These days the next step in destabilizing a democracy of sorts is being executed:
Famous universities are not only denied the government funds they have a right to — they also are severely pressured by hollow statements and threats:
That Israel’s hardliners, most prominent Netanyahu, are driving a cruel and hard ‘bargain’ in order to cover up their dwindling support among voters is clear to all who have studied matters for some time.
That other people protest openly against the Gaza politics is only to be expected. To put that in one with anti-Semitism is ridiculous.
Whatever your creed, colour or conviction, you are not to kill, harass or torture other people. Period.
The present criminal holding the office of president in the US, called Trump, has together with his ‘consort’, of course, prepared this for years.
What it amounts to is this: Destabilizing the legal, the administrative and the scientific pillars of a democracy are in keeping with his complaints of alleged ‘fake news’ whenever media report facts about him that are diminishing to his image as a hero — when in fact he is a convicted criminal.
Do not let them — or him — fool you: He is neither stupid nor insane: Just true to his past and ‘consorts’: incredibly greedy and selfish.
The founding myth of a society such as the US-American one is simple and as follows: Work hard or even harder to get rich — that way proving to all and God that you are favourable to God. Since the rich are God’s favourites.
That value is probably the most damaging and destroying one ever to be posed throughout the history of mankind:
All is fair — that is any means to that end: becoming rich — is good and even fair in God’s eyes.
Religion in general is one way of posing understandable values and rules for a society to live by.
It also fulfils the human need for transcendence, so the philosopher Fromm tells us.
When we are lucky, those rules are not just about limiting everything to a bare minimum — but about the real health and joy human life has to offer:
Combining heart, soul and body in ways that make you smile, like yourself — and thus enable you to like others (more).
And interact with a sense of community so the welfare of all is at the back of people’s minds.
European and German flag in front of German parliament, Berlin, Germany (licensed image via Adobe CC)
The present government in the USA does impress observers with a fundamental lack of: Prudence, or sense of community, or indeed the actual knowledge of right and wrong in an ethical sense!
Just looking at their own statements and recent actions.
They actually dare to meddle in internal, German affairs on an international level!
Would be ridiculous too, if not sad, really.
Revealing: Sign of decadence and the actual interest in extreme right-wing (far-right) contacts….
The AfD, the political party concerned, has been proven to be extreme-right-wing, as well es populist, umpteen times, over and over again. They are not only a danger to democracy but additionally they frequently make inhuman statements into the bargain!
When and if a jurisdictional body states openly, and starts discussing publicly, to forbid a political party in Germany, that is no trivial matter!
That, my ‘friends’, is serious!
I’d like to put it this way in the direction of the US government and its representatives:
Be very aware of your behaviour and statements, internal as well as international US affairs — you might be taken on your word and made responsible for it — in courts of law.
Soon — or in the future.
Note: On the latest news concerning Germany’s ‘Verfassungsschutz’ (internal intelligence agency) declaring the AfD to be a far-right political party.
Money, more money, profits… (Image licensed via Adobe CC)
All of you who are wondering and perhaps even seem to be challenged in believing it: Trump and Putin actually and truly are close.
Why?
How can it possibly be that a fiend such as Putin is close to someone like Trump, after all the president of the leading nation of the ‘free world’?
It’s basically three principles that apply:
“Cui bono?” – The Latin phrase is age old and describes what you would look for in most questions of business and politics to get a clear picture: “Who benefits?”
There’s history to rely on for similar examples: The Roman Empire especially and its several emperors in its later stages; corruption was common then.
Trump as well as Putin are very much alike in terms of personality: They crave attention and power, to different degrees. They need money and more money to achieve that.
That’s their basic common denominator or ground.
One proof was presented at the time (2016 US-presidential elections) by two newspapers, one of which cannot be trusted these days anymore because it was acquired by amazon’s founder. The proof was confirmed by the Pulitzer Prize committee (among others). The New York Times still stands like a beacon, as yet.
Also please take into account that war especially in modern times is a means to an end. Cruel, but just that. Just as Netanyahu first aggravated and then used the conflict about Gaza to cover up the fact that the numbers of his votes were decreasing fast at the time – and the support for his internal politics declining.
For all of my readers who feel discouraged in the face of adversity and the abyss of human depravity, do not despair:
We are not the only ones worrying! The state of the world has been better – but it also has been worse, in the course of history!
Just think what the 30 Years’ War meant to Europe at the time!
Remember: Remind your democratically elected representatives of their tasks – and of what you really want.
Keep at it – and don’t forget about the breaks!
Update March 9th 2025: The New York Times has published a fine news analysis on March 7th here, confirming facts and this view on them – regarding Trump’s view on Putin.
ℹ️ Article should be paywall-free here, from my own subscription, to be purchased with a subscription for that newspaper usually: Trump’s Affinity for Putin Grows More Consequential Than Ever
(URL taken and pasted at March 9th 2025, UTC+1, 01:03 p.m.)
For a comprehensive and concise view on Mr Trump’s biography and background that helps explain, confer to award-winning documentary producer and director Michael Kirk’s FRONTLINE-video on PBS, from 2017, in context of the 2016 elections, available from select locations: President Trump
The other day I came across another rather shocking fact in a documentary: The faked and montaged images of a female reporter who was close to exposing damaging truths about a politician: Even before AI putting a face with any other body found online or offline in a photograph was not uncommon or unheard of.
These days politicians such as somebody like Brazil’s former president Bolsonaro who is close to other right-wing politicians such as Trump are frequently turning to smear campaigns with falsified evidence that mean to destroy credibility or reputation of the targeted person.
I think too, that just as was the case in former times, when printed tabloids, or even before that, in the times of the ballads sung on street corners supported by huge drawings, made for sensationalism – rumour, legend and truth should actually be differentiated with care.
In this digital age it’s easy and fast to ‘make it up’… in every sense.
Don’t underestimate people’s suggestiveness in regard to ‘sensations’.
And if you would be interested in the truth: Check the facts and your sources – carefully.
Screenshot of NATO member states, current, taken at 21-01-2025_06-16-46 at https://www.nato-pa.int/content/membership-map
The signs are there: He had the majority of Supreme Court Justices newly instated during his first time in office. He initiated the attack on the US-Capitol. The signs also are there that he will try to limit freedom of the press. At least.
He is on best terms with president Putin of Russia, who demonstrably manipulated elections in 2016 in Trump’s favour. I am convinced that the deal was worked to make peace in Gaza and Syria so that eventually NATO and Ukraine will agree to special contracts, regarding Ukraine’s status as non-member.
And when you look at the OFFICIAL NATO map, screenshot above taken from their website today, you cannot but wonder how one would not feel at least uncomfortable, being part of the white space to the right…
I recommend (yet, as long as they can) The New York Times as source of reliable information: They have won Pulitzer prizes for their reporting, research as well as content. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staffs-new-york-times-and-washington-post Note, update: The Washington Post some time ago was acquired by Jeff Bezos, the founder and owner of amazon and a Trump follower. So, although at the time the link’s content was created, it was reliable; it is not anymore.
Trump himself, as regards a non-character who is willing to do anything to appear powerful and wealthy, is a criminal several times over: He was ruled guilty before US courts more than once, for fraud and bribery as well as sexual coercion.
The Supreme Court, whose Justices in majority he instated newly with his followers during his first term in office, overruled those verdicts with the rather threadbare argument that he had been president and thus immune…
Poppea and Nero Have the Head of Octavia Brought Forward to Them by Giovanni Muzzioli – Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
I wonder sometimes if there ever was a similar government and its head in history as the one coming up on Monday, 20th January…?
They say Nero in ancient Rome was made fun of, at the time and in later centuries; considered to be downright crazy and not to be depended upon. He apparently set fire to Rome, and had his mother and his first wife murdered.
Four years ago a person that has been ruled a criminal several times over in front of legal US courts, incited an attack on the US Capitol. A building that is one epitome of a republic claiming to be the oldest existing democracy and the seat of its parliament.
And here they all are, be that Microsoft, Apple, Uber, amazon or Boeing: Millions of dollars donated just for the inauguration. Licking his boots.
The most pitiful spectacle is Trump himself who earnestly sends a message of ‘everybody wanting to be with him’ on social media.
Let’s just hope that somebody over there still has some sort of sense left and eventually will stop this sorry excuse for a man.
So needy he stops at nothing to get attention and be counted ‘powerful’ and rich, when you look at his history (Link to PBS broadcasting company’s site, FRONTLINE series of documentaries; this one award-winning).
You can easily feel discouraged looking at news these days: People in New Orleans suffer from an attack, numerous people die. The Ukraine-war raging on. The Gaza strip and Israel and Palestine conflicts going on into the 7th decade…
‘What’s going on with people in this world?’, you could ask.
Let’s remember two very important truths:
News are about some aspects of life – but news are not LIFE!
News are often rather sensational, they focus on the dramatic, the ‘scoop’ – because that’s what newspapers and channels live by: Drama sells. (Just as sex does, by the way.)
Courage comes from hope and thus let’s remember:
An African proverb is supposed to run like this:
“If many little people in many little places all around the world do many little things every day, they can change the face of the earth.”
Keep at it – and remember the breaks too!
Know that we are strong, together!
A happy, peaceful and friendly new year to all, with friends and relations – ‘near and dear’ – full of hope and courage!
Where there’s light there’s darkness… When people from childhood onward learn only about following the rules that are handed down to them, even if on a silver platter; that not pertaining to the rules is followed by severe punishment; and that questioning the rules actually is out of the question…they would necessarily feel tempted to break those rules.
In other words: When as a grown-up one still does not feel to be the master of one’s life and the decisions in it; when you haven’t learned to think for yourself, look at consequences and ask about good or bad, why and for whom – you will look with awe at those who do. With some admiration perhaps.
And eventually people will either start following an apparently strong “leader” – or they will feel urged to break all the rules ever imposed upon them – and become what Schiller in his epic poem “The Bell” called “mankind in its fury” (“…der Mensch in seinem Wahn.”).
To become a truly responsible and self-confident civilian, a member of a democracy, to my mind the awareness of self-management, of being in charge of one’s life and taking responsibility for one’s actions, is crucial.
Otherwise people will repeat those patterns – and we will see hate and lack of self-esteem erupting into fights and killing, over and over again.
The times have been dark indeed before. Dark in the sense of tragic and dreadful actions ahead. Not because people were unable to differentiate good from bad. Is it really alright to do anything just for money? Kill, destroy, and then occupy and build with what you have to sell?
Earning money this way: When a country is destroyed completely you have a 100% growth rate in a few decades to come.
And one or the other of those recently appointed to ‘leadership’ in the US may reckon they wouldn’t care too much, since they probably won’t live that long anyway…
Just yesterday a court of law ruled that the legal action against Mr. Trump, president-elect, be dropped for the time being. Since it is about the election 2020 and the proven manipulation of results, this could be the end of it because the statute of limitations might be reached by the time Trump leaves office again.
If he does at all…
The increasing postings online of frightened and worrying ‘brains’ (intelligentsia: people who are well-educated and use their knowledge productively) in the USA thinking of actually leaving a country that has been almost the epitome of freedom of thought and opinion for generations, proves dark times, indeed.
So many signs are there to promise that he will try and become another dictator, similar to Putin’s way to power in Russia… We may not be let go this time anymore.
‘We’, because the power balances in place since World War II let anything the USA and their foreign policies start, have a forceful impact on Europe – and indeed the world.
I still believe that we need to take a closer look at what is gong on at the moment, in politics and especially media:
Be careful to see the signs and stop war-mongering. Stop propaganda. It’s completely unnecessary!
Because, no woman, mother, father, child, brother or uncle deserves to be killed just because a few companies will profit by selling weapons and supplies – and the ones in power are too lazy to do their job properly, keep peace, negotiate – and find better ways of work than weapon factories.
