Long live Ukraine

The world enters the Nuclear age when the U.S. drops two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.

Four years later the USSR tests successfully its nuclear bomb and the nuclear age starts in earnest.

The world came close to nuclear war when the USSR wished to install intercontinental missiles in Cuba the range of which covered the entire U.S.  President Khrushchev asked his fleet to return to Russia when American warships moved to intercept them and thus a nuclear holocaust was averted.

President George Bush of the U.S. and the Secretary General of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev signed the historic nonproliferation treaty in 1991 which was the end of the Cold War between the two superpowers.

On Feb 21,2022 Russia recognises the two break away republics Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine's Dombas region.  Three days later Russia invades Ukraine from the North, East and South.

On Feb 28, 2022 President Putin places Russia's nuclear forces on high alert following a comment by the UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

I hope Ukraine and Russia reach an agreement in the United Nations session to be held soon allowing Ukraine to stay an independent country.  Then the US and EU lift their sanctions against Russia and the world to avoids a nuclear catastrophe.

9/11 and its aftermath

 

Twenty years ago, I struggled to absorb the images of fire and smoke wafting from the World Trade Center.

I turned the TV on when the second plane was ready to hit the tower.  I thought it was a movie.

When I later saw the beams twisted and in rubble, it was eerie, very eerie!

It is still hard to process what happened but the melancholy and pain of that day have been replaced by hope as we see the One World Trade Center tower and adjacent buildings in lower Manhattan.

So, what has happened in the interim?  The masterminds behind the attack are incarcerated, and Osama bin Laden was killed.  The Taliban that provided a safe haven to OBL were overthrown but they are again back in charge.  Nearly 3000 people lost their lives in that horrible day and thousand upon thousand more in the wars that followed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and other Arab countries.  And the wars ended but the pain and confusion still persist for millions of people. 

The story America told itself in the aftermath was one of resilience but the grief is still alive in our hearts and tears are rushing down when the brutal events of that day and those that followed come to our minds.

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico's victory at the battle of the Puebla on May 5, 1862.   The victory of the smaller Mexican army against the larger French forces was a boost to the morale of the Mexicans. The city of Puebla marks the event with an arts festival,  with exhibits of local cuisine and with re-enactments of the battle.

The day is mostly celebrated in the United States and is associated with Mexican culture.

Cinco de Mayo celebrations began in California where have been observed annually since 1863.

Cinco de Mayo is often mistaken for Mexico's Independence Day which is celebrated on September 16th.   It was in 1810 Miguel Hildago, a Spanish Catholic priest gave his famous speech Grito de Dolores and initiated Mexico's revolt that lasted till 1821 when Mexico obtained its independence from Spain.

2013-2021; a Travelogue

In the past 7 years, I uploaded 202 posts in my blog Cross Country Chronicles.  As this is the first post of 2021 and maybe the final of this series that started with a trip, I took with my son John, from Orlando to San Francisco to Chicago and on to our starting point Columbus, Ohio.  Also, it included among others the remarkable crossing from Spain to Greece on my brother Nikos 29-foot sailboat Okyrhoe.  The trip from Florida to California and back to Ohio is described in 55 posts in January and February 2014.

The trip from Spain to Greece is described in 23 posts from August 2015 to July 2016.  There are many individuals from my immediate family, and those who love and care about me, to friends I love dearly, to professional associates at places where I lived and worked, and all those who encouraged and inspired me to write.  I want to thank and express my gratitude to all and wish them a good a pleasant trip in their lives.  The pictures in this post are from Porto Rafti, the beautiful little bay, I have made my domicile while in Greece.

                                                                       The three pictures in this post were taken by my brother-in-law Kostas Fotos.

Down the mighty Ohio...

Long ago I was in Cincinnati, and I set to map out a new career. I had been reading about the recent exploration of the river Amazon by an expedition sent out by our government. It was said that the expedition, owing to difficulties, had not thoroughly explored a part of the country lying about its headwaters, some four thousand miles from the mouth of the river. It was only about fifteen hundred miles from Cincinnati to New Orleans, where I could doubtless get a ship. So, I packed my valise, and took passage on an ancient tub called the ‘Paul Jones,’ for New Orleans. For the sum of sixteen dollars I had the scarred and tarnished splendors of ‘her’ main saloon principally to myself, for she was not a creature to attract the eye of wiser travelers.

When we got under way and went poking down the broad Ohio, I became a new being, and the subject of my own admiration. I was a traveler! A word never had tasted so good in my mouth before. I had an exultant sense of being bound for mysterious lands and distant climes, which I never have felt in so uplifting a degree since. I was in such a glorified condition that all ignoble feelings departed out of me, and I was able to look down and pity the untraveled with a compassion that had hardly a trace of contempt in it. Still, when we stopped at villages and wood-yards, I could not help lolling carelessly upon the railings of the boiler deck to enjoy the envy of the country boys on the bank. I kept my hat off all the time, and stayed where the wind and the sun could strike me, because I wanted to get the bronzed and weather-beaten look of an old traveler. Before the second day was half gone I experienced a joy, which filled me with the purest gratitude; for I saw that the skin had begun to blister and peel off my face and neck. I wished that the boys and girls at home could see me now. (Slightly modified from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi)

Barack Obama

I am writing this tribute for the man who as part of his duties travelled extensively but more important because in my view he was a successful president. In the picture above President Obama is in Acropolis during his historic visit to Greece. 

The following is a partial list of his major accomplishments during his eight years (2009-2017) in the White house    

He ended the 2008 recession when the congress approved the Obama $787 billion economic stimulus package.  The graph above from NYT presents how sectors fared during President’s Obama’s presidency. The stock market tripled in value with the S&P up 220% over 2009, Nasdaq was up 313% and Dow was up 185% from its 2009 low.  The only mark against President Obama is that he added almost 7 trillion to the national debt. According to most economists this deficit spending was necessary to stimulate the economy which in turn created 14 million new jobs that brought the unemployment below 5%.   

The Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare is a landmark health bill.  If and when fully implemented it would have covered 32 million Americans who were not or could not get insurance because of pre-existing conditions.  

In 2016, United States and five more world powers reached a deal to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.  Foreign Ministers John Kerry and Javad Zarif led the talks between Iran the United States. 

In 2016, the United States opened an embassy in Cuba thus normalizing relations between the two nations after 54 years.  President Obama with the President of Cuba Raul Castro in Havana.

With new policies and diplomacy the world opinion towards the United States and Americans is for now favorable.  The last time the world opinion was as friendly towards the United States and Americans at large was during the Kennedy presidency.  

Barack Obama has already secured a special place in history as the first African-American president of the United States. That fact in itself could not have happened without the changes achieved by the civil rights movement in the 1960s.  It is also a proof that most Americans in the interim freed themselves of their racial prejudices which were so dominant in the past and elected as our President a man who will be remembered as a good, caring and thoughtful individual.  Thank you President Obama.