[Michael F]

This article is long-winded and digressive, but there’s some thought-worthy nuggets in it, such as this:

Oligarchy Trump Style

Oligarchy, the rule of the few, is the problem we are facing – not fascism. Trump is no fascist, not even a “friendly fascist,” as Ronald Reagan was sometimes said to be.

For one thing, he has no coherent political vision, fascist or otherwise; for another, he lacks the stature of a true fascist leader. Calling the Donald a fascist actually demeans fascism. This might seem like a good thing to do. But the description is anachronistic, and things are what they are. It would be foolish to trade off clarity for a dubious rhetorical advantage.

It is true, though, that Trump is a magnet for the kinds of people who, in the right circumstances, become fascists; social psychologists call them “authoritarian personalities.”

The description applies, however, only to a subset of Trump voters. Most of them were not so much voting for Trump as against Clinton and, insofar as they understood what she represented, against Clintonism – against the neoliberal turn, against liberal (“humanitarian”) imperialism, and against America’s perpetual war machine.

***

Trump’s escalation of violence in the Middle East -- likely to be epically counterproductive, as usual – and his budget proposals might cause a little buyer’s remorse for anyone thinking he'd rein in America’s perpetual war party.

[Nigel Mace]

I have been stunned by the total silence on this thread.

Trump has impetuously and clearly illegally launched missle strikes on a sovereign state - and one which is currently being actively supported by its Russian ally's armed forces. The evasion of a direct clash relied upon the kind of margin on which the security of a civilised world should not have to depend. The attacked state's heinous wrong-doing is strenuously alleged but so far unproven and there has been no legal cover given to Trump's actions by the UN.

I now see reports of his sending a carrier and missle squadron, described even by the BBC as a "naval strike group", towards the North Korean peninsula - and nobody - nobody here is commenting! I remember very vividly the atmosphere as the Cuban missile crisis moved towards it last two days and I never wanted to feel such apprehension again - but that would seem to be the potential of what Trump is now building.

Having said the which, it behoves people on this side of the pond to remember that this spiralling anarchy of armed big powers and their surrogates is the world that Blair, from Kosovo onwards, did so much to create. Should any of you wonder about the link between this post and my enthusiasm for Scotland's independence, just examine the proximity of the nuclear base at Faslane and its immediate missile-storing hinterland to Glasgow and the other major centres of population in my country (and I don't mean the UK). The removal of all such weapons from Scotland's territory was always, and remains, one of the principal objectives of the SNP and of the wider independence movement.

[Michael F]

Nigel,

Maybe I’m just tired after two days of travel, and I have a horrible cold, but I feel almost out of words.

Plus ça change… We’ve been bombing foreign countries pretty much my entire life. The Washington DC elite is pleased. The Saudis and Israelis are pleased. CNN has a hot story. Trump looks ‘presidential’. What’s the point of spending $750 billion a year on planes and ships and bombs and sh*t, if you’re not going to use them? Raytheon and McDonnell Douglas are hungry and must be fed.

Then we can’t fathom why North Korea thinks it needs nukes.

I should go back to bed.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

It is hard to know what to say, Nigel. This is a circle of pigs. Still reading and following the trails.

I did get see this public note from a Kurdish woman who I respect today:

"Who is responsible for Idlib? Assad? Russia? Iran? The "rebels? Pointing fingers just so the right culprit is found in the futile hope that perhaps some international institution would punish the criminals responsible is the wrong response.
Because the real culprit is us.
So long as we live carelessly, and so long as we expect defunct institutions like UN or EU or US or "West" or really any of our governments to act ethically we continue to accept and allow a world where what happened in Idlib happens and continues to happen. We need to live deliberately, consciously and responsibly; where to live in a world where children don't die of chemical weapons means that we create the world that we want; where we need to remember that we are responsible for the policies of our governments; where we are so active, so informed, so politicised by our fierce love for each other that we demand and force, rather than passively making resigned condemnations of those collectively responsible, to stop creating the wars, and the chemicals and dropping bombs on the innocent. Where we remember that amongst this very war and terror the people of Rojava are doing everything they can to live couragesly and do everything they can under embargo and multiple threats and still challenge the established norms and reality of millions. This is an important lesson and alternative amongst this ongoing horror and tragedy: being reminded that we can do the impossible.
We create the world that we live in. We need to stop expecting governments to spontaneously act ethically, and do whatever it takes politically, socially, economically, physically, emotionally to ensure that we live in a different world."

From Hawzhin Azeez

[Nigel Mace]

Moving words. Andrew - but I can't take knocking the UN or the EU. They may be poor frail things but they are - especially the UN - the best that we've got and we - all of us - need to support them and what is left still of the international web of rule and law based systems that we've developed since 1945. Their failings may be obvious but the screaming chaos with which we would have been 'living' had they not existed is a horror their detractors should sit down and contemplate. Trump is about as conducive to their continued effectiveness as Kim is to family harmony.

This man is no Jack Kennedy - nor his brother, who was such a major source of wisdom and restraint over the Cuban missile crisis. Some people may now mock that as a standard by which to judge - but they did call it right then. We know because we are still here now.

Sympathy for your cold, Michael but as all those years ago, I fear - and that is the word I mean - that intelligent cynicism may not be enough to survive what Trump may yet concoct.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Hey Nigel. I hear you to some extent. But I don't think those institutions are a future hope from the perspective of folks who have been downstream for the last decades. She is questioning the death of imagination that would keep us in the ring of stones, stirring dying coals, and saying this is the only fire we have. I think experience of other institutions in Rojava is not at the mercy of our arguments. But having spent the morning listening to interviews with individuals from the rural cadres of killers under Pol Pot in Cambodia I am not feeling particularly stoked on humanity in general.

[Orwn Acra]

My dad worked at Raytheon in 2016, having spent almost his entire career at NASA, where he engineered satellites that measure rainfall and climate change (he is a solid environmentalist). He is back at NASA now, but I have no doubt he helped create the missiles that were just used against Syria. Before the election, Raytheon had its employees watch several videos about how detrimental Clinton would be to the company... which was odd given her war record. Since it now seems that Trump has stock in Raytheon, it has become too clear, if it weren't obvious already, that Raytheon wanted this to happen before he was ever president.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Originally Posted by Orwn Acra

My dad worked at Raytheon in 2016, having spent almost his entire career at NASA, where he engineered satellites that measure rainfall and climate change (he is a solid environmentalist). He is back at NASA now, but I have no doubt he helped create the missiles that were just used against Syria. Before the election, Raytheon had its employees watch several videos about how detrimental Clinton would be to the company... which was odd given her war record. Since it now seems that Trump has stock in Raytheon, it has become too clear, if it weren't obvious already, that Raytheon wanted this to happen before he was ever president.

Geez, Walter. Thanks for sharing that craziness.

[James Brancheau]

Never mind. Not quite what I was looking for.

[Ann Drysdale]

MOAB. Tosspot. This clown will kill us all.

I got to wondering how many of these hugely expensive (and hitherto untested) toys are stockpiled in the armoury.

I heard The Donald crowing "Do you feel lucky, punk?" and then another, quavering, reedy sound I could not at first identify.

It took a while to realise that it was me, laughing.

Laughing!

It's been a long time since Cuba. I must be getting old.