Two quotations by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

Two quotations by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the early stage of the Ukraine/Russia conflict in February 2022.

1. "I'm here. We won't lay down our arms. We will defend our country." - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Subsequently Russian soldiers entered Ukraine and surrounded Kyiv. There were rumors that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had escaped from Kyiv. In response Zelenskyy in person said on 26th February 2022 in a short video addressed to Ukrainians that "we will defend our country”; "there's a lot of fake information online that I call on our army to lay down arms, and that there's evacuation". Zelenskyy then said "I'm here. We won't lay down our arms. We will defend our country."

2. "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Despite Russian forces moving closer to the center of Kyiv, Zelenskyy declined an offer from the United States to be evacuated from the city. He said that "the fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride", according to the Associated Press who spoke with a senior intelligence official.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Mr. Biden - President Trump's new corona infection is "his own personal responsibility"

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

バイデン氏、トランプ大統領の新型コロナ感染は「本人の責任」

2020.10.06 Tue posted at 17:47 JST

 （ＣＮＮ） 米大統領選の野党・民主党候補、バイデン前副大統領は５日夜、遊説先の米フロリダ州で、トランプ米大統領が新型コロナウイルスに感染したのは本人の責任との見方を示した。

バイデン氏は同州マイアミでの市民集会で、「マスクや対人距離の確保は重要でないという主旨の発言をしながら感染する人は、自分自身に起きることに対して責任があるというのが私の考えだ」と述べた。

トランプ氏の感染が２日に判明してから、バイデン氏が同氏に向けて発した最も直接的な批判といえる。

バイデン氏は壇上でマスクを掲げ、「このマスクを着けることは私自身を守るというより、愛国心に基づく責任と考える」とも語った。

トランプ氏が退院の直前、ツイッターで「新型ウイルス感染症を恐れるな。生活を支配されるな」と呼び掛けたことについては、「新型ウイルスが問題ではないと解釈する人がいないことを願う」「これは深刻な問題だ。国際的なパンデミックだ」と強調した。

バイデン氏はここ３カ月間、週に３回は電話やオンライン会議で専門家の話を聴いてきたと話し、トランプ氏の行動からみて感染は「驚きではない」との認識を示した。

さらに、米国内ではこれまでに２１万人を超える死者が出ていると指摘。「このまま何も変わらなければ、年末までにさらに２０万人が亡くなる。そんなことになれば、第２次世界大戦で４年間に出た死者の数を１年で上回ることになる」と訴えた。

 Translation

(CNN) Former Vice President Joe Biden, a candidate for the Democratic Party of the United States, said on the night of the 5th in Florida, the destination of giving a speech that it was the US President Donald Trump’s own responsibility for being infected with in the new Coronavirus.

At a civic rally in Miami in Florida, Biden said, " It's my idea that people who get infected while saying that masks and interpersonal distance are not important are responsible for what happens to them. "

This was the most direct criticism that Biden had made against Trump since his infection was confirmed on the 2nd.

Biden displayed a mask on the stage and said, "I think wearing this mask is more of a patriotic responsibility than protecting myself."

Just before Mr. Trump was discharged from the hospital, he said on Twitter, "Don't be afraid of the new virus infection. Don't get your life controlled." And stressed that "I hope no one interprets the new virus as not a problem"; "This is a serious problem. It's an international pandemic. "

Biden said he had listened to experts on the phone and in online meetings three times a week for the past three months, perceiving that Trump’s infection was "not a surprise" given the latter’s actions.

Furthermore, he pointed out that more than 210,000 people had died in the United States so far. He said, "If nothing changes, another 200,000 people will die by the end of the year. If that happens, that would exceed the number of deaths in the four years of World War II in one year".

              I love and support the viewpoints expressed by Biden that “wearing a mask is more of a patriotic responsibility than protecting oneself”. And also, that “ the people who get infected while saying that masks and interpersonal distance are not important are responsible for what happens to them”.

George Kennan (Part V)

(15) that Soviet pressure against the free institutions of the west is something that can be contained by the adroit and vigilant application of counter-force at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points, corresponding to the shifts and maneuvers of Soviet policy.

On the basis of the fifteen points quoted above, I marvel at the foresight of George Kennan who wrote them in 1947. He had a sharp eye in analysing the sources of Soviet conduct, and not surprisingly CCP also had such conducts, particularly in the first 30 years since the latter ruled mainland China.

Even in recent years, I still can see traces of the Soviet conducts in the behavior of CCP. For example in quotation number five above it states that in USSR the mass of Party members might go through the motions of election, deliberation and action; but in these motions they were to be animated not by their own individual will but by the awesome breath of the Party leadership. This situation is still quite true in CCP. Quotation number nine above is also relevant. But now the role of USSR is replaced by China. It seems that when there is something China wants from the US the former's stance may be thrust temporarily into the background; and when that happens there will always some China observers/experts who will leap forward with gleeful announcements that "China's policy have changed," and some who will even try to take credit for having brought about such "changes".

Reference:
1. [George Kennan]. "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in Foreign Affairs, 1947.
2. US Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.(http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March)
3. Una McGovern ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.,2002.

George Kennan (Part IV)

(11) perfect discipline requires recognition of infallibility. Infallibility requires the observance of discipline . . . The fact that the leadership is at liberty to put forward for tactical purposes any particular thesis which it finds useful to the cause at any particular moment . . . require the faithful and unquestioning acceptance of that thesis . . . This means that truth is not a constant but is actually created. . . It may vary from week to week, from month to month.

(12) once a given party line has been laid down . . . the Soviet governmental machine . . . moves inexorably along the prescribed path, like a persistent toy automobile wound up and headed in a given direction, stopping only when it meets with some unanswerable force. The individuals who are the components of this machine are unamenable to argument or reason.

(13) these precepts are fortified by the lessons of Russian history: of centuries of obscure battles between nomadic forces over the stretches of a vast unfortified plan. Here cautions, circumspection, flexibility and deception are the valuable qualities. . . These considerations make Soviet diplomacy at once easier and more difficult to deal with then the diplomacy of individual aggressive leaders like Napoleon and Hitler.

(14) in these circumstance it is clear that the main element of any US policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies. (to be continued)

Reference:
1. [George Kennan]. "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in Foreign Affairs, 1947.
2. US Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.(http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March)
3. Una McGovern ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.,2002.

George Kennan (Part III)

(7) ideology. . . taught them that the outside world was hostile and that it was their duty eventually to overthrow the political forces beyond their borders.

(8) since capitalism no longer existed in Russia . . . it became necessary to justify the retention of the dictatorship by stressing the menace of capitalism abroad. . . But there is ample evidence that the stress laid in Moscow on the menace confronting Soviet society from the world outside its borders is founded not in the realities of foreign antagonisms but in the necessity of explaining away the maintenance of dictatorial authority at home.

(9) we find disturbing in the Kremlin's conduct of foreign policy: the secretiveness, the lack of frankness, the duplicity, the wary auspiciousness, and the basic unfriendliness of purposes . . . When there is something the Russians want from us. . . their policy may be thrust temporarily into the background; and when that happens there will always be Americans who will leap forward with gleeful announcements that "the Russians have changed," and some who will even try to take credit for having brought about such "changes".

(10) the Soviet concept of power, which permits no focal points of organization outside the Party itself, requires that the Party leadership remain in theory the sole repository of truth. . . The leadership of the Communist Party is therefore always right. (to be continued)

Reference:
1. [George Kennan]. "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in Foreign Affairs, 1947.
2. US Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.(http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March)
3. Una McGovern ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.,2002.

George Kennan (Part II)

(3) Lenin, had he lived, might have proved a great man to reconcile . . . conflicting forces to the ultimate benefit of Russia society. Stalin, and those whom he led in the struggle for succession to Lenin's position of leadership were not the men to tolerate rival political forces . . . the sense of insecurity was too great. . . unmodified by any of the Anglo-Saxon traditions of compromise, was too fierce and too jealous to envisage any permanent sharing of power.

(4) They carried with them a skepticism as to the possibilities of permanent and peaceful co-existence of rival forces. Easily persuaded of their own doctrinaire "rightness," they insisted on the submission or destruction of all competing power.

(5) And within the Party the same principle was to apply. The mass of Party members might go through the motions of election, deliberation and action; but in these motions they were to be animated not by their own individual will but by the awesome breath of the Party leadership.

(6) That they alone knew what was good for society and that they would accomplish that good once their power was secure and unchallengeable. But in seeking that security of their own rule they were prepared to recognize no restrictions, either of God or man, on the character of their methods. (to be continued)

Reference:
1. [George Kennan]. "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in Foreign Affairs, 1947.
2. US Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.(http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March)
3. Una McGovern ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.,2002.

George Kennan (Part I)

In 1947 George Kennan (1904-2005), a career diplomat of the US, published an article anonymously in Foreign Affairs. This article was entitled "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" and was singed by "X". It asserted that Stalin's policy was based on a combination of Marxist-Leninist ideology that aimed at the defeat of capitalism in the world outside USSR. At that time Kennan was the director of policy planning under the supervision of Secretary of State George C. Marshall. When the real identity of X was eventually known, people began to believe that its content represented the official viewpoint of the Truman administration as far as US foreign policy towards USSR was concerned. On the death of Kennan on 17, April 2005 at the age of 101, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice published a statement on March 18 which called Kennan "one of the greatest strategists in the history of American foreign policy". Kennan was regarded by many as the US diplomat who first proposed the Cold War strategy of containment that would be followed by the Americans for over half a century. Some of the ideas presented in the "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" are quoted as follows:

1) The political personality of Soviet power as we know it today is the product of ideology and circumstances: ideology inherited by the present Soviet leaders from the movement in which they had their political origin and circumstances of the power which they now have exercised for nearly three decades in Russia.

2) The circumstances of the immediate post-revolution period -- the existence in Russia of civil war and foreign intervention, together with the obvious fact that the Communists represented only a tiny minority of the Russian people -- made the establishment of dictatorial power a necessity. (to be continued)

Reference:
1. [George Kennan]. "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in Foreign Affairs, 1947.
2. US Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.(http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March)
3. Una McGovern ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.,2002.

F.D. Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer

In the morning of June 6, 1944, after months of preparations, American and British troops assisted by Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy. It was the long-awaited ‘D-Day’, which would force the Nazis to defend themselves in the west, east and south. In the US the news of this landing was received with mixed emotions among the people: with some luck, it might bring the war to a conclusion, but it might also mean that some of their loved ones might die in the invasion. That night the US President Roosevelt (1882-1945) through the radio broadcasted a prayer for the sons of the Nation who were fighting in Normandy. This prayer is reproduced in part as follows:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness to their faith. They will need Thy blessing. Their road will be long and hard. The enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. They will be sore tired, by night and by day, without rest – till the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war. For these are men lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them. Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. . . . With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country . . . and a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.”

I love the prayer because it was written beautifully and President Roosevelt is one of the few American leaders that I admire. During his life time the US had experienced two important events: the Great Depression and the war with Nazis Germany and the Empire of Japan. As a politician, he had truly discharged his duties as the leader of the country. He had the political wisdom and charisma to unite his people together during crucial moments in American history. He could command the confidence of the people when faith in the country was at the ebb.

Hong Kong is now at the crossroad of the political reform. Will she be lucky enough to have a political leader who has the wisdom to guide people out of the chaos?

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is known for his contributions in the fields of mathematics and physics. However, I also admire Newton for his viewpoint on knowledge. Newton had once said that "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

His another viewpoint on knowledge is reflected in the quotation by him as follows: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". Here Newton was borrowing the idea from Bernard of Charters (died in about 1130AD) who used to say that we were like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we could see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we were carried high and raised up by their giant size.

On the basis of their idea, I create my own analogy. I compare books and knowledge to the giant. Also I always compare those people who love reading books to equip themselves with those who seldom or never read books. To my mind, books and knowledge is the giant in the form of tools. In general it is always the case that, with the help of tools, people can do things better and faster than those who do it with bare hands. In the ancient time, with the help of tools, human could excel animals in survival, and eventually stood at the top of the food chain. By the same token, in modern time in the concrete jungle, similar law of survival may exit, I think.

Reference:
1. Bill Swainson ed. Encarta Book of Quotations. NY: St. Martin' Press, 2000.
2. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations- Third Edition. Oxford University Press,1980.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

US President Obama's recent decision to tighten government financial control over the country has reminded me about the 32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt(1882 - 1945). He was elected president amidst the Great Depression. At the early part of his administration, he criticized the business leaders who had failed the country. Below are some of the quotes from speeches by President Roosevelt:

"[Business and finance are] unanimous in their hate for me - and I welcome their hatred . . . I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match; I would like to have it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master". (Campaign speech, 1936)

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism". (Message proposing the Monopoly Investigation, 1938)

To me it was at a very late stage that I knew a secret about Roosevelt: when he was first inaugurated on March 4, 1933 at the age of 51, he was already paralyzed from the waist down by polio. He had to be assisted to the stand where he stood during the ceremony, supported by iron leg braces. He was a man with such a strong will, and by destiny, he was picked by the American people to lead them through the turbulent years that included the Great Depression and the WWII.

Reference:
Seldes, George ed. The Great Thoughts. NY: Ballantine Books, 1985

John. F. Kennedy

最近美國總統奧巴馬對華爾街的大公司高層人員的強硬言論, 使我想起前美國總統肯尼迪 (John F. Kennedy) 在一九六一年就職演說中的一句說話:". . . If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." 我認為人類的歷史是不停的和沒有預設方向的. 我相信有遠見的領袖是可以對它發揮積極影響.