Nuremberg: Avoiding the Abyss

Review by Bill Doughty––

How could the German people experience the rise of a narcissistic megalomaniac who took over their nation, waged war, separated and deported families, betrayed allies, subverted elections, and brought about the ultimate destruction of their economy and democracy?

That’s one of the questions considered in a rare and powerful book, “Nuremberg and Beyond: The Memoirs of Siegfried Ramler from 20th Century Europe to Hawaii” (Ahuna Press, 2008).

Hitler’s rise and fall is a subject covered in hundreds of other books. This memoir, on the other hand, by a simultaneous interpreter at the Nuremberg trials, focuses on the dozens of enablers and criminals accused of (1) crimes against peace, (2) waging aggressive war, (3) commission of war crimes, and (4) commission of crimes against humanity.

Hitler purged his military of nonbelievers, promoted demented loyalists, and surrounded himself with sycophants and power-hungry yes-men.

Ramler gives us close-up perspectives of Herman Göring, Albert Speer, Rudolf Hess, Martin Bormann, and especially Rudolf Höff as well as the military officers and doctors who carried out Hitler’s crimes. The portrayals are chilling and stomach-turning but also, as Hannah Arendt reported, simply “banal.” Ramler says many of the perpetrators seemed ordinary and normal on the outside.

Then, what power, belief, or other factor motivated the Nazis and their fueled their ability to commit atrocities such as the Holocaust in the name of the German people?

“In the years after the trials, when asked to speak or write about Nuremberg, I responded to this question by extending it beyond Germany and giving it a universal significance.

When checks on governmental power and control do not exist, when a dictatorship disregards and nullifies existing laws and creates its own decrees, when the achievement of a desired end for a nation justifies any means to obtain it, when persecution of segments of a population becomes government policy, and when the world community fails to react to crimes being committed by a dictatorship, the result leads to the abyss into which Germany descended during the Nazi era. In this sense the Nuremberg legacy, as a cornerstone of international law, takes on a universal significance beyond the role of Germany during the Hitler regime.”

Some may ask, how could the German people themselves go along with the rise of the Third Reich in their homeland?

“As for the German man and woman in the street, their support of the Nazi regime must be seen in the context of Germany's struggle for survival during wartime and living under the pressure of a dictatorship where dissent had harsh, even fatal consequences. Nevertheless, isolated and heroic examples exist of German resistance to the Nazis. The failed July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, led by Claus von Stauffenberg, stands out as a courageous attempt which, had it succeeded, would have hastened the end of the war and influenced postwar policies and attitudes affecting Germany.

There were other, less well known, stands of defiance.

The question of the average German's knowledge about ongoing deportations, killings, and gassings, let alone shared guilt and complicity, continues to be asked. In his controversial book, Hitler's Willing Executioners, political scientist Daniel Goldhagen draws a strong causal relationship between antiSemitism and the persecution and extermination of Jews, to which many ordinary Germans contributed and supported.

His attribution of collective German guilt, however, fails to take into account the silent segment of the German population unable, and also often unwilling, to raise their voices in an atmosphere of a cruel and punitive dictatorship.

From my perspective, living for several postwar years among Germans, I came to understand this silent segment of the German population, seeing themselves also as victims of the Nazi regime. And I came to appreciate the decency of many of my German neighbors and friends.”

Under the leadership of Supreme Court Justice and U.S. Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson, the international court set important precedents of accountability on a world scale.

“Nuremberg broke new ground and established a milestone in the practice and implementation of international law,” Ramler writes. “Nuremberg also established the principle that following superior orders cannot excuse the commotion of the crimes charged under the indictment.”

Defendants attempted obfuscation, what-aboutism deflection, and the superiority of their White Nationalism ideals to justify their actions persecuting gypsies and Jews. Even the doctors defended their experiments on people by saying their medical discoveries would help others.

Ramler reflects:

“There is no doubt that the Nuremberg experience had a powerful impact on my life, on my world view, and on my later role as educator and communicator. Facing the former leaders of Nazi Germany, both during pretrial interrogations and in the courtroom, stripped of their position and power, I saw them as ordinary individuals, characterizing what has been described by the philosopher Hannah Arendt as ‘the banality of evil.’ In Nuremberg I learned, through witnesses, testimony, and documents, of man's inhumanity to man on a massive scale and the consequences of a brutal dictatorship.”

Confronting a would-be demented dictator prevents a slide into a abyss of corruption and destruction.

Ramler’s memoir includes stories about a disrupted childhood between Germany and England in WWII and joining the military; going AWOL in order to be part of the Nuremberg team of interpreters; raising a family after the war; and serving in international peace efforts from Hawaii, where he worked as an educator and his wife Pi’ilani worked for the Navy at Pearl Harbor.

His love of reading and books as well as his study of languages prepared him for a life of success.

Siegfried Ramler

Later in life, Ramler developed a close professional –– and personal –– tie to Japan. His association with the East-West Center in Hawaii gave him a perspective on the similarities of the rise of fascism in Imperial Japan at the same time war was raged by Germany. Today, a majority of the educated and free populations in both countries respect constitutional law.

Ramler writes, “On a personal and family level, with the arduous flight of my parents from Austria and the arrest and killing of a grandparent (in a Nazi concentration camp), that inhumanity resonated directly and deeply. The Nuremberg experience, indeed the history of the Nazi era in the 1930s, convinced me of the danger of unchecked power and of the need for a global rule of law.”

In avoiding another “abyss” Ramler concludes, “Im am convinced that in facing 21st century challenges to global peace and survival, education represents the most important element in our quest for a harmonious world.”

Hertling’s Dedication to Planning

Review by Bill Doughty

Most career Sailors and military veterans know this phrase: “Proper prior planning prevents piss-poor performance.” The “seven Ps” is a distant cousin of “measure twice and cut once.”

And ongoing planning is more important than just having a plan.

That’s the perspective of Lt. General Mark Hertling, U.S. Army (Retired), author of “If I Don’t Return: A Father’s Wartime Journal” (Ballast Books, 2026).

In planning to deal with his own angst about heading into combat in 1990, Hertling started a journal to his sons, writings he hoped would help them know him even if he were no longer in their lives. In his journal he shares observations, beliefs, lessons, and hopes for his young sons.

“Like so many soldiers, I once hoped I was fighting so that my sons would never have to.”

 He expresses that sentiment in the journal several times.

“That hope, noble as it was back then, proved naive. My sons did go to war. Multiple times. Always in Iraq, save two of those tours for our oldest son, Todd. So did one of our daughters-in-law. And for all practical purposes, while they didn't deploy, my wife and the spouse of our other son went to war too. All of them did so with honor, courage, humility, selfless service, and empathy for both their own soldiers and their enemies. Even knowing that, I offer this same hope once again—this time so that our grandchildren, and others who read this book, find that same grace with this wish:

“May you never face combat. But if you do, or if life ever tests you — whether in war, in family, in leadership, or in moments when character, integrity, values, and personal courage matter most — I hope you'll find strength in these pages. Strength in values. In character. In purpose. In love. In the stories and thoughts of this old soldier who wrote some random thoughts down for his family –– now also for you.”

Throughout this memoir/journal he praises his family, friends, and selfless soldiers he’s known throughout an illustrious career. He has special praise for key senior leaders he worked for as well as command sergeants major who worked for him, SNCO leaders “whose wisdom, loyalty, and fierce dedication helped shape my view of true leadership. They weren't just senior enlisted advisors. They were battle buddies, they were partners in command –– they were friends I could count on, without question,” Hertling writes.

“Many of these military friendships were forged in combat. And that matters. War, in all its chaos and clarity, forces you to strip away the unimportant and rely on the person beside you. You see people not for their rank but for their soul. That crucible of shared danger and absolute dependence creates a bond that outlasts distance, time, and even silence. These are life-bonds-brotherhoods and sisterhoods born of trust under fire. They are evergreen. 

But most people, thankfully, won't need war to discover those kinds of relationships. They find true and trusted friends in the combat of daily life. The crucible doesn't have to be courage shown in combat. 

Sometimes it's just the courage to give of yourself to others-truthfully and with candor-trusting someone else with your thoughts, sharing the parts of your heart that you can only share with a friend.”

He offers gifts of advice throughout the book.

For example…

• It’s OK to cry. “Here’s the deal: Emotion is the full spectrum of what it means to be alive –– and to love others more than yourself.”
• “Self-awareness and empathy aren’t soft skills, they’re core skills.”
• “Be a friend to all by being yourself –– no false airs.”
• “Leadership, like war, is a cumulative endeavor. You don't arrive on the battlefield—or at any new job—with a blank slate. You bring everything with you—the training, the scars, the questions you asked and the ones you were too afraid to. And if you're lucky, you bring the wisdom earned through experience and some of the scar tissue you've endured.”
• Hertling asserts, “Leadership is love in public. It is the steady choice to put people and purpose ahead of ego. It is the discipline of humility and the courage of beliefs. It is the willingness to widen the circle of responsibility until it includes not only ‘your’ people but the ones you once called ‘other.’”
• On what it means to be a man, Hertling writes, “A real man proves his masculinity by being considerate, protective, concerned, and confident –– and by demonstrating it.” [Core values > Testosterone tests.]
• A military career usually affords many moves, including often to foreign cultures, which is a gift in itself: an opportunity to experience diversity in life. “Differences are not threats to be judged –– they are windows into the should of different and unique people.”
• Hertling observes, “Humans are astonishingly diverse yet fundamentally similar.” He notes that Shalom and Salaam mean the same thing: “Peace be unto you.”
• He quotes Mark Twain with this advice: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Travel, Hertling says helps you “begin to appreciate, nuance, complexity, and the truth that your way is not the only way.”

Hertling says self-reflection is the key to personal development. He reflects further on life lessons and the importance of military families’ dedication:

“Looking back across the arc of my tours, as well as the continuous wars we fought at the beginning of the twenty-first century, I'm struck by how much changed—in me, in our army, and in our families. And how much good leadership and caring for each other mattered. Desert Storm taught me how to fight. The time in Baghdad taught me how much I didn't know. The surge taught me how to lead through complexity—how to integrate force with purpose, how to trust partners, how to adapt daily to the terrain of war and the human terrain of recovery. Those conflicts also taught military families a lot. It was the most challenging thing in my life and in the lives of most of the soldiers and family members I know. And it remains the most defining for all of us. All this taught me something about trust about purpose and about the quiet burden of leadership. But I also learned a lot about resilience and the power of families.”

Good leaders never dismiss the concerns of military families for their service members.

Hertling riffs briefly on President George Washington’s “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation,” seeing the same humor along with some still-timely truths in George’s advice just as we saw in an earlier Navy Reads post.

Included in his sometimes random thoughts are extended discourses on MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and music appreciation: He loves the Eagles but New Kids on the Block … not so much.

On the serious side, he reflects on the importance of ongoing planning instead of relying just on a plan [some advice that seems very pertinent to whatever “planning” went into the Iran War.]

“What I've learned, and what I hope shows in this reflection, is something even more profound: Sometimes the plans don't matter— but the planning always does. 

There's a story I like that captures this lesson. In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy suspected the Soviets were preparing some type of provocation in Berlin. Concerned but unsure of what was coming, he asked the Pentagon to develop a series of potential responses, what the military calls an action-reaction-counteraction series of drills. 

When those potential action-reaction-counteraction plans were complete and briefed to the President, Kennedy—aware of his own limitations as a junior naval officer during WWII –– asked the planners to brief someone with deeper experience in strategic decision-making: former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

So, the planners went to Gettysburg. 

In Ike's quiet farmhouse near a battlefield where another kind of crisis had once played out during the Civil War, these senior officers briefed Eisenhower on their assumptions and options. They laid out potential Soviet scenarios: an armored push through the Fulda Gap, economic pressure, nuclear signaling, political propaganda campaigns. 

At the end of the briefing, one of the officers asked, ‘Mr. President, based on what we've told you, what do you think the Soviets are going to do?’ Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander who’d planned D-Day and led Allied forces in WWII, and who had been the president for eight years, paused. Then, he reportedly replied succinctly, ‘I don't really know what they're going to do. But remember—your plans mean nothing, but your planning means everything.’ 

One of the plans the Pentagon officers hadn't considered was that the Soviets would build a wall around Berlin.”

EiOn the need for planning instead of reliance on intelligence and plans, Hertling writes, “(Clausewitz) said that the smart Soldier does not put any faith in the intelligence by staff officers about the progress of the battle because most times it’s just flat wrong!”

Yesterday, Hertling wrote for the Bulwark in response to President Trump’s threat expressed to a FOX News reporter, “If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump said. 

Hertling’s essay of August 18, 2026 is titled, “Who Would Want to Be Friends with America Now,” written in the wake of Trump’s threat to Oman, his directive to cancel Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises with South Korea, his embrace of North Korea’s dictator, and his tariffs against key allies (not to mention his threats to invade Greenland, take over Canada and make the Strait of Hormuz "new American territory").

In part, Hertling writes this about Trump’s vulgar threat to Oman: "The president is threatening to bomb a country that for nearly half a century has quietly provided the United States with military access, logistical support, diplomatic assistance, and something increasingly rare in the Middle East: the ability to communicate with friends as well as enemies. For decades, Oman hasn’t been in the way, it has often been the way.

Hertling warns about a president’s power to destroy alliances. “That destruction rarely occurs with a formal announcement. More often, trust corrodes incrementally. An exercise is canceled. An ally is publicly berated. An adversary is praised. A partner wonders whether Washington will respond to help during a crisis. Another begins looking elsewhere for security or diplomatic support. And America loses a partner, an ally, or a friend.”

Questions:

• Will Congress or the 25th Amendment stop Trump from losing allies and friends?
• Why did Donald Trump say recently that families are not concerned about their Sailors welfare?
• Why did he say the USS Lincoln’s Carrier Strike Group 3 (CSG-3) deployment was “not nearly long enough”?
• Why does Secretary Pete Hegseth say the Navy can remain near the Hormuz Strait “indefinitely”?
• Did Trump and Hegseth plan for destruction of logistics basing in the region?
• Why is Trump praising North Korea’s leader –– a dictator who is helping Russia against Ukraine, who supports Iran, and who once called Trump a “dotard”?

Most importantly, What trust is there in the quality of Trump’s “proper prior planning”?

Black-and-white photo above: Former President Dwight Eisenhower (right) meets with Republican leaders at his farm at Gettysburg. Future president Gerald Ford (a Navy World War II Veteran), who was then the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, sits far left. (Eisenhower National Historic Site)

Who Could Be Against Trump?

By Bill Doughty

Hundreds of former national security leaders –– from both Republican and  Democratic administrations –– signed a stark warning letter to the nation last month, citing about ex-President Trump, “He has shown no remorse for trying to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th, promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators, and has made clear he will not respect the results of the 2024 election should he lose again. That alone proves Mr. Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.”

Project 2025 was the must-read of the summer, and now this letter is a must-read for autumn, just a few weeks before the election. The lead signature is from Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith, USN (Ret), President of National Security Leaders for America.

Signatories include former SECDEFs Chuck Hagel, William Cohen, Leon Panetta, and William Perry as well as seven Senate-confirmed military service secretaries. The officials and senior officers called former President Donald J. Trump "impulsive," "ill-informed" and “unfit” to serve again as commander in chief.

They condemn his promise to “terminate” parts of the Constitution, his constant lying, and his role in the January 6, 2021 attempt to overturn the previous election and his “promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators.”

The letter includes signatures from three former acting service secretaries, former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Among the more than 740 Americans who signed the letter are service members, civilians, and military spouse representatives. There are at least 63 Navy and 18 Marine Corps retirees who endorse Harris over Trump

Many Republicans have denounced Trump, with most pledging support to Kamala Harris for President. Notably, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Representative Liz Cheney announced their endorsement of Harris. Liz Cheney is former House GOP conference chair and was the #3 Republican in the House of Representatives until she turned against Trump and helped lead a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2001 (J6) insurrection, consequently becoming a victim of MAGA retaliation.

Now Liz Cheney joins former Trump White House aides Alyssa Farah Griffin, Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews today in Pennsylvania to campaign against Trump, noting, according to reports, his threat to democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution. Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci has issued similar warnings about another Trump presidency, and is actively supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Recently, retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, writing in a New York Times OpEd, “Ms. Harris has the strength, the temperament and, importantly, the values to serve as commander in chief.” He added, “I have cast my vote for character, and that vote is for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

In 2020, Admiral William McRaven, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, warned the nation about a second Trump administration and what it would mean for the future of the country: “When good men and women can't speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.”

In another editorial about Trump, McRaven addressed him directly and wrote, "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.” Both McRaven and Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, condemn Trump for his lack of character, his failure to uphold his oath to the Constitution, his affection for dictators and autocrats, and his antagonism of Allies and alliances.

Late Senator John McCain’s family have joined former members of Trump’s own administration –– including VP Pence, SECDEF Gen. Mattis, SECDEF Esper, CoS Gen. Kelly, NSA John Bolton, and CJCS Gen. Milley –– in condemning Trump for his role in the J6 insurrection coup attempt, threat to national security, and lack of stability. For his part, Trump threatens to retaliate against his critics both in government and in the media.

Next week, Bob Woodward’s new book, “War,” will hit book shelves, reporting on Trump’s “romance” with Russia’s Putin expanding on allegations of Russia’s help in Trump’s 2016 election when Trump, “Russia if you’re listening…” and publicly siding with Putin over his own Intelligence officers. Woodward reports that Trump secretly sent Covid-19 testing equipment directly to Putin in the early weeks of the 2020 pandemic, even though there was a shortage and need for testing in the United States. Trump denied the report, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that the tests had been sent to Putin. It seems Woodward has written another must-read for this year.

Putin is a Cartoon. Literally

Review by Bill Doughty––

Russia’s President Putin is a cartoon in the seriously insightful “Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin” by Andrew S. Weiss and Brian “Box” Brown, First Second, 2022).

Like the best graphic novels and graphic nonfiction, much is communicated in few words. For example ––

• “For Russia, geography is destiny”: With no natural defenses including oceans, unlike the United States, “Russia safeguarded its security through conquest and territorial expansion.”
• Quoting Gene Sharp, author of “The Politics of Nonviolent Action”: “Dictators are never as strong as they tell you they are, and people are never as weak as they think they are.”
• Fomenting fear, conspiracies, and disinformation: “Russian leaders simply can’t accept that brave people sometimes shape history all on their own.”
• Again quoting Sharp: “The extreme repression comes when a dictatorship really is frightened and therefore they act ruthlessly.”
• Irony: In May 2007 in a Victory Day speech in Moscow, Putin said, “We have a duty to remember that the causes of any war lie above all in the mistakes and miscalculations of peacetime.”
• Putin compared the United States to Nazi Germany and said, “These new threats, just as under the Third Reich, show the same contempt for human life.” Irony meets hypocrisy (condemning “contempt for human life”) when considering what Putin is doing to the people of Ukraine.

Weiss’s insights are succinct but deep. Brown’s simple art is both evocative and informative.

This book follows the rise of Putin from childhood to KGB apparatchik in East Germany, to Communist Party hack, to opportunistic sycophant, to power-mad leader. Picturing Russian history, Weiss and Brown show how Putin put forth grandiose ideas for restoring the “glory” of the Russian Empire and Russian Orthodox Christianity. Nearly 40 years ago, in 1989, Russian territory covered “one-sixth of the earth’s landmass.”

Faith in Russia’s system of nepotism, cronyism, and corruption is baked into its history, where serfdom was a close equivalent to slavery. The czar and the State were held above the individual or rule of law.

Putin’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014 were telling signs that he would commit further international crimes. “Territorial expansion is at the core of Russia’s national identity,” according to Weiss.

We learn about the roles of a whole host of characters who endorsed Putin: former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Alexandr Torshin and Maria Butina, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, evangelist Franklin Graham, actor Steven Seagal, Republican representative Steve King, and Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

Putin v. McCain

On the other side, we see Putin’s nemeses, including former President Barack Obama, entertainers Pussy Riot, philanthropist George Soros, and late Senator John McCain, who was a “perennial nemesis of Putin.” Navy hero McCain was pro-Ukraine and pro-democracy; he saw Putin as an autocratic war criminal.

The late former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright endorsed: “Accidental Czar is an absorbing and visually stunning account of Vladimir Putin’s rise and take-no-prisoners approach to wielding power on the world stage. Andrew S. Weiss and Brian Brown have made one of the most consequential stories of our time more accessible and engaging for readers of all backgrounds. I would urge anyone who wants to better understand the forces shaping modern Russia, and disrupting our world, to open up this extraordinary book.”

Fiona Hill offers this endorsement: “This biography of Vladimir Putin deftly combines entertainment and serious analysis. Renowned Russia scholar Andrew S. Weiss and artist Brian Brown have found the perfect means to introduce the complexities of Russian politics and Putin’s peculiarities to a new set of audiences. Everyone should have a copy of Accidental Czar on their bookshelf.” Hill is senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of "Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin." (She also authored the brilliant “There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century.”)

“Accidental Czar” is also blurbed by other notable thinkers, including former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, former President Bush speechwriter David Frum, conservative historian Max Boot, and New Yorker staff writer Susan B. Glasser. Author Gary Shteyngart blurbs: “A witty and comprehensive takedown of the annoying Putin-is-a-genius myth.”

In fact, Weiss and Brown show how Putin the cartoon is actually a deranged, dangerous, and destructive war criminal.