"Roliah Kaliazami" - A Dream

 In my travels across Turkey over 45 years ago, I saw, and experienced, many strange things. Some were good, and some were bad. Perhaps this one is only a dream, but I will state it as the truth. For only something grounded in reality could come back to me with such clarity, as this did early this morning as I slept.

I had lost my passport and was wandering, stateless, and wondering how I was to free myself of this predicament. I came upon a seaside village built upon a cliff, a walled city, very similar to  Dubrovnik, in Yugoslavia, a country which no longer exists, but can be found on old maps and globes of the time.

Much like Dubrovnik, this city was rife with ceramic arts and crafts, pottery and the like. But in contrast to it's Yugoslavian counterpart, there were no sellers hawking these wares. They were merely placed along the inside of the parapets, seemingly for the taking, and with intermittent receptacles where you could leave an offering if you had it.

Some of these artifacts were broken, or in some ways imperfect. But if you looked hard enough you could find some beautiful creations. I was browsing through these things and taking the ones I considered interesting and perhaps even worthy for sale, for I was in need of financial aid to bribe my way out of the country. I was, in fact, praying for deliverance.

It was then that I first heard the music, a light airy melody of guitar and flute that seemed to be playing a melody that sounded like "Roliah Kaliazami", a name I had never heard of before, or even since.

Casting my eyes heavenward I saw colored wisps in the cloudy skies. These quickly morphed into the words I was hearing, which soon revealed the image of a large, rotund man who seemed to be some sort of Turkish Pasha. It was through this appearance that it came to me that I was, indeed, to gather the better of the artifacts and hawk them to raise the funds I desperately needed. And so I did.

Soon, there were people helping me. All I had to do to gain their trust was to mention the Pasha's name and it seemed as if I had been the recipient of a Divine vision. For although all knew his name, no one had ever seen him!

I was guided to the top of the wall, where the sun was shining, and before long word spread of my presence and my Benefactor. I was given sustenance, coin, and even some medicinal help. And all the while, above me in the sky, was Roliah Kaliazami, smiling in Benevolence, revealed for all to see!

I have searched my journals from this period of my travels, and I find no mention of this episode. But even now, hours after the dream, I would swear it to be true. For how else would I have been able to travel from the town of Iskenduran, in the South, through all of Turkey, to Istanbul and then home?

If true; it is a miracle. If not; it is a beautiful dream. In any event, it is a testament to the power of Roliah Kaliazami. Even now I can see Him and hear the melody of His flute.
In my travels across Turkey over 45 years ago, I saw, and experienced, many strange things. Some were good, and some were bad. Perhaps this one is only a dream, but I will state it as the truth. For only something grounded in reality could come back to me with such clarity, as this did early this morning as I slept.

I had lost my passport and was wandering, stateless, and wondering how I was to free myself of this predicament. I came upon a seaside village built upon a cliff, a walled city, very similar to  Dubrovnik, in Yugoslavia, a country which no longer exists, but can be found on old maps and globes of the time.

Much like Dubrovnik, this city was rife with ceramic arts and crafts, pottery and the like. But in contrast to it's Yugoslavian counterpart, there were no sellers hawking these wares. They were merely placed along the inside of the parapets, seemingly for the taking, and with intermittent receptacles where you could leave an offering if you had it.

Some of these artifacts were broken, or in some ways imperfect. But if you looked hard enough you could find some beautiful creations. I was browsing through these things and taking the ones I considered interesting and perhaps even worthy for sale, for I was in need of financial aid to bribe my way out of the country. I was, in fact, praying for deliverance.

It was then that I first heard the music, a light airy melody of guitar and flute that seemed to be playing a melody that sounded like "Roliah Kaliazami", a name I had never heard of before, or even since.

Casting my eyes heavenward I saw colored wisps in the cloudy skies. These quickly morphed into the words I was hearing, which soon revealed the image of a large, rotund man who seemed to be some sort of Turkish Pasha. It was through this appearance that it came to me that I was, indeed, to gather the better of the artifacts and hawk them to raise the funds I desperately needed. And so I did.

Soon, there were people helping me. All I had to do to gain their trust was to mention the Pasha's name and it seemed as if I had been the recipient of a Divine vision. For although all knew his name, no one had ever seen him!

I was guided to the top of the wall, where the sun was shining, and before long word spread of my presence and my Benefactor. I was given sustenance, coin, and even some medicinal help. And all the while, above me in the sky, was Roliah Kaliazami, smiling in Benevolence, revealed for all to see!

I have searched my journals from this period of my travels, and I find no mention of this episode. But even now, hours after the dream, I would swear it to be true. For how else would I have been able to travel from the town of Iskenduran, in the South, through all of Turkey, to Istanbul and then home?

If true; it is a miracle. If not; it is a beautiful dream. In any event, it is a testament to the power of Roliah Kaliazami. Even now I can see Him and hear the melody of His flute.

Poor Pumpkin

GDG

The pumpkin looks quite nervous.

And he has good reason why.

It's his first time in this position,

and he's really very shy.

GCDG

But the other cause of his distress-

and when I tell you this you'll cry-

He's heard Thanksgiving's coming,

and he's heard of pumpkin pie!

GD  DCG

Poor pumpkin, poor pumpkin,

Makes you want to cry.
Poor pumpkin, poor pumpkin,
Bound for pumpkin pie!

GD DCG
Poor pumpkin, poor pumpkin,
Nothing he can do.
Poor pumpkin, poor pumpkin,
Glad that I'm not you!

Photo plagirized from a post by Batton Lash.

It's Only Me- Chapter 23- USNS Sirius and Mississinewa- Strange Days

In August 0f 1982 I closed up my apartment on Park Avenue and left Baltimore for a position as Able Seaman aboard the USNS Sirius. She was a refrigerated cargo and replenishment ship. In addition to fuel we carried all sorts of frozen provisions for the fleet at sea. We were a clothing store as well, carrying all sorts of foul weather gear and tropical uniforms. We also carried movies to distribute to the fleet, which always made us a welcome sight.

First I took a few days in New York, staying as usual, with Mark and Lois Shorr. I even had a friend with me, Frank bell, whom I had met aboard Jupiter in 1981. We partied at Mark and Lois’ for a few days. We ate lots of good food and just relaxed before we each headed out to sea again. One time we bought lobsters for dinner. Mark and I had picked them out with Frank and we completely forgot to get one for Lois! But they were huge lobsters and so none of us went hungry over it.

Leaving was the usual rushing around at the last minute. I had a bad habit back then, which would never work today, of arriving at the airport at the last possible second, frequently as they were closing the aircraft door. Many times I boarded with my sea bag because it was too late to load it as baggage. This time I pushed it way too far. It was like the episode in Greece with the tanker truck.

Unlike today back then your friends could walk, or in some cases run, with you to the gate. My flight was scheduled for 7:00 PM and I was just arriving. The gate was closed, with only one person at the desk. Showing my orders and ticket I was whisked through the door and down to the field. A passenger bus was produced and once again I was carried out to the plane and lifted aboard. No one cheered when I went down the aisle this time. Just some quizzical looks and a few dagger like stares.

I flew to Italy,landing in Rome. From there I went by rail to Naples. Naples was like a second home to the fleet. It was a main port for recreation and sightseeing. With Pompeii so nearby and the old Castle at Fleet Landing it really did have a lot to offer.

We worked the Med again, refueling ships and transferring personnel. We made several trips to take on stores in Sicily and then back to sea.

The best part of this cruise was a trip to Taromina, a beach resort on the Northern end of Sicily. It is a quaint and family oriented town with an arts colony and spectactular views of the bay. It is a favorite with German and even Japanese tourists. It is also the coast below Mt Etna.

It was here that I met a young Italian woman who attended an art college. She was with her family from Catania, also located on Sicily. This was their vacation. The girls name was Flavia and she could sketch anything. She did this drawing of the new York Skyline from memory on a piece of graph paper. It still hangs in my den.

I had dinner with her family at a restaurant one evening. I was in my usual state of inebriation but the family was very accepting of their daughters friend and we all communicated through the use of 2 small dictionaries. The wine flowed and I hope that their memories of me are as pleasant as mine are of them.

We were anchored in the Bay and our ship was constantly buzzed by small speedboats manned by vacationing Europeans. I had made friends with a woman and her 2 male companions while ashore one day and told them to buzz by the ship the next day. They did, causing quite a stir.

Taormina was a clothing optional beach and this extended to the boats that were buzzing about. At about noon my new friends approached the ship, hailing it in Italian. “Ciao! Ciao!” They tied up at the bottom of the accommodation ladder and one of the crew on watch went down to greet them. The woman was topless and the whole crew was manning the rail, salivating at this sight. The watch came back up and passed the word for me to come to the gangway and receive visitors.

Coming topside I was already dressed and waiting for them to show up. I went down that gangway and into the boat as my astonished crewmates watched in awed silence and we sped away.

We spent the day exploring the caves along the shore and taking in the warm sun. It is a great memory and warms me even when I remember it all these years later.

The Sirius had been purchased from Britian the year before and refitted to the needs of our Navy. We worked hard, as always, venturing into the fracas of Beirut. The conflict between Israel and Lebanon was at crisis proportions and only getting worse. We were getting extra pay to fly supplies in by helo to the Multi National Peacekeeping Force. Kidnappings were not uncommon and so in addition to my Navy issued .45 I always carried a small.25 in the small of my back. I was determined not to be chained to a sink for 7 months or more like some of the others who had been kidnapped.

Whenever we went into Beirut by 24 foot boat to get our mail we had to check our sidearms with the Marine Sentry, or wear them. With my long hair and quasi uniform I felt that wearing a sidearm would mark me as a mercenary and put me in harms way. So I stashed my .45 beneath the thwart ship seat and carried only the hidden .25 for my protection. I always said that if taken hostage the last sound I wanted to hear was the F-14’s screaming overhead as they took me out along with my captors.

While in the area we dropped into Haifa, Israel and I went to visit some family friends. Helene and Jerry Dinerman were old friends of my parents. As a matter of fact my mother and Helene were best friends from the age of 6. They were neighbors at 3619 Bedford Avenue, where I was born. In 1971 they moved with their 2 sons, David and Seth, to Israel. They lived in Herzilyah and I stayed with them for about a week.

Israel is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, not so much physically but spiritually. It is hard to describe what it is like on a Friday evening when everything stops for Sabbath. The only comparison I had was Brooklyn on Yom Kippur.

While there I saw the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock and all the other Biblical landmarks we read about daily. It was awe inspiring to walk where the Prophets had walked. It was also the first time that I really began to understand the Middle East.

We had an older black man whom everyone called Lenny Bruce for some unknown reason. He was a Cuban born man of the Catholic faith. He had been a minor league baseball player in Cuba before Castro took over. His only real ambition was to get to the Promised Land. When we did he rushed to the first boat ashore and as we stepped off onto the landing he had a heart attack and died. He was smiling as he went down.

Next we pulled into Alexandria, Egypt for a week or so in February and I got to go on a couple of trips to some of the places I'd always wanted to see. Alexandria is a really poor and run down port. It is also a bustling place with a myriad of Arab Bazzars where you can purchase all kinds of things. The only limit is your imagination. They did a booming business in bootleg CD's and so we all stocked up on those.

We took a horse drawn cab ride and were offered the chance to buy some hashish. We readily agreed and the driver took us on a roundabout journey leaving us disoriented as to our location. When we arrived at an alley we went down in it and the driver took out a small piece of hash. He told us it was $200. We told him what we thought and he said that we should think again. Looking back up the alley we saw 8 guys advancing towards us- scimatars and all! I had my pistol at the ready but the wise course was to give up the cash and go. Which is what we did. Praise Allah!

I wanted to see some more of the country-most notably the Pyramids and the Nile River. I found a cheap tour package run by an old Egyptian fellow and his sons. They would transport you to the Nile and from there pole you down to Giza where the Pyramids are. The cost was $25 for 3 of us. It would be a 12 hour trip and food would be provided.

The trip was tough- the sun blazing down even in February took it's toll on us. We were weary. The old man and his son's worked like mules, poling and steering the raft like boat down river to our destination. The food provided consisted of compacted balls of couscos and some fish. It wasn't bad. We didn't drink the water as it was cloudy and had a foul smell. We opted for Cokes and beers.

Arriving at Giza we went to the Pyramids and took the tour. It was breathtaking and sad at the same time. Breathtaking in the visual sense and sad when you thought of the slaves that were required to build these elaborate monuments to Death.

From there we went on a trip across the desert by camel and driver to Cairo. This was really roughing it but looking back I am so glad to have had the experience. The camel was weak and dirty. The driver was the same. At night we stopped and a meal of lamb was provided along with some Arabic music. With the addition of the hash the whole experience was magical!

In Cairo we saw the great Museum and had a look about the city, which was surprisingly modern. After that my memory fades and I honestly do not remember the return trip and arrival back at Mississinewa. C'est la vie!

Syria was also active as a base for Soviet jets that would buzz us continually. The effect was chilling, especially when you saw the rockets loaded and ready beneath their wings.

The Sirius had some bugs to be worked out and so we headed home in March of 1983 for some yard work. We arrived in Norfolk and I took three weeks leave which I spent with Mark and Lois as usual. I often wonder how they put up with having me coming and going from their home at will. And staying for months on end! I believe I was a good guest, I cleaned, did my own laundry etc. We also ate out alot. Lois and I would stay up late and talk for hours into the night. Those memories will alway stay with me.

3 weeks after arriving, Mark and Lois took me on another break neck ride to the airport for a short flight to Norfolk, Virginia where I joined the Mississinewa. I was never sure if they were just glad I was leaving, but I know I wanted to stay forever.

The USNS Mississinewa was the sister ship to my first ship Neosho. Neosho was number 143 and Mississinewa was 144. It was very familiar and felt like I was back on the Neosho. We went back to the Med- this time we worked the Eastern end supporting the activities in Beirut. This was a very tense time and the crew was very much on edge. At nights we would get within ¼ mile of the West Beirut airport. We would watch the fighting ashore, marking the difference in the size of the explosions. Big ones were trucks and cars, little ones were buildings.

We lost one man overboard as the result of a fight in the middle of the night. We also suffered a loss in Italy when one crewmate knifed and drowned another on the way back to the ship from liberty. He was taken into custody by The Italian Cabinieri, and as the crime took place there our Status of Forces agreement was not clearly valid.

We were making many trips to Iskenduran,Turkey on the Syrian border to obtain our fuel. We would spend several days there waiting for a call to action. This was at the time the Russians were coming out of Afghanistan after fighting what would later become Al-Quieda. They were trading their rifles for hash! And brining in poppy seed from Afghanistan, which the Turks would grow in the valley.

The gold bazaars were fascinating.For a price they would make you anything you wanted, or so I had been told. One day I walked into one of the Gold Markets and not seeing any Stars of David I sketched one out and asked if it could be made. The next thing that I remember is running down the street being chased by a knife weilding anti-semetic goldsmith cursing me in Turkish!

I never did get the star but I did buy several rings and chains made of 18 or 22 Karat gold which was impossible to get in the States. I took it all out through customs later on and sold it back in New York for 3 times what I'd paid. I actually wore it so that I wouldn't have to pay duty on it.

At this time my contract of 6 months was up and I asked to be sent home. They said they could not fly a replacement into a war zone and simply extended my contract. I asked about the 25% tax free bonus pay that we were supposed to receive while in war zones. But this was not a declared war- so in spite of the bombs and bullets going off all around us, we would receive no extra pay. This pissed me off. The Captain told me that as long as I was under his command there was little I could do about it. So being me, I did something.

I packed my sea bag and went down the gangway to the 24 footer tied up at the bottom. I then took the boat over to the USS Eisenhower-“the Ike”- and tied up. After logging aboard I went to see the Officer in charge of travel. This turned out to be a LtCdr. Goldstein from Brooklyn, NY. A fellow New Yorker and a Jew to boot! He got me a spot on a C-130 flying to Turkey. I landed in Adana and thought nothing of it when I left that base on foot to begin my journey back to the States. I was about to begin a month long trip that I will never forget! The travel orders were issued after I got back to the States.

Turkey is an unusual place when it comes to politics. They have a secular government. It is clearly an Islamic country but ever since Ataturk ruled the government has been mandated by law to remain secular. The Fez and Veil were both outlawed in the 1930’s. They can still be seen in the remote parts of the country but not in the cities. Ataturk wanted to bring Turkey into the 20th Century and saw religious factions as a roadblock to that end.

In 1977 the military took control of the government when the people elected an Islamic fundamentalist as President. They promised that they would let the people rule again when they could vote in a responsible way. I remember laughing at that. But I was about to receive an education.

By 1983 the people were ready for an election and so the whole country shut down transportation wise in order to eliminate any terrorism during the election. So I could not get a plane from Adana to Istanbul.

The first thing I did was get a room. Something should have tipped me off when the hotel guy asked for and kept my Passport. Thinking nothing of it I went up to my room. I was enjoying the evening view and the Minarets and unpacking a few things when there was a knock on the door. Opening it I was faced with 2 very serious looking policeman. They spoke no English and I no Turkish. So communicating in gestures they signaled that I was to go with them and take my sea bags!

Now I was scared, I had some very potent marijuana from Iskendurun, which is on the Syrian border in one of my sea bags along with some hashish. I had also seen “Midnight Express” and was sure that I was going to be in some serious trouble!

We went to the police station where there actually was a bench just like the one used in the movie to beat the soles of your feet! I was sweating bullets!

I was seated along the wall with my bags under the eyes of a guard. There was nothing I could do. At last I was summoned into an office. The Commandant was a woman! I couldn’t believe it! She spoke English and we chatted a bit before she tossed my Passport on the desk in front of me asking, “How did you get into my country?” I explained who I was and where I had come from and where I was trying to go. She listened and then asked me to open my bags.

My heart was in my throat as I opened the first one. And her eyes lit up when she saw my portable stereo. This indicated that I was a possible black marketeer intending to sell the radio. I told her that this was not the case. She asked how could she know the truth? I replied that if I made it a gift to her I would not miss it and she would not have to worry about me selling it.

So we searched my bags no further and I watched her write in my Passport. I have no idea what she wrote but the rest of my journey would go unhindered. She then had me escorted back to the hotel! I fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke to the sound of the Call to Morning Prayers mine had already been answered!

Somewhere along the way flights were reinstated and I took a short flight to Istanbul. At this time I met an American woman who was just getting out of the Air Force and traveling alone. We decided to travel together. As an unmarried couple traveling through Turkey we were getting some strange looks but nobody bothered us. We shared hotel rooms and had some fun along the way before flying to Frankfurt, Germany where we could get a flight to N.Y.

It was my intention to get back to Baltimore and finish my exams for Third Mate. I didn’t know it but I was about to enter a phase that would change my life forever.

Getting it Right in Egypt

Ever since the “Arab Spring” uprising in Egypt there has been great confusion over whether it was a good or bad thing. Much of this confusion has been fostered by both an ill-informed press and an ignorant body of our own lawmakers. You know the type; the same ones who bought into the War in Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein; and basically have mismanaged the Middle East for decades. This includes both Republicans and Democrats.

To understand what has happened in Egypt, it is necessary to look back at the history of Turkey; most notably at the reign of Ataturk; real name Mustafa Kemal Ataturk; who was instrumental in the establishment of a secular government in Turkey after the end of the First World War and the demise of the Ottoman Empire. In the past 12 years; since 9/11 and our misguided war in Iraq; we have been instrumental in restoring the Ottoman Empire, from Afghanistan to the border of Turkey. This bodes ill for the West, as it is a step backwards in time and progress, not to mention freedom.

Basically, pure democracy can be a dangerous thing. We ourselves have an Electoral College to safe guard our democracy against being hijacked by various extremists groups. The founding fathers were very wise in this respect. They saw the potential of the people to make mistakes. And, to safeguard the republic from itself, the Electoral College was formed. It has served us well for over 200 years. It is a restraint which has served as the buffer against our country falling too far to the right, or to the left.

In Turkey, when Ataturk took down the last of the Caliphate in the mid 1920’s, he took a cue from our secular democracy; seeing to it that Turkey’s military would be tasked with upholding a secular government. He also outlawed the Fez and the Veil, seeing them as roadblocks to joining the 20^th Century, as well as signs of division among her own people.

As a result of that foresight, Turkey has enjoyed almost a century of stable governance. There have been a few occasions in which the Turkish people have elected an Islamic fundamentalist to the Presidency, only to have the military take over the government until the tide of extremism has ebbed. When that happens, the military returns the government to the people for free elections. I had the privilege to see this system in action while traveling through Turkey in the 1970’s, when extremism was on the rise; and the military took control; and then again in 1984 when they returned the government to the people.

The current leader of Turkey is walking fine line. He was elected on an Islamist platform, and the military did not attend his swearing in; although they vowed to back him so long as he maintained a secular government. Recently, in the wake of the fallout from the Arab Spring, he has tried to take Turkey back a few steps toward Islamic Fundamentalism, but with the military looking on closely, he has not been able to do so.

This brings us to Egypt; which although it has a different constitution; the dynamics are about the same. The people ousted Mubarak; much as the Iraqi’s did to Hussein; and the results of both are plain to see. The power vacuum in both countries was quickly filled by extremists, such as Mursi in Egypt, and the still fractured sects vying for control in Iraq. This is the same dilemma which President Assad of Syria faces in the current troubles in his country. Although he has vowed to destroy Israel, Syria remains more of a pipeline for the supplies and weapons required by the Palestinians than an actual military threat. In his own way, he may still be considered to be a roadblock against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.

On the other hand, we have helped to restore a portion of the Ottoman Empire, unbroken, from Afghanistan to the border of Turkey, which is home to the Kurds. The Kurds are Islamic Fundamentalists who, if they had the chance, would have taken Iraq and Turkey long ago. And remember, that Turkey is the dividing line between the East and West. It was only the repressive policies of Hussein, along with the secular government in Turkey which has prevented them from crossing that line.

When the Arab Spring rolled around, the news media and ill-informed people the world over rejoiced. There was going to be democracy in Egypt! That didn’t last long, as evidenced by the recent overthrow of President Mursi. That the military has stepped in and put a halt to the Islamization of Egypt is a welcome event, but it is easily misunderstood by most Americans, who see it only as a military coup and an affront to freedom.

The truth of the matter is that Egypt has taken a leaf from the pages of Turkey’s history and revoked the powers of the President, setting a respected Judge in place to run the courts, while at the same time planning for free and responsible elections next year. This is actually good news for those who can understand it. It means that Egypt’s military has taken the necessary steps to stop the slide of her country into Islamic Fundamentalism. You can almost feel the sigh of relief coming from Israel, who would soon have found itself surrounded on all sides; once again; by enemies bent on her destruction.

I wish the Egyptian people luck in their effort to maintain a secular government in the face of both the terrorists, as well as the ill-informed people who are clamoring about a military coup thwarting the so-called Arab Spring in that country.

For more about the Ataturk and the formation of the modern Turkish government you can go to; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Atat%C3%BCrkwikipedia and apply the lessons learned there to the situation now taking place in Egypt.

The photo above is of the Egyptian military helicopters flying over the protesters in a show of support for the ouster of President Mursi last week.

Cuban Missle Crisis Ends

On October 22nd, 1962 President Kennedy announced that the Soviet Union was installing nuclear missiles in Cuba, 90 miles from our shores. Acting under the auspices of the Monroe Doctrine he gave a 17 minute speech in which he outlined his response to the Soviet action, including the famous quarantine of Cuba, in which all Soviet ships headed to Cuba were boarded and searched. Those ships which refused to be searched were turned back by our Navy. On October 28th, 6 days later, the crisis came to an end when Soviet premier Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of the missiles. On the surface the United States had won a huge victory. Or, so it would seem.

In reality the United States had done the same thing to the Soviet Union by placing over 600 Jupiter missiles along the Turkish border, all aimed at strategic targets within the Soviet Union. This was akin to our violating the Soviet Union’s right of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, which we were using to have the Soviet missiles removed from Cuba.

Moscow's position was correct, if we could have missiles on their border, they could have missiles on ours. Unknown to American military intelligence at the time, was that there were, and had been, low yield "tactical" nuclear weapons, though not missiles, in Cuba since the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. These weapons were for combat use, typically for the repulsion of invading forces. Had our troops landed in support of the coup, they would have been met with small scale nuclear arms. And that would have triggered a nuclear response from the United States, which of course would have set off a response from the Soviet Union. Now, here we were, one year later, facing off with the Soviet Union for a second time.

Kennedy and Khrushchev were both very concerned about losing control of their respective armed forces at the time. The Joints Chiefs of Staff wanted to invade over the missile issue, and the President wanted to negotiate. Officially, at the time, the so-called "Doomsday" clock stood at 1 minute to midnight, the closest the Soviet Union and the United States had ever come to a nuclear war. A solution, acceptable to both sides, needed to be found, and quickly!

Within 6 days of JFK's speech, Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of the Soviet missiles from Cuba. This was hailed as a great victory for America at the time. A closer look would have revealed otherwise. The facts would not come to light for several more years, and when they did surface it didn't look like we got such a great deal after all.

President Kennedy had proposed, and the Soviets accepted, the dismantling of 600 operational nuclear missiles on the Soviet border in exchange for removing 5 non-operational missiles from Cuba. There was one caveat; the terms of the deal could not be announced. The concessions by the United States were to be kept quiet. And they were, for several years.

The Soviet Union got exactly what they wanted, and in a way, so did we. At the time we were dismantling the Jupiter missiles on the Turkish border, we were installing newer, longer range missiles, all aimed at the same targets, throughout Germany and Western Europe.

By 1964 both Kennedy and Khrushchev were out of office, Kennedy felled by an assassin’s bullet(s), and Khrushchev removed to a Dachau, where he would spend his remaining days in seclusion. Both men had fallen victim to the forces that would thwart any peace efforts. Those forces are still with us, to this very day.

Explaining Turkey - The Buffer to Islam

Turkey is an enigma, ruled by an elected President, whom in turn is overseen by a Secular Military tasked with upholding a Secular Constitution in an overwhelmingly Islamic country. That Turkey has recently, in 2007, elected an Islamic government, has made this all the more miraculous. That is until last week, when the military resigned in the face of a growing Islamist government. First, as I like to say, a little background....

Turkey, at the end of the First World War, was struggling to recover from her near destruction as the seat of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the war Turkey had already fought the Italian-Turkish War (1911–1912), the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), and the resultant First World War (1914–1918). T.E. Lawrence, popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, had sided with the Turks in their fight against the Axis powers, advocating for a strong and unified Turkey.

The Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922) was born of the ethnic struggles between the differing tribes of Islamics. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the leader and first President of the new Republic. His vision was to bring Turkey into the 20th century by ending the tribal warfare which had plagued Turkey since the birth of Islam. In order to do this he had to outlaw both the Fez, and the Veil, two of Islam's most iconic images. His goal is best stated in this quote from a 1923 speech in which he outlined this vision, “ ...by complete independence, we mean of course complete economic, financial, juridical, military, cultural independence and freedom in all matters. Being deprived of independence in any of these is equivalent to the nation and country being deprived of all its independence.”

Turkey’s road has not been an easy one. Since the founding of the Turkish Government in 1923, she has been continually plagued by sectarian fighting and terrorism. That Turkey has survived in the Middle East, sandwiched, as it is, between the Soviet Union and the West, is somewhat of a miracle. That she has survived internal divisions is unbelievable. But there is a reason that she has weathered the storms. And that reason is often hard for Americans to understand.

We, in the West, take for granted the freedoms which we enjoy. Our military is limited to strategic goals defined by our elected officials. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. We argue amongst ourselves, and we even come close to the edge of destroying our own democracy, but we always seem to step back at the last moment, allowing reason to prevail. Currently, we are struggling with a fervent religious movement which would bring religion into our government, in spite of the tenets of our Constitution. Here is where a good look at Turkey can offer a lesson in regards to safeguarding our secular freedoms.

The Turkish military is today facing the largest crisis since the formation of the government almost 90 years ago. In the last Presidential election, in 2007, the people elected a Pro-Islamic candidate as President. When the time came to swear the new President into office, the military was conspicuously absent from the proceedings. And with good reason. Let me give you an example, which I witnessed first-hand during my travels in Turkey between 1978 and 1984.

When I first visited Turkey in 1978, the country was in turmoil. Islamic insurgents, seeking to topple the duly elected government, were doing what they do best. There were daily bombings and shootings in the streets. These battles were fought not only with the government, but with the competing tribes vying for control of the country, who would gladly take Turkey back to the days preceding formation of the Government. When the people went to the polls and elected an Islamic candidate as President, the military simply took over, as mandated by their Constitution, until such time as the people were willing, and able, to elect a responsible secular leader. At the time I remember thinking what a load of crap this was. There was no way in which the military would ever give the reins of governance back to the people. Boy was I wrong.

By 1983 the people had united behind a secular candidate and the military held elections. The Secular candidate prevailed and the military returned control of the country to the Turkish people. I was there. I was astonished.

By 2007 the electorate voted for Abdullah Gul as a candidate for president. However, Turkey's secular establishment considered Gül as having a hidden Islamist agenda that sought to undermine the strict separation of religion and state, and they opposed his nomination. The Grand National Assembly – the body politic that at the time chose Turkey's president – much like our Electoral College system, allowed Gül to take office. That vote was annulled by the courts on Constitutional grounds, Gul had not received the required 2/3 majority of the Grand National Assembly. A major political crisis ensued, and new laws were enacted to have the President elected by popular vote every 5 years, beginning in 2012. Thus, the President’s term would be reduced to 5 years, rather than the 7 year term which had been the norm.

By March of 2008, Turkey's chief prosecutor petitioned the Constitutional Court to ban the Justice and Development Party (Gul’s party) for "anti-secular activities.” This came on the heels of parliamentary approval for a constitutional amendment which would allow women to wear headscarves at universities. Although the Constitutional Court later ruled that the scarf reform violated the constitution's secular principles, the Court narrowly upheld the amendment.

What all this amounts to is Turkey’s slide back into an Islamic state, and the restoration of the Ottoman Empire. Last Friday the top Commanders of the Turkish military resigned en masse. This was the result of a disagreement with the Government over military promotions and some corruption trials, which are ongoing. At first glance this looks like an ordinary legal case, but the roots run much deeper than that. They strike at the heart of modern Turkey, which has, in recent years, once again been struggling against Turkish Islamists, notably in the Southern part of the Country, with the Kurds, who are supportive of an Islamic state. This is the same tribe which was a problem to Iraq’s military government under Hussein, which we toppled in an ill-advised war in 2003.

The real fear for Turkey, at this juncture, is the question of whether or not the military will allow the country to slide backwards into an Islamic state. As the land-bridge straddling the East and West, this is of extreme importance to America, as well as Western Europe. Having toppled the regime in Iraq, replacing it with an ineffective government, at a time when Egypt also seems to be sliding in that direction, an Islamist Turkey would virtually restore, intact, the Ottoman Empire which was so carefully taken apart as a result of the First World War. This bodes ill for the West. Turkey has served us well for almost 90 years, acting as the buffer between the East and West. Keep your eyes on this situation, as the outcome will affect us greatly in the years to come.

Kicking It Off In Concord

Last night Concord kicked off the holiday season with a Christmas Tree lighting followed by a great fireworks display from the top of the Municipal Garage. The tree was across the street in front of the Concord Police Dept. Building. I was hoping to get a good shot of the Christmas Tree with the fireworks in the background, but it didn't quite work out as planned. That's the moon to the right of the tree below.


There was a dearth of fireworks in the area this July 4th, mostly due to budget cuts around the region, so it was really kind of nice to see so many people turn out for the event. Now, let's all go shopping.

"The Lost Cyclist" by David V. Herlihy

In 1952 a man named William Sachtleben walked into the Alton, Illinois office of the Evening Telegraph. He was greeted by the Editor who had not seen him for over 50 years. Mr. Sachtleben was the man who completed a trip around the world, by bicycle that was begun in 1892 by Frank Lenz of Pittsburgh. Mr. Lenz perished somewhere in Armenia under mysterious circumstances in 1894. It is believed that he was murdered there. Mr. Sachtleben, a friend of Mr. Lenz’, actually went to Turkey seeking justice for his colleague. But let’s begin at the beginning…

Mr. Lenz was a bicycling enthusiast in the age of the high wheelers. These were the 6 foot tall, hard rubber tired cycles that were so popular beginning around the 1870’s. These cycles were powered by pedals attached directly to the front wheel. That was “direct drive”, which although simplistic in its form, allowed a hearty rider to attain some serious speed and distance. A wheel which is six feet in diameter will cover considerably more distance with each turn of the pedal than a modern bicycle could, were it not for the addition of “gears.” But falling from these older contraptions could be serious, and in some cases fatal.

In the 1880’s people began to experiment with what came to be known as the “Safety” bike, which is the forerunner of today’s bicycles. They look identical, were made of tubular steel, had chain and sprocket drive, inflatable tires, front and rear breaks, reduction gears and were easily mounted due to their height of approximately 36 inches atop two 27 inch inflatable tires, as compared with the 6 foot high cycles of the earlier years. After mastering the art of the 6 foot high cycles in races and road trips, Mr. Lenz was more than eager to plunge head first into these new “safety” bicycles.

Continuing to run in local cross country races during the 1880’s, he came to the attention of the public, who responded enthusiastically to this new sport. So, eventually “Outing Magazine” sponsored a bicycle trip around the world, and Mr. Lenz was hooked.

The round the world trip had already been done on a 6 foot cycle by a man named Thomas Stevens. I’d tell you more about him but don’t know that much beyond what I have read in “The Lost Cyclist.” I will google him later, on that you can be sure.

Frank Lenz began training for this eventual race with a partner named Petticord. They took several road trips, one down to New Orleans in 1890 and another one to St. Louis. Being an amateur photographer allowed Mr. Lenz to photograph the trips. Using a cord that ran to the camera’s shutter he was able to capture images of himself and Petticord sitting atop boulders, lounging in a hotel room and even along the roads.

In May of 1892, Mr. Lenz finally left his job as an accountant to embark on this amazing journey, from which he would never return. But along the way he filed articles with “Outing Magazine”, so we have a pretty good idea of what his journey was like.

He traveled East to West from Pittsburgh to San Francisco, where he caught a ship to Hawaii. From there he shipped to Japan and then on to China and Burma. This journey would be difficult even today. Making this trip in 1892 is mind boggling. From Burma he went through India and across present day Kuwait, Iraq, Iran and there his trail ends. He had shipped his trunks ahead to Constantinople, where they were later recovered by his friend William Sachtleben. But Lenz himself never did arrive there.

The book has an abundance of photographs, some taken inside the Coliseum in Rome, wearing a Pith helmet as he arrives at the gates of Tehran, and others of Lenz standing with some Chinese on the way to Peking. The Chinese were especially enamored of his bicycle, and though there were several unpleasant incidents while traveling through the country, he found the Chinese, on the whole, to be quite gracious and accommodating. When he disappeared, presumably in Armenia sometime in 1894, “Outing Magazine” sent William Sachtleben to find him.

When he arrived in Turkey, he landed in the midst of a very tender political situation concerning the Turks and the Armenians. Having no luck with the American Minister there, a former Confederate Colonel, named Alexander Terrell, who can only be described as arrogant and lazy, he turns to a Canadian Missionary named William Chambers, who had based himself in Erzurum province, where he had founded a missionary school and a church.

Making the task more difficult was that Armenia, especially the area around Bitlis, had been sealed off by the Turkish Government. This area was the site of some of the worst ethnic violence in the history of Turkey, culminating in the “ethnic cleansing” of some 15,000 people by the following summer of 1895.

That he was able to track Lenz at all is somewhat of a miracle in itself. That he was able to figure out what happened to his friend is incredible. His attempt to prosecute those whom he believed to be behind Lenz’ disappearance is amazing. Of the 5 Kurds who were accused and imprisoned for the killing of Frank Lenz, two perished in prison, and the others have gone missing in the annals of history. That Mr. Sachtleben did not succeed in his effort to seek justice was predictable, but no less admirable for his having made the effort.

He also went on to complete his friends journey, traveling through Turkey, amd on through Europe, then crossing the Atlantic before riding back into Pittsburgh the following year. This book is a testament to the Human Spirit and those who dare to go where no one else has gone before. Without them the world would be a much different, and less vibrant, place in which to live.