No Respect #326
By Hank Silverberg
Much has already been written on the disastrous public and live broadcast argument between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. But what strikes me most is a general lack of understanding in the American public of what is at stake in Ukraine.
Yes, there was a general lack of respect between the two leaders, and in normal times differences of opinion and disrespectful comments like those would be played out behind closed doors.
But Trump doesn't play by the rules, and in Zelensky we have seen someone who has tired of Trump's nonsense and won't let it go unanswered. He really has no choice. The life of his country is at stake.
It is important for the public to ignore minutia like what Zelensky was wearing or who disrespected whom, and focus on the real issue.
RUSSIA is the aggressor here. Putin is the bad guy. He sent his army over the Ukrainian border twice. The first time in 2014 when he occupied Crimea and then annexed it. Putin's excuse then, he needed a buffer between Russia and NATO. The U.S. and NATO countries imposed sanctions, and at the same time assured Russia that Ukraine would not be admitted to NATO.
But Putin, who had already subverted Belarus with a puppet government putting it back in the Russian sphere of influence, has always had his eye on more. He has visions of restoring the old Soviet empire, which included Ukraine and the Baltic counties of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania along with Moldova, have been very clear. And to do that he has to first subdue Ukraine.
He also has his eye on the vast farm land of Ukraine, the breadbasket of Europe. So in 2022 he invaded Ukraine again, the second largest country in Europe, breaking his agreement of 2014 to settle for Crimea as long as Ukraine stayed out of NATO.
THIS history is important. Putin can not be trusted.
European tranquility is in danger, and a threat to Europe now is just as much of a threat to the United States as it was in 1940, perhaps more.
But Mr. Trump, who sees all diplomacy as a business deal, only seemed interested in getting his hands on Ukrainian mineral rights and has showed no interest in halting Russian expansionism.
Trump thinks he can handle Putin. He thinks they are friends and can work together treating European security like a business deal. This is fiction, but no one close to Trump, in his cabinet or in Congress, has the guts to tell him flatly that Putin is a scoundrel who needs to be checked. And Vice-President Vance, the chief "yes" man and inexperienced in just about everything, bolsters the false narrative with his boss.
When Hitler invaded Poland, we didn't side with Hitler.
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, we didn't side with the Soviets.
When Saddam invaded Kuwait, we didn't side with Iraq.
When Hamas invaded Israel, we didn't go with Hamas.
The Europeans will try now to go it alone with Ukraine, understanding they can no longer count on the United States to back them up. And that increased effort has already begun. The United Kingdom announced on Sunday it will spend 1.6 billion pounds to supply 5,000 air defense missiles for Ukraine.
There's a message here that is also being heard in Tehran and Beijing--America is turning inward--and will no longer play on the world stage. It is a paper tiger which abandons its friends. China has already moved in to many of the projects the U.S. abandoned when Trump shut down USAID, particularly in vulnerable African countries which have resources we badly need. It is only a matter of time before the Chinese turn their eyes again on Taiwan and wonder if the U.S. will abandon that ally, too.
The world is not a safe place. And it is smaller than ever. We can not shrink into a cocoon, or put our heads in the sand and not expect to eventually be swallowed up by the Russian Bear or the Chinese Dragon. Abandoning Ukraine may be the first step toward the eventual demise of the U.S. as a world power, creating an enormous threat to our way of life.
The stakes are very high, but the pundits care more about suits and ties, and the American public seems oblivious to the overall threat.
News You May Have Missed!
It seems politicians never go away, they just wait
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| (Andrew Cuomo) |
Cuomo has a long history of public service that goes back to his father's days as Governor, and he had a pretty good political track record before the harassment scandal. He had been re-elected Governor twice and had even been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate until he was accused of lying about the number of people dying from Covid-19 in New York nursing homes during the early months of the pandemic.
Then, nearly a dozen women, including some on his staff, accused him of sexually harassing them and an investigation found he created a hostile work environment, a charge he has always denied.
Of course, we have a man in the White House convicted of sexual assault, so it appears Cuomo doesn't think his picadilloes matter now.
The race for NYC mayor is crowded. It includes incumbent Eric Adams, who for now remains under indictment in a federal corruption case despite some help from President Trump's justice department.
In his video, announcing his candidacy, Cuomo said:
“I am not saying this is going to be easy. It won’t be easy, but I know we can turn the city around, and I believe I can help.”
What will the voters think? Polls show Cuomo already leading the pack of potential Democratic candidates with 38%. Adams is polling third.
https://apnews.com/article/cuomo-mayor-new-york-city-mayor-1ed3ebb2c60acd53bb49bb5ee9921890
Moon Landing!
An American spacecraft landed on the Moon on Sunday. It is owned by Firefly Aerospace, a private company which sent its Blue Ghost lunar lander to the surface of the Moon by autopilot. It was aimed at the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome on the Moon's northeastern edge on the nearside. Indications are it landed within the target zone.
Firefly, founded ten years ago, is the first private company to put a spacecraft on the Moon without crashing it or without it falling over.
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| (Blue Ghost) |
The experiments include a vacuum to suck up Moon dirt for analysis and a drill to measure the temperature as deep as 10 feet below the surface. Also on board is a device for eliminating abrasive lunar dust — a scourge for NASA’s long-ago Apollo moonwalkers, who got it caked all over their spacesuits and equipment.
This mission is part of NASA'S efforts to return people to the Moon in the next decade, and eventually go on to Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/touchdown-carrying-nasa-science-fireflys-blue-ghost-lands-on-moon/
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumb quote comes from Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who was asked by Kaitlan Collins on CNN about all those videos we have seen of demonstrators and raucous behavior at Congressional town halls across the country in Republican districts.
Johnson's response: “The videos you saw of the town halls were for paid protesters in many of those places. These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats."
When told by Collins that the actual Congressmen involved confirmed those were indeed his constituents, Johnson brushed off the comment.
There is of course, no evidence that anyone was paid to attend those meetings. But Johnson refused to acknowledge that there is any descent on President Trump's legislative agenda and the massive layoffs of government workers. His denial may soon come back to haunt him.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5166977-mike-johnson-gop-lawmaker-town-hall-protests/
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