bout de papier, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1986) — Spring/Summer 1986 // Printemps/Été 1986, p. 4
Welcome Praise
Editor, bout de papier
Just a short note to congratulate you, the Advisory Board of bout de papier and PAFSO’s staff for regularly producing such an enjoyable, high quality magazine for the Association. The wide-ranging content and new format provide for entertaining reading, and make it a welcome arrival in my mail box at Foreign Service Examination and Career Counselling.
I feel the Association’s membership stands to benefit not only by the improved coverage of issues of interest, but also by having the attractive and well-written publication speak on their behalf to a wider audience about the special nature of Foreign Service life and work.
Best wishes for continued success with bout de papier.
Barry Yeates
Rain Helps Puzzlers
Editor, bout de papier
My son and I worked out an answer to the bout de papier winter edition puzzle, on a rainy Saturday night in Vienna. It seemed very appropriate for the place and circumstances.
Keep up the good work. The whole family enjoys the magazine.
Cheers, B. Buckley Editor, bout de papier:
The review of Shirley Christian’s book, Nicaragua: Revolution in the Family, is deserving of a few comments.
First, I doubt the Nicaraguan National Guard caught and shot Sandino. Christian can’t be blamed for the story, as I am sure the guard would have liked Managua to believe they did, and so would the U.S. However, to my best knowledge, Sandino was killed by a squad of U.S. Marines led by Corporal Al Betancourt. According to Al, they had tricked him (Sandino) into a parley under a flag of truce, and shot him as he approached, having come down from the hills onto the beach, probably in some desperation. Hardly a story to be proud of, and I can’t imagine why Al would have manufactured it. The story was told me, of course, by Corporal Al Betancourt personally in the autumn of 1945. The function of the Marines as the security force of the Compania Unidas de las Frutas (United Fruit Co.), the de facto controlling power in most of the so-called “banana republics, well known.
Second, I suppose we need some definition of “bandit” which permits measurement and comparison. I guess a bandit is in clothing other than traditional uniform, not in favour with contemporary political power centres, fairly mobile, and capable of seizing the property of others by force. Ethan Allen? Menachem Begin? Early Nasser?
The epithet “bandit” for one’s opponents has a long and honourable history. Josephus, Governor of Galilee, applies it to those bands of Jews in armed resistance to Roman domination. Which helps explain why Jesus is said to have been crucified between two robbers; crucifixion, of course, being the Roman penalty for insurrection, not for theft. Thieves had the fingers whacked off at the knuckles for smaller offences, decapitation for the more annoying ones.
Some day, we’ll have a well-researched study of bandits in uniform, including all those who camped on the soil of their weaker neighbours and made farming a bit more difficult for the local peasantry. Such as the Yanks in most of Central America, and the American Expeditionary Force in Archangel after WW I. The 339th U.S. Infantry Regiment was, of course, joined by a motley crew of others, including Canadians.
David Kilgour’s review of Christian’s book contains an interpretation of Central American history which is certainly within the range of the possible. Plainly, I suspect it’s at the furthest perimeter!
Clif Bennett
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1986) — Spring/Summer 1986 // Printemps/Été 1986, p. 4. Read the rest of this issue →
