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A storm coming for Israel?

Israel is finding itself in an increasingly difficult position as the years pass. On 3 Mar 2019 Israel’s Attorney General decided to move forward with Netanyahu’s indictment on fraud charges. In election mode and under increasing pressure, his latest move is to talk of blocking Iranian oil shipments with the Israeli navy, not explaining how. Many people will no doubt cheer his indictment. But then, it becomes a case of being careful for what one wishes. Whoever takes his place if he is removed from office may well be worse, i.e. even more hawkish. Even that could take several years. But that is not the thing that is of interest so much. Rather more to the point, what do we see happening with Israel in general in the next years? This indictment (or moves toward it) may well signal the evolution of larger events. It will also have large effects, probably, on peace or moves toward war in the Middle East. Continue reading “A storm coming for Israel?”

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A short report on the 2nd Kim-Trump summit

On 27 Feb 2019 Trump and Kim met for their 2nd summit on the North Korean situation. The expectations for the outcome of the summit were not high, but some small progress was made. As Trump stated, “We had to walk,” meaning progress is slow. The US media is already painting the talks as having ‘collapsed’. As usual, the sticking points were sanctions and de-nuclearization. As one would expect, the astrology for the meeting outlines what took place. Continue reading “A short report on the 2nd Kim-Trump summit”

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AI is your friend. Trust me!

We have all heard of AI by now (artificial intelligence) and the marvels that are promised from its development, as well as its dangers. What we may not be aware of is that such an initiative has been in process for decades, and in fact was a distant dream of the first director of what is now DARPA in the US. DARPA derived from the original agency, ARPA, in 1958. So, we begin our story with a little history in order to show the true reasons for the creation of ARPA, as well as NASA and the NDEA, all three all in the year 1958, and all of which have contributed their part to the development of AI, at least in the US. For readers who receive my letters, that year may stick out in your memory, too – it was a Mountain Dog year, a year of great geopolitical shifts. We just had another one in 2018, and 1898 was another such year. Continue reading “AI is your friend. Trust me!”

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What we are not being told about Venezuela [updated as facts emerge]

This is the first part in a two-part article. In the Western media these days there is quite a lot of hand-wringing about the plight of the poor Venezuelans and how we of democratic nations must intervene to avert a dire humanitarian crisis there, remove an evil dictator, restore democracy to the region, and so on. These are stories we have heard before in other regions, like Libya, Syria and Iraq, for instance. But emerging from behind the curtain of corporate media scrutiny is another story, quite different from what we are being told in Western nations. Continue reading “What we are not being told about Venezuela [updated as facts emerge]”

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Venezuela and the Big Prize

Continuing on from the previous discussion, we need to look at what has been happening with Venezuela in the past couple of months. To start, this is not some new initiative on the part of the US. Ever since the Bolivarian Revolution in 1999 Washington has been trying to subvert the democratic revolutionary gains. Bush and Co. fomented the coup against Chavez in 2002 as a start. So, we start with the directions to Venezuela at the time of the Revolution. Continue reading “Venezuela and the Big Prize”

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The border wall and other tall tales

Apparently we have a national emergency on the southern US border, necessitating funding for the completion of a border wall. That’s the story we are given from the Trump administration, anyway. But there seems to be some debate about the issue. Some people appear to question whether or not there is actually a national emergency, but more than that, if a wall is even necessary, or even if Trump has the authority to declare such an emergency. And, is this simply an election stunt? So many questions. So much media coverage. As is usually the case with such hyperbole, though, what is being sidelined in the process? Where should we really be looking? It would pay us to have a look at these other things, and not so much at the border wall. Continue reading “The border wall and other tall tales”

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Bollocks, Bolton, on the INF!

John Bolton doesn’t much like treaties, it would seem. The Trump administration, in its INF-inite wisdom (?!) has just pulled the United States out of the INF Treaty – the acronym for the ‘Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces’ Treaty. This is the very same treaty that has kept nuclear missiles out of Europe since Reagan and Gorbachev signed it and it came into force on 1 Jun 1988 (chart). Europeans are rightly concerned, with typical muted criticism even, because that treaty covered missiles that were aimed primarily at US/NATO bases and nuclear power stations in Europe, as well as key infrastructure sites. It was a landmark in détente between Russia and the US, which is also apparently not in the interests of Washington at the moment. This will be another reason for Europeans to distance themselves from Washington. Continue reading “Bollocks, Bolton, on the INF!”

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America’s latest attempt at king-making

On the 23rd of Jan 19 the US, primarily, along with a few other nations, attempted a coup in Venezuela. It played out as an opposition leader, one Juan Guaidó, swore himself in as president of Venezuela. The only problem with that is that he is not the elected leader of Venezuela. That title falls to Nicolas Maduro, who was reelected by a wide margin on 20 May 18, in what the Western media outlets slammed as a sham election. The further problem with that is the opposition parties refused to take part in the election, and in fact were directed not to, with the result that voter turnout was low. The opposition parties are also badly divided. So now Venezuelans face the prospect of a drawn-out internal battle, mission creep and a long siege for control of their nation, intensified external pressure to overthrow Maduro and increased sanctions so long as Maduro hangs on to power. Continue reading “America’s latest attempt at king-making”

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The US is leaving NATO (?)

Donald Trump wants to pull the US out of the NATO. At least, that is the story as outlined in a recent New York Times hit piece. According to ‘senior White House officials’ (they aren’t named, of course), Trump has said privately that he does not see the point of the organization and that it is a drain on the United States. And as to why a withdrawal of the US would be a problem The Gray Lady goes on to state that such a move “…could embolden Russia for decades”. And there we have it – the threat of the Russian bear breathing down the necks of Europeans and threatening American interests. But what is the truth about NATO? Is it relevant? Does it promote security? Does it make Europe or the wider world a safer place? And horror of horrors: Could Trump be right? Continue reading “The US is leaving NATO (?)”

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Theresa May’s day, or Mayday!?

As we know by now, Theresa May has survived the no-confidence vote against her. It was not by a large margin, though, which would be troubling for her. The final vote count was 306 to 325. In fact, it was a win only by a slim margin. This is less than 25% of the margin by which she won her last confidence vote back in December. Clearly, confidence in the government is slipping fast. After the vote she was still vowing to carry through with Brexit, to find some sort of compromise that would be suitable to the House, but held mum about taking the no-deal Brexit off the table when pressed on the matter by Jeremy Corbyn. To her mind, nothing has changed. One gets the sense, though, that something is in the works. Continue reading “Theresa May’s day, or Mayday!?”