OUCH!

Our first encounter with a hot stove teaches us to avoid a second lesson. If an American Black Bear or Bengal Tiger were to encounter a hot stove, they, too, might no doubt learn the same lesson. The bear and the tiger would each remember to avoid any subsequent meetings with hot stoves, adding it to a long list of dangers they perceive in their active lifestyles.

Although our Creator uniquely endowed us with the ability to invent writing systems to record history, humans stubbornly refuse to learn the lessons of our predecessors without the associated pain. Instead, we insist on repeating the same mistakes over and over. For millennia, we have dismissed the metaphorical hot stoves encountered by our predecessors as if each next hot stove we encounter will not produce the same result.

In essence, we ignore our best available tool to avoid the follies that preceded our attempt to achieve a different result from an identical experience. We repeat our foolishness time after time - locked into a collective Groundhog Day-esque ritual dance of defeat.

Take, for example, the ongoing media gnashing of teeth over the latest romance of the evil trifecta (China, Russia, and Iran), which recently chose to collaborate on eliminating their common enemy, which would be us. The Biden administration placates us by claiming that diplomacy will inspire the trifecta to choose civilized behavior over barbarism. Aside from the liberal media, does anyone believe the tag team of Xi, Putin, and Khamenei will be moved by White House warnings to turn up the heat if they misbehave?

We only need to revisit April 21, 2014, when the Washington Post reported that Secretary of State John F. Kerry explicitly stated, “I made it clear to Foreign Minister Lavrov today that if we are not able to see progress this weekend, then we will have no choice but to impose further costs on Russia.” The weekend came and went, and rather than standing down, Vladimir chose to ignore President Obama’s “red line,” in a clear demonstration of “my penis is bigger than yours,” escalating the standoff by continuing to occupy Ukrainian government buildings. At the time, Vice President Biden saw that Obama’s diplomacy had failed with Putin. Had the Obama administration asked Google, they would have seen that this was the second time Russia had annexed Crimea - the first time being in April 1783.

Was President Biden not informed of last week’s joint naval drills by the evil triplets on the same day talks began to convince Russia not to invade Ukraine again? He must have been informed of the Wall Street Journal’s report that the Iranian spokesman, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini said, “In the new world order, a triangle consisting of three powers - Iran, Russia and China - has formed.” He added, “This new arrangement heralds the end of the inequitable hegemony of the United States and the West.”

Had President Biden been a student of history, he would have learned that in 519 BC (or BCE for those militant secularists), Darius I, the 3rd king of Persia, sought to fulfill his delusion to rule the world. Darius had developed a clever technique to convince nations in his path to submit to his rule and pledge their allegiance and assets to him.  His trademark technique was to assemble armies so large that the mere sight of them was sufficient to achieve submission without a single pike being thrust into a single conscripted farmer. Opposing Darius translated to certain death for the confused scythe-wielding warriors, slavery for all their women, inclusion in Darius’ haren for the pretty young girls, and castration for the boys who would become eunuch attendants for Darius’ stable of beauties. The Persian Empire grew to encompass much of the known world at the time because his strategy had never resulted in a lost battle.

Darius encountered his metaphorical hot stove when, in response to a perceived insult from a people utterly unknown to him who called themselves Athenians. Darius decided to add Europe to his empire. The Athenians had evolved over millennia to become masters of the sea and quintessential world traders. The offending insult was that Athens had offered twenty ships to support Miletos, one of Athens’ colonies in Asia Minor, in their dispute with Darius. Miletos had become enamored with a bold new Athenian notion called democracy and foolishly decided to seek its independence from Darius. Once he removed Miletos’ inhabitants from the planet, Darius decided to ensure that these impulsive Athenians would forever regret their insults.

In 491 BC, Darius sent envoys to prominent European mainland Hellenic city-states, demanding they voluntarily submit to his authority and rule. Considering his reputation, all visited city-states complied with his demand-- except for two-- Athens and Sparta. After three years of preparation, Darius assembled 600 warships to punish the two outliers.

Considering that the Hellenes had more than a thousand colonies, Athens had advance warning of the impending invasion-- just as President Biden faced most of Russia’s armies poised at the Ukrainian border. With no question as to which army would be victorious, the Athenians chose to “live free or die” (a motto adopted by the State of New Hampshire 2,300 years later). They also chose strategy over size since they didn’t have the latter. A landmark battle occurred on September 12, 490 BC, giving Darius his first taste of defeat-- commemorated annually by thousands of marathon runners armed with Nike sneakers who are hopelessly oblivious to the real lesson of the Battle of Marathon.

Although Darius pledged to return with an even larger army, he was prematurely diverted to paradise for eternity. Instead, he would be avenged by his son, Xerxes I. It was obligatory that Xerxes follow his dad’s obsession to destroy the Athenians and then reign as the world’s king of kings-- only to learn the same lesson - joining his dad in Paradise.

The point of these ancient lessons is not that the Athenians were cleverer than the Persians. It is that Putin thinks an enormous show of force on Ukraine’s border will quickly result in the reacquisition of Ukraine.

Other clues about the trifecta would give President Biden' some insight. The Persians were originally known as ‘Airyana Vaeja,’ a label that morphed over millennia to become the modern word - Iranians. Supreme Leader Khamenei’s obsession is to return the world to Iran’s barbaric dominance. Comrade Putin has chosen Darius’ technique to amass an enormous army on his border with the Ukraine, and Chairman Xi fully intends to become the planet’s king of kings.

OUCH!