Tag Archives: Ukraine war

International news, national news

Nobel Peace Prize? Hah!

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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

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

military news

Zelenskyy must take part!

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not a spectator, a bystander in what has turned out to be the bloodiest ground war in Europe since World War II.

Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago seeking to overrun the sovereign nation. It was supposed to take only a few days. The fight has turned into a quagmire, thanks in large part to the huge aid packages recommended by then-President Joe Biden.

Now, Donald Trump wants to meet with Russian goon Vladimir Putin — in Alaska, no less — to seek a way to stop the violence, the bloodshed, the war. I applaud the end Trump is seeking. I am concerned that a conclusion will not include the first political casualty of the Ukraine war, the president of the country that Putin attacked.

Zelenskyy already has rejected a Russian proposal that requires Ukraine to give back land it took from the Russian invaders. Russia is making zero concessions for the illegal invasion it launched. Or for the war crimes it has committed by bombing schools and hospitals. Or for the civilians the Russian army has killed.

Zelenskyy is not a spectator. He has been an active participant in this war. He needs a place at the negotiating table and he deserves to have his beliefs heard above the din of the battle.

Uncategorized

A chance for peace?

Donald Trump and his good buddy Vladimir Putin appear to be preparing for a bilateral summit to figure out a way to end Putin’s illegal, immoral war against Ukraine.

While I welcome an effort to end the bloodshed, I am troubled by the seeming absence of the third party to this horrible event: Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy. If there’s a hero among the three of them, it clearly is Zelenskyy and given that he has been leading the fight to preserve his democratic nation, he ought to be a party at whatever peace talks occur.

I am going to give Trump a measure of credit for at least calling Putin out on the way he has prosecuted this bloody war. It isn’t known how Putin has taken the open criticism. Nor is it known even if Trump will follow through on his threats of sanctions against Russia if Putin reneges on any portion of whatever agreement is found.

I have the fear expressed by many that Putin doesn’t take Trump seriously as a world leader. The Russian goon is the former head of the Soviet spy agency, the KGB. The guy is a killer, which makes him someone to be feared, even though he commands a third- or fourth-rate conventional military machine. He does possess those nukes.

The world will await the outcome of this summit. I only am left to express the hope that it is expanded to include a third chair at the negotiating table.

International news, military news

Ceasefire? Just end it … now!

OK, I am far, far away from the front in the war between Ukraine and Russia, so I don’t have a particular dog in that fight.

However, if Russian goon/strongman/thug Vladimir Putin is going to unilaterally declare a three-day ceasefire in the fight he is losing to Ukraine then why in the hell doesn’t he just end it? Now! Go back home, Vlad, and take your overmatched and outfought troops home with you!

I don’t even know if this ceasefire will hold. Russians must be frustrated beyond all that is reasonable. Ukrainians, must be too, given that they have spent thousands of lives protecting their sovereign homeland against an invading aggressor nation.

I will never accept — not ever in a million years — the notion that Donald Trump has pushed that Ukraine is to blame for the start of this war. He calls Ukraine President Volodymyr Zellenksyy a “terrorist” and chides him for — yes, actually chides the man — for continuing to fight for his nation’s honor.

Putin is making zero concessions to end the bloodiest ground war in Europe since WWII. Trump is demanding nothing from this killer. He called Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine the act of a “genius.” Good grief, man. It’s the act of a madman!

So now the Russian dictator wants to stop the shelling, shooting and killing for three days. To what end? Who in the hell knows?

I am far away from the fighting, but as an American patriot who fears for the world’s safety, I want this war to end.

Uncategorized

World has gone mad!

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Let us be sure we don’t pussyfoot around the obvious … which is that our political world has gone stark-raving mad.

How can I make such a claim? I have a friend in Germany, a journalist and a student of American politics. He usually is spot on with his understanding of U.S. political trends, as he said they occasionally mirror developing trends in Germany.

My friend wrote me a note that led with this: “I don’t understrand what is happening to your country.”

The major concern for my friend is the U.S.’s new found friendship with an assassin, a killer, a dictator and a highly aggressive head of state, Vladimir Putin.

Putin invaded Ukraine three years ago in a bold-faced territory grab from a sovereign nation. Ukraine also is an ally of the United States. President Biden immediately went to NATO officials to enlist their support for our financial and materiel aid to Ukraine. He got it.

Now, Biden is retired. He’s gone back to Delaware and is playing with his grandkids. Meanwhile, the nimrod who succeeded him has cozied up to Putin, seeking to broker a cease fire. Donald Trump hasn’t made a single demand of Russia other than for the troops to stop firing at Ukrainians.

Therefore, my friend in the beautifiul Bavaria region of Germany is as confused as many of us are about what has become of this nation.

For the first time in U.S. history, we have turned our backs on a dependable ally — Ukraine — in favor of an aggressor state while the two countries are in the middle of a bloody ground war!

Therein lies my friend’s confusion. He doesn’t understand this country. Nor do I.

Uncategorized

Finally a good word for Trump?

Can it be that your friendly blogger — aka me! — will be able to send a good word of encouragement for something the Donald Trump administration did?

Negotiations in Saudi Arabia between U.S. and Ukrainian diplomats have produced a ceasefire agreement that seemingly strengthens Ukraine’s hand. It might lead to a peace treaty that ends the three years of bloodshed caused when Russia invaded Ukraine.

If it holds up and if the Russians agree to it, then I will be delighted to extend a good word to Trump for directing this big step toward ending a war that began because Vladimir Putin had empire-building on what passes for his cagey mind.

“The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear, that they share President Trump’s vision for peace, they share his determination to end the fighting, to end the killing, to end the tragic meat grinder of people,” White House national security adviser Michael Waltz said after the meetings.

I have said all along that I don’t believe anything Trump says. If he says the sun sets in the west, I well might be forced to look it up.

But in this case, if there’s a glimmer of hope for an end to the killing in Ukraine, I am anxious to give Trump the credit for a potential breakthrough.

International news, national news

Most unforgivable of all …

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Donald J. Trump has committed many politically unforgivable sins since riding down the Trump Tower escalator in July 2015 to announce his 2016 presidential campaign.

They are too numerous to mention here, but the last straw occurred just the other day and that’s the one on which I want to shed a bit of light.

It is the abject reversal of support for a wartime president and an allied nation that is fighting to preserve its democratic state against an invading army from Russia. Yes, it’s Ukraine.

Trump’s staged berating of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not come as a surprise. After all, Trump has been telegraphing his infatuation with Russian goon/thug/despot Vladimir Putin since he was elected to his first term as POTUS in 2016.

What was astounding, though, is doing so in the Oval Office, in front of the media and the public, berating Zelenskyy for not possesing a “winning hand” against the Russians. He hurled insults at a man who’s conducting a war against an illegal invader … at considerable risk of personal harm.

Stunning as it was to watch, we should remember that Trump is doing what he suggested he would do were he elected in 2024. He all but admitted his intention to turn the country’s back on Ukraine and sidle up to Putin.

The reasons escape me, given that Russia is now a third-rate conventional military power and a fourth- or fifth-rate economic power with an economy that is roughly the size of Italy’s.

The dipsh** in chief, though, loves dictators. He adheres to strongman tactics, even though in reality he is weak and cowardly.

Donald Trump has essentially thrown into the crapper this nation’s 80-year-old alliance with NATO, formed after World War II to serve as a hedge against Soviet aggression. The Soviet Union is gone, but Russia remains … and the Russians are now seeking to advance into a neighboring sovereign nation.

And all this is with Donald Trump’s blessing! Absolutely despicable — and unforgivable.

national news

No more GOP town halls?

The scaredy-cats who run the Republican Cowardly Congressional Caucus have put the word out.

The word to GOP members of Congress is: Do not conduct any more town hall meetings in your congressional districts because your constituents are too angry with Donald Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk.

To a person, the RCCC members seem to be following the dictates of the cowards who tell them how high to jump.

GOP members have been getting snootfuls from their constituents angry over the massive budget slashing, the firing of inspectors general, the gutting of USAID capabilities around the world and Trump’s abandoning of Ukraine as it seeks to defend against the invaders from Russia.

Trump this week announced the suspension of all military aid to Ukraine … while it is in the middle of a bloody ground war against the Russian army. Why? Because Trump thinks he’ll be able to get a better deal for the Russians if the Ukrainians are rendered incapable of killing thousands more Russian troops.

It is a load of pure horsesh** that Trump is peddling. Make no mistake that the congressional cowards’ constituents know a monumental betrayal of a valuable ally when they see one.

And they are witnessing one now in real time being orchestrated by the Oval Office.

What the GOP cowards do not seem to appreciate is that the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech allows for anyone to protest the government. It does not restrict these town halls just to audiences friendly to the political party in power. “Representing all the people” means precisely what the phrase states explicitly.

Therefore, all the people deserve to have their voices heard.

Especially when it makes the men and women in power squirm.