|
|
Saturday, June 12, 2004
|
|
A LONG SHADOW OVER SIBERIA
Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness -- pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.
-President Ronald Reagan
March 8, 1983
I know, I know, everyone must be tired about hearing about Ronald Reagan by now. On the other hand, I'm fascinated by history and geopolitics and this is my blog, so if you don't like it, you can all eat me. Raw. From time to time, I'll see something and think that one or two of my readers might enjoy it.
This isn't so much much about a North American view of Reagan. Nor is it even one man's views. Natan Sharansky, I believe, reflects what millions of citizens of the former Soviet bloc feel about the late president. Former Polish president Lech Walesa said upon Reagan's death, "we owe him our liberty." Walesa and Sharansky are in a position to know.
Natan Sharansky was accused and convicted of spying fot the United States and sentenced to 13 years in prison. These years were served in the Siberian gulag, an inhuman system of prison camps where millions were sent and several million would never return. Sharansky describes President Reagan's "Evil Empire" Speech, a speech which caused Reagan not inconsiderable political trouble, on the prisoner's of the gulag here.
|
|
|
| |
