Anybody know or remember what that date signifies? It was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A physical barrier that came to signify the division of a city, a country, and the world. It represented the Iron Curtain, the dividing line between Communism and the Free World. It was put up to stop the flow of people escaping Communism through the divided city of Berlin. From the end of World War II, until it's construction in 1961, three million people escaped Communist tyranny to freedom in the west.
Yesterday, there was a anniversary celebration in Germany. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was there, as was Prime Minister Gordon Brown of England. Barack Obama couldn't make it, but he delivered a speech via DVD. Apparently, he was too busy on the home front. The people who were there mentioned JFK, but there was no mention of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, or Polish Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa. Lech Walesa lead the Solidarity movement in Poland that lead to the fall of the Communist government in that country.
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg gate and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall". Reagan's stand against Communism, along with Margaret Thatcher's support, and the Pope's unending battle to free Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe were very instrumental in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the freeing of Eastern Europe. Were any of them mentioned yesterday? Nope, not a peep, but did I tell you that Barack Obama mentioned himself?
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