War and Conflict

One of the more bizarre indications that Trump Washington is interested in the Arctic was made a year ago when he said he would like to buy Greenland, a vast territory that is administered by Denmark.

Since its illegal formation in 1993 in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations, the Hague Tribunal, also known as International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and by its acronym ICTY, has served as a battering ram for knocking down international law and, just as importantly, procedure (and here).

More than two years ago, in May 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally walked away from the international nuclear accord with Iran signed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. President Trump derided the deal as the “worst ever” and proceeded to re-impose crippling U.S. sanctions on Iran.

One of the comments made following Trump’s decision to relocate some 12,000 troops from Germany was made by retired Admiral James (‘Zorba’) Stavridis, who in 2009-2013 was U.S. Supreme Allied Commander Europe (the military commander of Nato).

Many voices have been quick to enter the chorus of commentators hypothesizing the manifold possible causes of the devastating explosions which occurred on the afternoon of August 4 in Beirut which has led to mass anarchy and the surprising resignation of the government on August 11th.

After years of calling President Trump a dictator he finally gave the people what they wanted, with his administration taking a page right out of the Communist Party textbook on how to run the internet inside of one’s own country.

One might make the case that Donald Trump was elected president on the antiwar vote. Running against Hillary the Hawk it was, of course, relatively easy to position oneself as a critic of the endless wars started and sustained under the Bush and Obama administrations. Even though we Americans had heard similar noises from those very same gentlemen when they were running for office, many socially conservative voters like myself were nevertheless attracted by yet another a presidential candidate who pledged to bring home the troops and might actually have meant what he said.

The imaginary inner world of a fool is a dangerous place, especially if he happens to be the Secretary of State of the United States of America.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s July 23 speech on U.S. policy with China exposes the vast empty realm between his two ears. This man, who also served as a veteran congressman and ran the CIA for a year and a half reveals himself as so ignorant of diplomacy, history, competence and commonsense that in assessing his comments and their dire consequences it is difficult to know where to start.

India versus China, Egypt versus Ethiopia, Israel versus the Palestinians – the Water Wars are already here with U.S., yet American and European policymakers remain disastrously blind to them. This is certain to have catastrophic consequences for the wealthy, arrogant and ludicrously complacent elites of the West.

Nothing short of genius can account for losing so consistently given the enormous resources available to American forces. In light of this very low level of military competence, maybe wars are not our best choice of hobby.
– Fred Reed (who probably learned this in Vietnam)