during the years when Wilham JenningsrnBryan was waging his unsuccessful campaignrnfor a different, non-imperiahstrnAmerica.rnOn June 5,1895, he wrote to his brotherrnBrooks from Washington: “I fear Russiarnmuch! Wliy can one never penetraternthat polar mystery? . , . Our true point ofrninterest is not India but Russia, yet Russiarnis impenetrable, and any intelligent manrnwill deal with her better the less closelyrnhe knows her.” In September 1895, writingrnto Brooks from Paris, he foretold therndisintegration of Western civilizationrn”with Russia for the eccentric on one sidernand America on the other,” outlining anrnanalogy with the decline of the RomanrnEmpire. In a letter to Elizabeth Cameronrnfrom Venice on July 15, 1896,rnAdams again wrote about the decay of thernRoman Empire:rn[M]y brother Brooks and I . . . havernbeen greatly exercised by the factrnthat the Roman Empire, one day,rnabout the year 400, dropped tornpieces without any apparent cause.rnIt “decaded.” . .. Yet it showed veryrncurious energy for a corpse. Itrnadopted a new and very strong centralizedrnreligion just at that time.rnAt Byzantium, which happened tornsurvive, Justinian, a hundred yearsrnlater, codified the law in a wayrnwhich still serves as the foundationrnof European jurisprudence. Ele alsornbuilt the church of S. Sofia, inrnan enhrely new form of architecturernwhich is still our admiration.rnThe empire did many other thingsrnnot usual for corpses to do, andrnamong the rest, built Ravenna,rnwhich was the reason I wanted tornsee it.rnIn January 1904, he wrote: “I am halfrncrazv with fear that Russia is sailingrnstraight into another French revolutionrnwhich might upset all Europe and usrntoo.” The prophecy came true andrnplunged European and world politics intorna bloody civil war from 1917 untilrn1989.rnWith the fall of the Berlin Wall, thernrevolutionary theories have been re-rnI’ealed —not as mistakes, but as lies. Arnnew relationship must be established,rnbinding America, Europe, and Russiarnall large Christian enhhes) in friendshiprnmd peace. Instead, NATO has expandedrninto Eastern Europe, leaving Russiarnlumiliated and threatened. NATO hasrnalso changed from a defensive pact to anrnoffensive one, as we saw last year with thernterrible bombing of Serbia, the faults ofrnthat nation notwithstanding.rnRussia has always been a rampartrnagainst the menace of barbaric Asia: thernMongols of Genghis Khan in the 12thrncentury, the hordes of Tartars and Mongolsrnof Tamerlane in the 14th century.rnIn the following centuries, Russia defendedrnEurope from the Muslim menacernin the Caucasus.rnNow that the revolutionarv ideologiesrnhave fallen, Europe, America, and Russiarnhave a common future which does notrnrest on Atlanticism but on the solidrnground of the American plains, the numerousrnnations of old Europe, and therndignified civilization of Russia, whichrnhas produced the universal culture ofrnPushkin, Gogol, Dostoyevsky, Soloviev,rnand Florenskij.rnWhile globalism is creating a generalrnnihilism, we must respond by offeringrnthe historical memory of the old frontiersrnof our civilization: Tennessee, Scotiand,rnr i le de France, Swabia, Sicily, Serbia,rnPoland, Muscovy, and hundreds of otherrndiversities that enrich the tradition of ourrnChristian world.rnMario Marcolla is a former correspondentrnfor Awenire and Osservatore Romano.rnLetter FromrnSouth Carolinarnby Clyde WihonrnDixie ChoppersrnThe Confederate flag, which had been inrna place of honor (though not sovereignty)rnabove the South Carolina capitol for almostrn40 years, was removed in the stealthrnof the night of June 30/July I.rnThe removal was made possible becausernall but a handful of Republicans inrnthe legislature, who had pledged not torntouch the flag, showed the white featherrnand accepted, as Republicans are wont torndo, a “compromise.” Curiously, thernGOP members had a change of heartrnright after the filing deadline for primaryrnopposition had passed.rnA Confederate flag (a version otherrnthan the universally familiar one) willrnsupposedly now be flown next to a monumentrnon the capitol grounds, while thernstate will build an African-Americanrnmonument and establish a MartinrnLuther King, Jr., holiday. And, in a provisionrnkept quiet by the legislators andrnmedia until the last moment, Confederaternflags will be removed from the legislativernchambers, where they have hungrnfrom time immemorial.rnIt is not a compromise, because thernNAACP has not lifted its boycott of thernstate. Though more than the customaryrnpayoffs were made to get the “compromise”rnthrough, the Black Caucus has alreadyrndeclared war against the flag that isrnto go on the monument. The bottomrnline is that the Republican leadershiprnhad a chance to say “No” to political correctnessrnin a way that would have garneredrninternational attention—and theyrnchickened out.rnPerhaps the only surprise is that theyrnheld out as long as they did, given thernpressures brought to bear. The Presidentrnof the United States visited us and told usrnthat people who honor the Confederaternflag are backward-looking and shouldrnseek a better life. Given the source, wernhave some doubts about exacfly what wasrnmeant by a “better life.” But we were notrnin doubt when he likened those whornhonor the rebel banner to Serbs: Wernknow what happened to them.rnStudents rioted at the University ofrnWashington and burned our flag. Apparentiy,rnthey were aroused to passion afterrnan Asian-American student wrote a defensernof the flag in the campus rag.rnSoutherners have always been at arntremendous disadvantage in these matters.rnIt would never occur to us to tellrnpeople in Washington State what to do.rnWliy, we can go for months without evenrnthinking of them. But they sure are concernedrnabout us.rnOf course, they are naturally righteousrnagainst our notorious racial oppression.rnWe are known sinners who always needrncorrection, and they are just the folks torndo it. This excuse worked better 40 yearsrnago. Has anybody noticed lately that thernmost segregated states are Massachusetts,rnNew York, and Illinois? Or that there is arnnet migration of black Americans back tornthe South?rnA Southerner may be forgiven for suspectingrnthat there is something going onrnhere that does not have much to do withrnobjective conditions. We might evenrnAUGUST 2000/37rnrnrn