Where have all the Americans gone? (Greece) (Victor Davis Hanson alert)

Works for me. But I guess you have a problem with that.

But then again, I get the impression you would have a problem with anything the United States did.

I get the impression you would have a problem with anything the United States did.

Your impressions are wrong. But are you really suggesting we deploy American peacekeepers everywhere in the world? Long term?

I was being sarcastic, but then it is late, and I am not too good at it.

I was being serious. Is that really what you advocate? Sending American soldiers everywhere?

Thanks for replying! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who noticed the contrast between the two sides of the border between Greece and Albania.

I grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, a city with a noticeable Albanian community. When I was a little girl in the 1960's, some of the Albanians told me and my parents dramatic stories of their escape. The whole time I was in Catholic grammar school, I had a huge crush on a little boy who came from an Albanian family with a complicated surname. He was actually born in Italy after his parents fled the country en route to America. He was having learning difficulties, so he was always getting into trouble in school and the nuns wanted to expel him. I'd go home and cry my heart out to my mother, and she in turn would beg the principal to not to kick him out. I ran into him years later, and he was quite handsome in a Stallone-ish sort of way ("Yo, how's your mother?"). Not surprisingly, I recently discovered online that this guy's older brother is now an actor who gets typecast in police movies, and his acting credentials do mention that he speaks Albanian.

My daughter is now the same age that I was when I entered Catholic school. She often asks me to tell her bedtime stories about my childhood. The tale of the little Albanian boy is her favorite, and when I found a school photo of the two of us dressed up in religious costumes together, it really thrilled her.

Again, by contrast, my Greek-American friends were very different. Their families owned diners in New Jersey, and their parents kept sending them overseas every year hoping they'd come home with Greek spouses. No dramatic escape stories to hook my childish imagination, that's for sure.

Oh, I forgot to mention in my earlier rant -- I'm pretty sure that my vacation-from-hell took place in May 1985, just as Papandreou (sp?) was running for re-election. I never understood what was up with that guy anyway. I'd read that Papandreou had been educated in the United States and even had an American wife -- so what was behind all that anti-American sentiment? Whatever the cause, it certainly ruined my trip. Sigh...

I would support sending American Troops whereever it is in the United States interest to do so. Is that clear enough?

Then we are in agreement, and we can forget this nonsense about either of us being anti-American.