On Thanksgiving Day in 1987 I was barely able to walk into the hospital emergency room. My fever was 105 F. and rising. After an exam and a lung x-ray I was admitted to the hospital. The diagnosis was viral pneumonia, which is usually brought on by stress, and which has a long recovery period. Within the past year or so I had experienced a series of very stressful circumstances, including the death of my father. And, during these stressful events, I also had maintained a full-time job.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye as I perused the daily news. It was a detailed account of the exodus from Turkey of numerous intellectuals—and the fears of those who remain behind—in the wake of Recep Erdogan’s recent national purges. As I read the article, I wondered about how history repeats itself—and will again very soon, in a big way.

“The chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday hit back at Jordan’s allegations of Israeli misconduct at the Temple Mount, saying Jerusalem will not allow the holy site to become exclusive to Muslims like the Saudi Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina” (Times of Israel, August 15, 2016).

In the wake of the Brexit, EU leaders are again calling for a European Army. According to the Czech Prime Minister, “The European Union will need a common army to bolster its security over the long term after the U.K. follows through on its decision to exit the bloc” (Bloomberg, August 22, 2016). Polish MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke observed “My opinion [is that] Brexit was supported by Mr.

“Chinese and Russian forces conducted a first-ever joint amphibious exercise landing 400 marines on Russia’s Pacific Coast… The exercise marks not only the first time People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Russian Navy have drilled together in an amphibious exercise but also the first time China has landed troops on foreign territory” (USNI News, August 26, 2015).