Latest about the Trump Phenomenon
No Hungarian-American born tnto Communist Hungary could ever see Donald Trump as benign. Fogarassy grew up on a diet of reminders about the damage that Soviets had inflicted on their satellite countries. She was long an adult when she thought to ask how Soviet Communism could engulf half of Europe. Her mother said it was simple. The Soviets installed national leaders linked to Moscow. By then, Donald Trump was on the American horizon.
America Votes Obama to Biden Past Trump: a kaleidoscopic view of the Trump phenomenon is a book of readable essays by a writer who is no academic or jounalist. The essays are based on the work of those folks ehose public source articles are credited in the text for easy reference. Written over a period of 12 years and covering 21st century America from 9/11 through 1/6, the book has been described as a fresh look at a troubling period in american history. To the author’s delight, a Trump supporter described the book as enjoyable.
The book has burst to relevance since its October 2021 publication. Trumpism still grips much of the country even as the truth of the near-coup sinks in. And to calm a world shaken by the American near coup and the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Biden has rebuilt an alliance of demacracies to repair a global safety net frayed by Trump policies.
The sense of a workable world future is perhaps the book’s greatest strength. It comes through in an emphasis on the role that American core values play in global institutions such as the United Nations and the Olympics.
In short, America Votes Obama to Biden Past Trump is a leisurely read that also informs. Stand alone chapters can be read in any order. Like the essays themselves, the titles are playfully creative. Among many are Toxic Trump, White House Born Loser, Moscow Towers Over Trump, Defusing the MAGA Mob-sters and Nations United by the 2020 US Election.
Reissued about Hungary
The 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia raised the hacles of Hungarian-born Fogarassy. As if in anticipation, Light of a Destiny Dark had just been reissued after the original publisher disappeared during Covid.
The Light of a Destiny Dark is a real life novel based on a memoir by Helen Skerl Fogarassy, the author’s Mother. The 1958 memoir was written shortly after the family relocated to the US after escaping Communism when the heroic 1956 uprising against Soviet domination failed. The memoir was entitled “Behind God’s Back.†It conveyed the desolation of Eastern Europe after the Soviets descended on countries still suffering from the Second World War.
America knows about Hitler and the Holocaust. It knows how the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor propelled the country into fighting for democracy against the genocidal supremacist Hitler. America recovered from the great global battle fought on foreign soil. Busy with its own recovery, America lent a hand to those devastated by the war, except for the part of Europe ceded by treaties to the Soviet sector that erected an Iron Curtain around its conquests.
The memoir about life behind the Curtain was considered too dark for American readers. Current author Fogarassy lightened the events by unfolding them in chapters that alternated with happier scenes of a later life American romance. Even so, the book had a dfficult journey to publication in the US. One reader said the book was not for the faint of heart. Another thought the war scenes were invented and not a memoir.
Bridging the gap in experience between Europeans and Americans is critical in a global world. At a time when Russia flexes its military muscle again after a solid defeat due to its own collapse, bridging the gap between East and West Europe is just as important. America as the global melting pot is positioned for the task. Light of a Destiny Dark by an American immigrant is a contribution to the effort.
About the United Nations Global Network
Bridging gaps in experience is the essence of human interaction from infancy on. At the most complex level of governing, bureaucracy is an unavoidable challenge. The Midas Maze is a novel that brings life to the vast global network full of opportunity and temptation.
In The Midas Maze an American writer married to a UN diplomat lands a plum UN position under control of a ruthless power player. Negotiating competing loyalties and interests creates havoc with personal the deeper is the foray into global politics. Set in the glamorous diplomatic world of UN New York Headquarters, The Midas Maze shows the human side of the vast global machinery. At its heart are the indispensable national bureaucracies set up in all near-200 countries of the world. Combined with Funds, Foundations and organizations galore the Midas Maze shows the UN as a goldmine for either good or bad in a global world.
Out in the Field with the UN
Imagine setting down a Tiffany jewelry store in the middle of starving Appalacia. That was the effect of the joint US/UN operation in Somalia. UNOSOM was the first joint effort of its kind. It came about in response to a famine in which international aid was waylaid by warlords fighting to control the country. The operation was largly sparked by media attention in the west. That same attention undercut the mission and ultimately ended it abruptly.
The popular Black Hawk Down romanticized the tragic incident that took 18 American lives and ended American interest in foreign conflicts. In reality, the tragedy in Somalia stemmed from failures of coordination and communication. Thirty years later, lessons learned can prove handy for a global world whose troubled spots include Afghanistan, Syria and the Palestinian territory.
Fogarassy was recruited through the UN by American Admiral Jonathan Howe. Her job as creative writer was to improve accuracy of media coverage between Somalia and overseas. Three months of red tape later, Fogarassy arrived to a limping mission that had completely lost the interest of AMericans. For Fogarassy, the assignment was the opportunity of a lifetime in messaging.
As Editor of the UNOSOM Weekly aimed at UN Headquarters and national embassies around the world, Fogarassy wrote articles digested from the Soomaliya Maanta daily newspaper. The paper was published on the UNOSOM compound by Somalis and internationals from the world over. As supervisor of the Somali printers and reporters who had served as informants for the US Army, Fogarassy got a good feel for Somali life life beyond the stifling Compound confines. An editorial section entitled “This Week at UNOSOM†was of particular attention.
Somalis read aloud so all could hear the positive slant on Somali efforts to form a government. They reacted with glee when shortcomings of the mission made it into an editorial. The lesson learned was that good news about progress went without notice. Criticism led to several near-recalls from the mission.
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