Fox host Jesse Watters “faced calls to resign after stating Harris would be ‘paralyzed’ by generals who ‘would have their way’ with her in the White House Situation Room,” Daily Mail reported on Tuesday, August 28, 2024 (read story here). You can hear Watters, wh[...]
Archive for the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Category
Was American still held by Russia “stabbed in the back”?
It was a deal that took more than a year, and intense diplomatic effort, to put together. Russia exchanged 16 foreigners, mostly ordinary people, for 8 Russians who were spies, an assassin, and cybercriminals. It was a lopsided trade in Moscow’s favor, but the only way to bring the 16 detainees ho[...]
Venezuela’s crisis continues
Socialism doesn’t work. But strongmen don’t voluntarily surrender power. Venezuela’s economy has collapsed to a fifth of what it was, inflation is hyperbolic, and most people there are struggling to survive. Millions have fled the country, with a significant number coming to the U.[...]
Palestinians are people, too
If you listen to Netanyahu, Israeli settlers and militants, and U.S. Republican politicians, sympathizing with Palestinians makes you “pro-Hamas.” That’s bullshit. Like most people, I think the Oct. 7 attacks were a reprehensible act of terrorism. I’m no fan of anti-Israel pr[...]
Will a teenager lead North Korea?
Kim Jung Un is only 40, but he’s already “preparing his teenage daughter to lead the nuclear-armed state after his death,” according to South Korea’s spy agency (read story here). He’s obese (reports say over 300 lbs.) — as dictator, he gets to eat, while his peop[...]
What would a second Trump presidency be like?
Academic futurist Daniel Drezner (photo, left; profile here), writing for Politico (here), has some predictions. First, brace for much higher inflation. “In a second Trump term, his combined policies of ‘priming the pump,’ looser money, higher tariffs and fewer workers is a surefir[...]
Is Biden senile?
Let’s figure this out. My raw material is Time magazine’s June 24, 2024, cover story (here). It’s mostly about foreign policy; I can only quote short excerpts, for space and fair use reasons, and encourage you to read the entire article linked above. It begins, “During his 40[...]
Panicky Buffett dumps shares in Taiwan chipmaker
Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s holding company, has sold all its recently-acquired shares in Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), which makes nearly all the world’s most advanced computer chips. He was explicit about why: He’s worried about the location of TSMC’s factories in T[...]
Foreign policy …
… is the most important task a president does. It’s literally about war and peace. But this poses a conundrum, because presidential campaigns are waged and won or lost on domestic issues; politics is very much a “what will you do for me” affair. (The softer and more polite wa[...]
Fact-checking Trump’s CPAC lies
Journalist, pesky creatures they are, like to fact-check political speeches. CNN says Trump delivered a “doozy” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington D.C. on Saturday, March 4, 2023 (see story here). By now, his M.O. is familiar: Portray America as a post-a[...]