Miles Copeland III
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Moldova
Monday 7th of March 2022 09:36:56 PM
A little known Russian breakaway region of Moldova borders Moldova and Ukraine and if the Odessa area is taken by Russia the Transnistria region of Moldova will certainly be taken as well. Just under 30% of the Transnistria region are Russian but they run the place and presumably would rejoice at being joined to Russia. Moldova should be preparing which means Rumania as well. The Ukrainian invasion might well end up being more than Ukraine.
Iran
Monday 7th of March 2022 07:40:11 PM
Iran has a great opportunity to eliminate the sanctions and sell its oil at the new high price. In spite of the over the top fear of Iran that has been encouraged largely by the Israelis, Iran now has a chance to rewrite this view by showing support for Ukraine, opposition to Russia, and willingness to stop its nuclear program. Its calls for "death to America" and "death to Israel" have never played well in the West and dont seem to have done much to help domestically either. Eliminating those statements from public pronouncements would lead to great benefits, and lets face it there is no intention of Iran to strike Israel or the USA with a nuclear weapon. Time to be smart and take advantage of what's going on in Ukraine. As many Israeli leaders have come to realize, the Obama era nuclear deal was a far better deal than Trump's and Netanyahu's abandonment of it. Meanwhile our hesitation to respond to the brutal Russian invasion BECAUSE Russia has nuclear weapons just gives the Iranians all the more reason to want a nuclear bomb. The US should also look at eliminating tariffs from such places as Morocco which supplies phosphates for fertilizer. To Replace supplies of nutrients from Russia, we need to open up other sources and make it easier and cheaper for such supplies to enter the US market. The US has been prepared to work with dictators and people we don't like in the past. We do it now. So lets do it for Ukraine.
Lessons of army design
Monday 7th of March 2022 06:37:05 PM
The NATO forces, the Ukrainian army as well as the Russian army have been designed for defensive purposes. There is a big difference between design for defense and design for offence. In defense one can expect the support of the local population. Supply lines are shorter. In offence everyone of the local population could be a hostile, and most of all there is a big issue of moral. Fighting for one's home is a major moral booster. The Russian army was NOT built for offense which is why it has become seen as ineffective in its invasion of Ukraine. Zilensky is right; air power is the key. The only reason the Russian army is having any success rests solely with its air power. Eliminate that advantage and a Russian invading army becomes a paper tiger. This fact has not been lost on the Finns nor the Swedes. NATO provides air power and a big reason for joining. Meanwhile it is beginning to dawn on European and US leadership that we are already in a war - AND that we must win it. That means what the US and NATO needs to do is push our supposed allies, Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, Israel, etc and even supposed enemies as Iran, Venezuela to get with the program, supply oil etc or else. I emphasize that THIS SHOULD BE DONE BEHIND THE SCENES; NO SENSE IN EMBARASSING ANYONE PUBLICALLY. Its all hands on deck time. Lets remember what What Churchill said 70 years ago. "If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorablereference to the devil in the House of Commons. "
Side note
Monday 7th of March 2022 01:57:11 AM
As a side note to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the degree of surprise US military planners have seen at the sorry state of the Russian military. Not well motivated nor well organized but more than that they appeared to have impressive hardware but when we have seen them in action they are easily taken out with far cheaper small arms one man can operate. Putin has inadvertently exposed serious weaknesses in the military that he has spent so much money building up. The conclusion is that if he had no nuclear weapons to use as a threat, his forces could have been eliminated in short order. It means that for wars in the future large targets are to vulnerable and greater emphasis has to be placed on smaller weaponry that can be snuck into a war zone without triggering a nuclear response.
By the way, watched a bit of Mark Levin on Fox today. so much bullshit views, scare crap about Iran, of course anti Biden no matter what he does. Mark Levin is an idiot!
More know your history
Sunday 6th of March 2022 06:06:39 PM
From the 1100s, to the 1800s the main political dividing line in Europe was between England and France. By the end of the 1800s that dividing line moved Eastward putting Germany on the "other" side. Even after the defeat of Germany after World War I France still considered Germany a future threat and built the Maginot LIne defense system on its Eastern border with Germany. During this entire period there was not much difference between all these countries. The religion was Christian (though of various sects), the royal families were actually related, the culture was similar as was the racial make up of the countries. The defeat of Germany in 1945 moved that dividing line yet again eastward behind what Churchill dubbed the "Iron Curtain". This time the division was mainly political with Russian communism becoming the system of the East. This put Eastern Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Baltic states etc on the "other" side. On the Western side of this dividing line the fear was Russia and Communism would move Western so NATO was created as a defense to prevent this. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union freed the Eastern European countries to decide their own fate and they all (except for Belarus) decided to join Western Europe. For a period even Russia itself was looking Westward and the dividing line between East and West became blurred and to some non existent. All of the countries abandoned "Communism" as their economic system. However, just like France after WW1 still fearing Germany to its east, the Eastern European countries continued their fear Russia to their east and pushed to join NATO. Meanwhile as the Europe moved into the 21st Century the dividing line between Russia and the Westward European countries seemed to be evaporating. It no longer was automatically seen as a natural dividing line. "Capitalism" replaced "Communism" as the political system. Christianity which had been suppressed under the Communist regime was back in favor. So there did not seem to be any reason for a dividing line any more. Russia was European after all. However, with the rise of Putin Russia began incorporating authoritarian aspects into the political system. This was slow and did not appear dangerous. In fact Putin became very popular for a while as he seemed to be pulling Russia together after the failures of Yeltsin. Meanwhile Putin made it clear quite early in his rise that he considered the "fall of the Soviet Union" as the greatest disaster of the 20th Century. No one took it particularly seriously. As we now know, Putin retained his KGB Soviet Union way of thinking. He wanted to regain what he considered was lost by the collapse of the Soviet Union. In other words he was looking to the past and a dividing line that was to the West of Russia. He was thinking yet again that Russia was separate from the "West" and must therefore have natural spheres of influence. Putin moved more and more towards authoritarianism imprisoning or poisoning political opposition, controlling the media and elections that insured his position. In fact he was rebuilding a political dividing line between democracies and authoritarianism but in such a way that it did not appear to most in the West that it could become dangerous. President Bush "saw his soul" and saw no danger. President Trump liked him more than his own people, President Clinton thought he was an "effective leader". Obama did not see the danger either. So Putin managed to fool everyone - or rather - most world leaders WANTED to believe that Russia was not a threat and chose not to see the signs for what they were. Ukraine changed all that. It was such a shock that it did what most would think impossible. Unite the world in a way that we have never seen before. The reality is that the dividing lines between East and West have always been artificial and depended on who wanted power and often only one man who wanted that power and not the vast majority of the people themselves. There is little racial difference, religious difference and even cultural difference between Russians and the English. Traditions may be different but the essentials are basically the same. The differences are even more slight between Russians and Ukrainians. In that case the differences were so slight that the Ukrainians could not believe Russia would ever invade AND all the Russians who watch Russian state controlled news cannot believe that Russian troops would attack Ukrainian civilians. They believe what they are told as it fits to what makes sense to them. No matter how you cut it, this war is the result of the views of one man only. No wonder all free media has been silenced so the only views that the Russian people can see are the views of that one man. Putin.
Know your history
Saturday 5th of March 2022 08:12:49 PM
For many years of the past 50 years the world was divided neatly between two opposing points of view. A binary world in other words. More recently we see that there are many more divisions than two. For starters we need to understand the starting point of the divisions today. 1. The USA from the first European arrivals was anti authoritarian in orientation. Escaping from religious persecution, ethnic persecution or political persecution. Revolution for independence, individual rights etc happened over 200 years ago. So Americans have had over 500 years of those views. of course this applies mostly to white Americans. 2. Russia has been authoritarian for many centuries with only brief moments that could be called "democratic". The Tsars were authoritarian and though the communist revolution was at the start "democratic" it quickly reverted to authoritarianism. The period after the fall of the USSR saw a brief move towards democracy but it also soon became more authoritarian ending up with Putin today. 3. England began to diminish authoritarian power 800 years ago with the Magna Carta. The power of the King/Queen continued to be limited over the centuries until the monarchy virtually has no power which now rests totally with an elected Parliament. 4. France was confused with loose control from the Monarchy until Louis XIV centralized it to the point he planted the seeds of the French Revolution. The French Revolution eliminated the Monarchy entirely and fostered views of democracy of the people. The country veered back towards authoritarianism under Napoleon but the cat was out of the bag and that did not last long. It is a joke today that there are so may political views in France that forming a representative government is nearly impossible. 5. Germany had a propensity towards authoritarianism until it was beat out of it by the severe defeat of World War II. The end of World War II set the stage for the next 50 years of European history. The division was stark - Churchill called it the "iron curtain". In the West most of the countries became democratic in orientation and independent from domination by foreign powers (Western Germany limited in some ways). Eastern Europe was dominated by the USSR and communism forced on the countries so authoritarian in nature just like the USSR was. When those countries tried to break away, Hungary for instance, Russian troops put it down. Germany was divided providing a clear visual of how life in the West was compared to life in the East. Both the USA and the USSR encouraged the hostility and we still have the word "communism" used as a political slur by such people as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mark Levin who have no idea what it means and confuse it with socialism and even liberalism. Then the collapse of the USSR changed the stage yet again. The major point we need to know as it relates to what is happening today is what happened to all those countries that had been under Russian domination since the end of World War 2. Suffice it to say that Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia etc who knew what it was like to live under Russian domination pushed to protect themselves against their neighbor to the east. NATO was established just for that reason so they pushed to join NATO. East Germany merged with West Germany. The basic truth is that these countries wanted to be independent and not have a political system forced upon them. They also saw the benefits of the Western economic models and wanted to have those life styles available to them as well. They joined the European Economic Union. None of this was easy, some more messy than others, and not always perfect but none of the countries want to go back to the days of Russian domination and will fight to prevent that ever happening. Ukraine saw the same things and also wanted the same things that the EEC had and NATO would provide. Not all Ukrainians but the vast majority of them. Not all people in any country think alike. The most telling statistic we see in the Ukraine war is that just over 50,000 people fled to Russia while 1,300. 000 fled to the West. It is clear that the vast majority of Ukrainians do not want to be a part of Russia any more than Poles do or Czechs. or whoever. At the same time there has been no moves by Ukraine to threaten Russia militarily and indeed they have little wherewithal to do so. They voluntarily gave up their nuclear weapons etc. Meanwhile, Putin is a child of the Regan era of international politics when the world was neatly divided between East and West. On one hand there should be no reason for seeing why such a division exists any more than Poland sees it that way. We in the US do not understand that thinking. On the other hand Putin is seeing the world in the traditional Russian authoritarian view that has existed for centuries. Add that to the emotional nationalistic view that Russia is no longer the great power it was and we have what Putin is thinking. Hitler used the same thinking during his rise in Germany. England and France had to come to terms that they were no longer top dogs just as Italy did centuries ago, and as Spain and Portugal had to. Putin is therefore bucking the reality of the world today. There is an appeal to "going back" to times that seemed better. We have "make America great again" in the USA as well. Unfortunately it is easy to forget what those "good times" really were like. There will always be those people who want to see things "from the other side". People like Tucker Carlson and a few other right wing types want us to believe that NATO moving towards Russian borders was bound to cause Russian security concerns. They basically bought into the idea that there were two natural divisions between East and West. That Russia and the Western nations were always going to be stuck on opposite sides. Why? I would wager that most young Russians would not agree. Then there will be those appeasement types like Tulsi Gabbard who encourage the view that guarantee Ukraine will not join NATO and it will all be good. We saw that movie in 1939. In the end the reality is that it is not in the interests of the USA or any country in Europe including Russia for there to be this historical division. Western Russia is part of Europe. It has oil which Western Europe can use. The Russian people want the same things as do the people of Kansas City. So historically Putin is an unnecessary throwback to a time that did not make much sense then any more than it makes sense now. Bucking history is a loosing proposition as Putin will find out. We hope he finds out sooner than later
Miscalculations
Friday 4th of March 2022 09:16:01 PM
All through history major leaders have made serious miscalculations. It is easy to do. Give a leader a few successes and people around him will be less likely to contradict him. To gain favor there is a propensity to tell him what he wants to hear. We have all seen whistle blowers loose their jobs and and not be able work in the same industry again. Hitler figured that England and France would not go to war over Poland. He also saw the very anti war sentiment in the USA. So invading Poland seemed a small risk and no one around him tried to stop him. Having seen the prelude to that decision one can see why he thought he could get away with it. Putin must have also gone through a similar thought process before deciding to invade Ukraine. So what might those thoughts have been?1. As for the Russian people themselves, the bulk of the media is state controlled so the message going to the people could be framed in a positive light. If things did not go well any negative media could be closed. Control the media and you control the people. 2. As for the people of Ukraine, a large show of force, tons of troops and weaponry on their border would likely cause a quick surrender and the leaders fleeing once an invasion was undertaken. Who wants to face such overwhelming odds? Besides many speak Russian and consider Russians brothers so resistance should be light. 3. European nations especially Germany and Italy are unlikely to want to do much as they are so dependent on Russian oil. It's winter and oil is necessary for heating. Germany is anti war anyway. 4. NATO is not what it used to be and the thought of all those nations actually getting together to do anything is unlikely. It is doubtful that they trust the USA. Our friend Donald Trump has seen to that. The Eastern countries will want to do more than the rest but even so what can they do?5. The USA is divided. The most popular news network Fox says the US President is week and feckless. The poll numbers of public support are very low. Meanwhile the previous President Donald Trump still has a big following and can be counted on to say nice things about Russia and me (Putin) personally. Also on Fox we have Tucker Carlson saying he supports Russia and "why should I care about Ukraine". The fact is there are a lot of US media people who will side with Russia and have no interest in Ukraine. There are even more who will attack the Democratic leadership and President. It's election time after all. Fox in particular with people like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham daily criticize and belittle the President so we can count on the US Government to bitch but not be able to do much but put up some sanctions. 6. Sanctions. There will be a lot initial talk that will dissipate when Ukraine surrenders and the leadership flees. We can deal with sanctions and it won't be long before Europe will want oil and the US Government will be taken over by Republicans who are sympathetic to Russia anyway. We dealt with Sanctions after taking the Crimea so we can deal with any new ones as well. 7. China will be supportive because it will help them in their quest to take over Taiwan. 8. Misinformation is rampant out there so there will be so many opinions that conflict that people will not know what to believe and will end up doing nothing. We don't even need to feed the misinformation - it will happen on its own. The world is full of useful idiots. All the above are quite reasonable assumptions.
Confused?
Friday 4th of March 2022 05:45:49 PM
Dear Fox commentators. I am confused. The US Government does not own any oil company and oil companies are totally in the private sector. No US company is importing Russian oil. No US company is sending any money to Russia, American banks, shipping companies etc etc refuse to deal with Russia. US oil companies are now pumping more oil as the price of oil makes it profitable. They also have over 1000 leases to drill for oil that have not been used yet. So all this talk about the US (read President Biden) in some way financing Russian invasion of Ukraine is in fact not happening? So why does President Biden have to ban Russian imports of oil that are not happening?
By the way, the US oil companies make billions in profits each year, import from over 80 countries and export to over 100 countries. In fact the USA is a net exporter of oil each year, As the price of oil goes up guess who makes more profits? Oil companies. That is the capitalist way.
Politics
Friday 4th of March 2022 04:46:20 PM
Its very easy to criticize if you don't have to be responsible for what happens. Its easy to criticize for what should have happened if you dont know the facts. It's easy to say "we should do more" if you dont have to deal with the unintended consequences. It's easy to call for taking risks and "having a spine" if you are not facing a real potential of nuclear war that could destroy the world.
The game of politics is simple. Criticize from the outside to help you get elected then when you are on the inside forget what you said. When you are on the outside the facts don't really matter. What does matter is getting elected. The Republicans are now on the outside and the midterms are coming up so they criticize everything even if they would do the same thing. That is the reality of politics. Both Democrats and Republicans do this. For instance, Donald Trump said Obama care was a disaster and that he would replace it with something much better and cheaper day one. Forgotten day two. Mexico will pay for the wall. Forgotten. Iran nuclear deal was the worst deal ever so he terminated it to get a better deal. Never replaced and Iran now much closer to getting a nuclear weapon. etc etc.
Big talking points now are oil independence. Sounds good and on the surface makes sense. Ban Russian oil imports! Meanwhile the US government does not import oil, the private sector does. And no Russian oil has been purchased for several weeks now - before any calls for banning the oil occurred. Many oil leases in the US have not been utilized yet. We dont need any more. The US is a net exporter of oil. etc etc. Besides one way to cut the need for oil is to build more renewables. Drilling is not the only solution. Then there is Iran. Complete that nuclear deal and a major oil exporter enters the market. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
Nuclear solution to Ukraine
Friday 4th of March 2022 04:04:09 PM
My son Miles IV came up with an interesting scenario to solve the Ukraine war. It goes something like this: Letter to Putin and the Russian Military leadersDear Sirs, As you know Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal years ago with guarantees from the USA and Russia. What you do not know is that we kept three of the largest nuclear bombs. One has now been placed in Moscow and ready to detonate. The other two are also ready to detonate and are located in two other cities that we will not disclose. We are giving you 24 hours to cease operations in Ukraine and 48 hours to remove your troops from our country. Let me remind you. We have nothing to loose. Several of our cities already look like they were hit by a nuclear bomb. Millions have fled Westward. We have no wish to kill Russians. We equally have no wish to see our country occupied and destroyed. We are not kidding. If you do not do as we ask millions of Russians will be vaporized, Its up to you. Ukrainian Resistance Forces.
Putin's speach
Thursday 3rd of March 2022 10:06:16 PM
Earlier today Putin made another speech on Russian state media. Just like the last speech we heard his words and watched him saying them. According to Putin, Ukraine is run by a bunch of Nazis who are imprisoning foreign students, using the Ukrainian public as human shields, killing Russian civilians etc. Apparently President Zilensky (who is Jewish by the way) is head of a government of Nazis and the brave Russian army is attempting to cleanse the country of these bad people and NOT doing it by targeting civilians. Meanwhile, all the Western TV media covering the War, right wing, left wing, non-partisan and partisan - NOT ONE single news clip over the past 8 days shows one Ukrainian saying anything about Nazis. Just the opposite. Fox reporters in the field say the same things and see the same things as CNN, MSNBC, BBC and even Newsmax. In Russia itself all conflicting media questioning the Ukraine invasion has been shut down. State media cannot say the words "War", "invasion" "attack". So the average Russian is not allowed to know what is going on. It is fast becoming impossible for the Putin supporters in the West to continue in their support. Putin has become the Hitler of our time. Too bad the Russian public is not given the same chance.
Lessons of history
Thursday 3rd of March 2022 05:45:38 PM
There is not much good one can attach to the war in Ukraine but it does expose me to people with views that try to validate some of what Putin is doing. I did not know who Lee Smith was until I saw him on Laura Ingraham's FOX TV show. Subsequently I read many of his writings to see what he was all about. Some subjects I did not know much about but others I do know a lot about. For the latter all I can say is that this guy is deeply misinformed and prone to misinterpret history to an astounding degree. I would like to say that he is just nave and got such views because of that, but it did not take long to see he was coming from a conspiracy agenda that enables him to see evil intentions under every bed as long as they are American or Democrats. I can safely say that he is a wacko. Meanwhile watching useful idiot Tucker Carlson yesterday also on FOX, I heard Tulsi Gabbard express views that I can't help but think she means well but does not really know anything about history or the realities of world politics. I am reminded of the old saying "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. " Though she talked for a while the only message that she seemed to be saying is that 1. a politician should be thinking of what is "best for his people" as if that was some great revelation. 2. that of course we should be upset at Putin's invasion of Russia BUT it is not our problem and not in our interest to respond to it. And 3. All the Ukrainian bloodshed could have been avoided IF we and NATO had listened to "legitimate Russian security fears" and agreed that Ukraine would never join NATO. Of course useful idiot Tucker Carlson agreed because as he has said "why should I care about Ukraine?". Well, some facts need to be understood. First it was not NATO that pushed to include Poland, the Baltic States, etc into NATO, it was those countries themselves that were desperate to join. Why? Because they feared Russia. They had experienced Russia and wanted protection from it. Second, NATO was set up for defense and NOT for offence so Russian "security concerns" are a false flag. Does anyone really believe that Germany, France, England, the USA and all the other NATO countries were plotting to attack Russia? It is a preposterous notion. If they were plotting so hard why did they become so dependent on Russian oil? Second, as we have clearly seen the Ukrainians had no intention to attack Russia. They gave up their nuclear arsenal with guarantees from the US AND Russia. What's more, it is Ukraine that is pushing to join NATO and not the other way around. In fact NATO has resisted. Third, Why are we to believe that if we had granted Putin's demand that Ukraine never join NATO he would not have attacked Ukraine anyway? We need to look back at a very similar period of history to understand what was likely to happen. In 1938 Hitler's Germany demanded to take over theSudetenland, theheavily German speaking part of western Czechoslovakia. In Western capitols we heard views that this was simply redressing the unfair way Germany was treated after World War I. "Legitimate" in other worlds. Nevil Chamberlain, having experienced the horrors of the First World War wanted peace and to avoid another world war. He ended up believing Hitler when he was told this was the last bit of land Germany wanted. He agreed to let Hitler take that land and came back to the UK as a hero with a piece of paper saying we have "peace in our time". He went on to expound the view that it was Winston Churchill who was the war monger NOT Mr. Hitler. Well, he was right - he did deliver "peace in our time" - the problem was that "our time" turned out to be very short. Less than a year later Hitler invaded Poland. The word "appeasement" became part of our no no doctrine. When Hitler took not only the agreed Sudetenland but the whole of Czechoslovakia the penny dropped as to what Hitler was really all about. BUT still there were those who said "why should we care about Czechoslovakia"? Peace was seen as a more important goal. Lets not forget that President Roosevelt promised America would not go to war in Europe. In the end we learned the lesson that "appeasement" is NOT the answer to secure peace. It may be a short term answer but history has shown over and over again it is NOT the long term answer. If anything, the short term benefits appeasement may bring only make the long term disaster all the more severe. Like Hitler before him, the invasion of Ukraine has exposed Putin's real intentions. Most of the world (even Switzerland and Sweden!) have united against him because we know all the bullshit about "legitimate security concerns" is just that; bullshit. We had to finally wake up to Hitler, now we have to wake up to Putin. Time to open our eyes and see what is right in front of us.
Real danger
Thursday 3rd of March 2022 05:28:58 AM
The real danger ALL of us will face, Russians, Americans, Europeans, Putin himself is what is beginning to happen. The scenes of destruction and misery we are seeing on TV will soon push the publics of the US and Europe to demand a response. There is a limit and soon the idea of nuclear war will be seen as a Russian bluff the public is willing to call. At the same time Billionaires and others are assembling mercenaries to go and fight the Russians in Ukraine. Many of these mercenaries are really bad people who love the idea of killing Russians and becoming a hero for doing so. They also have weaponry that is more advanced then anything the Russian army has and most of the US Army as well. Putin has unleashed dangers that will destroy him but I fear might destroy all of us as well.
Confused logic
Thursday 3rd of March 2022 05:02:44 AM
Someone should tell Sean Hannity that the US has NOT purchased any Russian gas/oil for the last two weeks. Russian oil accounts for 3% of annual US purchases and largely replaces Venezuelan supplies. The argument that the US should pump more gas at home is valid but grossly exaggerating its effect is a distortion of reality. Also solving one problem may well cause another worse one. NO decision is without unintended consequences. However here are the facts: in 2020, the United States IMPORTED about 7. 86 million barrels per day of petroleum from about 80 countries. Petroleum includes crude oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids, refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel fuel, and biofuels (including ethanol and biodiesel). Crude oil imports of about 5. 88 million barrels per day accounted for about 75% of U. S. total gross petroleum imports in 2020, and non-crude oil petroleum accounted for about 25% of U. S. total gross petroleum imports. In 2020, the United States EXPORTED about 8. 50 million barrels per day of petroleum to about 174 countries and 4 U. S. territories. Crude oil exports of about 3. 21 million barrels per day accounted for 38% of total U. S. gross petroleum exports in 2020. The resulting totalnet petroleum imports(imports minus exports) were about -0. 63 million barrels per day in 2020, which means that the United States was a net petroleum exporter of 0. 63 million barrels per day in 2020. When you see these facts it pretty much destroys most of Hannity's argument. Meanwhile thinking "someone" should bomb the 40 mile long Russian column heading from the North to Kyiv and that can be hidden shows just how detached from reality Hannity is. The Russians have satellites too, and these days you cant hide anything. Even the Russians have phones with cameras. Basically as far as I can see his show is basically a party political broadcast to belittle the Democrats and President Biden and enhance Republicans. Its interesting to see how he twists everything going on in the Ukraine to somehow mean its all Biden's fault.
Then followed by Laura Ingraham she should be more careful who she invites on to be a talking head. Look at all the writings of Lee Smith. Talk about a wacko! Great use of half truths mixed with outright delusions and an obvious agenda. Just another conspiracy theory advocate who makes out Russia is good and Ukraine is getting what it deserves and that it is America's fault (actually NOT America but Obama, Biden and the Democrats of course).
Denazification
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 09:15:01 PM
Interesting Putin Denazification of Ukraine. A Russian missal destroys the Kyiv Jewish Holocost memorial.
Putin
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 07:52:29 PM
The news from Ukraine is getting worse. It will continue to get worse from now on. It will go on even if Russia conquers all of Ukraine. There is only one solution now. The removal of Putin from power. Some Russian leader needs to step up to arrest or assonate Putin. If we think there is another way out we are kidding ourselves. German generals came to this conclusion themselves in 1945 but unfortunately failed. The Russians cannot fail. All the nonsense about cutting off Russian oil is just that; nonsense made to score political points. In the first place there are countries that will not go along with it. The US is not the only game in town. Second, any move to cut off Russian oil supplies will not have any immediate impact. People are being killed in Ukraine now. There is only one way out and that is the removal of Putin. The danger for Russia is how the world's reaction against Putin will grow as we see even more atrocities committed in Ukraine. There is a breaking point - and the danger is Russia is a nuclear power and Putin might be deranged. Russians have to act before we do something stupid. Though the US and other Western nations cannot openly say it but we can be sure that the CIA, MI5 and others are working right now on ways to cause an overthrow. Putin knows this as well. AND lets not forget Putin has used assassination himself to get rid of adversaries. There are some other things we can do. First is take over the nuclear deal negotiations with Iran. Iran can be a major oil exporter and now is the time a deal can be made that works for both Iran and Europe AND for Israel and the USA. Secondly, going after the oligarchs is a good idea but to make the point, AND avoid a nuclear war, sink the yachts. That will get their attention. As they move them from Europe to other places, hit them there. That will also show that we are not kidding without putting us in any risk.
Media people
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 06:13:45 PM
Blame for what is going on in Ukraine can be shared by many going back for many years. It goes to show that not dealing with an issue early can create greater problems in the future. Every recent US President, both Democrat and Republican and many European leaders can take some of the blame. So can the media. The truth is no one wanted to deal with what would now seem obvious any more than the world wanted to deal with Hitler in 1939. Nevil Chamberlain believed Churchill was the problem NOT Hitler! We don't want to deal with climate change and some of the media even go so far as to laugh at environmentalists no matter how dire the warnings are. Only when Miami sinks or New York is under water will the media come to accept the dangers. Why? It costs money and sacrifices have to be made which we don't want to deal with. It is no different with Putin and Russia. We should have known, the signs were there, but who wanted to take them seriously? Hell, if we couldn't take Hitler seriously how the hell are we expected to take Putin seriously? Meanwhile under the last President Putin was made out to be a good guy and certain media today don't want to mention that now very inconvenient truth. They even say he strengthened NATO which he did the opposite of. Again, not wanting to deal with it because it conflicts with other agendas. More disturbing are the Putin supporters among the far right who continue to champion support even as we can see what is happening on our TV screens. It is shocking to realize once again how many will choose to believe what they want to believe even when the evidence is overwhelming that the opposite is true. The only good news in all of this is that the Russian invasion is making many wake up to the reality of Putin and to the inconvenient truths that previously they chose to ignore.
Stupid wars
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 05:36:26 PM
The USA has had its share of stupid wars. Iraq was a war of choice that did not need to be fought. It was a war sold to the American people under false pretenses. It was a war launched by the Political leadership not in defense of a threat. President Bush's reputation will never fully recover from such a stupid war. Now it is Russia's turn to have a stupid war. A war launched by its political leadership under false pretenses. As it is a war with a next door neighbor that has a similar people (brothers Putin called them) it is even more stupid than the Iraq war which is saying something. Iraq was a really stupid war! Like Bush, Putin's reputation will never recover. One thing for sure. In no way was it "genius". In no way can the leader that launched it be called "smart". Putin stated his reasons for the invasion of Ukraine in a speech just over a week ago. They were historically incorrect and the idea that Ukraine was a threat to Russia's security totally bogus. Add the assumptions we believe Putin had to encourage him to think an invasion was easy and a good idea - like NATO was weak and divided, the US was week and would not respond, sanctions would never be applied in any really harmful way, that the Ukrainians would not resist, etc etc. All his reasons turned out to be wrong and every one of his goals ended up with the opposite happening. It is hard to believe that any leader would get it so wrong and launch such a stupid war. In fact most countries and indeed the Ukrainians could not believe it could happen. It makes it all to apparent that Putin is in fact NOT smart. That anyone who thinks he is is himself not smart. Donald Trump's reputation will never be able to live down his statement that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "genius". When we see dead Ukrainian civilians, women and children in panic, old folks in bomb shelters wondering how this could happen the message will be obvious. Putin is a bad guy and
Sean Hannity
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 05:11:00 PM
Dear Mr, Sean Hannity, I will admit that I disagree with many of your views but watch you as I do all the networks as well to get a cross section of views. My question is this. You complain that the US and European countries should do more, should cut off the Russian oil sector etc. Meanwhile the network you broadcast on has a major show, Tucker Carlson, who questions the Ukraine news your network is airing as fake news. Tucker Carlson is so supportive of Putin and that he is aired constantly on TV by Russian state media as a means to support what Putin is doing in Ukraine. So how do you square that? If you believe more has to be done by governments to support the brave Ukrainians and stop the horrific atrocities that are being inflicted upon them by Putin's troops surely you would also insist that your broadcaster should also be supportive and definitely NOT have a show that helps Putin and belittles you and what all of your reporters are saying.
Question for Fox
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 04:55:04 PM
Dear Fox News, I am watching your excellent reporting from the Ukraine, with your reporters risking their lives in what must be ever increasingly dangerous situations. I see the clips showing the devastation, terrorized women and children fleeing, the bravery of the Ukrainians. Meanwhile I watched part of the Tucker Carlson show on your network yesterday where he said we were NOT to believe what we were hearing, that video clips were being doctored and were "fake news". He asks why Putin is hated with a clear inference that he supports Putin. So that means your own reporters are giving us "fake news"? Then he gave air time to a retired Col. Greg Macgregor who he says is the only one we can trust to give us the real news. A simple investigation of this person shows that he is a long time Russian sympathizer with some really radical views, and often appearing on RT, Russian news. Mr. Carlson is also often seen on Russian news showing support for Putin. Meanwhile all your other newscasters and pundits state clearly that Putin is a "thug", a "killer" and has entered the ranks of Hitler. They answer the question of why Putin is so "hated". BECAUSE he is killing innocent people in Ukraine and commuting war crimes as he does it!! So why is this useful idiot Tucker Carlson still on Fox News saying the opposite to ALL your other coverage on what we are seeing?
Hannity
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 04:31:49 AM
As usual Sean Hannity can only say over the top negative statements about the Democrats and President Biden. I wish he was not so predictable. I always know what he is going to say before he says it. Please Mr. Hannity, surprise me sometimes so I can watch your rants more often. Your glib solutions to issues you are ignorant of and are impossible to do means I can only watch you for a few minutes before I change channels. A growing number of Fox shows are now watchable - give good coverage and real news. To bad Hannity is not one of them. What I found most amusing was Hannity's listing of things President Biden did not mention during the State of the Union speech. Hey Sean, what about not ever mentioning that President Trump wanted to terminate NATO? That he always said how great Putin was? That he held up arms to Ukraine unless they "did him a favor"? That he didn't ever fulfill so many election promises - like having a great and cheaper health care plan, never replaced the Iran nuclear deal, building the wall and making Mexico pay for it? ending the war in Afghanistan etc etc.
Leadership
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 04:09:08 AM
I always wonder what people mean when they criticize a leader for "leading from behind". Leadership can be complicated and there is no one way to lead. If one leads, does it really matter if one leads from behind or from the front unless it is about ego? If you get what you want to you really need to get the credit? Just as it is sometimes best to let someone believe your idea is theirs. Is it not better to let the leader of Germany announce the cancellation of North Stream 2 instead of an American President? The whole strategy of getting everyone on the same page with regard to sanctions means letting every country feel they have a say and not to bully them into what the United States wants. President knew that, and how necessary it was since the Trump Presidency.
Who is Doug Macgregor.
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 01:50:56 AM
FYI, I just watched a FOX useful idiot Tucker Carlson interview with a retired Colonel, Doug Macgregor claiming him to be a non-partisan, truth telling military expert who will tell us what is really going on re Russia and Ukraine. What he does not say is that Doug Macgregor is a long time Russian sympathizer often appearing on Russian RT television, argued for the execution of immigrants who crossed the Southern US border, wanted Russia to annex Eastern Ukraine (Dombas etc) and Crimea, was a strong supporter of the Iraq war of 2004. Basically he sees things from the Russian perspective without understanding that US interests are not the same as Russia's. He accepts Putin's invasion of Ukraine as reasonable as a protection against NATO. He does not seem to understand that NATO is defensive and NATO and the USA have no intention of invading Russia so there was no need for Russia to invade Ukraine. Like useful idiot Tucker Carlson, Doug Macgregor unwittingly works for the Russians.
The Polls
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 12:51:51 AM
The polls tell you what people think today, NOT what they will think six months from now. Polls showed Putin was popular six months ago. What would those polls show now? In the space of a few months Putin has gone from a smart effective leader to a blood stained pariah. The leader who follows the polls is not a leader but a follower. I am reminded of Margaret Thatcher in the UK when faced with strong opposition within her own party and the country at large - she was encouraged to change course by all but one of her cabinet. She listened to that one cabinet minister and his reasons for saying stay the course. She had the guts to think of what was right and famously said "This lady is not for turning". Turned out that she and that one minister were right. That is a great leader. With any luck, President Biden will resist all the critics who say he should change course. Those critics are as wrong as all those that tried to get Margaret Thatcher to change course. The polls of today are not the polls of tomorrow. The right thing to do is always the right thing to do.
Be careful what you wish for.
Tuesday 1st of March 2022 07:11:51 PM
The US is a market oriented economy where the Government can interfere to a limited degree. That has its advantages and its disadvantages. There are a number of Russian oligarchs that have expensive properties in New York. The idea of seizing their assets and preventing Russians from buying property if the US sounds great - except if you are a real estate developer. Lets not forget that the Trump organization sold properties to Russians and boasted about Russia as a main source of income.
Then listening to someone like Nicky Haley who says Russia should be thrown out of the UN. I am reminded of an old saying - "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Meanwhile Russia is too important a country to pretend it does not exist AND to imagine Putin will be running the country forever.
The Republicans can bitch all they want, but climate change is real and it is already having economic impact everywhere. Not dealing with it will cost more in the future then now. So one needs to consider if solving one problem just creates another. It is not weakness to listen to warnings of the consequences of climate change, it is weakness to not head those warnings.
Russia is a nuclear power with a potentially deranged person at the helm. Time for a cool head who works with allies and NOT alone. Support Ukraine without triggering a nuclear confrontation. Not easy. One thing for sure, we don't want someone to be President who thinks Putin is a genius and wants to build a tower in Moscow. We also don't want pundits who say they side with Putin and "why should I care about Ukraine?".
Words don't matter
Tuesday 1st of March 2022 06:28:07 PM
Interesting to see that Putin stated his reason to invade Ukraine was the Denazification of the country. To rid it of neo Nazis running the government etc. Yet the biggest Putin supporters in the West are neo-Nazis, White supremacist's, and the like. At the AFPAC convention last week, where such speakers included Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar they even chanted "Putin, Putin, Putin". Said he was being compared to Hitler "how bad could that be?"
On a similar note: interesting to see how Israel, the recipient of more US weapons for free than any other country in the world, and while Ukraine has a Jewish President, has failed to join the US and Europe in sanctioning Russia - for fear of hurting its economic relations with Russia.
Amnesia
Tuesday 1st of March 2022 05:01:50 PM
Its time for news, not for political pot shots from people with amnesia and a political agenda. Its interesting to see how things said just recently and during the past few Presidential terms can be completely forgotten. Even with what we see now on our TV screens from every news network, agenda pundits cannot resist the temptation to slag the other political party. Amnesia is alive and well. Half truths rule. Even so, I can't see how anyone can forget how flattering President Trump was with regard to Putin and his Russia, how little he regarded NATO, and indeed how divided the country became during his Presidency. I scratch my head in wonder when I hear Fox pundits say that Putin has gone crazy and then make no mention that Trump called him smart and a genius while they go on about calling President Biden "to do more" when no American wants a war with Russia, and the US cannot act alone anyway AND we see the Russian economy crash. Also that Putin has been planning his invasion for many years, years while Donald Trump was President and cozying up to Putin, holding up arms sales to Ukraine while vilifying the current leadership of Ukraine, Monday Morning Quarterback with serious amnesia. What is all this crap about America is weak? I don't get it. Biden has only been President for a year. Did the American armed forces disappear in a year? Have we lost all our allies? Can we just hear the news - and give the pot shots a rest? Please!
Ukraine
Tuesday 1st of March 2022 04:14:09 PM
I dont think the Western world has really come to grips of what the Russian invasion of Ukraine has done. The Ukrainians are not people in far away lands, with foreign religions, wearing clothes that are different, that look different - when we look at our TV screens even the hardest core Ku Klux Clan, white supremacist, racist sees a population being murdered, terrorized, women and children dying that are Christians and white. If racism does indeed play a big part in the thinking of some - or subliminally in the many - then what is happening in the Ukraine is a complete shock that can't be escaped from. Europeans are seeing women, children, grandmothers, that look like their next door neighbors. More than sympathy is happening - it is greater and greater anger. The end result can only be the end of Putin. There is no off ramp for him any more than there was one for Hitler after he invaded Poland. , The same goes for the Putin supporters in Russia, Europe and indeed in the United States. It is bad now, but when it gets even worse with more and more Ukrainians killed and terrorized, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, ANY positive association with Putin will become anathema. That means Tucker Carlson and the right wing pundits and extreme right in general who have said nice things about Putin will become shunned. It means that Donald Trump cannot run for President and his supporters will find they have chosen the wrong side of history. You cant say Putin is "smart" and a "genius" and have a great relationship with him and not pay a steep price for such sentiments. You also can't belittle the importance of NATO, of not having strong relationships with our allies, of thinking Americans need only think of ourselves. Our TV screens will make that impossible from now on. The world has seen that the "king has no clothes". Big corporations and political donners will not want to be seen supporting such views. We are ANGRY. That is reality. If Putin stops now and pulls back his troops do we imagine that the Ukrainians, the US and Europe are not going to insist on War Crimes punished? Who is going to rebuild all the destruction the Russians have done to Ukraine? What about the hundreds of people killed? Everyone will call for Putin's head. If Putin takes Ukraine do we imagine it will all stop and peace will descend? That we will move on and forget what Russia did? No; everyone is too angry. Russia will never recover until Putin and his supporters are good and truly gone. If Putin kills President Zilensky, or jails him that will make everyone even more angry. If he is not arrested, killed by Russians, removed from power and executed for his crimes than he will spend his life waiting for the assassins bullet. Putin is finished. We just have to hope that he is never allowed to get his finger on the nuclear button while he is still in power. The Putin supporters need to realize just how angry the world has become and how much more anger will grow in the coming days. When Switzerland - who stayed neutral throughout World War II, has joined sanctions, when Sweden (also a long time natural country) is sending arms to Ukraine that alone should show the extent of the anger. Even Fox news is facing up to the reality of what is happening and except for a few of its pundits pulling for the Ukrainians. The world has been forced to wake up and get angry. About time!
Facing up to reality
Monday 28th of February 2022 06:12:01 PM
One of the unfortunate realities of the human being is we are loath to deal with a problem until it is unescapable, or worse a real disaster. We will tell ourselves it is a lie, or an exaggeration or that God will fix it, We will play politics - whatever it takes to avoid having to face up to a reality we dont want to know about or dont want to pay for. Who wants to sacrifice unless you really have to?The Russian invasion of Ukraine was such a shock that could not but jolt anyone watching the news. It was a clear good versus evil. All those that looked upon Putin and Russia in a positive light had to face the fact that this was now impossible to do. The same happened in 1939 when even Britain's Prime Minister declared the real problem was Winston Churchill not Hitler. When Germany invaded Poland it was obvious that was crazy. Obama thought fall of the Soviet Union meant that Russia was no longer a threat. He was wrong. Donald Trump said we should be friends with Russia and Putin was a smart good guy. He was wrong. Useful idiot Tucker Carlson and a segment of Republicans side with Russia. They are wrong. We also forget that almost no one thought Putin would actually invade Ukraine. President Biden has been criticized for "not doing more" in advance of the Russian invasion. We forget that we knew that Putin was looking for a reason to invade and US strategy was to not give him that excuse. We try to figure out why Putin thought he could get away with the invasion. Apparently he thought the US-Europe alliance was weak. NATO was not together, sanctions would not be effective because many countries would not accept higher gas prices. That the USA was divided against itself. That there were plenty of useful idiots like Tucker Carlson that would encourage support of Russia. So why did he think those things? We are now understanding why.
Good Fox reporting
Monday 28th of February 2022 05:29:44 PM
I have never been a fan of Fox, but I have to admit that their reporting on the Ukraine situation has been very good. Their reporters in the field have not played politics and have called out stupid statements from some of the Fox pundits. I am particularly impressed with Jennifer Griffinwho challenged misinformation from some talking heads on the Steve Hilton show. When it comes to the week day pundits in the evening it is interesting to see how they try to deal with the support for Russia coming from useful idiots like Tucker Carlson, and strangely enough from Donald Trump himself. What got into him to say the invasion of Ukraine by Russia was genius? Or Pompeo? Putin smart? It is nice to see that there good people who will tell it like it is on Fox. Too ban about the pundits themselves. It would seem that the time to take pot shots at Biden is not now and much of the criticism is so off base. They should give it a rest as it only serves to discredit them.
There is no off ramp
Sunday 27th of February 2022 10:01:39 PM
Putin has made such a commitment to the invasion of Ukraine and made statements with regard to NATO and the Ukrainian leadership as well that there is no way he can back down. If he pulls Russian troops out of Ukraine without gaining the concessions he wants will put him in an untenable position in his own country and most probably force him out of office. At the same time President Zilensky cannot back down, neither can NATO or the USA so any talk of an off ramp is dreaming. There is no off ramp for Putin. He has to win or he looses everything. This is a man who has backed himself into a corner. People might joke about the Julius Caesar solution but it is the best way out of the mess - unless Putin agrees to resign and go to some natural country that will take him. The danger is that with no way out he also may decide he has nothing to loose.
Mistakes of the Past - Miscalculations of the President
Sunday 27th of February 2022 06:14:09 PM
For centuries smart and talented people have made fatal mistakes, miscalculations and ended up on the wrong side of history. Queen Elizabeth II's uncle was a Nazi sympathizer, President John Kennedy's father was also a Nazi sympathizer, Elenore Roosevelt was against the US entering World War 2, perhaps the greatest blunder of the 1940s the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which gave President Roosevelt the ammunition to get the US into World War 2, Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Hitler's diversion of his troops at the verge of taking Moscow to turn to try to take Stalingrad, and more recently Brexit in the UK which has caused huge insoluble problems, the list goes on. It is equally true that EVERY President of the United States has had successes as well as made mistakes. Nixon did, Clinton did, both Bushs did, Obama did. Donald Trump is no different. President Biden will end up just like his predecessors. However, it makes no sense for the current right wing pundits to try to make out that Donald Trump was something we all saw that he was not. Saying that he was strong against Russia - even after he made the statement last week calling Putin's invasion of Ukraine "Genius" cannot serve conservative values well. Yes Obama did not react as much as he should have against Russia's taking of Crimea. But then what did Trump do?All we saw was moves to soften sanctions against Russia, blame Ukraine for things we all know Russia did, no move whatsoever to get Russia out of Crimea, and in fact boasted of his great relationship with Putin, his respect, siding with Putin over his own intelligence experts, etc etc. We also know how much money the Trump organization made from Russians, they boasted about it. We know Trump was super focused on getting a Trump tower in Moscow and had closed door meetings alone with Putin. We also know that Russia favored Trump to be President and were hoping he won a second term. We heard his many pronouncements against NATO, correctly pushing the NATO countries to spend more money while at the same time undermining it and suggesting the US end its connection to it. We all see what Putin is now. He is obviously NOT smart as what he is doing in Ukraine is resulting in the opposite of what he says he wants. NATO is more relevant now, he has pushed Ukraine away and given them greater resolve to join NATO, encouraged Sweden and Finland to consider joining NATO, and planted the seeds of his destruction in Russia itself. He is also NOT a person one would want to say you have a "great relationship" with any more than one would have wanted to say one had such a good relationship with Hitler. The point is we cannot escape from the fact that Russia did not have to attack another country during the Trump Presidency. Trump is correct in saying that. But why attack when the US President was doing your work for you? Weaken NATO, Trump did that. Divide and break up Europe, Trump did that. Lets not forget he supported Brexit. Never criticize Russia, Trump did that. Weaken sanctions, Trump did that. No wonder in the old KGB circles Trump was on the "useful idiot list. " If Putin is indeed smart then he saw Trump as someone who he could use - and he did. Because Trump did not get a second term then Putin was stuck with his alternative option; use military force. Turns out Trump was wrong about NATO. He was wrong about Putin. He was wrong about the nuclear deal with Iran as even the top Israelis now admit, etc etc. What ever happened to replacing Obamacare with something better and cheaper? Apparently forgotten the day he took office. Did he ever replace the Iran nuclear deal which he said was the worst deal ever? No, he just wrecked it and dropped the ball. And more than anything, was the USA more divided against itself after his 4 years in office? No question the answer is yes. History will show that he did the most unthinkable thing a President of the USA could do. Challenge the peaceful transfer of power, the very essence of what makes America great in the first place. Credit Trump for what he did right, but don't credit him for what he did not.
No One Believed
Saturday 26th of February 2022 05:56:12 PM
Weeks before the actual invasion most people of Europe and indeed 99. 9% of Ukrainians did not believe anyone -even Putin - would go so far as to invade a peaceful country that was no threat. President Zelensky said such talk was causing panic in the Ukraine and did not believe it would happen The Russian government said it is the US being historical and had no intention to invade supported by some right wing media. Meanwhile the US was ringing the alarm bells in spite of the nay Sayers BUT had to be very careful NOT to give Putin an excuse to invade. At the same time there were growing concerns that Putin was not well and was verging on a mental state that could be dangerous. When he made his hour long speech those concerns were confirmed. When you might be dealing with a mad man you better be careful what you do publicly. For that reason much of what was really gong on had to be done secretly. Its a shame the media is so concerned about ratings and the next election that they do not understand and that criticism leveled on the US Government calling for actions that could not be taken publicly or had to be done in conjunction with European allies is counter productive. To place arms on the borders of Ukraine in case of an invasion would be interpreted by Russia as a provocation and an excuse to invade. The SWIFT system is a European based system, the US cannot alter it alone. Meanwhile right wing media goes on about Biden's cancelling of the Key Stone Pipeline etc diminishing US energy independence. They are correct to a point, but fail to mention that at the same time the US and much of the world is facing an existential threat from Climate Change. AND they forget what even the Israelis now realize, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposing sanctions cut off one of the world's major oil suppliers. That Trump era mistake resulted in less world oil AND Iran closer to a nuclear bomb. Needless to say, when Biden took office no one imagined Putin would invade Ukraine. The Germans certainly never contemplated that. A Monday Morning Quarterback approach to world events is not very relevant.
Propaganda
Thursday 24th of February 2022 10:47:24 PM
The best propaganda is the propaganda that mixes truth and lies. Half truths also are a good strategy. The old adage that there are "two sides to every story" can be used as propaganda if only one side of the story is told. For students of the propaganda art it is fascinating to see how Putin has done the mix and the half-truth to create his pretext to invade Ukraine. It is equally fascinating to see how right wing pundits deal with the invasion. I say "right wing" only out of convenience as we know that what was "right" or "left" in the past, is no longer what it was. However;TRUTH: Yes Donald Trump increased oil production in the USA and from what we see today that was a smart thing to do. Yes Donald Trump criticized NATO members for not doing more to support the organization and live up to their financial commitments to pay their share. He stated the stupidity of the US taxpayer supporting Germany who then made a deal to get their gas from Russia. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made him correct. Sean Hannity is not wrong claiming that the US energy surplus would be very handy now. He can make the point that cancelling the Keystone Pipeline was not wise and that the US buying oil from Russia helps Putin. From what we see Russia doing today in Ukraine he is correct. Then there is the other side of the story that is not mentioned. Trump stated that NATO was no longer relevant and undermined US relations with its long time allies. He cozied up to Russia as he resisted applying sanctions, He held up arms to Ukraine and was indeed anti Ukraine wanting to blame Ukraine for interfering in US elections not Russia. As Bolton himself said, Putin was hoping for a second term of Trump because he could have taken Ukraine without any need to invade. Putin was hoping to do to Ukraine what Hitler did to Czechoslovakia. There are several theories of why Putin wanted Ukraine, but it does not matter which one is correct. What does matter is that he was going to take it no matter who was President AND he figured he could get away with it. Perhaps easier with Trump, but even with Biden he thinks he can get away with it. We need to make sure he doesn't. Some think that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan gave Putin the idea that the US would allow him to move against Ukraine. That the US was not going to stand up to a determined adversary like Russia. There are two facts that run counter to this. First, it is now apparent that Putin has been planning the invasion of Ukraine for a long time - well before the US pulled out of Afghanistan. Second, no matter who was President, Trump, Biden or God himself, getting out of Afghanistan was going to be messy. Donald Trump announced the US was ending the war and pulling out. He did not when he realized the mess that would result. You can say he was a pussy or just did not want to deal with it any more than Obama wanted to. Who can blame him? Biden also knew of the mess it was likely to bring, but had the guts to get out any way. Anyone who imagines getting out of that war was going to be easy and orderly is dreaming or just plain stupid. The point is that whoever was President, Trump or Biden, Russia was going to take Ukraine either way. The world does not always revolve around what we are thinking and doing. In this case it revolved purely around what Putin was thinking.
Give voice to the nay sayers
Thursday 24th of February 2022 09:37:09 PM
The big question is what are the people around Putin telling him. Is there anyone who questions what he is doing?If we remember Germany in the late 30s when Hitler took the Sudetenland generals around him warned of consequences. There were none. When he took Austria there were questions as well. Generals spoke up strongly when he threatened to take the German speaking part of Czechoslovakia fearing France and Britain would go to war. They did not, even when Hitler took not only the German speaking sliver but the whole country. By the time he decided to take Poland they figured he had been right so he might be right again and taking Poland would not lead to war. Hitler and the German generals around him did not believe taking Poland would trigger World War II. We ended up learning from the experience - that "appeasement" does not end a problem, it encourages it. We need to apply that lesson again now with Putin. We need to give voice to those that dare to say he is playing a dangerous game that will hurt Russia in the end. Putin has already informed his major business leaders that Russia will not be kicked out of the world's financial structure. The pain will be manageable. He needs to be proved wrong and those around him need to see that. The toughest sanctions need to be applied now to show we mean business BUT we should always say there are more to come. You dont want your adversary to know you shot your wad. He should be kicked out of the SWIFT system, Putin should be targeted. To not do so says we are serious but not totally serious. Those around Putin need to know we are totally serious and they will pay the price. Putin says that kinking Russia out of SWIFT is an act of war. The Russian people do not want war any more than we do. It is a bluff that he cannot win if we call him on it.
The Fox winners
Thursday 24th of February 2022 05:21:39 PM
Interesting to see the reaction of the Fox people towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fox has been uncomfortable with the rise of useful idiot Tucker Carlson and his pro Russian views as they run counter to traditional conservatives views of Russia and can appear as anti-democratic and indeed anti-American. It certainly did not sit well with Sean Hannity nor Laura Ingraham whose ratings slumped below Carlson and they were not sure how to counter it. Now they have the necessary ammunition as Carlson can now be clearly be seen as the useful idiot he is.
Clear the Air
Thursday 24th of February 2022 05:13:21 PM
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has cleared the air on a number of issues. 1. All the world can see now why Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania and indeed Ukraine wanted to be part of NATO. Those countries knew instinctively that one day the Russian Bear would again revert to its age old predatory views of its neighbors. Now we see those instincts were correct. 2. NATO was becoming looked upon as no longer needed - Donald Trump said as much - now the reason for NATO has become obvious3. We see Vladimir Putin as he really is. 4. We see why Mike Pompeo should never be President5. We see why the Russians look upon Tucker Carlson as "Useful idiot number one"6. We see why Iran wants a nuclear weapon and why North Korea will keep theirs. If you have nuclear weapons you will not be invaded. Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons and got treaties in return. We see how unwise that was. 7. We see why North Stream 2 was a problem; and how unwise it was for Germany to give up reliance on nuclear energy. 8. We see why Russia did not want Belarus to give in to protestors. AND why turning the media and free press into state media controlled at the top. If you control the media you control the people. 9. The power of the internet to screw up the works and serve the interests of people with bad intentions10. The gullibility of people to believe crazy things. Tell a lie enough times and it becomes the truth.
Ukraine
Tuesday 22nd of February 2022 10:39:48 PM
Useful idiot number one Tucker Carlson asks why he should care about Ukraine? He shouldn't as he has never beenaware of the intricacies let alone the obvious facts of international relations. We should care about Ukraine becausewe care about Taiwan, and the main source of computer chips today, we care about South Korea, for a host of reasons pluswe have 30,000 troops there, we care about Australia, we care about Japan etc etc. US actions or inaction affect a lot more thanUS citizens in the USA. Putin has made it clear what Russia is all about. We need to take heed even if the useful idiots do not.
Spying and Intelligence
Tuesday 22nd of February 2022 07:26:39 PM
Some may not realize it but there is more spying/intelligence gathering done in the private sector than between governments. Big companies spy on each other and across borders as well. BUT there is a third area of spying/intelligence that has grown up in a big way since the internet has become so dominant. That is government injection of "influencers" and "fake news" into media and then hoping the media (always out for an easy buck) will take it from there. In this process the age old strategy of secret support for "useful idiots" has found added life. There are plenty of them out there. AND what's more, we have come to realize just how gullible people really are especially if you tell them what they want to hear. The Russians in particular have learned the benefits of this and just how easy it is to plant ridiculous notions that will be believed. QAnon proved that and lets not forget that most religions have used this for generations. Take useful idiot number one Tucker Carlson; Support for Russian talking points is his thing it seems. However, are his views really getting any traction? Is the Fox network really as popular as we are led to believe? The truth is that it is in the interests for Putin's hackers to spread that information and to hack the means to do so. The more popular a show seems to be the more advertisers will want to be on that show and pay for the pivalate. Fox is certainly not complaining. It is now well known in Russian intelligence that Fox and particularly useful idiot number one Tucker Carlson can be used to advance their agenda and sap the will of the US Government to respond to Russian adventurism. They are smart enough to use this easy method to their advantage and they are doing so. The problem for the US intelligence agencies is, what do you do when your own people believe what is so patently wrong? The Russians and the Chinese, North Koreans etc don't have this problem as they took the measures necessary to muzzle the press and silence the opposition. Unlike in the USA, Russians and Chinese hear only one side of the story. Their intelligence agents can find useful idiots with ease, and there is not much we can do about it. Our media is capitalist and makes money from bad news more than it does from good news. "If it bleeds it leads" is the mantra. Facebook and other social media make more money if people get angry and go down rabbit holes that further engage them. How do you have free speech and a free press if you also try to restrict them to tell the truth? You can't. Who is to say what the truth is and what it is not? The only thing we can do - is recognize the useful idiots when we see them. In a polarized country like we have in the US now, easier said than done - and there are those that don't want us to be able to recognize contrary views. Take the trucker protest in Canada. If there was no Covid epidemic would the Government be trying to mandate masks, or vaccines or whatever? NO. They have done so as a way to curb the dangers of the epidemic. Can people complain as to the methods the government uses? Yes that is free speech. BUT can they block roads, bridges etc to get their way? Does that not hurt others and infringe on other peoples rights? Yes it does. Parking a truck in my driveway so I cannot get my car out to drive my kids to school, or go to the grocery store, or to the pharmacy to get meds is not my idea of peaceful protest. We should not confuse "personal freedom" with "social responsibility". Blocking the bridge where millions of Dollars worth of goods flow, from businesses on both sides of the border, is not peaceful protest. It is basically "My way or the highway and Fuck You if you say otherwise". Freedom? My ass!
Tucker
Thursday 17th of February 2022 04:54:26 PM
Interesting that Tucker Carlson is selling T-shirts on his Fox TV show. shows where his head is. Money Money Money. Meanwhile he demonstrates his ignorance and ability to swallow fake news about Ukraine. Is there no thinking about posterity?I guess not. The days of honor in reporting are long gone where money is concerned. The problem is that we are left thinkingeither he is working for the Russians (even if he doesn't know it) or he is just plain stupid. Perhaps both.
Tucker Carlson
Saturday 12th of February 2022 11:58:25 PM
It seems people are on to Tucker Carlson. Is he a Russian agent? Looking more and morelikely every day. I wonder how much the Russians are paying him? Either surreptitiously or directly.
Words
Saturday 12th of February 2022 08:57:22 PM
They say words matter. So to self made definitions. Freedom is fast becoming synonymous with selfishness. 'I want the freedom to not wear a mask and I don't care if I make anyone else sick. Masks are not necessarily the greatest wayto stop the spread of Covid but even if they help a bit no one should object to the minor inconvenience. Governments dont impose mandates because they want to. They think it prevents disease. Meanwhile all of us accept the right of a government, elected or not to place demands on its citizens. There is no such thing as total freedom. You need a drivers license to drive a car. You are instructed to follow driving rules, speed limits and the like or you are arrested. You stop at stop lights. Taxes are required. Sales taxes are imposed. You cant cross the street anywhere you want. SO I object to the self described "Freedom Caravan". Should be called what they are. Selfish, me me and to hell with you caravans.
Useful Idiot 2
Thursday 10th of February 2022 05:42:33 PM
It used to be that the "Useful Idiot" file was a heavily guarded secret among intelligence agencies. The last few years with the proliferation of "fake news" has changed all that. As one Russian agent quipped "who needs a file when all you have to do is tune into Newsmax or Fox and there they are in full view"/? Plus do you think Jim Jordan would believe hewas on the Useful Idiot list? He would assume it was fake news and believe it. The real problem of intelligence these days is figuring out what is real and what is not. It has always been a problem andevery intelligence agency has put out falsehoods but now those falsehoods are multiplied exponentially. It is so bad that an agency can put out what they think is a falsehood only to findout it is reality - or is it?
Useful Idiots
Wednesday 9th of February 2022 08:13:06 PM
In the many years of conversations with my father about his exploits in the CIA from its founding throughthe Middle East years, perhaps the most interesting observations surrounded the directives the CIA wantedits people to look out for. Part of this came from what the CIA learned the KGB was doing as well as Israeli Mossad. Even though operatives may have been on opposite sides there was still begrudging admiration for things they gotright and concepts that all intelligence agencies used. Recruitment of spys every agency soon learned that if you paypeople and that is the motivation, you end up getting information they think you want to hear. Better is to look out for"useful idiots" that will do your bidding perhaps without even knowing they were doing so. In other words support thosethat push your agenda for their own reasons, not yours. I remember in Lebanon funneling CIA money to a politician that was vocal about his opposition to US interests and askingwhy the CIA would give money to someone like that. My father's reply was; "he may hate us but he hates the USSReven more". It was also imperative that the politician did not know where the money was coming from as that wouldhave hurt his credibility. So secret front organizations were set up to hide the source. At the same time I learned that theBritish, French and Soviets were doing exactly the same thing with other politicians. That's the game of espionage. Nowadays the game is made far easier because of the internet and the willingness of media people to think more aboutthe personal money they make more than any larger "moral" or "patriotic" duty. The lessons of Hitler, appeasement, and the likehave faded from memory. The US becoming a dictatorship? Who believes that, never going to happen, so just give me the cash. I cannot escape from my conversations with my father so am programmed to look for today's useful idiots. Who is workingfor the interests of say China or Russia today - most likely not even realizing they are doing so? Worse, that perhaps they arebeing secretly funded or supported by outside interests just like we used to do (and probably still do) when my father was in theCIA. When I heard Tucker Carlson on FOX asking why the US should care about Ukraine I saw an obvious "useful idiot. " If he is nota Russian plant than he is missing out on some serious bucks. But then again, I am sure FOX is paying him well. Unfortunately, FOX seems to have cornered the market for "useful Idiots". As a matter of habit I watch FOX, CNN, MSNBC, BBC, France 24but have to admit that watching FOX is becoming harder and harder as the useful idiots have taken over the place and have no ideawhere it can lead. Mark Levin? He was always crazy so I always wondered how FOX would put him on theair. And he is not the only one spouting crazy stuff they know little about and oblivious of what the effect can be. I keep hoping thatsomeone there will realize that encouraging the division of Americans only aids the Chinese aims re Taiwan, Putin and whatever his aimsare. But alas. Its about the money and FOX gets ratings the more outrageous their people are. Long term damage? Just give me the cash!
Intelligence for the Ignorant
Wednesday 2nd of February 2022 09:41:42 PM
Who Really Knows what is happening vis a vis Ukraine and US interests"Listening to John Ratcliffe, a Trump political appointee to be Director of National Intelligence who was disgraced when it became apparent he contradicted his own intelligence people when intelligence assessments differed from a Trump position and sidelined intelligence offices in the process, one can see how ignorant people can be in discussing the US-Ukraine-Russia-Europe situation. According to Ratcliffe the US should have sent troops to Europe long ago to try to head off Russian adventurism on the borders of Ukraine. What he fails to understand - and Indeed Trump himself as we see from his recent interviews - is that the problem for the US is not a Russian invasion of the Ukraine. It is keeping NATO relevant and keeping the Western Europeans understanding that Russia under Putin is actually a real threat. Putin has made clear what he wants to happen in Europe so that is no mystery. Just like Hitler did in "Mein Kampf" announcing to the world what makes him tick. The problem has been making people believe it and want to make the sacrifices to do something about it. In this regard Putin has done the US and NATO a huge favor. The last thing the US should have wanted to do was stop Putin from doing that. Ukraine is becoming to Putin what Poland became to Hitler. A bridge too far that showed his intentions in a way that could not be denied. He has given the US and Western Europe a wake up call. Guys like John Ratcliffe, who was a rather stupid choice for National Intelligence Director anyway, would not understand the subtitles of the real behind the scenes issues. Just like the idiots who say the US should have been sending arms to Ukraine long ago - not realizing that the smarter move is to send the arms and keep it secret. As I learned long ago from my CIA father, there are two things going on 1. What you hear in public and 2. what is going on behind the scenes. The realities are that 1. Russia has never been threatened by NATO and to say otherwise is utter nonsense. NATO expanding members close to Russian borders posed no threat to Russia. Every European leader knows what Putin is saying is bullshit. 2. Russia is the big looser in an all out war so Putin knows he has to avoid that at all costs. So he has adopted the "Speak loudly and show a big stick - but make sure you don't actually use that stick". What he wants is to accomplish what Hitler did in Czechoslovakia. Win without firing a shot. Unfortunately for Putin we have seen this movie before. Also unfortunately for Putin he has woken up a pack of sleeping dogs. Thank you Putin. Though it is not something one can say in public - there are advantages to the US if Putin invades Ukraine. that is real politique.
Sleep Walking
Wednesday 26th of January 2022 02:03:27 AM
Watching Fox and other right wing media there seems to be general offense at the idea that the US is loosing its democracy and comparing it to what happened in Nazi Germany. The point they miss is the reality that in Germany and other parts of the world that slid from one type of government to another few people saw it coming and those that did could not take it seriously assuming it could not really happen. Churchill saw what was coming but he was generally dismissed as a sensationalist and war monger. Nevil Chamberlin was considered a hero because most people chose to not see what should have been obvious. Who wants to believe the world is headed to war? Those millions of Jews who were herded onto trains headed to the gas cambers really though they were going to work camps because they simply could not believe that they were to be eliminated. It was unthinkable that Germans could do that. An advanced, educated, Christian country? How could that be possible? Does anyone really think that if they knew in advance that when they arrived at the camps women, children and old men would be taken directly to be killed that they would have gone quietly? No way. The German people never thought Hitler would do what he did. The industrialists who supported him did so thinking he could be controlled. They found out he couldn't. The point is we humans have the ability to sleep walk to destruction - history proves it over and over again - We could be doing it right now. As one of the best rock bands I had the privilege of recording and managed (Lords of the New Church) once said "Open your eyes -see the lies right in front of ya".
Putin and the Ukraine
Wednesday 26th of January 2022 12:34:58 AM
The big problem for Putin is by invading Ukraine it will convince the Western alliance that Russia really is a threat and breath new life into NATO, and by the way will destroy Trump's claim that NATO is no longer relevant. It will be a wake up call that will come back to bite Putin. It will also hurt China as when we wake up we will wake up to Chinese intentions also. The real problem is that Russia is a one trick pony with a people who will eventually tire of being a backwards nation dependent on oil when the world is finally moving away from oil. Russia is in no position to take on the advanced economies of the world. What he will be doing is what Japan did by attacking Pearl Harbor. He will wake up a sleeping tiger and it will eat him. Personally I think it is to our advantage to wake up now and pull together again as a country. By invading Ukraine, Putin will be doing us a favor.
Ukraine opportunity
Tuesday 25th of January 2022 12:19:52 AM
Russia/Putin is not crazy enough to want a war that will certainly end up nuclear. That is a fact. Putin is not stupid. The Russian people don't want a war. Therefore Biden should realize that the Russian moves in Ukraine are an ideal time to show resolve that will NOT lead to something worse. Nothing helps a President like the threat of war especially from a country like Russia who we are conditioned to be against. The time is now to send Air Force units to Poland, Rumania, the Baltics, Slovakia, put the 6th fleet on high alert. No time to pussy foot around. Time for the big dog to get serious. Time for the little dog to realize his bark has backfired big time.
Ukraine
Friday 21st of January 2022 11:49:35 PM
Sanctions are all very well but Russia has had them before and can blame problems at home on the outside. To really make a point Poland, Germany, France and the rest of the NATO group should announce an immediate increase in the size of their armies. If the draft was instituted that would really show Putin the West is not bluffing. And lets not forget Japan. Its time we realize that a bigger military capability of Japan will scare the hell out of both the Chinese and the Russians. We know what Japan and Germany can do. Its time we used that knowledge.
Ticker Carlson
Thursday 20th of January 2022 01:43:17 AM
Interesting to see Tucker Carlson finally come out of the closet and admit his anti-American leanings. In his Fox broadcast on Tuesday Jan 18, his pitch was simply it is Americas and NATOs fault that Russia is massing on the Ukraine border and "why should we in America care about Ukraine anyway? Apparently allowing countries of Eastern Europe to join NATO posed a threat to Russia so who can blame them for being pissed off. What Tucker does not seem to get is that NATO was built as a defensive force NOT offensive. Indeed NATO does not have the capacity to invade Russia in any meaningful way and it has never even imagined doing so. Neither the US nor any NATO country has ever threatened to invade Russia. The opposite is not true. Next I expect Mr Carlson to soft peddle the China Taiwan threat and again pose the question "why does America care". Or is Mr Carlson so stupid that he does not realize he might as well be working for Putin and Putin isnt even paying him!? But then again Fox IS paying him so why worry?
Unpleasant truth about Afghanistan
Tuesday 18th of January 2022 06:00:52 PM
We Americans like to think that whatever mistakes were made in Afghanistan, it was more worth it than not. If one is on the Republican side of thinking then America getting out under President Biden was seen for the mistakes, perceived failures etc as a way to emphasize negative thinking about all things Democrat. If one was on the Democrat side the view was far more 'we had to get out and there were bound to be problems but we should never have been there in the first place and thank God we are out of that Republican mess '. The one fact that neither Republican nor Democratic thinking wants to face is that the majority of the Afghans (at least the ones that make a difference) preferred the Taliban to the American or American backed government and that is why the Taliban took over so quickly. That is not to say that the majority preferred the Taliban for what they stood for but the majority knew that peace would never come as long as the American presence persisted. That majority could accept the loss of women's rights, democracy etc more than they could accept forever war. That would be the same whoever was President. What Biden had the guts to do was face the reality that the war had been stupid for a very long time (both Republicans and Democrats would agree on that if their political party occupied the White House) AND there was no good way of getting out BUT getting out was the only thing that made sense for the USA to do. So bite the bullet, take the criticism and stop the stupidity. Trump was right - the US should get out of Afghanistan. The problem was that he didn't do it. It has been argued that the US getting out of Afghanistan emboldened Russia and China by thinking America was on the retreat. In fact both Russia and China preferred the US being in Afghanistan as it sapped American resources, turned Americans off the idea of war, and turned people against American intervention especially in the countries that we were waring in. They know that within a few years Americans will forget about Afghanistan, and the futility of such wars and once again be open to intervention. Both Russia and China WANT the US to be very hesitant to fight for "principle" in what they might think are far away countries - like Taiwan and Ukraine. They WANT America to be sapped of resources. AND they like American eyes focused on places other than them. I would argue that getting out of Afghanistan made both Russia and China think they better act sooner than later before America reverts to its interventionist thinking. Hence Russian actions in Ukraine and Chinese actions re Taiwan. The truth is US will be stronger militarily as a result of getting out of Afghanistan. That is the real fear of Russia and China. They can think long term - we think short term and the next election. Biden made the decision to do the smart thing. Will the "other side" criticize him for it? Yes, of course. That is American politics 2022.
German Power Source
Friday 14th of January 2022 10:41:23 PM
Germany needs to get back into nuclear energy. Renewables are a long way off from being able to supply the country all it needs. We have seen what drives Putin. Why give him the leverage of the pipeline? The US has been right to be opposed to it from the start. It should be clear to the Germans now. Germany should in no uncertain terms state that the pipeline is forever dead if Russia invades Ukraine.
Unwitting Accomplices
Wednesday 12th of January 2022 07:38:05 PM
There is recognition by just about everyone in the West (and the democratic world) that China is a problem now and will be an ever growing one in the future. There is a big dilemma. They are the factory to the world and we all need their stuff. They can make it cheaper and faster than we can ourselves. They are a huge market, which every company wants to be in, SO, we can hardly cut them off. We can put some tariffs on their goods but its US that pays that not the Chinese - and besides they can just lower the price to cover that anyway. So we are stuck with a "too big to fail" situation that there is little or no solution for. All the more reason to understand just what does China, or rather the Chinese ruling elite, want? The best way to figure out is to do what the CIA has done for so many years in its "war games". Put yourself in the shoes of the Chinese leadership and see how they would best get what they want. First, above all things the leadership wants to retain power and to do so will strike out (crush) at any threat to that power. That is true of most leaderships even in the democratic world. The only difference is the lengths one will go to stay in power. In the case of the Chinese we see how far from what they are doing in Hong Kong and with the repression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Second, China wants to be respected again after years of being a backwater and being occupied by foreigners for the past few centuries. Pride is a powerful force. SO how to get that? And what would the next step be? By all we see the next step will be the reacquisition of Taiwan. It would be a huge feather in the cap of Chairman Xi - VERY visible and solidify his "greatness" in the eyes of the Chinese people. SO we have to assume that taking Taiwan one way or another is on the cards AND it could be soon. Thinking like the Chinese must be thinking the considerations are: 1, The best option is to do what Hitler did in Czechoslovakia and Austria. Win without having to fight. Hitler actually thought he could do the same with Poland but miscalculated the response from England and France. To win Taiwan without a fight one has to weaken the resolve of the Taiwanese people to resist AND get the nations supporting Taiwan to acquiesce to the Chinese quest. 2. The best way to win without a fight is to have enough military power to make the thought of war extremely unpleasant. That is what Chamberlain was thinking when he gave Czechoslovakia away. Hence, the large military buildup of China has been the result. If the Chinese military might is great enough will the USA really come to Taiwan's aid? Once the answer becomes NO or probably not to the majority of voters in Taiwan, then the resolve to resist diminishes dramatically. The Taiwanese do not want a war with China as they would loose especially if the USA does not back them up. So what is the best way to weaken Taiwan from within? Get the USA out of the picture. BUT - and this is most important - get the USA out of the picture WITHOUT damaging the business China gets from the USA (and the West). Chinse strategy must be to have your cake and eat it too. To best get the US out of the picture is to get the US to divert its attention to things other than Taiwan and China. Internal division within the USA would certainly do that. Therefore, thinking like the Chinese are obviously doing I would be willing to bet - even go so far as to announce as a fact - that the Chinese are actively involved in stirring up political divisions in the USA. It works not only to make their quest to take over Taiwan easier it also bursts the mystique of "democracy". China does not like the idea of democracy as it is a direct threat to the power of the ruling regime. So how would I go about stirring up political divisions in the USA and as a bonus weaken the idea of democracy as an attractive political option? Use the media WITHOUT the media even knowing you were doing it. The most effective media to do this is right wing media. The left wing might get riots in the streets of some cities but the right wing media actually got the mob to invade the Capitol Building. The extreme left might call for defunding the police but the extreme right called for hanging Mike Pence and killing dissenters. AND there are elements in the right wing that call for secession from the Union, speak about civil war - all perfect to divert America into dealing with problems at home and pay little attention to far away places most don't know anything about (or care about) anyway. The funny thing - actually the sad thing - is how easy it would be. That's why I say it must be happening now. The Chinese are not stupid enough to miss the opportunity. In fact they don't even have to funnel money into Fox "News". All they have to do is funnel money into its new competitors like Newsmax. The more outrageous Newsmax is, the more audience it gets and the more Fox reacts by itself becoming more outrageous. The net effect is - without even knowing it - Hannity, Ingraham, Carlson, and most of the Fox pundits are working for the Chinese Communist Party. They are inadvertent, unwitting Chinese agents and have no idea they are so. We can say the same for much of social media as well. Meanwhile, as we saw from the election of Trump, it is pretty easy to funnel money into organizations and hide where the money is really coming from. I saw the CIA do it in the Middle East when I lived there and my father was CIA. (We gave money to people and organizations that did not like the USA BUT they disliked the Russians even more - AND we made sure the recipient did not know it was the USA doing the funding as that would have hurt their credibility with their supporters). Now the game is even more sophisticated so it is virtually impossible to know who is really funding - if the funder wants to remain hidden. The disturbing thing is that one can see this happening now. Flipping back and forth as I do from CNN, to Fox to MSNBC to Newsmax to BBC to France 21 etc it becomes obvious. There is a certain desperation that has descended on Fox as it is facing competitors it did not have for so long. Its pundits have been encouraged to become even more rabid in their attacks on the Government, the President and the Democrats etc. Others have woken up to its game - and its audience - and the Chinese have noticed. What's worse, it is in their interests to take advantage of this. And they undoubtedly are.
Truth is Boring
Monday 10th of January 2022 06:14:14 PM
The biggest movies are super heroes; Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman etc. J. K. Rowling did not get rich writing about a real school. Religion has always sold wishes over facts. We should not be surprised that the media, in a capitalist world, would do the same. News has been one area of media coverage but if you are out to make money, as most if not all media are then decisions must be made on how to appeal to the advertiser as that is where most of the income comes from. As I learned years ago from working with MTV, what they termed "short form" programming ( ie music videos) was not as good as "Long form" programming because advertisers wanted to know not only how many people watched but how long they watched for. The longer the viewer watched the greater the chance the viewer would see the commercial. MTV soon began building shows and cutting dramatically the airing of videos. MTV is in the advertising business pure and simple. It should also be no surprise that bad news gets more coverage than good news. "If it bleeds, it leads" has been a newspaper motto for decades. As the great Howard Stern movie "Private Parts" showed, the people that hated Stern listened to his show three times more than the people who liked him. He is not called a shock jock for nothing. The more outrageous the more listeners he got. The US population is just over 330 million people. When does one read or hear a headline that says 330 million Americans have not died from Covid , less than one million have? Not a way to get viewers or sell newspapers. The reality of what attracts viewers, listeners has always been the same. What is new is the realization that this can be taken to the extremes and there are no financial consequences to suffer. Just the opposite. It used to be that a journalist would want to have "credibility", that journalism was an honorable profession, the truth mattered. news was understood to be a service to the public not necessarily a profit center. When it became known (perhaps thanks to CNN during the Gulf War) that the news COULD be a big profit center, then the next step would be - why not give news people want to hear rather than what they should hear? Then if that works why not just create "news" that fits what people want to hear? If they want lies and that makes us more money then why not tell those lies? Our advertisers will love us for it. That leads to outlets like Fox and Newsmax where guardrails are disbanded in the quest for profits. Sean Hannity gets paid lots of money to say the things he does and no one cares if its the truth or not. Actually its better if is not the truth as the truth is boring and too complicated. Its not about truth anyway. Its about viewership and money. THAT is the truth! The bad news in all of this is that the most thoughtful people, the ones that know there can be two sides to every story, that are intellectually curious enough to check out multiple views before arriving at their own; are at a disadvantage. On dimensional thinking, easy answers, are much easier to sell than complicated and difficult ones. "Only I can fix it". is as one dimensional and easy as you can get. No wonder it works.
Afghanistan
Sunday 9th of January 2022 08:18:30 PM
Anyone who grew up in the third world or worked there for any length of time will know all to well the virtual futility of trying to make those countries anything like democratic or hold Western values on non discrimination, free markets and the like. As the vice president of Egypt once told my CIA father, "if you don't discriminate by race, creed or color - then how do you discriminate?" The idea on not discriminating was completely alien! Or the USIA guys who proudly went back to the village where they had paid to install pipes so women would not have to walk miles to get water to bring back to their villages with jars on their heads - only to find the pipes dug up and the men watching TV. "Why do we need pipes when we have women to get the water? What we really want is a TV" they were told. So wasting blood and money in Afghanistan was something many knew right from the start but as the US usually finds out - it is easy to get in, but it is very hard to get out. Trump was not the first to want to get out of Afghanistan. He said he was going to do it but in the end did not. Perhaps he was just a big mouth pussy; but for sure he got pushback from all sorts of people. Lets be honest. Getting out of Afghanistan, no matter if Republican or Democrat, was going to be messy. And many people and companies with sympathies on both sides of the isle were making lots of money out of being there. They did not want to loose that money AND the politicians did not want to face the inevitable bad press they would get by pulling out. Biden did pull out and look what happened. Bad press from both right and left. People forget that when the British pulled out of India in 1948 warnings of what would happen came to pass in spades. Was it messy? A million people murdered, the country breaking into three, Pakistan, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India - and breaking up along religious lines was certainly a lot more than messy, it was a human disaster. By comparison the US getting out of Afghanistan is pale by comparison. Meanwhile the speed with which the Taliban took over the country shows just how futile was the US effort. Apparently there was a lot more support for the Taliban than we wanted to admit. We took a horses to water and only saw the ones drinking. The Russians did the same in Eastern Europe. Once the noose was loosened Poland, the Baltic states, Hungary, the Czechoslovakia etc - after 50 years of Russian domination and propaganda all marched straight to join the West and NATO. Tito held together Yugoslavia. As soon as he was dead civil war erupted and the whole country broke up along ethnic and or religions lines. One country broke into many countries and they still hate each other. Meanwhile, one of the great tragedies that many decry is the outflow of refugees fleeing repression or reprisals from the new regime taking over. From a humanitarian basis one has to sympathize with their plight. At the same time, taking the long view, one has to say that you make your bed now sleep in it. What would have happened in the US if the suffragettes fled to Canada so they could vote? Or if Martin Luthor King had done the same? In both cases staying to push for change at home is what happened. That being said, I would think the Taliban would be happy to see all those that don't buy into their bullshit view of the world flee as that makes it easier for them to install their bullshit ideas. The reality is that if change is going to happen in Afghanistan (women's rights, etc) it is going to have to come from within - just as it did in the United States. Those people that flee only make bad things more possible in the countries they flee from. Will there be death, beatings, pain? Yes of course but so was it true in the US. Change is messy, it comes with struggle, running away does not lead to change. As heartless as that might seem we would do well to remember that reality.
Perversion of language
Friday 7th of January 2022 11:55:20 PM
The perversion of language goes unabated. The word "patriot" has lost its meaning. It now is code for the MAGA crowd. As such it is anything but its original meaning. The words "socialism" and "communism" continue to be confused as if they automatically are the same thing (which they are not). Right and Left, Conservative and Liberal mean different things to different people. "Republican"? what does that word mean now? And the American flag? It's becoming the banner for authoritarian tendencies, conspiracy theories etc. "Traitor"? Now it means the side that does not believe what I want to believe. We are in a world of absolutes. If you are slightly to the left you are a "communist". To the right a "Fascist". There are no grey areas, no subtilties. Radicle? extremist? what do they mean now? Depends on what side you are on. What lobby you work for. Labeling has become an art form. I keep going back to what Lenin said so long ago. Gain control of the language and you are on your way to win the battle.
History
Friday 7th of January 2022 11:29:45 PM
All through history it is evident even the smartest people can make major mistakes. Major empires rise and fall. Super Powers come and go. There is no such thing as exceptionalism. Imagining that one is exceptional, or one's country is, is the first step towards the eventual decline. Today the road to decline is a lot faster than it ever was. Social media tells you what you want to hear so it is easy to live in your own bubble and be totally unaware of what is really going on. And social media makes more money guiding us towards the negative as it is more engaging. Money talks. Meanwhile, none of us wants to face any facts that may crimp out lifestyle. We can face them intellectually but not physically. Do I really want to give up my SUV even though the environment demands it? Do I want to pay more taxes when that is want the society really needs? Do I want cheap housing built in my neighborhood to deal with the homeless problem? We are destined to react only when it can't be avoided. The problem is, it can be too late. We are already suffering the effects of not reacting to environmental reality AND there are still deniers who say it isn't happening. Or worse, that "God" will fix it. As if that ever worked in the past. We are going to screw up the planet and are doing so in spite of what we can see with our own eyes. Those young kids who are speaking up are right. They ARE going to live in a world a lot worse than we have now. The die is cast. Now we hear ever growing cries about the USA and its democracy. A one party state, an authoritarian regime on the horizon? The reality is that the cries are justified AND not much is being done about it. Make money while you can because bad times are coming.
Book Reviews
Tuesday 21st of December 2021 07:33:13 PM
Nice to see my book "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back; My Life in the Music Business" is making year end good reading reviews, books of the year etc.
Miles returns...
Tuesday 21st of December 2021 09:21:14 AM
To all readers; Miles is returning from hiatus. New posts coming this week!
America First?
Saturday 19th of June 2021 04:46:33 PM
For all the talk of "America First" and how great we all are, exceptional etc, the Republicans, Fox, and other right wing pundits are painting the US as a country made up of idiots. Joe Biden has a real job in front of him trying to say "America is back. " It seems only part of America is back. The rest is somewhere in koo koo land. The problem it is a dangerous koo koo land. Meanwhile the press interview these crazies and amplify their insane statements. I guess it makes good TV. BUT it's about time they answered to those crazies to their face that they are in fact crazy. Don't let them get away with their insane statements. When Hilary Clinton said "basket of deplorables" she was right. Her mistake was apologizing for saying it. She should have doubled down and say that's indeed what they are.
Russia
Tuesday 15th of June 2021 04:33:36 PM
Funny that Fox is now criticizing President Biden for not being tough on Russia when we all know that it was the previous President that was famously soft on Russia. Not only soft on Russia and Putin, but undermined US allies, NATO and the like. A conspiracy inclined person would think he was working for Putin, a "Manchurian Candidate". As usual, Fox has no consistency, and no shame. It appears that Fox and other right wing media are dedicated to be against anything President Biden and the Democrats are for. To sell their position they are happy to encourage the conspiracy theories and Trump talking points which for the most part were outright lies or at best highly exaggerated. A year ago one could say the same thing about MSNBC, CNN or what is termed as the "main stream media" spending time criticizing everything Trump was doing. They too relied on lies and exaggerations - however the difference is that back then they were relying on real Trump lies and exaggerations. The "right wing" today relies on made up lies and exaggerations. Trump accused the "left" of being "anti American". Today it is Fox and the right wing that is "anti American". The tragedy is that today there are two clear sides and they talk in different boxes and only to the people that agree with them. The media has helped this along - in a way Trump was right. The media has become "the enemy of the people". What he was wrong about is choosing the wrong media as the enemy of the people. It's hard to deny that Fox, Newsmax and the internet have helped build the divide and separate Americans into two camps. Freedom of the Press never had to face the reality that money talks. Hannity gets paid a fortune to push bullshit. Who can blame him? His legacy, and others like him will not be good. But then he will be buried and long gone. Lets hope that is not the fate of American Democracy.
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Immigration
Tuesday 8th of June 2021 07:00:41 PM
In the current criticism of the immigration drama on the US Southern border the Republicans, Fox and right wing groups infer that the issue is totally down to the policy of a new President, Joe Biden. That is partly true but it is far from the whole issue. First, the Covid 19 issue has hit the people harder South of the Border and in third world countries generally more than in the US. People need jobs, charity or Government handouts to survive. These are scarce in most countries. People everywhere have the will to survive and they will move to where they think they might survive. Secondly the issue of global warming has just in the past year become a glaring fact that one can not escape from - even the Republicans now admit global warming is real and man made. Go South and one finds excessive heat and crop failures are becoming the norm so Global Warming forces migration for survival. And third, the terrible political situation in Central America goes unabated as it is in many countries of the third world. If you think your family might be killed in one place you will naturally look for another place to move to. No matter who is President, immigration is going to be a bigger and bigger issue worldwide. Its a tide that will be hard to stop until the reasons for migration are reversed. Building a wall is not going to do it.
Bill Maher on Israel
Saturday 5th of June 2021 04:35:32 PM
Palestinians would do well to listen to the recent statements by Bill Maher on his HBO TV program. As an avowed atheist he does not support Israel because "it is their land" as espoused in the Old Testament (which he presumably would consider a bullshit book written by people with an agenda). His opinions are therefore based on what he thinks are a rational understanding of the situation. He has a point that firing thousands of rockets willy-nilly into Israel that have no way of targeting non civilians must give the defending Israelis the right to fight back. Agreed. He also states that Jews have lived there for thousands of years. Also true. But lets not forget that there were people in the area before the Jews arrived, and there were people there during Roman times that were not Jewish AND more relevant, it is estimated that 1/3 of the Jewish population when Rome kicked out the Jews simply converted so they would not have to leave. Presumably those people now are what makes up the Palestinian population. That there was no actual Palestinian state in the past is basically irrelevant. So the "rights to the land" issue is at best highly confusing. The point that Bill Maher misses is that the "left" comments we hear today that are critical of Israel are simply a realization that Israel is not that pure country of high ideals that the US has rightly blindly supported for decades. They can be just as shitty as the rest of us. As the Israeli press itself often makes a point of. AND that the Palestinians do have a point. If you treat people like shit - you will get shit. And it is pretty apparent that the Israeli Government has and does often treat the Palestinians like shit. That some or a lot of it is deserved is not the point. There are bad Palestinians just like there are bad Israelis, good and bad Americans etc etc. Bill Maher's comment that if you were a Texan and thousands of rockets were fired at you from Mexico wouldn't you have a right to fight back is correct on the face of it. By the same token if you were being kicked out of your home to make room for what you consider an outsider wouldn't you also have a right to fight back as well? That is actually how the recent fight between Israel and the Palestinians started. Arab family's were being ethnic cleansed from the West Bank to make room for Israeli settlers. We can call Hamas a terrorist group, Bill Maher can site unfortunate realities of the politics of Gaza, Arabs can site unfortunate realities of Israelis, but at the end of the day there are no clear good guys and bad guys - just grey as usual. What is clear is that the US has to be more even handed if there is ever going to be a resolution to the conflict (which I don't see happening to be honest) - that is essentially what the "left" is arguing for. Blind support for Israel therefore is NOT a winning strategy for any of the parties long term, most of all the USA.
Telegraph article
Monday 31st of May 2021 06:47:57 PM
"Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: My LIfe in the Music Business", Press on my memoire being published in the UK already seems to be happening. Not published until June 18, Nice article in the Telegraph May 28. US release is July 13 - copies printed in the Czech Republic need time to be shipped to the States. Doing the rounds of press, interviews, podcasts and sending out e-mails to all and sundry.
Simple
Saturday 22nd of May 2021 10:12:12 PM
The most amazing thing about the "stop the steel" thing is that it is in the Republican states, where the top officials are Republican that the steel supposedly happened. To pull that off would be a hell of a trick.
Change votes under the noses of Republicans? Wow, if the Dems pulled that off they deserve to win elections. The truth is more mundane. winners simply got more votes. Republicans got seats in Congress that Dems thought they were going to win. Biden got more votes than Trump. Simple
Respect
Saturday 22nd of May 2021 10:12:12 PM
It used to be that one could disagree with a political view point - abortion rights, taxes, or proper role of Government AND STILL respect the person with the opposing view. BUT how does one respect someone who believes that space lasers started the California forest fires? or Chickens ate ballots and were then incinerated to cover it up? or that the election was stolen by Democrats in Republican states. ? or that Biden is a pedophile? or that prominent movie stars and Democratic leaders are running a pedophile ring out of the basement of a pizza restaurant in Washington DC? and a host of other crazy Qanon statements?
Sorry, those views are just stupid and crazy and people who have such views might as well stick a sign on their forehead saying "I am either dumb or insane or both". Then there are the media people and politicians who fail to call out such craziness - how can one respect them either. ? We lost a lot over the past year. Thousands of lives lost with Covid-19 - thousands of businesses disappeared, truth and facts became fluid if not meaningless. We also lost respect.
Anti or not
Friday 21st of May 2021 10:12:12 PM
Just a view years ago a large group of marchers holding torches marched through Charlottesville chanting "Jews will not replace us". Trump called them "some very fine people". They were white supremacist's who are part of what Donald Trump considers his "base". - One would imagine that would make Trump anti sematic. Yet his son in law is Jewish and his favorite daughter converted to Judaism. He also gave the state of Israel things they wanted like the US embassy moving to Jerusalem etc. The point about Trump is that likes people who like him.
The marchers liked him and so does BB Netanyahu. That they represented two totally opposing positions made no difference. Does he believe any of the crazy Qanon ideas - it's hard to believe he does - BUT they like him so he likes them too. The Republican politicians have read him like a book. Look supportive, say you believe in what he says and you get his support. It makes no difference if it is nonsense or not.
racism
Thursday 6th of May 2021 04:59:17 PM
Funny to hear people say the US is not racist. I lived in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria. England, France, East Coast USA, West Cost and South USA - traveled the world and believe me racism exists everywhere. It may not be skin color; it can be religion, tribe, nationality or even political view point, whatever. Basically its all the same. People in all four corners of the earth are perfectly capable of looking down on another group - and there are many that do so on a regular basis like its the natural thing to do. Go to Israel and you will see racism, France the same, China, India, all over Africa and the Americas. No nationality or racial group can claim moral purity - discrimination is everywhere and people die everywhere because of it.
RINO?
Monday 3rd of May 2021 09:17:59 PM
Utah "Republican" Convention. Romney being called a "communist" tells us that this was NOT a Republican convention attended by real Republicans. It was a convention of RINOS who have no idea what the Republican Party has been and actually still should be. The boo people were Trumpian people and had no business attending a Republican Party Convention. All they accomplished was to further the view that the Republican Party has become the party of stupid and give the Democrats more talking points. Watching the Grand Old Party degenerate into this morass of stupidity is disgraceful and shameful. And now they are going after Liz Cheney? what a bunch of idiots. They can call Romney and Cheney or whoever RINOS but it is in fact THEY that are the RINOS.
what is radicle
Friday 30th of April 2021 12:21:11 AM
With all the crazy talk on Fox I would like to ask the pundits the following simple question. Is Germany a communist country? Is Holland a communist country? Is Denmark, Sweden, and other Western European countries communist? Is Japan a communist country? Is Australia a communist country? Well, the proposals put forward by President Biden yesterday would not be classed as "radicle" in any of those countries. They would be quite normal. NOT having any of those ideas would be considered radicle.
Fox
Thursday 29th of April 2021 11:26:43 PM
Wow! Fox is really going off the deep end. LIke a chicken with its head cut off. Mixing up socialism with communism, fear mongering, lying. worrying about the deficit forgetting Trump also forgot the deficit and upped the national debt by two trillion without paying for it. Hailing the vaccine as a success when Trump has been blatant in discouraging his supporters from taking it, wearing masks etc etc. It seems that the Fox people have assumed their audience is more gullible than they originally imagined and are now pushing the envelope even further. We know from polls that the Fox audience are less educated than other news outlets but that does not mean they are stupid. But Fox must think they are. They should be careful they dont go too crazy or their audience might wake up to their bullshit.
credit where credit is due
Thursday 29th of April 2021 07:43:25 PM
Interesting to see Republicans wanting to give credit to Trump for the speed of the vaccine creation while not mentioning at all the fact that Trump, from the very beginning (just like China) downplayed the Covid 19 pandemic and went out of his way up to this day to NOT ware a mask and make sure everyone knew he did not ware one. AND then of course encouraged everyone else to not ware a mask and made fun of those that did. And push non cures like hydroxy chloroquine The stupidity of all this is that getting the vaccine in record time could have been followed with the President wearing a mask, pushing testing, social distancing and the like and he would have been a hero. It's like a baseball player congratulating himself on getting to first base but then failing to get to home plate. Trump left that to Biden. One of the greatest stupid political moves of all time.
Afghanistan
Wednesday 14th of April 2021 08:54:04 PM
Lindsey Graham is right. There are no good options in Afghanistan. If we go there could be a cost, if we stay there could be a cost. Donald Trump AND Joe Biden both came to the conclusion that leaving was the only sensible thing to do. Both sides of the isle have internal opposing views on the subject. It is not a Republican vs Democrat view (even though Fox is inferring that it is Joe Biden making a mistake and seeming to forget that Trump was all about getting out by May 1). There is a reality that I had to learn myself in backing an entertainment project for half a decade loosing money over and over again. The lesson was that if you try to win and loose, then try again and loose, then try again and loose, if you continue to do this the lesson will eventually become clear. How many times to you have to loose until you face the reality that winning is not going to happen? In Afghanistan it is true that US departure will likely help the Taliban once again take over the country. Once again women will loose their rights; all sorts of bad things can happen. But that will be the case next year, the year after and twenty years from now. How long is the US intending to be there? It is NOT like Germany, Korea, Japan and other countries where American troops are stationed. In those countries we are welcome guests by the vast majority of the people AND the government. In Afghanistan, at best, half of the country objects to the US being present there and actively work to undermine any advances made. The US is an occupier, pure and simple. Meanwhile keeping a few thousand troops there does nothing we cant do with the usual spys and secret operatives the US has always used. CIA do your job!. Why use the Army to do it for you? As far as the women go - one has to sympathize but then again in the US women had few rights until relatively recently. Afghani women need to stand up just as Saudi women are starting to do. It was a long process in the US and it will be a long process in Afghanistan and many other countries but the US cannot do the job women need to do for themselves. The Republicans have always argued for small government and few hand outs to the disadvantaged. They argue that making people depending on the Government is "socialism" and a disincentive for the individual to solve his or her own problems. Why is that thinking not applied to Afghanistan?. Another lesson I learned while I lived with my family in the Middle East. When the US Government funded improvements via foreign aid, USIA etc. what we Americans assumed would be welcomed were often not considered important by the local people. In one instance when an aid person saw that in one village women had to walk several miles to get fresh water and carried water back to their village with jars on their heads - the decision was make to put in pipes to bring the water to the village and save the women the need to do that long walk. After the pipes were installed and the aid people left, when they returned later to see the fruits of their contribution to the village, they were surprised to see that the pipes had been dug up and sold to give the villagers what they really wanted; a TV set. The explanation? "Why do we need pipes when we have women to go and get the water?" The point is that if you want to win in places like Afghanistan you need to do what we did in Japan and Germany. Obliterate the status quo of the past and start anew. We bombed Germany - totally destroyed the Nazi party, reeducated the people with "politically correct" views while we occupied the country AND then rebuilt it via the Marshall plan in an image we wanted. We destroyed the religion of the Nazis. In Afghanistan we never totally defeated the Taliban nor reeducated the population overall (especially in the provinces to think like we want them to think. We did it half ass, we are always going to do it half ass, so getting out is the least of the bad options. Meanwhile we have other fish to fry. Much bigger issues exist that need full attention. Afghanistan is a diversion we can do without. And we need to do without.
Iran vs Israel
Monday 12th of April 2021 10:22:40 PM
The hostility between Iran and Israel has always been more talk for domestic political goals than any real danger of war between the two. Iran sees Israel as a useful boogieman to be against that Iranians can get behind and Israel sees Iran's supposed nuclear threat as a useful scare tactic to win elections. Benjamin Netanyahu is very much like Trump in that he thinks more about staying in power by any means (lying or whatever it takes) and knows full well that even if Iran did have a nuclear weapon it would never be used against Israel. First the two countries are separated by several countries between them and second Israel has nuclear weapons and the USA is an ally so attacking Israel would be fool hardy to say the least. Besides, any nuclear explosion in Israel would kill many Muslims as well. On top of that, nuclear weapons have proved to be war preventers NOT war starters - AS LONG AS BOTH SIDES HAVE THEM. Israel's latest moves against Iran's nuclear program are an effort by Netanyahu to keep the scare alive and help him maintain support even from those Israelis who do not like him. It is also aimed at making things tougher for President Biden in his bid to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement. Netanyahu NEEDS Iran as a scare tactic and a deal between Iran and the US hurts that need.
Dilution
Monday 12th of April 2021 05:55:49 PM
For students of the media and how money making outlets that are in business to make profits look at how they frame the news, the battle between Fox News and the upstart Newsmax and One America News - all three going for the "right wing/ conspiracy theory/ Trumpian market" is interesting to watch. In trying to keep their once exclusive market, Fox has discovered that their audience is even more ignorant than they thought and the upstarts have actually drawn audiences away from them. The result is Fox seems to have further encouraged wilder notions as one can see with Tucker Carlson as a means to head off the loss of their audience. Tucker for instance has discovered the notions of "replacement" and "dilution". meaning his vote (and presumably the white vote) can be "diluted" by new citizens or immigrants (presumably coming across the Southern border and probably more likely to vote Democrat). It is true that an increase in the population means each individual's vote is diluted. So given that one must assume Tucker supports the Covid 19 deaths that has reduced the population by over half a million voters. Furthermore he would presumably support a woman's right to choose - the more abortions the fewer future voters. He might even go so far as to raise the voting age. That would also reduce the number of voters - hence increase the value of his individual vote.
Meanwhile we should look at US history. At the beginning of the Republic the common man could not vote. Only land owners could. Women couldn't until just over 100 years ago. Slaves couldn't vote and the black vote has been surprised even after rights were given. That means that for most of US history less than half the population was allowed to vote. Of those, voter turn out is usually half of that. So when the word "democracy" is thrown around lets remember the facts. Then lets consider the Electoral College. Trump and Bush did not win the popular vote yet were elected President. In that regard the US is a "limited Democracy". In Presidential elections the majority does NOT choose the President. Then consider the drawing up of the voting districts. Both sides of the isle try to choose the voters instead of the other way around. Its called jerrymandering. Worst of the all is the Senate. I live in California with a population of 40 million. The state gets two Senators. The state of North Dakota has a population of 762,000 and yet North Dakota gets two Senators just like California. Is that Democracy? my Senate vote in California is worth 1/20millionth whereas a North Dakotan is worth 1/ 381,000. Talk about dilution!!. Then there is South Dakota with a population of 884,660 and Wyoming with 574,000 (less than the city of Washington DC. who gets NO Senators. Add South and North Dakota and Wyoming and we have a population of some 2. 2 million voters who get to choose 6 Senators. California gets to choose 2. If there is dilution going on - which it is - it is California and New York that are most affected. Tucker: you want to talk "dilution" then talk the full facts not just a tiny fraction you harp about. If you are going to be pushed to be wilder by the Fox higherups then at least make it close to reality then the fringe tangent you are on now.
My memoire and China.
Wednesday 7th of April 2021 04:03:33 PM
With all the talk and concern about China - Republicans saying one thing, Dems another and both expressing concern it is interesting to note that I just learned that my memoire "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: My Life in the Music Business" has suffered Chinese ire. It seems the book was to be printed in China (still the cheapest and most reliable printing place these days in spite of all the talk, tariffs etc). However the Chinese censorship authorities flagged it and stopped the printing because, for one thing, I listed countries one of my artists performed in was Taiwan - oops not supposed to say Taiwan is a country apparently. Then I commented on Mao's bullshit communism. All fairly harmless but not to the Chinese censorship people EVEN FOR and export order of books. In the UK the printing has been switched to a company in the Czech Republic and I am still waiting to see what the US Publisher will do. Yesterday I finished the Audible version which apparently will not be affected. I guess it should be considered an honor to be banned by the Chinese.
Tax.
Thursday 1st of April 2021 03:42:20 AM
Very interesting to see Republicans rediscovering concern over the Deficit - a concern they forgot about under Trumps record breaking deficit spending and tax give aways to the rich. AND of course their concern over raising "our taxes" which means the complainers are in the 1. 8 percent of the American people. In expensive and high tax states the $400,000 annual salary may not be considered rich but in most states it certainly is. As the new tax rate proposal is for money in excess of $400,000 it is not much of an increase anyway. Meanwhile the wealthy corporations have never paid the full tax rate, (no matter what it has been) nor will they now. The increase in tax is only an increase on profits not income so should not have much effect on employment as salaries to staff is tax deductible. Meanwhile the spending on the infrastructure bill will mean hiring tons of workers to build, repair and update infrastructure which has to happen anyway if the US is to stay competitive. China is building infrastructure at a fast pace. Is the US to sit by and become increasingly a third world country? If the Republicans are serious about "make America great again" then serious infrastructure spending is long overdue. Fox "news" states that the corporation tax rate in China is 25% forgetting of course the fact that the state, military etc own the major corporations. They cant claim China a socialist state on one hand and then pretend it is capitalist on another. But then again, Fox has always been blind to reality when it fits the Republican mantra no matter how ridiculous. There are other realities. First, no matter who was elected President, the Covid payments mean tax MUST increase. The Government can't give away money and pretend it doesn't have to come from somewhere. Second, we need infrastructure expenditure NOW or we suffer in the future. Better now when interest rates are low than in the future when we are both too late AND interest rates may be higher.
My Memoire
Tuesday 16th of March 2021 04:59:09 PM
I was surprised to see my Memoire "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: My Life in the Music Business" is already up on Amazon for preorders!! I just finished the corrections on Monday and the Audible version last week.
Vaccine
Monday 15th of March 2021 07:09:17 PM
As the Trump supporters seem to be the most resistant to taking the vaccine, the word should get out that the left - or the Democrats - or the never Trumpers - say - great that will result in less Trump voters alive to vote. Responding to conspiracy theories seems to be Trump people DNA so this should jolt them into getting the vaccine.
Policy to win for the future.
Sunday 14th of March 2021 05:32:30 PM
Democrats need to watch out for two things that could hurt in the midterm elections. First are the continuing and sweeping Republican efforts to restrict voting, particularly within communities that are likely to vote Democrat. Second, The Southern border. The huge influx of immigrants, most who are coming for economic reasons NOT really for asylum reasons give a big bullet to Republicans to use against Democrats. Lets not forget how close the last election was. The immigration policy of Trump appealed to his supporters and even many Democrats fear how a new immigration policy that is more lenient to immigrants will seriously hurt when it comes time to vote in less than two years. Imagine the dampening effect of saying 1. We don't believe the wall is the total solution BUT we do believe that some sections should be completed and will do so. We will take the advise of the DHS tasked to control the Southern border. 2 We will continue and enhance our efforts to help countries where immigrants are coming from so they no longer need to come. The Democrats need to kill stone dead the consistent Republican mantra that the Dems "want open borders" (which of course none of them do). That mantra has worked for the Republicans big time. 3. We will work to build a smarter immigration policy. What we DON'T want is a policy aimed at stopping immigration from the Southern border that also stops immigration that we DO want; like attracting the brightest from around the world to keep America competitive.
Republicans.
Saturday 6th of March 2021 04:55:30 PM
Its time for real Republicans to take the party back from the RINO Trumpians. Primary those idiots like MT Greene and Matt Gaetz. Attack them where they think they are strong because in reality that is where they are weakest. Trumpians think short term. Real Republicans should think long term. Make America Great Again by putting Trumpism on the dust heap of history.
Fracturing cults
Wednesday 3rd of March 2021 04:49:46 PM
One of the things the QAnon people proved - yet again (as if we needed reminding) is how normally intelligent (and stupid people as well) can believe the craziest things. Eating babies in pizza parlor basements? Many religions incorporate some pretty crazy ideas as well. Meanwhile, as we have seen throughout history, cults tend to fracture with time. It certainly happened to Christianity splitting into Catholic and Protestant and then many more splinter groups. It happened to Islam dividing into Shia and Sunni sects. The bigger the belief group, the more questions are asked over time and the inevitable happens. One question leads to another and another. The same will happen to QAnon. The obvious direction will be to question the role of Donald Trump. January 6 did not lead to reinstalling him as President. Joe Biden was inaugurated and is obviously the President. March 4th will come and go and Biden will still be President. Trump himself will come under increasing legal pressure that will undermine his "mystique". Trump did not deliver the QAnon promises. In the end he was a looser. Therefore the QAnon message should soon become that Trump was merely a stepping stone - a false profit - even the anti-Christ. The future will be the arrival of the REAL profit. Someone a lot smarter than Trump turned out to be. After all, he couldn't keep his mouth shut even when it was wise to do so. He was too predictable, and too associated with unsavory groups, The truth is his narcissism was useful in the short term but in fact a real sickness that could only hurt in the long term. History gives a pretty good indication that QAnon will fracture just as all other large cults and Religions have done. The division will most likely be between the die hard Trump supporters and the false profit/anti-Christ supporters. Whatever happens, two things will become apparent. First; that the Trump people will be far less than now and the Republican party will have a chance to reconstitute itself. Second, and the real worry for the future - that a new smart Trump like figure will emerge and REALLY threaten American democracy. That is what we most need to watch out for.
TPAC
Sunday 28th of February 2021 04:15:03 PM
There is talk at the CPAC conference going on now in Florida to change it's name to TPAC: changing the C for Conservative to T for Trump. I agree that is a GOOD idea as it rids the true republicans from the RINO Trumpians. Perhaps the real Republicans can finally break away from those phonies who live in fantasy land along with the Qanon fellow travelers and other nut cases.
Immigration
Friday 26th of February 2021 06:21:58 PM
The Democrats need to understand one fundamental thing about politics in the USA today. Immigration (with its racist overtones) is a big factor in the division in the country. The Republicans keep harping on the Democrats as the party of "open boarders" even though no one in the Democratic party believes in open boarders. So a clear statement of what the Dems DO believe is necessary as it is imperative to kill this false impression as soon as possible. The point should be 1. NO, absolutely we do NOT believe in open boarders. That's why we have boarder police and controls on the boarder, and at airport entry points. 2. We DO believe in immigration at reasonable levels which are akin to what Republicans and Democrats both have agreed upon in the past. 3. We DO believe Mexico needs to do more to prevent caravans crossing from Central America to the USA and we are ready to help. 4. We DO believe that one way to stem immigration on the Southern Boarder is to help make life more secure in Central America so people do not have to travel North to the USA. If we can pump billions into Afghanistan and Iraq why cant we do the same for Central America? 5. We do NOT object to "the wall" and believe it is useful in some places but believe there are also better ways to deal with the problem. 6. Many American companies NEED foreign workers to be competitive or to do tough jobs most Americans dont want to do (like temporary farm workers) so we need effective laws to allow for such workers. 7. Finally, we need once and for all to deal with the issue of the 11 million or so undocumented people already in the US who have been here for many years, paid their taxes, have dreamer kids, and are not going anywhere nor can we realistically deport so many people without huge damage to the American economy. IN SHORT, we need an EFFECTIVE immigration policy that works for America on all levels. The Trump policy of simply build a wall, keep people out and bury your head in the sand about the millions here already not only did not work it was bad policy for the future of America.
scary
Sunday 21st of February 2021 06:42:45 PM
The most scary thing I am hearing on the news here -both from traditional right wing commentators as well as the Democrats is the growing acceptance on the right of an autocratic approach to government. The argument is that indeed the idea of democracy really IS being undermined. AND it is coming from people who are thinking they are the true patriots and are just saving the country from a perceived "socialist" disaster. Underneath all of this is a very real fear from whites that the minorities and minority interests are taking over. Add gender issues, abortion, homosexuality issues and you have emotional issues to use as clubs to advance those autocratic issues. To add to the scary scenario is the realization that given the media landscape, the internet, fake news, etc, the genie is already out of the bottle and there is little we can do about it. You cant have a free press AND control it at the same time. That means bad ideas can gain just as much currency as good ideas. Meanwhile in a world where "if it bleeds it leads" and the outrageous gets more coverage than everyday good news AND people can now tune into what they WANT to hear and never hear countervailing arguments means it is hard to corral people back to thinking in terms approaching the Truth. Indeed "truth" now depends on what "side" you are on. The final ingredient to pulling off an autocratic take over is a "champion" that people can follow who will push for the issues they most care about while they are willing to put up with the things about the champion that they dont like. As long as they THINK he is pushing for those issues it doesn't really matter if the champion does not really care one way or another. Hitler had many supporters early on that he later turned on the more powerful he got. He also lied and lied and lied along the route to greater power. Those around him as well as the general public rationalized and rationalized and rationalized as well to the point that they ended up putting up with outrageous things that eventually led the entire country to disaster. Historically speaking, the Trump experience has shown us how easy it is to move a country towards what happened in Germany in the 1930s. The problem is - for US democracy - we are not out of the woods yet.
Iran
Friday 19th of February 2021 05:15:22 PM
One can argue points of the Iran Nuclear deal but the end result is the point to keep an eye on. 1. Did the deal negotiated during the Obama term stop further advancement of an Iran nuclear program - even if for only ten years? Yes. Did Trump pulling out of the deal do anything to stop the Iran nuclear program? No. In fact during the Trump term Iran more than doubled its capability so the Trump action was unquestionably a stupid move. Meanwhile we know now that Donald Trump never knew the terms of the Iran deal and only said it was terrible because that was to him "good politics". His interest was getting elected and looking good to his base and going on the attack worked for him. It's interesting to see Fox "news" criticize President Biden for being open to rejoin the nuclear deal but of course do not mention the abject failure of the Trump policy. Iran is closer today towards building nuclear capability then they were at the end of the Obama Presidency. And it is all due to Trump.
Texas Electricity
Thursday 18th of February 2021 08:48:24 PM
The other thing about the Texas energy fiasco is an unintended consequence of deregulation. The power companies in an effort to compete kept lowering their fees to the point that they could no longer afford repairs and purchasing items they thought they might not need (like heated turbine blades). The result was an underfunded grid. It was not an issue if everything went well and was normal. But the freezing cold spell that hit was NOT normal (though it might be in the future) so the system failed. Motto? be careful what you wish for. Lower electricity and heating bills? now there are major blackouts - no electricity and no heating.
Wind turbines
Thursday 18th of February 2021 07:12:12 PM
Wind turbines making electricity work fine in the freezing north of Norway, Finland, Sweden BECAUSEthey are made to withstand bad weather. The blades are heated and made to let ice and snow slip off. The ones Texas bought were the cheap ones that work fine in above freezing weather conditions but NOT in weather Texas is experiencing now. So it is NOT the fault of wind turbines as Fox commentators like to say (in their usual anti green energy rants) but the fault of buying cheap. Meanwhile natural gas and all other modes of making electricity failed in Texas, In a state where only 7 percent of the energy is renewable, it is hard to blame the "Green energy" supporters for the problem.
MTG and Republicans
Sunday 7th of February 2021 08:34:44 PM
Marjorie Taylor Greene's crazy conspiracy theories and support of silly QAnon posts are not the really dangerous aspect of her acceptance into the Republican Party ranks. Those ideas will been for just what they are - crazy and silly and anyone who believes them is confirming stupidity. Even she has now stated the ideas are false. The real danger is her claim that the Republican Party is Trump's party. More like idol worship of 'Dear Leader". NO party should be the party of one man. I hope Democrats never claim that the Democratic party is Biden's party. What MTG is contending is that the Republican party is NOT a party at all - it is a cult of one man. Hardly a democratic sentiment. In fact she is confirming our fears that what Trump really represents is a new acceptance for autocracy. Let's remember the truism : Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Capitalism and climate change
Saturday 30th of January 2021 11:10:38 PM
Of course Fox and other right wing media will decry the loss of jobs due to the Keystone pipeline cancellation and Biden's moves to limit further drilling on public land - and they would be right. Jobs in those areas will be lost. However jobs always get lost when new technology comes along - it is the capitalist way. Meanwhile more jobs will come in new areas of endeavor that will more than make up for the job losses AND have better results for the economy and such issues as climate change. The reality is that climate change is already having a negative impact on the US economy and it is only going to get bigger. Trump's failure to take it seriously will end up in history of one of his biggest failings as a President. Biden knows the time is now and he has no choice but to react. Some jobs will be lost, more will be made. Long live capitalism.
Reading current events
Saturday 30th of January 2021 10:56:35 PM
Watching Matt Gaetz. Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz might leave one either scratching their head in amazement or thinking they are digging a hole to bury themselves in. However, a factor that must be realized is that IF Trump is not convicted (which seems likely) he will be eligible to run for the next Presidential election. And he will be looking for a running mate. Mike Pence will not be that person. There is a void in the Republican Party and people like Matt Gaetz are assuming they have a shot at getting that position THEN running for President themselves later. That must be the thinking of Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz. Its a jockey for position dance we will see as long as Trump remains a potential candidate. The Republican Party really is stuck. Trump got tons of votes and still has wide support because most Republicans still believe the lies and misrepresentations Trump told them. Media such as Fox and Newsmax continue the Trump message unabated and remain untethered to the truth. They are following the Mitch McConnel strategy when Obama got elected - "my job is to make sure Obama is a one term President". Its not 'make America great again as much as it is get the Republicans (or Trumpians) in control again. So the Trump people will not see and hear media that will change their views. In fact some refuse to watch CNN or MSNBC as a point of principle. They have no intention of letting facts change their views. The big question will be what happens over the next year or so. If Trump is hit with serious charges of tax fraud and the like and we finally see his taxes and find out there was indeed more going on between him and Russia his power should diminish. Likewise if Biden is successful in curbing the virus and all the Republican predictions of him moving the US into "socialism", being soft on China, ruining the economy etc turn out to be just silly propaganda that proves to be false then there is some potential to glue the country back together again. It is likely that more and more dirt will come out about Trump and hopefully it will begin to stick. Fingers crossed.
Truth and the Alternative
Friday 29th of January 2021 07:12:47 PM
Watching the news over the past week two thoughts come to mind. First the divisions in the United States are hard to escape. Watching TV, switching between channels Fox, MSNBC, CNN Newsmax etc it becomes very apparent that a major factor or perhaps THE major factor now that Trump cant tweet is the media itself. When I watch Fox for instance, I ask the question: is this program meant to make me angry? Is it meant to decrease my faith in the Biden Presidency? Is it aimed at confirming my antagonism for the other side? Unfortunately in most cases the answer is YES. So for the Trump supporter watching only Fox and Newsmax or other similar outlet, the fanning of the flames continues unabated. The public is divided because the media makes it that way. Second. The Republican party is no longer what it was. Those that feared what Trump might do to the party, Republicans even more than Democrats, were proved right. Trump has destroyed the Republican Party as we knew it. It is now a party that did not even bother to have a platform in this Presidential election. The platform was Trump. For all the talk of cancel culture blamed on the left, the Trump people are quite happy to cancel those views in their own party that are not 100% Trump's. How the party of Lincoln could sink to the depths it has - supporting anti democratic views - believing crazy conspiracy theories and the like should be shocking to behold. The reality is that the media makes its money from advertising. Advertising rates depend on viewership or listenership. The more eyeballs or ears the greater can be the advertising rates. That is Capitalism at work. One can argue that ALL views are there for the ears or eyes so its OK. BUT the reality is that people tune into one or two outlets that tell them what they want to hear and do NOT hear other outlets that give the opposing view. THEN that media outlet can guide them to even more extreme views that will KEEP them on that media and keep them away from the opposing views. Its business. We are stuck with it. Free Press is great, but now we face the freedom to spread lies as well as the truth. People complain that certain media is spreading lies, fanning the flames of division and other people complain that any restriction of the media is anti democratic. Both are right. That's the catch 22. What Trump did is make Truth become what you want it to be. Alternative facts. Worse, he proved that Truth does not matter. What matters is what you BELIEVE. He also proved, largely through Twitter, you can influence people to believe what you want them to believe. He proved "you can fool some of the people all the time" - and in a democratic system like exists in the US that can be enough.
China
Monday 25th of January 2021 05:57:40 PM
Unintended consequences come to those who dont think things through. A short term thinker like Donald Trump made political capitol out of attacking China (though at the beginning of his Presidency he heaped praise on China) largely as a way to appeal to his base and cover his failure to bring back jobs from China to America and more recently as a way to cover his failings due to the Covid 19 situation. During the election and as we still hear on right wing media Biden was painted as 'week on China". The reality of his China policy is that he pushed China into a realization that it could not any longer depend on US suppliers for technological goods and that as soon as possible China needed to make its own parts - in China and decouple from any dependence on the US. This will have severe consequences for American Tech and not just loss of jobs. Thanks Donald! You fucked another major US industry. Meanwhile the Covid pandemic also showed the US that depending on foreign suppliers was also a problem for the US and much talk was about bringing back manufacturing so the US would NOT be so dependent. That talk disappeared when it became apparent that a face mask made in China cost thirty cents. The same mask in the US cost ten times as much. Our economy is based on Capitalism so it was never going to fly that paying ten Dollars for a one Dollar item would work in America. Then of course are the farmers who sold their goods to China. Trump's anti China farm policies then forced China to look to other suppliers such as Brazil who were only to happy to sell the China. To keep the US farmers on his side all he could do was go socialist and pay them money they lost when their China market dried up. In the passage of time it will become ever more evident that the main achievement that Donald Trump boasted about - the economy - will prove to be an illusion.
Dispelling falsehoods
Thursday 21st of January 2021 05:43:15 PM
QAnon people are shocked that Trump did not take over the government and arrest Biden. In other words what they said was going to be true turned out to be NOT true. Joe Biden is President - Trump slinked out of theWhitehouse and is now holed up in Florida in disgrace. Of course we have seen that there are a couple of religions that have predicted the end of the world and when the date came to pass and the world did NOT end they had to come upwith an excuse (they made a wrong calculation or some other excuse). Such crazy ideas have a way of overcoming facts and continuing. QAnon will most likely not be different. If onecan believe the "eating babies" and other super weird ideas of the QAnon people one can easily see how this jolt to reality can be overcome and move them back to strange and outlandish ideas. Meanwhile, over over the next few months and years all the predictions of disaster if Biden won that Trump and his people pushed and supported by Hannity types will prove to be as silly and stupidas most of us knew they were. We have already seen the dire warnings Trump made of the stock market ("ITS GOING TO TANK") did not happen. In fact yesterday, the day Biden became President saw the stock marketreach the highest point ever. Talk of "they are coming for your guns" will prove to be bullshit. Loss of "freedom" etc. by "radicle socialists:" (HORRORS!) will prove to be baseless. One would hope that medialike Fox and Newsmax would stop trying to sell this bullshit but I fear its just wishful thinking. They make all their money from people who believe such things. It is in their interest to KEEP people believing such things. History will show that the last two Democratic Presidents came into power when the country was in serious trouble. Obama inherited the 2008 financial disaster and Biden the disaster stemming from Covid. Republican Bush came into a healthy economy as did Republican Trump. Trump's contention that he inherited a mess was just another lie aimed at validating his "I will save America" mantra. Under Obama the economy was consistently growing as the unemployment numbers consistently fell. Trump's contention that he is passing on a great foundation to Biden is assilly as it is false. The US is in far worse shape today than it was when Trump became President and Trump has to accept at least part of the blame. We will all see the truth in the months to come - we have to hope that some, or many of those people whobelieved the lies will come to see the truth as well. Fingers crossed
The Trump departure
Tuesday 19th of January 2021 04:38:32 AM
For a guy who has pushed "make America respected again", "make America great again" Trump leaves the Whitehouse in ignominious fashion. The greatness of the United States starts with one of its greatest gifts to humanity - the peaceful transfer of power. Donald Trump has dumped on that idea. Not conceding an election when it was obvious that he lost, not having the class and grace to invite the Biden's to the Whitehouse as President Obama had done for the Trumps. Not appearing at the inauguration of Joe Biden. Acting like a spoiled child not getting what he wanted - a poor looser pouting in seclusion as his anger festers and fuels his delusions. Trump has severely tarnished not only his own reputation but that of the Presidency and indeed of the United States as a country. Happy he is soon gone - so sorry that he has done so much damage.
Thankful
Monday 18th of January 2021 07:19:00 PM
In the end we ALL have to be thankful that Donald Trump turned out to be just as stupid and unqualified as we thought at the beginning. I include all those Republicans who knew this in 2016 as well as Democrats. Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Kayleigh McEnany, Mitt Romney, to name a few. Too bad that media like Fox and Newsmax are still in stoking the Trump base mode to keep their viewers (in the case of Fox) or gain viewers (as Newsmax). Hannity, Ingraham, Levin, Limbaugh, and the like have painted themselves with the Trump brush and continue to do so. Hopefully they will join those that refused to believe the Titanic could sink when it hit the iceberg. They believed the hype that the ship couldn't sink. It did. Belief in that untruth led to the slow response that led to so much loss of life.
Abraham Lincoln
Saturday 16th of January 2021 05:23:06 PM
Abraham famously said "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time but you cant fool all the people all of the time". Those words are as true today as when Lincoln said them. However, political leaders have learned and we in the US abruptly learned in the past few years - one does not need to fool all the people all of the time. One just needs to fool ENOUGH people all of the time. In a divided democracy like the US that means you only need to fool 51% of the public and actually much less than that as a significant percentage never vote. In the US it also turns out that it is NOT just how many you can fool but where you can fool them. The electoral college means one can win the Presidency without winning the popular vote as long as the states one does win in are the right ones. Whether Trump was clever enough to figure that out or just did it as a narcist would - the truth is that Trump got elected and nearly got elected again by fooling less than 50% of the electorate. In 2016 it was enough of the electorate in the right places - in 2020 it was not; even though he got over 70 million votes. The vast majority (perhaps all) of those that invaded the Capital on January 6th BELIEVED what Trump had been telling them - AND what social media, Fox, Newsmax and other right wing pundits had also been telling them. They were the people "you can fool all of the time. "
History
Saturday 16th of January 2021 12:02:41 AM
President Clinton faced impeachment for a personal sexual act that apparently the majority of the voting public accepted. Clinton was re-elected. It was not what the Republicans went after him for. I remember those days and the fact that the Republicans could not get their head around the Clinton win. So one party not accepting the other is nothing new. When Obama became President, one of Mitch McConnel's first pronouncements was that his duty was "to make Obama a one term President". So much for supporting the will of the people. Prior to that Donald Trump worked hard to spread the conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the USA. He used that lie to build political profile even though he knew it was a lie. He told us "you will not believe what we are finding". Then never told us he found nothing. In that regard it is poetic justice that conspiracy theories came back to bite him in the ass. If you live by the sword you die by the sword. The various Republican pundits can rightly claim that the Democrats did not favor Trump from the vary start. A "you started it" argument. In fact, seeing the videos of the Republicans back in 2016 most of them also did not favor him. Graham, Cruz, Romney gave scathing criticism - even his current press secretary heaped abuse on Trump. Everyone knew at the start who Trump was. They were shocked when he won the nomination. They were even more shocked when he won the election. Even Trump was shocked. Then the rot set in and Republicans reversed their positions to a degree many still cannot understand. The Democrats did not reverse their position. They knew Trump was a shit just as the Republicans had done at the beginning. The really scary thing about Trump is that he got so many people to believe his lies. I think even he began to believe them. If he had been just a little bit smarter - been more careful with those who he attacked, what lies he told, he might have won the election and in 4 years the US might well have faced the birth of a dictatorship. In the end Trump's stupidity saved US democracy.
Tucker Carlson
Friday 15th of January 2021 06:52:58 PM
These days it is interesting to switch back and forth from Fox and Newsmax to MSNBC and CNN to see how different each is reacting to the events of Jan. 6th. On Fox Tucker Carlson said last night we all saw what happened at the Capital on Jan. 6th (ie believe your own eyes) then told us what it wasn't (ie believe his eyes). Seems to me he was telling me what I saw with my own eyes were lies. 1. He said it was not a racist mob. True AND false. Interviews with police have claimed some were called niggers. So some were definitely racist but no one has claimed that the entire mob was racist, nor that all the Trump supporters are racist. The point has always been that Trump has attracted the racist element and it is part (however big) of his base of support. 2. He said it was not an insurrection. Then what the hell was it? Looked like an insurrection to me. Trying to overturn an election, which is what they were trying to do is the very definition of an insurrection. 3. He said it wasn't an invasion by a mob of "dangerous white supremacist's". Did I not see the confederate flag? The guy with the Camp Auschwitz T shirt? Posts on the internet make it clear white supremacists were headed to Washington following Trumps invitation. So there WERE white supremacists in that mob. Though again, no one is saying all the mob were white supremacists. Tucker's rant was that the attack is being used as a way to clamp down on free speech as never before in American history. He is right that there is a clamp down, but it is not against "free speech". It is a clamp down on dangerous speech; speech that might lead to violence. A better safe than sorry reaction. Like in all such situations there can be overreach but that is to be expected under the circumstances. The same happened after 9/11. Trump did the same with his "Muslim ban". The January 6th situation gave many of the Trump supporters of the past a chance to clean up their act. Try to tell the truth versus tell people what they want to hear. Unfortunately Tucker continued with the old party line and chose not to do so.
The fundamental fact is quite simple. In a world where a person can and DOES tune in to one media outlet and therefore ONLY hears one opinion there is a danger if that outlet does not tell the truth. Newsmax is NOT going to tell its viewers that there are convincing countervailing arguments to points they make. They don't want people tuning into other networks. If you only watch Newsmax your view of what is going on is completely different from the person who watches CNN. Same if you watch Hannity, Ingraham, Levin, Carlson on Fox. Switching back and forth from Hannity and Rachel Maddow one is in two different countries. The problem of the Trump supporter is that many of them ONLY listened to him and made a point of NOT listening to any arguments contrary to what he was pitching. He encouraged them to believe only him calling all opposition as fake news and enemy of the people. At one point even Fox suffered his ire. The Chinese communist government does the same. They stifle and outright block any views that do not suit them. Russia goes as far as assonating opposition. It's all about control the message. If you control the message you control the people.
History
Thursday 14th of January 2021 07:33:03 PM
History teaches us the past can help predict the future. It is said "if we don't learn from history we are destined to repeat it". It is also said "history repeats itself"? Truths we often choose to forget. We have the luxury of knowing the history of Germany and the rise of Hitler. How an advanced Western Christian country could in a few short years fall pray to a madman who led the country to some of the greatest crimes in human history. Years from now we will see the history of how a man like Donald Trump could take the worlds greatest democracy - also largely Christian - to the brink of turning that democracy into an authoritarian state. And, like Germany, the starting point was a democratic election. Perhaps some history will cover foreign influence via the internet - false stories planted the Russians or Chinese or others. But that will only be a small part of the story. Much more time will be devoted to the reality that Trump was supported by others along the way - others who gave that support for their own reasons that enabled Trump. In fact if that support had not been there Trump would never have succeeded. The same was true for Hitler. Much of the blame has been directed towards the Republican Party and "enablers" like Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Jim Jordan and the like. As history will show is that was only one side of the equation - and not the most important side in my view. Worse was the media that supported Trump as that also supported the Republican Trump supporters. If that media had not been prepared to fuel the Trump band wagon and help spread the exaggerations and outright lies, the Republican supporters would have moderated their support accordingly. So the real blame must go to the media that stood to gain - largely a financial gain - from Trump. Rupert Murdoch will not come out unscathed. Nor the architect of Fox "news" Roger Ailes who correctly identified a potential audience that the mainstream media was not covering. The fact that the mainstream did not cater to that audience was simply that it was an audience of grievance, open to conspiracy theories and NOT of news. Ailes was right and Fox made a lot of money out of it. And still does. Then comes the happy Fox stooges who made out like bandits. Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and the like. Hannity will be one of the figures who will suffer the worst disgrace as he was an unabashed supporter even after the Capital insurrection of January 6, 2021. Though not the brightest tool in the shed, one has to admit that supporting lies can generate substantial personal gain. It will be interesting to see how the Newsmax people come out - and of course internet platforms as well. Also history will show that there was a prelude to all of this. Extreme right wing pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin who made a nice living fueling gradience, anger and making wild accusations. They laid the groundwork for the Trump era. They proved there was a market for nutty views, conspiracy theories, and general bullshit. Blame also has to be laid on them.
Coming Soon:
Biography
Miles Axe Copeland III is an articulate and charismatic businessman, entrepreneur and influencer, with a track record of being at the forefront of innovation in the music and entertainment industries. His constant focus on evolution and revolution is dominant throughout his varied and successful career, which spans five decades and is littered with household names.
From being at the centre of the British ‘progressive rock’ and ‘punk rock’ scenes in the late sixties and seventies, to launching record labels and managing hugely successful bands and musicians such as The Police, Sting, Squeeze, REM and The Bangles, Miles spent over thirty years working with artists who dominated the charts in the US, the UK and across the world.
His inspiring ability to manage and grow talent, identify and influence changes in the market, and develop highly creative and innovative promotional strategies has resulted in countless hit singles and albums, Grammy Awards, and Gold and Platinum records, as well as some surprising but hugely successful collaborations. Meanwhile, his latest series of live touring projects has focused on creating a brand that can operate successfully with whatever artists might be available at any given time, creating both ownership and longevity for each concept.
Miles’ entrepreneurial approach has enabled him to find solutions when routes to market were closed, or evolve his business model when the internet fundamentally changed the industry. His experience and vision have led to numerous speaking engagements for companies including Motorola, HSBC Bank, Vanderbilt University, The University of California, The Grammy Organization and a host of music associated media.
Miles spent his childhood and adolescence moving between the US, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon. His mother worked for British intelligence and his father was in US Army counter intelligence as well as being a founder member of the CIA. Miles’ cultural awareness and global outlook have been a common theme throughout his career, which has included boosting the popularity of Arab music and dance in the US, as well as advising the Pentagon on how to ‘win hearts and minds’ following the invasion of Iraq.