Sukkot / Russia

We are now amidst the Festival of Sukkot.  There are differences between the way it is celebrated here in Israel and the way it is celebrated in America (and, for that matter anywhere outside of Israel).  In Israel, labors such as driving cars and turning electricity on and off are verboten on the first and last days; outside of Israel, the first two and last two days.  Businesses and government offices operate on special holiday schedules during the entire holiday.

Wishing all a Chag Sameach for what remains of the Festival.

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Russia's active presence in Syria has been a very ill-kept secret for the past few months if not years.  Russian forces have just bombed targets propped up by the Obama regime, a clear rubbing of excrement in the face of Barack Hussein Obama.  Now, it seems, the Russians have leaked to the Israelis a prior tip-off of their latest operation.  The way I read this, it means that Putin does not wish to get his forces into any active engagement against the Israelis.  The Russians have laid low during recent Israeli activity in Syria and Lebanon.  Putin is far more cautious about Israel than he is about Obama's America.

The Left is Left Out in Left Field

This is not the time and venue to go into a deep analysis of the current situation with Russia and the Ukraine, though it does have potential repercussions worldwide.  If Putin retakes the Crimea, for example, what will his thoughts be regarding Alaska?  If the United States is perceived as weak and unwilling to flex its military and diplomatic muscle, then will the Japanese decide to depend upon themselves for military defenses?  And if so, what will be their designs on Korea? (Remember that unrestrained Japanese military power has brought about incidents at Pearl Harbor, Bataan, Manila, Nanking and Alexandra Hospital, et cetera).  And so on.

My perspective is colored by the fact that I am a Jewish American, and all four of my grandparents came here from what is now the former Soviet Union.  Two of my grandparents were from the Ukraine and one was from the Crimea (which had not yet been officially turned over to the Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier who himself was from the Ukraine).

I am concerned for the safety and well-being of the Jewish communities in the Ukraine and the Crimea. Historically, neither the Russians nor the Ukrainians have been particularly friendly towards us, nor have many other ethnic groups in the mix, including the Crimean Tartars, many of whom collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.  On the other hand, I have no quarrel with the Russian or Ukrainian or Tartar or anyone else who lives his or her life and minds his or her business and does not assault or attack others.

The situation is very complex, and very dangerous, to say the least.

On the college campus where I teach, there is a small but vocal group of leftists (or rather, far, far left of the left leftists) who regularly set up tables to pass out their pap propaganda in support of all kinds of leftist causes (and against freedom and American causes, but that is redundant).  Today, their tables were not set up in the usual locations, and the useful idiots were nowhere to be found in the Student Union building.

My foray to the Student Union building (I had a meeting with someone whose office happens to be there) was just a sample of one.  But I cannot help but wonder what the Red Lefties are trying to mentally wrestle with when they know that they will receive ridicule at best for backing the Comintern Conspiracy, and are too much owned on a lock, stock, and barrel basis by the Communist Party  to back the Ukrainians.

These are not fun times to be a leftist.