PIRATERIE IRANIENNE ET GRECQUE

 PIRATERIE IRANIENNE ET GRECQUE

 28 MAI 2022

Aujourd'hui, nous apprenons que l'Iran, dans un acte de représailles, a arraisonné deux pétroliers grecs dans le golfe Persique, confisqué les navires, leur cargaison de pétrole et emprisonné les équipages.  Le gouvernement d'Athènes a crié « faute » en qualifiant l'acte de « piraterie » !  Vrai.  C'était du piratage.  Mais même dans le monde maritime, « turnaround is fair play ».

 Il y a quelques jours à peine, le même gouvernement grec, sous les ordres directs de l'administration Biden, a confisqué un pétrolier iranien dans les eaux territoriales grecques qui aurait transporté une cargaison de pétrole russe.  Le navire iranien a été détenu par les Grecs et sa cargaison déchargée.  Le pétrole a ensuite été transféré à un transporteur américain et expédié aux États-Unis pour aider à atténuer la pénurie de pétrole initiée par Biden et la flambée des prix du pétrole dans ce pays.  Cela ressemble beaucoup au piratage à l'ancienne.  Arrêtez un navire en mer et volez sa cargaison !

 L'administration Biden a entraîné les Grecs dans un acte de piraterie et ils ont obéi docilement.  Aujourd'hui, le gouvernement d'Athènes, ainsi que les armateurs grecs, sont très mécontents de la réponse iranienne et de la perte considérable de deux navires et de leur précieuse cargaison.  Un gouvernement grec plus sage et plus courageux aurait dû se rendre compte qu'il y aurait des « conséquences » de l'Iran.  Mais, comme beaucoup des 26 autres membres de l'UE, ils sont trop faibles économiquement et militairement pour leur propre bien.  Ils ont choisi de se recroqueviller sous le parapluie militaire américain et, par conséquent, ils ne sont pas libres de formuler leur propre politique étrangère.  Ainsi, ils ont tendance à suivre plutôt qu'à diriger. 

 Ce n'est que l'exemple le plus récent du préjudice économique auto-infligé qui est l'une des conséquences pour ceux qui suivraient les États-Unis dans sa politique anti-russe alors que cette nation trébuche vers son propre désastre économique et la Troisième Guerre mondiale dans sa poursuite d'une politique russe imprudente.  .

 L'UE est actuellement confrontée à des pénuries d'essence, de mazout, de gaz naturel et de nourriture en partie générées par la pandémie de Covid, mais intensifiées et exacerbées par leur réponse mal conçue à la guerre en Ukraine.  Les 27 peuvent s'attendre à des pénuries de carburant, à une inflation galopante et à une réduction drastique du PIB.  Tout cela à la suite d'une réponse de «sanctions» intempérante et autodestructrice initiée par l'administration Biden et suivie par le lemming comme par les membres de l'UE.

Et les Grecs ont perdu deux navires et leur cargaison.  Ils peuvent s'attendre à plus de navires détenus et de cargaisons perdues, s'ils continuent à suivre insensément les impératifs intempérants des États-Unis.  Ils sont désormais les grands perdants ayant perdu à la fois le pétrole russe ainsi que deux pétroliers et leur précieux pétrole.

 Alors que les USA sous Joe Biden sont désormais dans la position embarrassante d'encourager la piraterie en haute mer !

GREEK AND IRANIAN “PIRACY”

IRANIAN AND GREEK PIRACY 

MAY 28, 2022

Today we learn that Iran, in an act of retribution,  boarded two Greek tankers in the Persian Gulf, confiscated the vessels, their cargo of oil  and imprisoned the crews.  The Athens government screamed “foul” calling the act “piracy”!  True.  It was piracy.  But even in the maritime world, “turnaround is fair play”.  

Only a few days ago, the very same Greek government, under direct orders from the Biden Administration confiscated an Iranian tanker in Greek territorial waters allegedly carrying a cargo of Russian oil.  The Iranian vessel was detained by the Greeks and its cargo off loaded. The oil was later transferred to an American carrier and shipped to the states to help alleviate the Biden-initiated oil shortage and surging petrol prices in that nation. This sounds very much like old time piracy. Stop a ship at sea, and steal its cargo! 

The Biden Administration inveigled the Greeks into an act of piracy and they meekly obeyed.  Today the Athens government, as well as  Greek ship owners are very unhappy with the Iranian response and their considerable loss of two ships and their valuable cargo.  A wiser, more courageous Greek government should have realized that there would be “consequences” from Iran.  But they, like many of the other 26 members of the EU are too weak economically and militarily for their own good.  They chose to cower under the American military umbrella, and as a result they are not free to formulate their own foreign policy. Thus they  tend to follow rather than lead.  

 

This is only the most recent  example of the self-inflicted economic harm that is one consequence for those who would  follow the USA in its anti-Russian policy as that nation stumbles toward its own economic disaster and WWIII in its pursuit of an unwise Russian policy.  

The EU is presently facing petrol, heating oil, natural gas, and food shortages in part generated by the Covid Pandemic, but intensified and  exacerbated by their ill conceived response to the Ukraine war.  The 27 can expect, fuel shortages, spiraling inflation and a drastic cut to GDP.  All this as a result of intemperate and self-harming “sanctions” response instigated by the Biden Administration and followed lemming like by the EU members.  

And the Greeks have lost two ships and their cargo. They can expect more ships detained and cargos lost, if they continue to senselessly follow intemperate imperatives from the USA.  They are now the big losers having lost  both the Russian oil as well as two tankers and their precious oil. 

While the USA under Joe Biden is now in the embarrassing position of encouraging piracy on the high seas! 

 

BIDEN AND ZELENSKY CREATE WORLD PERIL

EU ON SELF-DESTRUCT PATH IN UKRAINE 

It has been clear for months now that EU political leaders in in Germany, France, Italy and in Brussels have abandoned common sense, economic reality and practical politics as they permit their nations to be dragged into the Ukraine conflict—a foolish, self-destructive foreign policy catastrophe, as well as a new Cold War. This is a military and economic quagmire precipitated by, sustained and expanded by two leaders outside of Europe—in the USA and Ukraine. The EU is being led into deadly peril by two incompetent leaders. 

The political leadership in the USA and Ukraine, acting in collusion, recklessly ignored diplomatic pleas from the Russians, the threats of war, then the build up of troops. They persisted in plans to set up a threatening military outpost of the west on the Russian border.  Rather than responding  diplomatically to defuse this threat, they irresponsibly exacerbated the conflict to advance their own short-term domestic agendas.  In the USA, the Ukraine “war” became for the Biden Administration, a useful distraction to paper over the President’s plummeting polls, and for his misguided “green” policies which initiated a sharp spike in petrol prices and led to a wider, deeper inflationary spiral which threatens stagflation. The conflict also provided a shield for the continual blundering and incompetence of the Biden team.  Biden has instituted ill conceived sanction policies against Russia which are an economic threat to the USA, as well as the world at large.

 In the Ukraine, citizens somehow elected a novice politician, whose only prior “leadership” experience was as a TV actor who “played president” in a popular TV series.  Zelensky does have a notable ability for self-promotion and aggrandizement, but is a rookie-nitwit as a national leader, who ignored, then incited and exacerbated a self-inflicted disastrous conflict, with world-wide economic impact.  Zelensky’s  polices have led to the deaths of thousands of his citizens and created millions of refugees. His nation’s economy and infrastructure are in tatters. He has lost control of maritime ports and a great swath of the eastern portion of his nation.  Valuable Ukrainian exports of grain, fruit, and other produce are no longer possible. The absence of this produce on the world market may cause world food shortages and in fragile third world nations even famine.  

These two derelict leaders, Biden and Zelensky, both on the lower rungs of intelligence and ability,  somehow hoodwinked, more experienced, younger, and wiser EU politicians, with media threats, financial inducements and a coordinated anti-Russian media frenzy which has driven  the world to the brink of a terrible economic disaster and potential nuclear war.  The EU leadership, particularly the PM of Germany, disappointed us all by following lemming like, the urgings of these two incompetent heads of state.  How could the intellectuals, and political sophisticates in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Brussels be so stupid? 

Stop sending weapons which prolong and expand the conflict. Turn to diplomacy.  End this dangerous threat to world conflict now! 

BIDEN UND ZELENSKY: GEFÄHRLICHE FÜHRER

 EU AUF SELBSTZERSTÖRUNGSPFAD IN DER UKRAINE

 Seit Monaten ist klar, dass die politischen Führer der EU in Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien und Brüssel den gesunden Menschenverstand, die wirtschaftliche Realität und die praktische Politik aufgegeben haben, als sie es zugelassen haben, dass sie und ihre Nationen in den Ukraine-Konflikt hineingezogen werden – ein dummes, selbstbewusstes  zerstörerische außenpolitische Katastrophe sowie ein neuer Kalter Krieg.  Dies ist ein militärischer und wirtschaftlicher Sumpf, der von zwei Führern außerhalb Europas – den USA und der Ukraine – ausgelöst, aufrechterhalten und erweitert wurde.  Die EU-Führung wird von zwei Inkompetenten in tödliche Gefahr geführt.

 Die politische Führung in den USA und der Ukraine, die in geheimer Absprache handelte, ignorierte rücksichtslos diplomatische Bitten der Russen, Kriegsdrohungen, dann den Aufbau von Truppen.  Anstatt diplomatisch zu reagieren, um die Bedrohung zu entschärfen, verschärften sie den Konflikt unverantwortlich, um ihre eigenen kurzfristigen innenpolitischen Ziele voranzutreiben.  In den USA wurde der Ukraine-Konflikt für die Biden-Administration zu einer nützlichen Ablenkung, um die abnehmende Popularität des Präsidenten und seine fehlgeleitete „grüne“ Politik zu Papier zu bringen, die gefährliche Sprünge bei den Benzinpreisen auslöste und zu einer breiteren, tieferen Inflation führte.  Der Konflikt bot auch einen Schutzschild für die ständigen Fehler und die Inkompetenz des Biden-Teams.  In der Ukraine haben die Bürger irgendwie einen unerfahrenen Politiker gewählt, dessen einzige vorherige „Führungs“-Erfahrung als Fernsehschauspieler bestand, „der den Präsidenten spielte“ in einer populären Fernsehserie.  Zelensky hat eine bemerkenswerte Fähigkeit zur Selbstherrlichkeit, ist aber als nationaler Führer ein Neuling, der einen selbstverschuldeten katastrophalen Konflikt mit weltweiten wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen ignorierte, dann förderte und verschärfte.  In der Ukraine hat Selenskyjs Polizei den Tod Tausender seiner Bürger verursacht und Millionen von Flüchtlingen geschaffen.  Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur seines Landes liegen in Trümmern.  Er hat die Kontrolle über Seehäfen und einen großen Teil des östlichen Teils seiner Nation verloren.  Exporte von Getreide, Obst und anderen Produkten sind nicht mehr möglich.

 Diese beiden aufgegebenen Führer, Biden und Zelensky, beide auf den unteren Rängen der Intelligenz und Fähigkeiten, irgendwie hinters Licht geführte, erfahrenere, jüngere und klügere EU-Politiker, mit Mediendrohungen, finanziellen Anreizen und einem koordinierten antirussischen Medienrausch, der die getrieben hat  Welt an den Rand einer schrecklichen wirtschaftlichen Katastrophe und eines möglichen Atomkriegs.  Die EU-Führung, insbesondere der deutsche Premierminister, enttäuschte uns alle, indem sie lemmingartig dem Drängen dieser beiden inkompetenten Staatsoberhäupter folgte.  Wie konnten die Intellektuellen und politischen Klugen in Paris, Berlin, Rom und Brüssel nur so dumm sein?

 Beende den Krieg jetzt!

DUE CAPI PERICOLOSI: BIDEN E ZELENSKY

BIDEN E ZELENSKY: LEADER PERICOLOSI

L'UE SUL PERCORSO DI AUTODISTRUZIONE IN UCRAINA

È chiaro da mesi che i leader politici dell'UE in Germania, Francia, Italia e Bruxelles hanno abbandonato il buon senso, la realtà economica e la politica pratica in quanto hanno permesso a se stessi e alle loro nazioni di essere trascinati nel conflitto in Ucraina, una sciocca catastrofe di politica estera autodistruttiva, nonché una nuova guerra fredda. Questo è un pantano militare ed economico precipitato, sostenuto e ampliato da due leader al di fuori dell'Europa: gli Stati Uniti e l'Ucraina. La leadership dell'UE viene messa in pericolo mortale da due incompetenti.

La leadership politica negli Stati Uniti e in Ucraina, agendo in collusione, ha ignorato incautamente le richieste diplomatiche dei russi, le minacce di guerra, quindi l'accumulo di truppe. Piuttosto che rispondere diplomaticamente per disinnescare la minaccia, hanno esacerbato irresponsabilmente il conflitto per far avanzare le proprie agende interne a breve termine. Negli Stati Uniti, il conflitto in Ucraina è diventato per l'amministrazione Biden, un'utile distrazione per la carta per il calo della popolarità del presidente e per le sue politiche "verdi" fuorvianti che hanno avviato pericolosi picchi dei prezzi della benzina e hanno portato a un'inflazione più ampia e profonda. Il conflitto ha anche fornito uno scudo per il continuo errore e incompetenza della squadra Biden. In Ucraina, i cittadini in qualche modo hanno eletto un politico alle prime armi, la cui unica precedente esperienza di "leadership" è stata come attore televisivo "che "ha interpretato il presidente" in una popolare serie TV. Zelensky ha una notevole capacità di autoesaltazione, ma è un principiante come leader nazionale, che ha ignorato, poi promosso ed esacerbato un conflitto disastroso autoinflitto, con un impatto economico mondiale. In Ucraina, le politiche di Zelensky hanno causato la morte di migliaia di suoi cittadini e creato milioni di rifugiati. L'economia e le infrastrutture della sua nazione sono a brandelli. Ha perso il controllo dei porti marittimi e di una vasta parte della parte orientale della sua nazione. Le esportazioni di cereali, frutta e altri prodotti non sono più possibili.

Questi due leader abbandonati, Biden e Zelensky, entrambi sui gradini più bassi dell'intelligence e delle capacità, in qualche modo hanno ingannato, politici dell'UE più esperti, più giovani e più saggi, con minacce dei media, incentivi finanziari e una frenesia coordinata dei media anti-russi che ha spinto il mondo sull'orlo di un terribile disastro economico e di La leadership dell'UE, in particolare il primo ministro tedesco, ci ha deluso tutti seguendo le sollecitazioni di questi due capi di Stato incompetenti. Come potrebbero gli intellettuali e i sofisticati politici a Parigi, Berlino, Roma e Bruxelles essere così stupidi?

Metti fine alla guerra ora!

ENFIN UN PEU BON SENSE SUR L’UKRAINE

23 MAI 2022– DAVOS, SUISSE

 Enfin, un peu de bon sens sur l'Ukraine, venant d'un membre de la « Grande Génération » de 98 ans.

 Henry Kissinger le vieux, ancien combattant, homme d'État américain, diplomate, lauréat du prix Nobel de la paix, actif dans la politique étrangère en tant que secrétaire d'État et conseiller en politique étrangère de 1969 à 1977… a prononcé un discours très nécessaire - "Oncle Henry" - devant le rassemblement d'Européens  dirigeants à DAVOS Suisse hier.  Kissinger a déclaré que la guerre désastreuse en Ukraine devait se terminer rapidement dans les prochains mois.  La Russie est un élément clé de l'Europe depuis 400 ans et ne doit pas être poussée dans les bras des Chinois.  L'Ukraine ne peut pas être un avant-poste militaire de l'ouest.  La stabilité à long terme de l'Europe exige que l'Ukraine reste une « nation frontière » qui doit céder, tant en termes de superficie que de considérations politiques, à certaines exigences russes.

 Il est clair depuis des mois maintenant que les hommes et les femmes d'État soi-disant "progressistes", en Allemagne, en France, en Italie et à Bruxelles, ont abandonné la réalité économique et la politique pratique en se laissant entraîner eux-mêmes et leurs nations dans une politique étrangère monstrueuse,  une catastrophe économique et un bourbier de la guerre froide précipités, soutenus et étendus par les États-Unis et l'Ukraine.

 Les États-Unis et l'Ukraine ont imprudemment ignoré les appels diplomatiques des Russes, les menaces de guerre, puis le renforcement des troupes.  Plutôt que de travailler à désamorcer diplomatiquement la menace, ils ont utilisé et manipulé le conflit de manière dangereuse et irresponsable pour faire avancer leurs propres agendas nationaux.  Aux États-Unis, la guerre d'Ukraine est devenue pour l'administration Biden une distraction utile pour la baisse de popularité du président et pour ses politiques «vertes» qui ont déclenché des flambées des prix du pétrole puis une inflation plus large, ainsi qu'un bouclier contre l'incompétence générale maladroite.  En Ukraine, le peuple a élu un politicien novice, qui souffre de délires d'imperium et dont la seule expérience a été d'être un acteur de télévision "qui a "joué le président"" dans une série télévisée populaire.  Zelensky a un génie notable pour l'auto-glorification, mais c'est un idiot débutant en tant que leader national, qui a promu et exacerbé une guerre meurtrière et un désastre économique mondial.  En Ukraine, la police de Zelensky a causé la mort de milliers d'Ukrainiens et créé des millions de réfugiés.  L'économie et les infrastructures de son pays sont en lambeaux.  Il devrait être mis en accusation et jugé pour faute politique.

 Ces deux dirigeants abandonnés, Biden et Zelensky, tous deux aux échelons inférieurs de l'intelligence et des capacités, ont trompé et dirigé des politiciens européens plus expérimentés, plus jeunes et plus sages, en utilisant des menaces, des incitations financières et une frénésie médiatique anti-russe coordonnée qui a conduit le monde dans  une terrible catastrophe économique et au bord de la guerre nucléaire.  Les dirigeants de l'UE nous ont tous déçus en suivant comme un lemming, les instances de ces deux chefs d'État incompétents.  Comment les intellectuels et les politiciens sophistiqués de Paris, Berlin, Rome et Bruxelles ont-ils pu être si faibles, crédules et malléables ?  Comment ont-ils pu échouer si désespérément dans leur devoir assermenté envers le bien-être de leurs propres citoyens ?

 En ce qui concerne le Congrès américain, je ne peux offrir aucune défense pour leur comportement - où récemment la stupidité est la règle et non l'exception.

 Mais il faut remercier Henry Kissinger - l'adulte de 98 ans dans la salle - pour avoir présenté la terrible réalité de la situation en Ukraine.

KISSINGER ON UKRAINE—“END THIS WAR NOW!”

 MAY 23, 2022– DAVOS, SWITZERLAND

Finally, some common sense on Ukraine, coming from a 98 year old member of the “Great Generation”.  

Henry Kissinger the elderly, veteran, US statesman, diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, active in foreign policy as Secretary of State, and Foreign Policy Advisor 1969-1977 …gave a much needed- “Uncle Henry”—speech to the gathering of European leaders in DAVOS Switzerland yesterday.  Kissinger stated that the disastrous War in Ukraine must end quickly in the next few months.  Russia has been a key element of Europe for 400 years and must not be driven into the arms of the Chinese. Ukraine can not be a military outpost of the west. Long term stability for Europe, requires that Ukraine remain as a “boundary nation” which must give in, both in terms of land area and political considerations to certain Russian demands. 

It has been clear for months now that the so-called “progressive” statesmen and women, in Germany, France, Italy and Brussels have abandoned economic reality and practical politics as they permitted themselves and their nations to be dragged into a monstrous foreign policy, an economic catastrophe, and a Cold War quagmire precipitated by, sustained and expanded by the USA and Ukraine. 

Both the USA and Ukraine, recklessly ignored the diplomatic pleas from the Russians, the threats of war, then the build up of troops. Rather than work to diplomatically defuse the threat, they  dangerously and irresponsibly used and manipulated the conflict to advance their own domestic agendas.  In the USA, the Ukraine War became for the Biden Administration, a useful distraction for the President’s falling popularity, and for his“green” policies which initiated spikes in petrol prices and then wider inflation, as well as a shield for the general blundering incompetence of the Biden team.  In the Ukraine, the people elected a novice politician, who suffers from delusions of imperium and whose only experience was as a TV actor “who ‘played president’” in a popular TV series. Zelensky does have a notable genius for self-aggrandizement, but is a rookie-nitwit as a national leader, who promoted and exacerbated a deadly war, and a world wide economic a disaster.  In the Ukraine, Zelensky’s  polices have caused the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians and created millions of refugees. His nation’s economy and infrastructure are in tatters. He should be impeached and tried for political malpractice. 

These two derelict leaders, Biden and Zelensky, both on the lower rungs of intelligence and ability,  hoodwinked and led more experienced, younger, and wiser EU politicians, using threats, financial inducements and a coordinated anti-Russian media frenzy which drove the world into a terrible economic disaster and to the brink of nuclear war.  The EU leadership disappointed us all by following lemming like, the urgings of these two incompetent heads of state.  How could the intellectuals, and political sophisticates in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Brussels be so weak, gullible and malleable?  How could they so desperately fail in their sworn duty to the welfare of their own citizens?

In regard to the US Congress I can offer no defense for their behavior—where recently stupidity is the rule not the exception. 

But one must thank Henry Kissinger—the 98 year old adult in the room—for presenting the actual dire reality of the Ukraine situation.

LOL NYC MAYOR ADAMS DREAMS OF RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

News: May 22, 2022.  Another death in the City. A senseless random shooting again.  A middle aged man riding on the Q train coming into NYC for lunch in mid town is shot and killed by an unknown gunman on the subway.

And this appears too:

Newly elected Mayor Adams has been “toying” with the idea of running for President. What hutzpah!   

With President Biden’s poll numbers in the basement, and a concerned and fearful nation watching anxiously as again and again the gaff-prone- and elderly Biden shuffles across the stage making tough sounding statements, but which are quickly walked back, denied or retracted by the  “White House” as another “misstatement”.   I suspect that politicians, in any elected office, even novice-mayor Adams,  just assume  that “they” could do better than Biden.  

But Adams —“the candidate who was going to get tough on crime”—has generated little more than “tough talk”. He has operated so far as a highly visible  but “do little Mayor” who for all of his five months, has played footsie with the radical-progressive  ideologues in Albany who from their ivory tower make life difficult and dangerous for what they see as the grubby downstate city dwellers.

Adam’s fantasy about running for President would be laughable if it were not so frighteningly revealing about the Mayor’s thought processes and state of mind.  Is he really cognizant of the awful plight of the citizens who must get to work, or  how frightening the crime situation is?  Or is the mayor at his half year point just realizing how daunting the job is?  And in a state of self delusion has drifted into some future fantasy world where his inflated concept of his own abilities actually match the demands made on them?  

Or has he come to realize that to actually succeed in NYC at lowering the surging violence and a crime rate, now topping the 40% mark, is going to take a great deal more than the bluster, the —circus act—he has been performing so far.  It will take real tough talk.. 

Adams has to get tough with Albany’s entrenched progressives to pull out a win. He must push his puny weight around a great deal more than he has so far— to be a success.  But that may mean making political enemies on the left.  Is that “off his route” for “pipe dreaming’ Adams?  A mayor who is thinking about higher office after only five months, might be looking too far over the horizon for the well being or survival of the great old City. 

Get tough Mayor Adams!  Or are you and your pipe dreams are toast, and will take the city down with you.   

A City where folks can ride the subway to work or come to town and go to lunch in mid-town without getting shot…that might be part of a national platform for a former Mayor…who knows?

USA ABANDONS MERITOCRACY —RESULT: KAKISTOCRACY

 SUBSTITUTING ABILITY, COMPETENCE AND EXPERIENCE FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION: 

RESULT: = DYSFUNCTIONAL GOVERNMENΤ— KAKISTOCRACY

One need not be a PhD from Harvard or Yale (of the 1950s) to discern the problems we are facing across this nation: a government of incompetents, out of its depth, unable or unwilling to control the rampant crime, sky rocketing inflation, wide open border, avoidable foreign policy disasters, emerging fears of nuclear war, racial tensions, disrespect for government and its institutions, lack of confidence in elections and their legitimacy.  

How did we get here? 

In the early part of the last century, the USA was still controlled by an hereditary class of early European, Dutch, English, German settlers who, more than a century earlier, had  immigrated into a young nation, established themselves in business, industry, banking and government and prospered in its capitalistic system. These folks formed an elite which held on to economic and political power and created a nepotistic, hereditary economic “aristocracy”.  Even as late as the 1950s our elite universities acted as the “finishing schools” for the scions of the upper crust dynastic elites such as the: Roosevelts, DuPonts, Rockefellers, Mellons and others.  Entry for working class and middle class citizens to these bastions of advancement into wealth and power was limited or non existent.  Government competency in hereditary systems is random— a hit or miss proposition.  Heredity on occasion produces competent leaders, but just as frequently—incompetent ones. So only half the time our ancestors may have had competent government. We survived.  

Population  growth, expansion of the economy, as well as technological advances, and simple need for more and better trained workers, bankers, lawyers, physicians and scientists  forced the hereditary elites (for their own advantage) to open the educational doors of higher institutions and other opportunities to a wider element in society. Then too the social upheaval and cultural turmoil caused by WW II, and the financial growth of the second half of the 20^th Century ushered in vast social changes favoring the installation of a meritocratic system that replaced the inequality and inefficiency of an hereditary aristocracy of former times.  

This new system was based on merit.  In business, education, government and the portals of power it awarded access solely on competency —the best person for the position, the most qualified to fill the job, the seat in class, the legislature, or on the board of directors.  

In a system in which performance is prioritized, and advancement is based only on performance, there are no racial, gender, sex orientation, age, or ethnic factors considered….only skill, work-ethic, timeliness, and dependability..  Meritocracy in the USA helped to create the wealth, technological advancements and incredible innovations of the latter part of the last century.  

But in the last several decades—meritocracy has fallen out of favor.  Perhaps it was just too successful.  To some, the great advances in national wealth, prestige, citizen health, longevity, science, medical and technological advances simply did not reach into every corner of the nation or meet their exacting standards.  Some complained that it did not provide equal wealth to all. 

No, the merit system is not, and was not, perfect.  Inequality, existed, as it would in any social system. Would less inequality exist in a system of socialism or communism?  Those systems collapsed in the last decades because, though they did share their meager profits equally, but were incapable of providing basic needs for their citizens. 

In a meritocracy where jobs and positions of authority are filled by those who are most competent, who work hard, who arrive on time and who strive for excellence —the trains run on time, the court system works, justice is served, police protect the innocent and arrest the guilty, citizens can pursue their business and their pleasures peacefully and safely. Society functions. People have jobs and go to work.  Our most threatening and dangerous foreign competitor: China, functions as a meritocratic society. 

   

When our nation gave up awarding its jobs, filling its seats in university, electing its office holders and business leaders based on their competency, ability and experience—and instead turned to substituting a policy based on externals such as a candidate’s  xx or xy chromosomes, sexual orientation, or sub-dermal concentrations of melanin, competency suffers.  When nations ignore merit and ability, and posit factors unrelated to function, they negate competency.  In fact, while the old nepotistic system we had in the early years of the past century —based on heredity- provided a fifty-fifty, hit-or-miss  level of competency, our present system is worse.  It purposely selects for externals unrelated to ability or competency.   In a national system which ignores merit and competency and focuses on diversity, inclusion and equity, outcomes favor  incompetence, lack of experience, poor performance and  —dysfunctionality

The present system is a kakistocracy—a government populated by the  least suitable or competent citizens.  As such, our government poorly serves all of our diverse citizens, and as well has created a nation vulnerable to our powerful foreign enemies not hobbled by our impractical, exotic, social theories. 

BIDEN’S “NEW COLD WAR”

 BIDEN’S WAR 

“Those hypocrites  who claim a “moral imperative” to aid Ukraine, send weapons, then sit at home safely and watch as Ukrainians die.”

President Joe Biden created an economic and domestic disaster at home causing  a southern border “stampede” of one million illegals; a national surge of murder, violence and lawlessness; “defund the police”; gas at the pump rising more than 100%; an end to the nation’s energy self- sufficiency with misguided “green” policies;  an unprecedented 8.5% inflation rate, and wrecking the booming economy of the previous administration, to the point of stagflation and recession. Not satisfied with his domestic malfeasance, he turned his attention to foreign policy where he doubled down on the colossal disaster in Afghanistan, by turning his incompetence and that of his cabinet on to the  innocent victims in the Ukraine.    

President Biden, mumbled and stumbled into a proxy war in the Ukraine. He paid no attention to the valid pleas of Vladimir Putin who warned that Russia viewed the  expansion of NATO into Ukraine as an existential  threat to his homeland.   Then he ignored repeated opportunities  to deescalate the situation.  The President shunned the opportunity for meetings and communications  with Putin to discuss the issue of NATO expansion.  He left the efforts for diplomacy to minor players, such as well-meaning President Macron in France, when he should have been in the lead.  Instead of focusing on peace, he continued arming the Ukraine. 

Not able to make Ukraine a NATO member—instead,  he created a heavily armed and threatening (to Russia) military outpost  for western expansion to the east.  Then, as events heated up, he sat on his hands with no intention or plans of avoiding the obvious and troubling signs of an imminent, disastrous war in central Europe.  Instead of seeking diplomatic solutions, he encouraged and supported military resistance in Ukraine which clearly would end badly for all. 

Like giving brass knuckles to a frail grandmother. then encouraging her to go ahead and “take on the village bully”, Biden, armed the Ukraine, setting it up for carnage.  He provided weapons, ammo, and critical intelligence to the Ukrainians, as he helped initiate a very dangerous “proxy war” with nuclear-armed Russia that had no possibility of a positive outcome for anyone certainly not for the USA or for Ukraine.  His actions increased the possibility of nuclear exchange. His efforts foolishly increased the intensity, the loss of life, the possibility for nuclear exchange and an expanded and prolonged the war.  But no one knows why we doing this? Who profits? Hunter?

Sadly, President Biden had a willing partner in this stupidity, in the form of a similarly incompetent leader: Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, a former TV comic and actor who “played” the role of “President of Ukraine” in a popular TV series. Zelensky apparently suffers from narcissism, unknown delusions, a Napoleon complex, and  hero syndrome, who, for his own self-aggrandizement, led his nation into a disastrous, deadly, no-win calamitous war.  

Mr. Putin acted as the brutal bully,  but, it was Mr Zelensky who had the opportunity to save his nation from disaster,  but chose not to.  This act of stupidity generated  5 million Ukrainian refugees and many more displaced persons within the Ukraine.  His decisions senselessly sacrificed the lives of countless Ukrainian men, women and children, the destruction of homes, urban centers, the bombing and devastation of businesses, manufacturing centers and critical infrastructure of his nation.  

This man has been touted as a hero, but in reality is a danger to himself, to Ukraine and the world at large.  A wiser, more confident and capable leader could have salvaged the honor, integrity and independent status of the Ukraine, prevented the invasion, and avoided the horrible death, destruction and carnage by simply assuring Putin of his intention to shun NATO and remain a neutral nation. 

The Ukrainians fought bravely. And with the distinct advantage of USA high tech weapons and pinpoint intelligence data, they were able to stall the Russian advance. But at what cost?  Tens of thousands killed on both sides, billions of dollars of damage to infrastructure, business and agriculture.  The fallout of the war and the Cold War that emerged is a horror of sanctions and counter sanctions and have taken a terrible economic toll and will negatively impact the world economy. Then too there is a real threat of nuclear war.  Those hypocrites  who claim a “moral imperative” to aid Ukraine, send weapons, then sit at home safely and watch as Ukrainians die. 

President Biden, as he did in Afghanistan, did not think through the wide-reaching economic effects of his ‘New Cold War’ and his proxy war and sanctions on Russia. He did not foresee the impact of war on Europe, its economy, and the economy of the USA  and the rest of the world. The war in the Ukraine  has restricted banking,  international trade, petroleum and natural gas availability, critical supplies of commodities and food products. There is a developing crisis resulting from the shortage of critical fertilizer. This will impact world agriculture. More than one eighth of the world’s population  (almost one billon people) are food stressed and go to bed hungry each night.  Food shortages will occur.  

It appears there is now no easy off ramp for the combatants, and their supporters.  The war may last months or years.  It is the Ukrainians and the world’s poor people who will suffer horribly from Biden’s “New Cold War”. 

NEW GLACIAL AGE: DID WE STALL IT WITH CO2?

 EARTH IS SLATED FOR A NEW “GLACIAL AGE”, HAS HUMAN CO2 WASTE STALLED IT?

The popular view of the Earth is that of a static unchanging “rocky planet”.  That is an erroneous perception. It is a dynamic  almost “living organism” which is in constant change and adaptation and still in the grip of its most recent glacial epoch. Yes the Earth remains in an Ice Age, not a simple cold spell—but many alternating periods of cold and expanding glaciers, followed by warm periods of glacial retreat.  Similar ice ages occurred in the Earth’s distant past.  The earliest known Ice Age dates from about 2 billion years ago, another at 800 million years ago, one at 460 million years ago, another 360 million years ago, and our most recent, beginning 2.6 million years ago. 

In this most recent Ice Age of the last three million years, the Earth has been subject to multiple advances and retreats of immense ice sheets.  These “continental glaciers” formed when snow accumulated year after year  and packed down to form continental-wide ice masses 3.5 kilometers (@2.2miles) thick which eventually spread out to cover all of Canada, and more than a third of the USA, as well as a similar area in Europe and Russia.  In the last 2.6 million years there have been at least 24 distinct, identifiable glacial advances and retreats with an average period (advance and retreat) of about 100,000 years each.  During that nearly three million period, scientists were able to identify at least four “interglacials” or warmer periods which were similar in temperature and other characteristics to our present day warm climate. So this present day warm spell —occurring over the last 15,000 years —is only a “warm break” in the mostly ice-dominated chilly period with alternating warm spells of the last three million years.

Our most recent ice age or Last Glacial Maximum (LGM),  began about 33 thousand years ago (33 kya), peaked at about 26-27 kya  and ended about 15 kya.  At its maximum extent,  ice covered more than a third of the USA under a sheet of ice more than 2 miles thick (max 3500 m).  In  North America a wide blanket of ice one to two miles thick covered most of eastern Canada, the USA from Maine to Manhattan, then west to northern Ohio and northern Indiana,  northern Illinois, northwest though the eastern half of North Dakota and then north into western Canada. Similar ice sheets covered Europe and Russia.  By 21,000 years ago the average global temperature had fallen to about 46F (or about about 6 C or (11 F) colder than at present)  See: “Last glacial Maximum”, Wikipedia, DL: May 1 2022)

But the glacial age was not just colder. During this last glacial maximum the world’s climate was drier too.  As the glacier advanced it tied up water in the form of solid ice that would have normally flowed back into the world ocean. Large expanses of permanent ice-cover helped reflect sunlight and induced a “feedback loop”which fostered cooler temperatures due to the fact that ice covered areas reflect sunlight very effectively. As snow cover expanded it caused temperatures to fall.  With moisture remaining in the solid state on land— ocean levels fell and were as much as 125 meters ( 410 feet lower) at the maximum extent of the ice.  Wide expanses of the continental shelves presently under seawater were exposed during the LGM.  In many places around the world, “land bridges” formed between continents or parts of continents formerly separated by deep water. (These were famously used by human migrants to populate areas formerly inaccessible to them—i.e. Australia, North and South America).  In many places the scarcity of atmospheric moisture caused droughts and produced desert like conditions with only sparse vegetative cover.  The steep variations in temperature and pressure along the glacial fronts also produced strong winds.  These winds lofted fine mineral matter or mineral dust into the atmosphere, as much as 25% more dust occurred during these times based or core evidences.  The higher concentrations of dust in the air also reduced incident solar radiation and also acted to cool  the Earth. 

Then,  beginning about 15,000 years ago (the cause or reason is not certain) the great ice sheets began to “retreat” or melt faster than they were formed. That event initiated the present “interglacial” or warm period. Temperatures increased, wind calmed down, sea level rose , air moisture increased, forests expanded northward as the ice retreated. Many lakes were formed in the wake of the retreating ice. An altered landscape was left as the ice melted back and deposited masses of rock and mineral debris into a wide array of glacial landforms.

  

Based on scientific data from the past, at the present time, we should expect, as this interglacial ends, the beginning of another glacial advance or cooling period. The onset of conditions which favor snow accumulating in northern regions where it is too cool to melt away during the summer.  So that the next winter’s snow builds on the previous season’s accumulation. In time the snow should pack down into ice and accumulate to great thickness to eventually form ice masses thick enough to expand and spread into a new glacial advance. The data of twenty-four previous glacial advances from our past supports such a future.

The Earth’s  past history seems to support this prediction.  But so far we have seen no evidence of the snow accumulation process—or the cooling.  In fact the Earth’s temperatures have been rising. Could it be that human activities—the dumping of massive amounts of CO2 gas—as a waste product of burning fossil fuels —has resulted in keeping the Earth warm enough to avoid a new ice age?  

Have we dodged a “glacial bullet”?  Have we humans avoided one terrible consequence—a new ice age,  and instigated another, a terrible heat wave and drought?  

Nature is often more complex than it seems. And the Earth is a not a simple rocky sphere, but a dynamic  body reacting to change …But time will tell.