A Recycled President

Trumpty Dumpty returns

The US has a new president! Well, not really new – it has a recycled president. Slightly refurbished – but essentially the same one from before.

The Washington Post and New York Times were quick to welcome him to office – by scapegoating Anthony Blinken--now called the Secretary of War!

Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, contributed $1 million to Trump's inauguration. Go figure!

WaPo and the NYT are still DNP mouthpieces but…and they have a constituency — but they couldn't exactly throw Biden under the bus after celebrating his presidency as the Second Coming of Christ..

But Blinken? Why not?

Word is he starting a rock group with Zelly and Bibi.

Look - they gotta throw somebody under the bus!

At the same time, it pays to be a little circumspect at inauguration time when the guy you never thought could win not only won but won bigly, with support beyond his billionaire and trillionaire backers —that is, with, public support!

The MSM want clicks – so they're going to play nice – for a while at least.

Blinken is click bait.

As for Trump --he just signed over 100 deck executive orders– reversing a lot of Biden's and pardoning all those who attended the January 6 festivities in 2020 and were subsequently subject to draconian penalties.

He withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) blaming China for not paying it’s fair share. He also withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. He doubts global warming.

Another executive order created a government efficiency agency under Elon Musk.

He halted the ban on TikTok.

And he rolled back Biden DEI policies, especially those recognizing gender by choice — trans people.

There is likely a lot more which have not been revealed by the media.

BUT….

Trump 2.0 is not that different from Trump 1.0. He still makes a big thing of of dialogue, of being able to talk to anyone – except Iranians of course. But his executive orders and comments at the inauguration made clear he doesn’t care anymore about honoring agreements and promises than before. He is the same old wheeler dealer. He is man of words — but not a Man of His Word.

Putin responded positively to the idea of dialog– of course – as he always does — but made clear that any discussions had to be on the basis of mutual respect and equality— as, again, he always does. Read his lips: Russia is not compromising on the Ukraine — because even if the US accepted Russian terms, it could not be trusted to honor the agreement.

It is pretty clear that Trump is not interested in an equal relationship with Russia — or any other nation. He has promised that the US would be "greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before". He promised to rebuild the US military…..

Good luck on that. Maybe in 20 years, if there is still a US .All he can hope for is to slow the US’s military decline relative to Russia and China.

Russia's Lavrov clarified:

Expressing that Washington's interests on the world stage have not changed regardless of who is in the White House, Lavrov said it wants to “always be stronger than any competitor.

More correctly, there can be NO competitors at all.

Every president in the last 30 years has had the same supremacist policy– and we've seen the consequences.

Now Trump is threatening to take over little Panama, and considering imposing 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products February 1.

At the same time, he has put Cuba back on the terrorism list after they been taken off by Biden in response to almost unanimous worldwide support for the island nation. He will also be ramping up attacks on Venezuela. Greenland? Manifest Destiny all over again.

However, the destiny manifesting for the US is ruin and collapse.

The US has failed as Global Hegemon-- so from global it has gone local--emphasizing economic nationalism, and the colonization of the Americas, without the industrial base to support its efforts.

That shortsighted plan is bound to backfire-- with many nations, nervously queuing up to join BRICS— Cuba and Venezuela among them.

Next, maybe Canada and Mexico?

In the case of Canada and Mexico, Trump has effectively sunk their free-trade agreements with the US. Not a good start if you want other countries to “negotiate”.

Canada would indeed suffer from 25% tariffs, perhaps at the cost of 2.5% of its GDP – but it could easily impose export duties on a range of products essential to the US economy to pay for that —and do as Russia did —offering what it has to sell to other clients. Oh, I forgot, the Canucks have alienated India and China.

A 25 per cent export tax on energy (oil and gas) exports alone would net more than $40 billion a year at current prices and trade levels— money that could offset the costs Canada and the provinces would incur to manage the economic shock from the tariffs. Applying a similar tax to Canadian exports of uranium, potash, natural gas and perhaps aluminum could raise billions more while straining corporate profits in the U.S.

For added effect, Canada should seek to coordinate any response to potential tariffs with the Mexican government and other impacted countries. Not only would a coordinated international response compound pressure on U.S. business, which is currently dependent on many Canadian and Mexican inputs, but it would set a positive precedent for difficult negotiations with the U.S. over the future of North American trade.

As Lavrov points out when he says the US doesn't like competition, and the US is incapable to dealing with other countries as equals. Ironically, it is competition that is the basis of free enterprise, as Adam Smith wrote. But the US idea of competition is “we win, you lose”. Smith wanted everyone to win.

Special Article

An excerpt. What this study tells us that human morality is inborn. It derives from genetic adaptations unique to homo sapiens.

This study aimed to examine children's perceptions regarding the concepts of benevolence and responsibility in early childhood and the way they put them into practice. The study was designed according to the basic qualitative research method and consisted of 64 children between the ages of 4 and 5. The data were collected through interactive value stories, children’s drawings related to the relevant values, and semi-structured interviews. The data analysis presented remarkable results, the first of which is that preschool children may have not only result-oriented but also intention-oriented moral values. The second result is that the course of behaviours related to moral values is primarily directed towards family members. As the third result, preschool children's moral values were found to appear often in their relationships with people in need and with people who are much older. Finally, the fourth result indicates that children associate moral values not only with human beings but also with nature and plants, which is a significant indicator that universal moral thinking can develop in children of this age. Moral Development in Early Childhood .

Ummm… Matthew 18: 2. Moral neoteny?

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven

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