Category Archives: International news

International news

Don’t ignore Ukraine … OK?

Pssst … here’s a secret. OK, it’s not really a secret but it just seems like one.

It is that while the world worries how the Israel-Hamas war plays out, another conflict continues to rage on and on and on.

In February 2022, Russian troops, tanks and artillery invaded Ukraine in an attempt to take over a sovereign nation. The Russians were met with ferocious resistance aided by the steadfast support of the United States, NATO and the European Union.

Ukrainian forces have beaten back the invaders. U.S. aid continues to pour into Ukraine, despite resistance to that aid from the MAGA caucus within the congressional Republican conference.

We cannot predict when this war will end. It has become a stalemate, according to sources in the field. Still, the Ukrainian resistance to the supposedly vaunted Russian military machine has been awe-inspiring. The world has witnessed that Russia in fact is a third- or fourth-rate conventional military power. Yes, the Russians have those nuclear weapons. However, they dare not deploy them!

It appears difficult at times for the world to concentrate on multiple crises as they are erupting in real time. The Israeli offensive against Hamas is the real thing and it requires the world’s attention.

So, though, does the Ukrainian effort to defend its sovereignty against a foreign aggressor. Vladimir Putin has delusions of grandeur that he sought to play out against a sovereign nation; he concocted bogus threats against Russia from a country that posed no threat at all. Putin’s adventurism is delivering a heavy price that the Kremlin appears unable to pay.

President Biden’s steadfast resistance to Putin’s aggression has brought NATO and EU together to stand firm against Russia.

Let us not forget what’s at stake in Ukraine. It is the future of a democratic republic that is fighting for its survival.

International news

Hamas: still untrustworthy

Try as I am to keep my emotions in check over the release of hostages by the Hamas terrorists, it is good to remember one thing about this group of monsters.

It is that they are monsters, they have no regard for human life and even less regard for the existence of Israel.

The hostage exchanges are certainly welcome news for the families of those who have been held captive by the killers. I join them in rejoicing the return of their loved ones. Of particular joy must the family of the Israeli who was thought to have died at the hands of Hamas, only to be released very much alive.

This world of ours would be a much better place without Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for years now. Hamas ignited the war with Israel on Oct. 7 with its fusillade of rocket fire and mortars … launched specifically against civilian targets.

Israel responded with maximum force. Yes, the loss of Palestinian life has been tragic. But … that a devastating consequence of war. The Israelis contend they are working to avoid civilian casualties … and I believe them!

They also intend to rid this planet of Hamas, which is hiding behind innocent civilians, which the terrorists’ MO. How in the world do the Israelis accomplish that mission without inflicting unintended collateral casualties? Answer? They cannot.

The fighting will resume shortly, I am going to presume. There will be more destruction and death. Meanwhile, I intend to say my prayers that ask God Almighty to help send the Hamas terrorists one unmistakable message.

If you keep fighting, you are going to die!

International news

Hamas must give up its fight

Nearly 15 years ago I was preparing to leave for Israel on a month-long Rotary International journey that would take us through the entire length of the country.

Then came a barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel launched by the Hamas terrorists. Israeli Defense Forces launched a counterattack; the entire venture put our trip into jeopardy. RI, though, was in contact with the brand new State Department formed by newly elected Barack Obama and eventually, the IDF was able to put down the Hamas rebellion. We were good to go.

And so we went.

We learned immediately about the fear under which most Israelis live. They fear that their Muslim neighbors will attack them without warning. Yes, they have peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt. However, when the shooting starts, would they remain loyal to the treaty they signed with Israel or would they side with their Muslim brethren?

The Israeli fear of attack is real. Which is why I continue to support the Israelis’ effort to eradicate Hamas from Earth’s face. I get that the civilian casualties inflicted on Palestinians are unacceptable, but I also believe the Israelis’ assertion that they are not targeting civilians … not in the way Hamas does by (a) firing rockets into Israeli neighborhoods and (b) hiding among civilians in Gaza.

Hamas started this war with Israel. It now falls on the Israelis to finish it, either by wiping out the terrorists or by asserting enough military pressure on them to force Hamas to seek peace — finally! — with their sworn enemy.

Israel is surrounded by people who want all Jews eradicated. That, by itself, is unacceptable.

They have stopped fighting for a few days to enable an exchange of hostages. I certainly welcome that. What happens next must depend on what the terrorists will do.

International news

Can the fighting now end?

Israel and Hamas have declared a four-day ceasefire while they exchange the release of hostages.

Four days? That’s all the time they are buying. I am now wondering if it is humanly possible that Hamas — the terrorists who started this war — will realize that life is better for them if they can continue to exhibit some level of human decency. Or will they return to their bloodthirsty way once the four days are up and Israel will continue its military campaign to destroy the organization that vows to do the same to Israel?
International news, Joe Biden, national news

Partisan fight over aid to fight Russia?

You live  long enough and you’re liable to see all kinds of manifestations of principle you once thought were set in steel-enforced concrete.

Take the U.S. position regarding aggression by Russian armed forces … for example.

Russia invaded Ukraine a year-plus ago. President Biden said this country would stand foursquare against the Russian aggressors. He vowed to stitch together a strong alliance of nations to resist the Russians. He succeeded.

We have helped Ukraine turn back the Russians. Ukrainian armed forces launched a counteroffensive. You’d think the Democratic U.S. president would enjoy the support of long-standing anti-Russian pols who belong to the Republican Party. Right? Guess again, pilgrim.

We now have the MAGA crowd resisting efforts to back Ukraine … for reasons that totally escape me! It has to be that their guy, the former POTUS, thinks the sun rises and sets on Russian goon/strongman Vladimir Putin.

The MAGA cult seemingly doesn’t believe as much in democratic principles as their political forebears — the real Republicans who fought the Russians and the Soviet Union with a passion. Then again, I don’t consider the MAGA morons to be real Republicans. They are political perverts who have twisted longstanding U.S. policy into something unrecognizable.

It is an evolution I never envisioned I would see.

International news

Complicated … but simple

My unabashed support for Israel as it prepares to defend itself Hamas is both complicated and simple.

I will start with the simple part. The Israeli Defense Force is charged with defending the nation against foreign enemies. Hamas presents an existential threat of the first magnitude. It launched its attack on Israel a week ago and the violence has killed many Palestinians and Israelis.

What does Israel do? It must defend itself against a well-armed, massive terrorist organization whose mission is to destroy Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared he intends to make Hamas realize it has made a “terrible mistake.”

The second simple element of my support for Israel is because of my many Israeli friends. I acquired these friendships during the monthlong visit to Israel in May-June 2009. I have stayed in touch with many of them. I worry terribly that they might be victimized by the terrorists. Anyone with friends who live in these danger zones know of what I speak.

The complicated part? It deals with Netanyahu and the hardline policies his Likud party policies. I am not a fan of Netanyahu and his view that the Palestinians share some of the guilt for the crimes delivered by the terrorists. Likud refuses to grant Palestinians all the benefits of citizenship.

Is there any justification for Hamas acting as it did with its massive rocket attack against Israel? No. Then again, the Israelis could have ameliorated the concerns of the Palestinians by backing off on the hardline policies it has enacted against the Palestinians. Israel’s hard line seems to have given Hanas some form of perverted justification for acting as it did.

The Israelis’ response to this attack is likely to be bloody beyond measure. There is no way on God’s good Earth that the counterattack will be free of collateral damage. That’s largely because the cowardly Hamas strategy is to hide among the women and children who live in Gaza.

I must stand with the Israelis.

International news

How can Hamas gain support?

As I watch the images flashed from my TV screen and read accounts of what I am witnessing, I am left to ponder the imponderable.

Which is … how can anyone with half a brain or a smidgen of a heart justify what Hamas has done in the name of “territorial integrity”?

Hamas’s assault on Israel is a week old now. Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians are dead. Many of the casualties, I hasten to add, are at the hands of the terrorists who launched the attack on Israeli civilians. And many of them are babies and old people.

Hamas doesn’t like the way Israel has treated Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Maybe the complaint is legit. However, the terrorists’ action against that policy is beyond anything I can imagine as being reasonable.

Thus, I stand with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that the military objective now is to destroy Hamas, to “wipe it off the face of the Earth.”

This will be a bloody effort, to be sure. The Israelis, who’ve been threatened since the creation of the nation in 1948, have no choice but to act.

International news

Halt the sideshows!

Sideshows can be found even in the deepest of international crises … such as what we’re witnessing now as Israel goes to war with a dreaded international terrorist organization.

Far from the field of battle, congressional Republicans are looking to blame individuals within the Democratic administration for the intelligence failures that produced the stunning surprise when Hamas opened fire on Israel.  U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has called for the immediate resignation of national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who she said misled Americans about the threat posed by Hamas.

It’s another political sideshow.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formed a “unity government’ with his political foes with whom he will work to quell this assault on Israeli citizens by Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

It’s going to get even bloodier and more tragic, we all fear, as Israel prepares a massive counterattack to, in Netanyahu’s words, “wipe Hamas off the face of the Earth.”

Let’s put a hold on the sideshow, shall we, while Israel prepares to defend itself against a terrorist organization that says its No. 1 mission is to destroy our nation’s most dependable ally in the Middle East.

International news, military news

Cowards pose danger

Let there be no mistaking this clear fact, which is that the terror group Hamas — even as cowardly as they are — pose an existential threat to those who live within range of their weaponry.

The world is witnessing how effective cowards can be in waging war. Hamas launched an unprecedented barrage of missiles against Israel over the weekend, prompting the Israelis to counterattack and then declare a state of all-out war against the terrorists.

The cowards are hiding behind the civilians who surround them. They are forcing the Israeli armed forces to hit them in the middle of their civilian “shields.” What’s more, it must be noted that Hamas targets civilians living in Israel.

The death count among civilians is mounting rapidly as the onslaught continues. Hamas fires its rockets at cities such as Ashkelon, Eilat, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel responds by aiming at military targets … which sadly are sandwiched among civilians, making collateral casualties a sad factor of urban warfare.

This war has no apparent end in sight. It will last for as long as Hamas continues to pursue the coward’s path, which means it will attack civilians in Israel and then hide behind civilians in Gaza.

The cowards are seeking civilians in Gaza and slaughtering them in their homes. They are taking victims hostage and then threatening to kill them upon each Israeli attack.

How does one deal with such cowardice? You do it as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged: teaching Hamas a lesson that they have made a “terrible mistake” by hitting Israel with its rocket barrage.

It’s doubtful cowards will heed that lesson. What’s left, then, is to inflict as much damage as possible on them … which I am certain the Israelis will be able to do.

International news, military news, national news

Why does GOP ignore Russian aggression?

Some things you never expect to see up close … such as congressional Republicans turning their backs on Russian aggression in Europe.

Think about this for a moment. Republicans from Richard Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and two presidents named Bush all considered Russians to be our nation’s foremost adversary. Operating under the guise of the Soviet Union, Russia sought to spread its form of autocracy via armed conflict.

Such action was deemed an existential threat to everyone who didn’t adhere to their policy.

The Russians are doing so at this moment in Ukraine. They invaded that sovereign nation in February 2022. Ukraine has pushed back — hard! — with help from the United States, NATO and other freedom-loving nations.

But not, apparently, from this country’s Republican Party. The GOP congressional caucus has approved temporary spending legislation that suspends he military assistance the United States is providing Ukraine in its effort to repel the Russian aggressors.

Where, though, is the Republican Party led by the MAGA cult that is calling the cadence within GOP headquarters?  Is it insisting on diverting that money to domestic programs to help Americans in need? Is it seeking funds to assist veterans, Social Security recipients? Nope. None of that.

It’s just sticking it in President Biden’s ear because of the president’s stated commitment to help the Ukrainians beat back the Russian invaders … and preserve democracy in Ukraine!

Today’s Republican Party is following a foreign-policy script that would make past GOP leaders cringe.