What has happened to the Republican Party?

It wasn't that many years ago that the "Republican Party" and "Ronald Reagan" were synonymous.  Conservatives were proud to say they were "Reagan Republicans".  He would bend and compromise if necessary, but NEVER when it came to the Soviet Union.  He stood firm, gave them no quarter, worked with and within NATO, and eventually backed them down.  Ronald Reagan was tough!

The USSR officially collapsed on December 26, 1991, on GHW Bush's watch, but it was all due to Reagan's perseverance.  Reagan very famously said, when talking about our arms control treaty with the Soviets, "Trust, but verify."  He did not say, "Well, they said they were abiding by the treaty, and that's good enough for me."

Early in his Presidential term a very naive George Dubya Bush once met with Vladimir Putin and said, "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy....I was able to get a sense of his soul."  Later, a much more experienced and worldly Sec Defense Robert Gates said after he met V Putin, "I....looked into Putin’s eyes and I saw a stone cold killer."

It's now said the GOP has become Donald Trump's party as [brilliantly] designed by former advisor Steve Bannon.  Rank and file Republicans rarely say anything negative about Trump.  His brag, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and not lose any voters" has been proven essentially true.  President Trump met with Putin in Helsinki recently and fawned all over him.  He had just been briefed on the 12 Russian intelligence officers who were indicted for meddling in our 2016 election with Vladimir Putin's express approval, but said he believed Putin's denial instead.  

Republicans began to stir uncomfortably, Trump backpedaled his sweetness weakly, and his faithful seem to have gone compliant again.  Their stock, canned comeback to any criticism is "well, Hillary did a lot worse."  For the record, Hillary's emails, Watergate, Teapot Dome, etc, were all criminal scandals, no doubt, but none of that has anything to do with the way Donald Trump is behaving today.  A bank robber can't use as his defense, "well, I only got $500....Hillary got $1,000."

I have many very intelligent, good friends who resemble the description of the Trump Republican I just described.  I encourage them to continue to present their positions on health care, immigration, tax reform, etc.  Those are all things we can reasonably debate.  Kowtowing to Russia and the thug-killer Vladimir Putin should be beyond debate.

I suggest you refresh yourself with the Steele Dossier (here) that was in the news last year.  The jest of it was that the Russians/Putin had some incriminating evidence on Donald Trump that they could someday use to blackmail the new President.  Given the recent strangely cozy US/Russian relations, I expect you'll see this topic soon re-enter the news.

S

I wish this was funny....

....but it isn't.  It's scarily accurate.

President Trump meets with Russian President Putin in just a few days.  Putin is right now most likely huddled with his personality profile psychologists determining exactly what he can say to get Donald Trump to fetch, roll over, and sit up and beg.  Trump is right now most likely propped up in bed skypeing with his BFF Sean Hannity.

Trump is in no way intellectually or cunningly Putin's equal.  Putin has been laser focused on returning Russia to its former glory ever since the USSR was officially dissolved on December 26, 1991.  Trump was completely unprepared for his office, and was as shocked as anyone when he was elected on November 8, 2016.  Putin was trained as an intelligence officer in the KGB, eventually becoming a Lt. Colonel, and later heading the KGB's successor, the FSB.  Trump kept his dad's slick lawyer on retainer to keep him out of trouble.  Bone spurs *wink* kept him out of the military.  Putin has a honed, long-term strategy.  Trump just says and does whatever pops into his head.  Trump slanders and belittles his opponents.  Putin kills his.

Vladimir Putin will destroy Donald Trump, and we'll all be collateral damage.  No, this is not funny at all.

S

Battle Of The Bullies

I, along with my fellow international relations scholar, Jax the Wonder Dog, recently sat down and put together our list of the three biggest bullies on the international scene today.  Here are our finalists:

North Korea's Kim Jong Un

Coming in at third place is Kim Jong Un.  He has been trying hard since his elevation to power back in 2011 to prove he is a worthy successor to his late father and grandfather, the two previous dictators of North Korea. They have all tried to elevate themselves onto the world stage by becoming a nuclear power, but it appears KJU is now on the cusp of actually succeeding.  

His spoiled-rich-kid's temperament has until now been to run his mouth, threatening to rain death and destruction down on America with his new toys.  He might, however, be thinking twice as President Donald Trump seems to be calling his bluff.  Between the economic sanctions we have against his country and what the Chinese have piled on with, too, not to mention the US 7th Fleet parked off his coast, he may soon be down to eating tree bark like the rest of his countrymen.  In his upcoming summit with Trump he might try to dance and shuffle a bit hoping to save a little face, but Jax and I think KJU will eventually have to retreat with his tail tucked.

President Donald Trump

Coming in with a solid second place showing is Donald Trump.  Donnie John has been oozin' for a brusin' since the day his former lawyer, the legendary Mafia consigliere Roy Cohen, taught him to Attack, Attack, Attack!  He, of course, didn't himself actually attack, but his lawyers and bodyguards did on his behalf.  Now he has Twitter that enables him to mouth off, and a Department of Defense to back him up as he recently showed by rearranging the debris formerly known as Syria.

That was likely enough to convince Kim Jong Un Trump could both talk and walk and scare him back into his hole.  Likewise, Trump's strutting to date will likely bring the pragmatic Chi Coms to the bargaining table to conclude some sort of new trade agreement with America.  (They have too many warehouses full of cheap junk they need to unload.)

Russian President For Life Vladimir Putin

And now, after serious deliberation, our 2018 World Champion Bully Award goes to *drum roll* Vladimir Putin!  That's right, rootin' tootin' Vladimir Putin backs down all opponents and detractors by forcing them to break eye contact, rigging elections, and as a last resort, dropping errant journalists who dare say mean things about him from their 5th floor balconies. 

If Vladimir Putin demands your lunch money, you'd better give it up!

Putin is an old school KGB street brawler, and the streets of Moscow and St Petersburg are tougher than those in New York or Washington.  He has the gumption, the muscle, hookers with hidden cameras, and the willingness to use them all, and that makes unblinkable Vladimir Putin once again the World's Biggest Bully.

S

 

Сделаем Америку снова великой

I'll admit, I'm old school, and in most cases I don't apologize for it.  Especially when it comes to my intense wariness concerning all things Russia.  I'm not paranoid....I don't see a Rooskie behind every tree....but my memory is still vivid enough to remember stories of Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe on a desk back in 1956 before a gathering of Western ambassadors and telling them "We will bury you!"

Back then Russia was the Soviet Union, and their enforcers were their KGB.  They were to the Soviet Union what the Gestapo was to Nazi Germany.  Think secret police.  Nasty, evil people they were.  When the Soviet Union disintegrated and collapsed in 1991, Vladimir Putin was a proud member of that nefarious group.  For nearly 20 years now he has been the supreme authority in Russia.  The name may have changed, the flag may have changed, but Russia is just as untrustworthy today as it was back in the old Soviet days.  There's no daylight between Putin the KGB agent and Putin, the President of Russia.

Vladimir Putin desperately wants to see his Russia back on par with the United States as a world superpower.  He knows that won't happen, though, as his Russia only has an economy roughly equal to California's.  They're living hand-to-mouth.  His only hope is to saw the legs out from under the US, and the European Union, and NATO.  If he can't stand 6'4 like us, he wants us to be 5'7 like him.

Vladimir Putin is a bully, he gets what he wants, and he will do whatever it takes, legal or not, to get it.   Many psychologists say that bad boy, gang leader image is how Donald Trump sees himself, too.  They say he feels a certain kinship with Putin.  Others say it's more complicated, and commercial, than that.  They say Trump has depended on Russian money for years to keep his Trump Organization afloat.

 Vladimir Putin has been patiently cultivating Donald Trump for years.

Regardless, I can't forgive Donald Trump for not standing up to Russian evil.  With this President, I'm a one-issue citizen.  My displeasure with him is not about his foreign policy, or his economic policy, or his cabinet choices, or even his private life.  Some I agree with, some I don't.  But overriding EVERYTHING is America's security, and on this, our Commander-In-Chief has failed us.  Unless he can somehow find the courage to step up and go toe-to-toe with Vladimir Putin, I will continue to be critical of him.  Why any red-blooded American would cover for him baffles me.

S

Maybe they can re-name the "Lincoln Bedroom" the "Stormy Daniels Bedroom"

Will somebody please explain to me why we're spending so much time examining the Donald Trump / Stormy Daniels hanky-panky episode?  I mean, if this was the Ronald Reagan / Stormy Daniels hanky-panky episode, or the Jimmah Carter / Stormy Daniels hanky-panky episode, that would be newsworthy.  So he notched another conquest on his bed's headboard.  *yawn*  I doubt it will be his last.  Why are we so shocked when he does sleazy things?   We're talking about Donald John Trump here, who's not exactly known as a pillar of decency and virtue. 

The big takeaway for me is how shallow the Evangelical Right is.  What's important to them is now firmly ensconced in Politics 101:  If you want to get the Faithful's vote, just say "I'm pro-life".  Say it over and over and over, and you'll get the Evangelical Right's vote.  They are one-issue voters.  Yes, it's definitely an important issue, but they're willing to overlook everything else if you'll just say you're against abortion.  Lie, cheat, steal....they don't care.  Grab p___y....they don't care.  Boink porn stars....they don't care.  They still love their Donald Trump, and will happily pass out mulligans to him like they were candy on Halloween.

And for the not-quite-so-pious, just pass out free stuff.  Works every time.  In the 1920's Herbert Hoover campaigned on "a chicken in every pot".  The people evidently liked free chicken as they elected him President.  By 2016 people were wise to the 'ol chicken trick, but they definitely liked them some tax cut!  Mmmmmm!

I think we're about out of political slight-of-hand tricks and hanky-panky distractions.  Now it's time to produce results.  If the economy stays hot, generating lots of new permanent jobs and stock market wealth, if he can squeeze the nukes out of North Korea, if he finally wakes up and de-fangs Vladimir Putin, then President Trump can still have a worthwhile legacy, and maybe even his own "library" some day (sans books, of course).  Maybe he's finally settling into his groove.  *sorry Stormy*

S

Everyone has an agenda

Our national attention span seems to last only few days at a time.  The media reports one thing, President Trump says another, and it's into the pit we go for another round of mud wrestling.  Then the next week we're on to something else.

Our most recent bout with dysfunction resolves around whether the FBI used the infamous Steele dossier (written by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele) as the basis for obtaining a FISA court order allowing eavesdropping on the Trump campaign in 2016.  

Republicans say that Mr Steele was working for the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was in turn being paid by the Democratic National Committee, and that his dossier should therefore automatically be considered biased and invalid.  "No Steele dossier, no FISA court order, no FBI spying, case dismissed" they say.  The Democrats....wait for it....disagree!  *BIG shock*

Brief background:  The investigation by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS on Donald Trump was initially funded by a conservative political website, and was later picked up and funded by the Democrats after Trump emerged as the probable Republican nominee.  Fusion GPS contracted with Steele, asking him to use his foreign connections to investigate Trump.  Following Trump's election funding from the Democrats ceased, but Steele continued working on the report, with financing coming directly from Fusion GPS principal Glen Simpson. 

Lost in all this "yes he did...no he didn't" BS is this:  Is the information contained in the dossier true?  If the collection of 17 memos, aka "the dossier", written by Steele between June and December 2016 are accurate, then I personally don't care who paid for it.  I don't want Russia worming their way into our election system, and possibly into a position where they can blackmail a candidate they helped.   

We're not talking about a friendly Australia or Canada or even Spain here folks....but RUSSIA!  Russia is NOT our friend.  Vladimir Putin longs to see Russia elevated back to the level of power and prestige enjoyed by the old Soviet Union.  Contrary to popular myth, Russia in NOT a great  economic power today.  In fact, Russia's GDP is roughly equal to that of the state of California.  Their ace card, of course, is that they still possess a massive nuclear arsenal, and they are rapidly modernizing their conventional military forces as well.

Putin alone controls Russia.  The billionaire business oligarchs inside Russia operate with the approval and support of Vladimir Putin, and they in turn know that when Putin calls, they respond.  Nobody crosses him.  (The few that have tried have found themselves charged with "tax evasion" and locked up, or worse.)  Think of it as an old-school organized crime family.  Russia's objective is to weaken (mainly) the United States, NATO, and the European Union any way possible.  If the West bickers and fractures, Russia benefits.

This is a serious position we're in today.  Much is at stake.  Anyone who doesn't understand this and blindly tries to stymie Special Counsel Muller's investigation are potentially doing the United States great harm. Let Mueller do his job, and if there has been Russian collusion, say so and put away the guilty.  And if not, tell us that, too, and lets move on.

S

Jeeves, call and have them gas up the jet....

Today let's look into the world of mega-real estate developers.  Their's is a capital (cash) intensive business if there ever was one, with projects regularly requiring BILLIONS of dollars.  Unlike you and I, commercial developers don't go online to Lendingtree to see their four best offers.  These wheeler dealers are constantly on the lookout for new financing as, unlike our 30-year mortgages, they usually can only borrow money for five years at a time.  After five years their bankers can either renew their loans for another five years or demand their loans be paid back in full.  *Yikes!*  Hence developers are always networking, hoping to have new lenders at the ready if need be.

This is the world Donald Trump the developer dealt with every day.  That world nearly crashed and burned back in 1991 when his Atlantic City Taj Mahal casino failed, putting him $4B in debt.  After that debacle the major Wall Street banks declared Donald Trump persona non grata and declined to finance him any longer.  Enter billionaire financier Wilbur Ross, then an investment banker working for Rothschild, Inc.  He negotiated a deal that saved Trump, and the two have remained good friends to this day.  (Wilbur Ross is currently President Trump's Secretary of Commerce.)

In 2014, Ross, who personally made billions buying failing companies, turning them around, and then selling them for a handsome profit, turned his interests to the troubled Bank of Cyprus, on the small island nation in the eastern Mediterranean.  Injecting $400M, he became the bank's Co-Vice Chairman, along with Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, referred to in Russian media as a former KGB official and President Vladimir Putin ally.  (The bank had long been a favorite depository for Russian oligarch wealth.)

One of Ross’s first big decisions at the bank was the appointment of former Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann as chairman.  Ackermann’s ties to Russia were especially strong, including a warm relationship with President Putin.  Cyprus was one of the places the Obama administration was worried about because it was seen as a place that could help Russian entities evade US sanctions imposed after its seizure of the Crimea.  

The FBI has since requested from the Central Bank of Cyprus information connected to special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager who was indicted in October, and money that flowed between former Soviet states and the US through Cypriot banks.

It was with Deutsche Bank that Donald Trump began borrowing in 1998, and who he (his company) owes $360M+/-.  In 2016 Deutsche Bank was under investigation by the Justice Department for both its role in a "mirror trading" scheme with Russian oligarchs that allowed them to launder cash out of Russia in the face of US sanctions, and for its mortgage practices amid the financial crisis, for which regulators sought a $14B fine.   (They settled for a $7.2B fine.)  Deutsche Bank is also a major lender to Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's family business.

In July 2016, it was reported US banking regulators as well as special counsel Robert Mueller were reviewing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans Deutsche Bank made to Trump over the past two decades. 

Besides building and owning properties, the Trump organization also "brands" projects, meaning he puts his prestigious name on buildings owned by others in exchange for an equity interest.  One of those was the Trump Soho in NYC.  It seems the building was owned by Bayrock, which was sued by former Bayrock partner Jody Kriss with it alleged that "for most of its existence Bayrock was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated," engaging "in a pattern of continuous, related crimes, including mail, wire, and bank fraud; tax evasion; money laundering; conspiracy; bribery; extortion; and embezzlement."  

One of Bayrock's founders was Russian-born Felix Sater, a two-time convicted felon.  When publicly exposed, Trump de-branded the project saying he caught none of this while doing his "due diligence".  Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking at this, too.

Whew....this is dizzying!  Anyway, now Donald Trump is President, now Mr. Mueller is investigating, and we're here wondering what, if anything, is going on.  It might possibly come out that the election of 2016 wasn't Donald Trump's first time to receive help from the Russians.  Who knows?

Oh yeah, the LifeSTYLE of The Rich And Famous:

It's pretty sweet!

S

Why have Republicans gone all weak-kneed?

Back in the bad old Cold War days the terms "Russia" and "Communist" and "Soviet Union" were commonly interchanged.  By the time the Soviet Union officially collapsed in 1991, communism as a social movement had long since died.  Even the Soviet leaders knew communism was a failed economic philosophy, even though they couldn't say it out loud.  At the end they were just trying desperately to hold on to power, and they couldn't.

Russia's current President, ex-KGB agent Vladimir Putin, has never forgotten the power the old Soviet Union once wielded, and is obsessed with seeing Russia regain its lost prestige in the world.  Today Russia is essentially a vast organized crime family.  Putin is the "Don", and he enables Russia's rich oligarchs, and they in turn support him. They're old school thugs.

Back in the Cold War days America's preeminent anti-communists were Republicans.  They were the hard-line hawks and the Democrats were considered the doves.  Any time "Russia" was uttered, Republicans sat up straight and clenched their fists.  They were itching for a fight, looking for an excuse to slap down the despised Russians.

So what happened?  Republicans have gone soft.  Today all our intelligence agencies, as well as foreign intelligence agencies, 100% agree the Russians are doing everything they can to weaken the cohesiveness and the will of the west.  They've pulled out all the stops in their effort to harm us, short of a hot war.  They use our social media to clandestinely foment social unrest here.  We've caught them red handed doing it.  

We know for a fact they have at least tried to reach out to candidate Donald Trump's campaign in 2016, hoping to influence our election.  Yet today's Republicans are showing no teeth, no backbone, no willingness to stand up to Russia.  Yes, Republicans voted for more sanctions against Russia, and President Trump signed it under protest....and then never implemented it.  They all just say, "Nope...nope...no Russians in here.  There's no story.  Everyone go home."  And if anyone calls them out, they threaten them with a lawsuit.  Republicans seem more concerned about punishing who said it than pursuing what they said.


Why are Republicans, our former hawks, our most vicious protectors of American democracy, now so willing to look the other way at Putin's shenanigans?  I don't get it.

S

So do you pick what's behind door #1, door #2, or door #3?

On August 3rd, after being forced (Senate override guaranteed) to sign a tough sanctions position against Russia, Pres. Trump tweeted:

To which Sen. John McCain replied:

Now think about this for a second.  Which sounds more rational?  Did the US and our allies impose sanctions on Russia originally for no reason?  Did we just want to be jerks?  Or did we impose sanctions on Russia in response to their military invasion and annexation of Crimean Ukraine?  Who started this chain of events?

I can only imagine three possible explanations for Pres. Trump's position:

1.  President Trump and his campaign knew of and welcomed Russian assistance in helping their 2016 election campaign.  (The Russians would then be expecting a "thank you" easing of sanctions in return from a President Trump after his inauguration.)

2.  The Trump election campaign knew of and welcomed Russian assistance, while Pres. Trump was kept in the dark at the time, but is now trying to interfere and discredit the Special Counsel's investigation to expose the collusion.  (This is the same type of obstruction of justice vs the crime itself that brought down the Nixon White House.)

or

3.  This "smoke" is all just a coincidence and there is no "fire".  Pres. Trump simply has a serious infatuation with Putin, Russia, and their billionaire oligarchs and the organized-crime-like way they are able to conduct their business without interference from government regulators, honestly elected civil servants, and a free press.

IMO none of these three possible explanations are in the American public's best interest.  If you disagree, or can imagine a fourth possibility I haven't thought of, please state your case.  I would honestly, respectfully like to hear your opinions.

S

Fear Russia?

While Russia's capital city, Moscow, seems to have made it into the 21st Century....

....most of the rest of the country hasn't progressed much since the Cold War days.

Yes, they still have a formidable nuclear arsenal, and they're spending a disproportionate amount of their GNP modernizing their military, but Russia is only a second rate country on the world stage.  Consider this:

The Gross Domestic Product of California is $2.40 Trillion dollars.*

The Gross Domestic Product of Texas is $1.698 Trillion dollars.*

The Gross Domestic Product of New York is $1.44 Trillion dollars.*

The Gross Domestic Product of Russia is $1.324 Trillion dollars.*

This imbalance is why Vladimir Putin is so desperate to see Russia regain its former prestige and power.  He simply won't acknowledge they are not equal to western nations. Economic sanctions imposed by the west are hurting Russia, and they are pulling out all the stops to get them removed.  This is also why they are so very dangerous.  Desperate people do desperate things.  Watch them very closely!

S

* 2015 statistics

All Hail The Chief!

Presenting the 46th President of the United States, Michael Richard Pence....wha....what?  Not yet?  Six more months?  Oops....never mind.

It's looking like President Donald Trump's worst enemy is turning out to be his own family.  To supposedly be so smart they're turning out to be serial dummies.  The smart Trump kid has been in the news every day this week, and every day he keeps on digging a deeper hole. 

"I never heard of her."

"She was just some Russian Lawyer lady who wanted us to adopt some kids."

"She said she had some embarrassing stuff on Hillary, but never delivered anything."

"She was a Russian Government lawyer who (promised) documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and be very useful to Daddy."

"Oh, and did I mention it was ultra-sensitive stuff and part of Russia and its government's support for Dear Papa?"

"But like I said, other than that, I never heard of her."

"Trust me....I'm a Trump."

It looks like it's a GREAT time to be a Washington or a NY lawyer!  *cha ching*  Now son-in-law Jared is scurrying for cover, too.  Even the Trump Administration's Deputy Assistant to The Third Proxy In Charge Of The Copy Machine is lawyer-ing up, and more importantly, leaking incriminating info to the media as fast as he/she can.

If this much scandalous (?) information about Trump, Inc has fallen into the laps of the media and in turn, us peons, just imagine how much info the FBI and Special Counselor Robert Muller have been able to uncover?  Start the countdown clock, and put the fat woman on standby to sing "Turn out the lights..."

But then will come the hard part.  Somebody is going to have to tell Vladie Putin he isn't going to be the 46th President of the United States.  Ouch!  You think he'll demand a refund?  (Rumor has it he has a temper, a shovel, five acres behind the Kremlin, and an alibi.)

S

Just pokin' the bear....

Later this week President Donald Trump will meet one-on-one with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the G20 summit in Germany.  Putin has over the past two decades proven to be a master geopolitical manipulator.  He managed to take over a run-down, disastrously managed piece of real estate and then bluffed his way onto the Big Stage.  

Let's be honest for a moment....Russia is just a second-rate conventional power, with a nuclear arsenal they won't dare use.  Putin understands "Mutually Assured Destruction" as well as Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev before him did.

At one time Putin had considerable leverage over Europe by threatening to withhold from them Russian natural gas shipments.  Europe has wisely worked around that threat and has in fact grown a pretty impressive backbone, led by Germany's Angela Merkel.   Growing up in Communist East Germany, she knows full well the evil reach of the Russian bear.  Even the new French President, Emmanuel "Pretty Boy" Macron, has shown he's willing to stand up to Putin.

After Putin blatantly sent his forces into Ukraine and seized the Crimean peninsula, the supposedly limp-wristed Barack Obama joined our European allies and others to put crippling economic sanctions on Russia.  And after Putin's people were caught red-handed cyber-messing with the US, Obama again bitch-slapped him by seizing two Russian-owned compounds in America and sending home a planeload of Russian "diplomats".

Meanwhile, back in America, President Trump is reportedly paying scant attention to anything "Russia" when the topic comes up in his regular security briefings, infuriating all our intelligence chiefs who know full well of the growing Russian mischief.  Trump has zero knowledge of and zero interest in learning anything about geopolitics.  For 71 years his interest has been in making money, not practicing international relations, and it looks like he isn't going to change his ways now.

Putin will be coming into the G20 meeting with guns blazing.  He will reportedly be demanding the two properties back in America, and will be wanting a rollback of the earlier economic sanctions imposed on his Russia.  Our European allies are standing pretty firm against giving Putin a second chance.  They for good reason don't trust him....he's in their back yard!

All eyes at the G20 will be on Donald Trump's response.  Will the leader of the most powerful economic and military power in the history of the world stand firm with Merkel and Macron and the rest of Europe, or will he cave to Putin?  Which begs the question:  If he caves, why?  What incriminating evidence does Putin have on Trump?  

The infamous "dossier" compiled by a former British MI6 agent, the basis for a special investigation now underway by Robert Mueller, suggests the Russians have compromising sexual or financial material on him.  Trump of course denies it all.  I predict that if Donald Trump caves, the dossier conspiracy theorists will gain immense credibility.

If Trump is scared to call out Putin for the gangster he is, I'm not.  My blog pageviews from Russia have already shot through the roof.  I'm apparently already a burr under somebody's* saddle there, and I'm loving it!

S

* Probably a computer algorithm keeping track of negative comments about Mother Russia.

LATE EDIT:  This on Yahoo News this morning...

Exciting times we live in!

And Donald...may I call you Donald?...I've always admired your fine head of hair, too

It seems our intelligence guys are getting quite put out with Prez Trump for not taking Russian cyber-warfare against America seriously enough.  They say Donnie John seems to think any time "Russia" is mentioned it's a slap at him personally, as if he's President ONLY because Russia and Vladimir Putin helped him over the finish line.

He just can't understand that Russia would have been meddling in our election even if the candidates had been Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio.  Russia's goal is simple:  To do anything they can to discredit us and cause chaos in America.  They know they'll NEVER be able to match our level of national success, so they're trying to tear us down to their level of national mediocrity.  Our electoral process, our economy, our financial and transportation systems and more....all are considered fair targets to Russia.  Why?  Because Putin wants to see his Russia back at the top as a world power alongside the US, as they were before the USSR collapsed, even if "the top" is a much lower summit.  He's an unrepentant Totalitarian.

Yes, Russia has some cool new planes and tanks the experts say are top shelf, but Russia is broke, and they can't afford to buy many of either.  They can threaten their immediate neighbors in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, maybe Poland, etc, but they can't project traditional military power overseas.  What they CAN do, however, is cyber-attack us.  They're world leaders in practically NOTHING except cyber-warfare (and maybe cheap rot-gut vodka consumption).  That's an "arms" race they can fight and perhaps win if we....no, let's call him by his name....President Donald J. Trump doesn't wake up.

You ARE the President Mr. Trump.  You won it fair and square, and Hillary lost.  Congratulations!  But understand, Vladimir Putin didn't care which of you won so long as America tied itself in a knot arguing about it for months and years to come. 

Game....set....?

S

The only acceptable outcome: We win, they lose

When Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, it was pretty obvious who did it....the sky was full of planes emblazoned with the Rising Sun.  Japan!

The same was true in 1939 when Germany attacked Poland, in 1967 when Israel got the jump on the Arab nations surrounding them, and in 1991 when the USA went into Saddam Hussein's Iraq.  It was obvious who the combatants were because they had insignia on their tanks and planes and uniforms.  It was mano a mano, black hats vs white hats.  Old school warfare.  

But when peasant guerillas worked their Vietnamese fields by day, then went on the attack at night, it was difficult to know who we were fighting.  The rules began to change.  Today they're changing again.  Today we're being attacked, and this time we're not even sure who or where they are.

Hitler couldn't say, "Nope, those aren't our guys" after we saw them.  There was physical evidence to the contrary.  But today Russia's Vladimir Putin, after his cyber-warriors hacked into sensitive American political files and emails, can simply say "This is nonsense.  We have done nothing.  Show me your proof."  His cyber-soldiers don't leave behind flags or insignia on the side of tanks or airplanes. 

Our geeks can today finally say with great certainty it was Russia who interfered with our recent national elections (while not impossible, it's extremely difficult to backtrack a cyber attack), and I'm sure after a month or so of intensive investigation France will say it was also Russia who tried to influence their election (which BTW is tomorrow/Sunday).  German elections are later this year, and I'll bet you a steak dinner Russian political hacking will occur then, too, with the aim of helping whichever candidate Putin thinks will be more friendly to him.  All our aircraft carriers and ICBM's and special forces will be helpless to defend us.  We're not going to nuke someone we're not absolutely certain harmed us.  It's unthinkable, and Putin knows it.

National security no longer necessarily means guarding a border or builder bigger, better bombs.  It means outsmarting our adversaries while not getting caught ourselves.  We need to review where we're spending our defense dollars.  We need more for science and technology education, and less for some stupid border wall.

Ronald Reagan showed the Soviet Union they didn't have the financial resources to go toe-to-toe with us militarily, which caused them to throw in the Cold War towel.  Donald Trump needs to double down on the economic sanctions Barack Obama and our allies put in place to back down Putin today, and maybe even cyber attack them just enough to show them two can play that game.  If Mr. Trump flinches, IMO that should be grounds for impeachment followed by a treason trial.  We can't lose this one!  Cut Putin no slack Mr. President, and for Pete's sake, get yourself and/or your people out of bed with him.

S 

In this corner...Vladimir Putin, and in this corner...the rest of the world

The first round of the French presidential election is this weekend, and it has the potential to be as much of a world changer as did Donald Trump's election in the US last year.  The big Wild Card will be how well National Front candidate Marine Le Pen does.

The five leading candidates are on this first-round ballot, with the top two going on to the final election ballot next month, assuming no one receives a 50% true majority in this first test.  Ms Le Pen is expected to make it to the final round, and that's why much of the western world, and Europe in particular, is holding their breath.

Their unease is because Ms Le Pen is friendly towards Russia, has received campaign financing from a bank close to Putin, and is likely to follow Britain's lead and will try to take France out of the European Union, and perhaps the Euro Zone (the common European monetary system), as well.  She isn't too keen on France's NATO participation, either.

Ms Le Pen and her party are anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant (read: anti-Muslim), and ultra-right-wing nationalist.  Many say her "France First" theme is a take-off of Donald Trump's "America First".  Both she and Candidate Trump slammed international trade agreements (harmful to their economies), NATO (outdated and too expensive), and have questioned sanctions on Russia.  Le Pen has even said quite clearly that she would end sanction on Russia if she was elected, and offered no objection to their "annexation" of Crimea.

If Le Pen ultimately becomes the French President, Russia will be the big winner.  The thing Russia / Vladimir Putin wants most is to see the West weakened.  A European Union without both Great Britain AND France might completely collapse, as might the Euro monetary scheme without the French.  Weakened trade relations might see barriers arise again between countries now held tight by their economies, and a NATO without one of its most powerful members may not have the same resolve.  

Putin knows he will likely never be able to go toe-to-toe with the power and influence of the United States and a united Europe.  He sees that his best chance to restore Russia to its previous glory is to bring his opponents one-by-one down to his level.  He likes leaders and countries that he sees as friendly or at least malleable.  That's why Putin was so interested in seeing Trump elected President, and why he wants to see Le Pen elected now in France, and a Russia-friendly German candidate win later this year, too.  He's been chip-chip-chipping away at us since the day he assumed power, and frankly, he's winning.  If he wasn't, I wouldn't be writing this.

Once again, it's an interesting world we live in, and we have a ringside seat to some amazing history in the making.

S

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Back in the early days of the Cold War all us little kids were taught to dive under our school desks to shield ourselves from an incoming Commie nuclear attack.  (I'm still questioning the wisdom of letting little kids crawl all over lead-lined desks all day, but that's a topic for later.)  I'm sure this would have worked great so long as the Rooskies attacked between the hours of 8 am and 3:15 pm, and respected recess, lunch times, and summer vacations.

Things are different today.  First, the Russians are likely not our main existential threat.  Russia's Vladimir Putin no doubt remembers the concept of "Mutually Assured Destruction" or MAD, which meant both sides knew if they launched an attack on the other, they themselves would be vaporized in retaliation about five minutes later.  Putin may be an evil bully, but he isn't stupid.  He knows he can get what he wants via something virtually untraceable back to the Motherland:  cyber warfare. 

Nor is China a likely existential threat to America.  Their version of modern Communism....let's call it Communism Lite....likes making a profit, and we're their biggest customer.  We need to keep each other happy.  Neither of us has much to gain, but a tremendous amount to lose, by nuking the other.

Iran....they could be, likely WILL be an existential threat to us sooner rather than later.   Our nuclear deal with them of a few years ago was, in retrospect, a joke.  They're probably still laughing over how gullible we were.  Their radical Islamic leadership would probably be willing to write off a few million of their own people in exchange for poking an infidel in the eye.  The good news for us here in 'Merica is that Israel is geographically much closer and has vastly more to lose than we do, so before Iran can truly threaten us, Israel will....umm...."handle it".  *wink*

North Korea, however, is another matter.  Their people might be perpetually on the verge of starvation, but Kim Jong Un still lavishes money on his nuclear program.  I doubt he's concerned about a few million of his people being wiped out in a nuclear retaliatory strike....the MAD concept probably means nothing to him.  

Prez Trump thinks China can control them, but I have my doubts.  Even if China cuts N Korea off today, it's too late.   That train has already left the station.  China is probably thinking if they piss him off anger Kim Jong Un, he might someday lob a few nukes their direction, too, so they're tippy-toeing their way around "The Little Fat One" as well.  For the time being I'm not particularly worried about Crazy Kim hitting my zip code with an ICBM....he'd probably have a tough time even hitting Texas!  As a geopolitical junkie, I'll admit this one is going to be "interesting" to watch play out.

Have I missed anybody?   Is there anyone else you can think of that might have a nuke or two set aside with our name on it?  

And most importantly, now that you're an adult, do you have a Big Boy or Big Girl desk you can fit under?  ;)

S