficking in the American military. A quartermaster is responsible for managing weapons, gear, and equipment for military operations. Lavigne’s fellow special force’s partner is Timothy Dumas Sr., a quartermaster who uses his role to enrich himself and others who have knowledge of his role and intentions. He threatens to blackmail Afghanistan’ special forces operation because of their criminal activity in cocaine smuggling. Lavigne is not in tune with Dumas’s scheme. Whether Lavigne is not in tune because of his own involvement with drug and weapons trafficking in Afghanistan or because of a patriot’s conscience is unknown.

During the Biden administration, Fort Bragg is renamed Fort Liberty. When Trump is re-elected, the name of Fort Bragg is resurrected. Once again, it became Fort Bragg.

Both Lavigne and Dumas are murdered and dumped in a Fort Brag training area. Harp’s investigation of their deaths becomes the story of his book. The author exposes drug use and trafficking networks at Fort Bragg. Harp notes corrupt law-enforcement ties, unsolved deaths, disproportionately high military personnel overdoses, and institutional cover ups at Fort Bragg darken the image of covert actions by the American military. Harp’s story implies criminality is as evident in the military as it is in civilian life. The difference is that there seems little accountability for those who are guilty of drug crimes in the secret service, i.e., at least as shown in this investigation of Fort Bragg.

The flawed nature of human beings.

The military as well as the civilian population of any government are made up of flawed human beings. Those flaws are mitigated by checks and balances designed to protect the general public from the abuse of inherent human rights. Covert and unchecked power in governance is a threat to society because of the nature of human beings. Use of the military as a bully in the playground of nations is psychologically and morally wrong but is proportionately a greater wrong when done covertly.

The Ayatollah of Iran was equally guilty of covert actions against other nations.

The covert actions of both Iran and America in the past are examples of what Harp’s story reveals about the danger of secret military plans and acts. Overt bombing of Iran may either be approved or rejected by the public. There is no chance to decide when governments act covertly and illegally if secret service agents are exempt from prosecution. “The Fort Bragg Cartel” exposes a glaring weakness in a secret service meant to protect American citizens. The ironic truth in Trump’s Iran bombing campaign is that every American has a chance to decide.

TWILIGHT TO SUNLIT

Iran and the U.S. conflicts will likely become more strident and publicly revealed by news headlines than what Crist calls the “Twilight War”. The twilight war has become sunlit.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Twilight War (The Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran)

Author: David Crist

Narration by: Peter Berkrot

David Crist (Author, Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.)

David Crist argues Iran and the U.S. have been in an undeclared war for decades that has been hidden and little understood by the American public. The CIA has been involved in a low-grade conflict with Iran since the late 1970s. Iran’s Quds combatants and proxies from other middle eastern countries have targeted U.S. interests in Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf for over 50 years. These conflicts have been cloaked by the use of allied militias and partners of both the United States and Iran. They have rarely been publicly acknowledged. One can reasonably argue today’s bombing of Iran by the United States is a public exposure of what has been happening covertly between Iran and America for many years. At the heart of the conflict is the importance of oil to the economies of the world.

President Trump impedes the influence of freedom in Europe by dismantling surveillance oversight, undermining the EU-U.S. relationship, mishandling America’s data privacy framework, and shutting down the GEC (Global Engagement Center) which is designed to counter foreign disinformation.

Crist alludes to U.S. intelligence actions that supported anti-regime factions that put Ayatollahs in charge of Iran in the 1979 revolution. Though they are characterized as small, fragmented, and ineffective, they represent America’s unsuccessful effort to weaken and/or depose Iran’s Ayatollah. America’s relationship with the Shah of Iran was an illusion in Crist’s opinion. Crist argues American overinvested in the Shah’s rule because of a false belief that Iran would be a shield against Soviet expansion. The perception of the Shah was that he could modernize and stabilize the region with weapons Iran purchased from America. American leaders fail to understand the Shah’s domestic weakness and the importance of Shite belief in the Islamic faith. The misreading of the Shah’s weakness and a widely held belief in Islamic faith led to the rise of Iran as a theocratic state.

Like the bombing of Dresden in WWII, today’s America is senselessly bombing Iran.

American leadership’s ignorance of Iran’s public discontent, the worsening illness of the Shah, and the Islamic belief of the Iranian people create what Crist describes as the “Twilight War”. Up until President Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, the U.S.-Iran relationship was in a gray zone, i.e. neither overtly hostile nor peaceful but a twilight between the dark and light of day. Crist infers the Shah is a bit player representing an ancient culture that no longer works for the Iranian people. The rise of Ayatollahs became Iran’s alternative to a government of a privileged few to what has become an economic crisis for the many. Accepting religious leadership disrupted the King’s royal leadership of Iran and diminished the wealth of most Iranian citizens.

Iranian and American conflicts will likely become more strident and publicly revealed by news headlines than what Crist calls the “Twilight War”. The twilight war has become sunlit.

Crist notes the underlying frustration America has in responding to terrorist’ attacks by agents of Iran or any hostile opponent of America. The terrorist’ bombing that killed 220 U.S. Marines, 21 American service members, and 58 French military personnel in 1983 is never directly responded to by an American military action. President Reagan and his staff could not agree on a military response. The difficulty of determining precisely who was responsible and what would be an equivalent response could not be agreed upon. That scruple seems erased by today’s American President.

Water plant bombed by the U.S. called a desperate and inappropriate act by some who believe American bombing of Iran is a crime.

Because “The Twilight War” is written before Trump’s bombing, the author argues the hostility between Iran and American would continue to be managed by covert operations, proxy clashes, and secret negotiations that will never achieve a formal peace. Oddly, despite Trump’s actions in Iran, it seems Crist’s opinion will continue to be America’s modus vivendi, with a difference. Iran and the U.S. conflicts will likely become more strident and publicly revealed by news headlines than what Crist calls the “Twilight War”. The twilight war has become sunlit.

CHINA YESTERDAY

Winchester’s biography of Needham offers valuable insight to scientific discovery and its intersection with socio/political structure of government. Government bureaucracy can either aid or impede nation-state’ discovery and innovation.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Man Who Loved China (The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom)

Author: Simon Winchester

Narration by: Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester (Author, historian, British American author, journalist, and broadcaster.)

Having traveled to China a few years ago, it is interesting to listen to Simon Winchester’s biography of Joseph Needham, who is considered one of the foremost historians of Chinese science and technology.

Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (1900-1995, British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist who wrote a history of Chinese science and technology based on his British education and experience in China during the 1940s.)

Discovery of the new can improve or impede society. In listening to this biography of Joseph Needham, one wonders how farther ahead science might be if it was more widely shared between countries of the world. Needham is characterized as a polymath who became educated as a biochemist at Cambridge. Needham is a freethinking eccentric, a nudist, a folk dancer, and a thoroughly unconventional human being.

Dorothy Moyle Needham (English biochemist.)

Needham meets a fellow student at Cambridge with whom he pursues a scientific/intellectual partnership and an “open” marriage that lasts until the death of his wife in 1987. Needham’s first wife, Dorothy Moyle Needham, offers stability to his life while accepting a second woman, Lu Gwei-djen, as an intimate in Needham’s life during their marriage. Dr. Gwei-djen was also a biochemist who studied at Cambridge. When Needham’s wife dies in 1987, after 63 years of marriage, he marries Lu Gwei-djen.

Japan creates what is misogynistically characterized as “comfort women” in their attack and domination of China in the early years of WWII.

As WWII began and the Japanese were attacking China, Needham is engaged by the Sino-British Science Cooperation Office to document scientific manuscripts, meet Chinese scholars, and build a record of China’s scientific networks. His wife joins Needham in 1944 just before Needham’s return to Great Britain. Needham’s separation from his wife gave him time to become an important historian of Chinese Science. His grasp of the Chinese language from his association with Lu Gwei-djen is a great aid to his accumulation of China’s extraordinary advances in science that created many discoveries–long before the rest of the world.

Mao at the time of Needham’s travels in China.

Needham fell in love with China and became acquainted with the war years of China and its communist movement. Needham looked favorably on the communist philosophical movement. However, his political leanings were inconsequential because his primary focus is on China’s scientific history.

Early discoveries in China.

Needam’s research results in a book titled “Science and Civilization in China”. With the help of Lu Gwei-djen, his book became a societal corrective to the West’s bias about China’s technological backwardness. Needam reveals amazing discoveries made by China long before the rest of the world. He found papermaking is developed in the 2nd century BCE, the magnetic compass was used in China in the 11th century, gunpowder is discovered in the 9th century, and printing began in the 7th century. Adding to these discoveries are the many engineering and mechanical innovations of China. They discovered the value of differential gears to aid vehicle function, the idea of a sternpost to guide ships, water power to aid clockworks with escapements for timekeeping.

Agricultural invention in early China.

Needham discovers the agricultural and industrial breakthroughs of China. They used multi-tube seed drills and advanced iron plows to improve agricultural yields centuries before European innovations. Between the 5th and 3rd century BCE, China had developed blast furnaces and iron-working innovations that were not discovered in the west until the medieval period. The Song dynasty in the 10th century pioneered the use of paper money backed by the government.

Silk making in early China.

In the science of chemistry, silk production began thousands of years before the west understood its value. Porcelain innovation with hardening through a high-temperature process was used long before its discovery in Europe in the 18th century. Natural gas drilling was discovered with the invention of bamboo derricks and piping for industrial use. Chinese gas drilling dated back to when Roman legions were invading Europe.

China’s centralized bureaucracy.

What is puzzling about Needham’s book is not only how early these discoveries were made in China, but why these remarkable innovation capabilities did not continue through the twentieth century. He argues the foundation of their advances is its powerful, centralized bureaucratic state, a culture that valued practical knowledge, and a worldview that is comfortable with pattern, process, and observation of nature.

Management of China’s waterways is critical for agriculture and flood risk to those who lived near rivers. Life experience with the threats and benefits of water demanded Chinese attention. Literacy and standardized examinations in China created a cadre of technically motivated officials. With systematic observation of nature, these technocrats harnessed the power of water. So why has there been nothing like the scientific revolution that happened in Europe. To this reviewer, something changed with the rise of communism.

China’s education system.

Needham’s book argues the bureaucracy of China became too conservative and discouraged independent initiatives while emphasizing stability through exam-driven education. Conformity became more important than innovation. Needham infers the scientific revolution went into hibernation in China while blossoming in Europe. One may speculate that is partly due to emphasis on communism, a socio/political rather than a science/nature focused view of life, i.e. a view toward social stability more than one of curious exploration,

CHINA

HOSTAGES

The split among the Iranian people about domestic life and religion is only magnified by America’s failure to understand Iranian culture. Bombing will not resolve social differences in Iran.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

King of Kings (The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation)

Author: Scott Anderson

Narration by: Malcolm Hillgartner & 1 more

Scott Anderson is a novelist and veteran war correspondent. His previous novels include Moonlight Hotel and The Man Who Tried to Save the World.

The antipathy America has about the Ayatollah’s takeover of Iran is exemplified by the young followers of his rule who chose, on their own, to attack the American embassy in Iran and take representatives of the United States as political hostages. Initially, the Ayatollah rejected the hostage taking but began to see its potential for dealing with the American government.

On November 4, 1979, 66 Americans were seized, 13 were released early, 1 was released later. That left 52 Americans that were held for 444 days. None were killed but were physically and psychologically abused during their captivity in Iran.

Anderson tells the story of Marine Corps Colonel Charles “Chuck” Scott’s as the most openly defiant, confrontational, and unbowed of the American hostages. His lifetime of military service gave him the strength to show no weakness and to refuse the students hypocritical abuse of their power over him. He became a respected and undoubtedly feared captive of the students. Scott was a symbol of calm for the hostages, some of which were overwhelmed by their imprisonment.

Colonel “Chuck” Scott–died at age 90 in 2023.

Anderson characterizes the hostage crisis as America’s misperception of the religious-populist character of Iran which seems as true today as when the Shah of Iran was deposed. President Trump’s decision to bomb Iran is a clear example of America’s continuing misperception of the complexity of Iranian society.

The split among the Iranian people about domestic life and religion is only magnified by America’s failure to understand Iranian culture.

Bombing will not resolve social differences in Iran. Like Colonel Scott’s reaction to being imprisoned by Iran, America must be steadfast in its resistance to Iran’s religious zealotry and deal with whatever actions taken by Iran that directly harm American interests. The killing of innocent Iranians is no answer to a government that cannot resolve conflicts in their own society.

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