Regrets 2

In 1904, my maternal grandmother, Naomi (Elkin) Karchevsky, a woman in her early twenties, carrying her infant daughter (my aunt Francis), travelled from a small town in the Russian Empire all the way to Ellis Island in the New York City harbor to begin a new life.

Eventually, she and my grandfather, Julius, who arrived in the USA a year earlier, settled in Oswego, New York when my mother Margaret was born in 1907.  My parents met eighteen years later in 1925.  I was born twenty years after that in 1945.

My grandmother lived a long life passing away in December 1976 at more than 90 years of age.  At the time, she was living in a nursing home in upstate New York.  She was in reasonably good health, physically and mentally, when she suffered a stroke and died one day later.

I was (for the first time) a pall bearer at her funeral in Rochester, NY.  Afterwards I had my first experience sitting shiva.  "Eat...eat," I was told, so I ate.  The food was very good and plentiful.

My grandmother died just after my daughter Rachel celebrated her first birthday on December 7, 1976.  All that year 1976, I thought about taking her to the nursing home to introduce my grandmother to another of her many great-grandchildren.  I kept putting it off thinking I could do it another time...but it didn't happen.  It is another of my life's regrets.

As we lived not far from each other, I frequently saw my grandmother, especially when she lived in Rochester.  I had many happy memories of her.  

But, since my grandmother passed away, I have developed a curiosity about what her early life was like and what happened on that fateful journey from Russia to America.  That story is gone, but I imagine a little bit from the film Fiddler on the Roof (1971).

Kurds

Kurds are an ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.  The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million.  Kurds speak the Kurdish languages.

Kurds do not comprise a majority in any country, making them a stateless people.  After World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western allies made provision for a Kurdish state in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres. 

However, that promise was broken three years later, when the Treaty of Lausanne set the boundaries of modern Turkey and made no such provision, leaving Kurds with minority status in all of the new countries of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.  

Recent history of the Kurds includes numerous genocides and rebellions, along with ongoing armed conflicts in Turkish, Iranian, Syrian, and Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurds in Iraq and Syria have autonomous regions, while Kurdish movements continue to pursue greater cultural rights, autonomy, and independence throughout the Kurdistan region.

Sufficient evidence exists, however, that, despite the fact that history is full of examples of Kurdish uprisings against the empires under whose rule they resided, the desire for an independent or autonomous Kurdish state among Kurds, in the modern sense, emerged only after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.

After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, a new autonomous region in the northern part of the country was created and a new Kurdish government, under the name Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), came into existence. On 30 January 2005, the KRG organized a referendum on the question of an independent Kurdistan. The unofficial results recorded that 98.88% of Iraqi Kurds supported independence.

The referendum of 25 September 2017, like previous attempts at independence, was a step taken to press the Baghdad government for political and economic gains. Similar to the 2005 referendum, the latest one sparked controversy as it included the disputed territories of northern Iraq—including the Kirkuk oilfields—as part of the Kurdistan Region. 

This referendum carried only symbolic meaning for the Kurds, rather than any real potential for the declaration of an independent Kurdish state. The ballot asked a single question: “Do you want the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistani areas outside the region’s administration to become an independent state?” 

The results recorded that 93% of participants voted in favor of independence. The referendum went ahead despite the fact that almost all international actors—with the exception of Israel—were against it?

That begs the question as to what do the Kurds and the Israelis have in common?  Answer:  a desire to have their own independent state in the Middle East.  The problem:  The powers that be in the Middle East don't want them to succeed.  Why?

Israel and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq maintain a close informal relationship, but do not have formal diplomatic missions in each other's territory. Their ties are rooted in Israel's historically strong support for the Kurdish people and their long-running desire for self-determination and national independence in Kurdistan.  

The Iraqi government and the Kurdish government have differing policies with regard to the entry of Israeli citizens into their territory: Kurdish authorities accept Israeli passports at Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, and Israelis are entitled to regular freedom of movement throughout the Kurdistan Region.

Iraq, which has been a party to the Arab–Israeli conflict since Israel's founding in 1948, does not recognize Israeli sovereignty.

In light of Israel's conflict with the Arab countries, the Kurdistan Region has declared that there is no cause for animosity between Kurds and Israelis.  In 2017, the Israeli government openly voiced support for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state.  Relations between the two sides have been met with antisemitism and anti-Kurdish sentiment from the Arab League, Iran, and Turkey.

One-Eyed Jacks

Marlon Brando and Karl Malden are two of the most acclaimed Hollywood movie stars of all time.  They appeared together in three films: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954) and One-Eyed Jacks (1961).

The phrase one-eyed jacks refers to two of the jacks in a standard deck of playing cards: the Jack of hearts and the Jack of spades. One eyed jacks is a phrase most often used to describe cards that are being declared wild.

The film One-Eyed Jacks, a western, is the only one directed by Marlon Brando.  It is known that he wanted his friend Karl Malden to portray his partner/antagonist in the film.

The film starts with Rio (Brando) and Dad (Malden) robbing a bank in Mexico.  They escape but are chased by Mexican police.  

While up on top of a hill trying to fend off the police, the two decide that one of them should go off and get fresh horses.  Trusting him, Rio lets Dad have such an opportunity.

However, with one fresh horse, Dad abandons his friend and rides off to safety.  Rio is then captured and spends 5 years in prison before escaping.  He is consumed with revenge against Dad.

After leaving Mexico, Rio joins a gang of bank robbers heading to Monterrey, California where Dad is now surprisingly the local sheriff.  At their first meeting, both Dad and Rio lie about what happened 5 years before and since.  

Dad said that there were no fresh horses available.  It is not only not true, but Rio knows it is a lie because the Mexican police took him to the farm where Dad got his one fresh horse.  Others were available.

Rio says he evaded capture by the Mexican police.  Dad does not know the veracity of this story.  After the lies, they shake hands based of their old 'friendship.'

Rio even said to Dad that 5 years is a long time to hold a grudge.  But, it is never too long according to his true feelings.

Eventually there will be a shoot-out confrontation.  After all, this is a Western.  For example, see Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne, High Noon (1952) with Gary Cooper and Shane (1953) with Alan Ladd.