Category Archives: Foreign Policy

September 10, 2025 · 12:27 am

What’s in a name?

This blog post is going to be about “What’s in a name?”

As a frequent critic of the feminization of the US military since the 1980s, a critic of PC permeating the US military in the 1990s & early 2000s, and more recently of the US military going Woke, it might sound bizarre that I vehemently oppose renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

I hate lying.

Trump’s #1 selling point of the “rebrand” of the Department of Defense to the Department of War is predicated on a lie about US military history. The US military did not “go Woke” when the name was changed from the Department of War to the Department of Defense.

In fact, the leaders who led America to victory in WWII are the very architects of our post-WWII military structure and the formation of our Department of Defense. They were NOT Woke, they were serious and brilliant national security and military thinkers, who wanted to make sure that America was never again unprepared for war.

America’s Department of War was not prepared for war when we entered WWI or WWII. This is an historical fact, that every CINC and Secretary of Defense should know and it’s the entire predicate for our Peace Through Strength national security transformation after WWII.

So, I ended up fighting mad, honestly, after I saw some Hegseth Pentagon videos on X and I watched President Trump’s announcement of the Department of War “rebrand.” Their explanations to sell the “rebrand” are based on lies about US military history and I don’t know if it’s because they’re clueless nincompoops or just thought this sounded slick and tough.

What Trump said in this announcement is convoluted and untrue. The truth is that prior to the post-WWII establishment of the Department of Defense, America was NOT prepared for war, even though we had a Department of War. America entered WWI unprepared and undersized. General John J Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force in WWI had to rapidly mobilize, build and train a US force and arm them. America demobilized after WWI and at the beginning of WWII, our Department of War was again unprepared for war.

WWII produced some of the finest US military leaders in our country’s history and one of them, often referred to as the “Architect of Victory, ” General George C. Marshall, who ran the war, was dedicated to assuring that America was never unprepared for war again. THAT is how the Department of Defense came into being. It was a commitment to America having a military trained and prepared for war, as the best way to secure the peace. This was the beginning of America’s commitment to a Peace Through Strength national security policy.

Along with that comprehensive national security strategy and framework for our military transformation was a strong alliance structure with peaceful nations committed to the same goals. The creation of NATO became an integral piece of our national security framework and is America’s most important military alliance. The US military has over 75 years of leading and training with our NATO allies. Yet, NATO is another constant target of Trump disparagement and MAGA media spin efforts for the US to abandon. That Trump would want to trash NATO or MAGA idiots would drum up for the US to abandon NATO is insane and it would leave our military much weaker and be an America Alone policy, This “leave NATO” MAGA idiocy comes at the very time our adversaries, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are forming a closer economic and military alliance.

We would become weaker abandoning our most important military alliance, while our adversaries are strengthening theirs. How does that make any sense?

Hegseth tried to spin that George Washington, the commander of our Continental Army, who won the American Revolution set up the Department of War and America won every war until we changed to the Department of Defense, peddling this idea that the DOD name change was going Woke. Washington did want an American military prepared for war, and in the report pictured at the top, General Marshall too invokes Washington’s message. THAT is why he proposed America, finally, fulfill Washington’s recommendations, which had never been acted upon.

Yes, America won previous wars, but we incurred an enormous human cost in lives lost, due to not being prepared to field a highly trained and well-armed force. And Marshall believed that having a strong military prepared for war was our best deterrent to future wars – that is the very predicate of Peace Through Strength.

The book above, I have mentioned on my blog before and it’s one of my prized possessions. I found it in my teens and it’s the first thing I ever read about military strategy. I was hooked. General Marshall is one of my military heroes and to have his national security legacy mangled and twisted, by Trump, a draft-evader, hit me all wrong. Yes, Trump is a draft-evader – that is the truth.

MAGA world, which includes millions of vets and servicemembers, will blindly cheer on this sounding tough name change and they’ve bought into all of Trump’s MAGA spin, but the truth matters. Trump evaded the draft, knows nothing about military service or military strategy, and he twists military history, just like he twists facts, to suit his purpose. He is exactly like Bill and Hillary Clinton in this regard.

Trump twisted some General Pershing history to sell committing war crimes back in 2016, when he floated murdering ISIS family members as his plan to scare ISIS fighters into surrendering. General Pershing was another American military leader I admire. Interestingly, Pershing was so impressed by Captain George C. Marshall, in WWI, that he pulled him to work at G-3 and after the war he selected Marshall to serve as an aide-de-camp for 5 years. When WWII came along Marshall then went on to lead America’s military to winning the war. So, Trump has two big strikes in my book – he trashed Pershing’s legacy and now he trashed Marshall’s legacy.

The Trump administration facade of eliminating the Deep State has Hegseth talking about eliminating top generals, but the truth is Hegseth is totally unqualified to be Secretary of Defense or Secretary or War. He is not the Secretary of War; he’s the Secretary of Spin War. He puts together flashy videos and does beefcake poses, but his “warrior ethos” is hollow and all he’s done is create chaos inside the DOD. Cutting experienced generals and replacing them with Trump cronies or more FOX News celebs or Trump loyalists is not any way to build a stronger US military. I posted this on X:

The final YUGE hypocrisy is that Trump has hyped DOGE, DOGE and more DOGE, yet this big Department of War “rebrand” will cost billions of dollars and do absolutely nothing to build a stronger US military – all it does is sound tough. This is like little boys playing at war, not a serious comprehensive national security reform effort.

4 Comments

Filed under American Character, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military

July 23, 2025 · 10:54 am

Mid-summer scorched earth spin war ramps up

Just so we’re clear about what’s going on in American politics right now – the spin information war has escalated and entered a new phase. Trump’s daily spin show from the White House has maneuvered away from Trump’s BIG Peace Deals show and is now pivoting to a full-scale, scorched earth spin effort to divert attention away from the promised release of the Jeffrey Epstein files back to retribution against the Trump/Russian Collusion political dirty trick architects.

Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump was throwing under the bus and dismissing the intel she provided on Iran’s nukes in March, has now morphed into the Russian Collusion truth-teller, exposing all the 2016 Democrat conspirators… MAGA world loves this stuff and right-wing media has gone all-in on ranting about the dreaded “Deep State”… again. Tulsi is back from being distrusted by Trump on intel to Trump giving her a starring role in this latest White House spin war offensive.

Trump wants the Epstein files circular filed – permanently.

FOX News, most of right-wing media, and especially the Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson, have joined Trump and his White House’s full-court press spin war effort. Speaker Johnson started the House summer recess early to avoid voting on Democrat-backed bills pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Democrats and liberal media went from trying to figure out where they went wrong with covering up Biden’s cognitive decline and Kamala Harris’s ill-fated campaign to smelling blood in the water with Trump’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein (yes, they were friends and there’s a pile of video of Trump & Epstein together and Trump talking about that friendship).

Recently, Trump faced backlash from a segment of his base, when his DOJ did not release the Epstein files and the much talked about Epstein list. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, claimed there’s actually no Epstein list even though she had publicly stating the list was on her desk for review. Trump is trying to con his base, by diverting them to a sideshow promising “accountability” for the Russian Collusion hoax architects, even promising prosecutions, and let it be said, Trump knows his base’s love of chasing after Deep State evil-doers…

I don’t care one iota about the Epstein files, nor do I believe Tulsi Gabbard is acting in good faith with the release of all these new Russian Collusion documents and the criminal referrals of some prominent former FBI and intelligence officials. I believe this is all a political sideshow to divert attention away from the Epstein files and try to unite the MAGA base around destroying the “Deep State” – again.

America’s spin war is in high-gear again and we, the American people are just being manipulated by partisans on both sides.

The truth is powerful Democrats, like former President Bill Clinton, were close friends with Jeffrey Epstein and with Donald J. Trump. Trump is not a conservative, not honest, and despite right-wing media waxing on with endless “lists” of Trump’s amazing successes in the first six months of this term, things for America aren’t all going great. In fairness, things aren’t all going terrible either and most of us will just go about our everyday lives, regardless what’s going on in Washington.

Trump’s big tariff plan did not produce all these great deals for America by the beginning of July, as Trump promised, but never fear, Trump announced new tariffs, which will be followed by more conditions and amounts adjusted all based on Trump’s whims.

Trump is still appeasing Putin by giving Putin 50 more days to wage his summer offensive against Ukraine rather than impose harsher sanctions. Trump is also appeasing the thugs in Tehran by insisting he’s going to cut some nuclear deal with them and then the Iran problem is solved. This is delusional thinking, despite the success of the US bombing raid of nuclear sites in Iran. Iran will try to rebuild their nuclear weapons program and they are still aiding and abetting terrorists in the region. Here’s a story from a week ago: Yemen intercepts record number of Iranian weapons bound for Houthis, U.S. CENTCOM says.

The hold-up to peace in the Ukraine War is not Zelensky, it’s Putin, who invaded Ukraine and started this war. Putin still wants to seize control of Ukraine. Trump and many Americans have bought into lies about the Ukraine War sold by some prominent right-wing pundits, like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon. A basic fact, like Russia invaded Ukraine, should not be controversial. The world watched Russian troops mass on Ukraine’s border and invade, yet many in MAGA world believe Ukraine started the war.

Trump was pressured by Republicans in Congress and our NATO allies to approve more military aid for Ukraine. Trump’s finally admitting Russia invaded Ukraine and he approved more military aid, but he’s still hedging and giving Putin 50 more days. This is a duplicitous and incoherent American foreign policy.

Trump’s trip to the Mid-East in May was touted as a stunning foreign policy success, with him making huge deals. As part of those deals, to appease some of those ME leaders, Trump met with Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa: Trump meets with Syria’s interim president, a first between the nations’ leaders in 25 years. Trump recognizing Sharaa and lifting sanctions on Syria was hailed by both liberal and right-wing media and many political talking heads. On X, I disagreed with the US rushing to recognize this former terrorist and rushing to normalize relations with this new government in Syria. Trump’s approach to Sharaa is as delusional and misguided as Biden’s approach to the Taliban in Afghanistan. No matter how American politicians try to spin terrorist-led regimes, these leaders are not Thomas Jefferson in the making – they are still terrorists. Now jihadists in Syria are committing massacres of civilians and the Sharaa government is either too weak to control the jihadists or not inclined to deal with the jihadists.

My prediction is the “new” Syria will become a safe haven for radical jihadists, just like Taliban-led Afghanistan. Iran will rebuild and rearm. Putin will continue his aggression. And China is preparing to take action too.

Despite the right-wing media Trump cheerleading spin war effort or the liberal media Trump derangement spin war effort, I’m inclined to believe Trump’s BIG Peace efforts notwithstanding, unfortunately the world is headed toward larger conflicts

And America is still mired in a crazy spin information war being played out across the American media spectrum.

1 Comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Information War, Politics

May 6, 2025 · 11:46 am

Early warning signs are flashing

Among the China experts there has been broad consensus that China intends to seize control of Taiwan and to displace US as the world trade leader. For years we’ve been hearing about China’s Belt and Road initiative to develop trade relations in more than 150 countries since 2013. China has been investing heavily in Central and South America (our own hemisphere).

Following on my previous post – the what ifs. China has been working hard to advance its economic influence globally for more than a decade and now is trying to advance its military influence too. Who is going to look like the strong horse, with the Trump administration offering nothing except Trump whining about America being ripped off and making extreme tariff threats, that will decimate the economies of , not only our adversaries, but also our allies?

It’s one thing to try extreme hostile takeovers with companies, but countries don’t react exactly like businesses, because countries have vital national interests like their people’s prosperity and their vital security interests. Most countries will gravitate toward bolstering relations with stronger countries who offer reliability and stability and avoid chaos or unreliable countries.

America’s #1 selling point post-WWII has been we offer stability and reliability, especially with world trade. We secure international shipping and NATO has been vital to that effort, but Trump has attacked NATO repeatedly and there’s a loud MAGA crowd who keep pushing for the US to abandon NATO, our most vital military alliance. Trump constantly threatening NATO weakens America’s position as a reliable security partner, because if our POTUS can turn on the partners of our own most vital military alliance, who won’t he turn on?

America alone isn’t a smart national security path.

On April 2nd Trump launched his “Liberation Day” salvo of unilaterally hitting over 100 countries (many our closest allies) with 10% tariffs, all while whining about American victimhood. MAGA world wallows in American victimhood and yet believes this is being strong… Trump’s tariffs amounts aren’t based on any sort of logical trade imbalance formula – they are based on his whims. MAGA world may believe Trump is invincible or America’s savior, but other countries have their own leaders and their own interests. They will find ways to circumvent and neutralize Trump’s one-man wrecking ball trade war and all Americans will feel that blowback, I expect.

Beijing will look like a more rational actor than Trump’s daily Truth Social crap posts and daily tariff threats. He’s now threatening 100% tariffs on foreign movies and while he fixates only on how things play in his domestic spin war against the liberal media and Dems, other world leaders are watching his behavior and assessing their own national interests and deciding which world leaders are more reliable.

Leave a comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics

April 25, 2025 · 2:46 pm

Three months in and my alarm bell is already ringing

My last politics blog post was at the end of February and it was about President Trump’s Ukraine peace deal. Here we are at the end of April and President Trump’s peace deal keeps shifting, but he’s not any closer to sealing a peace deal in Ukraine than he was when he started. This post isn’t intended to attack Trump, it’s about the reality of the situation in Ukraine, which Trump keeps either misunderstanding or lying about.

Russia started this war and there is absolutely nothing Putin or the Kremlin has said to indicate they have changed their goals when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 22, 2022. Putin is still busily cutting deals with friendly countries for more military materiel and even troops to continue the war he started.

Trump and a sizable part of the right-wing media sphere continually lie about the war in Ukraine, shifting blame to Zelensky and Ukraine for starting this war, which is a total lie. Putin intended the three-pronged invasion of Ukraine to allow Russia to decapitate the Ukrainian government in Kiev. Why Trump and right-wing media have deliberately amplified this Russian lie about how the war started, by shifting blame to Ukraine, I can’t answer, but it is a total lie. Even influential right-wing media figures like, Tucker Carlson, became loud voices selling the Kremlin talking points.

Putin failed to decapitate the Ukrainian government and this war has dragged on for over three years and, of course, Trump is right about the carnage, but wars don’t stop just because there’s a lot of killing. If Putin cared about all the killing, he wouldn’t have started this war and he certainly wouldn’t be striking deals with North Korean to surge in thousands of North Korean troops into the Ukraine war to fight for Russia. This Russian move broadened the war bringing troops from an Asian country into a European war, but Trump and right-wing media once again sold the Kremlin line blaming Ukraine and NATO for broadening the war.

The Trump takes on Ukraine consistently peddle lies and just a couple days ago Trump was once again trying to blame Zelensky for starting the war and being the impediment to peace. Then Putin ramped up attacks in Ukraine and Trump desperately posted a pathetic message on Truth Social:

Trump sounds weak and like he’s pleading with a stronger leader. He does not sound like the leader of the free world or like he’s up to dealing with all the challenges Putin, Xi and the despots in Iran are planning to take down America and The West.

The best US course for America remaining a world leader, who can really wield influence, would be to stop attacking Ukraine, stop attacking our NATO allies and stop threatening the economic security of OUR ALLIES, but I don’t expect any of this from Trump. I expect more reactionary moves based on which idiot around him catches his attention and convinces him their idea is brilliant.

We are in for a rocky time with this level of dysfunction in the WH following on 4 years of the epic Biden administration dysfunction. Our adversaries have an uninterrupted free field to operate in, because America is still AWOL.

When Trump selected his Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, it was reported that she took the position on the condition she would be allowed to keep the crazies out of the Oval Office. On April 5th conspiracy nutcase, Laura Loomer, had a 30 minute meeting in the Oval Office with Trump, Vance and NSC Mike Waltz. CNN reported, White House advisers have kept Laura Loomer at bay for months. Then, Trump invited her in:

“President Donald Trump arranged for far-right activist Laura Loomer to join him in the Oval Office this week for an extraordinary meeting that preceded a shake-up of his national security leadership, two sources familiar with their meeting told CNN.”

“Their sit-down came after Loomer reached Trump by phone, the sources told CNN. As a result of their call, Trump instructed staff to invite her to the White House, the sources added.”

“Within 24 hours of their meeting, the administration had fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, the United States’ powerful cyber intelligence bureau, as well as staff members on the National Security Council. Loomer had advocated for their dismissal during her conversation with Trump, CNN previously reported.”

Any mention of Russian disinformation will fall on deaf ears among the MAGA right, because of the corrupt Dem and liberal media efforts to peddle Russian collusion bs. in Trump’s first administration, but the reality is the Kremlin really is working to spread disinformation in America, like they’ve done since the 1920s and they target all political factions in America. They’ve found solid footing in the MAGA right though and Trump swallows all of it pertaining to Ukraine unfortunately.

This latest chaos inside the NSA helps our adversaries, since the NSA is in charge of US cybersecurity. That some kook like Laura Loomer has this much sway over the POTUS should alarm any American with a functioning brain, but in MAGA world, the reaction is usually to embrace the kooks and people with no actual credentials or expertise on national security and attack the people who have real credentials and expertise. In fact, not having any real experience is a top selling point in MAGA world – sure let’s put people with no knowledge and no experience in charge of running US government agencies that are vital for national security…

Only crazy people would start hobbling US cybersecurity efforts or create chaos in those vital agencies, when the Russians and Chinese are ramping up their cyber attacks against us, but that is what is happening in the Trump administration.

I’ll stop here. America is no safer with Trump in office than it was with the cabal running the Biden administration – that is where I stand three months into this new administration. And my alarm bell is ringing loudly already that our adversaries smell blood in the water and will act sooner rather than later. In fact, I believe this MAGA “influencer” effort against US cybersecurity officials and programs is likely connected to our adversaries setting the stage now.

I might write about this RAND opinion piece soon – Could China’s U.S. Spies Conduct Physical Sabotage in a Conflict?– once my nerves calm down from thinking that Trump takes Laura Loomer’s advice seriously – really, just think about that…

1 Comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Ukraine

February 27, 2025 · 10:52 am

Trump’s Ukraine peace deal smells bad

This blog post is going to be about politics and it is going to be critical of President Trump’s rush to get a peace deal in the Ukraine War. For those who say, “How could anyone be against a peace deal that stops the killing quickly?” the answer is signing a deal is no indication that either side will abide by this agreement and if past is prologue, especially in Ukraine, there’s nothing in the past to suggest this time will be different. The Ukrainian people still want to fight for their country and are outraged by Russian brutality in this three-year old conflict and Putin has no history of keeping his word in deals. That’s the reality.

So, Trump’s big selling point among his supporters is he’s a great businessman and the master of the deal. He’s been great at selling himself, that’s irrefutable, because he’s faced more negative media coverage and Democrat smear campaigns than you can count and he won, not only the election in November 2024, but also the popular vote. I voted for him, even though all the same concerns about his judgment and character persist. I want him to succeed, especially with securing the border, dealing with the illegal immigration problems, rebuilding our military, and keeping America safe. I want him to succeed on the world stage in foreign policy, because America’s role as a world leader is vital for American national security.

Reality checks, where you pull yourself away from the media drama, for and against Trump, can help sort out where this Ukraine War and this Trump-brokered peace deal are really at. First it’s important to state that Trump’s big boast that he could end this war in 24 hours, if elected was total nonsense, but it’s what is driving the Trump administration haste in negotiating this deal. Getting this deal done fast to bolster Trump’s prestige outweighs every other consideration with the Trump administration. That makes this deal’s priorities more about Trump than about American national security. The hype about the numbers of dead and “stopping the killing” have never been the driving force to stop combatants, if they think they can still field an army and they still are committed to their political aims. Wars are about politics, not the human cost to achieve them.

Trump is selling Russian talking points, down to constantly attacking NATO and blaming Ukraine for starting the war. Putin started this war and it’s disgraceful for Trump to blame Ukraine. The effort to divide NATO was a top Soviet foreign policy aim and it’s a top Putin aim. Trump has bought into that too and while the Democrat “Trump-Russian Collusion” allegations were bogus, Trump respects and admires brutal strongman leaders, because he admires toughness. Trump openly admires Putin and Xi and craves their respect. Just listen to Trump go on and on about how much they respect him to get a feel for what matters to Trump. None of this personality-centric foreign policy is good for American interests abroad. Trump has called Zelensky a dictator and demanded Ukraine hold elections, even though Ukraine was invaded by Russia, is fighting to survive, and has marital law in place due to this wartime footing. At the same time Trump never criticizes Putin’s dictatorial actions and he has praised Xi for his iron control over the Chinese people.

I voted for Trump, despite my concerns about his character issues, but I think his character issues will cause more problems rather than resolve many of the big foreign policy issues. Moral clarity, as the leader of the free world, matters, and for Trump to blame Ukraine for starting this war is appallingly dishonest and false. For Trump to so publicly attack NATO allies emboldens America’s adversaries, who perceive a fractured NATO alliance, where there’s no trust between the Trump administration and our European allies.

Many Trump followers seem perfectly fine with ditching our European allies and abandoning NATO, but I doubt they understand how vital our NATO alliance is to our global security framework. Trump is slashing within the Pentagon at the same time he’s bragging about rebuilding our military. I don’t see setting flames to all our security structures at the same time, without any real plan for what’s replacing these vital pieces being a good plan. Even with this firing top generals, there isn’t any coherent plan for who’s replacing them and Trump makes ad hoc decisions, mostly based on people he saw on TV or who supported him. Most of the best generals aren’t the ones who are in the media constantly. What I see unfolding is a lot of burning things to the ground without a real plan to rebuild anything. The same thing is happening with the DOGE efforts, which are more political theater than a carefully thought out plan.

Trump does not speak with moral clarity and he is deliberately pushing Putin lies about the Ukraine War. If Trump believes these lies, that bodes very poorly for American national security. Putin started this war and could have stopped the war at any time, by withdrawing his forces from Ukraine. Putin doesn’t want to end this war without dismantling Ukraine’s sovereignty. So, along comes Trump, who’s going to work out this peace deal like a businessman.

First, Trump is demanding Ukraine repay US aid to Ukraine, which sends a strong signal to other countries that the US can change the terms of agreements, after the fact. This is a huge win for our adversaries, to be able to tell countries not to trust American aid, because a few years from now they’ll demand you give it back. None of the strings Trump is attaching to this past aid to Ukraine were in the agreements under the Biden administration. Foreign countries aren’t like partisan Americans – they see one America and see America not keeping its word.

Trump wants rights to rare-earth minerals in Ukraine as a payback for US aid to Ukraine. That brings us to this hype about the US controlling mineral rights to some massive mineral reserves in Ukraine. Here again the rush to get a deal will likely lead to a boondoggle, not some huge win for America. The Trump administration and right-wing media have been hyping these massive mineral reserves in Ukraine, but Jim Geraghty, a National Review pundit, who actually travels to check things out himself, went to Ukraine. He has provided some of the best reporting and he linked to an article from S & P Global, a US company that provides analysis and data on investment opportunities. Here’s a S&P Global report on Feb. 13th, Ukraine rare earths potential relies on Soviet assessments, may not be viable :

“The deposits would be difficult to develop. Some are stuck behind battle lines or, in the case of the geological record for one of the sites, require advanced processing technology and a stable energy grid to extract. And the valuation of the deposits is based on decades-old data: No sources contacted by Commodity Insights were aware of any commercial exploration or assessment of those deposits in the post-Soviet period.”

And this:

“Out of six rare earth deposits in Ukraine, only the Novopoltavske field in the Zaporizhzhia region has proven reserves with the license open for nomination. The large phosphate and rare earth deposit requires a $300 million investment, according to “Ukraine: Mining Investment Opportunities,” a report by the Ukrainian Geological Survey and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.”

The likelihood of US companies investing huge amounts of money to build mining operations in a area fraught with security issues in Russian-controlled territory is slim. Even if this war ends, the likelihood that hostilities will persist is very high, as is the likelihood that both sides will continue fighting. No matter what kind of deal Trump brokers, the odds are that this will go right back to being a frozen conflict. US companies would have a very hard time operating in an area controlled by Russian forces. And on top of that in Trump’s rush to get a deal, at any cost, companies will want up-to-date geological surveys and data before pouring in millions upon millions of dollars.

Many Trump supporters want to believe in Trump’s bold ideas and there’s plenty of right-wing media making money selling Trump euphoria, but while I might waste $49 on a Shark VACMOP based on advertising, when it comes to important things, like national security, I’m much more cautious and look at the history and details carefully. I see no need for a rushed peace deal that is piecemeal and not carefully thought out. It’s apparent that the Trump administration has silenced all dissent within the administration and the VP appears to be the enforcer – of no opposing viewpoints are allowed to be voiced.

The reality is Putin has not kept his word on any agreements and Trump spouting Russian talking points bodes poorly for American national security. There’s this sentiment being boldly spouted among some Trump pundits that we should let the Europeans foot the bill on Ukraine and let them send their military aid – just wash our hands of Ukraine. Well, if the US abandons Ukraine and our European allies, then the US will have lost substantial power as the leader of the free world and if you treat you long-time allies like adversaries and suck up to your Russian adversary, well, there’s an old Soviet era term for that too – DUPE. Trump is setting the stage to become the biggest American dupe in history.

Too many Republican politicians twist themselves into knots to support Trump and not publicly disagree with him. For me, America matters more than any politicians’ feelings and I refuse to go along to get along with any politicians. They’re supposed to be working for we, the American people. I also don’t care if anyone else agrees with me, it’s my opinion this Trump-brokered Ukraine War deal is starting to smell to high heaven. I want more details and more transparency, not spin and bragging. Hard to believe that the Trump rush-rush approach is starting to look as bad as the Biden foot-dragging approach.

Leave a comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics, Ukraine

September 10, 2024 · 11:20 am

Not just cats, but a catastrophe waiting to happen

In January 2017, right after President Trump’s inauguration there was a Women’s March, to rant about Trump’s misogyny and how women’s rights were under threat. Oddly, this march wasn’t just in the United States, but a global protest effort. Many protestors donned pink “pussyhats” hats made with cat ears, although a few went so far as to come in costumes of female genitalia. This election season, some comments by Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, have ignited the liberal “cat ladies” crowd again.

Over the weekend surreal news reports ramped up of citizens complaining about Haitian immigrant issues in Springfield, Ohio, where this city of 60,000, had 20,000 Haitian migrants, dumped there under Biden policies. A third of this town is now Haitian immigrants, who don’t speak English and where the city doesn’t have the basic services required for this massive influx of immigrants.

Here’s a Springfield resident complaining about Haitian migrants cutting off the heads of ducks in the park and eating them:

A now debunked story hit X about a Haitian woman killing a cat in a Springfield neighborhood and eating it. The incident took place in Canton, OH and the alleged cat-killer was an American citizen, Allexis Ferrell. Liberal journalists on X rushed to debunk the Haitian woman killing and eating a cat story in Springfield, to paint the Trump-supporters on X amplifying this story as MAGA racists.

It’s always amazing how our liberal media covered up Joe Biden’s cognitive decline for almost four years and finally dug up details of his decline, only when it was part of a powerful Dems’ effort to pressure Biden out of the 2024 presidential race. Two weeks of finally reporting on Biden’s cognitive decline prodded Biden to step aside. And then these journalists’ curiosity and determination to get to the bottom of Biden’s actual condition evaporated and they reverted back to pretending Biden was fine to remain POTUS until January 2025. They pivoted back to repeating old Trump smear stories and trying to repackage Kamala as a brand-new superstar presidential candidate. With this liberal media effort to debunk the Haitian immigrants stories, they managed to get loads of details quickly, because they wanted to cast the right as racists and bigots – those mean MAGA extremists.

The photo at the top is my three cats looking out my kitchen windows one morning. All three were strays. I don’t consider myself a cat lady and definitely prefer dogs. I also have two dogs in my house. My late husband and I always had a lot of pets, especially when our four kids were growing up. I would be quite upset if someone killed any of my pets and ate them.

Animals aside, there are reports of an increase in car accidents in Springfield, many of them caused by Haitian migrants. And there are reports of residents complaining about Haitian migrants squatting on their property, because there’s an acute housing shortage. There are reports of a wide variety of other complaints with Springfield residents dealing with this massive invasion of Haitian migrants, orchestrated by the Biden administration.

Naturally, there’s a video of Kamala Harris bragging about bringing in over 100,000 Haitian migrants, granting them temporary protected status, so they are here legally. This “temporary” status is likely permanent, since there’s no federal interest in sending these migrants back:

Kamala was quick to jump onboard the liberal media outrage effort to accuse border patrol agents of whipping Haitian illegals crossing the border in 2021, which an investigation completely debunked:

The federal government has been quietly dumping thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants and those granted refugee status on unsuspecting communities, often with no warning – since the Obama years. This is a longstanding effort by Democrats. And then local communities are left trying to figure out how to cope with the ensuing strain on public services, the rise in crime, the cultural clashes, and local residents footing all these extra costs.

During the Obama presidency both illegal immigrants and legal migrants numbers exploded and the administration expanded refugee laws to grant asylum to hundreds of thousands of migrants. There was a four year pushback to crackdown on illegal immigration and trying to rein in the legal refugee programs under Trump. As soon as Biden took office, all the Trump immigration policies were tossed and they went back to the Obama plan, except this time that plan was on steroids.

Why Obama and Biden have worked to drown America with a massive, overwhelming illegal immigration flood has never been explained adequately, to me.

My own conclusion, since Obama talked about his fundamental transformation of America long ago, is that the radical left wants to collapse the American system as we know it. Democrats have been filling the federal bureaucracy with Democrats willing to implement the left’s radical agenda for decades. The usual Republican charge that Democrats want to create a Democrat majority voter bloc with illegal immigrants being added to the Dem voter rolls doesn’t seem to me a full explanation for this vast Democrat effort to destabilize communities all around the country.

The US State Department and the Department of Health and Human Services orchestrated this immigration crisis in the US throughout the Obama and Biden administrations.. The Biden policies of flying or busing migrants to towns and cities around the country, then dumping them off were the same Obama administration policies. When federal agencies dump large numbers of illegals into communities, without any warning or time to prepare, they’re deliberately trying to overwhelm and destabilize those communities.

Another main culprit in this immigration crisis are an array of NGOs and religious charities, which rake in millions of federal dollars to provide services to immigrants and refugees. They actively promote illegal immigration, because they are getting rich off of other people’s misery. Many churches, of various denominations, actively promote illegal immigration policies and have become a powerful moral force aiding the left’s radical destabilization effort via an overwhelming illegal immigration force.

This illegal immigration issue is more ominous than just illegals voting in elections. Democrats have aided and abetted 5th column elements from numerous countries hostile to the US. They’ve dumped them in communities all around our country. We have a lot more to worry about than just protecting our pets from being eaten by migrants from destitute areas around the world, where any animal that moves is considered food. Some of our leaders do realize there are trained hostile criminal and military elements who moved in under the very noses of the Biden administration. However, the FBI is likely to do their usual, after-the-fact announcement if the worst happens – they’ll say that person or group was on their radar… again.

This immigration invasion is a massive national security threat all across America.

It’s a catastrophe in the making.

1 Comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics

August 29, 2024 · 10:22 am

Wake-up America, China’s getting ready to make some bold moves

China is preparing to make some bold moves, but meanwhile….

There was another big kerfuffle in the liberal media about some altercation between a Trump aide and an Arlington National Cemetery official during a wreath laying ceremony. Former President Trump attended, at the request of some Gold Star families, whose loved ones died during the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle three years ago.

Naturally, within hours the liberal media account turned out to be missing a lot of details and was presented to make Trump the villain. I condemn Trump’s bizarre comment recently comparing the Medal of Honor award to Presidential Medal of Freedom awards and saying the medal of freedom was better, while sucking up to some wealthy donor lady, Miriam Adelson, who had introduced him (he had awarded her the medal of freedom as president). He was at this event to speak about anti-Semitism. Here’s what he said:

““It’s the equivalent of the congressional Medal of Honor,” Trump said of the civilian Medal of Freedom. “But the civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone that gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.”” from https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2024/08/20/trump-clarifies-medal-of-honor-comments-calls-it-the-ultimate-honor/

Trump later clarified his remarks, but it was totally self-inflicted damage and I watched the video of this lady introducing him and his gushing comments several times. His comment deserved criticism.

For me, the truth matters more than partisan politics, so the truth is the liberal media acts as just part of the Democratic Party and left-wing political organizations messaging operations. And destroying Trump has been their #1 mission since 2016. The truth also is Trump dodged the draft in Vietnam and has no understanding of military service and sacrifice. I still think he’s a liberal role-playing at being a Republican. So, our choices are the most radical left candidate ever or Trump, a mixed bag of foibles, who often landed on good policies while president. He’s not Hitler, but he’s a deeply flawed candidate whose ego and big mouth gives his adversaries endless piles of ammunition to attack him.

Naturally, trying to get past his careless remarks from weeks ago, attending this ceremony at Arlington was politically beneficial, but Trump had called these families before and that might be why they invited him.

Trump was invited by these Gold Star families to attend this ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, that’s the most important point.

Neither President Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris have ever contacted the families of the fallen heroes at Abbey Gate, during that Afghanistan withdrawal debacle.

Stories never end with a simple explanation. Now we find out that officials at Arlington gave these Gold Star families a runaround trying to arrange this ceremony and Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, had to intervene. From the Daily Caller, EXCLUSIVE: Gold Star Families Had Trouble Getting Trump Into Arlington Until House Speaker Intervened :

“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had to intervene to get former President Donald Trump into Arlington National Cemetery for the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal with Gold Star families, a family told the Daily Caller.”

“The Gold Star families, who lost their children during the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, invited Trump to Arlington National Cemetery. There he laid a wreath for the 13 servicemembers who were killed serving their country in Afghanistan. However, a Gold Star family told the Caller that Arlington National Cemetery was trying to make it difficult for the former President to appear for the ceremony to honor their children, something the families requested.”

Every part of the federal government appears to be politicized and deeply divided along partisan lines, including some officials at Arlington National Cemetery, who tried to impede Trump attending a wreath-laying ceremony at the request of some Gold Star families.

During the 20 years of having US troops fighting the Global War On Terror and US regime change/democracy in the ME effort, both political parties began actively recruiting former military members, who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, to run for office. We now have deeply partisan “former-military” members in Congress, who jump into the fray on all military and foreign policy matters. This active political party recruitment of former military is how Tim Walz made it to Congress. With Walz becoming the Democrat VP candidate, information emerged recently that he had lied about serving in combat. True to form, former military Dems in Congress signed a letter backing Walz, while former military Repubs in Congress signed a letter condemning Walz for lying about his service.

The retired generals who show up in the media to comment, likewise are split along partisan lines, although the Dem-aligned ones became outspoken, rabid Trump-haters. However, among these retired Dem generals, who penned angry op-ed letters about Trump and showed up on cable news to berate him, I never saw any of them speak out about the Biden administration’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal debacle. The Pentagon claimed that withdrawal was a success, touting the large number of people evacuated during that debacle. I didn’t see these Dem retired generals criticize Biden or Harris for failing to contact these Gold Star families or even acknowledge them on the three year anniversary. Likewise, The liberal media doesn’t have anything to say about that Biden-Harris disgrace.

So, stepping back now to look at the big picture – we have a deeply divided country, including our news media we rely on for information, our elected officials, our intel agencies, our courts, our military leadership and even it appears, officials at Arlington National Cemetery.

Every federal institution seems to be deeply divided along partisan lines. And many American families are split along partisan lines.

How on earth are we going to be prepared, because our enemies see our divides and are watching? The Biden-Harris train wreck of a foreign policy continues to create opportunities our adversaries will surely try to exploit. Biden’s on an extended vacation and yesterday the media showed video of him lounging at the beach. Kamala’s preparing for her big “first interview” since becoming the official Democrat presidential candidate and she’s campaigning in GA. Here she is yesterday talking about leadership:

Our enemies are watching this vapid, silly woman and they’re watching all the American political theater. Most of all they’re watching the chaos and Biden dismantling of US military might by turning our military into a DEI project for Woke radicals to tinker with.

The floating pier project that Biden deployed to assist in humanitarian relief in Gaza a few months ago ended in failure and embarrassment, but the Pentagon spokeswoman touted that as a success, just like the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle.

In the meantime this was in the news, as China is escalating aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific

U.S. military has no carriers in Indo-Pacific waters for first time in decades

From that linked article:

But retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell, former director of intelligence for the Pacific Fleet, said the absence of a carrier group in the region is dangerous, noting it is the first time it has occurred since 2001, when the Japan-based USS Kitty Hawk was deployed to the Persian Gulf.

Since then both Democratic and Republican administrations have maintained at least one carrier strike group in the western Pacific to provide a strong deterrence to aggressive Chinese military activities or for a possible North Korean contingency, he said.

The current gap “sends a clear and unambiguous message to Beijing that the Biden-Harris administration is unlikely to intervene to help protect America’s national interest in Asia or those of our allies such as Japan, [the Philippines] or even Taiwan,” Capt. Fanell said.

He compared the gap to the decision by the Obama administration in 2012 not to respond forcefully to China’s seizure of the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, saying it only encouraged the Chinese military to build up more strategically located islands in the sea that are now armed with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles.

“Wherever the U.S. leaves a vacuum, [China] fills it with their military forces,” Capt. Fanell said. An Indo-Pacific Command spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.S. presence in the region.

Then the day after this report the Pentagon announces: U.S. military open to escorting Philippine ships in the South China Sea, senior admiral says

It’s always – make terrible decisions that create dangerous strategic opportunities for our adversaries, then pedal some weak tea assurance to our allies afterwards. This is a repeat of the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle, trusting the Taliban for security outside the airport in Kabul, of Ukraine, where the Biden administration weakness emboldened Putin, of Israel, where the Biden administration has tried to hamstring Israel to appease Hamas terrorists, and of Iran where Biden removed the Houthis from the terrorist watch list and now Iran keeps arming the Houthis to attack American forces in the region.

After watching four years of Biden-Harris military decisions, well, China is going to act sooner rather than later. We have no aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific, so the Biden administration offers a fig leaf to our Philippine ally that the US military is open to escorting their ships under threat by Chinese vessels ramming them. I doubt this US being open to discussing US escort is very reassuring to them. In Manila they’ve been watching the Houthis too. The US Navy has sizable assets in the region that could have demolished the Houthis and deterred Iran, but all the Biden administration whines about is a ceasefire, while letting the Houthi attacks go unpunished. The Houthis have been allowed to severely impede shipping in the Red Sea.

The Biden Pentagon keeps sending more and more ships and military assets to the ME, but then hamstrings them from defeating the Houthis or stopping Iran from arming the Houthis.

A bunch of rebel bands have defeated the US Navy, because of the Biden administration’s epic strategic failures. Here’s the British Telegraph: The Houthis have defeated the US Navy

China, Russia and Iran are watching closely and preparing to take more aggressive actions, while the US has the JOY campaign vs. Trump now sucking up to far-left Dems, RFK Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, who was a Bernie Bros and is all about no more forever war…

Well, Americans better be preparing for war, because it’s on our doorstep. Weakness is as provocative as aggression. No amount of Kamala JOY and vibes or Trump embracing RFK Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again or Tulsi whispering in his ear about how we shouldn’t do anything militarily is going to save us.

If you keep getting all excited about the dramas the Kamala Joy & Vibes campaign is blabbing about or thrilled about the Trump new unity with far-left Dems, perhaps it’s time for a reality check — China is going to make some big moves sooner rather than later.

Leave a comment

Filed under 2024 Election, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics

June 30, 2024 · 3:05 pm

The 25th Amendment should be under consideration

After thinking about the situation with our presidential race, almost all the debates center on polling and the November election, but I’m more concerned about today and the window between now and January, when the next president gets sworn into office. Presently, we have a president, who obviously has impaired cognitive capacity, so first Americans deserve to know where medically he is assessed with his dementia. There are stages to dementia and professionals can assess a patient’s abilities through various testing – brain scan and various diagnostic testing. Has he had brain scans and other cognitive tests? If not, then why haven’t his loved ones had that done? My late husband had brain scans and other diagnostic assessments with performing various tasks.

The issue isn’t about polls and who wins in November, it’s that we need a functioning president now and every day. The true state of President Biden’s weak condition was exposed for all the world to see during that 90 minutes. Trump promised to take tougher actions against our adversaries during that debate.

Our adversaries won’t care one iota about all the spin war games and polling garbage. Stepping into our adversaries shoes, you should be asking yourself if you would see the window of opportunity to take more hostile actions against the US and our interests from now until the next POTUS is sworn into office in January or wait until possibly Trump is elected?

Watching Team Biden and Dem/liberal media spin games since that debate, our adversaries know that this crowd is only concerned with polls and their spin word battles. Trump’s team and his supporters are focused on winning in November too.

All of our elected officials in Congress and the White House swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Safeguarding American citizens and our troops all over the globe should take precedence over the partisan politics. There should be some adults in the room in Washington who understand the national security risk with a mentally incapacitated president and a volatile election year.

My position is that the 25th Amendment should be under consideration, because we have troops around the world in harm’s way now and every day. And it’s reckless to have someone with dementia entrusted with the nuclear football.

Having said that, I believe it would be prudent for every American to work on becoming better prepared for emergencies. I’m not suggesting panic-buying, but assessing basic supplies – food, water, medical supplies, personal security needs, etc. Don’t rely on this crowd in Washington or “the experts” to have a plan to keep you safe, that’s for sure

After watching that debate, do you sleep better knowing President Biden is supposed to take those 3 am calls?

9 Comments

Filed under 2024 Election, Emergency Preparedness, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics

June 14, 2024 · 4:40 pm

We’re in a clash of civilizations, whether we like it or not

Today is Flag Day and the US Army’s birthday. I remain hopeful for our republic.

There have been lots of alarming happenings this week that revved up WWIII chatter in the news and on social media.

To understand what’s happening now in world affairs, I think a good place to start is to realize big power competitions are as old as time and we are in the midst of a big power challenge that’s been unfolding long before Trump ever entered politics.

We can go back to the fairly rapid collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-1992 to see that the world power structure can change rapidly and pretty much in ways the overwhelming majority of the experts and pundits didn’t see coming. The end of the Cold War left the United States in a position of world superpower, which our leaders weren’t prepared for and more often than not didn’t leverage to America’s advantage.

The Reagan era ended and from 1992-2000 the Clinton administration kept trying to kowtow to and legitimize numerous miscreants and anti-American regimes around the world, while also embracing the role of world policeman and getting the US entangled in several UN interventions (some of which ended very badly). There was an emerging foreign policy view that the US should shift its world leader role to more of just part of a globalist alliance and subservient to UN agendas.

Early in GWB’s presidency 9/11, an attack on American soil, happened and from that point on America went full-throttle on a global war on terror, which later developed a parallel foreign policy pipedream of regime-change to implant democracy in hostile Islamic-ruled lands. Many Republicans and Democrats embraced this regime-change foreign policy – it wasn’t just one side. The idea that a sharia governmental system could also be transformed into a democracy was always delusional, in my view, since sharia law is a rigid theocratic system. That’s where US policymakers were though and in Washington, if a few prominent experts start selling a new policy, most of the other prominent ones will just get on board with it. Groupthink rules in US policy circles.

The Obama administration turbo-charged the regime-change efforts, that started in the GWB administration, with dismal outcomes to both the peoples we were supposedly saving by our regime change efforts and to the US military, which expended a lot blood and treasure, while remaining stuck in endless rotations to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and beyond. Decades of non-stop deployments degraded our military readiness, even before Biden came along and forced far-left social engineering policies on the US military. It’s a double whammy to our military, that has definitely left America’s national security in peril, I believe. Add in the Biden open border policies and America is at a very precarious point.

With all these efforts, the Obama policymakers operated as if they had no clue about the Cold War world map and many Republicans, who should have known better, jumped on board the regime change train too. The Russians deployed troops to Syria to prop up Assad, while the Obama administration went on the search for mythical “moderate” Syrian rebels to arm to fight both ISIS and Assad. I strongly suspect the CIA was engaged in gunrunning from Benghazi to Syria and that the “moderate” Syrian rebels they were arming were connected to Al Nusra, which was Al Qaeda in Syria. The Russians were Cold War allies of Syria and maintained a large naval facility at Tartus in Syria, so they weren’t going to sit by and allow the US to topple Assad.

The Obama administration also was ham-handed in Ukraine. Russia was propping up a friendly Ukraine leader, while the Obama team openly and clumsily aided the toppling of that leader. Russia responded by deploying troops into Ukraine and annexed Crimea. Well here again, the Russians had their Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea. The Obama administration tucked tail and didn’t challenge the Russian annexation of Crimea… exactly how the Biden administration later had the situation in Afghanistan blow up in their face and then just let the Taliban humiliate the US with that debacle of a withdrawal.

Putin read that Afghanistan debacle as a green light and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. The US isn’t “poking the bear” by aiding Ukraine, because the bear is already on the attack. China likewise is on the attack – floods of cyberattacks on US infrastructure constantly – to take down our grid and water systems.

It’s the Biden (Obama crowd) weakness that is emboldening Russia and China, because they want to usurp America’s role as the world’s superpower.

This is the big picture of what’s going on. Russia will hype how the US and NATO are escalating things by arming Ukraine and Ukraine attacking Russian assets and supply lines in Russia, but this is hogwash. Russia launched the full-scale invasion into Ukraine. Russia has continually saber-rattled threatening NATO, Poland, Sweden, Moldova and even the US. Russia has threatened nuclear war more than once since invading Ukraine.

Russia is now embarking on boldly approaching US waters off of FL and engaging in naval exercises in Cuba. This isn’t the US poking the bear, this is at the very least Russia and China testing to see how far they can go and if the Biden administration will grovel. At worst, Russia is positioning and training for some actual hostile actions against the US that would surely involve China, Iran and other regimes hostile to the US. Since China, Russia and Iran want to see the US relegated to the dustbin of history (Iran’s rallying cry is “Death to America!”) and this presidential election year will be ripe for exploitation to escalate internal chaos, so all cards are on the table.

Reagan would never have worried about “poking the bear” and for the life of me I don’t understand how craven and silly so much of the right-wing has become. Sorry, the reality is the US will likely be dealing with more challenges to US power, especially if we appease Putin on his Ukraine demands.

These challenges to the US’s world position will continue regardless who is elected in November and in the meantime America’s adversaries want to create as much chaos, division and turmoil in America as possible. The expanding power and influence of China, Russia and Iran will inevitably lead to more clashes.

We have a left that’s become increasingly crazy and there are thousands protesting against Israel, who was attacked by Hamas and cheering on Hamas, a terrorist regime that invaded Israel and massacred over 1,000 people, mostly civilians. And and we have a right that likewise has become increasingly crazy and a crowd that believes not upsetting Putin and not providing Ukraine with arms will lead to peace. Putin invaded Ukraine in a bold effort to try to decapitate the government in Kiev, but there’s a segment of the right in America that blames Ukraine for all the problems. Putin will read the US and Europe abandoning Ukraine as another greenlight to embark on more territorial grabs, not as a time to broker a peace deal.

Has WWIII started? Well, I don’t expect the next major world power structure upheaval to be like WWI or WWIII, with massive armies and land and sea battles. I expect a lot more asymmetrical warfare and totally unconventional conflicts, which has already begun. How long could America withstand major asymmetrical attacks that succeeded, if the people are so divided and won’t unite to defend our homeland or they distrust all the information they hear? I’m more concerned about Americans being so divided than about what America’s adversaries are doing.

I expect things to get crazier as this year goes on, but I will continue to try to live my life as normally as possible – no matter what happens. During WWII British people packed tea and food to take to shelters during air raids and people in war zones still focus on everyday needs and taking care of their families. Trying hard to maintain as much normalcy in you life as possible, no matter what happens, is how you survive and thrive in adversity.

I’m thankful to live in America every day and today I’m proud to see the American flag still waving.

Note: I cross-stitched the picture above decades ago and still love the message: Our Country; Our Destiny.

Leave a comment

Filed under 2024 Election, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics

April 15, 2024 · 5:51 am

Rumors of war

God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.

– Daniel Webster

Over the weekend Iran launched a massive drone, cruise and ballistic missile attack against Israel. Political and pundit reactions and hot takes on Israeli and world responses started pouring out before we even knew much in the way of details as the strike was ongoing.

We also had Biden White House murmurings being reported that President Biden was warning Israel not to retaliate.

There’s a segment of the American right that has become hardcore isolationist and won’t support US military action anywhere or for any reason and they sound, to me, the same as the segment of the American left that reacts the same way – no war under any circumstances. I’ve always felt that isolationists have the luxury of being isolationists in America, because we have a strong military, prepared to defend our nation.

So, then we get to speaking truth about Iran – Iran declared war on America decades ago. Their official policy has been “Death to America” since 1979. When they declare Death to America and rant about defeating the Great Satan (America) as their top tier foreign policy objective, we should believe them.

This truth about Iran should guide American foreign policy decisions, but it doesn’t.

Democrats believe the Obama Iran deaI would change Iran’s foreign policy toward the US and deter Iran’s belligerent actions in the Middle East. The Democrat position that’s high on Obama Iran deal pipedreams seems delusional in light of Iran’s continued attacks against America and American allies. The reality is Iran has been attacking American military assets and personnel continually, especially via Iranian-backed proxies and Shia militias in Iraq, rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th last year, Iranian-backed groups have attacked US military interests over 170 times and three US servicemembers were killed in an Iranian-backed attack in January.

It’s myopic to pretend that we’re not involved in the ongoing war that Israel is engaged in. For all of Biden’s telling Netanyahu not to retaliate, he ordered the US military to help defend Israel during that weekend Iranian attack. The Biden policy remains convoluted and incoherent toward achieving any real strategic aims. Biden officials continually talk out of both sides of their mouths and pretend that words can gloss over deeds – so, yes, they keep saying we support Israel, but at the same time they’re undercutting Israel at every turn. They are also still committed to Obama’s Iran deal and believe that the Iranian government, which proclaims “Death to America,” can be trusted to act in good faith.

Biden’s public lecturing Israel about a ceasefire in Gaza and now urging Israel not to retaliate against Iran is read by America’s enemies the same way they read the American political right urging no aid to Ukraine and urging Ukraine to stop fighting – our enemies read that as American weakness and appeasement. History clearly shows that this will lead to our enemies being emboldened to more aggressive actions. In the most simplistic terms, I think, Iran wants to be the dominate power in the Middle East, Russia wants to retake former Soviet territories, China wants to take Taiwan and replace the United States as the world’s #1 superpower. The foreign policy expert class remains widely divided on how to contend with our adversaries’ aspirations

There are silly and simplistic reactions calling for a too forceful response and some calling for a too weak response, however after over 170 Iranian-backed attacks against US military interests in six months, three dead US servicemembers and now this attack on Israel, it seems like the no retaliation response would be suicidal for Israel and pretending the US isn’t involved in this war is likewise delusional.

There’s an argument about the monetary cost of military action being too high with the state of our economy, but I would argue the economic costs, if we allow Iran, Russia and China to disrupt more global shipping, (hint, that’s a large part of what Iran, Russia and China have been doing), and if they take more aggressive actions to expand their power beyond their borders will be even more costly.

There are various levels of military responses the US could take to make sure Iran gets the message. Even US missile strikes can send a strong message or a weak message, as we learned during the Clinton administration and which the Obama and Biden administration are now following suit. If the US targets Iranian interests or assets that are not high-value (the Biden approach), the message is we aren’t serious. Those are signals of weakness – just going through the motions of a response and that’s really just more appeasement. Of course, there can be over-the-top responses, like the people who rant about nuking adversaries. The better response for America is likely somewhere in the middle or supporting Israel responding as it sees fit (which will be a strong response) and then getting more aid to Israel quickly.

Appeasement and not responding to aggression are actions. That is choosing not to defend your country or interests. History shows that not responding to military aggression can result in a heavy cost, including emboldening adversaries to make more aggressive military moves and leading to wider conflicts. Deterrents can work, but the Biden administration so far has offered only muddled word salad responses and missile strikes against low-value targets.

The reality is America does have direct interests with what happens in Ukraine and what happens in Israel.

We aren’t an island unto ourselves.

Weighing what we know vs. the unknowns, brought me back to thinking about a 2015 piece, Thucydides Was Right: Defining the Future Threat, written by Dr. Colin S. Gray and published at the US Army War College. I’m going to be rereading this piece. I talked to one of my sisters on the phone yesterday and we were talking about leaders who react to crises emotionally. My sister is retired from the Air Force and has a lot of experience handling crisis communications. She echoed my belief that emotional responses are terrible leadership in a crisis and will lead to bad decisions. In fact, making decisions based on emotion and fear will lead to bad decisions for anyone. We definitely need calmer heads, but too many of our elected leaders and most of the news media now seem to spend more time on their social media hot take drama than they do in calmly and carefully reading and analyzing information. Instead, they rush out with emotionally-charged statements to try to garner news media attention.

Leave a comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, Military