Tea and Vitriol

America's second lady, Usha Vance, announced three days ago that she planned to visit Greenland to attend the dogsled races and visit cultural and historic sites. In an obviously ghost-written, prepared bland speech, the second lady referred to the warm relations between Greenland and the United States, speaking of their mutual respect and affection for each other. That might have been true once, but President Trump's bombastic statements about either buying Greenland or simply taking the island because America needs it has ruined that sentiment, probably forever. Madame Vance also failed to mention in her speech that she would be accompanied by Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Greenland's government was already aware of their intended visit and produced more than a little bit of anxiety, since those two men were rabid for the US to annex Greenland. However, they would be heading straight for the US military station in Gree...

It's a case of life imitating art! "The Flintstones," an American cartoon series from the 1960's featured an episode titled "The Frogmouth." "The Frogmouth" was a stage play was about an unimportant, obnoxious, abrasive, loudmouth, and the director of the play felt that Fred Flintstone was a natural for the role. Fast forward to the 21st century, to real life in the real world. Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, has become "The Frogmouth!" Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of frogmouths in the world of politics, especially among populists. US President Trump and Russia's President Putin are two such examples on the world stage. Along with China's President Xi, they are the three most powerful men in the world. They can afford to be rude, crude, abrasive and aggressive because there is nobody out there powerful enough to stop them or even effectively resist them. And then there's Viktor Orban, whose pretensions ...

For a few brief shiny moments, it looked as if the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would be the solution for ending the war in Ukraine. Erdogan offered to provide the setting for negotiating the end of the war. He also stated that he had the manpower and the war materiel to act as a peacekeeper in Ukraine to act as a guarantor. In fact, Turkey's military is larger than that of anything the European Union can quickly muster (second only to NATO's dubious forces) and has been manufacturing and exporting weapons in huge quantities for years, some of which he sold to Ukraine. He has also been actively involved in Syria's civil war, which has provided his military with experience in war settings. At the same time, Erdogan has maintained relatively civil relations with Putin, refusing to enforce the European Union's sanctions against Russia while purchasing gas and oil from them. Meanwhile, Erdogan has stated that Ukraine's territorial integrity must be restore...

  The story is as old as time. An inexperienced, rather naive man attempts to attract the attention of an older, experienced courtesan by giving her everything she asks for. She, in return, gives him little, if anything. Not even a tickle. Such is the ongoing Bromance between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Putin playing the role of the courtesan. It has provided the world with much hilarity as well as revulsion. It has also made the US President look rather stupid before the entire world, especially since he is way too old to play the moonstruck young man falling for the charms of an aging hooker. The world waited with anticipation the outcome of the scheduled phone call between President Trump and Putin today, regarding a 30-day ceasefire in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine has already stated that it would agree to such a ceasefire if Putin did. Instead, Putin graciously said that he would agree to a ceasefire only regarding...

 During President Trump's re-election campaign, he stated that he could end the war in Ukraine in one day. He didn't. But he could have. After his inauguration, President Trump could have told Russia's President Putin to stand down and submit to a peace deal of America's devising or risk the US providing Ukraine with unlimited money, war materiel and means of mass destruction, giving Ukraine permission to use such weapons against Russian territory and civilian targets. Just like Russia is doing to Ukraine. Only he didn't. Instead, Trump demanded that Ukraine come crawling to him to beg his intervention and accept whatever peace plan Trump and Putin would devise, regardless of the long-term consequences. Even worse, President Trump agreed with Putin's demands regarding the end of the war and the future of Ukraine, which would ultimately result in that nation's absorption into Russia and the extermination of Ukrainian culture. Which is NOT within the interests...

Watching the leaders of the European Union and their associates scamper to organize ways to protect themselves in the wake of US President Donald Trump's deserting them would almost be amusing if the consequences weren't so catastrophic. As stated in previous blogs, the success of the European Union has always been predicated upon one thing: The USA. It was American money, war materiel and men that allowed for the EU's prosperity and quick expansion into the Eastern European states that were once part of the Soviet bloc. Similarly, those states were quickly admitted into NATO, the military alliance originally created to protect its member state from Soviet aggression. It gave the EU a false sense of security and the belief that the US would always provide support for them almost unquestioned. Given this mindset, the EU never imagined that they would have to protect themselves, hence their lack of coordination among its individual states' military and a complete lack of ...

 "Sir" Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, hosted a summit meeting in London on Sunday, the purpose of which was to come up with proposals to end the war in Ukraine that would leave that nation sovereign and independent. It was a study in absurdity, because the proposal that this meeting ultimately arrived at was to be presented to US President Donald Trump for his approval. That won't be forthcoming any time soon. President Trump and his vice president publicly humiliated Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday and the latter quickly left the White House and America to head to London for Starmer's summit meeting. President Trump made it clear that Zelenskyy had better come back begging for him to "settle" the war in Ukraine...under Russia's terms, which would effectively end Ukraine's independence. President Trump is clearly uninterested in Ukraine's survival or that of NATO or even of the European Union, which ...

Ragnarok, or the Twilight of the Gods, was a central theme in Norse mythology. It was preordained and all of the actions of the Norse gods centered around preparing for the final battle between good and evil. The universe would be destroyed, including Midgard, the home of we mere mortals. From the ashes would then arise a superior race of beings, greater than the gods and above the concepts of good and evil. Let's fast forward to the present time. The Trump regime in the United States has been promoting an agenda of isolationism while at the same time reserving for itself the right to interfere in global affairs where it suits them. Most Americans support most of these actions. And most Americans know that, despite his rabid patriotism (which we need after four years of Bidenism), The Donald is an abrasive, megalomaniacal loudmouth who demands his own way. Woe betide anyone who refuses to capitulate before his bullying, because he IS the most powerful man in the world, and he knows...