Great Britain

The Barack Obama–Raul Castro Handshake: Much Ado Over Nothing!

Ronald 3 Comments

While at the Nelson Mandela commemoration in South Africa, Barack Obama had an opportunity to meet dozens of world leaders, some of them from democracies, and some from dictatorships.

Unfortunately, dictatorships are much more common historically and in contemporary times, than are democracies.

Richard Nixon went to China and met Mao Tse Tung.

Dwight D. Eisenhower met Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at Camp David, and John F. Kennedy met Khrushchev in Vienna.

Ronald Reagan met Afghan freedom fighters, who later became involved in promoting terrorism, including September 11.

John McCain met Moammar Gaddafi of Libya, and shook his hand.

Donald Rumsfeld met Saddam Hussein of Iraq as a emissary from Ronald Reagan.

Also, many Presidents have bowed to royal leaders, including George W. Bush with the King of Saudi Arabia, and many Presidents with the Emperor of Japan and the Queen of England.

Never was such a big deal made of these handshakes or discussions, and even summits, until suddenly, Barack Obama became President!

When he met Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, it was the worst crime of the century to the right wing whackos!

Now, Obama shook the hand of Raul Castro, who has made it clear that he is leaving power in 2018, when he will be 87, and his brother Fidel Castro, will be 92, if either is still alive.

There will be a successor government in Cuba within a few years, and there is always the chance that Cuba could undergo change and reform, and in fact, already has developed capitalism and private property, as China, for instance, has done.

Has our government, under Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, refused to deal with “evil” governments? NO in the modern era, and we are talking with Iran and North Korea at times, so why not Cuba?

After 55 years, has the embargo on Cuba changed anything in that island nation? NO, as it unites the government with its population, who are the true victims of the American blockade!

Do we blockade trade and contact with other nations of much greater importance? The answer is NO, but apparently, we must cater to three million Cuban Americans, and their leadership in the Republican Party, when it benefits no one, and is a failed policy!

It is time for rapprochement with Cuba, so that we can have an effect on its future. This is the time to start such development of relations, and forget the lobbying of right wing groups and Marco Rubio, who have no interest in planning for the future without a Castro in power!

A Very Dangerous Time: The Iran Nuclear Deal

Ronald 11 Comments

One cannot easily decide if the announcement of the Iran nuclear deal last night is a moment to celebrate or to condemn. The US, Great Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany came to an agreement which is being much questioned by many diplomatic observers.

The history of Iran’s dealings with the West makes one pause and wonder how anyone can trust the fundamentalist Islamic regime,

This is not an issue of the Iranian people, but rather the Iranian government.

With Israel and the Arab nations (including Saudi Arabia) for once in agreement, all of them alarmed at the growing influence of Iran in Syria, and their engagement with terrorist networks, the tendency would be to see any agreement with the Islamic regime as a ploy, and that we will soon face the reality that Iran is a nuclear power.

But if diplomacy does not work, then the likelihood of warfare in the Middle East beckons, and most Americans do not want our nation involved in another war.

The threat to the survival of Israel is a very worrisome aspect of all this, but it is more than that.

It is also an issue that Iran presents a threat to world peace unmatched since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 51 years ago.

The question is whether Barack Obama, John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, Joe Biden et al know what they are doing, and whether in the future, we will look back on this as another “Munich”, when Great Britain and France made an ill fated deal with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy over the future of Czechoslovakia in the fall of 1938, which did not bring peace, but instead, within a short time, the outbreak of World War II.

So the author has a very mixed feeling, and a sense of foreboding, that the future is likely to be very gloomy, and lead to a dangerous, widespread war.

Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel (Syria) Vs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld (Iraq)

Ronald 15 Comments

The tragedy of the Iraq War, an ill conceived and unnecessary war, which weakened the United States and emboldened Iran, is now haunting the Obama Administration, as it considers military intervention in Syria, as a result of the use of chemical weapons, believed to have been promoted by the government of Bashar Al Assad.

Chemical warfare is an illegal crime under international law, and a crime against humanity, and IF it is proved that Assad authorized this, rather than a renegade group, it is essential that the international community punish him for his war crime!

If nothing is done, then it will be seen as an endorsement of a war crime, a crime only done by a very small handful of government leaders in world history, including, of course, Adolf Hitler!

It will show that the world is again sitting by as they did when Hitler came to power in 1933 in what became known as Nazi Germany!

But the failures of the Iraq War, including the human cost and financial burden, is now burdening the Obama Administration as they plan strategy.

But to compare the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld led tragedy to what might be done under Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel is to distort reality, as the credibility of the first group is extremely different than that of the second group!

We are talking about three leaders who regularly lied to us, against four leaders with solid credentials and principles, who are reluctantly planning an intervention in a measured way!

The hypocrisy of Republicans who rushed to back the Bush Administration, while now opposing action by the Obama Administration, is nothing new, part of the continued attempt to undermine anything that Barack Obama and his colleagues want and believe in, whether domestic or foreign.

Obama wants a limited engagement, similar to Bill Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999, a 78 day bombing campaign against Serbia, with only a loss of one plane, and no human casualties.

While there is no way to know the reaction of Iran, Russia, China and others if there was an internationally led effort to punish Syria’s outlaw government, it is hard to conceive that intervention in Syria would lead to a wider war.

In any case, a chemical warfare Syria represents a threat to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and really, the civilized world, so to do nothing is simply unacceptable!

Let us pray for the good judgment of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel, as they face what could be the signature foreign policy challenge of the Obama Presidency, and hope that other nations, including Great Britain, whose Parliament just rejected any action, will come to support a necessary minimal intervention against an international outlaw government, which threatens the long range sanity of the world, if chemical warfare goes unpunished!

Analyzing The Ten “Less Than One Term” Presidents: Kennedy And Ford Stand Out!

Ronald 3 Comments

America has had 43 men serve as President of the United States over the past 224 years since George Washington was inaugurated in 1789. Ten of those Presidents, however, served less than one full term in office.

Of those ten, two served less than a year each—William Henry Harrison, one month; and James A. Garfield, six and a half months.

Of those ten, five served between 16 months and 34 months in office—Zachary Taylor, 16 months; Warren G. Harding, 29 months; Gerald Ford, 29 and a half months; Millard Fillmore, 32 months; and John F. Kennedy, 34 months.

The remaining three Presidents served more than three years, but less than four, as successors to the Presidency during the term—Chester Alan Arthur, 41 and a half months; Andrew Johnson, 46 and a half months; and John Tyler, 47 months.

Five of these ten Presidents died in office—Harrison, Taylor, Garfield, Harding, and Kennedy, with Harrison, Taylor and Harding dying of natural causes, and Garfield and Kennedy being assassinated.

One President succeeded after the resignation of the sitting President, Ford after Richard Nixon left office facing an impeachment trial due to the Watergate Scandal.

Five of these Presidents finished the term of the previous President—Tyler, Fillmore, Johnson,. Arthur, and Ford, and none were elected to the White House.

Which of these Presidents made a difference?

John Tyler brought about the acquisition of Texas during his time in office, along with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain, dealing with Canadian boundary issues.

Millard Fillmore brought about the delay of the Civil War by his agreement to sign the Compromise of 1850, and sent Commodore Matthew Perry to open up Japan to the Western world, although by the time Perry made contact with Japan, Franklin Pierce had become President.

Chester Alan Arthur signed into law the first Civil Service Reform bill for the federal government, the Pendleton Act.

Warren G. Harding pardoned Socialist Party leader Eugene Debs from prison for having violated the Espionage and Sedition Acts during World War I; and an important treaty, the Washington Naval Agreements, was negotiated by his Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes, the future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the 1930s.

John F. Kennedy was the most accomplished, responsible for actions promoting civil rights; negotiating the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; promoting the Peace Corps; advancing the US Space program to land a man on the moon; and avoiding nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, which undermined his popularity, but is now seen as having been the correct action to move the country away from the Watergate Scandal; resolved the Magaguez Affair with Cambodia, with the successful return of the hostages of that US Navy ship by direct action of the US Marines; and appointed long time Associate Justice John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court, a great influence on the Court for 35 years.

The three shortest term Presidents had little impact, with only Garfield regarded as a major loss, since his education and his accomplishments, both politically and intellectually, made him seem a person who might have had a dramatic effect on the Presidency, had he lived to serve a full term.

The leading tragedy of these ten “less than one term” Presidents clearly was Andrew Johnson, who pursued a confrontational policy with Congress, showed intense racism in his approach to the issue of how African Americans should be treated in the post Civil War South, and faced impeachment and trial (which was unjust), but was caused to a great extent by his horrible relationship with the Republican majority in both houses of Congress.

If one was to rank where these ten Presidents belong in ratings in history, one just needs to look at the C-Span poll of 42 Presidents by 64 scholars, conducted in 2009 as George W. Bush left office.

What we find is the following rankings:

Kennedy—-6
Ford—22
Garfield—28
Taylor—29
Arthur—32
Tyler—35
Fillmore—37
Harding—38
Harrison—39
Johnson—41

Of course, listing Harrison and even Garfield may seem silly to many, since their tenure in office was so short, but it is interesting that Garfield’s potential and promise as a possible full term President is the idea now being promoted by scholars, who see him as a particularly tragic loss.

In the long run, it is clear that Kennedy and Ford will always stand out as the two best “less than one term” Presidents, with Garfield’s potential also significant, and otherwise, Tyler, Fillmore and Arthur having the greatest impact in their times. Harrison and Taylor had little impact, mostly remembered for their military exploits as President. Harding is still regarded as the worst President of the 20th century, particularly because of the massive political scandals in his administration, and Johnson is just seen as a total disaster, only standing above hapless full term President James Buchanan, so Harding and Johnson are seen as “failures”!

So this is the analysis of our ten “less than one term” Presidents!

John F. Kennedy’s Two Great Speeches In Two Days: Unmatched In American History!

Ronald 3 Comments

John F. Kennedy was one of our most brilliant orators in the history of the American Presidency, but many may not have realized that he gave two speeches in two days, which rank among the greatest speeches ever delivered by an occupant of the White House!

As stated on my June 11 blog entry, Kennedy spoke up on the need for a Civil Rights law, immediately after the infamous George Wallace tried to prevent the integration of the University of Alabama earlier on that June 11, fifty years ago.

But the day before, June 10, at an American University commencement speech, only seven months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy called for peace between the superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, calling for an end to the Cold War.

Kennedy managed to accomplish, before his death that November, the accomplishment of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, with the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France, a treaty still being obeyed by the Russians today, an amazing development!

So as we near the 50th anniversary of JFK’s tragic death, we are coming to realize more than ever, even with his shortcomings and warts, just how great a leader JFK really was, on the premier issues of his time, Civil Rights and the Cold War!

Al Qaeda And Other Terrorist Groups Have Won: The Battle For Civil Liberties And Personal Freedoms Has Been Lost!

Ronald 3 Comments

This is a very depressing time in the world, with the battle against terrorism being fought, and the victims of this battle are our civil liberties and personal freedoms!

The author is in Toronto on vacation, and just read this morning of a similar eavesdropping and snooping program being exposed in Canada, as it was revealed in the past few days in the United States that the National Security Agency is engaged in such a program of all phone calls and emails and other electronic communication. And we know the same thing is going on in Great Britain, France, Australia and all other “democracies” in this world, all of which are supposedly “better” than totalitarian or dictatorial regimes, which dominate much of the world.

It is hard NOT to be depressed, and to realize that no matter how many protests we might lodge, none of what is happening will ever change, and there are bound to be innocent victims, as there were in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and in the Cold War Era, but this present war on terrorism will likely NEVER be over, and therefore, all “democratic” governments will come to dominate and monopolize our lives and freedoms!

We are in the era of “1984”, George Orwell’s realistic novel, published in 1948, and in many ways, way beyond that stage of government control and interference in our lives. No matter who is elected President in the United States, or Prime Minister in Great Britain, Canada, or Australia, or President in France, as well as other “democratic nations”, we will never regain what we had, or thought we had, and we will have to be even more concerned when a leader or a political party in any of these nations becomes the government, and is a leader or party which we do not trust, which is inevitable!

So Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have won, and continue to win, no matter how many such individuals or groups we kill or destroy!

I wish to give credit here to one of my critics on this blog, Juan Domingo Peron (the name he uses), for making me reflect and realize that while I may trust Barack Obama, I would be alarmed if George W. Bush had been the one to authorize the NSA eavesdropping, or if in the future, any conservative Republican or Libertarian were to become the leader of our nation, because as he said, nearly half the population at any time does not trust whoever our President is!

A dose of reality set in when I read what Juan said, and while I want to trust Barack Obama and his good intentions, the bureaucracy of national security makes me worry about what is being done, and the reality that someday, maybe sooner or later, a leader will emerge who I will NOT trust!

So we all need to be sober and realistic about our struggle for civil liberties and personal freedoms to be preserved in a world gone mad in the fight against terrorism!

The Boston Marathon Terrorist Attack: Another Assault On Our Freedom!

Ronald 30 Comments

The shocking terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon yesterday will transform American life in ways we cannot yet imagine, another assault on our freedom as Americans.

Until now, America has lived in a bubble, figuring that we would never face what Israel, Great Britain, India, Iraq and Afghanistan have faced, as we have been fortunate in stopping terrorist attacks on our homeland in the years since September 11.

It now means that at every sporting event and major public gathering, there will be a need for more security, some of it infuriating in nature, because of the evil forces among us who wish us harm.

We should not, however, rush to conclusions as to the source, as it could be Islamic terrorism, but could also be militia group related, reminding ourselves of the Oklahoma City terrorist attack of 1995, on nearly the same date as this one!

So in order to fight terrorism, sadly, we are forced to give up a lot of our freedom, an alarming development with no easy solution or alternative!

Margaret Thatcher: Loved By Republicans And Conservatives In America, Reviled In Her Homeland!

Ronald 39 Comments

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died yesterday at the age of 87, leaving behind her much discussion of her impact on her nation, on America, and on the world.

Without doubt, Thatcher was the most significant Prime Minister of Great Britain since Winston Churchill, and was the most significant woman leader of the 20th century anywhere in the world.

Without doubt, she transformed the world by her alliance with President Ronald Reagan, and convincing him that working with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, the Cold War could come to an end and lead to the downfall of the Soviet system in eastern Europe.

Without doubt, Thatcher had a dramatic effect on domestic politics in her country, with her strong anti labor, anti immigrant policies, gaining a reputation as the Iron Lady who never compromised on her beliefs and created great social and political turmoil that still reverberates in a nation in the midst today of a failing austerity program, that should demonstrate what America should not be doing with its own economy!

But instead of Republicans and conservatives idolizing her for her hard line economic and social policies, they should learn from her ascendancy what happened to the opposition Labour Party, which had gone too far to the left, and was brought by default to the middle of the political spectrum, ultimately leading to the triumph of Prime Minister Tony Blair and a moderated party.

And this is what the extremist right wing Republican Party of 2013 so far has failed to accept—that their party has gone off the deep end in the era of Barack Obama, the first African American President, and that they will NOT come back to power on the national level as long as they veer ever further to the far Right, allowing right wing Christianity, right wing talk show hosts, and extremists on social and economic issues to continue to wield power over their future in the form of the Tea Party Movement!

Just as Margaret Thatcher led to Tony Blair over time, Barack Obama will lead, it is hoped, to a Republican Party more in the mold of the GOP of the 1960s and 1970s—the party of moderate conservative leaders who could appeal to a wide swath of Americans, rather than a narrow ideological group which causes a bad name and reputation for the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and the Reagan who was much more moderate in many ways than conservatives paint him to have been!

Second Term Presidencies Taken Over By Foreign Crises: Will It Happen Again Now?

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Three American Presidents in the last hundred years have been faced by foreign crises leading to war, and disrupting their domestic intentions for their second term of office. All three hoped to accomplish much more internally, but were distracted and diverted by major wars they could not avoid.

Woodrow Wilson had accomplished the most domestic reform in American history of any President until his time, but then World War I intruded, and his second term was dominated by the war and its aftermath.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had surpassed Woodrow Wilson in domestic accomplishments in his first term with his New Deal, but his second term became one of growing concern over the threat of the Japanese Empire to our territories (Hawaii, Guam, The Philippines) in the Pacific, plus the growing threat of Fascism and Nazism represented by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in Europe—leading to concern of its effect on our traditional European friends if not formal allies, Great Britain and France. Although America would not enter World War II until FDR’s third term, the threat of war was ever present, and divided this nation in a massive way between internationalists and isolationists.

Harry Truman had a much more difficult time domestically, and had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, but hoped to promote a Fair Deal in his second term, but instead had to deal with the Korean War.

Now, Barack Obama faces the growing threat of real war with two nations who have lunatic leadership, and are capable of provoking major wars, emboldened by their nuclear intentions—Iran and North Korea.

Iran moves ahead on nuclear development, unaffected by the major nations bringing pressure and economic sanctions on them, and still seen as potentially able to threaten the survival of Israel, and cause a major cut off of oil in the Straits of Hormuz. While President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leaving in June, it is clear that the Ayatollah Khamenei and the extremist Shiite Muslim leadership really dictates policy, and that anything is possible, including war.

North Korea, under its new young (30) leader, Kim Jong Un, has now declared that the truce agreement which ended the Korean War sixty years ago is null and void; has been testing nuclear weapons against international outcry, including China; and has threatened this past week that it might launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on South Korea and the United States. This all seems bluster, but who can say for sure?

So our need as a nation to face the possibility of war with two international outlaws makes the whole budget issue much more complex, and makes the odds of more domestic reform activities all the harder to accomplish.

Much like Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry Truman, Barack Obama may face being a war President against his will, and his Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will be sorely tested over the next four years in their hope to avoid a war, just as we are trying to exit a war in Afghanistan, after having done just that in Iraq!

America’s Underappreciated Presidents—James K. Polk, Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush

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With Presidents Day celebrated on Monday, this is a good time to reflect on which Presidents are underappreciated for their contributions in the White House.

Five Presidents, four of them having only one term, and three of them soundly defeated for reelection, are often overlooked in an unfair manner.

These five underappreciated Presidents are as follows, chronologically:

James K. Polk (1845-1849), Democrat—-who did not wish a second term in office, died only three months after his term of office, but accomplished more than any President, regarding expansion of the nation, as he negotiated the gaining of the Pacific Northwest with Great Britain, and went to war with Mexico to gain the Southwestern United States. Because of Polk, highly controversial due to his manipulation of conditions setting up war with Mexico, and often criticized as an “imperialist”, we gained more land than any other President, including Thomas Jefferson with his Louisiana Purchase.

Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897), Democrat—-the only two term non consecutive terms President, although winning the popular vote three consecutive times, Cleveland accomplished the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act, promoted civil service reform, and became regarded as a man of strong principles, including refusing to take over Hawaii, after a treaty was negotiated by the previous President, Benjamin Harrison. A rare President on the concept of opposing the addition of territory to the United States, he refused to go to war with Spain over the issue of Cuba in his second term, and opposed the Spanish American War and the Filipino Insurrection intervention under William McKinley, standing out as a leading anti imperialist.

William Howard Taft (1909-1913), Republican—-was unfortunate in coming in between two very charismatic Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom would end up ranked in the top ten of all Presidents, in most polls of experts on the Presidency. Taft also was the worst defeated President running for reelection, competing against both TR and Wilson, and ended up third, rather than second in defeat, and winning only 23 percent of the vote, two states, and eight electoral votes. But he deserved better, and did have the distinction of becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the 1920s, where he was much happier. But Taft actually signed a highly successful regulation of the railroads, the Mann Elkins Act of 1910; won lawsuits causing the breakup of the monopolies of Standard Oil, United States Steel, and International Harvester; and supported two constitutional amendments, the 16th (Federal Income Tax) Amendment, and the 17th (Direct Election of United States Senators) Amendment.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Democrat—served one divisive term, defeated for reelection by Ronald Reagan, due to the Iran Hostage Crisis, high inflation and unemployment, and the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, and faced primary challenges from Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown. But he accomplished the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt; the Panama Canal Treaty; the promotion of the principle of human rights in foreign policy; the advancement of the environment, making him the third best President on that issue; and creation of three cabinet agencies–Health and Human Services, Education, and Energy. And his post Presidency, now the longest in American history, has been a model for Bill Clinton’s post Presidency, and Carter continues to promote human rights and economic and social reform nationally and world wide, and is often considered the best former President of the United States in American history.

George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), Republican—the second worst defeated President in American history, despite having led the coalition which forced Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, lessening a threat to the Middle East oil supply and the government of Saudi Arabia, in the Persian Gulf War of 1991; being the President under whom the Cold War came to an end in a stable manner in 1991; managing the unification of Germany between 1989 and 1990 in a skillful manner; and promoting the passage of civil rights law for the disabled population of America, a major reform in American history. Bush was always considered a master in the field of foreign policy, and for years after, had an impact on policy making through his significant staff members, who continued to have an impact.

All five Presidents deserve a better coverage and appreciation, despite the fact that each could be roundly criticized for events that would cause them to be overlooked as outstanding Presidents. Presidents Day is an appropriate time to do so!