Russia

Donald Trump Represents A Major Threat To World Peace And Stability, With His Repudiation Of G-7 Allies, And Bromance With Authoritarians!

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WE have just lived through the most insane, crazy moment in international diplomacy in our lifetime!

We have witnessed the President of the United States act like a petulant child, denounce our long term allies, refuse to sign a joint statement of the actions of the G-7 summit, and see our President personally insult and denounce our longest alliance and friendship with our Canadian neighbors and its leader, Justin Trudeau.

We have seen Angela Merkel of Germany become the leader of the Free World Democracies.

We have seen Emmanuel Macron of France give up on the personal niceties of an earlier “touchy feely” set of meetings with our President.

We have seen Theresa May of Great Britain totally exasperated with an American President on the level of no such similar event in the past century.

We have seen Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe very concerned at the potential abandonment of his nation’s interests in the upcoming negotiations of our President with North Korea.

We have seen our President express more closeness and camaraderie with Russia’s Vladimir Putin than with our past three Presidents (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama), as he throws them effectively “under the bus’, and particularly blaming Barack Obama for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led to the G-8 summit becoming the G-7 Summit, and a future possibly of a G-6 summit without the United States.

We have a President, Donald Trump, representing a major threat to world peace and stability with his repudiation of G-7 Allies, and a “Bromance” with Authoritarian leaders beyond just Vladimir Putin.

When will this nightmare end, and Donald Trump be removed from power, before he does permanent damage to our nation and the world?

Or is it already too late?

Donald Trump’s Destruction Of American Alliances With Our Long Term Allies, And His Total Lack Of Knowledge Of History

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Donald Trump is totally ignorant of American and World History, and could not pass an exam for a high school diploma, let alone a college degree.

Trump yesterday brought up to the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, in a phone call, the so called “fact” that Canada burned the White House in the War of 1812, a total fabrication, as it was Great Britain, which controlled Canada as a colony, that did so in August 1814.

What is the point of bringing this up, even if it were true?

In wartime, harm is done by both sides, and we have plenty to be accountable for as a nation in our many wars we have waged and continue to wage.

Even to bring up the British is unseemly, as this is is history, but we and they have moved beyond this, and to have grudges over actions taken long ago, is a waste of time.

Both Canada and Great Britain, along with other nations Trump has insulted (Australia, France) have been great friends for a long time, and our closest allies in the world.

Also, add Germany, Japan, and South Korea to the list, with them being more recent allies since World War II and the Korean War, but reliable allies.

Donald Trump has destroyed any camaraderie with our long term allies, including the other nations in NATO, and is undermining any cooperation with the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and our Asian allies by his “Trade Wars”, that will only lead to greater tensions and suspicions, and likely worldwide economic depression as in the 1930s.

It only helps our rivals, our competitors including Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

The insanity of Donald Trump,and his total ignorance and stupidity on history, are harming long term interests of America, and must be combated in every way conceivable!

This situation even includes Trump’s condemnation of Football players taking a knee for the National Anthem, and Trump rescinding an invitation for the Philadelphia Eagles to come to the White House over it, even though no Eagles player actually took a knee, but at the same time not knowing the words of the National Anthem that he insists everyone stand for!

Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un Summit: Inadequate Preparation And Unlikely Success

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Donald Trump, after canceling the proposed summit with Kim Jong Un, has reversed course, and has decided to go ahead with the meeting on June 12.

Many observers and experts feel this is a mistake, as it is clear that Donald Trump has inadequate preparation, and faces unlikely success.

North Korea has a history of misleading and lying on agreements, and Donald Trump is too subject to flattery and vanity, and it is feared that he will be taken advantage of by a wily, smarter Kim Jong Un, who wants to add to his stature on the world stage, but has no intention of giving up nuclear weapons.

The idea that Trump allowed the number two figure in North Korea, the spy chief responsible for so much harm over a long period of years, to spend two hours in the Oval Office alone with the President, except for translators, and with no advisers or Cabinet members, is shocking, as who knows what was discussed.

This follows the unwise decision of Trump to allow top Russian figures in the Oval Office last year the day after he fired FBI Head James Comey, for investigating Russian Collusion.

No such private Oval Office meetings have ever happened before under any President of the United States.

We do know that Trump said he did not bring up the horrible violation of human rights in North Korea, the most backward and totalitarian nation in the entire world.

It is not that bringing up human rights will bring change, but for an American President to avoid the topic completely, not care about the people of the nation who live under such dire oppression, is so disturbing.

But then, Trump has a history of courting dictators, including Vladimir Putin of Russia, and the leaders of China, the Philippines, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,and others, while being highly critical of our democratic allies in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, as well as Canada and Mexico. He prefers autocracy to republican democracy or parliamentary democracy as a form of government, and has wished he could be President for life as is now the situation in China.

Donald Trump’s ignorance of history and facts puts America and its national security in a very dangerous position, and now there is news that Trump plans a summit with Putin, shortly after the North Korea summit.

We could be in the most dangerous situation diplomatically in decades, due to the willingness of Trump to forge ahead against the advice of diplomats and his own advisers.

Donald Trump Not Only Manipulated By Russia, But Also By Other Foreign Nations, And It Undermines America

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Donald Trump is clearly not very bright, and does not understand how other nations’s leaders have figured out how to humor and flatter him to get their way, and appeal to his vanity and narcissism.

It is not just Russia and Vladimir Putin.

It is China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey. Qatar. the United Arab Emirates, Israel, the Philippines, and India.

These nations, with the exception of Israel, and India, are all authoritarian dictatorship, who stroke Trump’s ego, and show him on the surface respect and adulation, when he visits, particularly evident in China and Saudi Arabia. And they make deals that benefit their nations, without Trump realizing the United States has been taken advantage of in a major way.

Trump is more interested in business and real estate dealings than protecting the national interest and security, which explains his erratic, often contradictory behavior, and constant change of mind.

But meanwhile, he has created frustration among our allies which are democracies, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.

Presidents Who Served As US Ambassadors To Foreign Nations

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This author and blogger has so far examined the history of Presidents serving as members of the House of Representatives and the US Senate, as State Governors, and as Cabinet Officers.

Now, let’s examine those 8 Presidents who served as US Ambassadors to foreign nations:

John Adams as Ambassador to Great Britain during the Continental Congress

Thomas Jefferson as Ambassador to France during the Continental Congress

James Monroe as Ambassador to France during the George Washington Presidency, and to Great Britain during the Thomas Jefferson Presidency

John Quincy Adams as Ambassador to the Netherlands during the George Washington and John Adams Presidencies; to Germany during the John Adams Presidency; to Russia and to Great Britain during the James Madison Presidency

Martin Van Buren as Ambassador to Great Britain during the Andrew Jackson Presidency

William Henry Harrison as Ambassador to Colombia during the John Quincy Adams Presidency

James Buchanan as Ambassador to Great Britain during the Franklin Pierce Presidency

George H. W. Bush as Ambassador to the United Nations during the Richard Nixon Presidency and as Chief of the US Liaison Office in China during the Gerald Ford Administration.

The most common Ambassadorship was to Great Britain, where five of the eight Presidents listed above served.

The Moment Of Reckoning Has Arrived: The Syria Crisis Enmeshed With Trump Domestic Crisis, Most Dangerous Moment Since Cuban Missile Crisis In 1962!

Ronald 4 Comments

It is now almost 15 months since Donald Trump took the oath of office, and the nation has been fortunate that no major crisis had arisen.

But now, it has arrived, the Syria Crisis, enmeshed with Trump’s abuse of the Constitution, and the threat to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller and or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, with the raid on the offices, home, and hotel rooms of Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

The Republican Congress has been unwilling to pass legislation to prevent the firing of Mueller or Rosenstein. And Trump is threatening Russia and Iran over the Syrian use of chemical warfare, and Russia has interfered with American drones over Syria, so this is a massive crisis, which could lead to a major war in the Middle East with the US vs Russia.

Trump has made clear he will bomb Syria in a tweet this morning, after having said he would not give out military information before it occurs, and that has only ratcheted up the rhetoric and threats between Trump and Vladimir Putin’s government, and one wonders if it is just rhetoric, or whether direct conflict between the US and Russia is in the offing.

It is certainly proper that the US react to the chemical warfare by Syria, but the way it is being done is alarming, and signals a crisis which may get out of control.

The true test of how disastrous Donald Trump can be is now in the offing, and we all need to pray, even if not religious, as this is a major test of American leadership, and the protection of American values!

Donald Trump Has Finally Created A Constitutional Crisis With His Threat To Fire Robert Mueller, And Possibly Rod Rosenstein

Ronald 9 Comments

Here we are on Day 446 of the Trump Presidency, and a direct threat by Donald Trump to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and possibly Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in wake of the FBI seizure of materials from Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen yesterday. It all is due to the Stormy Daniels controversy, but other materials, related to money laundering and Russian collusion, may also have been seized.

Trump has gone totally berserk, and is saying what has happened is a direct attack on the nation, a totally preposterous concept! And this state of mind is happening as the crisis over Syrian use of chemical weapons is on the front burner, and could lead to direct confrontation between Trump and Vladimir Putin of Russia, and cause a direct military response that could escalate, the most dangerous moment so far in the Trump Presidency.

To have a President who is so mentally unbalanced, and grasping for absolute power, preventing a full investigation of the crimes and lawlessness by himself and his underlings, and his Cabinet and other appointees, is the most dangerous situation we have been in since the Watergate Scandal under Richard Nixon.

But the potential for the crisis to be as serious as the Cuban Missile Crisis under John F. Kennedy is also possible.

And even when Richard Nixon was under fire for Watergate, he still had a steady hand in foreign policy, because he was an expert in that area.

And John F. Kennedy had a steady hand in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

But Donald Trump is clearly incapable of a steady hand, and he is a true danger to American democracy and the Bill of Rights, and he MUST be prevented from ending the Robert Mueller investigation NOW!

And it is time for the Republican Party in Congress to forget party, and do the right thing in protecting the Mueller investigation, as advocated by North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, and Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons.

One gets the feeling that Trump’s time in office may be nearing an end soon, and Vice President Mike Pence needs to put the nation ahead of the President, and work to undermine him NOW!

Tariffs And Republican Depressions: Benjamin Harrison, Herbert Hoover, Now Donald Trump?

Ronald 1 Comment

Protective tariffs made sense in the time of Alexander Hamilton and the time of Henry Clay.

But in the late 19th century, big business corporations were able to create higher tariffs that were detrimental to the American worker, consumer, and economy, with the assistance of the corrupt Republican Party of the period.

In 1890, under Republican President Benjamin Harrison, we saw the passage of the McKinley Tariff, named after the future President, and it undermined the economy and contributed to the disastrous Panic of 1893, which affected the nation until 1898.

In 1930, months after the Stock Market Crash, Republican President Herbert Hoover, ignoring the pleas of hundreds of economists, signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which caused a great worsening of the developing Great Depression.

As the decades went by, most Republicans and intelligent Democrats realized that high tariffs were not good, and free trade agreements developed in the 1990s.

Some far left liberals and some far right conservatives joined forces to fight this, and now Donald Trump has declared the inception of “Tariff Wars”, which will bring down the American economy, harm consumers and farmers, and cause unemployment to rise.

Trump is alienating the whole world–including China, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and more–and instead will destroy the economic lives of millions of his own supporters, if he is not stopped from his crazy, lunatic actions!

Assuming we cannot stop what he is doing, the Republicans will suffer a blood bath, that will put the Republican Party in the dustbin of history.

It is time for Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in Congress to show some “cajones”, and turn against Trump before he totally destroys the nation economically, and takes unto World War III against North Korea, who would be helped by China, and Iran, who would be helped by Russia.

America In World Affairs Since First World War Entrance 101 Years Ago!

Ronald 10 Comments

America has been actively engaged in world affairs now for a century, finally abandoning isolationism in the first week of April 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson delivered a war message to Congress on April 2, followed by four days of heated debate, and then a declaration of war on April 6.

While America reverted to isolationism in the 1920s and 1930s, it failed, and once we entered World War II, the die was cast that we would always play a major role in world affairs, but not without controversy.

Since World War II, America has engaged in five wars–Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf against Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iraq, with none of those wars leading to victory, although at least, the boundary line in the Korean War was restored by 1953.

But we lost in Vietnam, and have not accomplished our goals in Afghanistan and Iraq, although the brief Persian Gulf War was won in six weeks, but the problem of Saddam Hussein reared its ugly head a decade later.

We have also been involved in many invasions, unofficial interventions, and many cases where we had troops without the knowledge of the American people, and often even leaders of Congress.

Secret wars have gone on and are going on right now, and under Donald Trump, we might very well end up sending troops to North Asia to fight North Korea and to the Middle East to fight Iran.

We now have the most militaristic government without any controls under Donald Trump, with his top aides now being extremely militaristic and warlike.

And war will likely reinforce the Trump supporters, and could, conceivably, cause public opinion gains that could help the Republicans keep control of Congress, and keep the White House in Republican hands in 2020!

We are at a very delicate time, with instability of our nation’s relationship with our allies around the world, and his “bromance” with Russia and Vladimir Putin, along with Trump’s “tariff wars” likely to provoke one crisis after another.

This is our situation as the 101st anniversary of our engagement in World War I is upon us three days from now!

Trump’s “Congratulations” To Putin A Danger Sign To National Security Long Term, And Demonstrates How Unhinged And Dangerous He Is!

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Donald Trump was told by his National Security Adviser, H. R. Mc Master, and his Chief of Staff, John Kelly, NOT to ‘congratulate” Vladimir Putin for his phony election victory in Russia.

He ignored both of them, a clear danger to national security of the nation, and now Mc Master is out, and crazy lunatic war hawk, John Bolton, who still believes the Iraq War was justified; who was unable to become UN Ambassador under President George W. Bush, and was only a recess appointment for less than a year; and who has advocated openly on Fox News Channel the idea of “regime change” in both Iran and North Korea, has replaced him.

This is an alarming development, and it is believed Kelly is on his way out, and might not be replaced as Donald Trump may believe he does not need a Chief of Staff, that he can handle everything on his own, with the help of Bolton, who will have greater access as National Security Adviser daily than anyone else.

It is now clear that Donald Trump is more unhinged and dangerous than we ever imagined, and if the military leaders John Kelly, and maybe even Secretary of Defense James Mattis leave, there will be no control on Donald Trump’s military actions.

So war may be in the offing soon!