Memo to Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, 20 et al.
"There has been an accepted agreement since the Second World War that territory conquered by force is not legitimate. And that principle is being breached." -- Margaret MacMillan
Attempting to find logic in the proclamations of Donald Trump (a.k.a. the Don) is like punching fog.
His lackey with the paper thin résumé, U.S, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, announced that Ukraine will not see the return of land stolen by the Don's accomplice Vladimir Putin. The little man in Russia dreams of restoring Russia’s borders to those of czarist Russia or the Soviet Union which included now independent Ukraine and other sovereign states.
Hegseth went on to say that Ukraine will not be permitted to join NATO. That’s curious as the Don has hinted at a U.S. exit from the alliance of (mostly) democratic nations. The notable exception here is Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. This tin pot authoritarian has described the Don’s dismantling of USAID, the U.S. Agency that delivered humanitarian assistance overseas, as a "cleansing wind."
Displaying abominable ignorance of Nazi history and English appeasement, Hegseth said that any peace deal must come with “robust security guarantees” of American-negotiated borders between Russia and Ukraine. Where did Trump get the sole right to define borders and negotiate them with the evil doer? The expanded Russian border into Ukraine, favoured by the Don, invites the likelihood of a follow-up Russian invasion deeper into its neighbour’s land. Equally appalling is the Don’s negotiating with only aggressor in the current war. That’s tantamount to a victim of a robbery being ordered to eave open the door to the thief who has already stolen some of the property.
For his efforts in all this, the Don wants a number of things besides respect. In return for $70 billion in U.S. military aid already given by earlier American governments, he demands $500 billion in minerals from Ukrainian soil. Given the Don’s unquenchable thirst for adulation, he believes his obstructive efforts deserve the Nobel Peace Prize and his likeness carved into Mount Rushmore.
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The Don has indulged in further mischief at his southern border. Without neighbourly consultation with Mexico, Cuba or other interested parties, he changed Gulf of Mexico into Gulf of America. In the misleading map published with the purported name change, the waters in question are shown as extending from Texas to Florida, less than half the gulf's actual dimensions. Does he deem this an extension of U.S. territory? Will he rename Greenland, Panama or Gaza and claim ownership?
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Following a telephone conversation between the Don and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a Kremlin spokesperson said that his boss "emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a settlement could be achieved through peace talks." It was Putin's dream of restored czarist borders that was the root cause to motivate the little man to invade his neighbour. What's in it for the Don? A Moscow hotel site or a resort next to Putin's $1.4 billion palace on the Black Sea? The reason he wants to exclude Ukraine and the rest of Europe from the negotiations is his fear that their presence might muddle his quest for the Peace prize.
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I do not believe the U.S. military would obey an order from the Don to invade Canada. The military has a history of respect for the Constitution and rule of law. It would be illegal to invade Canada or Greenland or Panama. The Don may disagree.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called to congratulate President-Elect Donald Trump. How fortunate the owner of Starlink, Elon Musk, happened at that moment to be with Trump who handed him the phone. Starlink is essential to Ukraine's defence efforts against Russia's illegal invasion. The call turned into a bold-faced threat -- give in to Russian demands, or else.
This farce was motivated by Trump's unquenchable thirst for adulation. Should Zelensky cede any Ukrainian land and the war ends, Trump will claim all the credit. He lusts after the Nobel Peace Prize. For it, Trump would betray any "shithole country" -- his words for nations that refuse consent to his demands.
"Some of the movements that sprang from this longing were evil. Some people believed that they could impose order on an unruly society through bogus race science and white supremacy. This was the era of lynching and racial terrorism." That's New York Times columnist David Brooks speaking of a time in U.S. history.
Much of what Brooks said echoes the earlier evil of late eighteenth century France. In the Reign of Terror, the revolutionaries believed that science would cleanse the nation of social evil. Those not in favour of the Revolution were summarily executed--about three thousand in Paris alone and tens of thousands more across the nation.
In both cases, wholesale killing was done in the name of public safety.
The ultimate in state killing echoed in twentieth century Germany. Despotic Adolf Hitler called his version of public safety "a new world order". Science was very much involved in the slaughter of millions of Jews, intellectuals and others who failed to adhere to the Nazi line.
Truly "history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." History also has a strange echo. I'm thinking of fully blown despots Vladimir Putin of Russia and China's Xi Jinping. And among the world's punk despots we have Hungary's Victor Orban and supremely so Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Echoes will always be with us.
In today's news, wannabe Russian czar Vladimir Putin has objected to a Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory calling it a provocation. To what exactly? He calls his intrusion into Ukraine a military operation The war of words continues.
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On the 79th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many still seem unsure why it was necessary. At that time, there was talk of Operation Coronet -- the invasion of Japan in March 1946. In his memoirs U.S. President Harry Truman refused to answer why he approved the bombing. Here's my theory, likely copied from some other source.
Everyone knew World War Two was virtually won. In Europe, the repatriation of Allied troops had already begun. Meanwhile, the U.S.S.R. maintained its military numbering tens of millions, a force strong enough to resume its western march to occupy all Europe.
Truman's decision was a message to Russia not to budge from the Europe they already occupied. Had they not heeded the message, it is not difficult to imagine the next nuclear target.
Time was that when you entered a grocery store you walked up to a counter. A clerk greeted you and asked what you needed today. As you read your list, said clerk went about the store gathering your needed items. He totaled your purchases, placed your money in a cash register and gave you the change and a receipt. The clerk placed your purchases in the required number of paper bags.
You then headed for the meat counter where various types of meat where displayed. If you wanted a half a pound of hamburger, that's the exact amount the clerk gave you. If you wanted a roast of a certain weight, and none that size was in the counter, he asked the butcher to cut one of approximately the required size, And after all this the grocer made a profit.
When the supermarket arrived, you did the gathering of your groceries using a basket. Then came the cart. Meat came pre-packaged. If only pounds of hamburger were on display, or none at all, pity. Take it or leave whatever an anonymous person has put on display. On the decreasing number of cases where a meat counter exists, the prohibitive prices tell you to return to the prepackaged section.
You placed your purchases in the basket or cart and joined the line at the check-out counter. The cashier rang up the cost while an assistant placed your purchases in paper, later in plastic, bags, and still later, imitation cloth bags. And you must ask for a receipt. The grocer made a still greater profit.
The cashier's assistant has disappeared. You are expected to package you own purchases not with bags supplied by the grocer, but your own. Or the cashier will sell you a bag for which the grocer makes an indecently high profit.
The system will next require you to register by inserting your credit card in a device at the entrance. There will be an entrance charge. The need be no cashiers or clerks. The grocer's profit will be immoral.
Eating contests exist while others in the community barely survive on minimal rations. In the U.S. people gain notoriety for downing hot dogs by the dozen while Toronto has a pasta eating contest.
And my city recently hosted a get-together for skin doodlers self-styled "tattoo artists". Beautiful bodies submit to questionable art. Once age takes hold, all that colourful "art" will hang on flabby flesh and bony limbs. It's the only "art show" that requires the approval of Public Health officials ensuring the health and safety of the misguided who pay big money for the mutilation of their bodies.
And there has been a get-together of motorcyclists. What have we missed in our lives other that the noise of mufflers and the smell of exhaust fumes? Should I ever encounter such a enthusiast, I would ask a question: If someone should market a machine identical to your bike other then it was totally silent, would you buy it?
Some people revel in noise. Years ago the battlefield weapon of choice was the lumbering mussel-loading cannon. In time, the breach-loading gun with its rifled barrel appeared. Old-timers appreciated the lighter weight and the improved accuracy. Their complaint was that it was not as loud its predecessor. That's how the noiseless motorcycle would be received.
Creative inspiration in the arts may have come from a source beyond the human.
When asked the meaning of one of his poems, Robert Browning replied, "When I composed that poem only God and I knew what it meant. Now, only God knows." That is not as bad as it sounds. Artists offer messages, and messengers need not know the full import of their messages.
With reference to St. Peter's dome by Michelangelo, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "He builded better than he knew." The many messages of Buonarotti's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contain messages unintended by the artist.
We should not feel the need to ask the meaning or source of an artist's creativity. Enjoy the work for what it says to you.
China’s top diplomat is meeting with his counterparts from five Muslim countries saying his country would work with “our brothers and sisters” to try to end the war in Gaza. There is no mention of weapons but it is reasonable to assume it topped the agenda. The brutal war gives China another opportunity to destabilize another region.
A Toronto firefighter has taken the Fire Department to the Human Rights Tribunal. His grievances are the usual complaints of an aggrieved homosexual. Suffice it to say the list was drawn up by a lawyer with the usual boilerplate complaints.
My
grievance is that the Toronto Star presents them in disgusting detail, and
covers its tracks by
Fortunately not all of our political leaders are stupid but here are two.
Pouting Vladimir Putin, still sucking his finger, continues his rampage against Ukraine. He uses prison inmates, mercenaries and conscripts in the war against his neighbour. Facing a continued shortfall in troops, he is now recruiting Ukrainian prisoners of war to help carry on his ill-fated invasion. Such behaviour offends decency as well as the Geneva Conventions, two things knowledge of with he appears devoid.
Political silliness also comes in a domestic package. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has agreed to join discredited American political commentator Tucker Carlson. In January, she will appear on stage with him in front of an audience who will pay from $224 to $442 to witness the mischief those two will generate. It would be offensive, I hope illegal, should Smith profit financially from this event.
Carlton is of the mentality of people who believe Donald Trump won the last U.S. election. He would also like to see American troops invade Canada to free us from Justine Trudeau. That man has earned millions by spouting similar nonsense in his country. It does make us question the mental reserves of some people.
Smith is of that mentality that claims, against all evidence to the contrary, that Alberta is being short-changed by the Canada Pension Plan. Fortunately, polls show that a majority of Albertans disagree with her.
Czar wannabe Vladimir Putin, whom one can only picture as a pouting little boy in short pants, is in the market for weapons to bolster his failing effort in Ukraine.
To that end, he is meeting with neighbouring tin-pot dictator, North Korean leader of people starving in the dark, Kim Jong Un. Travelling with him in his personal green and yellow armoured train is an entourage of toadies and boot-lickers so necessary for his type of government.
Strange it is that traditionally the beggar with cap in hand visits the country of the provider. Putin's official dinner for Kim might overcome that miscue. The visitors, I suspect, still packed an extra lunch lest the Russian economy collapses while they're in town.
When he meets murderous Un, murderous Putin will be smiling and gracious. Unconfirmed is whether he will be on his knees to better kiss all the appropriate places. However, it is to be hoped he will not need to endure the ultimate humiliation by expressing admiration for Un's hair style; it would be a sure-fire deal-clincher.
The newspapers have been agog lately over the death of journalist Peter Newman. Curious it is that all comments, reminiscences and obituaries were by writers with journalistic background. And not one word from historians who on occasion took issue with Newman's treatment of historical events.
Were none asked to comment on Newman's passing? One such University of Toronto history professor, the late Michael Bliss, author of two dozen books on Canadian personalities and events, expressed opinions on Newman's approach to history, opinions contrary to the journalist's liking.
Newman's reaction was the lowest form of argumentation: the personal ad hominem reply, a hoary and unimaginative pun on the historian's name.
Could it be that Prof. Bliss did not care to see "facts dance" as Newman told his helpers to produce but preferred the academic approach to history?
There is still time for the common media to elicit professional comment on possibly contrary interpretation of events in our history. Balanced reportage is the motto, is it not?
A few days ago, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was caught pumping money into the pockets of his real estate friends. In his defence, he again placed himself on the side of the angels claiming he was unaware of all this which involved billions of dollars. Today, he awaits the return from a holiday Ryan Amato the chief of staff of one of Ford's cabinet ministers who was apparently involved in all this. I predict he will be thrown under the bus and folksy Ford again try to distance himself from a problem of his own making.
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"Survivors tell harrowing tale" reads the headline of the latest disaster of people wishing to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. Surely it's apparent to Italian authorities that it's organized crime that sells leaky boats to wouldbe migrants, often to their death. Has the Italian government posted spies in North Africa to monitor the behaviour of these criminals?
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"Investors off-load condos as rates increase" reads the headline. These investors made this decision before the announcement that Taylor Swift would perform in Toronto in fifteen months. Therefore I wonder how many investors will pull the condo from the market until after Swift's appearance in Toronto. One hotel has already announced their current overnight rate for November of $460 will be $917 during Swift's November visit next year. Let's give a cheer for the glory of capitalism.
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Thoughts on Nuclear Warfare
In August 1945, the United States unleashed the fury of two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. The question is raised: would it have been equally effective had the first bomb been dropped at sea, say twenty miles to the east of Tokyo and a second ten miles miles from the capital city. Such a display of strength, and impending doom, would have been sufficient to produce the desired surrender. This seemingly reasonable approach, however, misses the crucial point.
By August, the war in Europe had ended three months earlier. Most of the allied troops were back home. Russia, on the other hand, maintained its force of millions of troops. Had Russian leader, Josef Stalin, so wished, he could have, with minimal opposition, occupied the entire continent. There was no force strong enough to restrain him. Or was there such a force?
My thought is that U.S. President Harry Truman had to create more than a display of strength. He had to prove his resolve to drop the bomb on a Russian city should that massive army continue its westward march.
Of relevance today is the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin introducing nuclear weapons into his war with Ukraine. I trust a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine has in its sights Putin's summer palace on the Black Sea coast. Its destruction would make him worry about explosion number two.
Time was that when you entered a grocery store you approached a counter. A clerk greeted you and asked what you needed today. As you read your list, the clerk went about the store gathering your need items. The clerk entered your purchases and put your money in the cash register. The clerk then placed the groceries in the required number of paper bags.
With the continued bombing of residential areas in Ukraine, that murderous fellow in the Kremlin sends two messages.
The first to the free people of Ukraine telling them to rise up against their government and demand an end to the war.
With the second message, Putin warns the oppressed people of Russia that reprisals on the scale of their neighbour's bombing will occur to them should they rise up against him.
The world (at least the civilized part) hopes the reverse of both messages will come to pass, and soon.
The personalities of Russia's President Putin and Ukraine's President Zelenskyy are described in Ecclesiasticus, a book of the Apocrypha, where we read in Chapter One, "The furious man cannot be justified."
What better description of a wee man intent on destroying another's country? His rage was heightened by the recent damage to his showpiece bridge. To give vent to his fury, he is currently sending against innocent Ukrainian civilians suicide drones purchased from Iran (whose sclerotic leadership has problems of its own).
Putin takes his cues from the playbook of Adolf Hitler while his personality is described in the Bible. The behaviour of this wee man is nothing new; the wicked have been in a rage for millenia. The world awaits the "sway of his fury" to bring about his destruction.
Ecclesiasticus then tells us: "The patient man will hold out till the time comes," but he "will tear for a time." The world stands amazed at the cool presence of besieged leader Zelenskyy and his ability to communicate so succinctly to the world.
Both leaders are of a type. We pray for the weight of the wee man's rage to do its work in the near future and for the patient man to hold on so that "his joy will break out in the end."
