Great Britain

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!

Joe Biden Interview With Fareed Zakaria Of CNN A Homerun!

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President Joe Biden just had an extensive interview with Fareed Zakaria of CNN, and it clearly was a homerun.

Biden was very clear, concise and on target regarding American foreign policy, as he is about to begin a five day trip to the NATO summit, visiting Great Britain on the way to Lithuania and then Finland, to promote increased support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Biden spoke about relations with China, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, along with Ukraine, and he demonstrated the tremendous advantage he has over anyone else in knowledge of American foreign policy.

Biden has had more experience and contacts with foreign leaders than any American President, more than George H. W. Bush, and at least equal with Richard Nixon.

One could argue more than Nixon, as Biden was Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and between that and being Vice President under Barack Obama for eight years, he has unparalled experience, and as he likes to say, when asked about his age, he also has “wisdom”.

No one on the Republican side of the aisle can match Biden, and certainly not Donald Trump, who undermined American foreign policy in so many damaging ways in his four years in the White House!

Ron DeSantis Comes Out As Neville Chamberlain, Divides Republicans On Foreign Policy Toward Vladimir Putin

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who clearly will be announcing for President in the near future, has come out clearly against aid to Ukraine, seeing the Russia-Ukraine War as not an issue of national security for the United States.

In that regard, he is acting like Donald Trump!

In so doing, DeSantis and Trump are coming out as Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who made a deal with Adolf Hitler to give up half of Czechoslovakia in 1938 (the Munich Conference), thinking it would satisfy Hitler’s territorial demands, which was instead appeasement of a dictator.

The issue of Ukraine has divided the Republican members of the US Senate, including:

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
Mitt Romney of Utah
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
John Cornyn of Texas
John Thune of South Dakota
Marco Rubio of Florida
Mike Rounds of South Dakota
Kevin Cramer of North Dakota
Roger Wicker of Mississippi
John Kennedy of Louisiana

And there are others in the Senate who have not spoken publicly who would take the same stand, being critical of both DeSantis and Trump on Ukraine.

There are also a few House Republicans, the so called “moderates”, who would join the Senate Republicans who are in opposition.

So a major battle for the soul of the party is in process!

Two Year Anniversary Of Joe Biden Presidency: Should He Run For Second Term?

Ronald 10 Comments

Today at 12 Noon marks the two year anniversary of the Joe Biden Presidency!

Considering the difficult political circumstances, of an evenly divided Senate for only the fourth time in American history, and a five seat margin in the House of Representatives, Joe Biden accomplished a great deal in his first two years in office.

From a progressive view, he was the most successful in his first two years domestically than any President since Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s with his “Great Society” legislation, which was far greater, but with a massive margin of his party in control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Biden accomplished more than Democrats in the Presidency after Johnson, including Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and even Barack Obama, after their first two years in the Oval Office!

Foreign policy has been difficult, as it always is, but Biden’s strong support of Ukraine in its war with Russia, and backed by NATO, has been a very strong example of his promotion of democracy against totalitarianism, reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt coming to the aid of Great Britain in 1940-1941, before America’s entrance into World War II.

Having said all the above, the question now is should Joe Biden, having reached the age of 80 precisely two months ago, run for a second term, and would he win a second term?

This author and blogger has always had great and warm feelings toward Joe Biden, going back to when he gravitated toward Biden as, in my mind, the replacement in commitment and personality traits of Hubert Humphrey, who was this author’s original political “hero”!

I wish that Biden had been able to run for President in 2016, but his son Beau’s death prevented that, as I believe he would have won the nomination, and would have defeated Donald Trump, and saved America from the nightmare four years of horrendous policies and criminal actions.

Hillary Clinton had too many barriers, including controversies surrounding her and her husband, along with simply being the first woman nominee for President. Of course, Hillary Clinton still won the national popular vote by 2.85 million, and only lost because of Russian collusion with Trump that threw the Electoral College vote to him in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Even a Republican controlled Senate committee came to that conclusion, despite the continued lying and deception that continues unabated to the present.

But the present is the issue, and this author and blogger sincerely believes that while Joe Biden would win a second term, against Donald Trump or anyone else on the horizon, that for the future of the Presidency and of Joe Biden’s own lifespan, that he should announce that he will retire.

It would make him a “lameduck President”, but freed from politics of his own ego, he could be seen as a statesman, helping to bring the future of the nation toward a Democratic Party successor, who would pursue his principles, goals, and common decency and compassion!

We need a future President who has the character traits of Joe Biden, as we do not want to promote selfishness, greed, nastiness, and lack of compassion and common decency, which too many Republicans who plan to run for President, possess as their basic character traits!

This way, Joe Biden can leave office at age 82, with head held high, having accomplished a decent record under difficult circumstances, having assisted for his own succession. And he can have peace of mind, planning his own Presidential Library and Museum, writing his own memoirs, and enjoying his wife, Dr Jill Biden, and his family in a relaxed, well deserved retirement, which is likely to lead to a longer life, than having the stress of another four years in office!

He should not join the list of Presidents who either died in office or had very short retirements, such individuals as Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Lyndon B. Johnson!

So, President Biden, do what is best for you and for the nation you have served so well, and announce your decision to leave office two years from today, having insured the succession of a Democratic President who will carry on with your commitment to decency, fairness, and compassion!

Republican Party Will Follow Liz Truss Lead, And Cause Economic Crisis!

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British Prime Minister Liz Truss will go down in history as the shortest lasting government in British history, 45 days, and now, there is talk of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was a true disaster, and too much like Donald Trump, might come back to office.

The Conservative Party of Great Britain is in free fall, but they do not have to call for a new election for two years, so difficult times are ahead, whether or not Johnson returns to power!

But yet, the Republican Party in American politics seems ready to go down as the British equivalent of an economic disaster, if they gain control of either or both houses of Congress in the Midterm Elections of 2022!

Liz Truss tried to follow the old “supply side Economics” of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, copied by former President Ronald Reagan. The goal was to lower taxes on the wealthy, and cut social spending, and it hit the middle and lower classes in both Great Britain and America hard in the 1980s.

The national debt tripled in America, and there was lots of corruption in the Reagan Administration, but it is glorified by conservatives, who also loved when George W. Bush and Donald Trump gave even more massive tax cuts to the wealthy.

So if Kevin McCarthy and his ilk gain control, they will promote more tax cuts to the wealthy, while setting out to destroy the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans’ benefits.

So while there are troubles with inflation, if the American people vote in a Republican Congress, they will discover the disaster that Great Britain is now experiencing!

Volodymyr Zelensky Of Ukraine Is New Winston Churchill, Inspiring Fight For Democracy In Same Manner!

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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has become an international hero, a man of deep convictions in democracy, a man of courage and decisiveness.

A former comedian, who engaged in politics only in 2019, when he was elected President, he has refused in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to escape the capital of Kiev, putting himself and his family in great danger.

But he realizes the only hope to rally the Ukranians against the Russian aggressor is to stay in his nation, and resist to the end, even if it might lead to his demise.

Zelensky is Jewish, and his family heritage was of relatives killed in the Nazi Holocaust in World War II, and he does his family heritage proud with his strong leadership.

He has made addresses to the US Congress, the British Parliament, the German Bundestag, and the European Parliament, and his speeches invoke important moments in the history of these international institutions.

Zelensky has also visited hospitals to award medals to the wounded patriots, and has inspired a fierce resistance by Ukranians that Vladimir Putin never imagined would occur.

Zelensky reminds many of Winston Churchill in 1940, as Nazi Germany assaulted Great Britain by air, utilizing much the same language as the esteemed British leader in World War II.

The hope is that Ukraine will survive the Russian onslaught, and that NATO will come to the rescue soon, at a much greater involvement than presently.

A Very Emotional Time With Many Thoughts Which Will Require Time To Process

Ronald 10 Comments

The last 48 hours have been the most emotional roller coaster imaginable!

It began with great excitement as Georgia saw the victory of both Democratic Senate candidates, the Reverent Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff, marking the first African American Senator from a Deep South state since Reconstruction, and the first Jewish Senator in the history of the state.

It also meant that the Democrats would control the US Senate under new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and that Joe Biden would be able to have more success with a Congress controlled by his party, even if paper thin control.

But then, we had the first attack on the US Capitol Building, the home of Congress, since the British attacked on August 24, 1814 during the War of 1812, and done by a right wing Fascist terrorist, insurrectionist group of Donald Trump supporters, and egged on by Trump himself, as well as his son, Donald Trump, Jr. and Rudy Giuliani, former NYC Mayor. These three men are guilty of treason and sedition and need to be held accountable!

The Capitol was defiled, and our national security was in danger, and it caused America to be ridiculed in the eyes of the world, which have seen America as the image of democracy being threatened by an egomaniac who wanted absolute power!

So even though at this writing, there are only 13 days to the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the push is on to impeach and remove the President, a second attempt, or to invoke the 25th Amendment, with great pressure being brought on Vice President Mike Pence by Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to prod the Trump Cabinet to join him in taking the Presidency away from Trump, and giving the authority for the remaining days of this term to Mike Pence.

There will be much need to process these events, as the nation and its future remain at risk, as this author and blogger publishes this entry!

Christopher Wray, Gina Haspel, Michael Rogers And Dan Coats, Heads Of Intelligence Agencies, Strongly Disagree With Donald Trump On Major National Security Threats

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The heads of the national intelligence agencies testified in open session before Congressional committees on Tuesday, and warned of the dangers to national security that exist in an unsafe world.

Christopher Wray, head of the FBI; Gina Haspel, head of the CIA; Michael Rogers, head of the NSA; and Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, warned that America faced great threats from Russia, China, North Korea, ISIS, and Iran, making clear that they did not agree with President Donald Trump, who has undermined all intelligence, and says none of these nations and forces, except for Iran, are a threat.

Ironically, the three Intelligence heads said Iran is actually keeping the nuclear agreement that Donald Trump has given up, despite the support of the Western democratic nations–Great Britain, France, and Germany–for continuation of that agreement.

The “love affair” of Trump for Kim Jong Un; the trust and secret meetings that Trump has had with Vladimir Putin; the rocky relationship between the US and China; and the attitude that ISIS is no longer a threat in the Middle East, are alarming, and yet all Trump says in response to the intelligence conclusions is to say that these people need to go back to school.

It is Trump who is truly dangerous and too trusting of authoritarian nations, when he has no experience, no background, no knowledge on international relations, and is causing undue threats to the future of American foreign policy as a result.

Instead, Trump sees the Border Wall issue with Mexico as more of a national security threat, when none of the intelligence agencies see any threat on the Southern border, and dismiss the whole issue of the Border Wall as unnecessary.

We have a President who is truly warped in his views, dangerous to the nation, and could be leading us down a road toward true disaster, which could be far worse than September 11.

And we have to wonder why he engages in secret diplomacy without translators or note takers in meetings, many unreported, with Putin, and it all makes one think of the film from 1962, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.

We cannot afford to have such an uneducated and morally and ethically challenged President as Donald Trump in authority much longer, without a disastrous effect on America and its future.

Even Mike Pence, with all of his horrible social views on many issues, cannot be imagined to be likely to follow the same foreign policy as Trump, were he to succeed to the Presidency. We are at a point where he may be the only likely alternative, but better for American national security and safety than Donald Trump.

Donald Trump Has Gone Bonkers By His Action To Withdraw US Forces Fighting ISIS In Syria

Ronald 5 Comments

The absolutely worst moments of Donald Trump’s Presidency are upon us.

Trump, totally ignorant and clueless on American foreign policy, has ordered the complete, rapid withdrawal of all US forces from Syria, at a time when ISIS is still a threat, and many enemies gain by our withdrawal.

Russia, Iran, Turkey, the murderous regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the terrorist group Hezbollah all gain.

The NATO allies–Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada and the rest–, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Kurdish allies who are anti Turkish and anti Assad, all are major losers.

Total disarray and gains for authoritarian governments is the result, and we will rue the day that we decided to leave the fight against ISIS, which is not yet totally defeated.

This is all part of a clear plan by Trump to help his friend Vladimir Putin, and Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and ironically, the major enemy of Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Our President is clearly a menace, and many Republicans, including Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Jeff Flake of Nebraska, are coming out of the woodwork to express their disgust and disdain of what the President is doing.

This is the time for James Mattis, Secretary of Defense; Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State; and John Bolton, National Security Adviser, all of whom were strong supporters of remaining in Syria, to announce their mass resignation, and call for Donald Trump to resign.

As I finish this essay, Mattis has announced his resignation, making ever more dangerous the reality that there are no real “adults'” advising Trump on military policy.

Meanwhile, the stock market has been in free fall, and it looks as if the government will be shut down over Christmas, due to the insistence of Donald Trump that there be a 2,000 mile built across our boundary with Mexico, an insane and wasteful idea that will not guarantee security.

It is time for Vice President Mike Pence to speak out against the President, and show some guts and courage to speak his mind.

Is George H. W. Bush The “Best” One Term President In American History, Surpassing James K. Polk, And What About Jimmy Carter?

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Now that George H. W. Bush is part of American history, the question arises whether he should be judged the “best” one term President in American history.

We have had the following 12 one term elected Presidents who finished their term, but were not given a second term:

John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Martin Van Buren
James K. Polk
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Rutherford B. Hayes
Benjamin Harrison
William Howard Taft
Herbert Hoover
Jimmy Carter
George H. W. Bush

Eight of them, all but Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, and Hayes were defeated for reelection, with those four choosing not to run, and all of these four, except Polk, very unpopular and aware that they were not wanted to be nominated for another term.

The usual viewpoint has been that James K. Polk, with the acquisition of the American Southwest by war with Mexico, and acquisition of the Pacific Northwest by the Oregon treaty with Great Britain, was the most successful one term President. Labeled an expansionist and an imperialist by many, the fact that he presided over the greatest expansion of US territory since Thomas Jefferson, has helped him to be regarded by scholars as a “successful” President, rated 12 to 14 in scholarly polls.

Now, some are saying that George H. W. Bush may be greater than Polk, due to his foreign policy accomplishments in particular, including the end of the Cold War, the unification of Germany, and the Persian Gulf War, along with his domestic policies of “A Thousand Points Of Light”, and the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Some on this list, including Van Buren, Pierce, Buchanan, Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Taft, and Hoover are seen in a poor light, while J. Q. Adams is seen as not having succeeded in his one term, although a great man, and his father, John Adams, criticized for the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, curbing civil liberties during his term.

The only other one term President who could be seen as competing would be Jimmy Carter, with his Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, the Panama Canal Treaty, his Human Rights advocacy, his creation of new cabinet agencies (Departments of Education, Health And Human Services, Energy), and his exceptional record on the environment, but his negatives, including high inflation, the Iranian hostage crisis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Cuban Mariel Boat Lift all help to undermine his case.

So, one could argue that Polk and Bush may be competitive as the “best” one term elected President, without a clear cut answer to the question of who was the better President.

It might be best to say that Polk was the best 19th century one term elected President, while Bush was the best 20th century one term elected President, with Jimmy Carter as the runner up in that regard.