Category Archives: International news

International news

Don’t close consulate!

Benjamin Netanyahu was so upset over the election of New York City’s first Muslim mayor, why … he is threatening to close the Israeli consulate office in the Big Apple.

Please heed this advice from an American patriot who once spent five weeks in the enchanting nation: Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister!

If ever there was a time to keep the lines of communication open and unobstructed, it is right now. NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s election was a stunner, for sure, to those who value the close U.S.-Israeli ties. I happen to one American who does value our alliance with Israel.

I also happen to believe it would be a mistake to close the consulate in the nation’s largest city, which gives Israel direct contact with millions of Jewish-Americans who call NYC home. Closing the consulate would be an act of supreme petulance at a time when we need maturity and reason at the highest levels of international diplomacy.

I don’t know it the Israeli prime minister was just venting his anger or if he intends to follow through with his threat. This much is clear. We live in a democratic republic where we should accept election results for better or for worse.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to settle down, perhaps call the new mayor and seek a way to end the ongoing crises in the Middle East. It won’t happen if he closes the consulate in a fit of rage.

International news

Don’t forget: Hamas is a terrorist regime

2 Comments

Amid all the hype and hubbub over the ceasefire that has been declared in Gaza, it is wise to remember an essential element about this situation.

One of the combatant forces, Hamas, is a terrorist regime committed to the destruction of Israel. Hamas has released hostages held since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack. That’s fine. The world is heralding their release. The world also is heaping praise on Donald Trump for his role in brokering the deal.

However, the world has many miles to go before this matter comes full circle.

The task for Trump and his team is to remain laser focused on the obstacles that lie before them.

How do Hamas and Israel reach an understanding that presumes Israel is a permanent player? What assurances do the Israelis expect if they are to exist without the threat of further violence? What about a two-state solution that requires an independent Palestinian state functioning alongside an independent Israel? Who will pay for the reconstruction of Gaza, which the Israelis destroyed when they went to war after the terror attack?

Donald Trump has exhibited a remarkable skill in recent weeks by bringing the warring sides to this stage in their conflict. I wish him well, which is to say I wish the world well, as this process proceeds.

Just don’t forget with whom we are dealing. Hamas is first and foremost an organization that aims to terrorize the world.

International news, Uncategorized

If they can do this, why not do that?

Maybe you’ve uttered this expression of frustration yourself over the years … and it goes something like this: If they can land a man on the moon, why can’t they solve this problem here on Earth?

I’ll admit to expressing such a thought myself in the past 24 hours in the wake of Donald Trump’s brokering of a deal that well could lead to an end of centuries of bloodshed in the Middle East.

If the president of the United States can clunk the heads of Israeli and terrorist leaders together to get them to stop killing each other, why can’t he do the same with Republicans and Democrats who are digging in while the federal government remains shut down?

House Speaker Mike Johnson is keeping the House off the clock until Senate Democrats agree to a stopgap spending plan to reopen the government. No can do, say Democrats, who contend the GOP plan will gut insurance benefits for many thousands of Americans.

Meanwhile, Trump is basking in the deserved glow of success in the Middle East. The government he has been tasked to running, though, remains dark with no solution in sight.

What the hell? Let’s get busy and fix this matter … shall we?

International news

Congrats to Trump, but wait …

High Plains Blogger readers know of my intense dislike of Donald J. Trump, his policies and the very idea that he is sitting in the Oval Office. Yet I have stated my intention to offer him praise when he has earned it … and I did so with the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza that well could end the bloodshed between Hamas and the Israeli Defense Force.

Why, though, does Trump insist on stepping on his own applause lines by saying the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, a Venezuelan political dissenter, said that he had earned the prize over her efforts? My question is: Did she do so or is Trump making this up to cast himself in some pseudo-heroic light?

I saw a video of then-President Barack Obama declaring that he had won the Peace Prize in 2009, about two weeks into his presidency. He acknowledged freely that he felt uncomfortable having his name posted alongside “transformative figures” who had won it previously. He mentioned Albert Schweitzer, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Wiesel as historic giants who had earned the prize. Obama saw his award as a testament to the expectation that he could deliver on his promise to bring a new world order.

Trump lobbied aggressively for the Peace Prize. I won’t begrudge him that effort. He isn’t the first to do so. He won’t be the last. He is just so damn awkward as he seeks to put words in other people’s mouths. I want to hear from the 2025 Peace Prize winner herself what she told Trump. I mean, the POTUS’s penchant for prevarication overtakes every single word that flies out of his mouth.

International news

Trump earns affirmation

Donald J. Trump is continually searching for affirmation of deeds he has accomplished … and even deeds with which he had zero involvement.

Well, ladies and gents, if it turns out to be true that Trump brokered a deal that could end the Gaza war started two years ago when Hamas bombarded the territory in a hideous missile attack, then he will have earned all the acclaim he has sought.

I am willing to give it to him.

Trump announced that Hamas and the Israeli government have agreed on a ceasefire that will lead to the release of all Israelis held hostage by Hamas and the release of Palestinians held by Israelis. Then will come the immediate rebuilding of Gaza City, destroyed by Israeli troops, artillery and armor in retaliation for the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel had vowed to destroy Hamas, the terrorists who govern Gaza. By all accounts, Israel has inflicted heavy damage to Hamas’s command structure. The price in civilian casualties has been ghastly, with more than 60,000 Palestinians killed in the war that erupted. Israel reportedly bombed hospitals, schools and countless civilian neighborhoods in its ongoing offensive.

Yes, it is time for the carnage to end. And if Donald Trump wants to take a bow for helping bring it an end, then I will be among the first to salute him. Please, though, just accept the applause with a modicum of class and decorum.

International news, national news

Nobel Peace Prize? Hah!

1 Comment

For the ever-lovin’ life of me I don’t know really why I am wasting my energy on this issue, but it seems to be getting traction in some circles … although nowhere near me.

Donald Trump appears to be lobbying for consideration to get the Nobel Peace Prize. I cannot think of a least worthwhile nominee for that cherished prize than that fellow.

I guess he sees his efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war as sufficient cause to award him the prize.

To be sure, the Nobel committee has misfired a time or two on these picks. I believe the Nobel prize panel missed the mark when it named newly elected President Obama its 2009 Peace Prize recipient. It did so on the hope he would bring peace after nearly eight years of war during President Bush’s two terms in office.

To his credit, Obama recognized what I think he realized was a mistake when he accepted the award. At least he acknowledged the unusual circumstances of his selection.

But … the idea that the Nobel panel could even consider Trump for this high honor simply boggles the noggin. Whatever peace deal emerges from the bloodshed likely will contain multiple concessions to the aggressor nation — which happens to be Russia. Surely the wise folks who hand this prestigious award to deserving winners can find someone who actually deserves it.

International news

Germans have it pegged

I don’t know many Germans well, as I have only two actual friends: a husband and wife who live in Nuremberg with their three children.

Yes, I have shaken the hands of other Germans during two visits there, one in 2016 with my bride, Kathy Anne, and the other in 2024. When the subject of Donald Trump comes up, they all sing off the same page: They tell me that the onset of authoritarian rule comes in dribs and drabs, that the individual who seeks power gathers it up in bite-sized pieces. Before long — presto! — he’s acquired all the power he needs to affect serious change in the country he seeks to lead.

My friends tell me that is what they are witnessing in this country. Yes, it’s from some distance away. However, my friends are both well-educated, well-versed in government and public policy and know a dictator-in-waiting when they see him.

Many observers in Europe are wondering the same thing as well. Why are we Americans allowing this to happen?

I also have made friends in countries affected directly by Adolf Hitler’s megalomaniacism. Several live in The Netherlands, a few more live in Greece and I have shaken hands with a couple of Danes in Copenhagen and some Brits in the UK. They understand what can happen when a madman takes control of the levers of power.

I am going to cling to my faith that Americans will never tolerate what so many around the world suggest is happening here. It is all outrageous, enraging, despicable and poses an existential threat to the principles upon which the founders created what would become the world’s indispensable nation.

Yes, I have referred to Trump as a madman. I do not believe he is capable of committing the level of genocide we saw in the 1930s and ’40s. The rest of it? I’ll need to wait for him to be vanquished.

International news

Who’s talking to whom?

At this moment, I am a confused old man, given that I cannot tell who is talking to whom regarding this bizarre trail many of hope leads to a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin talked to each other for a time in Anchorage. Volodymr Zelenskyy was nowhere near the conference room, but he damn sure should have been there.

Zelenskyy and Trump met in the Oval Office, along with several other European Union heads of state and government who were there to support the embattled Ukrainian president.

Trump is now insisting that Putin and Zelenskyy talk to each other, but only after dismissing the idea as a non-starter. Why? Because Putin didn’t want to talk to the man with whom he launched a war three years ago.

Trump now says he will seek an end to mail-in voting … because Putin thinks that kind of balloting is prone to fraud and corruption. What the hell? Putin is the godfather of electoral fraud, having emerged on top in numerous Russian presidential elections with an 80% majority.

Can you say and spell “r-i-g-g-e-d?”

The wild card in all of this, naturally, is Trump. Which is what I presume suits him just fine. He likes being unpredictable. Says it gives him an edge. Except that he hasn’t closed any deals to end the war, which he pledged to do on Day One of his second term in office.

I didn’t study foreign relations much in college and most of what I understand about it I learned during my nearly 37 years as a print journalist.

However, I am pretty sure this isn’t how international diplomacy is supposed to work.

International news

Trump, Putin serve a ‘nothingburger’

All the hype, the speculation, the thought of a possible breakthrough … and Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, after meeting in Anchorage, stood before the assembled media and didn’t say a damn thing worthwhile.

The men gathered to discuss the Ukraine War. Whether there would be a ceasefire. Finding a possible path to peace. Seeking international aid to assist the victims of this bloody war that Putin started three years ago for reasons that still baffle many of us.

They presented nothing. Zero. No result.

They did put on a show. Putin spoke first. Then it was Trump’s turn. About the only “news” to come from the presser was Putin saying, in English, that Trump could visit Moscow for the men’s next meeting. Trump accepted the invitation.

I’m still trying to parse what went down. No one knows what the leaders said in private. For all any of us knows they might have simply taken pot shots at the man who should have been in the room, Ukraine President Volodyrmyr Zelenskyy.

Someone speculated that at least Trump could have made some public demand, the way President Reagan did in 1988 when he said in Berlin, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The Soviet leader did a year later.

No one is going to get fat feasting on a nothingburger such as what Trump and Putin served up in Anchorage. I will cling to my belief that Putin needs to shed his stubborn resistance to Zelenskyy’s presence at the negotiating table with the aim of stopping the bloodshed that has ripped Ukraine to shreds

International news, military news

Settle down, Donald!

Donald Trump simply must learn — even at his advanced age of 79 — to settle down when plans don’t go quite as he envisioned or as he boasted after the fact.

Trump ordered the Air Force to strike at Iran’s military complex. He sent the B-2 stealth bombers thousands of miles to the target, where they dropped about a dozen bunker-buster bombs aimed at destroying Iranian nuclear installations.

After the mission, which was completed with no U.S. casualties — thank God! — Trump announced the installations had been “obliterated.”

Wait! Not so fast, according to U.S. intelligence analysts. They tell us the sites weren’t destroyed. They suffered heavy damage and work on the weapons likely was set back several months.

Trump’s response was to dismiss the findings. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also stands by the obliterated declaration.

All of this has me scratching my noggin. Maybe the bunker busters’ lethality is overrated? Maybe the Iranians knew about their presence in our arsenal and ensured their installations would be heavily protected?

Trump is still able to claim a success. The mission went off without a hitch. The bombers and their fighter escorts all got home safely. At the very least, the Iranians know that the leader of the Great Satan is unafraid to deploy massive military might, never mind the cost politically at home and around the world.

As for the assessments on the damage done … we have plenty of intelligence eyes and ears on the ground to get to the whole truth. No need for the commander in chief to peddle overheated falsehoods about whether our bombers obliterated the Iranian nuclear capacity.