In George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman in the Great Game," the great, tragic 1842 retreat from Kabul by the British and East India Company forces is graphically, though humourously described. Flashman is the last English survivor of the over 20,000 people killed by Afghan tribesmen and enemy forces, and of course, emerges as the hero. A different literary treatment of this event is the chilling conclusion of Rudyard Kipling's masterpiece, The Young British Soldier: When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains An' go to your Gawd like a soldier. Go, go, go like a soldier, Go, go, go like a soldier, Go, go, go like a soldier, So-oldier of the Queen! Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

A perfect thought. Thank you.

My father, father-in-law, both grandfathers and every uncle I ever knew, were all soldiers and saw war, some in combat and some in support, as young men. They didn't complain, and never forgot. With your help, Colonel & Mrs. Lang, I hope to finish writing that story of one of those soldiers. Thank you always for this Committee of Correspondence and for the hope that it brings to us all. Decameron.

PS. My grandfather jumped ship (from the Italian navy) in Port Arthur, Texas, circa 1922. He was a machinist and boiler expert in the Italian navy, and did not want to return to Mussolini's Italy. It was many years before he was made "legal," and he was a devoted American patriot whose sons-in-law fought against Hitler and Mussolini. Immigration is complicated, and there are many stories from the 1930s-40s-50s and present, that show that trying to base immigration on cost-effective criteria (as Trump and his Son-In-Law have done) will hurt the U.S., not help us.

Thank you, Colonel. I, too, am all for Merit based immigration status, but the issue is multi-faceted, and I think Mr. Trump tried to boil it down to a two-dimension, transactional issue. Example: Low-skilled immigrants take jobs away from low-skilled Americans, therefore, admitting more high-skilled immigrants will free up low-skilled jobs. Maybe true, BUT: (1) many American-born people don't want the low-skilled agri-jobs, or construction jobs (very hard work) that immigrants take. Secondly, US college grads are having a hard time finding the high-skilled jobs that will allow them to pay off their college loans. Some--maybe many--of those jobs are being taken by high skilled immigrants (or even out-source jobs in India or other locations) and denying those to Americans. Not simple.

A friend who worked in the HR head-hunting business at a high-skill level indicated that in trying to find candidates with experience in civil engineering, he could not find American native-born nationals. Why is that? Is university training to expensive? Too demanding for spoiled American youth? Let's find out.

Agree with your additions. Trump said that lower skill immigrant are taking away jobs from lower skill Americans, but it looks to me like the opposite. If he wants more accomplished foreigners to come in for highly skilled and perhaps high tech jobs, what will that do to American college graduates who are finding it hard to get a job in their fields and have a massive college tuition debt to pay off. The President's arguments makes no sense to me.

Yes, Colonel. You're right. Criminals are already excluded. Why the President threw in the fact that his plan makes all criminals "inadmissible", was a demonstration to me that this policy announcement was rhetoric, not policy. Maybe his 2020 base believes that Obama and prior presidents opened the door to "criminals", but that's now how I see it.

Thankyou Larry. May 21st is the anniversary of Mike Pompeo's Heritage Foundation speech where he laid out the "Ten Commandments" that Iran must abide by. Today, the Administration policy is being referred to as "Maximum Pressure" on Iran with the objective of reducing Iran's intake of funds to almost nothing. No oil sales, no waivers, sanctions and punishment against countries, individuals and entities that do business with Iran, etc. To justify this to skeptical and cautious allies and neutrals there must be a threat. Hence the Big Lie by repetition of Iran's terrorist profile (the falsehood that you so effectively demolished here), its nuclear threat, its missile threat, its sponsorship of "terrorist" groups (wrongly naming Hezbollah and Hamas which are successful, popular political movements, like it or not). The objective of Trump's "maximum pressure" is to break Iran's role as a "regional menace". All over Washington, pundits are splitting hairs that John Bolton's policy is to overthrow the Iranian regime, while the President's policy is to overthrow the policies of the Iranian regime and get Iran to obey the conditions that Pompeo laid out. If Iran obeys the Pompeo list, there's a chance for new negotiations. We're close to war by intent or by miscalculation.

Thanks Cee and other responders for tracking down the Jonathan Institute history. Sent from my iPhone

Very much appreciated Croesus.

Interesting. Would love to see the actual document from the archive in London. I recall that the Entebbe saga was very instrumental in launching Benjamin Netanyahu's career with US support. There was, after the incident, a non-profit organization created in the United States called The Jonathan Institute in memory of the older brother Netanyahu. Bibi was presented in various Washington DC circles as a hero (once-removed) in the fight against terrorism, and thus began his steady rise. The Jonathan Institute was pre-Internet, so it is hard to find information about it. Any pilgrims out there with long memories or hard copy mementos from the 1980s who can provide information? Thanks. Decameron.

As the AIPAC conference unfolds, providing a grand soapbox for Netanyahu, veteran Israeli journalist, Ronen Bergman, a veteran security affairs reporter provides a great expose of recent Israeli assassination operations. The Mossad at work against Iranian scientists. An excerpt: "The last component of Dagan’s plan—the targeted killing of scientists—was implemented by the Mossad on its own, since Dagan, according to several sources, including some high-ranking officials in the CIA, was aware that the United States would not agree to participate. The Mossad compiled a list of 15 key researchers as targets for elimination." And then, in 2007, it began. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/05/israel-assassination-iranian-scientists-217223