Burton's Global Page

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a very close hot-war that could possibly happened on the confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviets as well as Cuba during the times of the Cold War.
It was a very close call between these two great nations to start nuking each other, while awaiting for the unspoken signal from the president. But it was a remarkable decision and choice that JFK and the Russians made that saved billions of lives that people were extremely showered with happiness when the bombings were canceled.
The Soviet missiles were already placed in Cuba, which Cuba was very near from Florida and other places near the U.S. And due to the fact that the soviets had great technology and weapons with mass destruction, the U.S. is very easy to be penetrated with the USSR's attack. This was a very terrifying moment not only to the U.S., but also to the whole world as well.
People are even staying in tunnels and undergrounds just to avoid being harmed by the harmful radiation of these nukes that could kill millions if any of it would be launched.
At first the U.S. government wasn't really informed by this disturbing news until the C.I.A. notice the pending attack by the U.S.S.R. that will be launched if the Americans will continue to invade Cuba. President J.F.K., who I believe is a very great and brilliant man, ordered spy planes and airplanes to search and see what was going on. But the Soviets spot one of their spy planes and shot it down.
It was a good thing however that the C.I.A. was able to collect photographs to the America's U-2 spy plane that revealed missile bases being built in Cuba.
I believe this was a very critical moment for the whole world that things were really uncertain, difficult, dangerous, and a worrying time that every decision is crucial because if the Soviets will nuke the U.S. then eventually the U.S. will nuke them back. And then all the radiation will go to the atmosphere, and people will start dying, suffering, and things will get really messy and stuff. This experience that the Soviets and the U.S. are having at that moment makes me think back and remember the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We all know that the atomic bomb that was dropped on those cities were extremely dangerous and destructive that hundreds of thousands of people died in Japan. And if the U.S. and Soviets will continue to nuke each other, then it feels like they haven't learned anything from the events that happened in Japan and what destruction these weapons can bring.
This attempt on the attack was kept too long because each nation was waiting for every bad move that each of them will do. And if that will happen, nuclear bombs will then be launched.
But suddenly things changed when President J.F.K. made a decision that couldn't be forgotten by the world when he made the agreement with the Soviet Union. It was a deal that if the Soviets will back off, then the United States will no longer invade Cuban territory. And an unexpected answer also saved the world when the Soviets replied by telling the U.S. that they will comply with the agreement if the Americans will take their missiles out of Turkey. It was then the time the war ended when the U.S. did what they said.
These things that happened at that time was considered "the hottest moment in the cold war" because this was the only time that the Cold War was very close to begin into a Nuclear War.
But I'm glad that didn't happen. I know everyone felt the same way.
I believe these events are very valuable in the history of mankind because the decisions made by these two great nations saved the world. And not only that, it also tells us that the decisions they made really proves that they are indeed truly great nations.

Posted by Burton at 5:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

NATO was basically formed after the America's policy of isolationism that continued after World War I when European countries created the League of Nations.The purpose of the League of Nations was to establish a collective security system.
But at that time it was believed that the U.S. Senate didn't like to join the league despite the support of President Woodrow Wilson for it.
The policy of isolationism ended or "disappeared" as what most historians say, when Japan attacked US in WWII, which was the event that forced America to join WWII. When the war ended, the Americans were involved on another system. That system was a system of alliances and regional defense associations.
These system or associations included the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). These collective alliances were required when the United States happened to enter 40 years of "mutual distrust" with the USSR, which became a war known as the "Cold War."
So basically, NATO was a treaty signed on April 4, 1949, at the beginning of the Cold War. It served as a regional defense alliance that was created by the North Atlantic Treaty. It allied the United States with Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
The real purpose of the treaty was to defend Western Europe against any possible attack by the Communist nations led by the USSR.
But the Soviets saw this as a threat because they felt they were the only country that had little allies at this point on, while the Americans had mutual agreement with a lot of countries.
So as a response, Russia made the "Warsaw Pact" to counter NATO.
This was kind of a Communist military alliance and a treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance that was formed in 1955.
This made the Russia or USSR allied with Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania. This alliance was controlled by the USSR.
But first of all to stick with the point, America started this pact because they were afraid and worried of the USSR that maybe they might attack U.S. anytime. So they thought of having allies, which might serve as a protection if anything bad could possibly happen and to stop communist from spreading throughtout the world since the U.S. and the Soviets have different economies.
The U.S. also thought that the NATO was an effective way of giving a powerful figure for the United Nations as well as to scare the USSR from attacking the U.S. and its allies.
But beneath this whole Cold War, these two strong nations didn't want to fight with each other because they know that if they will, the world will get into trouble because of their technology advances and military weapons such as, nuclear bombs and hydrogen bombs that could easily destroy the whole world if they will drop it on one-another. And of course the result will be extremely horrible. And these two great nations will then disappear from the explosion and impact if anything like that could happen.
But the NATO and Warsaw Pact on the other hand, was basically a defense organization just in case a "Hot-War" might occur.

Posted by Burton at 5:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

"The Right Stuff" was a great movie about the Cold War. It was basically a film telling a story about the events that happened on the competition of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. with each other. And the main focus was competing in Space.
First it happened in 1947, when a group of Pilots and determined men gathered at a remote Air Force base in the California high desert. Their mission was to break the sound barrier by using a small rocket-powered test plane called the X-1. The only problem was that others had tried to break it before, and not all had survived, which most of them eventually failed. In fact, some of the people thought of the sound barrier as a "demon that lived in the sky", waiting to destroy and risk any men who dared to confront it, which was also said by the Narrator as the movie was starting. This actually became my favorite scene when Chuck Yeager was able to successfully beat the sound barrier by closing in on the deadly Mach-1. But still no one knew this at that time, except for the Americans because they want to keep this as secret or classified. So this was basically what the Cold War is about. The US and the USSR were keeping secrets away from one-another, and where competing in technology to find out who's the best.
Meanwhile, the Soviets wanted to be first in space. So they had an idea of lunching the first satellite into space called "Sputnik," which became successful. But the Americans were really upset about this because of the Soviet's brilliant idea. They were worried that the Russians might drop bombs to them easily from space. So lately, the Americans wanted to compete and be the best in space.
After this short event, everything was suddenly focused on the race for space. So NASA gathered and looked for the first best American Astronauts, which they called in pilots. So they trained them, especially their body to be able to survive in space.
Meanwhile as NASA were training the pilots, the US were shocked that the Soviets had beaten them again when they launched the first man into space. But it was remarkable that the Americans soon founded a way to compete with them. They made a capsule and John Glenn, who was one of the Astronauts, successfully made it to orbit. And then, this proved the fact that the Americans matched the Russians in the space race.
I believe the Americans won the race not only because of their technology and stuff, but also of their strength and confidence shown on fighting the cold battle.
In addition to the space race, Gordo Cooper finally got his chance and proved he has "the right stuff." This happened when the Americans continued the countdown of the Mercury-7 mission, and Cooper rides the rocket into space, that set records for the longest space flight.

Posted by Burton at 5:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

The "Schindler's List" movie is a true story about an Austrian industrialist Oskar Schindler, who kept and save some Polish Jews during WWII by using them as workers in his factory. Schindler made one of the most unforgettable experience in his time by saving 1,100 Jews from certain death.
Schindler's List was the best film I saw about the Holocaust. It is very powerful and gratifying about the strength of the Jews despite their knowledge that they will be killed, and also heartrending to be seen.
Director, Steven Spielberg, delivered his message perfectly that made us saw every dept of the experiences and lives of the Jews, and how they had to live during the Holocaust. It illustrated the Holocaust greater than anyone could ever imagine. I believe it's even close to impossible. It's just remarkable and extraordinary by the help of the actors on portraying the lives of the Jews.
Sometimes I couldn't handle the film because of its honesty that made me feel that something like this could happen, and that a chapter this dark is included in the history of mankind.
All of the scenes were powerful to me from the scenes: labor camp, the children, the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, Auschwitz, and other places. They were all strong and effective to be understand and discovered. But the one image that will stay with me forever is that scene in Auschwitz. Especially the part where the Jews got into the showers expecting to be killed and then nothing happened, but they never knew they will soon be burn in ovens and will never come back. I believe that was the most brilliant scenes for delivering the utter horror of the concentration camps.
Schindler was the person who guided you throughout the story and taught you about how to do the right thing despite the risk and death that could happen anytime. He showed you a powerful message about his conscience and guilt that even viewers are affected as well and are force to examine how vast their conscience are, and also made them think the hardest choice that someone had made. And that was by saving thousands of innocent lives on an extremely dangerous situation.
I thought the black and white idea was great. I think the reason for it was to distract us from the emotions that would go along the film.
On the other hand, Schindler really made a great choice in his life by taking the advantage of his rank and leadership that sometimes we are force to take a truthful look at the cruel act of the Nazis through the eyes of his character.
I believe a lot of scenes in these story will stay in your mind that some will shed tears, some will feel the same way, and some will regret and be heavily disturb by realizing the mistakes done by the Nazis.

Posted by Burton at 5:17 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Night and Fog" is a brief documentary about the holocaust. It's also one of the most dramatic and moving documentary i've ever seen.
The movie brought a sudden change into the way I view life. And most of all, on the way it captured my heart into a certain way when I saw the events that happened during the holocaust. Some of my reactions to it where emotional because it's very sad and hurting to see how the Jews were killed in a horrible way that words couldn't express how they were killed and persecuted. I really admire the documentary. It's really good because it explained well about the holocaust in detail that it makes you empathize with the Jews in their grief.
I believe I found the film so powerful because it doesn't only give you details about what happened in the holocaust, it also makes you go deeper into thinking about how people treat each other differently due to race-differences. And it as well makes you feel bad because of the horrible rascist and stereotypes that are happening on the time of Hitler.
The documentary, in my own opinion, speaks to you in detail about Auschwitz where the Jews were killed and persecuted, while the actual movie that was directed by Steven Spielberg, shows you something greater, very moving, and heartbreaking to be seen. But still both of them where written and made successfully that people are touch and given a definite perspective on viewing life.

Posted by Burton at 5:17 AM | Permalink | Comments