I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Thank you, everyone, for the kind messages asking what happened to me and for your expressions of concern that I may have been arrested, run over by a marauding football team, or eaten by my cats. No, no: I am absolutely fine; I'm just swamped with deadlines.
I'm working now on a review of Pavel Stroilov's new book, Behind the Desert Storm: A Secret Archive Stolen From the Kremlin that Sheds New Light on the Arab Revolutions in the Middle East. He blames the Reds for everything, and I'm mostly inclined to agree with him. Here's a choice extract from the book to amuse you--or to outrage you, depending on your frame of mind:
In the final months of the [Iran-Iraq] war and the first months of peace, the Soviets persistently sought secret contact with Tehran through Assad and Arafat. In response, Imam Khomeini suddenly made a wide gesture, without worrying much about secrecy. In early January 1989, he sent one Ayatollah to Gorbachev to deliver a personal, handwritten epistle—an honor never afforded to any other foreign leader. The text, alas, is still unknown to historians, but the whole Politburo is on record laughing their heads off when reading it. The contents of the message can be easily deduced from the transcripts of the Politburo discussion and of Gorbachev’s meeting with Khomeini’s envoy, Ayatollah Abdullah Javadi Amoli, on January 4, 1989. Khomeini learned from the Western press that Gorbachev was a great reformer, so he suggested that Gorbachev should forget Marxism and convert to Islam.
Gorbachev (laughed at length before speaking): He suggested I should destroy communism! …
This was hardly much sillier than the attitude of most Western opinion-makers, who hoped that Gorbachev would miraculously transform from a communist to a democrat.
When talking to Khomeini’s messenger, Gorbachev politely declined to convert to Islam, and then reminded he was the leader, not a destroyer, of the Soviet Union and its Communist Party:
I am not going to try and persuade Imam to join the Communist Party […]
I must disappoint Imam: my associates and I see our goal as fully restoring the values of Socialism, the Marxist doctrine. That doctrine has absorbed all the best achievements of human thought.
After that discussion, Islam and Marxism were put aside, and the discussion focused on the more practical matter of joint struggle against the American Satan. “Without diplomatic niceties,” as Gorbachev said, he told Ayatollahs how Americans and Pakistanis were undermining the well-known Soviet efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan, and hinted that, détente and disarmament notwithstanding, he disbelieved all the US assurances of friendship. This he contrasted with the sincerity of the Soviet-Iranian relations. Soon, Comrades and Ayatollahs would note they were in complete agreement, not only about the situation in the Middle East, but also about South Africa, Latin America, East-West disarmament, and especially about “turning the Indian Ocean into a peace zone,” which meant ousting the Americans. Soviet-Iranian joint committees working on these issues mushroomed in 1989, while Foreign Ministers Shevardnadze and Velayati had four meeting in six months.
I'll let you know when the review's online.
Meanwhile, I've just received an advance copy of Michael Totten's new book, Where the West Ends. I get to read that before any of you, because you can't even buy it on Amazon yet. It looks great. But because this is a super-secret advance copy--and because I haven't read it yet--I can't tell you any more about it.
And for those of you dying for news from Turkey, you can have a gander at a review I wrote of Orhan Pamuk's new Museum of Innocence. Here's the original review I submitted, and here's the version the editors revised and published. I'm curious: Which one do you prefer? I ask in all seriousness. I thought mine was much more interesting, but writers are notoriously bad at figuring out when they're just being boring. So you tell me.
I'm working on a lot of other things, too, so stay tuned.
Thank you again for all the concerned messages. Nothing bad has happened to me. In fact, life is great. I've just got bills to pay.
Love,
Claire
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Jan '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Well, there went twenty bucks.
Nov '10
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
I preferred your version -- though the opening paragraphs of the revised version does launch the reader into article more quickly or perhaps engagingly.
"(Such was the fate of women who had sex before marriage.)"
I'm rather surprised the revised version omitted this punishment's being applied to men as well.
And the discussion of timelessness I thought was crucial. It's central to what makes art good or great: or as I think of it, a feeling of awe induced by the art, or that one is small compared to the immensity of the created "world" of the art.
The Nabakov quote was tremendous. I need to read more Nabokov.
Jan '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
I love this bit. Nevermind that everything ever done in the Soviet Union had been done in the name of Marxism: we need more of Karl's fruit punch, not less. Increase the people's already generous rations by 422mL! Then, comrades, let us commemorate our crowning achievement of human thought and replace the ol' hammer & sickle with a sponge and a cerebellum and march Forward boldly with the Ayatollahs into the glorious future! The Indian Ocean awaits the New Soviet Sponge!
Jan '12
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Claire it's good to hear from you. I was only wondering a couple of days ago where you might be and I guessed on vacation. Wrong!!
May '10
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
It is wonderful to hear from you, Claire. We were discussing your absence (some were concerned) and how much we enjoy reading your posts at the Chicago meeting two weeks back. I look forward to your review.
Mar '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
It's nice to hear that you are busy. Your last few posts seemed to be saying that you were looking for paying jobs, so being being swamped with deadlines is a good thing. It beats being swamped with the prospect of having no prospects.
Dec '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
I can clearly see that this is exactly the post that a woman would write that is soon to be kitty chow. We all understand what you mean by deadlines, your life is in danger. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am more of a guy who likes to pick the more interesting story line.
I ask you which is a better story.
Is there any way you would compromise on the two story lines?
May '10
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
I'm so glad you're fighting the Communists. Gives me hope. I am frequently driven to the brink of despair by the persistent naiveté and not-seeing of the American left.
Mar '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Oh thank goodness you're back! The dog people here were starting to treat us pretty rough. (or is that ruff?)
Mar '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Glad to see you back!
Had me worried, I mean James Dellingpole was nearly eaten by sharks Down Under, so I was worried you might have had another apartment collapse.
Jun '10
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Hi Claire, so nice to read you again.
I want to add my voice to those who claim that the Soviets are the authors of most of the evil in the 20th century. The wars we all know about -- I, II and Cold -- but the propaganda efforts are still damaging the western democracies. There is simply nothing quite like it. How many sad sacks just bought every thing that was spewed from them because it fit their own self-hatred?
So many people wonder why America is hated so virulently in these last few decades and it's all because of the lies that were successfully promoted directly and in fifth column activities in our media, academia and Hollywood. This hatred of us is a great badge of honor -- because we defeated them. But, it's not seen that way yet.
History will treat us well.
God bless you in this worthy endeavor. Fighting commies is always fighting the good fight.
I am reading Operation Solo by John Barron. Have you read it yet? It's about Morris Childs who was the greatest spy that the FBI had during the last few decades of the Soviet Union. It is riveting.
Jul '10
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
I've got to give the laurel to the edited version. Yours was aimed at showing your writer's chops and theirs at organizing and telling the story briskly and with concision. Every writer needs an editor.
Nov '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
What a treat to have you back, Claire, and like everyone else, I look forward to seeing more of your current work.
To answer your question, I think I would have preferred a third version, i.e., your own response to the concerns of the editors. I can imagine that for them, your beginning was complex enough to be confusing, but in their version some of the attraction of the story was lost, too, and perhaps that lovely Nabokov quote could have been negotiated.
Apr '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Yay, Claire is back. You know you were one of the primary reasons I joined the site. I was beginning to worry that you had not posted any new and interesting articles in a while.
As to fighting communists, it is a worthy endeavor for all human beings. I am curious to read this book you mention, as any thing that gives me more ammunition against Communism is welcome, though one would think just a scintilla of what they have wrought would be enough to damn them before the eyes of all right thinking people.
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
I have indeed--and was briefly speaking to some friends who were trying to raise funds to make it into a movie and wondered whether I'd like to work on the screenplay. (I said of course.) But the project never went anywhere, alas. Too bad. It would have been a great movie--and a great gig.
Mar '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Great to have you back, Claire! While I rarely comment on your threads (as I have nothing useful to add), I always read them with great interest.
On the topic of animosity between communism and fundamental Islam, may I make a plug for Ghost Wars by Steve Coll? In the book, Coll gives a fascinating (although somewhat cursory) background on the ideological struggle between the two movements, and how this religious fervor led to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan being supported as much (if not more) by Saudi Arabia than the U.S.
Feb '12
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
"I've just got bills to pay."
What? Ricochet doesn't already pay you handsomely? Those blasted robber barons! I knew it! Time to unionize the contributors, Claire.
Edited on May 22, 2012 at 9:32pmMar '11
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Indeed, only the other day I was wondering whether we had upset Claire by our apathy towards the Islamist takeover of Turkey (and the rest of the Middle East). Or should that be Communists? Oh, well, there is little difference.
In return, she is playing with us, as she no doubt does her cats, by mentioning Mr Totten's new book, which sounds fascinating...
Meanwhile, nothing much happening here in the US, other than our dog-eating President claiming that he was born in Kenya (before he ran for President, that is - Ooops).
Edited on May 22, 2012 at 10:54pmSep '10
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Your version reads more like an essay than a news feature, which must quickly grab the reader. But from the lede down, the meat of the edited version is not nearly as rich. Someone who's interested in the man as much as the museum will like yours better. Readers who just want to know about the museum, which probably includes most readers of the Globe and Daily Mail, will like the paring down better. That's my two cents, anyway. Glad to hear you're doing so well.
Oct '10
Re: I'm Fine! Thank You! I'm Just Busy Fighting Communists
Thank G_d.
Now all I have to do is finish that review of "One, Two, Three" I promised you and your father, uh, months ago.