Soviet Union

As Russia-Ukraine War Nears A Month, NATO Meets In Brussels With Joe Biden: What Next?

Ronald 1 Comment

This is a crucial week in the nearly month long Russia-Ukraine War.

President Joe Biden is traveling to Brussels, Belgium, for a joint meeting with the 30 nations in NATO.

He will also be visiting Poland, where two million Ukrainian refugees have fled, about two thirds of all refugees going there.

The long term refugee problem must be dealt with, and some of the Ukranian refugees must be able to come to the United States, as well as all of the NATO nations.

The same situation existed in 1956, after the Hungarian invasion by the Soviet Union, with many Hungarian refugees coming to the United States 65 years ago.

The danger of a potential World War III is still present, if Russia invades any NATO nation, and they have come as close as about 11 miles to Poland, when bombing the Ukranian border near Poland!

The Republican Party Has Largely Gone Pro Russian, Complete Reversal Of History Since Joseph McCarthy!

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In the Cold War years from 1945-1991, the Republican Party stood out for being anti Soviet Union, and for good reason, as that nation represented a threat to American national security and the stability of Europe, and a threat through their association with Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

The Republican Party also was captive to McCarthyism—the Red Scare of the 1950s under Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin—labeling liberals and progressives as if they were Communists allied with the Soviet Union. In that regard, they were reprehensible!

But who could imagine that Republicans who were once anti Communist, and also McCarthyites who ruined people’s lives with accusations that were unfounded, would over the 75 years since World War II, suddenly in large numbers become apologists for the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin?

Who would think they would sit back and allow Donald Trump to flirt with Putin, including helping him win a false election through Russian interference in 2016?

Who would think Fox News Channel and its anchors, including Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and others, would give support to Putin and Russia as they threaten Ukraine and the stability of Europe in the present international crisis, which can be regarded as the greatest threat to world peace since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962?

Trump Republicans Have Become Pro Russian, Stunning Reversal Of Republican Party History!

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The Republican Party historically was always anti Soviet Union, and its peak was in the time of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Second Red Scare of the 1950s, and the tough line of Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan that followed in later years.

Now there is a complete reversal in the age of Donald Trump, with the 45th President cozying up to Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, and leader of the Russian Federation since 2000, who has already invaded Georgia (2008) and the Crimean area of Ukraine (2014), and now threatening another invasion of the remainder of Ukraine!

Rather than unite around President Joe Biden against a potential Russian invasion, Republicans on Capitol Hill, the majority ignoring the January 6 US Capitol Insurrection perpetrated by Donald Trump and his authoritarian supporters, instead are critical of any strong reaction to Russia’s government!

This is mind boggling, and demonstrates how the Republican Party has become authoritarian and Fascist in nature, promoting the end of American democracy and instilling fear of what they call “white replacement” theory!

Donald Trump Presidency Far Worse Than Richard Nixon Presidency, Which Had Positive Developments

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The Presidency of Richard Nixon has long been understood to have been the most dangerous time of Presidential abuse in American history, but now with Donald Trump out of office, it is clear that the 45th President was much more abusive, and much more negative, than the 37th President a half century ago!

Nixon was involved in many illegal actions, culminating in the Watergate Scandal, but more more than just that scandal, and he was facing impeachment and removal from office had he not resigned.

But Nixon also made some major advancements in domestic policy making, signing into law Democratic initiatives that he could have vetoed, and would not have become law, including;

The Environmental Protection Agency
The Consumer Product Safety Commission
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

He also supported Affirmative Action, and appointed Associate Justice Harry Blackmun to the Supreme Court, and also, in foreign policy, opened up to mainland China, and accomplished the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union.

Even though Nixon’s negatives, causing more indictments and convictions than any President, were major in other actions, he ranks in the mid to low 20s in ranking among Presidential scholars for his positive initiatives.

Donald Trump ranks near the bottom of listings of Presidents, and was ever more lawless, with many revelations yet to come, and he also set out to destroy much of the Nixon domestic accomplishments. And the fact that he was impeached twice, and lost the popular vote massively twice, adds to his negatives!

So Donald Trump elevates Richard Nixon, and even Presidents seen as primarily disasters, including George W. Bush!

Joe Biden Restores NATO And G-7 Nations’ Faith On Reliability Of America, After Donald Trump Disaster!

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President Joe Biden is committed to restoring the NATO alliance and the confidence of the G-7 Nations as he has meetings and events for the next week, culminating in the summit with Vladimir Putin of Russia in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday June 16.

Biden has known Putin for a long time, and is willing to confront him, and make certain that Putin understands his resolve to do everything to undermine Putin’s determination to restore the old Soviet Union and restrict human rights in Russia and threaten Eastern Europe.

Tough talk will help, but there is no way to know if NATO, the G 7 and Joe Biden can work against the authoritarian nature of Putin with any possibility of success. The kowtowing of Donald Trump to Putin in his four years in the White House was very destructive on relations between the US and Russia.

In many ways, Putin could be more dangerous and threatening, than any Soviet leader after Joseph Stalin, including Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev in particular!

Republican Party Survival Only Possible Long Term With Those Who Reject The “Big Lie” Of Donald Trump!

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The Republican Party is at an historic crossroads.

If it continues to back the “Big Lie” of Donald Trump, that he won the Presidential Election of 2020, then it will be destroyed, and go into the dustbin of history, as no party can have its future based on a criminal President who was impeached twice, and lost the popular vote twice by massive margins, and only won the first time due to Russian collusion!

The January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection cannot be covered up, and dismissed, as it was an attack on American democracy at its core!

Anyone backing Donald Trump at this point is spoiled goods, and only is inciting division that endangers domestic tranquility, and is a direct threat for civil disorder.

Worship of a man is dangerous, and reminds us of Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy; Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany; and Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union.

So the leadership of the future must be people such as Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Lisa Murkowski, or else the need for a new conservative mainstream party is an urgency!

Foreign Policy Rears Its Ugly Head For Joe Biden

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Every President enters office wishing to deal with domestic policy and change.

But invariably, foreign policy rears its ugly head much too often!

Woodrow Wilson came to office in 1913, not expecting the First World War I to break out in 1914, and bring us into that war in 1917.

Franklin D. Roosevelt came to office in 1933, wishing to deal with the Great Depression, but also had to deal with the growing Fascist threat of Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy, and eventually, entrance into World War II!

Harry Truman came to office in 1945 to end World War II, but had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and send troops to Korea.

John F. Kennedy came to office in 1961, and had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Lyndon B. Johnson came to office in 1963, wanting to promote the Great Society, but also had to deal with the Vietnam War.

Every other President in modern times has had to face similar issues, and now, Joe Biden must deal with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran as major headaches, as he tries to resolve the COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis!

Past Bipartisan Actions: Can This Happen Again As Joe Biden Hopes For, Or Is This A Mirage?

Ronald 3 Comments

In the past, despite political party conflict on beliefs and principles, we saw bipartisan actions and crossing party lines to accomplish major goals.

Here are four examples of such situations since World War II where a President of one party and a Congressional leader of the opposition party cooperated, and brought along other votes from their party to back the President of the opposition party.

When Democratic President Harry Truman was in office, and the Cold War with the Soviet Union was evolving, Truman was able to gain key Republican support from the Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 80th Congress, Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in 1947-1948.

When Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in office, he was able to work cooperatively with the Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress from 1955-1961 on many matters. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, both from Texas, worked across the party lines in many situations, particularly on the first Civil Rights Acts (1957 and 1960) since Reconstruction after the Civil War.

When Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson was in office, he was able to gain support of Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois on gaining necessary support on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Medicare passage in 1965.

When Republican President Ronald Reagan was in office, he was able to come to an agreement with Democratic Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill to protect Social Security long term by a bipartisan agreement in 1983.

Since the 1990s and the hardline partisanship of the Republican Party and then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in the Republican Revolution of 1994, we have seen unwillingness by that party to have any willingness to cross party lines, and his early efforts were also pursued by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell right up to the present!

So President Elect Joe Biden’s publicly expressed hopes for bipartisan actions in these disastrous times to be accomplished, is it a mirage? We shall find out soon!

75th Anniversary Of VE Day, And 136th Birthday Of President Harry Truman

Ronald 12 Comments

Seventy five years ago today, the nightmare of World War II in Europe came to an end with the surrender of Nazi Germany, although the war against Japan continued for four more months until VJ Day on September 2, 1945.

President Harry Truman was in office only 26 days, and VE Day happened to be his 61st Birthday, so today we celebrate a humble man, who met the challenge of ending the war against Japan, and coping with the Cold War threat of the Soviet Union.

The only President since 1900 not to have attended or graduated college, still Harry Truman was a learned man, as he was a reader and interested in gaining knowledge. Unlike Donald Trump, who hates to read and has displayed evidence that he has no knowledge to speak of on any topic imaginable, including as a few: History, Science, Medicine, Math, Spelling, Economics, Foreign Policy, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and common decency, empathy, compassion, and humanity!

Truman came in at a difficult time, with the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, and was a bit overwhelmed, but met the challenge, and demonstrated courage, guts, decisiveness, and principle.

One can be sure that if Harry Truman were alive, he would have choice curse words for the only other President who shares the first four letters of his last name.

Truman ranks as 5th or 6th in rankings of Presidents, while Trump is assured last place for the eternity, below James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson!

Donald Trump’s Insecurities And Ego Preventing Stable Leadership In Crisis Times!

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Donald Trump’s insecurities and ego are preventing him from acting and speaking in a stable manner, so is endangering the United States reaction to the CoronaVirus Pandemic sweeping the world, and having its most deleterious effect in America!

If President Abraham Lincoln, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, or President John F. Kennedy had conducted themselves in a similar manner in their moments of crisis, the US would have lost the Civil War to the Confederate States of America; the US would have been unable to prevent the rise of Fascism in the Great Depression and World War II; and the nation would have likely had a nuclear war with the Soviet Union in the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, slaughtering tens of millions of its citizens!

With 2,000 dead, doubling in two days, and having the most deaths of any nation, we are hampered by an inconsistent and dangerous President, who has no clue how to deal with this health crisis, the greatest since the Spanish Flu epidemic of a century ago!

One would have to believe that this sad demonstration of weak and unstable leadership will cause the defeat of Donald Trump in November. If somehow he wins, the nation would be in doom, as far as any progress toward reversing the tremendous damage done by this maniac, this disgrace of a human being, with no positive points to be made about his personality or policies!