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Showing posts from October, 2019

Impeachment, Doral and more

As this is unfolding at warp speed, I have refrained from commenting on it. The truth is there for all to see, except Trumpkins and GOP congressmen. You can excuse the former as morons easily fooled. The latter lost their spines a long time ago, while their faces are pressed so firmly to Dotard’s (insert body part) that they are unable to see or hear clearly. #MoscowMitch has an op-ed in WaPo today harshly criticizing the Syria withdrawal, somehow without mentioning who was responsible for that. I had to remind him in the Comments section that its a guy who’s name rhymes with Ronald Dump (which is also what he has turned America into). Mick the Knife acknowledged the quid pro quo in front of running cameras, basically calling it a quid pro so what? A couple of hours later he had to walk back his comments, and social media is full of both his comments side by side. Amazing how people with some reputation earlier can thrash it themselves in service of the Chosen One. Dana Milbank ha

Brexit - From Backstop to Fullstop

In my last Brexit update a couple of weeks ago, I predicted that Boris was getting ready to throw Northern Ireland under the bus. An Irish friend pointed out, rightly, that he was actually only throwing the DUP (the Unionist party) under the bus, as the Nationalist parties, with their goal of a united Ireland, are probably okay with a border in the Irish Sea.  And with the Brexit deal agreed, the border in the Irish Sea would become a reality until at least 2027, unless we get a united Ireland before that, which cannot be ruled out any longer. Nobody in 1983 dreamt we would have a united Germany 7 years later either. Boris’ deal is 95% equal to May’s deal, which he and Parliament rejected thrice. The crucial difference is the removal of the Backstop, which was the mechanism to avoid a border on the island. It effectively kept the entire UK in the customs union, till alternative arrangements could be agreed on. That has now been replaced with what we can call the Fullstop, which once y

Middle East chaos

People my age are used to 50 years of UN Security Council resolutions either - supported by the US and then vetoed by the Soviet Union, later Russia - supported by the Soviet Union, later Russia and then vetoed by the US. That has been the norm ever since I can remember, but with Putin’s Puppet now in the White House, we have a historical first - a resolution condemning Turkey brought by EU democracies and vetoed by Russia  and  the US. And we can bet its not going to be the last. Putin is probably laughing all the way to Sochi. His puppet, bought with relatively little investment, has not only said nothing about Crimea, but has now effectively handed him a big footprint in Syria.  Thomas Friedman has a great column in the NYT comparing Dotard’s decision to when you disobey your GPS instructions, and the screen then says - Recalculating. There is now recalculating, recalculating, recalculating going on all over the Middle East, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and ev

Brexit update

Well, well, as I have said for 3 years now, it all revolves around the Irish border, and Clown Boris is now ready to throw Northern Ireland partly under the bus, with his latest proposal having it staying in the single market for agriculture and some goods. The Unionist DUP party, that propped up May’s govt and absolutely refused to have Northern Ireland treated separately to the rest of the UK, seems to now accept being partly under the bus. Maybe they are worried as polls show more support for a united Ireland in case of Brexit.  However, this is only a start. The EU is all but certain to reject this, and desperate to get the UK out, expect Boris to throw NI totally under the bus and accept that it will stay in the EU customs union. And I suspect the DUP will succumb to that as well, as for them, that’s still better than a united Ireland. Of course, the UK could have got that result a year ago, and avoided an extra year of chaos. Here Irish writer Susan Kay describing Boris’ recent