Showing posts with label Treaty of Portsmouth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Treaty of Portsmouth. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 6. The Don't Know Much About History Edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

 

When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid; it can't last long." But though a war may well be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.

Albert Camus, The Plague.

And so, we have the spectacle of a dipshit who never served his country trying to negotiate a peace with a former spy, who served his in that capacity, while ignoring the leader of a country that's put up a titanic fight against an invasion for the past two years.

And we're going to do it on American soil that once belonged to the Russian Empire.

What could go wrong?

August 10, 2028

Russo Ukrainian War

Predictable, and quite correct:

KYIV REJECTS CEDING TERRITORY

Ukraine also demanded that Europe be included, which it should be since the United States has ceded its status as a serious nation.

Regarding this meeting, the BBC noted:

Trump announced the 15 August meeting on social media and it was later confirmed by a Kremlin spokesperson, who said the location was "quite logical" given Alaska's relative proximity to Russia.

Nowhere in Alaska is close to Moscow, or Washington D.C. 

August 11, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that Israel “has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.”

On Gaza, Wyoming Congressman Harriet Hageman did the following:

Reinforcing House Republicans' Commitment to Israel

On Thursday, I joined Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and 14 of our House Republican colleagues in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent, urging his department to review whether Ireland’s proposed boycott of Israel violates U.S. anti-boycott laws.

As you may know, the Irish government recently introduced legislation aimed at prohibiting the import of goods and services originating from territories under Israeli “occupation.” This proposal aligns with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to economically isolate Israel. These policies not only promote economic discrimination but also introduce legal uncertainty for U.S. companies operating in Ireland.

Under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or the Ribicoff Amendment, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that condition commercial activity on participation in unsanctioned international boycotts. Countries on this list trigger specific tax reporting requirements and potential penalties for U.S. individuals and businesses involved in certain activities within those jurisdictions.

Our letter urges Secretary Bessent to investigate whether Ireland meets the criteria for inclusion on this list, ensuring that U.S. companies are aware of their legal obligations and protected from unintended exposure. As your representative, I remain firmly committed to combating antisemitism and standing up for our Jewish communities both here at home and around the world.

This came before Israel's announcement that it was going to invade and occupy Gaza. The war in Gaza is demonstrating Yeoman's Fifth Law of History pretty ably.  Whatever a person thinks of the initial Israeli action, Israel can't find a way to end the war.  The current idea is obviously to completely occupy the Gaza Strip and then hope that some Arab nations are willing to turn it over to a non Hamas entity.  There's a fair amount of desperation in that concept.

Also, at this point, Israel has leveled Gaza completely and whatever the original justifications for the invasion were, and Israel had after all sustained a terrible terrorist attack, it's now gone too far.

Russo Ukrainian War

Meet the Press and Face the Nation were interesting on this in that they had guests who seemed tapped into the meeting that will occur this Friday in Anchorage.

Lindsey Graham, who just played golf with Trump, claimed the VP was really tapped into events and reiterated the "exchange of territory" line that Trump had earlier.  Ukraine's ambassador to the US was on Face the Nation and noted that the territory of Ukraine is described in its constitution and nobody has the authority inside the Ukrainian government to negotiate it away.  Basically, that'd be like negotiating Texas away, which while negotiating Texas away might be a good idea, it's illegal.

A fair question, fwiw, is why poor Alaska, with its early Russian heritage, has to suffer through this?


Well, we can hope for the best, and should in fact pray for it.

And who knows, maybe the crush of the press in Anchorage, which frankly isn't that nice of town, will cause them to relocate to remote Nikolaevsk where they can be in seclusion.  Maybe a bored Vladimir Putin will visit the Church and become an Old Believer, and we'll cease to hear from him.

Maybe.

Shoot, maybe Trump will too.  As a serial polygamist with a string if invalid marriages, perhaps he'll live his days out as a monk.  Melania, who after all is an immigrant, can return to her native land.

Maybe.

By the way, I  hope Trump brings this idea up:
Yes, this idea is bat shit crazy, but then, Trump likes bat shit crazy land ideas. First it was Greenland, which doesn't want to be part of the US, but which Trump was threatening with forced annexation.  Then it was Canada. Then it was Gaza.  So why not set his sights on the Kurils?

The Commander Islands are right off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula and there's no earthly way that the Russians would go for this.  That'd be half the fun.  Boris would have to deal with the demanding demented Trump and the rest of us could watch the goofball fun.

Cont:
There will be some changes in land ... Russia has taken some very prime territory. They've taken largely ocean -- in real estate we call it oceanfront property. That's always the most valuable property.

Trump's frame of reference is amazingly narrow.  He looks at everything like a real estate developer. 

cont:

US Domestic Strife.

Trump ordered 800 National Guardsmen to deploy to Washington, D.C., on Monday.  There's utterly no need to do so.

He also threatened other cities with the same.

Trump orders National Guard to deploy to Washington, DC

August 14, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump is reportedly going to offer Putin a rare earth minerals deal for Russia in Alaska if Russia ends the war in Ukraine.

WTF?

August 15, 2025.

Russo Ukrainian War

A headline in the CST:

Land swap deal with Russia would be illegal in Ukraine

I've already noted that on one of these threads.

By the way, the ICC has an arrest warrant out for Putin. 

This day, of course, will be marked by international war criminal Vlad Putin meeting convicted felon Donald Trump.  In normal times, both of these men would be people that you wouldn't read about.  

Trump has been campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize even though there's not to his credit to warrant it.  Having promised originally to end the war between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours of being nominated for President, and then as soon as he was elected, he hasn't been able to effect the peace process at all. For that matter, Gaza, where he claimed credit for peace, is about to be re-invaded by Israel.

Trump fancies himself a great negotiator, but all he really is, is a large-scale real estate developer who was born into wealth.  Indeed, it's frequently asserted that while being born into the middle class means that its almost impossible to fall out of it permanently, family wealth of the wealthy simply doesn't last.  Seventy percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation and 90 percent of families lose their wealth by the third generation, or so its claimed (there are those who outright dispute this claim).

Trump is, as is often noted, the descendant of German immigrant Frederick Trump, a Lutheran Bavarian who had to leave the country after having returned to it after marrying fellow Bavarian Elizabeth Christ due to his failure to perform mandatory military service.  He became wealthy in the US, wealth inherited by his father, Fred Trump, who built it further, and on to Donald Trump.  Nobody really knows how wealth Donald Trump is, but he demonstrates all the classic traits of those who inherit wealth and then lose it.  Having said that, he's the third generation, and he's wealthy.

And he caters enormously to the wealthy.

He also is deeply amoral and doesn't grasp the world beyond transactions.  He seemingly is unable to understand the world beyond that which means in matters of war and peace, and diplomacy, he's singularly poorly suited to engage in it.  He's likely to approach this whole thing as a land deal.

Indeed, if early reports are correct, he'll likely propose land swaps between Ukraine and Russia, which Ukraine cannot legally do, and they are not even at the table, and he'll grant Russia minerals concessions in Russia.  If Russia agrees, he'll try to force those down on Ukraine.  The minerals concessions, whatever they are, will be disavowed by some future administration.

August 13, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump files all the way from Washington D.C.

Putin all the way from Moscow.

Conference already over, and we still have a war.

Is there somebody who actually still takes this clown's promises seriously?

Some history (not that Trump would appreciate it).

New Yorker Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the end of the Russo Japanese War, from the US, from August 9, 1905, through August 30, 1905.

But then, Roosevelt was a genuine article.

August 16, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will fly to Washington D.C. to meet with Trump on Monday.

I wonder if J. D. Vance will be available to berate him for not wearing a suit?

August 17, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump had stated "we're close to a deal", but leakers have provided Putin's demands, which basically amount to a complete surrender.  Ukraine cedes territory, including presently unoccupied territory, and Russia gives a "security guaranty".

That's not going to happen.

What needs to happen is to find a way to bring Russia to its knees, but of course Donny is a Putin fanboy, which makes that difficult.

Military Occupation of Washington D.C.

3 states sending 700 National Guard troops to DC

At least 700 National Guardsmen will be sent to Washington, D.C., nearly doubling the number of troops already activated in the capitol.

Cont:

A Trump tweet would appear to place Trump pathetically fully in the Putin camp today:

Basically this means Ukraine can end the war by surrendering, to the extent its capable of being deciphered.  

If Trump was a drinking man, which he's not, this would look like a drunk tweet.

August 18, 2025.

US Domestic Strife.

Some National Guardsmen in D.C. are going to be issued arms.

South Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia are supplying National Guardsmen to the Trump municipal takeover.

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine's president and the heads of various European states will be in D.C. today following Trump's failed meeting with Putin.  It'll be a momentous day, no matter what.

Apparently Giorgia Meloni will be one of those present. A populist herself, but an intelligent one, I suspect she might be the one person in the room capable of calling Trump a dumbass to his face and Trump not being able to handle it.

Meloni with Trump in the tacky room.

Marco Rubio, whose political career is pretty much now deservedly in the toilet, was sent to all the weekend shows to work on spin for the Trump diplomatic failure.

US v. al-Shabab

The US has been carrying out air strikes against al-Shabab in Somalia.

April 19, 2025

And again, the talks were one single day.

Wars don't end with one day talks.

April 20, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Donald Trump indicated that U.S. troops won't be sent to Ukraine as part of a post war force guaranteeing the nation's security.

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 5. Oh oh, it didn't work. Now What? The Pearl Harbor Edition.