Dr. Jack Wheeler
THE GOLDEN FLEECE OF FREEDOM
[This Archive was originally published on May 12, 2005. It's been nearly 19 years, but Putin and his cronies still think the same way. Understanding how their definition of peace differs from ours is crucial to understanding their propaganda.]
TTP, April 28, 2005
When you were a kid, do you remember reading the great epic of Greek mythology called Jason and the Argonauts? Sent on a mission he is not expected to survive by the man who has usurped his throne, Jason assembles a crew of heroes, including Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, and sails in the great ship Argo across the Euxine Sea to the distant land of Colchis to capture the legendary Golden Fleece.
It's a marvelous adventure story which the ancient Greeks believed was not myth but true. And sure enough - it turns out that Colchis was a real place and there really was a Golden Fleece. At the east end of the Black Sea (the Greeks called it the Euxine), there is a range of huge mountains called the Caucasus. The mountain streams that poured down the Caucasus and into the Euxine carried so many particles of gold that the folks who lived there - the Colchians - would peg sheep skins in the streams to trap the gold particles in the wool.
Colchis is one of the most ancient lands in the world. It's where the original Caucasians came from. Today it is called Georgia. This week, George Bush sailed in Air Force One to modern Colchis to be wildly welcomed by hundreds of thousands of Georgian Argonauts thanking him for rescuing the Georgian Golden Fleece from its former conqueror, Russia.
The people of Georgia recognize George Bush as the savior and protector of freedom that he is. Why can't the Russians? Churchill said Russia was an enigma wrapped in a riddle inside a puzzle. Why can't they live in peace with their neighbors instead of always wanting a piece of their neighbors? Part of the answer must lie in there being no word for 'peace' in the Russian language.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: AFGHAN MUJAHADDIN?
When my son Brandon was a cadet at Virginia Military Academy, his professor teaching Modern Military History gave a lecture on the 1980s War in Afghanistan fought by Afghan Mujahaddin against the Soviet Red Army occupation of their country. One of the pictures he showed was the one above of “three typical Mujahaddin fighters.”
Brandon raised his hand. “Yes, Cadet Wheeler,” the professor called on him. “Actually, Professor,” Brandon said, “only the man in the center with the white beard is one. The man on the right is United States Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, while the man on the left is my father.”
The professor was stunned while the rest of the class stifled laughter. “Are you quite sure of that, Cadet Wheeler?” stammered the professor. “Oh, yes sir,” Brandon replied. “I recognize my own father. That photo is framed in my father’s study. It was taken in November 1988. The Afghan Commander’s name is Moli Shakur. I have known Congressman Rohrabacher all my life.”
The cadets all applauded in appreciation. To this day, this remains one of Brandon’s fondest college memories. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #145 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE LESSON OF RABAUL
The small black mountain in front of you is a volcano called Tavurvur on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. In 1994, Tavurvur erupted, covering New Britain’s beautiful capital Rabaul in ash. The entire area is volcanic, including the hot springs where I’m standing to take this picture. Tavurvur is very much alive and smoking today – starkly beautiful and dangerous.
History can be like this – beautiful and peaceful, then without warning it explodes in violent destruction. The lesson then is how to overcome, rebuild, and avert its repetition.
It’s an obvious lesson to learn right now, with the destruction of our economy by the Chinese Communists unleashing their virus, and the current attempted theft of the presidency and our entire electoral system by the Democrats. We must overcome these twin evils, and we must make extremely sure that we never allow such travesties to threaten our country ever again.
You can climb to the rocky rim of Tavurvur to stare down into its smoking caldera. There’s fabulous scuba-diving along the coral reefs offshore of Rabaul, and upon sunken Japanese battleships from World War II. It’s a worthwhile experience to come here as you learn the Lesson of Rabaul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #97 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
MAGIC MOUNTAINS
In a remote valley between the northern escarpment of the Tibetan Plateau and the Gobi Desert of Inner Mongolia, you find these magic painted mountains of red sandstone created by Himalayan uplift and millions of years of erosion. It’s at the sunrise light of early dawn that the colors are most apparent before they get sunwashed in the bright of day. It takes quite a hike in pre-dawn darkness to get to the right viewpoints at the right time, but certainly worth it. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #261 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE MYSTERY OF THE REEF OF HEAVEN
In a remote corner of the Pacific Ocean, off the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia lies one of the world’s great archaeological mysteries: the only ancient stone city built on a coral reef. No one knows who built it or how.
Micronesians say their ancestors called it Soun Nan-leng, The Reef of Heaven. Their name for it today is Nan Madol, the City of Ghosts.
On artificial islets connected by a series of canals are massive walls up to 25 feet high enclosing temples, tombs, ritual centers, and platforms for thatch homes – all made of giant columnar basalt stone. Eons ago, lava flows on Pohnpei cooled into vertical pillars. Over a thousand years ago, ancient Micronesians began hauling these basalt logs miles away to build this stone city. With an average weight of 5 tons, 10,000 pounds – and some up to 25 tons, 50,000 pounds each – how they did this remains unexplained. It lies deserted today, abandoned and lost for centuries.
Paddling a kayak through the canal maze of Nan Madol to clamber over these monumental stone complexes in solitary silence – for visitors are rarely here – leaves you in a state of unforgettable awe. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #6 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
TODAY DOESN’T EXIST: THERE IS NO ‘PRESIDENTS DAY’ ONLY WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY
[This Monday’s Archive is what TTP posts at this time of year to dispel leftist treachery regarding America’s celebration of its greatest hero.]
This Thursday, February 22, is the 292nd anniversary of the birth of America’s founder, the equal in nobility, heroism, and virtue of any human being who ever lived — George Washington.
What it is not, nor is any day such as today (Monday 2/19), is the phony holiday called “Presidents Day.” Let’s be quite clear on this. There is no such holiday. It exists only in the minds of furniture dealers, car salesmen, and Hate-America leftists. Read on to understand why…
THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA
This is the black sand beach the US Marines stormed on February 19, 1945, beginning the legendary Battle of Iwo Jima. Overlooking the beach is Mount Suribachi, where four days later Joe Rosenthal took his iconic photo of six Marines planting the US flag on its summit.
You can come here once a year at a commemoration jointly held by the US and Japanese militaries. Guests of honor are the few Marine veterans of the battle still alive. I attended on the 70th Anniversary of the battle in 2015. To be here on these sands and on the summit of Suribachi, where the memorial lauds them – “On Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue” – with these heroic men is an indescribable privilege. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #23, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY THE BAMIAN BUDDHA
Bamian, Afghanistan 1973. I spent some time in the Bamian Valley north of Kabul 50 years ago. What you see is the largest of the Bamian Buddhas carved into to sandstone cliffs in 600 AD by a Central Asian people who revered Buddha and called themselves Ebodai. It stands 180 feet tall. The Bamian Valley was a Buddhist pilgrimage site, with thousands of monks in monasteries and temples from roughly 100 AD until 800 AD, the time of the Moslem conquest of Afghanistan.
It was left untouched until the Moslem Emperor of India, Aurangzeb (son of Shah Jehan, builder of the Taj Mahal), blew off the statue’s legs with artillery in 1700. Then in 1890, the Moslem Afghan King of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman Khan, ordered the Buddha’s face above the nose sliced off. The same Islamic practice of literal de-facing conducted upon ancient Egyptian statues including the Sphinx.
It was in 2001 that the Afghan Taliban blew up the entire statue you see here along with others as anti-Islamic “idols.” I consider myself immensely fortunate to witness this extraordinary work of historic art while it still existed.
(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #260 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/16/24
MSNBC legal analyst Caroline Polisi on Fani Willis’ testimony at her eligibility hearing yesterday (2/15):
“This is epic. This is monumental. If things are going in the direction we think Fani Willis lied to the court, it’s game over for her. She will be disqualified. If they had a relationship prior to when they represented truth to the court, it’s a huge deal. I can’t overstate.”In addition to her lying, she was impossibly obnoxious and had a temper tantrum. Oh, and she wore her dress on backward:
Now, today (2/16): 'Train Wreck' Fani Willis Avoids 2nd Day On Stand, Will Not Testify For Second Day On 'Improper' Affair With Nathan Wade.
The Spectator puts it best: Fani Willis Self-Immolates In Georgia Court. Fatty Fani is toast, and so is her persecution of PDJT.
This HFR has just begun. Here we go!
THE BLUE CITY OF CHEFCHAOUEN
My wife Rebel and I love this uniquely picturesque ancient Berber village in Morocco where everything is painted in shades of blue. Suffused in soothing blue, there’s no more relaxed place than just about anywhere. Everyone is welcome from the wealthy staying in sumptuous boutique hotels to backpackers in hostels. There are no “tourist spots,” for every café and bar is where the locals go themselves. (It’s pronounced shef-shah-win, by the way.)
Berbers – “Amazigh” (Unconquered) in their language, are the original people of Morocco having lived there for over 12,000 years. They are directly related to the reindeer-herding Lapps of Lapland in northern Scandinavia (they share the same mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U5b1b). Both are descended from the same stock of Cro-Magnon Ice Age hunters in Western Europe that split in two 15,000 years ago – one moving far north, the other south crossing the Gibraltar Strait to Africa.
One more reason why Morocco is so magical. Would you like to experience the Magic of Morocco with us next year? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #21 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE FLATTEST PLACE ON EARTH
The Salar de Uyuni, 12,000 feet high in the Altiplano of Bolivia, is a 4,000 square mile expanse of salt so flat it is used to calibrate the altimeters of NASA observation satellites of the earth. After a rain, it becomes the world’s largest mirror, 80 miles across. The incredible reflective surface extends to the horizon in every direction – it is both hallucinatingly disorienting and makes for amazing mirror-to-horizon photos (especially at sunrise/sunset).
The brine underneath the salt crust contains 70% of the world’s lithium – critical to our battery-fueled global economy – produced in evaporation pools that are a kaleidoscope of colors.
You can stay here in relative luxury at one of the world’s most unique hotels – the Palacio de Sal, built entirely of salt: walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, sculptures. Being here is one of South America’s more astounding experiences. Let me know if you want a Wheeler Expedition to take you there! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #39 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WINTER WILDFLOWERS
We’re in Portugal preparing for our WWX Portugal Exploration 2024 (May 3-12) where it’s sunny, clear, 64 degrees, and wildflowers are everywhere. This as a huge Nor’easter is burying the whole northeast in snow today (2/13). Lisbon, by the way, is at the same latitude as Washington DC where it’s freezing tonight. (Not many know how far north Europe is – Rome, Italy for example, at 41°53’ North latitude, is north of New York City, at 40°44’N.)
The weather here is as benign as the culture. Portugal is consistently in the top five of the safest, most peaceful and crime-free countries on the planet. There is a total absence of divisiveness, anger, and woke insanity in this country. It is normal in the way America used to be but tragically is no more.
We all, of course, hope and pray that our country will be normal once again and in the not-distant future. But if you’d like to experience normality right now, with extraordinary history, spectacular beauty, and fabulous food and wine thrown in, join Rebel and me on our WWX Portugal Exploration 2024. You’ll have so much fun with your fellow TTPers!
(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #256 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE SPLENDOURS OF SCOTLAND
Most of you have noticed my adventure travel company of over 40 years, Wheeler Expeditions, is now Wheeler-Windsor Expeditions.
That’s because of my new partner, Edward Windsor – yes, as in the House of Windsor, the British Royal Family, cousin to King Charles, godson of Princess Diana, and the future Duke of Kent.
Everyone calls him Eddy as he’s such a pleasure to collaborate with and so much fun. Quite an athlete too, with a passion for cold water swimming. Here he is at the Seven Pearls of Shing lakes with me in Tajikistan –
Recently, as we’ve had so many requests for Scotland from TTPers, Rebel and I asked Eddy to design his “dream” Scotland trip – and did he ever! He loves Scotland deeply, having lived in the Scottish Highlands and led several private expeditions there for friends.
This will be a truly extraordinary journey – indeed, just between us, we could call it “Royal Scotland,” as where we go, who we meet, and what we learn could only be done by someone of British Royalty, with personal friendships among the lairds of Scottish nobility. He's even arranging a special visit for us at Balmoral Castle, the favorite home of Queen Elizabeth who was like a grandmother to Eddy.
While Rebel and I are going, of course, this is Eddy’s design and he will be leading. He’s known in England as Eddy Downpatrick after his current title, Lord Downpatrick, and uses the English spelling:
When I read what Eddy has planned for us, it simply blew me away – and I think it will do the same to you. Better hurry, though. Click on the link, be mesmerized by all what we see and do, then tell me, “I’m in, Jack!”, before someone else beats you to it, which they will if you don’t. And FYI, we’ll give priority to couples. See you in Edinburgh!A SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSIA
[This Monday’s Archive was first written in January 1985 for President Reagan’s National Security Council at the onset of his second term. It was originally posted on TTP in March 2004. It is relevant today to expose Putin’s “history” claim in his Tucker Carlson interview (2/08) is pure Kremlin propaganda as his lying excuse for invading Ukraine. The above map alone exposes the real history explained in detail below. The Soviet Union was the Russian Imperial Empire with “Marxism-Leninism” as its ideological justification. Putin wishes now to recreate that empire via fictional Russian history.]
A Short History of Russia – January 1985
TTP, March 18, 2004
At various times in her history, America has been at war with and has had as deadly enemies: the French, the English, the Spanish, the Germans, the Italians, the Mexicans, and the Japanese. All are today our friends and allies. There is nothing in the nature of things that makes it impossible for this to someday be the case with the Russians as well.
Yet it is important to understand how the Russians are not like us — how their history enabled them to transform themselves into Soviets running an Evil Empire called the Soviet Union.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: HAVING A GREAT TIME IN ALBANIA
Rebel and I, along with our friends with us, always have a great time in Albania. Here’s a pic she took of me with a stein of delicious Birra Tirana lager. You’re sure to have so much fun yourself by joining us and your fellow TTPers on our Albania Wonderland experience this April. See you in Tirana. The beer’s on me! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #284 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/09/24
Well, my, my, my… what kind of explosive Black Swan do we have here? So many patriots fear there will be a Civil War II between them and the Deep State. Who would guess that a civil war has now broken out within the Deep State, two factions warring against each other like rival mafia gangs over turf control. Trés cool, n’est ce pas?
You won’t believe what informative fun this HFR is, and just riddled with great cartoons and memes. Get ready to enjoy!
THE RED-OCHERED WOMEN OF THE HIMBAS
The Himbas are a tribe of nomadic cattle herders in far northern Namibia. Himba women make a paste of butter fat and red ochre clay called “otjize,” to protect their skin from the burning African sun and braid their hair for beautification.
The Himbas’ exotic practices are not for tourists. This is the way they live as one of Africa’s most genuinely traditional peoples. Living on the move in remote roadless regions, it takes an effort to find them. But when you do, coming with an attitude of respect, you will be welcomed with smiles and hospitality in return. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #66 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE POLYNESIA PARADISE YOU NEVER HEARD OF
Have you ever seen the ocean turn day-glo pink? It does here naturally during a sunset (this is not photoshopped). Between Samoa and Tonga in the South Pacific is a raised coral atoll, 100 square miles of old limestone between 60 and 200 feet high: the island of Niue (new-way), and it’s is uniquely fabulous.
With no silty river runoff, the water is incredibly clear – visibility can reach over 200 feet. There are a multitude of chasms through which you clamber to these out-of-a-movie tidal pools perfect for snorkeling surrounded by colorful reef fish. The limestone cliffs encircling the coast are riddled with caves with multi-colored stalactites and stalagmites.
You can snorkel or dive with spinner dolphins and humpback whales. The big game fishing is world class – within a few hundred yards off shore. The Niueans are unfailingly friendly and welcoming, the beautiful Matavai Resort is the best bargain in the Pacific, the food and beer is inexpensive, the weather is balmy. It’s a Polynesian paradise you never heard of. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #48 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SCANDERBEG
In the city of Lezhë overlooking the Adriatic Sea, there is a memorial to Albania’s national hero, Scanderbeg (1405-1468). Born Giorgi Kastrioti in this city of northern Albania, he earned the title of “Lord Alexander” – Scanderbeg in Albanian – for his military genius in leading his Christian army against the Moslem armies of the Ottoman Empire. For 25 years (1443-1468), his 10,000 Christian Knights consistently inflicted defeat after defeat upon always much larger Moslem forces.
His victory in the Battle of Albulena in 1457, where he destroyed an Ottoman army of 70,000, killing 15,000 and taking 15,000 prisoners, so astounded all of Christendom that Pope Calixtus III appointed him Captain-General of the Holy See, and gave him the title of Athleta Christi, Champion of Christ.
By the 1500s with Scanderbeg but a memory, the Ottomans conquered Albania and Islamized it for almost 400 years. With the rise of Albanian nationalism in the late 19th century, Scanderbeg’s memory was revived. Today he is revered by Albanians who only ostensibly remain Islamic yet idolize a Christian King who devoted his life to defeating their country’s Moslem oppressors. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #247 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
ALBANIA WONDERLAND
This is a photo essay of what a wonderland Albania is, nestled in the heart of Europe yet so little known. We’ll be exploring it at the end of this coming April. If you can join us, as a TTPer you’ll get a $500 discount – and it’s very reasonably priced to begin with. At the least, you’ll enjoy the pictures of a fascinating country. Here we go…
Everyone knows about the appeal of Albania’s next-door neighbors Greece and Italy, but very few know about Albania. The Ancient Greeks and Romans certainly did, who built cities, villas, and resorts still there today. These days, only the most experienced world travelers know what a wonderland of magic beauty and great adventure Albania is. I invite you, as a TTPer, to become one of them.
This is to experience thrilling adventure combined with magnificent World Heritage Site history, charming hotels, great food, marvelous wine, and wonderfully hospitable people so easy to make friends with. Oh, did I mention gorgeous beaches on the unknown Albanian Riviera?
THE REAL ATLANTIS
Here we are at the real Atlantis in Knossos, Crete. More nonsense has been invented about Plato’s myth of Atlantis – mentioned briefly in his Timaeus and Critias and not by anyone else in antiquity – than any other legend you care to name.
Yet like many myths, it was constructed out of something that really existed. Atlantis is the Minoan Civilization of Crete, Europe’s oldest. By 2,000 BC, the Minoans had created the world’s first peaceful capitalist empire, based not on military might and conquest but on trade, with trade routes across the entire Mediterranean. They became immensely wealthy, building fabulous palaces and villas – but their cities were not fortified. Europe’s original civilization was the most peaceful in European history.
Around 1450 BC, the Minoan island of Santorini 60 miles north of Crete – known to the Greeks as Thera – suffered a colossal volcanic explosion with the resultant mega-tsunami wiping the Minoans out on Crete. It was “The wave that destroyed Atlantis.” Yet you can see for Atlantis for yourself, its excavated villas with fabulous preserved frescoes, and step back into a period of inspiring history. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #68 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
ARISTOTLE, EINSTEIN, AND AYN RAND
[This Monday’s Archive was first published on February 2, 2005, the centennial of Ayn Rand’s birthday. It was too optimistic 19 years ago to soon expect a greater appreciation of objective reality in our culture, for our current cultural curse is the pathological rejection of it, typified by the insane fanaticism that pretends a man by sheer mystical incantation can change himself into a woman and destroy women’s sports or their privacy in public bathrooms thereby. Subjectivism and moral relativism must be replaced by acknowledgement of reality for our culture to survive. This tragedy begins by Einstein mistakenly calling his theory one of relativity.]
TTP, February 2, 2005
Ever played the Ultimate Dinner Party parlor game – where you get to imagine inviting people from history to converse over dinner and explain why them? At such a party, one conversation I’d most like to hear would be between Aristotle and Einstein.
Einstein would first have to bring Aristotle up to speed with what science had learned since the 4th century B.C. In particular, he would blow Aristotle’s mind about inertia.
But once he digested this, Aristotle would ask him – “So, all of us here at dinner are famous – what are you famous for?” When Einstein answered, “The Theory of Relativity,” Aristotle would respond: “What is it that’s relative?”
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THE ONLY CAR I EVER LOVED
My 1952 K2 Allard
When you get to be as old as I am, you’ve had a number of cars. I’ve had many over the years – but only one I really loved was this 1952 K2 Allard.
Sydney Allard (1910-1966) was a famous English race car driver in 1930s, and founded the Allard Motor Car company in London in 1945. His most famous race car was the J2 which finished third in Le Mans in 1950. The K2 was the roadster version of the J2 with those amazing swooping fenders.
Allards were always powered by an American V-8 – mine had a big block Chevy. I had drag races in it right out of American Graffitti or the Beach Boys’ Shut Down, and once hit 160 on a long empty stretch of highway out in the California desert racing a supercharged Porsche.
I asked Rebel to marry me in my K2 driving along the Pacific Coast Highway – best decision I ever made. So many memories in this car. But that was long ago. A car like that won’t last in East Coast winters, so I sold it when we moved to Washington long ago. Have I ever thought of getting another K2? Sure – but I know at my age driving a car like that (and knowing how I’d drive it!) is not wise. Better stick with the memories. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #258 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/02/24
First, it’s an unapologetic masculinity-as-heroism movie, completely anti-woke, starring Superman Henry Cavill, Reacher Alan Ritchson et al.
Second, the story is true, based on military historian Damien Lewis’ chronicle, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Downfall, Giving Birth to Modern-Day Black Ops. As a Commander in British Naval Intelligence, Ian Fleming directed much of the activities and based his character of James Bond on the operatives (actor Freddie Fox plays Fleming in the movie).
Third, a sustained campaign of ungentlemanly political warfare is precisely what we need now waged against the hate-America fascists of the Woke Left. We already have the most ungentlemanly gentleman of all to lead it: PDJT. What are we waiting for?
There’s a lot here so let’s go. We end with a recent interview of me with Erik Prince, which I hope you enjoy.
THE REMOTEST SWIMMING POOL
This is St. Paul’s Natural Pool on Pitcairn Island, where in 1790 Fletcher Christian and his mutineers of the Mutiny on the Bounty settled, and where their descendants live to this day. They were awed by the uninhabited island’s lush beauty, with huge banyan trees rising above them like giant cathedrals, and thought it a Garden of Eden where anything grew, coconuts, bananas, taro, breadfruit, mangoes, guavas, passion fruit, yams and sweet potatoes in the rich volcanic soil.
Pitcairn has no beaches, though, so this was their swimming hole – and still is for Pitcairners today. They are happy to take you here, and to the island’s colorfully named spots, like Where Dick Fall, Oh Dear, Break Im Hip, Down the Hole – and to Fletcher Christian’s Cave, his lookout for British warships hunting them (they failed for 25 years) .
It’s not easy to get here – fly to Tahiti, then remote Mangareva from where you sail for two days on a supply ship. But you’ll be so welcome upon arrival. You stay in one of their homes in Adamstown and be treated like family. It’s a travel experience like none other. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #63 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLOWER HIGHWAYS, FLOWER TRAILS
For miles and miles, the roads in the Azores Islands are lined with flowers on both sides. Even the foot paths and trails are strewn with flowers.
As you know, I’ve been to every country in the world. I know of no place on earth more beautiful, more flower strewn, more peaceful, serene, and safe than Portugal’s island paradises of Madeira and the Azores in the Atlantic.
So plan on joining me, Rebel, and your fellow TTPers on our exploration of Atlantic Paradises, June 28 to July 8. Enjoy the overabundance of fabulous photos in the link. You may find it irresistible to make this beauty and serenity a part of your life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #196 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE UNIQUE BEAUTIFICATION OF KAYAN WOMEN
The Kayan tribal people live in a remote roadless valley in the Shan Hills of Burma. Kayan women practice their tradition of beauty starting at age five. The young girls have a few brass coils placed around their necks, adding to them progressively as they grow until in older adulthood they are wearing as many as two dozen – becoming what the world knows them as Giraffe women. (The Shan people call them "Padaung" meaning "long-necked," but they call themselves Kayan.)
We are not here to gawk. We are here to make friends, treat them respectfully, and learn about their traditions. It is an intensely memorable experience to meet these ladies. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #58 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE TOMB OF CYRUS THE GREAT
In the vast valley of Pasargadae there stands this simple tomb with nothing around it for miles and miles. It has been like this for many centuries, for it entombs the founder of Persia, Cyrus the Great (600-530BC). Revered as the liberator of the Jews from their Babylonian captivity in 539 BC, hailed by Herodotus for his humanity and wisdom, this small structure symbolizes the humility of an extraordinary man. Yet the tomb is a structure of engineering genius, the oldest built on principles of base-isolation withstanding the countless earthquakes Persia has suffered for the last 2500 years.
I was first here in 1973 when Persia (renamed Iran in 1933) flourished under the Shah. Here I am in 2014, when everyone I met expressed admiration for America and their contempt for the mullah tyranny they endured. I hope to return once more when the Land of Cyrus will be free again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #146 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SOPHISTICATED STUPIDITY
TTP. June 2, 2004
It is tempting to hurl accusations of treason or something close to it in the face of the State Department’s chronic obsession of coddling America’s enemies. But with rare exceptions, the Pinstripes are far from traitors and look upon themselves as loyal Americans. Conservatives need to resist the urge to question their patriotism, and examine instead their method of diplomatic reasoning – which can be characterized as Sophisticated Stupidity.
The Foggy Bottom Pinstripes are just as tribal as most everyone else, and wage wars against their rivals in competing tribal bureaucracies. They look upon the Pentagon as a rival not an ally. War is always seen by them as a failure – the failure of their diplomacy, not as Tallyrand described war as just another form of diplomacy.
I’m going to give you an example – the critical example – of this, but first a warning. You’re going to say that this is so stupid it can’t be true – yet, sadly, this is actually the clear goal of the Near East Bureau of our State Department. Believe it or not, it is their desperate obsessively argued-for goal to have a strategic alliance with the Ayatollahs of Iran.
THE HIDDEN NORTH FACE OF KANCHENJUNGA
This is one of the truly great mountain sights on earth yet never seen – except for professional mountaineers and those on our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions. Kanchenjunga at 28,169 feet (8,586 meters) is the world’s 3rd highest mountain (after Everest and K2), with a drop from summit (the peak on the left in front of the cloud) to the glacier at it base of 12,000 feet straight down.
You can be awed by such a picture, but to actually physically be here, to witness this magnificence personally so that it is forever a part of your life, is to feel a depth of awe that has to be experienced to be understood. Kanchenjunga is part of the Himalayas, now on the border of Nepal and Sikkim, once an independent kingdom now absorbed into India. We fly right up the North Face, and into the Amphitheatre of the Southwest Face as well.
We’ll be here once again next early May. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #31 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/26/24
This is the Black Swan that may give us our America back from those who have stolen it. This is it, folks – the moment determining our country’s destiny has arrived.
This morning (1/26), the Republican Governors Association (rga.org) announced that 25 governors released a joint statement supporting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. There is true irony in how SCOTUS triggered this.
For they issued a procedural ruling, not on the merits of the case. All that’s happened is a lower court ruling is left in place that federalies can cut Texas border wire -- while nothing prevents Texas from putting up more wire to replace it – until SCOTUS rules on the merits.
You can bet your sweet bippy that Barrett in particular had no idea what her deciding vote would unleash the Kraken. So, thank you Amy!!
And I’ll bet you’re going to love this HFR…
THE REMOTEST CHURCH
Baihanluo Catholic Church is the remotest Christian Church on earth. The isolated village is in a roadless region high on a Himalayan mountain ridge deep in “The Great River Trenches of Asia” – one of our planet’s most dramatic geological features where four major rivers – the Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze all spill off the Tibetan Plateau coursing south in tight parallel for 100 miles.
In the late 1800’s, French Catholic missionaries made their way far, far up the Mekong from the French colony of Laos to befriend the Nu and Lisu tribespeople up here. They responded by building this beautiful wooden church that has been lovingly cared for by the local parishioners ever since.
I led an expedition traversing all three of the great trenches twenty years ago (2001). We were welcomed so warmly by the devout villagers. It’s hard to get more remote than this, yet they have retained their faith for at least four generations now. You can imagine how powerful and experience it was to be with them. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #138 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FIVE FEET AWAY FROM AN 800-POUND GORILLA
©2019 Jack Wheeler
You know the adage about the “800-pound gorilla” going wherever he wants to – such as five feet from you in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda. It is one of the world’s great thrills to be this close to these giants and feel at ease doing so. They are “habituated” to small groups of people whom they ignore. You of course are very quiet and do nothing to alarm them, just observing the little ones playing, mothers nursing, young ones climbing trees, huge male silverbacks watching over their families.
Gorillas are vegetarians, males eating up to 75 pounds of vegetation a day – thus they spend most of their waking hours chewing! The biggest silverbacks never get anywhere near 800 pounds by the way – 450 to 500 pounds at most (like the fellow in the photo). Big enough, believe me.
Rwanda is one of the best-run countries in all Africa. President Paul Kagame deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for healing his nation after the genocidal horrors of the 1990s. That’s far in the past now in this beautiful, peaceful land. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #93 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
MEMORIES OF 2024
Rebel and I decided to start making our memories of 2024 early, by spending the first half of January in a place we’d never been to before: The Canary Islands (thus the Island of Lancelot Glimpse you saw on Monday, 1/22). Here we are at a viewpoint on Gran Canaria. The Canaries turned out to be absolutely fascinating, establishing friendships with extraordinary people.
Where might you go and what might you experience to have lifetime memories of your own in 2024?
How about exploring some awesomely cool place in the world with me to accomplish that?
How’s that, Jack? you may be asking. Didn’t you say that, with your turning 80 in 2023, you’d be retiring from running expeditions this year? Well, yes, I did say that a year ago, but Rebel and I had such a marvelous time taking TTPers to special places around the world all year that I just can’t all a halt to that simply because of an arbitrary age.
Besides, I’ve never been age-appropriate anyway, like being adopted into a family of Amazon headhunters at 16 and hunting a man-eating tiger at 17. So with my health good (I work out pretty hard six days a week), why not keep doing what I love?
What follows is what explorations Rebel and I have planned for the first half of 2024. I designed them for anyone in normal good health and no special skills required. Please consider this as a personal invitation for you, a fellow TTPer, to join me for an experience you’ll treasure for the rest of your life.
As you consider, I can guarantee one thing – that you’ll really enjoy all the photos in each of the links. Then you can picture yourself making these special places a part of your life. Let’s go memory-creating for 2024!
THE LOST CITY OF DJADO
In the remotest center of the Sahara Desert lies an unknown, unexcavated mysterious lost city known as Djado. No one knows who built it or when. Lying on the ancient Roman trade route from the Saharan salt mines of Fachi and Bilma to the Mediterranean, the Djado oasis flourished for a thousand years (the 1st Millennium AD), but has been forgotten and abandoned for many centuries.
The only people who live near Djado in the vast desert wasteland where Algeria, Libya, Chad, and Niger come together, are the wandering Toubu nomads with no permanent settlements. It is an indescribable experience to explore such a wondrous lost city right out of an Indiana Jones movie that you have all to yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #17, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE ISLAND OF LANCELOT
Lanzarote, Canary Islands. How, you may ask, did the most famous knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, Sir Lancelot du Lac, end up in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco? Well, he didn’t. It was an Italian explorer named after him, Lancelotto Malocello, who became the first European to reach this island in 1336, where he lived for 20 years.
Lancelotto called himself Lanzarote (lan-zah-roh-tay), and map-makers used it. The island along with the rest of the Canaries was colonized by Spain throughout the 1400s, and prospered with its volcanic soil. Until, that is, massive volcanic eruptions in the 1730s with over 30 major new volcanoes and over 100 small cinder cones flooded hundreds of square kilometers with lava.
The island became a mostly useless wasteland until a Lazarotean artistic genius named Cesar Manrique (1919-1992) transformed the lava fields into a surrealistic wonderland. The photo above is one of his many creations, the home Cesar designed and built on a lava cliff for actor Omar Sharif.
Today, visitors flock to Lanzarote to marvel at Manrique’s masterpieces scattered over the island, gape at the volcanic moonscape of Timanfaya, and to wine, dine, and luxuriate at gorgeous beach resorts. Come to the Island of Lancelot for an experience like nowhere else, one you’ll never forget. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #284 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
IS TEXAS AMERICA’S HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?
[This Monday’s Archive was originally posted on January 22, 2013. It chronicles the unbelievable struggle of Texas to be free of unimaginable savagery in the 1800s. Now Texas is struggling to be free of the savagery wrought upon it by the Hate America Democrats with their creation of illegal alien invasion. Yet the lesson here goes far beyond our borders. It is the lesson of what it takes to defeat the savagery of Hamas in Israel, or the savagery of Putin in Ukraine. This history of Texas may astound you. See how it applies to our world right now.]
TTP, January 22, 2013
The years after the Civil War, the late 1860s, were worse – especially for Texas, which disintegrated into anarchic chaos. The victorious Yankees were almost happy to see the Rebels of Texas punished with Comanche murder-rape raids. Further, the Washington intelligentsia blamed the white men for them.
Yes, America has suffered from stupid and destructive liberal appeasement for a very long time. In a Comanche chief’s words, their code was: “Go on warpath, kill and scalp white people, steal many horses, then make treaty to get many presents and good things.”
FLASHBACK FRIDAY — “THIS IS YOUR LIFE”
June 15, 1961. It was quite a shock to me when I was the surprise guest on Ralph Edwards’ famous television show. My “Life” at age 17? How could that be? The show’s producers were intrigued by a recent Life Magazine story of my swimming the Hellespont as did Leander in Greek mythology (December 12, 1960 issue) that also had photos of me on top of the Matterhorn and with a Jivaro headhunter.
Without my knowing, they flew my guide for the Hellespont swim, Huseyin Uluarslan, from Turkey to LA, the same for my guide on the Matterhorn, Alfons Franzen, from Switzerland, to be on the show. Most amazing of all, they got the Chief Prefect of Police for Ecuador, Jaime Duran, to pick up Tangamashi (the Jivaro who adopted me) and his brother Naita by helicopter from their Amazon encampment, then fly them from Quito to LA.
I was dumbfounded. So there we are in the photo, left to right: Ralph Edwards, Jaime Duran, Tangamashi, Naita, a very young yours truly, and Ralph Ferguson, son of medical researcher Dr. Wilburn Ferguson who translated for Tangamashi. Quite a moment for a 17 year-old boy – and no doubt for Tangamashi! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #10)
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/19/24
Ereyesterday (1/17), after flying commercial instead of private jet to Switzerland, Argentina’s Milei Gives the Davos Crowd a Spine Transplant is how the Wall Street Journal described it.
The most electrifying intellectual experience of my life came in 1966 on a beach in Malibu when I read Francisco d’Anconia’s Speech on Money. It was the most brilliant explanation of why capitalism is not only the most practical economic system for achieving widespread prosperity but also the most moral.
And that’s exactly what Milei – a professor of economics – explained at Davos:
“It would first be important for us to take a look at the data that demonstrate why free enterprise capitalism is not just the only possible system to end world poverty, but also that it’s the only morally desirable system to achieve this.”
Will Milei be the tip of the spear for end-wokeness elections around the world in 2024 – including our own? Let’s talk about that.
THE ISLANDS OF SERENITY
Mulafassur waterfall below the village of Gasadalur is only one example of the serenity of the Faroe Islands. They’re a self-governing Danish possession in the North Atlantic halfway between Norway and Iceland. You won’t find a place of more captivating serene and peaceful charm.
Warmed by the Gulf Stream, in the summer it’s so strewn with wildflowers the roads are known as “buttercup highways.” At every turn along them you’re stunned by the incredible scenery. The capital of Torshavn is so laid back the Prime Minister’s Office – the Løgmansskristovan – is a wood cabin with a green grass sod roof. Great beer from the Faroes’ two breweries is always flowing in the pubs, where the Faroese islanders welcome you like an old friend.
You can easily fly here from Edinburgh, London, Copenhagen, or Reykjavik, Iceland . A few days here will do wonders for your soul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #18 photo ©Jack Wheeler)