On October 23

On this day in ...

... 1983 (25 years ago today), in the midst of civil war in Lebanon, bombs in Beirut devastated barracks of American and French armed forces, killing 241 American servicemembers, nearly all of them Marines, and 58 parachutistes. Although President Ronald Reagan "insist[ed] Marines will remain," the United States withdrew all troops from the country within months. (credit for photo of the President and 1st Lady Nancy Reagan reviewing caskets of U.S. troops who died in the bombing)

... 1989, in 1 country that had led movements in Eastern Europe away from the Warsaw Pact and toward market economies, Hungary became a republic by proclamation of interim President Mátyás Szűrös. The declaration came on the 33d anniversary of the unsuccessful uprising against Soviet control. Free elections would be held the following year. Hungary (flag at left) became a member of NATO in 1999 and of the European Union in 2004.

Grrrrrr

Remember Nancy Reagan telling us all to “just say no”? How come no one but the equally dangerous seem to be able to say it to GWB? The Herald Tribune reports that

President Vladimir Putin formally notified NATO governments on Saturday that Russia will suspend its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, a key Cold War-era arms limitation agreement, in response to American plans to deploy a missile shield in Eastern Europe.

When we heard this on the news this morning, I asked my (French) husband why none of the 25 or so other NATO members were able to refuse to go along with this missile shield hoax. He claims that NATO has always been just the US and everyone else follows along. I have trouble believing that. Everyone’s got a budget to balance, and EU members have budget responsibilities with respect to EU membership. Nicolas Sarkozy is making hash of those right now, sending France into extragalactic debt even without shelling out for a missile shield, but this is more the exception than the rule. Surely it would be more cost effective to invest in long-term war-prevention programs like fighting desertification, poverty, illiteracy, etc.?