Category: International Affairs

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Putin-esca

Trump is concocting a sassy sauce of business and military cabinet picks. Many tethered to Vlad the Invader. Keep your enemies close? Hmmm. Foe or friend in the end? Interesting. Another Putin-phile, Exxon-Mobil’s Tillerson for State. Netanyahu on board. Is that bad?

Outrage. So many of these people have no government experience! Isn’t that the point? More private over public sector. New perspectives. That’s good. A mix of fresh tastes. Several women of varied backgrounds so far. Okay lots of rich white men. In any event. This will be different.

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Four Words 2016

Most overused word: Amazing. Still. To describe anything. Everything. If you are lacking in adjectives. There’s probably an app. Use it.

Most politically charged word. Xenophobic. To describe Trump. Trumpistas. Brexits. Nationalists. Polite for racist. Antonym. Globalist. Polite for multi-cultural overcorrection-ist.

Scariest word. Upgrade. As Calvin Trillin says, it strikes horror in us luddites. New software which wreaks havoc with our phones, computers, lives. It’s only a good word when you are supposed to be flying coach. Then it’s amazing.

At least they are words. And not emojis. Or emoticons.

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RiRi & BiBi

Exciting weekend in the ‘hood. Global Citizen concert in Central Park. Saturday night our apartment 10 blocks down shook with the bass and drums of Metallica and Kendrick Lamar. Then came the show stopper. Rihanna. RiRi. She didn’t seem to know much about the cause. Nonetheless she performed. Reminiscent of Amy Winehouse R&B. Generous show. mAdBen got to see it up close. Lucky.

Today as we strolled toward home, guys in suits stopped us from going down our street. Walkie talkies into the lapel earpiece thing. Clearly somebody was coming to our neighbor building San Remo. As a rush of men entered the lobby and the sirens abated, we asked , who was that? They gave us hints. A tall man with white hair. Not American. Met with both candidates today to get their support. Got it. BiBi Netanyahu. Woo hoo. As we watched him leave from our bedroom view, he rolled down the window and waved. Then on to Hamilton.

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NEXIT

BREXIT. NEXIT. Brits are preparing to vote on secession from the EU on June 23rd. Could the Netherlands be next? A whole domino effect may ensue. As migrants return over the summer, countries will hunker down into their respective cultures. Fear will return “Yerp” toward its original borders. Meanwhile, a petulant adolescent who may become President is stoking nationalism back in the U.S.A. Take stock of your 401k!

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Dangerfield Doctrine

Trump’s Foreign Policy Analysis. We don’t get no respect. Anywhere. By anyone around the world. His vision is an expansion of his personal view of fairness and respect. Leaders must greet Air Force One at the airport. The President has to know the outcome of a deal before he embarks on a trip to a foreign country to negotiate. Be prepared to walk away from the table. If allies don’t pay for our protection, we will pull out our troops and close our military bases. In Germany. Korea. Japan. Wherever.

Have to say. Trump sounded more like Rodney Dangerfield meets Ronald Reagan. The world has to be nice to us financially thereby proving respect. Different.

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¡Qué bola!

El Presidente Obama touches down in Cuba. CEO’s in tow. Las Capitalistas invade the last bastion of La Revolución. La lluvia. Las lágrimas de Fidel. Castro regime sheds its last tears. What will it mean. Trade-offs. Rights vs. redistribution. Mojitos. Cigarros. Starbucks. Starwood.

90 miles north back in The States. Bernie Sanders fills stadiums as a Socialist. A new generation of Americans ready to embrace income equality. Al revés. Where is Elián González these days? What would José Martí say?

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Disturbance in the Force

Shifting allegiances in the sands of the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, our supposed ally, practices the most extreme version of Islam with violence against infidels and women. Iran’s antithetical Islamic theocracy reigns in a land of Persians. The two powerful nations have now come to loggerheads to fight for dominance in the region polarizing others along Sunni and Shiite lines. In between ISIS flourishes and refugees flee from its rise. Oil price volatility the new norm.

Meanwhile, North Korea is bomb rattling as China looks the other way, distracted by its own geopolitical paranoia. Bottom line? Stash that cash for 2016. Markets going to have a bumpy ride.

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Fraternité

In a bad way. Disgruntled brothers again at the core of terror in a major city. As with the Tsarnaev’s in Boston. Radicalized in Eastern Balkans. Now bereft and left out brothers Abdeslam at the heart of another siege. This time in Paris. Radicalized in Syria. But, disaffected Muslims encore.

Leaders and as always military are overthinking this as a macro geopolitical religious act of war. Nope. The Belgian brothers were not even mosque-goers but rather like the Tsarnaev’s drug users. It’s a psychology of unemployed youth who lack purpose and attach to a criminal cause. Pope Francis was right. The most lethal weapon against world peace is men without jobs.

Armies and bombs can never combat that.

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Petulant Adolescent Presidents

Great NY Times Magazine piece on El Trumpo. Mark Leibovich accompanied Donald on his private jet to various campaign venues. He confirms that between gigs Donald watches himself on every channel and tweets after dark like a frenzied teen. Nevertheless, he entertains crowds and disrupts old political ways.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Vlad swaggers through his gold-gilded doors with similar narcissism and bombast. He will fight ISIS in Syria. So, let him. As Donald says, why not? Do we want to send our kids there to fight? Let Putin do it.