Lebanon, America, and Politics

I just read an article by Thomas L. Friedman, who is an opinion columnist for the New York Times … and I felt it was vitally important to share what he had to say.

He began by recounting the recent explosion in Lebanon and then remarked how so many of the people immediately asked, not so much about what happened, but who did it. And more importantly, what political advantage did they gain from the event.

He then went on to point out how these questions demonstrate several similarities between the United States, Lebanon, and other Middle East countries. Of course our natural reaction is, “What similarities! The U.S. isn’t anything like the Middle East!”

I’ll let Friedman answer …

The United States is becoming like Lebanon and other Middle East countries in two respects. First, our political differences are becoming so deep that our two parties now resemble religious sects in a zero-sum contest for power. They call theirs “Shiites and Sunnis and Maronites” or “Israelis and Palestinians.” We call ours “Democrats and Republicans,” but ours now behave just like rival tribes who believe they must rule or die.

Everything is now politics — even the climate, even energy, even face masks in a pandemic.

And when everything becomes politics — and power — a society (and certainly a democracy) eventually dies.

There is no center, there are only sides; there’s no truth, there are only versions; there are no facts, there’s only a contest of wills. 

Friedman goes on to compare Trump with Bibi Netanyahu in Israel, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey and Vladimir Putin in Russia and points out how these leaders:

… deliberately try to undermine the guardians of facts and the common good. Their message to their people is: “Don’t believe the courts, the independent civil servants or the fake news generators — only trust me, my words and my decisions.” It’s a jungle out there. My critics are killers (which is what Trump called his press corps on Friday), and only I can protect our tribe from theirs. 

There’s much more, including how Trump has met his match in Mother Nature and  COVID-19. No matter how hard he’s tried to discredit and deflect the pandemic by making it about politics, he has utterly failed.

I urge — yea, implore — you to read the article if for no other reason than to see how extremely important it is that we change the leadership in this country on November 3rd.

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Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Putin Would Be So Proud

I wasn’t going to write a post on the protests and riots that are and have been going on for the past few days, but Heather Cox Richardson’s very first sentence in her latest newsletter triggered an immediate reaction in me. See if it affects you as well …

Trump began the day with a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She goes on to write about Trump’s 55-minute call to the governors in which he tells them they have to “dominate” … to “arrest people” … to “track people” …  and to “put them in jail for 10 years.”

Am I the only one who senses a connection with Trump’s first phone call of the day?

He went on to tell the governors …

You know when other country’s (sic) watch this, they’re watching this, the next day wow, they’re really a push over. And we can’t be a push over. 

Other countries? Or perhaps one particular one?

Also on the call was Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, who echoed Trump, telling the governors, “We need to dominate the battle space.” (The battle space?)

Later on in her newsletter, Heather added this comment (my emphasis) …

A reminder: we do not yet know who is behind the looting and violence, although a number of videos have shown white instigators. The political affiliation of those rioters is not clear, despite the statements of Trump and Attorney General Barr that they are “radical leftists.”

One of Heather’s final remarks was related to the attacks on journalists during these protests. She points out this is a “key sign of authoritarian regimes.”

And then I saw this from CNBC (which you must read) …

Trump personally thanked himself on Twitter for what he said was the “domination” and “overwhelming force” that kept relative peace on the streets.

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Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

“Today Was A Good Day”

Yes, today was a good day. A man described as the “most-wanted human rights criminal in the world, responsible for the murder, torture, rape and oppression of tens – even hundreds – of thousands of people” was eliminated.

HOWEVER, it was not, as President Trump asserts, by the action of U.S. Forces. Rather, it was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s own hand as he detonated the suicide vest he was wearing. While there is little doubt he was forced into this action as the result of a raid on his compound, it was not a direct kill.

No, this man ran for safety. And when he knew he was cornered, he took his own life. Sadly, there were children with him … and they also died.

Yet, as always, Trump has reveled in his own self-praise as he’s told the world how HE directed the kill of a major terrorist. (Although in true Trump style, he did direct a word of thanks to his buddy, Vladimir Putin.)

Undoubtedly, Trump and his sycophants will now claim the world to be a safer place without this man, but we must ask … is it?

As this article proclaims:

The Islamists are not going to disappear or give up just because Baghdadi is gone. Indeed the very same vainglorious Donald Trump who took obscene personal credit for his death has put Isis back in business by his withdrawal of American forces from Syria and giving Erdogan the green light to beat the hell out of America’s Kurdish allies. Now hundreds of hardened, trained, ruthless and cruel Isis fighters have been let loose in the region, at liberty to attack US forces and their allies wherever they find them, and to take fresh terror campaigns into Europe.

There’s little doubt that Trump believes the action he took to eliminate Baghdadi was a far bigger and more prestigious deal than that which was carried out by President Obama when he terminated Osama Bin Laden. However, what he fails to realize is that neither he nor former presidents have eliminated “the hydra of militant Islamist terror and aggression.” Just because Baghdadi is gone does not mean the Islamists are going to disappear or give up. Another leader will soon arise. To think otherwise is foolish and misguided.

The referenced article concludes:

Depressingly, we also know that Trump will milk the death of Baghdadi for all it is worth, all the way to polling day: A great day for his country, Trump said, though he meant a great day for Trump. The war on terror is not over – let alone won.

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Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay

Reblog: The Russians win round one

Another great post from one of my favorite bloggers.

I’m re-blogging it because I think it needs as much exposure as possible.

Ends and Beginnings

A President that lost the popular vote. White supremacist and Nazis marching in the streets. A transition of power beset by anti-Trump and pro-Trump demonstrations. Confederate flag supporters and the KKK speaking freely for the first time in decades. Muslim bans, transgender bans and white Evangelicals bitch slapping us with their Bibles. It doesn’t matter if Trump, his campaign, or his administration colluded with the Russians to win the election, the Russians have accomplished what they set out to do, divide, weaken and ultimately conquer the United States.

All this discord and division is exactly what the Russians were banking on and they helped pick the “winner” to lead us forward, and deeper into the mire of conflict, strife and friction, Donald J. Trump.

You see there are three super powers in this world, the United States, China, and Russia. Once upon a time the USA would have been considered…

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Reblog: I guess we should all learn to speak Russian

The title says it all.

Ends and Beginnings

“…I did not have communications with the Russians.”- Attorney General Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearings 

I got to be honest, this Trump, Trump associates, Trump cabinet picks, Putin, Russian thing is beginning to make me a little nervous. First there were questions about Trumps one-time campaign chair Paul Manafort. And then Trump’s former campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. And then Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn. And now we have a Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who the Kremlin awarded the country’s Order of Friendship in 2012. And a Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, who has invested over a billion dollars in the Bank of Cyprus, and served as its vice-chairman. A bank owned by a knownally of Russian President Putin and one that has “reportedly” bailed out our President several times but we won’t and can’t know that because, wait…

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