War With Iran

Trump just began World War III. 

Early this morning, he commenced a full-scale missile and aerial attack on Iran with Israel.  The attack has nothing to do with getting Iran to give up its nuclear program.  

Iran has responded with counterattacks by firing missiles into Israel and every regional Gulf State except Oman.

And you can bet the gasoline prices are going to go up back home, and I feel sorry for anyone who owns a large SUV or a truck.  Not!  The switch back to smaller cars is the one likely good thing that can come out of this.

Oh yeah, Trump, in an effort to distract people from the Epstein files, is a war criminal now.  Now that he is a war criminal, who needs the Epstein files, really?  We can get him for war crimes instead of sexual assault, the same way they got Al Capone for tax evasion instead of bootlegging.

Mr. Zelensky Goes To Washington

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the United States last week to confer with President Biden and address a joint session of Congress.  In his speech to Congress, in which he wore army fatigues he extolled the virtues of freedom and vividly illustrated how the people of Ukraine have fought the Russians to preserve Ukrainian national sovereignty and how continued American support for Ukraine would benefit not just Ukraine and the United States but Europe and the entire world, as it would strengthen democracy in the world and also the global order.

"Your money is not charity.  It's an investment," Zelensky said.

You know, this guy can really communicate to people.  If he hadn't gotten into politics, he might have had a good future in show biz. 😉

The speech was well-received by members of Congress, even many Republicans.  But Republicans such as Lauren Boebert - who wanted to know what the money the U.S .was giving to Ukraine was going to and why we couldn't spend the same money to keep migrants out of the U.S. - and Matt Goetz were too busy checking their cell phones for orders from Trump - or Putin.  As far as they were concerned, Zelensky might as well have been reading  a chapter "The Crying of Lot 49."  

Remember, they're part of the incoming House Republican majority that's going to be deciding on future aid to Ukraine.

Putin is licking his chops. 😢

War In Ukraine

When Donetsk and Luhansk declared themselves "republics," Russian troops moved in the keep the peace, and they ended the separatist war in those regions of Ukraine.

Then they invaded Ukraine and started a new one. 😱

All of Ukraine is under siege, with Russian bombs, missiles, and jets attacking every corner of the country to bring it into submission.  President Biden has ordered the strictest sanctions possible to stop Russian aggression and make Vladimir Putin pay.

Gas prices are going up, stock prices have gone down, and you'd best cancel that trip to Warsaw.  And if you booked it online, you'd better cancel it before cyberattacks bring down the Internet. 

Prepare for austerity. 

Putin His Money Where His Mouth Is

 We're on step closer to a global war because of this nut.

Vladimir Putin declared the Russia recognizes Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics and sent Russian troops into the two Ukrainian provinces to protect them from . . . Ukraine.  He has also  authorized a military operation in Ukraine, insisting that Donetskian and Luhanskian territorial claims extend into areas of Ukraine that would justify Russian expansion into the country.

Oh yeah, there's more.  Putin says that there is no real Ukrainian state or nationality - it was a fiction created by Lenin at the dawn of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, even though evidence of a Ukrainian nation goes back centuries, and the current lands within Ukrainian borders have historically been dominated by the Ukrainian people - a claim once disputed by Adolf Hitler, who insisted that the Germanic people originated in that area and so Ukraine was historically part of Germany.  Now Putin is saying that Ukrainians are in fact Russians.  The incoherence of this belief is best explained in this article.

President Biden has imposed severe sanctions on Russian oligarchs, while Germany has suspended the Russo-German gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea.  And now that it appears a war has in fact begun - explosions have been reported in Kiev  . . . Western leaders, including Biden, are now asking us to prepare for austerity . . . and Russian cyberattacks.  

At this point, it doesn't seem to matter when the pandemic will end.

The 2020s are shaping up to be the worst decade of human history.  

Iran: My Prediction

Now that Iran has fired rockets into Iraqi bases housing America servicemen to avenge the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, the year 2020 will likely become the disaster I figured it would be when I posted my New Year's Day blog entry last week.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is likely to cause more trouble in response to any trouble Donald Trump - who wants to be America's Supreme Leader - causes.  And then we'll have another endless war.  Here's what will happen.

Trump's approval rating will go up forty points.

It will go back down again after the stock market falls - but not terribly far down, as defense contractors will prop up stock values overall.

Then the stock market will go full bear market when the price of oil on the global market skyrockets and causes gasoline in America to go up to eight dollars a gallon.

And when Main Street feels Wall Street's pain, that's when Trump 's approval rating will go down fifty points.

Either way, prepare for austerity. 

War in Syria

Now that Turkish forces are going into Syria to fight the Kurds whom they consider to be terrorists - i.e., all of them - the Kurds are now aligning themselves with their old enemy Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which will give Iran and Russia even more influence in the Middle East.

But that's all right, because Trump is going to approve of sanctions against Turkey for invading Syria despite having given Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a green light to go ahead with the invasion, even as Islamic State fighters are now being released in the fog of war. Besides, if Biden were President, his son would be making money off his name somewhere and foster more international corruption!  (Sarcasm.)

Islamic State fighters are probably going to work their way to Europe.  Europeans don't trust us.  (I'd better forget about traveling abroad any time soon or any time later.)  The Kurds don't trust us either.  Even Israel's Netanyahu doesn't like what's happening   Both parties in Congress are angry at Trump and want to undo the chaos he's caused.

Too late.