Who is more admirable than people under dictatorship who stick their necks out for freedom and decency? Not many, you will agree. I have taken special note, over the years, of people in Cuba who stick their necks out, and who often suffer horrible consequences for their efforts. Not a few of these people are young. For example, there is a group called Jóvenes sin Censura, or Youth without Censorship. I wrote about them once, in a piece for National Review, paying special attention to Liannis Meriño Aguilera and Luis Esteban Espinosa. (To see that piece, go here.)

Another person to know — there are so many — is Yoani Sánchez. She is a blogger, and was going to an anti-violence march with some of her fellows. This was on Friday. On their way to the march, they met with violence, at the hands of the state. Yoani and another blogger were seized and beaten, but they resisted mightily, and the goons apparently considered them more trouble than they were worth that day. They dumped them on the sidewalk. And Yoani has written about the episode here. You may well be amazed.

Some have observed that the Obama administration is trying a very soft approach to Cuba — they have softened up, even cozied up, in multiple ways. And what are we getting for it? Any relaxation of the chokehold that the dictatorship has over the people? If there is to be a payoff — when will it come? It would be pleasant to say that “The whole world is watching,” to borrow an old line, but, unfortunately, when it comes to Cuba, this is rarely true.

Still, many are optimistic — optimistic that the regime will breathe its last. Here is what Yoani Sánchez says at the end of her blog entry, linked to above: “I managed to see . . . the degree of fright of our assailants, the fear of the new, of what they cannot destroy because they don’t understand, the blustering terror of he who knows that his days are numbered.”

In a way, I should have been the last one to be surprised, because I have written, a zillion times, that race manages to find its way into everything — into places you would think race could never fit. Nevertheless, I was a bit surprised on Monday when President Obama spoke by video to the throng at the Berlin Wall. He said, “Few would have foreseen . . . that a united Germany would be led by a woman from Brandenburg or that their American ally would be led by a man of African descent.” Such an odd sentiment for the occasion: for a ceremony marking the defeat of Communism, and victory in the Cold War. Obama was said to be a “post-racial” president (in addition to a “post-partisan” one). That was always too much to ask. But still . . . 

On November 3, Chancellor Merkel gave a speech to a joint session of Congress. The Obama administration was not necessarily glitteringly represented. After the speech, the office of Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R., Fla.) issued a statement. The statement decried “President Obama’s snub today of America’s great friend and ally.” It continued, “When the President’s cabinet was announced, as is customary before addresses by foreign dignitaries to joint sessions of Congress, only two of the President’s representatives (who do not hold cabinet-level positions) were present. The President’s two representatives were National Security Advisor General James L. Jones, and the General Counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Fulton.”

Diaz-Balart had the following to say: “Sending the National Security Advisor and the General Counsel of the EPA as his only representatives . . . constituted an unfortunate, unfriendly act by the President toward a valued friend and ally of the United States. In my 17 years in Congress, I have never seen another address by a foreign head of state or government where the President’s cabinet was so notably absent.”

Okay, I bring all this up because I’m reminded of something. I’m not saying it’s super-apposite. I’m saying I’m reminded. Way back, the Reagan administration was not particularly keen on this U.N. conference or other. (Sounds like the Reagan administration, doesn’t it?) Other countries were sending their big guys: their presidents, their prime ministers, their kings, their queens. Not us: We sent the deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations. His name was Dennis C. Goodman. And he referred to himself as “the traveling insult.” I have never forgotten that phrase: “the traveling insult.”

I don’t mean to disparage anybody, but really: the general counsel for the EPA? Couldn’t they have sent, like, the ag secretary?

Many commentators have noted that, while Major Hasan tried to kill everyone in sight, his fellow citizens are doing all they can to save his life. Might that be a lesson to others in the world — Islamofascist types, for instance? Bear with me while I call up a memory. Some years ago, I was talking to an Arab American who has intimate knowledge of the Middle East. We were talking about Saudi Arabia in particular. I said, “In the West, we have a mosque on almost every corner; in Saudi Arabia, churches are forbidden. In Saudi Arabia, it is a crime to possess the Bible. The penalty for a foreigner is expulsion; the penalty for a Saudi citizen is beheading. In the West, Korans are common as newspapers. Don’t Saudis — particularly the ones who travel — notice this incongruity, and aren’t they slightly abashed for it?” My informant’s answer rather chilled me. He said, “No. They consider it perfectly natural and right.”

I would like to know what Saudi radicals — just for instance — are thinking about American efforts to save Hasan: Do they think the Americans are saps or laudable? This is a hard thing to express, but I trust you know what I’m getting at.

The headline over an Associated Press article said, “China berates Dalai Lama visit to area near Tibet.” And this is a most interesting article. The Dalai Lama is in the Indian town of Tawang, in the Himalayas. He is “holding prayer meetings and teaching sessions,” as the article says. And the government in Beijing is all in a lather. The Dalai Lama’s visit “fully reveals his essential nature of splitting the motherland, but his plot is doomed to failure,” said a Chinese spokesman. We should ponder why this unassuming monk should cause the mighty government of China — with that mammoth military — to tremble. They cannot be feeling too secure, that regime.

And all honor to India for refusing to be intimidated by the PRC. The AP article tells us, “India has responded to China’s demands to call off the trip by saying the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since fleeing Tibet, was an honored guest and free to visit any part of the country.” Free to visit any part of the country: That is something a dictatorship would have a hard time understanding.

We are all familiar with the recent chant of Iran’s democratic protesters: “Obama! Obama! Either you’re with them or you’re with us.” I thought of this when reading this article, under the heading “China protesters plead for help from Obama.” The article begins, “A group of protesters pleaded for help Tuesday from President Barack Obama before his visit to China next week, saying anyone seen as a troublemaker is often treated harshly before major events in the capital.” An activist said, “We are here because Obama is the president of a free and democratic country, he is coming to China, therefore the Chinese government will put pressure on us.”

The article also informs us, “One woman flashed a ‘V for victory’ sign at an Associated Press Television News camera and opened her black jacket to reveal a white shirt with the handwritten phrase ‘I want human rights.’ Police quickly took her away.”

Yeah, I bet.

A reader sent me a cartoon — an animated cartoon — saying he thought I would enjoy it. He was right. The cartoon was made in 1948, and is essentially an explanation of, and paean to, a democratic way of life: a capitalist and democratic way of life. Property rights and the whole nine yards. It was made at a time when capitalism was under severe attack from socialism — and when a lot of people were tempted. At the end of the little film, the narrator says, “When anybody preaches disunity, tries to pit one of us against the other, through class warfare, race hatred, or religious intolerance, you know that person seeks to rob us of our freedom and destroy our very lives. Working together to produce an ever greater abundance of material and spiritual values for all: That is the secret of American prosperity.”

Most people would find this cartoon dated, hokey, and unnecessary, I bet. You, however, might find it rather fresh — evergreen. Here it is. And one more thing: It’s almost ten minutes long, which is an eternity these days. Attention spans change with the times . . .

In Monday’s Impromptus, I had an item about “clipboard people”: you know, people who stand on sidewalks, stop you, talk to you about politics, and try to get you to sign something. This item provoked a heck of a lot of mail, and I related some of it in Corner posts: here and here. I said the subject was closed, simply because it could go on forever (and the mail from people — about how to handle the clipboardists — is wonderful). Gonna publish just one more letter, which might especially tickle you, as it did me:

Hi Jay,

 

I was approached by one of the clipboard people outside a grocery store in Cambridge, Mass. He first confirmed that I was a registered voter. Then he asked if I was registered as a Democrat. I said no. This being Massachusetts, he was a little surprised. So he followed up, “Are you registered as an independent?” “Nope,” says I. This was followed by stunned silence. I think he was genuinely unaware that there was any other possibility. I continued into the store without further interrogation.

I just love that — can feel it in my bones. Can practically see and smell the store. (Star Market, maybe?) (One of the delights in life is to hear “Star Market” pronounced in an authentic Massachusetts way.)

Many a time in this space I have written about words and race, or words and ethnicity — and this is one of the touchiest subjects in our land. I found the following note kind of poignant — see what you think:

Hi Jay,

 

As Texans, we go out of our way to use “Hispanic” instead of “Mexican” when talking about many of our residents. While watching the diving events during the last Olympic Games, my youngest daughter, 16 at the time and a lifelong public-school Texan, was shocked when the NBC announcers kept talking about the Mexican divers. She thought they were being racist. I had to explain to her that when you represent your country of Mexico at the Olympics, you can be called a Mexican.

There is a whole dissertation that could come from what is embodied in that letter.

A few years ago in this column, we had a series on Great Names in Sports. I opened the door a little to this in my column earlier this week — had to mention another great name, maybe two — and, of course, when you open the door . . . many and marvelous things come in. I want to cite just one more name. A reader contributes Leroy Ambush, a former linebacker for the University of Maryland. Bet he hit hard.

And here is one more name, though not in the realm of sports. A reader writes, “Jay, not sure if you’ve encountered this one before: CEO and president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce — Rich Studley. I mean, you think this guy got any action in high school?” I don’t know, that would require reporting.

Finally, a memory of Gen. Vernon “Dick” Walters, an old friend of ours: a friend to NR, a friend to America, a friend to the world. I wrote about him in 2002, when he passed on (here). One of the many jobs he had was ambassador to West Germany — at the time the Wall fell. And, two days ago, I received the following, which I share with you, with the permission of the author: 

Dear Mr. Nordlinger:

 

It is unlikely that you will recall an e-mail exchange we had several years ago concerning General Walters. [I did.] . . . I e-mailed you telling of my association with the General during his time in Germany when I managed his residence and had the privilege of spending a great deal of time with him. Over three years of being with him almost every day, I grew to know him quite well. Your article at the time of his death had touched me greatly and I felt you had captured who he was.

 

Tonight, as I watched the coverage of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was much on my mind. (You probably know that he had predicted the fall of the Wall sometime earlier and gotten some heat from Baker for making the statement.) Since I knew how highly you regarded him, I thought I would share the recollection of that night with you.

 

We were having a dinner at the residence in Bonn and several German officials were scheduled to attend. Shortly before the evening was to begin, the DCM [deputy chief of mission] — a fellow named George Ward — came rushing in and said that the Volkskammer (the East German legislature) had resigned. Well, the dinner never happened and much activity began: briefings and the like. As the night wore on, it became clear that the Wall was coming down. After things settled down, and the General and I were sitting in his study, he said he wanted to look at his schedule for the next day. I told him I didn’t think he was going to do anything on the schedule but instead go to Berlin. And that is exactly what we did.

 

As the General prepared to leave for Berlin the next morning, his driver Hans was waiting in front along with his German security detail, who greeted the General with uncharacteristic hugs and tears in their eyes as they thanked him. The General was extremely moved by this gesture.

 
Fast forward to the Berlin arrival: The General mentioned that he wished he had a piece of the Wall (people were chipping away with hammers and everything they could get their hands on). Since you knew the General, you can just imagine him saying that! I told him that since he was the Ambassador, he couldn’t just show up over there looking for Wall pieces, but that he should give me some cash and I would go and see if I could buy some. He had some East German money in a dresser drawer — this was in his Berlin residence — and I took that. Without difficulty I found some guys who were taking pieces out of the Wall and were willing to part with some. I went back to the residence and the General was just so excited that we had pulled off this clandestine operation!

 

Ironically, some months later the U.S. military in a formal presentation gave him a huge slab of the Wall and he and I would always laugh about my going down to get those pieces and dumping them on the sofa, showing off our treasures.

 

Since I couldn’t reminisce with the General, I wanted to share this personal story with you. I hope it brings you a smile.

Oh, yes. Thank you, Genie Norris Murphy, and thanks to all readers. See you.