Category: United States

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Missing Elections’ Integrity? – Missing Voters…or: When the Lame Duck ‘Clucks’

Puppet character Kermit the frog talking to a stone figure looking like a smiling woman.
Image by LoggaWiggler from Pixabay

“Lame duck” is the phrase for that state politicians get into when their term is running out: By not being re-elected or simply reaching the end of their final term.

The present president in the US tries all he can to make it appear as if he was in full control of the situation and not the least bit ‘maimed’. Addressing the nation, as it were.

Yet, the signs are there: Claiming that votes were wangled at the time in 2020 and that the US-voting system is unreliable, not to say in danger of overthrowing itself, is a bit ‘rich’ by such a person – when you think of what happened in 2016:

The New York Times and the (then still reliable) Washington Post reported on the fact that elections had been influenced strongly by Russia, by order of Putin himself. In 2016, already.
Yet, nothing ever was said by Trump himself about that…
Why would he?
It was in his favour.

If there had been insecurities they would have been fixed long ago by this time. (Catchword: Cybersecurity).
10 years later.

The contacts between the two heads of state (wouldn’t want to call them ‘leaders’… they miss out on so much that makes a good one…) were known long before that. Trump’s family members regularly visited there…

Let’s hope and pray that not only he in terms of peace but also voters in the US will finally see the light – and smell that rat that just might be a last, though feeble attempt to change any laws, in his favour again…

The Supreme Court has a majority of 4 justices, selected at the time from his followers…

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Putting the Pressure on… Or: USA, Iran, a War, Oil: As Per Precedent

 

Drawing f black feathers falling on a white background.
Image licensed via Adobe CC

It’s been reported more than once and the present president of the USA, whose name I try to avoid naming, even publicly praised himself for it: The scare tactics he chooses to employ. Scare them and then get the deal made into your, that is his, favour.

Cruel, selfish and completely given to the idea that money rules, and power is better, the ‘more the merrier’, for decades he has been part of a group of people who believe that a person is ‘good’ if they have money.

Actually, looking at US-American history, it’s only partly surprising that so many people there believe it:
Religious beliefs are at the bottom of all that.

The Puritans were the largest group to enter the North American continent and originally, in turn, Calvinists.
Calvin, a Swiss protestant, among many other ideas postulated that a human was God’s favourite if wealthy. By granting people wealth God would show his special grace towards them.

Is it surprising that over 300 years later the founding myth of the US, used as a ‘badge of courage’ and a sign, makes people believe strongly in this idea?

Basically: “Be rich and you are a good person”…?

History of mankind and actual events show nicely, how true it is that greed makes people cruel and violent.

The working uranium enrichment control contracts with Iran were cancelled in 2018 by the first administration of this president. Working contracts, officially confirmed by the IAEA.

Additionally, also historical pattern, starting a war is one of the best-liked ‘tools’ to divert attention from graver or downright illegal internal affairs.

The present president of the USA was found guilty on 34 counts of bribery, molestation and corruption in front of a US court of law. He was heavily incriminated in relation to the so-called Epstein papers.

That’s why he needs sensation, a war, to make people forget about all the other atrocities.

 

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250 Years: “Quo Vadis, USA?” – or: History, Intentions, Dreams and Reality

When the first settlers came to the country that is now called the USA, they were looking for religious freedom. Freedom for quite some time was not for all, even there. Viewed from over here, we see all those facts that make it hard to celebrate, especially these days. A bitter reckoning, mostly.

Yes, they made it. Somehow. But the ups and especially the downs are memorable. When someone like the present president from the extreme right is at the head of a government that does everything to revert back to times we have put behind us for more than 300 years… it can become irritating. Namely: feudal structures: A ‘king’ who claims the whole power for himself and would, if he could, reign for ever. Have everybody do his bid.

It’s awfully amazing that someone like that could actually ‘be flushed to the surface’, scum, in a country claiming to be the oldest existing democracy. Due to money: Paying for the necessary advertisements, these days mostly online.

Lives have been lost. The peoples of America, of the whole continent, close to complete obliteration, just because settlers felt they had the right to the land… Cruelty, hatred and death daily; around the world, the latest the war against Iran. For what?
Greed. Power. Money. Oil.

I feel it to be a challenge in face of all this and many more facts, to mention all the fine aspects too:
Literature, arts, painting, music and movies.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Steinbeck, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Harper Lee, George Gershwin… a long and impressive list that here can show only a very few.

“Moving pictures”: To think that some of the greatest artists in that field came from Europe, again: Fritz Lang, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergmann, Wolfgang Petersen, Hans Zimmer, and many more, and, towering them all like a small yet wonderful figure of heart and brains:
Charles Chaplin.

He developed ‘the flickers’, moving pictures, into an art form, in a career of over 50 years, coming from most desperate surroundings himself. He knew. Bless his heart.

Charles Chaplin who made it clear what life is about: About empathy in the most tragic and desperate situations. About laughter and that smile he even worked into a song, whose lyrics were created a few years later, in 1954, rendered by Nat King Cole in that manner that encompasses it all: Life at its most wonderful and most tragic.

A scene from the Chaplin movie "City Lights"
A scene in “City Lights” that plays nicely with our perception: A blind girl who through hearing the sound of an expensive car door closing assumes a passing man to be rich…
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War on Iran, ‘Leverage’, Negotiations – and One of the Oldest Cultures

Collage of two pictures, one ofan old water pump operated by a hand using a lever. The other showing oil wells in front of a dusky skyline.
Images licensed via Adobe CC

‘Leverage’: A nice term almost, when you think of old pumps that would bring water to the surface and into a home. A lever sometimes used to do the ‘pumping’… Exactly that is part of it when you think of getting or having “leverage” in negotiations: One or the other party to an intended deal being able to put pressure on. For their own good.

That’s what this war and the occasional recent (apparent?) ‘flares’ of attacks to break that truce indicate:

Remind each other of the respective position. Let’s remember that it was the US who started this. Internal affairs in Iran haven’t been anything easy to think of – or ‘write home about’; quite to the contrary. But this is not about that government, let’s remember that too.

It’s about oil, Iran having the largest oil recovery industry in the world(!).

About a country, the US of A, whose population looks to the car as something almost like a body appendage: indispensable. Therefore petrol must be cheap. Which in turn means oil has to be cheap too and keep flowing in…

Especially with a president and his ‘coworkers’, his ‘entourage’, or cue-givers…, who refuse to look into a future of being less dependent on fossil fuels, which in the long run could make it better for all: Better water, air and less dependency on ‘any old’ oil well.

Let’s also keep in mind that negotiations take time. Which this president hasn’t got anymore, really: His second term in office is running out. If he wants to leave any kind of legacy beyond the recall of court actions, Epstein papers and worse, he has to make haste.

In the case of Iran that is one thing to better avoid. Haste.
I love that old culture, reaching back thousands of years, into a rich and also troubled history. Full of poetry and wisdom and art.

Three crucial and very striking aspects of many people I had the joy to learn to know better in a comparatively long life are these:

    • perseverance
    • patience
    • pride

That also has its roots in the history of the country: For a couple of thousands of years and to this day being at the heart of a region that always was the turnstile to all cultures you can think of, far east, west and near east.

The free flow of all that’s good in mankind’s history and mind into and through this country, of languages, arts and influences of knowledge and wisdom – together with the resilience built up over troublesome landscapes with hot, forbidding deserts, constant threats by neighbours attacking and earthquakes into the bargain – have created a ‘fellowship’ almost of a people who at their best will neither give in to blackmail or extortion, and will keep their calm, their pride and their preparedness for reasonable offers to the last.

A wise man will look for good counsel. But some people are not wise enough.

Hopefully this shameful war will end sooner rather than later to make room for negotiations – that will need patience and real offerings.

Picture of the tomb of Persian poet Hafez in Shiraz, 2019, courtesy Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons license
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Iran, Israel and the USA: The Outrageous Actions of a President in Waning ‘Power’

The US American flag with rockets instead of stars three of which seem to fall or drop down similar to blood drops.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

He seems not to know even himself what he is aiming at. Only yesterday in front of the world’s cameras he said it in so many words. Yet, it is abundantly clear that all of this is just another desperate attempt to divert attention from his problems in regard to internal affairs and his criminal record.

A person like the Secretary of Defense of the USA, Hegseth, even has the unspeakable impertinence to state: ~’no politically correct war; no UNO mission, no plans for the time after. Just plain war.’
A ripe pair.
Two of a kind.

The conflicts between Israel and Palestine and the additional forces stationed in the north and the south, the Guerilla troops of Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as the ‘support’ by the USA:
They are decades old!

Anyone with an atom of reason and smartness would have shied away from such a stupid and cruel step.

But someone like the present president in the US lacks that. What he is interested in is his own position, his power and – the future power in the US.

His affinity for Putin and his love of a dictatorship that allows him unbridled  power and say-so without any limitations are legendary.

The New York Times as well as the Washington Post* (when it still was independent) reported on both these facts:

    • NYT: Trump’s ideas in regard to Putin here.
    • The Pulitzer Prize committee’s information on awarding the prize to both newspapers regarding the connection and election influence in 2016 here.
    • Trump initiated the storming of the Capitol in January 2021.
    • He was ruled guilty in front of a US court on 34 counts of bribery, corruption and molestation.
    • The current Israel president Netanyahu has suffered from lack of support of his ‘subjects’ and the parliament as such for his cruel politics towards Palestinian territories, the Gaza strip and West Bank, going on for almost a decade now.
      • At this point his actions that started this escalation are another desperate attempt to keep his position as long as possible.
      • In this respect it is no surprise too, that the talks to Trump were not public and also not disclosed in any way.
    • The weapons’ industry in the US is the largest and most powerful. Previous presidents were pressurized and even murdered because they tried to limit their profits. (J.F. Kennedy being the most prominent.)

This war is outrageous, it is exactly the same type of action that Putin reverted to when attacking Ukraine, according to international law.

These attacks have to stop!
It will just lay the whole region to waste and land it in a war for years to come.

When we take all these facts together, and use that age-old principle of ‘cui bono?‘, ‘who benefits?‘, some things become abundantly clear.

Shame on such a government as the present US presidential administration.

* The Washington Post since not only was acquired by Jeff Bezos, amazon founder and Trump follower, it also recently suffered a big reduction of staff.

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The Trump Legacy ‘Navigated’… Near East Flare-up – Two Years Only to ‘go’?

Map of the near east under a magnifying glass, with a dove of peace flying across
Images licensed via Adobe CC, my graphics

For decades people were careful about and on the Near East struggle for peace and some sort of peaceful coexistence. And here comes a president raised in a military academy, West Point, and imagines that you just ‘hit them hard’ and as a surprise in order to succeed fast.

Yet again the 2nd World War comes to mind; Napoleon even. All of these “would-be kings without kingdom” who strike out for the sole reason of satisfying a (too small…?) ego and causing endless years of pain, death and  more struggle.

You learn from history and try to do better! Not the other way around.

Half the Near East is going up in flames at the moment – and no wonder, too: Palestinians’ and Israelis’ issues, made even worse by someone like Netanyahu, of course are directly involved in this: The south as well as the northern borders of Israel historically have been ‘bridge heads’ also for decades of soldiers and Guerilla warriors supporting Palestinians.

Israel on the other hand is under strong protection from the USA, also for historical reasons.
If you come to think of it, though constantly fighting, some sort of ‘justice’ seems included… every party in this dreadful, ongoing conflict represented.

But these also are age-old historical truths:

    • Cruelty, force, will propagate itself: Make war and you will get more war.
    • A leader of state, be that a king or a dictator or a president, will try to divert attention from internal issues; making a war is a very old and well-loved method for that.
    • Additionally, a ‘legacy’ of a reign, a presidency, also can be something to aim at: To be remembered for something; preferably something worth mentioning at least for some years.

All of the above are bitter truths in this case: A president called Trump, with a criminal record and sad past of corruption, bribery and fraud trying to ‘cover up’.

I am glad that I live in a democracy where I can say and write what I think. I am grateful too.

The only thing I wish more for the people in Iran than that kind of freedom and human rights is peace in that region. Peaceful coexistence finally.
Because instead of killing more people into the bargain, some leaders start finally ‘doing their homework’.

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A Fool’s Stage: USA — ‘What Bitter Tears and Hollow Laughter…’

Drawing of a clown's mask
(Image by NoPixelZone from Pixabay)

Power and money — not necessarily in this order — are at the heart of any US politics under a president such as the present one. It’s almost funny to see and hear and read about journalists actually wondering about his sanity…

Sane or not? Does it matter, really?

He is — together with all those other greedy, low-life scum that are his followers and supporters — in power. In office. He will stay there as long as no one will stand up and fight his office, his holding it, by legal means.

The impeachment already had been imminent. Several actions in courts of law against him for fraud, bribery and molestation had been on their way. He is a criminal, already convicted too. And then a supreme court ruling — lo and behold, how could that happen…? — rendered them void.

The US-American society and nation’s future as a democracy are in severe danger. This may even cause a civil war.

But, no this sadly limited brain of a greedy dictator is not above doing it: He bullies and threatens all and sundry into subservience. So far it’s a relieve to also hear about Harvard University standing its ground: They will not be bullied into scientific obedience and dependency.

The US academic system is dependent on private as well as government funds. That makes it vulnerable. But in such times also hardened against withdrawal of government funds. Because there are other donors, yet.

What a sorry excuse for a man the Republican heap of drooling and greedy entities of existence — that you could hardly call human — have made their figurehead — any human action or reaction long since being deadened by heaps of money they cannot have enough of.

It’s a shame.

The ‘fool’ in former times was a figure at courts like a clown; meant to remind a king or potentate of his limitations as a human being. At the same time ‘fool’ is also the term for a figure that is ridiculous and hollow where proper thinking is concerned.

Someone like the present president has little to no formal education of a wise kind. Raised in a military school that calls itself academy and coming from a family whose main value was to be rich — and famous — what can you expect?

Actually, I would expect someone with his connections and background to be aware enough to better himself. Insane and downright sick people should be taken pity on — not exception.

But he is not to be pitied. It’s his own, ‘sane’ doing.

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Close Deals using Threats – The Blackmail Tactics – President-elect’s Hidden Agenda Unfolding

Image of a stage highlighted by several stage lights creating a circle of light with dark blue background
Special effects used as a front – lighting and stage decoration used to intimidate or frighten people… (Image licensed via Adobe CC)

To start a conflict, manipulate people into it by threatening them in multiple ways; to position oneself as a representative of an interest group, a lobby; then in the limelight apparently get people back together again for peace talks and eventual – and so sudden … – peace or at least truce…

What do you call that?

    • ‘Smart’, because the person reaches their goal of appearing to be the hero of the hour?
    • ‘Business-like’, because using money as a weapon they appear influential and the ‘wise guy’ … of the day?
    • Or ‘Cruel’, because many lives are lost in the process, hostages kept for years in fear and captivity, marred for life while others suffer intense pains of loss and worry?

I am happy and very relieved that so many are now apparently released from captivity as hostages! For themselves and for their families, their near and dear!

But they might not have been to be in that place at all, in the first place – used by a president-to-be and yet another ally in Israel, Netanyahu, who had to fear using his ‘job’ – and thus started to get beligerent. Follow the history on channels and newspapers to trust. It was rather obvious.
And war one way or another throughout history has been known to be a welcome and often-used method to distract attention from internal affairs and issues – of a king, or a dictator, or a president…

The result, and the tragic and cruel truth can seem unbearable: It’s once again about power and money. Ultimately. People are just so much cannon fodder, once again.

And we can expect ‘more of the same’, in the coming months, if not years.

Because, there is ‘a method to the madness’.

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Syria Free – From Russia with ‘Love’ – The USA and the President-elect

Photo of vintage world map with small packages connected by string lines to indicate trade routes
Image licensed via Adobe CC

The historical examples are all there – one way or another, all over the place. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and our heads clear – and our calm in the face of adversity: Putin and Trump are and have been for years:
Best buddies.

In a little over a month now Trump is going to take office. He’s prepared his way to dictatorship.

Once they unite all the countries still free will have to make an effort to stay free.
Why? He wouldn’t start war on half the world?
No, it would be even easier. Plain blackmail could do it, from both sides.
Gas from Russia, high taxes on goods, trade and military support denials as well as harsh negotiating on the side of the US.
You name it.

Be prepared! We need freedom of thought and opinion and press (!) as well as political or private calling.

What’s free in that sense?

Freedom of opinion, press, thought and way of life. The human rights.

Because even now the first signs are there on the horizon that traditionally free and independent media are wondering; starting to ‘count their words’, mind their ‘ps’ and ‘qs’, as it were.
There’s a documentary about that too: From 2017, when the president-elect in the US took office for the first time.

He was adverse and fighting the press whenever they reported the truth, no matter what, about him. Calling it fake news and condemning them. The Supreme Court Justices are made up of a majority of justices that stem from his followers, his ‘ranks’.

Only recently the charges against him were dropped on account of him being in office for the time when illegal Russian influence with his knowledge and consent veered votes towards him in 2017.

Free?

All those with huge amounts of money are more or less behind him. Which accounts for a constant, ongoing press campaign.

And anyone a little knowledgeable about the way of marketing knows that anything goes – as long as it is published.  The juicier, the more impact.

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Election 2024: A Male Criminal – Or a Female Writer and Lawyer? – It’s NOT a Question!

(Images licensed Adobe CC)

The lengths they are going to in the Republican party to find anything they could use against the Democrat Ms Kamala Harris is a good sign:

She is a strong candidate. And it’s good to know that there is one.

She wrote a book once – and it was not a scientific thesis or an article. Once upon a time she did not properly mark a quote or two in place – but a little later in the book.

SO?

The Republican candidate has been convicted on several counts. He was proven guilty.
And he has been known for criminal behaviour and ruthlessness before – reported by solid, reliable newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, both awarded prizes for independent and reliable journalism – by independent organizations, such as the Pulitzer prize committee.

Additionally the Republican candidate still faces 4 separate criminal charges against him.
Look into the Republican candidate’s past – and you will have ample opportunity to find more of the same: Hate, populism, cruelty, selfishness and greed.  The link is one to a documentary by another winner of awards, documentary film maker, Michael Kirk* on PBS.

All of you who have the vote in the USA, think again: Who is the better choice?

Check the values! Look at what the parties stand for. Vote wisely.

For the community and the values that support not just a few, but the majority of people; for diversity, the lookout for others, peace. Democrats.

* Quote on Michael Kirk (s. link above): “The winner of every major award in broadcast journalism, including five Peabody Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, two George Polk Awards, 15 Emmy Awards, and 12 Writers Guild of America Awards, Kirk has produced, directed and written more than 100 hours of FRONTLINE — including multiple installments of “The Choice,” the acclaimed election-year series profiling the two major-party presidential candidates.”
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