My Impromptus column today has the usual variety of subjects, not excluding the NBA. I begin with Egypt, and the regime’s political prisoners — in particular, Shady Habash. He was a filmmaker who directed a music video making fun of the dictator, General Sisi. Habash has now died in prison, at age 24. He was held for two years without trial. There are many more like him, not yet dead, as far as we know.
President Trump has hailed Sisi — “my friend” — as “a real leader” and “a great leader.” Some of us disagree. And some disagree who hesitate to say so out loud, given the political environment in which they live.
I would like to share some mail — again, on a variety of subjects — starting with a dictator of the past. Our reader is responding to my Impromptus of last Friday.
Dear Jay,
Your brief discussion of dictators this morning brought back a memory from my Air Force days, long ago. Through a set of peculiar circumstances that are a different story, I was on a C-130 crew passing through Paraguay in late 1963. We landed in Asunción a day before their annual Armed Forces Day, which included a display of their military aircraft at the local airport. They asked us to remain and put our C-130 on display. We cleared it with HQ, and so there we were, showing off our aircraft without a single Spanish-speaking crew member.
It was going surprisingly well when a small group of men came up to the airplane and the line of locals vanished. They came up into the cargo compartment, and a rather distinguished-looking fellow, who was obviously the main man in the group, introduced himself. In very good English, he said, “I am President Alfredo Stroessner, and I would like to thank you for showing us your aircraft. Since I am in my country, custom requires that I continue this conversation in Spanish, with my interpreter.” Which he did. His interpreter was far less fluent in English than the leader.
We gave him a tour of the airplane and answered all his questions about it. Then he philosophized for a few minutes. We never understood why. The remark that has stuck with me to this day was, “I am sure you have heard that I am a dictator. That is true. But I am a benevolent dictator, which my country needs. We are a backward country, and my people are not ready for democracy.”
We wisely made no comment on the remark, and, shortly after, we launched for our return flight to the Canal Zone. . . .
As we knew very well even then, there was nothing benevolent about Stroessner’s dictatorship. He was overthrown in 1989, four years after I retired from a 27-year Air Force career.
Also in that Friday Impromptus, I had something to say about a longstanding subject of mine, Che Guevara. A reader writes,
Jay,
. . . When our youngest was 13, I was stationed at our embassy in Finland (fascinating country, whose inhabitants are the people I most want on my side if a fight starts). Our son went on a school trip to Eastern Europe, where he ran into a diplomat friend of mine. Said friend later relayed that my son, having seen the T-shirts and buttons, and even a beer named after the murderous Argentine doc, asked him, “Who is this rock star Che?”
In my Impromptus of last Wednesday, I discussed President Trump’s comments about Russia, Germany, and World War II. In a phone call to Fox & Friends, the president stressed over and over that the Soviets were our ally in World War II and Germany was our enemy. So why are we cozy with Germany now and distant from Russia? (There are good reasons for that.)
Revisiting the past, I wrote, “It is true that we allied with Moscow during World War II. This was after the Nazis double-crossed the Soviets, breaking the original alliance. This was after the Nazis and the Soviets had carved up Eastern Europe together.”
A reader writes,
Jay,
Have you ever seen Comrade X, the comedy starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr, directed by King Vidor? Gable is an American reporter in Moscow. He finds that his hotel has given his room to a German reporter. To get it back, he says to the hotel manager, “Germany just invaded Russia,” and “Panzer tanks are rolling into Ukraine.”
Did I mention that this film is set in 1940, the year it came out?
(Germany invaded Russia, as you know, in the summer of 1941. That put an end to the pact, for sure.)
One more note. A reader has noticed that my last two columns have been available via NRPlus, only. He writes,
Greetings from Houston, Jay. I have read and followed your articles, especially Impromptus, for decades, but are you telling me now that I must subscribe with real money to continue? As Jack Benny said when the robber stuck a gun in his back and said, “Your money or your life”: “I’m thinking, I’m thinking . . .”