Day: May 9, 2018

Closing Thought–09May18

Pres. Trump has jumped on the problem the US us having with opioid abuse….Trump’s big deal is that he thinks people that push opioids should be put to death and abusers should be getting massive jail sentences……this, according to him, will alleviate our opioid problem…..

Seriously?  Is that all it will take?

Criminalization of drug use and possession has had almost no impact on actual levels of drug use. However, the criminalizing of drugs does practically ensure a cycle of criminality and greater prison sentences. As outlined in a January memo, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants longer mandatory minimums despite their destructive impact on the United States. At this point, it’s evident that the War on Drugs is a frantic grasp for control in a broken system.

But enacting longer prison sentences does not help reduce the misuse or abuse of drugs. Instead, it worsens it. Thankfully, there are policy alternatives to the status quo. Legalizing drugs would allow us to focus on treating drug addiction and breaking the pattern of being labeled a “criminal.” If there is no victim, there is no crime—and that’s why the War on Drugs is a war on addicts.

http://theantimedia.com/locking-up-addicts-wont-solve-opiate-crisis/

As usual Trump has lots of opinions but little grasp of the causes and the effects……in other words he has NO idea about policy just of the mind that comes with the IQ of under 50.

A Broken International Order

After World War Two the nations of this planet got together and formed the United Nations with the purpose of eliminating the possibility of a Third World War….they tried to make it so the new UN would not suffer the fate of the old League of Nations after World War One…..in case you were unaware it was a failure…..and sadly the UN is traveling down that road as well.

The UN is on a losing streak because of one reason only…..the Security Council……a group where one country can veto any policy without retribution……. the veto clause that allows just one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to paralyse decision-making by the world’s only duly-constituted law enforcement body. China and Russia have employed the veto on numerous occasions to block UNSC action against Syria. ( The US is not innocent in this either….they use the veto to stop nations like Israel for answering for their actions against civilians)  Reflecting on Syria’s savage civil war Amnesty International rightly concluded six years ago that the Security Council is ‘tired, out of step and increasingly unfit for purpose’.

As long as I have mentioned Syria look at the inaction around the alleged CW attack and the response of the US and its allies…..

U.S., British and French forces bombed three chemical weapons facilities in Damascus in retaliation for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces in Douma on 6–8 April that killed around 70 people.

Others will discuss the strategic context and consequences of the allied air strikes on Syria. As a student of UN-centric global governance, I want to make the larger ‘structural’ argument that—considered in its totality—the strikes reflect and will further contribute to a broken system of international order.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2018/04/16/syria_a_symptom_of_a_broken_international_order_113331.html

Syria is a prime example of how the to provide ……..order is dying a slow and painful death……and one reason is the Security Council and its failure to provide….security.

Then groups like the Institute for the Study of War thinks that these strikes will do some good…..I disagree…but if you would like to read their take on this…..

http://iswresearch.blogspot.com/2018/04/americas-interests-in-syria-beyond.html

The UN is broken because a handful of nations have veto power…..so to condemn the organization as ineffectual then you are blaming those nations with the power…..the US is one of those nations.

Withdraw For Sloppy Seconds

Well I see that a moron always a moron….our Fearless Leader has withdrawn from the deal that the US and its allies have with Iran on the nuke program.

In a move he’s been signalling for some time, President Trump on Tuesday withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, reports NBC News. “This is a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never ever been made,” said the president in a televised news conference. “It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will.” Trump, who accused Tehran of lying about its nuclear ambitions, also said the US would be reimposing the highest level of sanctions and warned other nations not to assist Iran, reports the AP. After his news conference, he signed a presidential memorandum to make the move official. The decision puts the US at odds with its European allies, which urged Trump to stick with the deal, and raises the possibility of tension with Russia and China, notes the New York Times.

“We cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement,” Trump said in his remarks, adding that the agreement was “defective at its core” and an “embarrassment to me as a citizen and all citizens of the United States.” Doing away with what was considered President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement fulfills an oft-stated campaign pledge of Trump’s, notes the Washington Post. Trump cited documents revealed last week by Israel suggesting that Iran had a nuclear weapons program in the 1990s, something it has repeatedly denied, and lied about that fact during negotiations for the 2015 accord. “At the heart of the Iran deal was a giant fiction,” Trump asserted.

This surprised no one.  He does what Israel tells him to do.  After all this bone head decision benefits NO one but Israel.

Can it be saved by others?

https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iran/saving-iran-nuclear-deal-without-us

Europe should make a separate deal with Iran so if the dick tips in this country want a war with Iran then they will be warring on our allies as well…..I do not think this will stop the war mongers that want a war with Iran in the least.  Would this be possible?

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced Monday that Iran has prepared for “all scenarios” and will remain “committed” to the nuclear deal no matter what the US does. He says if the US does withdraw, Iran will seek guarantees from non-American signatories. In particular he has sought assurances from the three EU member nations that signed, Britain, France, and Germany, that they will continue to abide by the deal.

Germany and France have both issued statements Monday confirming that they support the deal, and intend to stand by it whether or not the US remains involved. The German and French Foreign Ministers gave a joint news conference on the matter, with German FM Heiko Maas saying there wasn’t any “justifiable reason” to withdraw. The officials say they’re still trying to convince President Trump to respect the deal.

(antiwar.com)

Reactions……

President Trump formally withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord Tuesday—now what? Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gave a speech broadcast live on state TV within minutes of Trump’s announcement in which he warned the country could restart enriching uranium “without any limitations” within weeks, the AP reports, though he added that the Iranian foreign minister will visit the countries still in the deal—China, France, Germany, Russia, and the UK—to see if the pact can be salvaged. More on the fallout and potential ramifications of the US pulling out:

  • The Washington Post lays out “5 big consequences” of Trump’s decision while Rolling Stone looks at the “3 biggest consequences.” Both articles point out the possibility that Trump’s decision could alienate US allies.
  • What impact will the decision have on a potential US-North Korea nuclear deal? USA Today digs in.
  • One company that will be impacted by the US withdrawal? Boeing, which stands to lose $20 billion in deals with Iranian airlines. CNBC and CNNMoney look at how Boeing will handle that.
  • The Iran deal was then-President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement; Obama responded to Trump’s withdrawal Tuesday by calling the decision “misguided.” CNN has his full statement.
  • The AP has reactions from many more, including the Syrian government and congressional leaders.
  • Business Insider reports that even some of the deal’s biggest critics are uncertain Trump made the correct choice.
  • But over at Vox, one of those critics gives an in-depth explanation of why this was the right thing to do, and the “two positive directions” Trump appears to be heading in.
  • The New York Times offers an extensive look at the deal and Trump’s decision, which it calls a “risky bet” that the US can “break the regime” in Iran through economic sanctions.
  • For more on what happens next, Axios has a primer running down Iran’s options, Europe’s options, and the longer-term effects.

This idiot decision has our gas prices are already on the rise…….to bad will it get?…..

Oil prices just busted through the $70 mark as the world awaits President Trump’s decision on Iranian sanctions. The price of benchmark US crude rose 74 cents to $70.46 a barrel, the first time since 2014 the cost has exceeded $70, reports the AP. The development, which is expected to result in higher gas prices, comes as analysts await Trump’s May 12 decision on whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran over the 2015 nuclear deal he sees as a failure, reports Reuters. If the US withdraws from the deal, analysts expect Iranian oil exports to fall. Also hitting oil prices was a worsening economic crisis in Venezuela.

I cannot -wait to see just where this decision hurts the US the most.

The Pendulum Swings

Does anyone remember the Cold War?

The year is 1968–I was on my first tour of duty in Vietnam (9th Inf Div, Mekong Delta) and another event was taking place……the Prague Spring as the MSM had labelled it….

In 1968, with their political, economic and social problems reaching critical mass, the communist party of Czechoslovakia replaced Novotny as Party Leader with Alexander Dubcek. Dubcek pushed practical reforms across the board, not only for Czechoslovakia but for the Warsaw Pact (the Soviet answer to NATO) as well. Dubcek’s reforms would, as he put it, put “a human face” on socialism. He established “a humanistic socialist democracy which would guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech, and travel” Dubcek also pushed to improve relations with every nation in the world, regardless of the social and political affiliations; as a result, Dubcek’s popularity with the people of Czechoslovakia grew immensely. His popularity, however, did not extend to the other nations of the Warsaw Pact.

On the night of August 20, 1968, troops from Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany, and Poland occupied Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovakian government immediately declared that the “invasion was a violation of socialist principals, international law, and the United Nations Charter.” (1) During the occupation, those who initiated and supported the liberal reforms were forcibly removed to the Soviet Union in secrete and “were compelled to sign a treaty that provided for the “temporary stationing” of an unspecified number of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia.”1 On April 17th 1969, Dubcek was replaced as First Secretary by Gustav Husak and later was, along with many of his followers, stripped of party affiliation in a purge that slashed party membership by over a third.

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/CzechoslovakiaUprising.asp

You see Ducek had wanted to install more democracy and some economic reforms to his country…..the USSR took exception to these changes and invaded and occupied and the reforms died an instant death.

I bring this history lesson light because the democracy pendulum is beginning to swing again this time to the LEFT.

Prague in the Czech Republic is experiencing the swing….the Communists are making head way in the politics…..

When the United States, Britain and France bombed Syria earlier this month, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis showed support for his Western partners one day before rowing back the next.

The military strike turned from “inevitable” to an act described as changing nothing after Babis was rebuked by the far-left Communist party, showing the fine line the billionaire businessman is walking as he tries to form a government.

Babis is aiming for a pro-Western administration but political fragmentation in October’s election means he needs the pro-Russian Communist party to either support it or abstain, ending the party’s pariah status since communism fell in 1989.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-czech-politics-communists/new-dawn-or-swan-song-czech-communists-eye-slice-of-power-after-decades-idUKKBN1I11BF

Interesting how the political pendulum is swinging to the Left…..fascinating…….