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May 2007
Elsewhere on the WebVictor Davis Hanson’s Private Papers Victor Davis Hanson Archive on National Review OnlineTour Books
A War Like No Other How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
by Victor Hanson
Amazon.com’s Best of 2001 Many theories have been offered regarding why Western culture has spread so successfully across the world, with arguments ranging from genetics to superior technology to the creation of enlightened economic, moral, and political systems. In Carnage and Culture, military historian Victor Hanson takes all of these factors into account in making a bold, and sure to be controversial, argument: Westerners are more effective killers.
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson, John Keegan Hanson, for those who somehow have missed him until now, is a professor of Classics at California State and also is a part time farmer, both of which have contributed to his writing as a military historian. As a classicist, Hanson is well versed in the sources in their original Greek, and as a farmer he understands how agriculture affected the experience of the Greeks at war.
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
Hanson relates the life stories of his farmer neighbors, writing that their way of life will likely soon disappear, thanks in part to a federal system of agricultural subsidies that favors large-scale, industrial farm corporations over individual “yeomen.” This is a sobering and eye-opening book. by Victor Davis Hanson On first glance, The Soul of Battle appears to be three different books: biographies of two well-known generals—Sherman and Patton—and one who is virtually unknown today, the ancient Greek leader Epaminondas. Yet Victor Davis Hanson, a classics professor and author of The Western Way of War, makes a compelling connection between these three men. They were “eccentrics, considered unbalanced or worse by their own superiors” who led democratic armies on missions of freedom.
by Robert B. Strassler (Editor), Victor Davis Hanson (Introduction)
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May 29, 2007 3:35 AM
Greece After more than forty years of post-1967 coup/Cyrus virulent anti-Americanism, heightened by the NATO bombing of Milosevic and the Iraq war, I sense a subtle weariness on the part of Greeks with their usual pro forma denunciations. Instead, there seems to be a quiet, almost reflective (mostly in private conversations) admission that the Islamism in Turkey is eerily reminiscent of a sad history with the East, that the EU’s shunning of Turkey, while probably wise, will put Greece in a frontline adversarial position without much confidence in the EU rapid deployment force (better the enemy inside rather than outside the group tent), and that the neighborhood of Albanian Islamists, North African lunacracies, Al Qaeda freelancers, and Middle Eastern jihadism (cf. the historically tragic position of Cyprus) isn’t entirely safe for an increasingly affluent Western, Christian outpost with demographic sclerosis, relatively open borders, a tiny population, unsustainable entitlements, and a convenient pacifism. I have been an unapologetic Philhellene since I first started coming here in 1973, and even in the darkest times of our bilateral relations have never wavered in support of the Greeks. Like Israel and the Kurds, they are a small nation of spirited brave people, with a tragic history, who have more than won the right to American support in times of peril. Deconstructing the News It is always enjoyable to read the International Herald Tribune, at least to see how the news is presented to the English-speaking world outside of the United States. Here is a good slice from its May 29th issue (my comments in parentheses): The effort to go “green” in Europe with bio-fuels (of course, along with our even greater efforts) now threatens world grain markets (as if there should always be good and bad choices, rather than bad and worse ones—with nothing about the present price of enriching the House of Saud, the Iranian mullahs, and Mr. Chavez, Putin, Morales, etc.) A series of stories on the “new” Russia—as in strong-arming British Petroleum to give up its Russian gas concessions, wishing to rewrite the old Nato arms reduction agreement with the former Soviet Union to threaten rearming, and the Russian internet war against tiny Estonia to ruin its economy—followed by accounts of unrelated mirabile dictu observations that suddenly Spain, France, and Europe in general seem to be reexamining, in the positive sense, their relations with the once demonic US (no expressed connection, of course, between Europe’s dangerous neighbors and the enormous military deterrence of a friendly America); A surreal human interest about a Muslim conference to end the negative Western image of Islam in the West (with no mention of suicide vests, IEDs, lunacy on the West Bank, in Iran, or Iraq, Sharia Law, polygamy etc.); Barbra Streisand cancels her concert in Rome due to the Italian outrage over her robber-baron ticket prices (no mention of the dichotomy over her egalitarian sermonizing and her pursuit of lucre); A nice quote from a story how the Vatican is renewing its efforts to embrace Islam: “Catholic-Muslim dialogue is still feeling the negative effects of Benedict’s speech last September in which he appeared to equate Islam with violence.” (italics added); A German socialist’s lecture on the wrong-headedness of the US anti-missile shield, calling instead for global disarmament (but why not let Germany lead the way—ending all together what’s left of its military? Somehow only seven years into the 21st century, a German politician’s lecture about the need for disarming while pontificating about US about military expenditure is, well, tragicomedy. When Iran goes nuclear, we shall see what the German government chooses to do. I suggest, despite all the rhetoric, it won’t be disarmament.); An op-ed contrasting favorably communist China’s education system with our own (not much about reverence for Mao in the classroom, the greatest mass murderer in civilization’s history); An op-ed about the writer’s ancestors, one fighting for the Red Army, the other for America, against Hitler (without a note of tragic irony, that the courageous soldiers in the Russian military were forced to fight a necessary war on behalf of a genocidal regime [Stalin fresh from killing 20 million, and making somehow even Hitler look almost like a piker]); A sweet story on American citizenship arguing for a return to no numerical limits on US citizenship (without any problematic context of the present mess, but ending with “Immigrants will cherish citizenship more if it is easier to get”); A story about Iraqi expatriate/refugee prostitution in Syria, with the apparently non-controversial throw-away line: “In the club’s parking lot, nearly half of the cars had Saudi license plates” (I’ve often wondered why, if the kingdom is governed by Sharia law’s precepts about theft, why there were not amputees among the Royal family); A bit about the hot Hamptons’ summer mansion market, where the rich go (no irony here that means egalitarians like George Soros, Richard Gere, and Steven Spielberg—“If you’re buying a house over $5 million in the Hamptons, you don’t even know what the ‘M’ word means.”—‘M’ of course meaning mortgage.) A sort of the news item, of the type now known ad nauseam, about how South Korea’s commercial engagement with North Korea is the preferable way of the future. Still, it includes interesting tidbits: South Korea’s economy is 33 times larger than North Korea’s (why are we spending billions to defend this country?); the utopian South Korean businessman who opened up shop in the North is paying his communist workers $68 a month; a fillip that North Korea does not pass on those great wages to its helot labor force, but instead pays them in “local currency” and ration tickets.) I’ll stop with that. But you get the impression of why the world may not particularly like the United States, and why it’s really uncertain whether we shall win this war against radical Islamic jihadism. The Democratic Alternative Watching Sen. Biden on CNN the other evening pontificate about the “legitimate” war against al Qaeda in Pakistan was beneath a sometimes reasoned and experienced pro. After scoring points that Bush has not spelled out our aims and plans in Iraq, he in turn talked only in banalities about the sanctuaries in Pakistan—the need for more Nato forces (try that), or for more pressure on Musharref (good luck), etc. I would have had more respect for Sen. Biden had he said: “We must get al Qaeda in Pakistan—so here’s what I propose: either cut-off all funding for Pakistan and live with the results; start bombing al Qaeda strongholds; or send teams into Pakistan to hunt bin Laden et al down. And here are the risks of all three options.” And as loquacious as Biden is, then his usual afterthought should follow on Iraq: “And by the way, I was for this war when it was waged brilliantly by those I approved of and were eager to tap my wisdom, and then I withdrew my support when its sequel was managed foolishly by those who didn’t listen to me.” That is, I suppose, a legitimate, though self-serving (at least in wartime) position, but still quite rational. But instead, for even the most sober of the Democrats we get the usual Clintonesque rhetoric: no mention about why the war they voted for they now claim they were never for, or at least bailed on; no explanation for why we haven’t been attacked here at home since 9/11; no explanation of why fighting al Qaeda in Iraq or trying to foster reform there won’t help our own security. The notion that a Democratic Senator would “pressure” nuclear Pakistan is not credible, nor is the idea that after deprecating democratization in Iraq and elsewhere, anyone would insist on it in Pakistan. About two miles from my house, on the interchange of state freeway 99 and Mt. View Avenue, is proposed some mega-regional shopping center. The ensuing rumors of development, and annexation of our environs into the nearby city of Selma are rampant, as well as wild talk of more development and get-rich sales. It reminds me of the 1920s descriptions of land-mania in the rural south in a Thomas Wolfe novel. Time moves on no doubt. And the commercially-zoned land in question (a rural interchange where a swap meet, recycling center, two gas stations, and labor camp intersect) hasn’t been really agricultural since I use to ride the bus there on the way home in 1960. But the ripples will destroy more agricultural land. At some point someone should note that after losing the LA Basin, Orange County and Santa Clara County to development, there are not all that many ideal acreages—rich soil, dry hot climate, good aquifers—left in California. I noted in Fields Without Dreams and The Land Was Everything a decade ago the irony: the best and most well-watered soils in the Central Valley are within 35 miles or so of the Sierra Nevada. They also happen to be the most desirable aesthetically, as well as the most conveniently located—and are thus the most rapidly disappearing to homes. You don’t have to join the Sierra Club to see that paving over those areas in Fresno County bordering on once sleepy agricultural towns is a sort of madness. Once land is within two miles of a development, then the spillover effects make it nearly impossible to farm anyway. Far better to develop the I-5 corridor on the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley: the land is closer to the coast and Bay Area and in the future could be connected by rapid trains; the agricultural land is far worse, and dependent entirely on costly imported water from Northern California (which could be diverted for residential use); and the area is in desperate need of capital investment (cf. the nearby towns of Mendota, Tranquility, or San Joaquin.) For what little it’s worth, I will never sell—and advised my son of my hopes that someday he can live on a forty acre vineyard in the middle of a megapolis, akin to those pictures of small houses next to skyscrapers in China. Stupid, silly? Of course. But no more so than another megamall in the midst of orchards and vineyards. Comments (24)Dave Begley - Omaha :BRussell :Again, excellent points about the land mania and over-developement. It is amazing how cheaply Americans will sell their birth-right and way of life these days. They don't even want to defend their own borders from millions of invaders. It kind of makes you think what the men who fought on Tarawa and Iwo would say if you told them what would become of their nation 60 years in the future. Would they have made the same sacrifices they did knowing that we, the next generation, would throw it all away for a few more shopping malls and cheap gardening? johnny go :
On a wishful note, I'd dearly love to read a VDH column fantasizing as to what Gore would've done in office from '01 to '04 had he won the presidency. Same goes for a Kerry presidency (whom VDH once referred to as an "overrated empty suit"--awesome!). d.wold :IHT's stringers and staff writers doing their best to illuminate euro centric thinking about usa in attempt to please their local cafe/bar friends. all this and more highlighted by their own america is usually wrong ideals. learned, no doubt, in the hallowed halls of americas finest schools of journalism... Dr. John :I would ask the good and wise Philhellenic to answer the merits of the argument that the current Mid-East crisis is a continuance of the Greek-Persian Wars, and a clash of "civilizations" concerning the introduction of democracy. David :The first two posters may both well remember Victor's comment about Americans burning to death in the skies over Berlin so we today can bicker over cheap underwear at Wal-Mart. My deceased parents, veterans of the Depression, Normandy, and waiting for the dreaded Western Union man, would emotionally and cognitively find themselves in an increasingly alien land as they read the papers and watched the news today. Not the technological change, but the attitudinal. Eric R. :Mr. Hanson: I am surprised that, given Greece's extremely, virulent, I would say even pro-genocidal, anti-semitism, that you would be a fan of the country. Especially given how you have so strongly criticized Europe for reviving this most savage and violent of all ethnic/religious/racial hatreds. JM :Essential vdh. The cheap anti Americanism described in some of your comments are from the same source as some of the turnarounds to a more pro America attitude such as Greece. It is human nature at its best or worst depending on how or where you stand. All of the rules of civility and to some extent individual responsibility are a generational result of a self protective mechanism in humans. The need to be Civil or responsible did not come out of the need for doing good but were driven by the needs of individual survival. The fact that these traits are only taught (when they are taught) now based on a "be good for goodness" basis confuses the issues for many people. We, with a correct understanding, would then expect a country like Greece to begin to see the light when only America may be able to save them and stands between them and the 7th Century Muslims who think they are on a winning role due in fact only to our own American self destructive political discourse. In some ways then the left wing Dems and their idiotic self serving comments based on the need to grab power in America are creating a backlash(Pro Americanism) in those countries most affected by the more aggressive Muslim attitudes created by our own wonderful idiotic politics. Jackass Harry Reid says we have lost---the "Muslims" believe him even as they are being killed by the "bayonets" of US Marines and Military and have to hide behind women and children to even get a shot off. Who would have thunk it! Maybe the Dems just want us all to have 40 Acres and a mule when it is over, when we have surrendered and disappointed the Greeks. I wonder if that is the "Village" Mrs Bill Clinton (of Monica Lewinsky fame) is talking about and wants to provide in our future? Nobody Important :For what little it’s worth, I will never sell—and advised my son of my hopes that someday he can live on a forty acre vineyard in the middle of a megapolis, akin to those pictures of small houses next to skyscrapers in China. In addition to the comment about Kelo above, your son may have to sell off pieces of the land just to pay the property taxes, if surrounding development drives the taxable value up. Nobody Important :For what little it’s worth, I will never sell—and advised my son of my hopes that someday he can live on a forty acre vineyard in the middle of a megapolis, akin to those pictures of small houses next to skyscrapers in China. In addition to the comment about Kelo above, your son may have to sell off pieces of the land just to pay the property taxes, if surrounding development drives the taxable value up. gkirk :I suppose I have little interest what happens to greece or the other yapping, anti-american "villages" of Old Europe. Their pointless and fashionable anti-americanism has soured me on helping now things are going south for them. As an American, I'm interested in helping real allies of the anglosphere and turn my back on fair weather "friends" like greece. Joel Mackey :here in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, we do have some gentleman farmers who can and do pay the excessive property taxes to maintain their farms/ranches. Grapevine Texas in particular might interest you, and Delaney vineyards in particular, although they are one of many http://www.delaneyvineyards.com/ There are of course Horse farms and small "ranches" interspersed throughout the urban sprawl. All that being said, I suspect that America is due a reckoning regarding this incredible expansion, I think people will regain a depression era like respect for cash in hand over credit in the next 5 to 10 years... BRussell :If I were a member of the 8th AF and had a crytal ball that allowed me to see American circa 2007, I would think twice, no make that 20 times, before being asked to burn to death over Berlin. I think that as Churchill said, "We killed the wrong Serpent." Sad, but the demise of Europe is directly linked to the victory of Socialism/Communism at the end of the war. We failed to de-communize Russia at the end of the Cold war as we succeeded in doing to Nazi-German in 1945 and now the chickens have come home to roost. That is your pro-socialist State Dempartment at work. That's right, just give the former Soviet Union billions upon billions in aid every year, they'll adapt to the great "Novus seclorum" and become capitalists like us! WRONG. Now we find Russian aiding Iran (terrorist nation). What ever became of Bush's grand September of 2001 speech where he proclaimed "You're either with us, or against us." My, how soon we forget. I forget which SAC AF General who said, throwing down a quarter on a table a coin,"I wouldn't give you a nickle for the future of America." I pondered he words long and hard back then, and now I see he was a prophet.
Paul Rhoads :"A German socialist’s lecture on the wrong-headedness of the US anti-missile shield, calling instead for global disarmament (but why not let Germany lead the way—ending all together what’s left of its military?" The French legislative ellections are now underway. One of the new parties, quickly thrown together out of the scraps and ruins of the far-left, is calling for total French disarmament, claiming that: "France has no enemies". Otis Wildfloweor :Just a data point, but within 5-10 miles of downtown Wilmington, DE there are a ton of farms and horse ranches interspersed with mansions and developments. I ride through those neighborhoods now that the weather's improved, and as a previously lifelong NYer I'm stunned that such a thing can be so close to a modern downtown center. I think it's what Harlem or eastern LI may have been like before rail. Granted, much of this real estate is probably owned by DuPonts and other rich folks who don't want McMansions obscuring their views or impinging on their equine hobbies, but still. And don't forget the whole property tax angle: it's in local government's interest to convert low-taxing pasture into high-taxing residential land. This is probably an unintended(?) consequence of Prop 13. I'm thinking the naturally low property tax structure here doesn't discriminate as badly against agriculture as higher-tax (and more "progressive" tax) states. George :I am an American of Greek descent (Crete) and have stumbled across your enjoyable articles about Greece. I know their thinking about wanting the turks in the EU because they believe it will provide protection for the Ecunemical Patriarch and protection from an invasion from the larger population of Asia Minor. Unfortunately, I believe they are outright mistaken in believing the EU has any backbone in helping protect Orthodox Christianity or resolving the Cyprus invasion. Their outright hostility to Israel, support of the palistinians and anti-Americanism is not only embarrassing, but suicidal. I sure hope they can relearn some of their lost logic regarding a relationship with the U.S. before islamists overrun this important country. But as I write this, I'm thinking that this has been our history for 6,000 years which is to fight everybody internally and externally, and not strike up useful alliances because of our deeply ingrained sense of pride and hostility to anything non-Greek (barbarians). JSM :Here is a look at what the future of VDH's farm may hold. A little red farmhouse right on the 405 freeway next to ikea on Costa Mesa, Orange County, CA. Brian J. :Victor, you actually stumbled over the truth here- there's a very good reason for Greek suspicion of American intentions given our support for the Colonels' Regime of 1967-74- but you then pick yourself up and keep going further into la-la land. The Colonels' Regime was not the only dictatorial government the US has supported in recent decades, and other countries don't appreciate the US standing in the way of their freedom. The Greeks don't *want* American support; they've had it, and it was worse than worthless. And I notice that you claim again, as in almost every column, that there is some "reexamining" or "admission" that the benighted Yurpeans have seen the truth of neo-imperialism. That none of these claims are ever specified or ever actually comes to pass doesn't stop you from continuing to make these claims. You have no credibility in the real world, Mr. Hanson, but since you have a layer of sycophants surrounding you- and that liberal invention, tenure- you don't mind. JM :Essential vdh. Why do liberals within these blogs create their own facts and then site them as the answer to a problem that was not even the issue in the first place. No wonder the left wing idiots are confused. They have been going in circles so long that they fall down when trying (appear) to go or be straight. That seems to be comrade Hillery's problem right now. One has to think twice about a greeting: Comrade! or Sig Heil, or point and say that's the "village idiot".---Who if elected President would create the Socialist Republic of America. She knows she can do better than Stalin. (But can she control Bill?) The closer we get to a "victim" society of socialists all feeding at the trough of big government the quicker we will discover what really went wrong in the USSR. Maybe that is what our armchair academic socialists need an actual "demonstration". It would certainly solve the immigration problem. I wonder if Hillery knows whose fence the Berlin Wall was. She may be on to something, a poll told her that immigration was the big issue. You know, forty acres and a mule may in our future look like an improvement if comrade Hillery or any other idiot Jackass wins. I believe a Jackass if bigger than a donkey. So if I am calling any of the Dems Jackasses instead of Donkeys that's an improvement---isn't it? I think they would like it---bigger is always better. Ian F :Speaking of world newspapers and the hypocrisy in the press is there anything that can be done to change journalism and the media's defense of villains and terrorists? I am sure you heard the stories of about staged atrocities in the lebanon war. Can anything be done to change this? gs :As a boy I came across the closing chorus of Shelley's Hellas. Extract: Oh, write no more the tale of Troy, Another Athens shall arise, The words were written in response to Greece's struggle for independence in the early 19th century. IMO they apply to today's USA, as--hopefully not--we decline from our apogee. Although a subtler Sphinx renew VDH, this brings to mind your May 19 post. Technology and liberty have brought us into a previously unimaginable prosperity, but they also have made us susceptible in ways that civilizations of harsher eras were not. The old Sphinx threatened; the new Sphinx's questions are asked with blandishments, moral sophistry, and appeals to our better nature. Aren't our traditional societal defenses unnecessary? A hindrance? Immoral, in fact? Is it not high-minded virtue (only the mean-spirited would mention short-term profit) to set our armor aside? The penalty for wrong answers has not changed. Northfielder :VDH: I read Thomas Sowell's Applied Economics. One chapter discusses how Santa Clara County land is expensive partly due to government sponsored preservation rules. Dr. Sowell and you, both senior fellows at the Hoover Institution, are of different opinions on this. I would love to see you and your colleague debate this issue on your weblog.
Northfielder :VDH: I read Thomas Sowell's Applied Economics. One chapter discusses how Santa Clara County land is expensive partly due to government sponsored preservation rules. Dr. Sowell and you, both senior fellows at the Hoover Institution, are of different opinions on this. I would love to see you and your colleague debate this issue on your weblog.
narciso :Ah; the Colonels, that was what 40 years ago, give it a break; they were typical of what the late Herman Comments have been archived for this page. |
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Prof:
Good for you regarding your intent to keep your farm. But you might want to check out the "Kelo" decision by the US Supreme Court and the implications in California.
Also the law of eminent domain can still be used if the city/state/county decided your farm is needed for a highway.
May 29, 2007 06:55 AM