Our 1.4 million-member organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.
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In the beginning...
Clement August weather ushered us into St. Thomas’ Fellowship Hall for the next meeting of the 75-year-old Rotary Club of Ojai. It was the best of times. It was the not-worst of times.
At 11:50
am the bell was rung by the intrepid Dr. Carl Gross, co-presidenting with Bill Prather, manning the mike with grace and calm but insistent promptness, with his trademark “Welcoe … 75 years of service above self and the club with the biggest heart I know.”
Tessa Turner warmly greeted entrants as Dave Brubaker separated us from our filthy lucre. The room was masterfully arranged by Jerry Maryniuk with aid from Nighman and Bill Prather, while Sean McDermott and Andy Gilman handled the tech setup required for our distinguished Zoom guests and presenter. Ren Adam led us through the Pledge, while Patricia Anderson gave us a brief yet inspiring poem to set the tone.
VISITING ROTARIANS
Barry Verga from a Westlake Village club made a return appearance.
GUESTS
Barry Verga was hosted by Jerry Maryniuk,; Alec Freeman by Larry Beckett; Dawn Blauer by Deirdre Daly and Lisa Elliot Rosas by Bill Prather. And our special guest, Tondra Roddick, was introduced by her brother-in-law Bryant Huber.
COMING PROGRAMS
Sept 1 - dark for Labor Day weekend
Sept. 8th - Eric Larrimore, 2x Oscar-winning documentarian, will be led through a program by friend Bret Nighman.
Sept. 15th - Local artist Eric Robie will talk about his varied and fascinating career.
Down the road, Jack Jacobs built up anticipation for the November 3rd talk by our own Dr. Marty Pops, who was head of admission at UCLA Medical School in 1978, when the Bakke case led to a ruling that racial quotas violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. It sparked debates that have raged til this day and, with more cases coming before the Supreme Court, remains more relevant than ever.
ANNOUNCEMENT(S)
Sean McDermott followed up on the shocking revelation in the newsletter that he was stepping down as President-Elect. His family is moving to Santa Barbara so his son can attend school. Sean said he would continue his membership, but the presidential commitment would be too much with the big move.
He also marked the occasion of the first half century of his life coming to a close, as he is turning 50 years old soon. For those two confessions, he paid $100.
FINING
Patricia Anderson with her well-fitted pastel blue pantsuit ensemble pranced to the podium to extract more money to grease the gears of club operation. The premise was stating a biographical detail about one of our newer members, then asking a mark/sap to guess to whom it applied.
- Greg Webster guessed correctly that Clinton Haugen graduated from Rutgers University
- Bryant Huber didn’t guess that Liz Sampson said that selling multi-million dollar businesses was fun.
- Kelly Rasmussen didn’t guess that Jerry Maryniuk was a birdwatcher.
PROGRAM
Jack Jacobs turned over the introducing of his namesake presenter, Colonel (retired) Jack H. Jacobs, to Keith Nightingale, a frequent presenter himself, and personal friend of the colonel from their days as platoon leaders in Vietnam. Jacobs received the nation’s highest honor, the Medal of Honor, for his valor, as well as two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star. Jacobs is now a military analyst with NBC and MSNBC News. He led us through a thorough, yet brisk, tour of the world’s hot spots, beginning with:
UKRAINE
The world was surprised when the Russians’ vaunted fighting machine got bogged down quickly after their February 26th invasion; the war has settled into a stalemate of limited offensives and dug-in defensive struggles along a long front in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donbass and Crimean regions, as the Ukrainians try to roll up the territory that Russia did successful invade. One problem the Russians faced was their inability to execute “Combined Arms,” where artillery and airpower works in concert with infantry and tank assaults. But the summer offensive of the Ukrainian Army “has not materialized” as many hoped.
Casualities have crept past a half million troops on both sides, not counting the many civilians who have died, as Russians specifically target hospitals and public squares, while the ammo-deficient UKR troops focus on logistical hubs and command posts.
A significant difference in tactics is that the UKR army, trained by NATO, has a thriving culture of autonomy among its NCO corps, where as the top-down Russian military leaves decisions in the hands of only top brass, creating confusion and breakdowns on the battlefield. But as the Russians have overwhelming superiority in numbers, they can afford to make more mistakes than the UKR forces. The increasing use of drones has also created novel and evolving strategic outcomes on the battlefield that no one really understood until now. For example, the UKR forces are making good use of cheap handmade drones forand not relying on expensive
Jacobs said the “Russians are playing the long game,” with the reasonable hope that Western powers will tire of an endless war of attrition and stop supplying the war effort. With election season heating up, the pro-Putin rhetoric has already begun, especially with right-wing commentators and politicians.
He also talked about former-hot dog vendor and Wagner Group mercenary leader Progohzin’s demise after challenging Putin, which acts as a warning to other coup-minded military leaders and oligarchs. Jacobs also warned that beware of what you wish for - Putin’s departure might clear the way for someone even worse.
The centenarian Henry Kissinger said the most likely outcome is a “negotiated settlement” in which the Russians keep Crimea and Donbass, through Zelensky has vowed to fight to repel the Russians entirely.
CHINA
The strategic ambiguity of American’s support of Taiwan leaves the question of whether mainland China will invade the nearby island. They, too, are playing the long game, waiting for the new generation of Taiwanese to forget the struggles of the past and gradually merge with mainland China in a Hong Kong-in process. Jacobs also warned that the US is not in a strong position with our Navy to protect Taiwan, with only 260 battle-ready ships, when the ideal number would be closer to 700.
China’s economic situation, with a real estate bubble that “still has air in it” deflating and taking a lot of equity with it, will have unforeseen long-term consequences. The Chinese are, like most developed nations, dependent on consumer spending to boost their economy, and consumers are tightening up. “This is all intertwined” with the regional situation.
AFRICA
The wave of coups lately, especially in Niger where a Western-friendly democratic leader was overthrown, has created openings for Russians and Chinese to influence regional outcomes politically. As Africa is rich in the resources on which modern technologies depend, like lithium and cobalt, we can’t afford to be outmaneuvered.
Jacobs urged some form of universal service, so that all citizens “have skin in the game” but “there’s no political will” and Army recruiting targets have fallen short by 20 percent.
He left time for questions; the implications of China’s one child policy, nuclear re-armament, North Korean instability and the political football of holding up military promotions were all asked and discussed.
Jacobs’ fascinating and thorough program gave us expert insight into the fraught world situation, and a reminder that isolation is not an option.
CLOSING
Carl quoted the apropos aphorism from H. Jackson Brown’s
“Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.”
You are invited to visit us at an upcoming meeting.
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