"Good Bad Ugly" Set To Music. Make NATO Great Again and Will This Work? Gaia Allowed Me To Post Her E-Mail.

Semper Fi!
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Ennio Morricone’s classic western song “For A Few Dollars More” performed by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra is a pleasure to watch.  The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. For A Few Dollars More
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From a very dear friend and fellow memo reader in regard to my previous posting: "Her last paragraph got me, too.

Our politics do not always align, but I admire your passion and am grateful for your presence in my life.

P------"

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Make NATO Great Again. (See 1 below.)

And:

Will this work? (See 1a below.)
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It should be known by now Trump was never a paragon of virtue.  Yes, he was a man about town Play Boy but it is also a matter of fact that Democrats, assorted Trump haters want to revive the ancient novel; "Peyton Place" and tag his presidency accordingly.

They truly are, along with their tainted friends at The NYT's editorial department, a rather narrow/opinionated crowd of simply cannot accept their defeat and/or reality and who prefer living in their cocoon of denial.

The NYT's editorial staff take pen in hand, each day, with no intent of enlightenment and  insight but rather focus on contributing their brand of bias and  darkness.  The insularity of most New Yorkers has always been a fact of life.  They live in their various burroughs and believe the entire sun sets on them and they also believe their values are those of the nation. My first wife was from New York, her father and mother, may their souls rest in peace, came to New York to make their way and were bright hard working people. They knew little of the outside world but were salt of the earth people.

That said, they also knew very little of the world around them.   Everything they believed was defined by the streets of New York and all that took place within the confines of Gotham

We are truly a bar bell nation and everything in between is another world.
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Gaia permitted  me to post this e mail I received from her on Saturday.

Relationships take many levels. Since moving to The Landings I have expanded my relationship world addings many to a long list that includes neighbors from our Atlanta Days, fraternity brothers and classmates from College Days, associates and clients from my security and client days.

 One's life eventually becomes a patch quilt of friendships.  One never can predict the personal twists and turns one's life takes nor how and when the end will come but I have lived a charmed life and what I often describe as the "filet period" of America. The '50's was a halcyon period and the '60's a shock from which I believe we have not and may never recover because losing a war is now indelibly stamped into America's psyche.  We have always been a can do people who plowed west. That seems no more to be an attribute of what it means to be an American.

I am delighted to have Gaia and her mother, Donna, re-enter our life and believe her future looks bright because I am confident she has much to contribute and we will hear from her down the road.

My wish would be that Gaia purse academia and not our State Department because we need a sea change on our university and college campuses. Education is the basic foundation upon which our delicate Republic rests. I have misgivings about our State Department when it comes to one's ability to pursue their ambition and/or  have an impact on "Foggy Bottom,"  so appropriately named and located, but who am I to say. (See 2 below.)
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A wifely Betty Crocker  "headline."(See 3 below.)
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Dick
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1)Make NATO great again

Insufficient European defense spending is only part of the problem.

Clifford D. May
The Washington Times

NATO’s first Secretary General, Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, articulated the military alliance’s mission succinctly: “Keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

More than a half century later, the mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is murkier. The declaration issued in conjunction with last week’s summit in Brussels clarified matters not at all.

It asserts an “unbreakable transatlantic bond between Europe and North America to stand together against threats and challenges from any direction.” But, as I’ve written before, three of NATO’s most important members – Britain, France and Germany – are standing apart when it comes to American efforts to use economic pressure to address the threats and challenges coming from the direction of Tehran.

The declaration also states that NATO allies “stand firmly in unity and solidarity in the fight against terrorism.” Here, too, we have to ask: Since the Islamic Republic is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism -- just this month an Iranian diplomat was arrested in Belgium in connection with a terrorist plot – how seriously can that statement be taken?

If Iranian jihadism and terrorism are not NATO’s main concerns, what is? The Soviet Union is no more but, according to the declaration, its successor, the Russian Federation, is “violating international law, conducting provocative military activities, and attempting to undermine our institutions and sow disunity.”

If that’s the case, why was President Trump on Monday in Helsinki treating Russian President Vladimir Putin with undue deference? And why – as Mr. Trump correctly asked in Brussels -- is Germany going full-speed ahead with a planned 800-mile-long pipeline through which vast quantities of natural gas are to flow from Russia to Germany?

Enriching Russia while simultaneously imposing economic sanctions on Russia is contradictory and self-defeating. Even more strategically consequential is the fact that the pipeline, Nord Stream 2, will increase Germany’s already significant dependence on Russia.

Imagine this scenario: President Putin, who in recent years has seized territory from Georgia and Ukraine, menaces a NATO member -- Latvia, perhaps. The military alliance is obligated to respond, but it’s winter, and Mr. Putin threatens to shut down the pipeline and leave Germans shivering in the cold. Are you confident that Germany can be counted on to help force Russia to back down? (As you may know: Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, now working for a company controlled by the Russian government, is in charge of Nord Stream 2.)

Mr. Trump also complained about how little America’s allies are spending on defense. Four years ago, NATO members agreed to spend a minimum of 2 percent of their GDP on their militaries. Of NATO’s 29 members, only eight have met that obligation. By contrast, the U.S. spent 3.6 percent of its considerably larger GDP last year.

Once again, it’s not just about the money. The larger concern should be that European forces are unprepared for combat.

Gary Schmitt, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, recently reported: “France has reduced its active duty force by more than 50 percent, eliminated more than 1,100 tanks out of a force of 1,350, and cut 600 combat aircraft from a fleet of 950. A similar story can be told about British and German forces.”

A German Ministry report issued last month revealed that of Germany’s 128 Typhoon jets, only 39 are ready for action. Tigre attack helicopters: 12 of 62. Leopard 2 tanks: 105 of 224. Submarines: 0 out of 6. Another report found 21,000 officer posts vacant.

More spending could fix what’s broken – or not. If additional funds are used to give military personnel a raise, or boost pensions, or expand already bloated bureaucracies while shrinking the forces that actually do the fighting, the deficits in readiness and combat capabilities will further erode. Do European leaders not yet understand that such weakness emboldens their adversaries?

Remember, also, that the NATO member with the second largest military is Turkey which has become increasingly authoritarian and Islamist and, by the way, an ally of Russia. Ask yourself: In the scenario above, would Turkey fight Russia to save Latvia?

Let me name and hopefully shame one more NATO ally: Norway. A small nation that is extraordinarily wealthy thanks to North Sea oil, it fails to spend 2 percent of its GDP on defense.

More troubling, as revealed by Orde Kittrie, my colleague at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Norway’s $1 trillion government pension fund has been boycotting and divesting from U.S. defense contractors. Why? Because they are involved in the production of nuclear weapons, considered by Norway unnecessary and immoral -- despite the fact that NATO has officially declared America’s nuclear umbrella “the supreme guarantee” of the alliance’s security.

Look, I believe NATO is a uniquely valuable alliance. It is not, as Mr. Trump once charged “obsolete,” but had he called it obsolescent, he wouldn’t have been far from the mark.

Making NATO great again is worth the effort. But that effort needs to start with a candid assessment of the alliance’s debilitated condition. Adequate investments aimed at achieving “peace through strength” must follow. Commitment and determination – more than most NATO members have demonstrated over recent decades – will be required.

Finally, NATO’s mission needs to be updated, and made as clear as it was when Lord Ismay was running the show. At the very least, it should aim to keep the jihadists out, the Americans in and the Russians within their own borders.

Clifford D. May is the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He was a foreign correspondent in Iran in 1979. Follow him on Twitter @CliffordDMay.


1a)  President Trump is using record American oil and gas production as his ace in the hole in dealing with NATO and Russia.

The Hill reports: 

Crude oil and natural gas production hit a new record in June with the highest production ever in the U.S. Production of crude topped 10.7 million barrels per day with production of natural gas hitting 4 million barrels per day, according to an analysis released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) Thursday. API praised the major energy milestone as a sign of the country's "energy renaissance."

“U.S. oil production has supplied all of the growth in global oil demand so far this year and helped compensate for production losses in some OPEC nations," the group said. "With continued increases in drilling activity, the U.S. is poised for further production increases in natural gas and oil." The analysis also found that petroleum demand with the U.S. is at its strongest since 2007.

The news comes as the United States aims to position itself as an international oil and gas provider. President Trump last week heavily promoted U.S. oil and natural gas exports during his NATO meetings in Brussels, strongly criticizing a planned Russia-Germany natural gas pipeline. 

The president hammered the Germans for cutting a side deal with Russian on a pipeline. This is because American production has increased so much that we now have the power to replace Russian production with our own, which denies their military and economy a huge revenue source. President Reagan worked with the Saudis to lower the oil price in the 1980's, which damaged the Soviet economy and ultimately caused the communist system to collapse. The more President Trump seels American oil overseas, the less the Russians can do to disrupt world peace. 

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2)Dear Mr Berkowitz, 

Apologies for not writing sooner. Your email was overwhelming for me in its poignancy and your presence has always been keenly felt in my life. Seeing the image of me on your desk at Delphi (during my father's time as an air-force attache in Athens, Greece) reduced me to tears. I never knew how you and my father met - nor can I express how moving the depth of your feelings were in your memo. I apologize for the disturbing information in this email; however, I feel as my father's most beloved mentor you deserved to know. 

After my father's death, I wanted to reach out to you. If not for a fortuitous email exchange on my father's drive, which I discovered a few nights ago, perhaps I wouldn't have been able to make the connections that led me to contact you. 

My father talked about you constantly - your love of poetry, literature, your political discussions (your political opinions helped me become the moderate that I am today, i.e. my father would say "My friend Dick thinks...."), and your whole-hearted support of his ambitions were often mentioned.

I loved St. Johns College in Santa Fe. During my college tour in 2009 with my father I was awed by the faculty and the unbridled beauty of that landscape. I would have attended that school if not for an early decision acceptance to Bennington College (2009-2010).  It left a deep impression due to a particular discussion on John Adams during my college tour, my father's warm conversations reflecting on that wonderful trip you shared in Santa Fe, and his desires to be a member of such an impressive faculty. 

I would happily reach-out to your grandson; however, I am no longer a member of the entertainment industry in LA (although, always happy to discuss "the business " From seventeen to twenty-two I worked in fashion (Los Angeles/NYC) and post graduation from Sarah Lawrence College (B.A, Liberal Arts 2014) I worked as an executive assistant and coordinator in management and production in L.A (2014 - 2017.) Confidentially, I left in 2017 prior to the "Me Too" movement but as a byproduct of it...I was given the choice to report a  colleague or receive a  promotion. After years of staying silent on the abuses I experienced and witnessed, I felt it would be best to report and leave that part of my life behind. 

I met someone I truly adore in Los Angeles - my current partner, Keegan Johnson. Keegan encouraged me to pursue my ambitions as a Foreign Service Officer, travel to Russia as an ESL instructor (Sept - Feb. 2018). Currently, I live with his wonderful family in South East Texas (near Houston) and work as an Administrative Specialist/Designated School Official at Lamar University processing paperwork for USCIS/ICE. We will be attending school together in September in Budapest, Hungary so I can pursue a Master's Degree in Political Science. As I am still paying off debts from my undergraduate degree this prospect is financially terrifying but necessary. I wanted to pursue a political and academic career after my father's death but financial necessities and needing distance from the confusing mysteries my father left behind was necessary. After years of struggling with my complicated emotions surrounding a career in foreign affairs, I feel ready to pursue my ambitions as an FSO. 

As you cited in your beautiful email, I struggled with health issues (anorexia, between 2008 - 2012), which was directly tied to my ambitions in fashion as well as my father's own severe mental health decline.  I am unaware of how much you know of my father's health issues. To be honest, even though he was the light of my life and the other half of my soul, I am still unclear what occurred in the depths of his illness. 

I've tried reaching out to as many of the contacts he had to gain a clearer picture of his past. Your email is the best information I have received since his death on August, 31st 2012.  I have tried reaching out to government contacts he had to see if his file could be unsealed (it cannot) to understand the origins of his severe PTSD. He told me he was given a covert operation for the CIA and tortured for days; however, he failed the mission (assuming it was real and not a training operation) and killed an agent. Additionally, despite his deep desires to use his initiate brilliance in a high-level government position, his concern was his mental health history would come-up in a background check.

My father was an alcoholic at the age of seven and born with the bipolar disorder, which he did his best to hide from friends, family, and government associates. He used alcohol to self-medicate from his bipolar disorder. Despite these challenges, or perhaps because of them, he awed us all with Je Ne Sais Quoi that you cited in your email. He would absorb poetry, prose, history, politics and literature and make them so deeply-felt that even as a child I knew he was something extraordinaire. I still have his friends, students, and colleagues call or e-mail me. I know their pain, as yours, is as deeply felt as mine. You cannot replace someone like my father when they are gone. 

We travelled the world together - I was his "unofficial research assistant" from the age of nine (traveling to South-Africa, Italy, Finland, Russia, India, South-America, among others). He never treated me like a child - but as a colleague and beloved daughter. Every day with him forced me to look deeper into myself for answers. To see how complex the cultures and beauty is our world.

2011 - 2012  - I returned from Sarah Lawrence College to recover from anorexia. This medical leave allowed me to see the depths of my father's decline. My father had been fired from his position a few months prior due to his decline into alcoholism.  Salve Regina agreed to allow him to stay on as a professor after seeking medical treatment for PTSD/bipolar/alcoholism in a military clinic; however, he never fully recovered. He had a complicated relationship with the university - he was able to use his charisma and contacts to invite a variety of speaker's that raised the university's profile (Samantha Powers, Howard Zinn, Romeo Dallaire, The Dalai Lama) and host a series of high-level conferences and fundraisers, and bring Salve's mission around the world; yet, they knew he was ill. He was beloved by dozens of his students and they threatened to walk if he was fired. Thus, the university supported him to the best of their abilities. 

As you may know  -  bipolar people have extreme highs and lows. The "high" he experienced from 2011-2012 was unbelievable. He attempted to kill my mother and me, liquidated every asset we shared as a family, had an affair with a very manipulative student, and ultimately, killed himself.  August 31st, 2012. I was the last person he spoke with  before he committed suicide by smashing into a wall in his Mini Cooper on Bellvue Avenue. We had had a fight. I was tired of seeing him destroy himself and I wanted my father, my protector, my other-half back.

So often I turned to literature to struggle with the complicated pain I still feel surrounding my father's death. As you have seen the documentary I produced as my senior thesis in 2014 I considered our relationship to be complex, timeless, and eternal. As Dante says in the final canto of the Paradiso  "L'Amore che mouve il sole e le altre stelle" / "the love that moves the sun and other stars" 

I only share this with you because, in your memo, I understand now you shared this wonderful, indescribable and eternal love for my father. I am so grateful you recognized that amazing fire in my father decades ago when he was a candidate as A White House Fellow. 

You are deeply loved and appreciated - by my father and by me.

Thank you, Mr. Berkowitz.

Love,

Gaia

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3)A  HUSBAND IS AT HOME WATCHING A FOOTBALL 

GAME WHEN HIS WIFE INTERRUPTS, "HONEY, COULD 

YOU FIX THE LIGHT IN THE HALLWAY?  IT'S BEEN 

FLICKERING FOR WEEKS NOW."  

HE LOOKS AT HER AND SAYS ANGRILY,  "FIX THE 

LIGHTS NOW? 

DOES IT LOOKLIKE I HAVE ‘GE' WRITTEN ON MY 

FOREHEAD? 

I DON'T THINK SO."

“FINE," THEN THE WIFE ASKS, "WELL THEN, COULD 

YOU FIX THE FRIDGE DOOR? IT WON'T CLOSE RIGHT."

TO WHICH HE REPLIES, "FIX THE FRIDGE DOOR? 

DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE ‘WESTINGHOUSE' WRITTEN

ON MY FOREHEAD? 

I DON'T THINK SO.

“FINE," SHE SAYS, "THEN YOU COULD AT LEAST FIX 

THE STEPS TO THE FRONT DOOR? 

THEY ARE ABOUT TO BREAK.

"I'M NOT A CARPENTER AND I DON'T WANT TO FIX 

STEPS." 

HE SAYS, "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE 'HOME 

HARDWARE' WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD? 

I DON'T THINK SO - I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU. 

I'M GOING TO THE BAR!" 

SO HE GOES TO THE BAR AND DRINKS FOR A 

COUPLE OF HOURS.

HE STARTS TO FEEL GUILTY ABOUT HOW HE TREATED

HIS WIFE, AND DECIDESTO GO HOME. 

AS HE WALKS UP TO THE HOUSE HE NOTICES THAT 

THE STEPS ARE ALREADY FIXED 

AS HE ENTERS THE HOUSE, HE SEES THE HALL LIGHT IS WORKING. 

AS HE GOES TO GET A BEER, HE NOTICES THE 

FRIDGE DOOR IS FIXED.  

“HONEY," HE ASKS, "HOW'D ALL THIS GET FIXED?”

SHE SAYS, "WELL, WHEN YOU LEFT I SAT OUTSIDE AND CRIED. 

JUST THEN A NICE YOUNG MAN ASKED ME WHAT 

WAS WRONG, AND I TOLD HIM." 

"HE OFFERED TO DO ALL THE REPAIRS, AND ALL I 

HAD TO DO WAS EITHER  

GO TO BED WITH HIM OR BAKE HIM A CAKE."  

HE SAYS, "SO WHAT KIND OF CAKE DID YOU BAKE?" 

SHE REPLIES, "HELLOOOOO... DO YOU SEE 'BETTY 

CROCKER' WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD?”
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