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Posted on Aug 26, 2016 in Donald Trump, Eastern Europe, Elections-U.S., Foreign Policy Issues, Hillary Clinton, Middle East, Putin, Social Issues: Free Trade and Labor displacement., Syria, Ukraine and Crimea, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Will the greed of some capitalists bring about a class war?–How Trump and Clinton’s policies play into the equation.

  The growing wealth and income gap between the top 1 percent and the other 99 percent has reached staggering dimensions. And now, more than ever, the “have-nots” are made up largely by the middle class, which now includes many “workers.” Years ago I dismissed Marx’s class conflict theory as yet another, albeit more radical, utopian socialist dream. Then in my first, of a long line of classes, taken and then taught, about communism, in both theory and practice, I continued to be intrigued by Lenin’s 1917 tract: Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. Now, nearly 100 years after Lenin wrote his theory of imperialism, and the first time since The Great Depression, Lenin’s check-list for revolution appears close to being realized. Ironically that is largely due to the policies of the “haves” themselves. Whether this has come about mostly by greed or by ignorance is unclear. What is clear, however, is that policy differences between Tump and Clinton will go a long way towards deciding how peaceful a revolution...

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Posted on Aug 6, 2016 in Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Eastern Europe, Foreign Policy Issues, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, President Obama, Republican Party, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Crimea | 0 comments

Trump’s post-conventions slump–He is seemingly his own worst enemy as Hillary surges!

   Trump’s post-convention 6 point bounce was wiped clean as Hillary emerged from the Democratic Convention with a 6 to 9 point lead, according to most polls. One reason was the well produced program that the Demos put on. Part of it was due to Trump’s own continued poor judgment, his foot-in-mouthitis as he chose to denigrate a gold star mother who son, Capt. Humayun Khan, heroically gave his life in Afghanistan saving others during a suicide bombing. As usual Donald was his own worst enemy. Not only did Trump, who never served in our military himself, insult Mrs Khan and her religion, but he doubled down the next day, expanding his attacks on the Khans. This quickly drew the vocal ire of most mainstream Republicans and veterans throughout the country. The Veterans of Foreign Wars joined in the condemnation of Trump, as they, too, wondered about whether such a man could be qualified to be Commander-in-Chief. As if that wasn’t enough, Trump took on fellow Republicans Sen. John McCain and Speaker Paul...

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Posted on Jul 24, 2016 in Democratic Party, Donald Trump, E.U., Eastern Europe, Elections-U.S., Foreign Policy Issues, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Iraq, ISIS, Middle East, Putin, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and Crimea | 0 comments

Trump’s destabilizing policies threaten America’s nuclear deterrence strategy–traitorous action or simply ignorance?

  Seventy years of bi-partisanship have gone into creating a credible deterrence strategy to cope with the challenges posed to our foreign policy in an era of nuclear powers and the means of delivering them. Our deterrence strategy rests upon the elimination and reduction of doubt as to whether certain actions against ourselves and our allies will produce a response by the U.S. that is unacceptable to a potential enemy. The weaving of alliances and other measures taken to implement and maintain this strategy has been supported by every President, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of State, both Republican and Democratic, since the fateful dropping of those early atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War II and ushered in the dangerous  nuclear age. This credibility of our response and commitments to our allies have been seriously, if not fatally, weakened by Donald Trump’s clearly ignorant insertion of doubt into the equation. He might as well have invited North Korea across the “no-man’s land” and across the 38th parallel and on into our...

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Posted on May 13, 2014 in Eastern Europe, Elections-Non-U.S., Foreign Policy Issues, Ukraine and Crimea | 0 comments

Meanwhile back at the Ukrainian ranch…

What has happened to CNN? I tuned in for three hours in a row to try and garner some news from the front in the Ukraine. Barely touched on it, but over and over and over were panels and commentaries on Michael Sam and Donald Sterling. I say hooray and good luck to Sam and I don’t care whom he kisses. Sterling has been well known as a sleaze for years. And with good reason. But to devote such time to these two events borders on the salacious. Meanwhile back at the Ukrainian ranch, so to say, the controversial referendum elections were held in several cities in eastern Ukraine. Most notable of these is the region of Donetsk, which has been proclaimed by some as independent of Ukraine following the vote. Pro-Russian separatists threatened “that all Ukrainian troops in the region would be viewed as occupying forces and should leave.” Denis Pushilin, a leader of the pro-Russian forces, asked Russia “to “absorb Donetsk region.” Elevating the stakes, seven Ukrainian...

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Posted on May 7, 2014 in Eastern Europe, Elections-Non-U.S., Elections-U.S., Ukraine and Crimea | 0 comments

Musings from Odessa to Monica

Transdniestria, as noted by me several times, is physically very close to Odessa, the major Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea near Romania just across the Danube Delta. This week saw the local police stand down as demonstrators took over some buildings. Ukraine threatened moving special forces into the area due to the demonstrations and police inaction. Russia seemingly blinked by agreeing in principle to postponing or canceling next week’s independence referendum in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, in a new shift of policy, Putin…” said he backed the May 25 Presidential election as a “step in the right direction.” Russia announced today that they have removed forces from the border with Ukraine. The U.S., so far, has said that they have seen no evidence of troop movement. Stay tuned and watch closely. Putin is a master of talking out of both sides of his mouth. In speaking about the Presidential election upcoming in Ukraine, Moscow also menacingly noted according to BBC: “… it (Moscow) will protect...

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Posted on Apr 30, 2014 in Eastern Europe, Foreign Policy Issues, President Obama, Ukraine and Crimea | 0 comments

Brinkmanship at the border-Ukraine and Russia

The litmus test that is Transdniestria didn’t change over the week. Still Orange. Stable but remains at a high level of tension. Things are more uncertain at the Eastern edge of Ukraine, where Russian troops are still poised, making just enough incursion noise to produce a roller coaster of oil prices in Europe. Inside eastern Ukraine the situation is even more tense as new cities are added to the list of those where vigilante groups, presumed to be acting with Russian support, if not direction, have taken over local government buildings and police offices. Indeed, in an irony of no mean proportion, the independence of some of these groups may pose more of a threat than if they were under complete Russian control. This is because if diplomatic efforts led to a ratcheting down of the takeover threat by Russia, controlling these insurgents would be a trickier proposition. This past week saw an attempt by Ukrainian forces to oust the rebels from at least two cities. This in turn,...

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