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The Likelihood Of Further US Engagement In Overseas Conflicts

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This author and blogger has the sense of foreboding, that the United States will soon become more involved in overseas conflicts in a more direct manner.

The Russia-Ukraine War and the Israel-Gaza Conflict are escalating dangerously, and both represent major problems for American foreign policy.

Attempting to promote more military aid to Ukraine has been a struggle, and the sense is that Russia is emboldened by the inability of the US being able to promote more aid to Ukraine, ironically likely insuring a wider conflict.

Russia is likely to attempt to expand the war against former Soviet Union held areas before 1989—Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. This would bring the US and NATO into a wider conflict.

The Israel-Gaza conflict is likely to escalate with Iranian involvement, and will put America into the cross hairs of supporting a right wing Israeli government, which has shown no concern about human rights in its war on Hamas, sadly making the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to suffer massive loss of civilians.

All that these two conflicts are doing is complicating Joe Biden’s Presidential campaign.

One would expect that there could be wider war soon, against all desires, and if that happens, as sad as that is, it would help insure Joe Biden’s victory, despite vehement anger of many, as no President has ever lost an election for another term in a time of war!

Republican Party Is Clearly Becoming Pro Russian Without Apology!

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Ever since Donald Trump became a Presidential candidate in 2015, the Republican Party has steadily moved toward a pro Russian viewpoint without apology.

Now they are openly showing that their formerly hardline view toward Russia that existed from World War II and peaked under Barry Goldwater in the 1960s and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and included Senator Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon in the 1950s, has gone into the dustbin of history.

We now have one of the two major political parties openly pro Vladimir Putin, and willing to see Russia take over Ukraine, the largest nation in Europe in land area!

This is a threat to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and many Republicans, including Donald Trump, seem ready to abandon NATO, as Trump threatened to do in his time in the Oval Office!

This should be alarming, as if Putin can take over Ukraine, then why would he stop from wishing to seize former Soviet held areas in Eastern Europe, including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and then Poland and other former Eastern European “satellites” in the Cold War Years of 1945-1991!

This is a major national security crisis, bringing America back to the isolationist era of the 1930s, when many Republicans were only too willing to ignore the threat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, leading to World War II!

To Kevin McCarthy And MAGA Republicans: NO Cut In Aid To Ukraine! :(

Ronald 6 Comments

As I write this, it seems as if we are on the road to a costly and unnecessary government shutdown on Sunday, provoked by extremist right wing MAGA Republicans, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy unwilling to resist them, and instead to make a deal with Democrats and mainstream Republicans in the House of Representatives.

McCarthy and the MAGA Republicans now want a cut in aid to Ukraine, but some House Republicans and many Senate Republicans agree with Joe Biden and the Democrats that it is essential to continue to provide aid to that nation in its struggle against Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation.

The MAGA Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, and former President Donald Trump are promoting a dangerous isolationist attitude on world affairs, much like occurred in the 1920s and 1930s.

Practing appeasement to a dictator, as with Hitler in the 1930s, and Putin now, does not lead to peace, as it emboldens such evil people, and just as World War II was the result eight decades ago, so would be the result if Ukraine is conquered, as Putin will move on to NATO nations, including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, if the US and NATO stop assisting the valiant battle of Ukraine.

So the answer to MAGA Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, and Donald Trump is NO CUT in aid to Ukraine, and the Republicans will suffer at the ballot box in November 2024!

It is tragic that there will be so much harm visited on vulnerable Americans, but in the end, Joe Biden, his party, and reasonable Senate and House Republicans must stand strong and refuse to give in!

Foreign Policy Of America In Danger From Donald Trump!

Ronald 1 Comment

American foreign policy is in great danger from the threat of Donald Trump possibly being reelected to the Presidency in 2024.

His well known admiration for authoritarians in Russia, North Korea, and China; and his hostility toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are alarm bells in the night!

His willingness to abandon Ukraine, and allow Vladimir Putin to seize more of that nation, is an encouragement that will trigger World War III, as what would stop Putin from trying to restore the old Soviet Union, by attacking Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and more territory?

America’s relationship with Asian nations, which now are 60 percent of the world’s population are also in danger!

And our relationship with Canada and Latin America would be in disarray as well!

To imagine that Trump would be President again is like imagining that Charles Lindbergh or Henry Ford had been President in the 1930s and 1940s, cozying up to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during World War II!

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has worked very hard to promote and strengthen our alliances with nations around the world, and one must remember his vast experience in foreign policy, as a US Senator, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and eight years as Vice President under Barack Obama!

84th Anniversary Of World War II Beginning A Reminder Of Need To Support Ukraine Against Russia!

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September 1, 1939 was the beginning of World War II, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

The threat of totalitarianism that Nazi Germany represented created a crisis in American foreign policy for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as isolationists strived to keep America out of World War II as not our war, since we had two great oceans that separated us from war elsewhere in the world.

Many of the isolationists were Republicans, but included naive people from all political persuasions and walks of life.

Americans did not want to get involved in the war, but eventually, it was forced upon us by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

If that had not happened, America might have faced a likely threat from European Fascism without allies.

This is important to keep in mind as the Russia-Ukraine war has ended 18 months and counting, and there is growing demand by isolationists and the right wing of the Republican Party in Congress to stop funding for Ukraine in its defense.

These critics include apologists for Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, and they seem unperturbed at the reality that Russia, if successful in Ukraine, will put its sights next on NATO nations, including particularly, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, but with grand designs to recreate the old Soviet Union before 1989!

The War In Ukraine Becomes More Painful And Real With Attack On Odesa!

Ronald 2 Comments

The Russian war on Ukraine has been going on for more than 17 months now, and that nation, the homeland of many Americans through their descendants, is suffering mightily!

This author and blogger always thought he was a descendant of Russian immigrants, not realizing that actually they were Ukranian immigrants fleeing a country that had been occupied and dominated by the Russian Czars.

Odesa, the Black Sea port, through which most grain is exported around the world, and home in the past of hundreds of thousands of Jewish families, has sustained horrendous attacks that have destroyed UNESCO World Heritage sites.

It is the ancestral home city of my ancestors, and at one point, I thought of traveling to Odesa with my older son to trace our roots, but of course, that is no longer conceivable!

Odesa has been compared to New York City in its Jewish population totals in its past before World War II, and it has warm weather similar to Miami, Florida in the summer months, making it a tourist mecca in the past.

The news of the tragedy of Odesa, along with the continuing attack and forced migration of millions of Ukranians to other nations in Eastern Europe, is heartbreaking in a very personal manner!

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the courageous Ukranian President, who has been compared to Winston Churchill and Great Britain in World War II, has proved to be a world statesman, and appreciates what the United States and the NATO alliance is providing to his nation to resist the Russian aggression.

The Biden Administration and principled Republicans in both houses of Congress have backed sustained aid to Ukraine, seeing it as a test to stop Russian aggression against its former neighbors which used to be part of the forced Soviet Union from 1945-1989.

But at the same time, Donald Trump and his minions have no concern about Ukraine’s fate, and wouuld have no issue over Russia seizing that nation, a shocking situation of support of Vladimir Putin and his murderous regime.

The future of Ukraine is a warning sign of Putin’s intentions to retake military control of former forced allies, including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and other nations in eastern Europe.

The fear is that World War III is in the offing, but this author and blogger is strong in his conviction that the Western world cannot abandon Ukraine, so even more aid and support is needed!

America’s Relation With World Conflict Began On This Day In 1917, And Now Facing New World Conflict!

Ronald 3 Comments

On this day, April 6, 1917, 105 years ago, America left its isolationist heritage, and began its relation with world conflict, as Congress voted American entrance into World War I.

Woodrow Wilson had wished to keep America at peace, but war was forced upon him by the actions of Imperial Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II.

After World War I, America went back into isolationism, but the rise of Nazism and Fascism forced America and its President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, into World War II in 1941, against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan.

Isolationism would never fully revive again, as America entered the challenges of the Cold War against the Soviet Union from 1945-1991.

Once the Soviet Union collapsed, it was thought America was free of foreign conflict, but international terrorism woke us up in 2001.

And now, the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin has begun waging war against Ukraine, including war crimes, massacre, and genocide.

It places the United Nations organization, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United States as a world leader to have to consider going into what might become World War III, a horrifying thought.

But it seems clearly, to this blogger and author, that ultimately, Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine, but will very likely attack NATO nations, including the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and Poland at some point, and the US and NATO will need to respond to attacks on their allies.

Nuclear war is a possibility, horrendous thought, but in the end, a bully must be stopped, or he becomes a worst, more dangerous bully!

So it seems highly likely that Joe Biden will have to do what Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt did, take America into a world war!

Joe Biden’s State Of The Union Address Inspiring And Motivational On Ukraine And Domestic Agenda!

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President Joe Biden gave an inspiring and motivational speech last night, with his first State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress.

Biden made clear of our commitment to help Ukraine short of a direct intervention, since Ukraine is not part of NATO.

But US troops and equipment is right next to the Russian border in Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, and if Vladimir Putin sends his Russian troops into any of these NATO nations, automatically, the US is in war, which could include nuclear potential!

Biden also emphasized the need for the remainder of his domestic agenda, the “Build Back Better” bill, although he did not use that term.

This speech demonstrated without question that Joe Biden has command of the facts and details, and is perfectly able to make smart and sensible judgments, despite right wing talk radio and Fox News Channel and other right wing cable sites claiming otherwise.

In a time of danger, America and the world are fortunate to have Joe Biden at the helm of leadership!

Russian War On Ukraine, The Beginning Of What Could Become World War III! :(

Ronald 9 Comments

In the last 24 hours, Russia has gone to war against Ukraine, what could be the beginning of World War III! 🙁

While the United States will not send combat troops into Ukraine to help that nation, the fear is real that Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation will see the occupation of Ukraine as the first step to dismantle the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has taken in 15 nations that were once part of the Soviet orbit before 1991!

Four of these nations in NATO border on the Russian Federation, while others border on Ukraine.

Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have direct boundaries with Russia, and Rumania, Slovakia, and Hungary border on Ukraine.

American combat troops would be required to intervene if any NATO nation is attacked, and the danger of nuclear weapons is also a major concern.

Also, with the Russian seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in the first day of the Ukraine-Russia war, the danger of leakage of nuclear radiation is a real threat to the entire European continent.

So we are entering a major change in Europe, the greatest since World War II ended in 1945!

Joe Biden Becomes A Wartime President, Will Change The Equation On His Presidency!

Ronald 2 Comments

Sadly, but unavoidably, Joe Biden has become a wartime President, which will change the equation on his Presidency.

In the midst of so many issues and controversies facing the 46th President, the issue of foreign policy and war has reared its ugly head.

Joe Biden and NATO must meet the Russian Federation threat of Vladimir Putin, with his invasion of Ukraine, before it becomes a further invasion of NATO nations, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, or Poland.

This situation will have a dramatic effect on so many areas, beyond international affairs, as it is likely to have a deleterious effect on the economy, and will likely cause new debate about the old isolationist arguments of the past.

The danger of a real third World War is omnipresent, and the national security of America, as well as their NATO partners, is under threat.

And sadly, the conservative right wing is amazingly pro Russian, mind boggling to have Fox News Channel and its despicable talk show hosts embracing Putin, and showing no concern over the future of Ukraine.

So the Republican Party faces a crossroads on this matter, as to whether they are prepared to embrace this extremist viewpoint favoring Russia.

It will be a major factor in the politics of 2022 and 2024!