Browsing: October 9

A Brief History On October 9, 2006, the “Hermit Kingdom” of North Korea conducted its first test of a nuclear bomb, an event that has led to this rogue nation that is run by a blatantly deranged dictator to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons.  The finger pointing among American politicians and American political parties over exactly who “allowed” North Korea to gain nuclear weapon status has been going on ever since and continues today. Digging Deeper When World War II ended there was a land grab going on around the world, with some former colonies demanding independence, others being…

A Brief History On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus, the Italian adventurer sailing into the unknown in the name of the Spanish Crown, landed in the Bahamas, the landing that became known as the “discovery” of America (or, “The New World” if you prefer).  In New York City, 300 years later, the first “Columbus Day” was celebrated, an event that became a regular holiday in the United States, a day especially treasured by Italian-Americans, and Italians everywhere.  (Note: Columbus Day 2017 is celebrated on Monday, October 9th.) Digging Deeper Christopher Columbus is ranked among the greatest explorers and discoverers of…

A Brief History On October 9, 2012, 15 year old Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani Muslim girl, was shot in the face by Taliban Islamic extremist terrorists for the “crime” of being a girl that wanted to go to school to learn to read and write. Digging Deeper Despite being well educated for her area in Pakistan, as her parents ran a chain of schools, Malala was smart enough to write under a pseudonym when blogging for the BBC, as Taliban insurgents deemed it un-Islamic for girls to get an education.  The Taliban (same religious extremists that ran Afghanistan until the…

A Brief History On October 9, 1740, Dutch colonial overlords on the Island of Java (now a main island in Indonesia) in the port city of Batavia (now Jakarta, capital of Indonesia) went on a mad killing spree of ethnic cleansing and murdered about 10,000 ethnic Chinese. The Dutch word, “Chinezenmoord,” literally means “Chinese Murder.” Digging Deeper At the time of this horrible crime, what is now Indonesia was called the Dutch East Indies and was a colony of the Netherlands until “liberated” by the Japanese in World War II. The mass murder pogrom started on October 9 and continued…

A Brief History On October 9, 1966, the war torn nation of South Viet Nam was the scene of not one, but two notable massacres you may never have heard of.  While much scorn has been heaped on alleged massacres and atrocities by Americans, by the forces of South Viet Nam, by the Viet Cong, and by the North Vietnamese Army, these massacres were committed by another entity entirely. Digging Deeper On this fateful day, the Republic of Korea (ROK) forces (aka South Korean) allied with the US and South Viet Nam perpetrated massacres at separate locations, Binh Tai and…