Month: October 2018

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Poland, 1983 remembers an astronomer/mathemacian from a time with so many changes that it was hard to develop the Polish academic tradition

An academic finds an asteroid and a new way to more easily solve complex equations using matrix algebra. Sounds impressive, but made even more so by the changes going on all around getting in the way. Only one/10th of the travails would have “the Big Bang Theory”‘s Sheldon riding the trains like a hobo with a credit card for the rest of the run of the show.

This stamp is somewhat of a reversal  for the Communist regime in power at the time of this stamp. The year Banachiewicz died in 1954, the government removed the prewar faculty of Jagiellonian University for incorrect teaching. Then they honor one of that very faculty with a stamp. So were they hasty in 1954 or in 1983. The regime would probably say both times.

Todays stamp is issue A806, a 25 Zloty stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Poland on March 25th, 1983. The stamp featured Tadeusz Banachiewicz, the Polish astronomer and mathematician. It was part of a 6 stamp issue in various denominations featuring famous people, to Poles. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Tadeusz Banachiewicz was a Pole and  first studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Warsaw. This sounds natural but at the time the area was under Czarist Russians. The Russians were using the institution as a vehicle to Russify the Polish population of the area. There came a lot of pressure on Poles to boycott the University and T. B. was not the only student to go west and seek educational opportunities in Germany. The contacts he made at the University of Warsaw continued to serve him and he was able to find positions at a string of Russian observatories in Saint Petersburg and Kazan. The 1917 revolutions in Russia ended that and T. B. moved to the Polish city of Krakow to witness the rebirth of the Polish state on land seceded from Russia, Germany and in Krakow’s case Austria.

He hoped to secure a position at Jagiellonian University, an ancient university whose students included Copernicus and Pope John Paul II. The University was nearly closed after the Austrians took over the city in the 1850s, even going so far as to empty out the Great Hall to use for grain storage. Emperor Franz Josef took an interest in the university, saving it and even expanding the schools facilities. That did not stop the Polish students from tearing down and destroying Franz Josef’s portrait when the school passed into Polish hands in 1919.

T. B. was able to get a position and get busy doing his most important work. In 1925, he developed a theory called cracovians, named after the city. It was a type of matrix algebra that could be used to simplify the calculations of many types of complex equations. Astronomy had not fallen away. He discovered an asteroid 1287 Lorcia named in honor of his wife Laura.

Jagiellonian University was closed in 1939 upon the Nazi conquest. The post war Communist government in Poland reopened the University in 1945 but with just a skeleton staff. They were suspicious politically of the prewar staff who they dismissed completely in 1954. They toyed with the idea of a new University in Krakow but progress was very slow and eventually it was decided to shift investment into what they had with Jagiellonian. It is today the largest and most highly ranked University in Poland.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another and ponder the trajectory of 1287 Lorcia. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Ottoman Empire 1873, what to modernize, what to protect, what bills to pay, and what to do with all these people

This is quite the exotic early stamp. A postal system then was modern and Western, but the stamp is Eastern and traditional. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This is quite the badly printed stamp. Notice the right area of white where the perforations are supposed to come in. No perforations and we see the beginning of the printing of the next stamp on the sheet. Similarly the left side has no white area. Stamp printing then was done with typeography which is an expensive form of printing. This was because stamps were really a form of currency and therefore care must be taken to print at a level not easily counterfeited. It is perhaps a metaphor for the late Ottomans that the money was spent on the fancy typography but result was just sloppy.

Todays stamp is issue A5, a 10 Piaster stamp issued by the Ottoman Empire in 1873. This stamp issue existed for over 10 years with many variations and overprints. If I am making the correct judgement as to which mine is, the Scott catalog states the value as $110 mint. There doesn’t seem to be a value adjustment for the print mistake made above. If they had printed the issue on both sides of the paper or inverted the overprint the value would rapidly rise. The overprint at the bottom is the denomination while the sides say Ottoman Postage in Turkish but with earlier Arabic script.

The Ottoman Empire was in its Tanzimat era of reforms and ruled by Sultan Abdulaziz. He was the first Sultan that traveled extensively in the west. The Tanzimat reforms granted more rights to non Muslims and sought to modernize the military and the banking system. There was an alliance with Britain and a series of wars with Russia who was concerned over the treatment of Slavs and Armenians in the far flung Empire. The wars and westerm babbles were adding a large debt burden and the gradual pull back of the Ottomans was adding millions of new residents to Asia Minor, to the annoyance of the in place Turkish majority.

Sultan Abdulaziz hit upon a strategy to take care of his debts. He would grant self rule to non ethnic Turk areas in return for an annual donation yo the Ottoman treasury. Unfortunately this revenue was just immediately leveraged to take on more loans.

While spending lavishly on the military including ironclad battleships and German training for army officers, to police the empire the Sultan relied on more traditional means. The Bashi-bazouk were irregular forces that were not paid or given uniforms, but were expected to put down rebellions brutally and then reward themselves afterword with looting and pillaging. It was something real that was happening but also used to great effect by Russia to convince Balkan Slavs that the Ottomans had to go.

A Russian painting by Madovsky depicting the rape of Bulgarian women in a church by Turkish and African Bashi-bazouk

The Ottoman Empire went bankrupt in 1875 and Sultan Abdulaziz was forced to abdicate the next year by his ministers. When his successor Sultan Murad V showed signs of paranoia, fear and was constantly vomiting and fainting at his coronation, the ministers had worries. They thought people would see Murad and demand the thrown be returned to Abdulaziz. So 6 days later Abdulaziz was murdered in his palace by having his wrists cut with scissors so suicide could be claimed. Murad V was then deposed 93 days later and all the instability lead to another disasterous war with Russia.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Sultan Abdulaziz’s ministers. They were great, big fan. Hey, wait a minute, put down those scissors….. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting, I hope…

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Somalia 1982, Somalia tries to build a new country but wars turn the tide

Somalia had been a crossroads for Africans, Arabs, and colonial Europeans. Making a coherent country proved too difficult a task for Socialist, Arab, Black General/President Siad Barre. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I like the aesthetics of todays stamp. Showing Mogadishu history as an ancient trading post with interesting Kasbahs and intrigues. The city was the capital and a city of 500,000 with pretentions of a brighter Somali future. Honoring the past is a part of that and one thing these socialist stamp issues did really well.

Todays stamp is issue A117, an 8.30 Somali Shilling stamp issued by Somalia on May 31st, 1982. It showed a coastal view of the old part of Mogadishu. It was part of a 12 stamp issue in various denominations issued between 1980 and 1983 showing views of different cities. Not my stamp, but you will often find a tag attached to this issue of stamps showing a map of Somalia with the city being shown highlighted. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.75 whether mint or used.

Mogadishu was founded as a trading post by the Persians. For the bulk of its history, it was under the influence of the Sultan of Zanzibar, whose Royal line is still in power in Oman. When the Italians colonized the area they chose it as their capital. At the time the clans that today might be considered Somali were under Italian, British, French, and Ethiopian rule. Britain cleared the Italians from Somalia during WWII but the Somalia was returned to Italy under a mandate from the United Nations in 1946. Independence was achieved for the former British and Italian part in 1960. It was very poor and uneducated.

In 1969, the President of Somalia was assassinated by his bodyguards while away from the Capital. General Siad Barre than declared himself President and suspended the constitution that had been written by the Italians. He was a Marxist who had been trained by the British, the Italians and the Soviets. He started a program of nation building. There were large public works programs aimed at planting trees to protect towns and cities from being encroached by the ever present sand storms, perhaps Barre’s most lasting legacy. The military was expanded with Soviet help and Somalis were sent in large numbers to Djibouti to influence votes on the future scheduled there.

A military portrait of President Barre near the time he took power

President Barre also worked to end the clan system by banning it. It is said that he progressed far enough in that the first question a Somali asks another when meeting changed from “What clan are you?” to “What clan did you used to be?” He had proposed the first question to be “What do you know?”, but lets face it, that question would have been met by blank stares. He promoted the use of the Somali language requiring government employees to be able to speak and write it. This was to replace Italian still spoken in higher circles but leaving out the bulk of the country. President Bari promoted the work of noted Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed who proposed preparing for the large literacy drives by simplifying and standardizing the language and changing the written script  from Arabic to Latin script as had been done successfully in Turkey under Atatürk. In this he received a great deal of push back from militant Muslims who sneered that Latin script denoted no religion. Literacy did pick up in the cities but also sowed seeds that would eventually lead to President Barre’s fall.

Another big demerit in Barre’s rule was failed attempts to bring all Somalis into a greater Somalia. The efforts in Djibouti were peaceful but unsuccessful as France deported many Somalis before the vote on the future. The vote then went in favor of staying French. The Army in 1977 then launched an attack on Ethiopia that sought to bring the Ogaden desert into Somalia. There was some early success but both countries were then in close partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviets sided with larger Ethiopia and the resupply and 30,000 Cuban troops was enough to turn the tide against Somalia. The defeats and the end of Soviet aid weaken Barre immeasurably. By the late 1980s, Barre was older and weakened physically by a bad car wreck. Former deputy and future warlord of “Blackhawk Down” fame Mohamed Farrah Aidid rose up against Barre and pushed him out of Mogadishu in 1991 and then into exile in Nigeria, where he died in 1996. The Civil War that followed ran hot and cold ever since and has squelched any hope of creating a coherent country.

Similar view as stamp post civil war showing the area now in ruins

Stamps were issued post 1991. They are not recognized by the catalogs as the postal system within the country ended at the beginning of the civil war. There is no clarity on who is issuing the stamps and they are of no postal use.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the American, Italian, and other soldiers that entered Mogadishu in 1992 under the UN in a failed attempt to save Somalis from themselves. It probably sounded good to the leadership but was an impossible mission. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Greece commemorates the first modern 1896 Olympics by invoking Pallas Athene

Something old is new again. Both Greece and the Olympics. So in hope that the present will also be great, why not cover all the bases by invoking the blessing of the Warrior Queen defender of Athens. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The 19th century is very early for commemorative stamps. Great Britain, the inventor of the postage stamp did not have one till 1913. The fact that Greece had a large and diverse set of commemoratives for the Olympics in Athens in 1896 shows how important the event was. The stamps show the modern stadium and athletes, but also call back to the ancient games. It was a good early effort. It probably did not fail to occur to the Greek postal authorities that the country would be playing host to many, and an attractive set of stamps would be a good memento, all the revenue of which would pass directly to the government. The earlier stamps of Greece had all featured not their German Kings but a Royal style medallion profile of  ancient Greek God Hermes

Todays stamp is issue A5, a 20 Lepta stamp issued by Greece in 1896. The stamp shows a vase displaying Pallas Athene. It was part of a 12 stamp issue in various denominations issued in celebration of the 1896 Olympics held in Athens. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $8.25.

The inspiration of the ancient Greek Olympics was still widespread in the nineteenth century. Pseudo Olympic games were held between British public schools beginning around 1850 as a way for exersize and to teach constructive competition. This inspired French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin. He was depressed by the defeat of France by Germany in 1870 at a time when Britain was on a roll. In his mind he equated the relative success with the athletic training the British aristocracy had received in the public schools of their youth. He began a program of lobbying to have a broad program of physical education.

Coubertin was not having much luck in his efforts. He hit upon the stunt of conducting a modern Olympic games tied to the 1900 Paris Exposition and formed an international committee to organize it in 1894. It soon became clear that 1900 was too far off to sustain momentum and so 1896 was chosen for the first games. After a flirtation with a London location, the committee picked Athens as the first site. 14 nations sent 241 athletes to compete in 43 events. No women competed as Coubertin thought it impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect. Already in 1896 there was pushback to this. A Greek woman named Stamata Revithi ran the same marathon as the men the next day. Her time was over an hour longer than the medalists but she unsuccessfully petitioned to have her participation recorded. At the time, there was only a silver medal for first and a bronze for second, no gold medals.  The Panathenaic Stadium is on the site of an ancient Athens stadium and is made completely of marble. The 19th century Greek government refurbished it and it still stands having also been used for some events of the 2004 Olympics.

Panathenaic Stadium

Pallas Athene was the warrior princess palace guardian of the city of Athens in Greek mythology. Athena was born as a result of a union of Zeus and Métis the Goddess of crafty thought. Zeus later worried that the union was not a good match and so swallowed Métis. She had already conceived though. Zeus then had terrible headaches and his doctors took an axe to his forehead. Doing so revealed Athena, fully formed and even armed. Images of Athena were later taken to Rome and are even thought to be the partial basis for later images of the Virgin Mary, Britannia, and even Catherine II of Russia. Freud put forth a theory that her image was centered around her scary motherly genitals.

Well my drink is empty and I think I will abstain from any more to avoid headaches and thoughts of Freud. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Belgian Congo 1942, Can colonials rely on Askari soldiers when the home country is occupied

Belgium gets a little bit of a raw deal in regards to the Askari soldiers of it’s Force Publique. This is from a misunderstanding over who was in charge when. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is from a strange time in the Belgian Congo. The home country was captured after it’s neutrality was violated. A government in exile was bogged down in confusion and not giving instructions. The King had stayed in Belgium and was trying to negotiate with Germany an end to the military occupation and to allow him to form a pro German government. Into this confusion Pierre Ryckmans the Governor decided himself to cast his lot with the Allies. But his army was entirely black, Askari soldiers at the enlisted level. Whose side were they on, if any? It makes for a very mysterious stamp.

Todays stamp is issue A75, a 10 Belgian Franc stamp issued by the Belgian Congo in 1942. It was part of a 20 stamp issue in various denominations. The stamp displays a local Congolese soldier that served in the colonial army. These type of soldier were known as Askari soldiers after the Arabic word for soldier. He is seen with his khaki uniform and his Fez cap that Askari troops were known for. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

King Leopold could not get his country interested in African colonization so he took the unusual step of setting up the colony personally. The King’s early administration very closely resembled the private companies that were sometimes charged with less important areas. As such the profit motive was of prime importance. This can be seen in the Force Publique military police force formed. The officers were of various European nations and the men were Askari. They would make sure that less than 25 percent were from the local tribe  and the soldiers also had duties enforcing work quotas under contract labor agreements . This enforcement was by a chicote, which was a type of bull whip made of hippopotamus hide. This is all such a sorted business that pressure came on Belgium to take over the colony and put in a more enlightened rule.

There was at least economic progress under the Belgians and  mining and rubber plantations grew the economy and allowed for some education of locals. The decision of Governor Ryckmans to side with the Allies in WWII was very beneficial. They became the primary source of rubber after the loss of the Dutch East Indies, and the uranium used in the Manhattan project came from the Belgian Congo. His efforts saw him named a Count posthumously. The Force Publique also participated successfully in the British East Africa campaign that removed Italy from Ethiopia and Somaliland.

The chicote was still in use till the end of the colony in 1960 and no Askari had completed training to be officers. Later President Maputo was only a Sargent. Upon independence the Force Publique became the Congolese Army and the intention was to retain Belgian officers. This only lasted four days. A Belgian general addressed Askari troops in a mess hall saying that nothing had changed with independence. He was perhaps calling for discipline but instead started a large mutiny. The army began looting and specifically targeting whites that remained in Congo. The remaining Belgians gathered in Katanga province and attempted to secede from Congo and civil war was the result. Katanga hired white mercenaries to fight, no longer trusting Askari. In a sad coincidence, former governor Ryckmans’ son Andre was shot down while flying in a helicopter looking for Belgians caught behind the lines. The pilot and Andre were taken prisoner by the Congo army but then tortured and killed. Andre was also posthumously made a Count.

With the end of African colonies, came the end for the most part of the end of the Askari soldier. Not entirely, in post war Iraq, Ugandans are hired by private security companies to perform security missions and are referred to as Askaris. They no longer seem to wear the fez, but hopefully they also no longer carry the chicote.

Well, my drink is empty and this is one of those times where I can’t toast the fellow on the stamp, but I will toast the senior and junior Counts Ryckmans. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Uzbekistan remembers the old Soviet Antonov 8 just as they all head for Africa

Replacing the DC3/C47/Li2 cargo planes proved nearly impossible. They were cheap and numerous and there were many pilots and mechanics who could operate them. Some are still in use but perhaps the best attempt at a military replacement was the Soviet Antonov 8. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Uzbekistan is a former Soviet republic in central Asia. The last Soviet premier Islam Karimov was the countries first President until his death in 2016. Given this, despite being an officially Muslim country, heck the Presidents first name is Islam, even if there were rumors that he was really Jewish. Uzbekistan might have more than its share of Soviet nostalgia. Well why not, especially when it comes to a neat old airplane like the Antonov 8. The plane does have a surprise Uzbek connection, having been built at the Antonov factory in Tashkent between 1958-1961.

The stamp today is issue A22, a 10 Sum stamp issued by the Republic of Uzbekistan on October 10th, 1995. It was part of a 7 stamp issue that displayed Soviet cargo planes, in this case the Antonov 8. There was also a higher denomination  souvenir sheet that displayed the Ilyushin 114 aircraft. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2 whether mint or cancelled to order like this one.

The C47 was made in larger numbers than any other cargo plane in history. They were  produced in the Soviet Union as the Li-2. Even on the Axis side, the Japanese had a prewar early version in production. The only close competitor was the German Junkers 52 that was smaller and slower despite it’s third engine. After the war, by the 50s thoughts occurred as to how to replace it. A military cargo plane purposely built as such would contain a central load door so small vehicles could be driven aboard and be able to take off from shorter fields. The C47, and the Ju 52 could not do this as they were converted airliners.

The first attempts at this in west were compromised designs. The French Nord Nordatlas and the American C123 Provider had the cargo door, but both had to resort to auxiliary small jet engines to get them off the ground from a short field. This added complexity and shortened the range of the airplanes.

The Soviets tried a different approach. They had a new in 1956 turboprop engine that could get the twin engine Antonov 8 Camp off in a shorter roll and with a longer range. A turboprop engine still has a propeller but the prop powers a turbine rather than a radial engine. The advantage in mainly in terms of efficiency instead of speed but was an added cost. 150 An 8s were made and all were initially in Soviet military service. Larger 4 engine turboprops like the American C130 Hercules and the Soviet Antonov 12 Cub proved more useful still and became the worldwide standard even today.

In the 1970s, the Antonov 8s were transferred to Aeroflot to be used as freighters. By the 90s they were retired in Russia with Antonov withdrawing certificates of airworthiness and service support for the aircraft. That does not mean the old airplanes were done. Many came under the control of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout who used them to ferry illicit arms around Africa. Bout was jailed in the USA in 2011 after being caught in Thailand trying to sell arms to American agents posing as members of the Columbian FARC organization. The trail goes cold from there as to what happened to his planes but if wouldn’t be shocking if a few Antonov 8s were still in use in Africa. Bout must have some pull. He is still in jail but his appeals are being handled by former American Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Antonov 8 designer A Y Belolipetsky. I bet he would have never imagined how long a life some of his designs had. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Germany 1995, A west victory stamp as Deutsche Bundespost becomes Deutschland

Once the achievement is in the bag, it is natural to celebrate. Victors celebrating can seem like taunting to the losers however. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The Wall, shown at night with searchlights and killing fields is quite the dramatic picture. The building of the Wall was perhaps one of the riskiest times of the long cold war. Getting rid of it was a major achievement of West Germany. Closer to the time, there was a stamp with a hole in the Wall well expressing hope for a united future. This was a different. This was looking back and judging those responcible as bad. Not a lot of people standing up for the DDR, but perhaps not the way to move forward together.

Todays stamp is issue A862, an 100 Pfenning stamp issued by Germany on November 9th, 1995. It was a single stamp issue put forth as honoring the victims of the Berlin Wall. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

The Berlin Wall came down dramatically at the end of 1989. West Germany started negotiations to bring East Germany in under the West German government. This had been provided for as part of the 1949 West German Basic Law. Doing so required much negotiating, The four major Allied Powers had to renounce their claims to Germany. The East German government had to agree to be dissolved. Soviet/Russian military units had to be withdrawn back to Russia. West Germany also had to formally renounce claims to former German territory east of the Oder-Neisse Line that was the current border between Germany and Poland that left much German territory in the hands of the Poles and the Russians. Getting this territory back had always been at least an agenda item for German Chancellor Kohl’s CDU political party.

Pulling this all together was a major victory for German diplomacy. Doing so was massively expensive. A 2011 study put the cost at over 2 trillion Euros. The expense I think is what lead to the anger that comes across pretty boldly in todays stamp.

There were many manifestations of this anger. Promises made during reunification about not pursuing crimes from DDR times were reniged upon. Egon Krenz, the last East German leader was sentenced to jail for election irregularities and behavior of East German border guards. Eric Honnecker, the long term East German leader, elderly and stricken with cancer was hounded out of Germany and left at the Chilean Embassy in Moscow asking for asylum. His daughter was married to a Chilean and East Germany had taken many Chilean leftists when Allende fell from power. He was refused and stood trial in Germany after being forced back against his will. The trial was bogged down and eventually he was released and now with a passport he was allowed to join his wife and daughter in Chile to die.

Even the fairly new Palace of the Rebublic was torn town in former East Berlin. In the way of the modern, it took longer to tear down in the 2000s than it had taken for the East Germans to build it in the 70s. The structural steel from it was exported to the UAE and used in the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

Palace of the Republic when new in 1977

Well my drink is empty so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Afghanistan 1963, as a start to development, lets begin to feed ourselves, if only someone could build us an irrigation system

A country has to sometimes start at the beginning. Even an ancient country. Sometimes though, everything has to be done for them. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp has a 60s United Nations look to it. It was the prime era for Western and sometimes Eastern experts to come in and explain to locals how they could get things going. The arrogance and naivete seem almost charming in retrospect.

The stamp today is issue A205 a 300 Pouls stamp issued by the Kingdom of Afghanistan on March 22nd, 1963. The stamp promoted the growth of grain farming and other stamps in the issue promoted corn and rice as part of a plan toward food self sufficiency. Seems like an awfully dry place to try to grow rice. I am not sure why the currency on the stamp is not listed as 3 Afghan Rupees but in any case it is a big bump over the other values in the set of 2 Pouls and 3 Pouls. Perhaps it reflects the relative value of wheat in the food plan. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents whether mint or canceled to order.

Zahir Shah became King of Afghanistan in 1933 at the age of 19 upon the assassination of his father. For many years he was under a regency of his uncles. The country is a very poor and a very violent place. With almost constant attempted coups, and assassination attempts, the Royal house was constantly trying to look for way to bolster military capabilities. Zahir Shah’s title included the phrase “Leaner on Allah” but in reality he was more practical. Zahir Shah therefore came hat (crown?) in hand to both East and West seeking arms. The Soviet Union had been most generous in this regard but the tanks and supersonic fighter planes supplied were really beyond the capabilities of the backward country to operate.

As the King matured he sought ever more to take the reigns of power. The rights of women were increased and the veil was made optional. The post war UN-US  aid program was put together to bring the country up. Completely paid for by outside. The crown jewel of the aid plan was a system of dams modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority that would allow for irrigation and electricity for farming of mainly wheat. The Helmand Valley Authority constructed 8 dams, many by Morrison Knudson, the makers of the Hoover Dam. Only 12 percent of Afghanistan was arable and only 6 percent was cultivated. Food production indeed went up but dried up again with war and the cessation of USA aid in 1979.

There was also natural gas resources first tapped in 1967. This gas was useful to Afghanistan in that it could be sent straight to the Soviet Union as a token partial payment for the large quantity of munitions that the country as a way of using.

The King was deposed in 1973 while on one of his frequent foreign trips and after he left the country became ever more dependent on the Soviet Union. He lead a life of leisure in Italy. After the new government in 2002. Zahir Shah returned with the new ceremonial title of “Father of the Country”. He even theoretically took possession of his old palace that had been built by the Germans in the 30s, though now it was a bombed out shell. That seemed to happen a lot, even in his time, so it was probably just as he remembered it. Naturally he spent most of his last years abroad. The Palace is now being renovated at a cost of $20 million paid for by the USA, hopefully in time for some fake 100th anniversary in 2019. When will we learn?

The Palace in 2006

Well my drink is empty and I am wondering if there will ever be an accounting of how much foreign treasure has been squandered in Afghanistan. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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USA Olympic stamp 1980, childhood Philatelist dreams of getting rich from the boycot dashed

In 1979, Russia invaded Afghanistan, something I am sure they quickly regretted. The USA decided to skip the upcoming Moscow Olympics after the celebratory stamps were out. This curiosity sure seemed like a grade A stamp investment to 11 year old me. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp displays an American javelin thrower. An individual, who paid the price in not being able to compete. He likely would not have medaled as most medalist from the period were Eastern bloc or Finnish. Even at the 84 no Soviets Los Angeles Olympics, no Americans medaled. Maybe we didn’t open the gates for our athletes.

Todays stamp is issue A1179, a 10 cent stamp issued by the USA on September 5th, 1979. It displayed a Javelin thrower training for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. It was part of a four stamp issue showing various summer sports. There were thoughts that these stamps would be valuable due to the boycott. They are not. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. Since this seems to be the minimum catalog value for any stamp, my childhood theory is conclusively and unfortunately disproved.

The Olympic sport of javelin throwing involves throwing a 3 and one half meter metal arrow for the greatest possible distance. The gold medal in 1980 went to 21 year old Soviet Dainis Kula. The silver went to another Soviet and an East German won the bronze.

The medal is controversial for two reasons. The Javelin is supposed to land by poking into the ground but Kulas glided along the ground and many believe he was given a generous spot by the officials. There were also rumours among the Finnish team that when the home team threw the stadium gates were opened. This would allow more wind into the stadium and farther throws.

At an event in 1984 in Helsinki, when Kula went on the field, the Finnish crowd chanted “open the Gates” in remembrance of their perceived taint on his medal. Kula was let go from the Soviet team in 1988 but competed as late as 1993 for his new home country of Latvia.

The javelin event was held at the 88,000 seat Lenin stadium. The stadium was built in 13 months in 1953-54 and was the host stadium for the 1980 Olympics. It was recently updated and is now known as Luzhniki Stadium. It recently hosted this years World Cup.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Soviet officials at Lenin stadium in 1980. At least they supported their countries team. The same cannot be said for American President Carter in 1980 or Soviet Premier Chermenko in 1984. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Saint Vincent against all odds has a stable currency even if Joshua gone Barbados

Saint Vincent formed an alliance with the other newly independent east indies islands and it worked surprisingly well with a stable currency and good neighbor relations. That doesn’t mean that the people are doing great and they don’t perceive there leaders as gone Barbados. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This is the rare small island British Commonwealth stamp that actually means to be used on the island. As such the Queen and say a cool old English airplane are dispenced with. With that diference we probably just lost the Commonwealth collecters. For those of you still with us, I will explain why this stamp is more interesting. It actually opens a window to the actual island, both the achievements and failures.

Todays stamp is issue A148, a fifty cent stamp issued by the independent republic of Saint Vincent in 1987. It was part of a 19 stamp issue in various denominations that display the same value coinage of the East Caribbean Dollar that had successfully supplanted the colonial currency. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents. There are overprinted versions that were used for revenue and these stamps are not generally part of the normal Commonwealth farm out issues. Hence the actual instead of to order cancelation. So far it hasn’t helped the value, but maybe in a 100 years.

Saint Vincent was first occupied by Carib Indians. They were unfriendly to European explorers and for many years the issue wasn’t pressed. Over the years though several slave ships ran aground and the Africans were welcomed and intermarried with the Indians swelling their numbers. Eventually the British set up outposts on Saint Vincent but had to fight several wars with the Black Caribe to get a foothold at least on the coasts. The often active Volcano at the center of the island, not so much. Sugar cane plantations were started and further slaves brought in. A British Caribbean dollar was introduced that was fixed to British Sterling.

The end of British Empire slavery saw the end of the planters prosperity and many left the island, although some tried to keep the plantations going with contract laborers brought in from India and Portugal. The freed slaves were not having much luck keeping the crops planted and poverty grew. The island also faced frequent hurricanes and even eruptions from it’s volcano. As the British faded local leaders from the islands upper classes tried to fill the void offering socialist economics and banana planting. On such leader was Ebenezer  Joshua who worked to unionize the sugar caine workers and replace British institutions with Caribbean ones.

His biggest success though was also his biggest failure. The Eastern Caribbean dollar has been successful in replacing the old British one and has maintained a fixed USA dollar peg for over 40 years, that’s a better record than China for example. That does not mean the people of the island are not stuck uneconomically growing sugar cane, now without slavery but with no one doing well at it. This dichotomy was graphically pointed out in an 80s Johnny Cash song “Joshua gone Barbados” that you can hear here, https://youtu.be/nN5ui3QOYAk. I recommend it, a great song. Here are some of the lyrics.

Joshua Gone Barbados

Cane standin’ in the fields gettin’ old and red
Lot of misery in Georgetown dreamin’ layin’ dead
Joshua head of the government he said strike for better pay
Cane cutters are strikin’ but Joshua gone away
Joshua gone Barbados staying in a big hotel
People on St Vincent got many sad tales to tell
The sugar mill owner told the strikers I don’t need you to cut my cane
Bring me another bunch of fellas your strike be all in vain
Get a bunch of tough fellas bring ’em from Zion Hill
Bring ’em in a bus to Georgetown know somebody could kill
Sunny Child the overseer I swear he’s an ignorant man
Walkin’ the the canefields pistol in his hand
Joshua gone Barbados just like he don’t know people on the island got no place to go
Police givin’ protection new fellas cuttin’ the cane

Ebenezer Joshua was at a conference about the currency. He was thrown out in the next election. Whether rightly or not I am not the judge put the song does a great job as to why.

Well my drink is empty and I may pour another and listen again to that haunting song. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.