THE SELF-PROCA
​LAIMED ZIONIST GOVERNMENT OF BENJAMIN NETANYAHU HAS POKED THE OTHER EYE OF THE PALESTINIANS BY NAMING ASUBWAQY STATION IN EAST JERUSALEM AFTER TRUMP. THIS IS TYPICAL OF NETANYAHU, WHO WANTS TO DEFLECT FROM THE ONGOING CORRUPTIONS CHARGES AGAINSTHIM AND NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME.
​     THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY VOTED 14-1 TO REJECT THE US/TRUMP MOVE OF THE ANERICAN EMBASSY. THE US USED ITS VETO POWER. THE MATTER WENT TO THE                   



 

,     In November 1947 when the United Nations voted to create the state of Israel, it also voted for a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a separate entity. In March 1949, after the first Israeli-Arab war ends, Israel was in control of  West Jerusalem and Jordan, of East Jerusalem. In Jan. 1950 Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital, but no country recognized it. Then after the Six Day War, Israel occupied East Jerusalem and then in July 1980 annexed it. The UN Security Council voted to reject Israel's annexation. 
     The United States has for the past 70 years never accepted, to move its embassy to Jerusalem, even though the US Congress, in 1995, passed a law to move the embassy, unless  the President signs a waiver. No president did until Trump.
     He had campaigned to do so and after he won, he made his son-in law Jared Kushner, a 36 year old, with no experience or education in foreign policy but a Zionist ( believe in the idea of Greater Israel...Eretz Israel, that the land is totally Jewish, an Orthodox Jew and major contributor to Israeli settlements on the West Bank. He was not only unqualified but clearly biased and driven by religious zeal. 
     Dec. 2017 and Trump has poured gasoline on the fire and the Muslim/ Arab world is joined by all other countries ( with the exception of Taiwan, Vanuatau). Netanyahu, the Israeli PM and a believer of Zionism ( very much influenced by his father, a leader in that movement), deliriously declared it " a historic day for Zionism" ( once voted in the UN as " Racism" as it excludes all non-Jews).   
     Trump sent his vice-president, the religious fundamentalist Pence, on a charm offensive to the Middle East but he was rebuffed by all leaders,who refused to meet him and Trump's gambit of photo ops with smiling Arab leaders, fell flat. The crown prince of US ally, Abu Dhabi said " it extended a life line to terrorists"and indeed it is as it will be used as a recruiting device in the roiling streets.
     Netanyahu has launched a European selling tour and in France, his first stop he was told by Pres. Macron that it is " a danger to peace". The next stop is a meeting with the foreign ministers of the 28 in Brussels and Europe has called for a detailed plan from Trump, who of course does not have one. There is a meeting of the Security Council and Trump's mouth piece, Nikki Halley has attacked the UN as being responsible for there not being peace. She is ignorant of US/UN history or just lying for her boss. 
     This action by Trump breaks international law; goes against UN resolutions supported by the US and the Security Council. He is a known Muslim-hater and has repeatedly tried to ban Muslims from entering the US ( his executive orders have been struck down by the courts but he keeps making them). Even the autocratic leader of Turkey has come out with a blistering attack  and there is a battle of vitriol between him and Netanyahu. 
     The Pope has expressed " deep concern", and British PM MAY, calls it " unhelpful" and "the British embassy is based in Tel Aviv and have no plans to move it". Marco Rubio and some Jewish lawmakers support the move but not Nancy Pelosi who calls it "premature" and warned of "mass protests".
     Those protests have broken out. The streets of Palestine....West Bank, Gaza are erupting and From Pakistan to Indonesia to Morocco to  Lebanon and in the Middle East and elsewhere and it will get worse. Already there has been one bomb attempt in New York
      Trump has sown the winds of division and the whirlwind of violence is forming. 

     Xi Jinping is now " China Dream"is what he has called his vision of  " The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation". He is now the Chairman of Everything, having overturned the system of shared power and concentrated powers in his hands, after his awe-inspiring performance at the just completed Communist Party Congress.
     He is now as powerful as Mao( China has arisen) and Deng ( to get rich is good). Chairman Mao with the Long March united the disparate ( regions and ethnicities ) and far-flung nation ( from the Pacific to Mongolia) and with the Cultural Revolution (the cleansing of the cadres and infusing of renewed commitment. Many were killed, imprisoned and reeducated, including Deng and Xi and power was consolidated but China stagnated. The Gang of Four tried to grab power as the heirs of the Revolution and of Mao's vision, but failed, were locked up and a new system of sharing power came into being in the 80's, but then Deng emerged all -powerful and set China on the way towards economic reform. 
     Deng saw that China had to open up its economy and so with his " to get rich is good", initiatives and incentives opened up China ( capitalism with a Chinese face....The State would still be central to everything and control the change). China exploded economically and became " the manufacturer to the world" With a huge and cheap and controlled workforce,  Western and Japanese investments and plants/corporations poured in and the economy boomed. There was a building boom and employment soared and cities grew as workers/farmers from the country-side flocked to them. 
     Man millions were lifted up economically and China became a major player in the world and not only economically but politically too. The Giant Panda could no longer be dominated by outsiders from the West. Now they came  and genuflected to make money. This would have an impact on their economy and employment as more and more corporations moved to take advantage of the Chinese boom.
     After Deng, growth continued but at a slower pace. A new stimulus/vision was needed and it came in the form of Xis aspiration to make China great again. It rested on four pillars....1. Restoring China to its former predominance in Asia...2. Establishing control over the territories of Greater China including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and Tibet.......3. Recovering its control/ sphere of influence over the adjacent seas (e g. building islands in the South China Sea ).....Commanding respect from the "other great nations" ...U N , EU, US , Japan, Russia ......As a result it has founded a new international bank and invited other nations to join and they have; starting and funding the new Silk Road to tie the world to it by land, rail and sea; investing heavily around the world from Australia to Africa building railways, ports, and buying up much needed resources from farmlands to forestry to oil and gas. 
     Xi, a son of one of Mao's top aides, who was arrested and imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution ( 1962), when he was 9 yrs. old, sent to be " re-educated" in the country-side, lived in a cave in Yan'an, shoveling dung ( his older sister, deprived and abused, committed suicide), survived by embracing the " change" and made himself " redder than red"( according to a long time friend, "doing what was needed to claw back to the top". Persistence paid off ( he was rejected 9 times, before becoming a member of the Party) and now he leads a nation of 1.4 billion  and is the unquestioned head of the 89 million Communist Party.  
     Aggressive, persistent, ambitious, driven and supremely confident. There is no stopping him and his vision of a rejuvenated, triumphant China. 

     On a visit to Sochi on Tuesday, Bashar al Assad gave Vladimir Putin a huge hug Assad, who Also placed his head on Putin's shoulder and thanking him for Russia's "sacrifices" and for " saving our country". He should also thank Putin for saving him, as he was on the verge of losing control and power as rebel forces, al Nusra and the Islamic state of Syria rolled up large swaths of territory. Before the Russian intervention, Assad  controlled only about 19% of Syria. 
     The Russians went in massively, with army, navy and air force and with fighter from Iran and Hezbollah, turned the fortunes of Assad winning back about 50% of the territory, leaving the rebels in shambles and forcing the Americans to concede that Assad is there to stay, as long as Putin supports him. Assad's troops, with Russian help now also controls the four largest cities and 10 of 14 provincial capitals and its Mediterranean coast. 
     Russia now dominates the negotiating process ( Putin realizes that there is no military solution   to end the conflict . So an eight round of  U N sponsored talks are to be held in Geneva. One item not on the table is the removal of Assad ( the U S and its allies have backed off this demand, some time ago), and even elections are not on the table at this time, though Russia can change its mind and can hold some kind of election, that ensures that Assad stays in power. 
     The opposition is in disarray and their chief negotiator has resigned, complaining that foreign powers are carving up Syria and "brokering side deals to prolong the life of Bashar Assad's regime ( welcome to " big nation's interests a la 1920s when the Mid-East was carved up). Together with the U S ( Rex Tillerson, U S Sect. of State had boasted back in October that " the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end"), the Saudis ( who backed the Sunni rebels) are also big losers. Iran ( increase presence and stature) and Hezbollah ( Assad owes them and so do the Shia/Alewites) have emerged as winners. 
     The biggest winner is undoubtedly Putin and Russia. They will have a strong presence in the Middle East with an airbase, a warm water port and military bases, which will allow them to be an important player again ( they had lost this during the 20 years, with the collapse of the USSR and the rule of Yeltsin). Putin gambled and won, a harbinger of what will happen in the Ukraine and Crimea. Russia's prestige ( lost after the collapse of USSR and Yeltsin's rule) has been restored while America's is frittered away while Trump tweets. Is Latvia next?  

     The government of Spain has acted quickly to dissolve the Catalonian parliament, dismiss the government and calling an election for Dec. 21, 2017.
     The Catalans had voted by about 90% to secede on Oct. 1 but only about 43% of the people voted. The Spanish government tried to stop the vote from taking place and the Constitutional Court had ruled that secession was unconstitutional, based on the 1978 Constitution that was adopted after the end of the Francisco Franco dictatorship. 
     Calalonia is one of Spain's 17 regional governments, established by the 1978 Constitution and they were given broad administrative and legal powers, but Art. 155 allows the Central government to take " all necessary measures" to assure constitutional order. The threat and the vote for secession has pushed the Spanish government of P M Rajoy to use the " nuclear option" ( As Art. 155 is called). 
     The Catalan leader Carlos Puigdemont and his minister could face sedition charges. Much will depend on their actions and whether they call out their supporters to protest/ demonstrate. So far things have been relatively quiet but on Sunday, 29th, Oct. hundreds of thousands rallied in Barcelona in favor of staying in the union. 
     The E U and other European governments have signaled that they are in favor of Spain's territorial integrity and would not welcome or give any comfort to the Catalan separatists ( only the Bloc Quebecois and the Parti Quebecois, separatists parties in Quebec, Canada, have supported the Catalans, no surprise ). Quebec has had its own referendum in 1980 on sovereignty- association, but lost 60%-40%; and then again in 1995 on separation but with the Canadian dollar, passport intact, and lost 50.5 %-49.5%. After this the government of Jean Chretien passed the Clarity Act, stating that if a clear majority in a clear majority turn out, voted to separate, then talks can take place. Now 22 years late, in 2017, there is stability as the separatist vote has decreased. Catalonia and Quebec share some similarities. Each has about 7.5 million in population, and  a distinct language and culture, but economically Catalonia with 20% or so of the Spanish GDP, is more prosperous, a prosperity that owe much to the democracy, stability and economic alliances that Spain has enjoyed since 1978. That prosperity is now being undermined, in Catalonia in particular and Spain in general, as many businesses have threatened to move out and the E U has indicated that Catalonia is not welcomed.
     So here we are. Spain has recently ended its long struggle with the Basques, but now the Catalans are rocking the Spanish boat and instability and insecurity loom.    
     

     Angela Merkel will be Chancellor for a fourth term, even though her party suffered a 8% loss of support. Her "largese" of accepting a million refugees was the main reason for this loss and benefited the far-right, anti-immigrant, anti-Europe AfG, which won 94 seats and 13% of the votes, much of which came from East Germany/Berlin, where it received 22% of the votes ( only 11% in West)
     Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (C D U), dropped from 40 % to 33% and lost 67 seats, from 313 in 2014 to 246. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) also lost votes dropping 5% to 21% and losing 40 seats ( from 103 in 2013 to 153. The  Greens won 67 seats ; the FDP ( Free Democratic Party) won 80 and the other 80 seats or so went to smaller parties ( there is a 5% threshold). The AfG are already in disarray as the chair of the party, Frauke Petry, has stated that she will not sit with the party in the Bundestag as she distanced herself from the extreme right .
   The Electoral System is a mixed  member Proportional Representation(P R). Voters have two votes. One is to vote for a candidate in your constituency and the other for the Party List ( where the seats are distributed according to the percentage received by party) Half of the 630 members of the Bundestag ( Lower House ) are elected in districts, where candidates with the most ( plurality) votes win. The second half are elected from Party Lists ( some top members of party may run in both, in case they lose at the district). Some voters may split their vote voting one way in district and another way for List. Any complaint is heard in the Federal Constitutional Court . Voters or candidates must be 18 or over. Elections are held every 4 years and on Sunday ( Art. 38 of the  German Basic Law.
     Most governments in Germany have been stable coalitions  and it will be no different this time. Expect the Black (C D..246) to join with the Green ( Greens... 67 ) and the Yellow ( FDP... 80 ), for a total of around 396, a majority. This is being called the " Jamaican Coalition".

     It's in the air. From Trump's " Fire and Fury" to his UN ambassador Halley's  they are " begging for war", to cable "news", to Kim Jong-un's firing more rockets to South Korea's live fire military exercises to the  removing the cap on weapons. China has made it known that while it will not assist the North if it starts a war, it will not allow nuclear war on the Peninsula and Putin has stated that the North Koreans will " eat grass'' before it gives up.
     65 years of Armistice and the stationing of tens of thousands of American troops in South Korea and Japan have created paranoia in North Korea, the feeling that they will be invaded or attacked at any time and the rhetoric from Trump and his cronies have served to increase that feeling. The North feels that the only deterrent is developing nuclear weapons and seeing what happened to Saddam when he gave up his chemical weapons and Khaddafi when he ended his nuclear program, they will not give up ...si vis pacem, para bellum....to live in paece, prepare for war. 
     There are some who draw a comparison to the Cuban Missile Crisis ( Oct 16-28, 1962), but that is too far fetched. Yes there is tension; there are hard words spoken on both sides and the media, especially cable news are full of talks of war. There may be war but not on the scale of what could have been, had the " kambshii krizis", not been resolved peacefully.  There would have been total destruction.
     The Cuban Missile Crisis began with the threat of another American invasion of Cuba ( this after the failure of the Bay of Pigs, April 1961 ( when JFK sanctioned, somewhat half-heartedly, the CIA/ Cuban exiles invasion that failed. Kennedy was blamed for not allowing air support). Fidel Castro at a meeting with the USSRs Nikita Khrushchev ( July 1962) asked for protection and Khrushchev, wanting to get back at the USA for placing missiles in Italy and Turkey, agreed to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. The Americans learnt of this through satellite photos and demanded that they be removed. Kennedy ( whom Khrushchev thought was weak, after the Berlin Crisis " does not have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge". He told his son, Sergei that Kennedy " would make a fuss, make more fuss and then agree") had a few options... the Chiefs of Staff wanted a full scale invasion to remove Castro;  use diplomacy or secretly tell Castro to sever ties or else or use air strike on the sites or mount a blockade or do nothing ( Krushchev, felt that JFK " was indecisive ( Bay of Pigs) , too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision-making in crisis situation...too intellectual and too weak". JFK had ( unlike Trump) surrounded himself with qualified, experienced advisers and they came through, a blockade was mounted and after 13 days diplomacy prevailed and the situation was defused and MAD...Mutual Assured Destruction was avoided. Russia would dismantle its missiles in Cuba and in return the US promised not to invade Cuba, remove their missiles in Italy and Turkey and lift the military blockade. Khrushchev had once stated that "my vas pokhoronim...we will bury you ", but this time cooler heads prevailed.
     Trump is no Kennedy and his UN ambassador  Halley is no Adlai Stevenson. Trump is bombastic and erratic and his most of his advisers are unschooled, inexperienced and lack diplomatic skills. Kennedy, for all his youth, was studied, dispassionate, had served in the Pacific war and was a senator and had able, skilled and experienced advisers to whom he listened.
     Trump has the same options... do nothing or mount a full scale attack or use secret meetings to get to Kim or use a full blockade or use diplomacy or any combination. He cannot not do nothing ( not in his nature or political suicide given his bombast on the issue). A full scale attack would be devastating, not only on the North but also on the South and Japan and the surrounding areas, causing millions in death and widespread destruction. China has made it known that it will not come to the aid of the North if it starts a war, but that it does not want a nuclear war in the peninsula. Further any actions/sanctions that include a threat to China's economy will be met with retaliation...China and US has a $600 billion plus trade and China can dump its American dollars, creating economic havoc so any blockade has to take China's response into consideration ( this is not tiny Cuba); the only solution is diplomacy backed by economic and military might.
     What does Kim want? The end to the Korean war and the threat of American invasion. This can be accomplished by a formal treaty  finally ending the war ( there is presently only a truce, an armistice). Security for the country and the Regime is paramount. Development of nuclear weapons is seen as a deterrent and they will not easily give that up. It can be done by bringing Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the EU and UN  and working out an agreement that addresses the concerns of the North and the US and Japan and South Korea and it will not be easy but as  Benjamin Franklin advised " the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war". 
     Kennedy and Khrushchev worked it out. It took 13 days but in the end, war was avoided.
      The Winds of War must not become the Hurricane of Mass Destruction.     

     Seven months of tweets, rants, abuses, firings, departures, naval disasters, failures, insults, Charlottesville, Afghanistan..... It goes on and on and on.
     McConnell is the new target, being blamed for failures on " repeal and replace", inactivity on tax reform, infrastructure and the Wall. Nothing is his fault. It is the " fake" news and media; it is  Sens. McCain, and Flake
     Spicer is gone and so is Priebus and Bannon and Kelly is brought to steady the stricken ship of state.
     Four naval vessels, full of "doodads", have been involved in accidents since Jan.31, 2017. Incompetence or cyber attacks? North Korea continues to prepare to launch more missiles and Trump threatens and threatens and the North Koreans are unfazed. He blames China and Xi remains unmoved and continues China's economic growth with TPP and  building the new Silk Road and buying up resources.
     The KKK/Duke, White Supremacists, Nazis demonstrations , in which one was killed and many injured is compared to the anti-racist marchers and Trump is roundly criticized by Republicans and his popularity and trustworthiness drop among Independents and Republicans and so he reads a telepromptered speech and grudgingly calls out the "racists" but then he goes to Arizona and in front of a selected audience ( he was supposed to visit the Wall, but feared for his safety and so visited an office in Yuma), where he ranted and insulted and blamed ( true to form).
     His long awaited plan for Afghanistan was a litany of generalities. He flipped and now favors sending more troops, (4,000 now. He had always called for complete withdrawals, but now says that being President has changed his position ) . This is a quagmire waiting to suck in more and more Americans. Afghanistan is not a winnable war ( The British  and the Soviets more recently learnt that bloody lesson), and just like Vietnam and Iraq will is an exercise in futility. It is good for the defense industry,  private contractors and their friends in ancillary industries but bot for the young Americans ( but they are fodders anyway, willingly going forth, gung- ho as ever, until it is too late.
     This is not making America great. This is diminishing America. 
      Trump and his administration reek of incompetence and there is no way out.

     Six months and counting as the Trump administration fumbles from one crisis to another. Whether it was the Muslim ban, the Wall, Health Care or NATO or Russian interference or the various investigations by special prosecutor or Congress or the firing of FBI Director Comey, or the undermining and insults leveled at A G Sessions or the infighting in the White House  and the resignation of Press Secretary Spicer, Trump continues to govern by twitting and chaos reigns.
     Not a single piece of significant legislation has passed. Trump has issued various Executive Orders and that's all. The so-called " Repeal and Replace Obamacare" was a series of bungling by Senate majority leader " Just Say No" McConnell as he tried various reuse to get the votes necessary. They all failed, from Repeal and Replace to just Repeal to "skinny? Repeal. Members got earfuls from constituents and Trump went on a rampage of tweeting blaming everyone but himself. They will try again but after 7+ years of promising to Repeal and Replace, the Affordable Care Act is still standing ( many who voted for Trump really got to see what was in store for the if that happened as the Congressional Budget Office came out with its findings that would see 26+ million lose coverage from preconditions to Medicare and Medicaid and the billions in tax cuts for the " wealthy 1%).
     Various attempts to ban Muslims from some countries ( Libya, Syria etc.), were struck by from Hawaii to Washington and this is in limbo also. The Wall is still not funded and is going no where. The NATO issue is still in murky waters. Trump went to Europe and got no respect ( at one stage he was sitting by himself, while others were meeting and at the photo-op, he was relegated to the second row.). Then he went to the G-20 meeting and was soundly criticized for having a meeting with Putin, where no American translator was present. Then he was invited by Pres. Macron to the Bastille Day celebration and there was a whole lot of hand holding, backslapping and "praise" for Macron's wife " you are in good shape" ( Macron has since lost 10% in the polls, the Theresa May syndrome of hand holding). NATO remains unresolved.
     The Russia probe has been a millstone around Trump's neck. It is not going away and has ensnared his son JR., his son-in law Kushner, his former campaign manager Manafort and others still to come. The special prosecutor, Mueller and the Asst. AG. have come under attacks from Trump, with threats of firings but so far nothing has been done, except training his sights on Attorney General Sessions. He has been vicious and unrelenting in his attacks on Sessions but so far Sessions has held his ground . He blames Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe, this before there was a Russia probe, saying that Sessions ( Sessions was a Trump loyalist from day 1 and was the first Senator to endorse him ) should have told him that he would recuse himself. Sean Spicer his Press Secretary could not take the "beating" that he was getting at press briefings, trying to explain Trump and defending and earned his disfavor ( which Trump, true to form, showed in a very crude way, by not inviting Spicer to meet with the Pope.
      Now he has appointed the vile and vulgar Scaramucci to be his Communications Director and all hell has broken loose as he has gone on an expletive ridden rant attacking "leakers", and picking a fight with Chief of Staff Priebus.
     Trump has announced a ban on transgender in the military, because of medical costs. In 2014 it cost $84 million for erectile dysfunction. It may cost about $2.4 to 8.4 million for transition-related health care. Another broken promise. Even Sen. Hatch, a Mormon came out against Trump's proposal and the military is in confusion, about what to do with those serving ( they volunteered, unlike the 5-time draft-dodger Trump.   
     The turmoil has turned into a tornado of accusations and nothing gets done.