Hot Afghan Summer

by with No Comment FeaturedGlobalPolitics

Despite current events, I must start with a shameless plug and state, love is in the air! It’s lingering around me like the Delta variant. Recently, I got engaged to my girlfriend, and this has been a very joyous time for us. In addition to my engagement, I’ve been busy writing a full feature film entitled “This Thing of Ours.” It’s a romantic comedy that follows a group of 30ish people dating, marrying, or doing a little bit of everything in between today’s social world of Covid and online dating. 

Given I’ve been surrounded by so many lovey-dovey oriented things, I’ve even thought about current events in relation to dating. Specifically, Afghanistan… and thinking if Afghanistan were a person, she would be Jennifer Lopez. Like J Lo, Afghanistan has had interactions with the greatest and most powerful, yet none have been able to stay. 

And there’s a good reason for this. Afghanistan that is, not the J Lo dating history.   

Back in the summer of 2019, when the world was still innocent and free of being attached to the greatest global health crisis since the 1918 Flu pandemic, Houston-based rapper Megan Thee Stallion released, “Hot Girl Summer.” A catchy little number about… well… being a hot girl in the summer. Meg, (is that what she goes by?), stated the song is simply about “being yourself” and “having a good time.” And like “Hot Girl Summer,” messaging is for people not to follow someone else’s rules for love, but follow your way. A political “Hot Girl Summer” should be applied to Afghanistan. Given the history of the country with constant foreign power intervention, Afghanistan should just be left alone and be single for a while. Let her get a new hairdo, go out for a 60-dollar brunch, even let her post dozens of dog-eared filter pictures, just let Afghanistan be her for a while. 

Dating back to Alexander the Great in 330 BC, nations have tried to either conquer or control the Afghanistan region and people. The latest being the United States, whose involvement with the nation should have only been intelligence and law enforcement… instead, it became another decades-long terrible abusive relationship known far too well to the Afghan people. 

This must end, for there has never been a positive outcome for any nation trying to force their hand with Afghanistan. What should happen is the allowance of an organic government and making it work best for the Afghan people. That outcome might not even be a political science-worthy name for it, but it will be solely for the Afghan people. 

This is true for dating. 

Either a single person themselves or their social networks always will find the need to force a situation on someone, simply to be with someone. Other nations want to force their will on Afghanistan… it’s wrong and should be changed. Some of that “change for democracy” is laced with capitalism and exploitation of resources; however, it doesn’t change the savage nature of the Taliban. The Taliban is one of the most intolerable, hostile, violent, and unproductive governments seen in modern times. With that being said, the nation up until a few weeks ago did experience two decades of some type of freedom and democracy. I just don’t believe a country the size of Texas, with a population bigger than Texas, will simply allow the Taliban to lay rule once again without disruption or outright taking over. 

Love amongst couples is best to be left alone. No matter what you or anyone else thinks, you can’t legislate love. Because one doesn’t like another’s sexual orientation, or the look of their partner, their religion, or whatever, said couple is still going to find a way to be together. No matter how powerful a nation, their people can only be “controlled” or “managed” for so long. They yearn for independence and fate being decided solely by them is the spirit of all people. And if they have to be just “Jenny from the block to do it”, so be it. 

America, What Are You Doing?

by with No Comment FeaturedGlobalPoliticsRace Relations

America abandoned its values over the weekend; however, if I am being honest, it seems as if America began this abandonment long before this past weekend. The images of Haitians being stopped by U.S. Border Patrol with the use of horses and what appears to be a lasso, a lariat, or whip, made me ashamed to be from this country. 

Thousands of Haitians, men, women, and children seeking protection as deportation was not the answer for them. Deportation back to their homeland would not seem to be the right solution at this time. Haitians have been in a state of peril since the July 7th assassination of their president, Jovenel Moïse. In the aftermath of his death, violence and civil unrest became commonplace. A 7.2 earthquake on August 14th, leaving over 2,000 Haitians dead and more than half a million who would need assistance. They have suffered enough. To make the dangerous journey to seek safety in the United States only to be met with border agents telling them, “This is why your country is shit.”?

Where is the compassion? Where is the humanity? What does it say about America?

It says America has no heart and the evidence of that has been displayed throughout this country’s history, particularly against immigrants. It seems contradictory considering that America is made of all immigrants. The images pain me to know that in people’s greatest hour of need, we kick them down. 

While I do understand there are many other factors that go into immigrants seeking asylum, Haitians can still be treated with respect. It upsets me, it angers me to my core. What if the roles were reversed? At any time, disaster could strike us and where would Americans turn to? Who would want to even lend a helping hand considering we have demonstrated that we do not give a damn about others. We have become increasingly so more self-centered. 

Returning thousands of Haitians to their homeland, in the current state it is in, is not the best idea. Their own country is not even prepared to handle the return of those who had already made the dangerous trek to leave. 

I do not know if deportation is the best solution; however, I do know that if it is right now the only solution, then there must be a better way to solve this issue. If sending the Haitians back to their homeland is the best option, in what other capacity is the U.S. doing to provide additional support?

The proper support was given to the Afghan Nationals who were fleeing for their lives after the Taliban had taken over control of Kabul. If I am going to be honest, the statement by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, stating that, “Those two processes are quite different,”  is the definition of pretense. How? Mayorkas states that the Afghan Nationals were being, “Brought in by air … they have been screened and vetted. That is a safe, orderly, and humane process,” he said. “That is quite different than illegal entry in between ports of entry in a time of pandemic when we have been quite clear, explicit, for months now that that is not the way to reach the United States,” he concluded.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the Afghan Nationals were brought in due to the state of their country because it is not safe. Haitians have made the journey because it is not safe. Yet the processes are different, both are not humane? Why is that? Despite the pandemic, Border Patrol has been clear and explicit for months; but still, the Afghan Nationals are safe to start to rebuild their lives and pick up the pieces, yet Haitians are not. The U.S. has been clear, but in those months of making those clear statements; however, it was during those months the journey was being made to the land where people are given a chance. People risked their lives only to be met with disappointment. 

The Biden-Harris Administration has not had much to say about the circulating images and the behavior displayed by Border Patrol and their methods other than Vice President Kamala Harris expressing her outrage for the actions taken against these immigrants. Madam Vice President, your outrage is felt by us all. Madam Vice President, we agree with you when you say, “We’ve got to support some very basic needs that the people of Haiti have.” It is going to take more than just statements about how we must support the basic needs of the people. We need more than statements about how horrific it is to see people treated in such a manner. We need the Biden-Harris administration to do something that would be conducive and beneficial for the people who are simply trying to make a better life after the turmoil they have experienced so far. I know it will not be an easy task, but the United States must do a better job with this challenging situation. If we cannot find another way, or just simply refuse to find another alternative, the only question that remains… America, what are you doing? 

Similar Read: Citizens vs. Government: The Crisis in Haiti

Afghanistan Taught Us Nothing

by with No Comment FeaturedGlobalPoliticsUncategorized

So let’s have an honest discussion…

We are at point where we can say the United States has been involved in the War on Terrorism for 20 years, at least formally named. In that time a lot has changed in opinions and it’s ok to acknowledge that. It was expected to have occurred and lessons have been learned? But what if I tell you we’ve learned absolutely nothing.

Once upon a time in the not too distant past, we had a President Trump tout his date to be out of Afghanistan and the Right loved “ending forever wars”; heck, part of Trump’s appeal as a candidate was the willingness to call out the “love of war” that existed on the Right politically (and Left too). You saw him in debates get praises from the audience as he took on the perceived (but very real) military industrial complex. It makes it all the funnier now that he and his allies critique President Biden for doing just that.

When President Trump had the U.S. to be “out” by May 31st, it was so well received that it was placed on the Republican page. Trump, even one month ago, bragged how he set the wheels in motion that even if President Biden wanted to stay, he couldn’t now. However, the day the Taliban seized Kabul, suddenly the Republican website was “routinely updated” for convenience. President Biden, who caught faux backlash for extending the May 31st deadline, suddenly “incompetently withdrew” and should have taken just a little longer. But here’s the best part, this critique isn’t just for the Right. Jake Tapper did his best to drive the point home on CNN, liberal announcers feigned tears for the possible human rights violations to come (that’s another topic that’s used only for convenience). My personal favorite is Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado though. In February, she tweeted, “We’ve been in Afghanistan for more than half my life. We need to end the endless wars.” … Only to now tweet, “Joe has a 48 year history of making bad decisions. Add this weekend’s foreign policy decision to the list.”

To his credit, then Vice President Biden advised President Obama against a surge that only delayed the inevitable. Even more to his credit, President Biden took it upon himself to be “the guy” who said no more (now his press conferences leading to this day have aged TERRIBLY in fairness with the swift fall) and no more could be done from us. He took this position when even those on the Left critiqued it finally being done.

Now why do I say we’ve learned nothing?

The answer is simple, politically for three presidents, it was convenient to run on ending wars, but two failed to follow through, and the one who finally did is abandoned by “friendly media” and the opposition media and party suddenly have pivoted. This shows in a moment’s notice, if deemed politically advantageous, they’d keep us in a “forever war” for whatever reason that could be drafted and that is a prospect that after 20 years, should scare you. Our politicians, our media, and even the public at large has not learned anything but to look for political points. Next time you read an article on how we “abandoned” Afghanistan, look closely, you may see a Lockheed Martin notice on the byline as well (yes they really do this).

One last note, President Ford was the Commander-in-Chief when Saigon fell, his approval rating went up 10% within a month, far different from the narrative we are sold today with the end of Vietnam.

Now stay tuned, and I’ll be sure to explain why Dick Cheney (of all people) has been proven right years later based on Afghanistan and Iraq… I know, I can’t believe it either.

Citizens vs. Government: The Crisis in Haiti

by with No Comment FeaturedGlobalPolitics

It has been three weeks since the assassination of Haitian President, Jovenel Moïse. The circumstances surrounding his death are evocative of a Tom Clancy novel with no clear answers, which begs to ask who is to blame and what is the fate of the political future of Haiti and its people?

July 7, 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was killed in his private residence by a group of Colombians (mercenaries) alongside other individuals that may or may not have been on the inside. Arrests were made, although it is unclear as to who hired the Colombians to carry out this task. Similar to Tom Clancy’s work, one major devastating event riddled with political repercussions, is designed to shed light onto deeper issues at hand.  

Violence, protests, and civil unrest are not uncommon for the people of Haiti. The rising instability of the country has given headway to forge the path of a soon to be dictatorship. The circumstances surrounding his assassination may be unclear; however, what isn’t unclear is the state of unrest of the Haitian leading up to his death. His death is one of the many threats to Haiti’s democracy; but the livelihood and well-being of the people of Haiti leaves me wondering if the US should get involved.

Without a fully functioning government, gangs openly run rampant through the streets displacing many Haitians who now have to live in schools as their homes are now reduced to ash. Serious challenges such as increase in gang violence, shortages of food, ill equipped hospitals, and with Haiti being one of the least vaccinated countries, the United States can make efforts to help restore a sense of calm in the country, yet their involvement should be limited. 

Undoubtedly the U.S. has made some significant financial contributions and support to Haiti, there are issues that remain at large for this country that is spiraling deeper into a world of chaos. While I do believe that the US government should get off their ass to actually support Haiti, there is only so much that should be done.  

The Biden-Harris Administration released a statement indicating ways they are supporting Haiti. They included: assistance in the investigation on the attack; over $300 million in security assistance and infrastructure; as well as providing temporary protected status due to the lack of access to food, water, and healthcare (prior to Moïse’s assassination). This support was an attempt to counter a decision made by the Trump Administration in 2017, which ended special protections for the Haitian people despite indications that it was not safe for many of them to return home following the devastating 2010 earthquake. Despite the new administration’s efforts, the country has seen an increase in protests, violent acts, and kidnappings ever since Jovenel Moïse halted elections, which would’ve kept him in office for an additional year (2022). This move angered and ignited protests against the government calling for the president to abdicate his responsibilities as they felt he had unlawfully extended his term. Unrest has intensified as the U.S. government supported this move to remain in power until 2022, a move that ultimately place some responsibility on the United States.

Considering the state of Haiti today in the wake of this assassination, there are no clear answers as to what should be done. Perhaps that is the reason the US has stalled on requests for troops to help establish a sense of order simply because they have absolutely no idea what to do without causing further unrest. I don’t believe that US involvement in governmental affairs such as the electoral process would be beneficial, but restoring order might be a possibility. It is the Haitian people who deserve their voices to be heard and decide who their next leader will be. The events of weeks past, like a Tom Clancy novel, leaves me more confused with no answers, and unfortunately waiting for the next book in the series of the ongoing crisis in Haiti.

Similar Read: “Sending Them Back To An Impoverished Land Is Simply Cruel!”

Dictators Are Not Communists

by with No Comment FeaturedGlobalPoliticsSocial Issues

Not that Communism is the best system to have as the primary economic engine, but it’s important to note that no economic system exists in a vacuum. So when someone points to the failures of a particular country’s economy as “proof their system does not work,” it seems a bit misguided; especially when said country is in actuality a dictatorship.

When the dictators are doing right by the people, the country flourishes. When they are making bad decisions for their people, nothing can stop them and the country suffers. When the people attempt to rebel, they are squashed, imprisoned, executed.

Much of Cuba’s current economic crisis is being blamed on the US Trade Embargo. This obviously factors into the country’s current shortage of food and medical supplies, but at the heart of Cuba’s current misfortune is a government that values power more than its people.

A centralized economy (like a dictatorship) can function if it is making the right choices for its citizens. However, considering how susceptible a government-run economy is to corruption and favoritism, decisions aren’t always made in the best interests of the entire country. A free market is meant to mitigate the poor judgment of political leaders: the people know best what and who is needed so they sort out jobs, resources, supply, and demand on their own.

Vietnam found a way to maintain a Communist government, but embrace some free market enterprise in the mid 80s. It’s reported 30,000+ private businesses were created since then, their economy has flourished, and relations with the US started to normalize in the 90s.

So, where Vietnam succeeded, Cuba seems to be failing. The Castros have “good intentions” for their… people (is “subjects” too cynical?). But when they needed the foresight to understand how a global pandemic would damage their economy and possibly require some major changes, they maintained their status quo. This is why their people are protesting; they have no power to demand accountability from their government (dictators). They can’t vote to change their system. They can’t do anything except literally live and die by the whims of their leaders.

And so maybe Communism isn’t the enemy. Maybe trying to exist outside of the influence of Multi-National Corporations isn’t the enemy. Perhaps Malignant Narcissism is the enemy. Anyone that is not accountable to anyone and believes themselves to be infallible, that person is dangerous and whether they are the leader of a Communist Country, or the President of the United States, they can do serious damage to a multitude of people.

The economic system of the country matters not if the leader is self serving and uses their political position to consolidate power, destroy enemies, and enrich themselves and their allies. As more and more information comes to light, it seems this was happening in the very Capitalist United States of America under the Trump regime.

Now, perhaps Capitalism is the system least susceptible to corruption and so Trump is an anomaly, but to view the U.S. as purely Capitalist is a misconception.

Here’s why: 

-A large amount of our manufacturing and debt come from China (a Communist country). This means we are at least in that regard participating in a Communist system to some extent – we are x percent Communist.

-The entire concept of Insurance is communist in nature: “From each according to their means, to each according to their needs.”

-Any tax-funded job is technically Socialism (army, police, fire, infrastructure, social work, etc.).

The point is: We should be very specific about what is working and what is not so we can create the best situation for everyone.

It is truly malignant narcissism in leadership that ruins countries and economies (as well as families and businesses).

The Free Market has proven to be an incredible mechanism when not being abused or corrupted. Communist and Socialist mechanisms can be implemented efficiently when overseen by Democratic institutions.

Dictatorships are never the best system as they prevent accountability and change for the better. Cuba’s current protests are happening for that reason.

Follow the Leader… or Maybe Not

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGlobal

Spring has come and the Covid-19 is still with us, filling news reports and front pages. Bodies pile up in hospitals in some countries, in others extreme lockdown measures have enabled the virus spread to be limited, and the medical staff handles the situation bravely. The number of deaths all over the world is soon reaching, as I write, an appalling 200,000, for almost 3 million diagnosed cases. The USA amounts for a fourth of the fatal cases. 

Trump’s daily briefing points are an embarrassing comic relief in the tragedy whose ending is still unpredictable. He has now decided these press points are not “worth the effort,” and I do not know whether to be thankful or desolate. At a time when leadership and trust is most crucial, he fails to embody the strength and good sense Europeans relied on so many times in the past. It is like watching a gutter TV reality show, and obviously he knows a lot more about that than about empathy. Erratic syntax, limited vocabulary, references to absurdities like disinfectant injections (justified as sarcasm on the next day, ha ha) and promoting non-tested miracle cures, tantrums whenever the question is not to his liking, blatant lies and disinformation… all of these offer a sharp contrast with many (not all, looking at you, Brazil) governments’ response to the pandemic. 

In Switzerland, the federal councillor in charge of the Interior, Alain Berset, has uttered a phrase that is now the epitome of the crisis, “As quickly as possible, as slowly as necessary.” It is true that the idea of not rushing things is quintessentially Swiss, and we are often mocked for our slowness in many matters (driving, speaking or making decisions being a few). However, despite the crisis affecting many entrepreneurs and businesses, small and big alike, the Swiss people stick to this motto and mostly follow the recommendations as strictly as they did following the March 13th lockdown. Some shops are scheduled to open on April 27th, such as garden centres and hair salons, providing yet another test of the popular compliance with emergency circumstances.

Unlike in several American states, there are no demonstrations in the streets accusing our authorities of turning into tyrants or asking for our freedom back. No one here thinks we have been robbed of our liberty or imposed some sort of slavery, which is something I read on an American protester’s placard. As for now, the moment, the streets and parks are empty, in the supermarkets the distance rules are observed and students are patiently waiting for a decision to be made by the federal council about whether or not they will sit their matura exams (= high-school diploma, A levels). The decision will be made and announced this week, as quickly as possible, as slowly as necessary. Younger students will already go back to school on May 11, while high schoolers will have to wait until June 8th. 

As a teacher, I am looking forward to going back to school and seeing my students again. It’s been a month and a half now, and distance teaching/learning has become my new routine. I will not linger on how much time I spend adapting resources or modifying documents, trying to reach students who do not reply to emails or submit work for assessment. It is my job, and I do it in whatever conditions this crisis has imposed on us. I do it with my own children at home, waiting for me to entertain and play with them all day long. I do it in between baking and cooking, finger painting and seed planting, floor mopping and laundry folding, hide and seek and car playing. I do it at night, when the kids and my partner sleep. I do it. 

Nevertheless, I have observed what I already knew, but did not see in such proportion before: the amount of people who think teachers are lazybones who deserve their pay to be cut down for doing nothing all day and ostensibly bragging about it on their balcony or in their garden while others still go to work as normal. It looks like half the population thinks this way, judging by the comment sections of online newspapers. And they do not use words as kind as the ones I have chosen above to express their grudge. It saddens me to witness this lack of faith and trust in people who, after all, sometimes have to neglect their own children to make sure others’ get their daily or weekly supply of knowledge.  I have no access to my school buildings (homeless people have been accommodated in them), and I have over 100 students. I cannot, unlike my children’s primary school teachers, print and send, or deliver, files. We rely on the internet and the distance learning tools and programmes our department has chosen for us to work with. In just a week, we had to learn how to use them, get organised, alter programmes and adapt whatever was planned to this new situation. We did it. Well, to be honest, most of us did. 

Yet some parents (and some non-parents) are unhappy about our incongruous right to a salary when working from home. I read a mother accuse teachers of being Nazis in disguise for wanted to send her children to the gas chamber, aka the classroom. Of course I find it unbelievable to have the nerve to compare the final solution with trying to teach kids. But what I also cannot believe is the idea that the teachers have their word to say in this. We are employees, we do what our hierarchy tells us to do, (in that case, going to work), which is why another fraction of the population hates on us right now: we are like the blind SS, obeying orders against the general good. I did not choose the job thinking I was going to get praise and statues, but I am still stupefied by the constant outbreaks of hate and criticism. As teachers, our role today is to maintain a sort of normality, a routine of learning and understanding the world we live in, through remote connection with all these pupils and students whose parents have to worry about other concerns. We try to make sure they are OK, we let them know they can reach out to us in any case, and we reassure them. We give them homework, set up video calls and formative tests so they can move on and feel they are doing their part. We tell them they are important because they are the future, so they need to know things to make the right decision when it comes to them being in charge. 

I have already thought about the perfect activity for my students to practise their own criticism skills: I am going to show them a few pictures of these American protesters, and ask them what they think of that. Would they rather live in “dangerous freedom” rather than “peaceful slavery”? Why does the US resonate as some dystopian setting, reminding us alternatively of “The Handmaid’s Tale” when some compare the right to abortion to social distancing and wearing a mask, or “The Giver,” a novel by Lois Lowry presenting a society in which all differences have been suppressed —suggesting they fuel dangerous behaviours and crime—hence leading to a safe, but deprived of any free will, civilization. Inequalities are more than ever palpable amidst the pandemic, with the poorer populations paying too dear a price for their leaders’ lack of action. If only this crisis could make things change for the greater good, and erase some of these differences instead of intensifying them… 

The 6th American president, John Quincy Adams, said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” In that respect, today’s teachers are much more real leaders than some presidents. 

Spreading Consideration: How the Coronavirus Pandemic Can Teach Us to Care

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedGlobal

Whether it’s on my newsfeed or on TV, every hour brings new developments and criticisms about the handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Even my 6-year-old has an opinion on it. Besides reliable information and statistics, I see jokes, memes, and videos making fun of the apocalyptic situation in Italy, Iran or China. However, amidst the flow of information and hoaxes, a pattern emerges: we should take care of one another, and especially of the elderly. 

It’s clearly established that those at risk are older people or those who have serious health issues such as cardiac or lung problems or a weakened immune system. Some say it’s just good sense, but when you think about it, other pandemics and outbreaks didn’t quite resonate like this one. Whether it’s bird flu or swine flu, SARS or the measles, in unvaccinated communities, these epidemics didn’t get the same media coverage and level of anxiety worldwide. Why is that? 

Adults care for themselves, parents for their children and babies… but who cares for the old? How many isolated senior citizens pass away unnoticed for weeks or months? Each summer, authorities warn them to drink enough and reach out if needed during heatwaves. At Christmas, charities organize dinners for the lonely. In some cultures, such as in China, the elderly are highly respected and unlike in many western countries, they aren’t parked in nursing/retirement homes as soon as they show signs of dependence or senility. Conversely, they are honored and cared for at home by their own children who become at the same time parents and caregivers. 

This may explain why many people feel this crisis is different: it is lethal almost exclusively to the ones whom we didn’t think needed protection. As a rule, everybody acknowledges a new-born is vulnerable and must be shielded from threats such as viruses. But people also tend to think that the elderly can take care of themselves and are experienced enough to avoid risk-taking when it comes to their fallible health. Unfortunately, that is not the case and right now what someone may deem a simple cough or a little temperature can wipe out your lovely granny and your funny grandpa. Even if it may be consoling to think that it is in the order of things, they may still have good years ahead of them to enjoy their family and to make the most of this much-awaited time to themselves after working hard and raising a family. 

On a personal level, I still have one grandmother and she deserves long years of leisure and serenity after enough hardships. Some of my colleagues are close to retirement and my parents are in their 60s. To those who laugh this off pandemic by thinking it is natural selection, I hope they have considered who they put at risk, even more so within their own family circle. 

Count your blessings and respect safety measures, listen to health professionals and remember that optimistically, one day, you will be the elderly person hoping people still acknowledge and value your existence.

When Brave Words Turn to Foolish Tragic Actions

by with No Comment FeaturedGlobalPolitics

We all started this new year with the perception that this decade would bring about change. For some, that change would be professional; for others, that change would be in the form of personal growth. For the world, many of us hoped that change would come from men and women who would be less trigger happy and more eager to have an open dialogue.

Unfortunately, we were not paying attention. Our first wakeup call came on January 3rd with the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. The Iran and U.S. divide spans decades, and to try and explain the entire conflict would be exhausting and possibly passionately rebuked from not just both sides of the aisle here, but also on a global scale. 

As I was once told long ago, truth is a matter of perception.

To sum up the current events in a neat bow, and bring you, the reader up to speed on what has taken place in the past three years, here is my take on the current battleground between Iran and the United States. 

Summary of  tensions:  

Since President Trump decided to pull out of the Iran deal in 2017, tensions have been mounting between the two nations, and it took on a more aggressive tone when Trump decided to impose severe sanctions against Iran. 

Since these sanctions were in place, both nations have taken political, and at times physical swipes at each other. One could call it, testing the “waters,” so to speak. 

From capturing an ally oil tanker to shooting down a probing U.S. drone, both nations have been continually pushing one another to a boiling point. 

That boiling point came to a head in Iraq. Right after Christmas, on December 27th, 2019. An American contractor was killed among other Iraqi military personnel by an Iranian backed militia group, Kataib Hezbollah, which the group denied any involvement with the attack. 

The U.S. then responded by attacking Iranian backed militias within the region, which resulted in Iraqi citizens storming and attacking the U.S. embassy in Iraq, breaching and damaging the outer perimeter. Though the Iraqi military stepped in to break up the protests, the damage was done, and unfortunately, a set of options were brought to Trump’s table. 

These options provide the president with a set of responses ranging from the extreme to the more reasonable appropriate actions that a wise leader would take.

The option that Trump picked was the extreme option, and that was assassinating Qasem Soleimani. 

Who is Qasem Soleimani?

Qasem Soleimani was an Iranian Major General and leader of the Quds forces of Iran. From his start in the military in 1988 to his death in 2020, Soleimani rose among the ranks in the Iranian army and ended up leading and controlling the extraterritorial military and clandestine operations in service to Iran. Towards the latter part of his life, Soleimani was considered the second most powerful individual in Iran, second only to Ayatollah Khamenei, and also being the Ayatollah’s right-hand man.  

To some, especially in the west, Soleimani was the leader of a shadowy organization that ran multiple militia groups in Syria and Iraq and was behind the deaths of many American troops. To others in Iran and its allies, Soleimani was considered a hero and legend. Someone that provided Iran with a barrier against all its enemies and a role model for all that knew him or served under him. 

Perception, to one group he was a monster that needed to be removed from the game board; to another group he was more than just a military general. 

Soleimani was a symbol. 

When the Pentagon learned that Soleimani would be in Iraq, a decision was made to kill him. On January 3rd, A U.S. sanctioned drone strike attacked Soleimanis’ vehicle and his entourage just outside the Baghdad International Airport, Killing Soleimani, and other essential figures within his group. 

This attack brought the U.S. and Iran dangerously close to World War 3. After the attack, Iran vowed for revenge, and for days, the world held it’s breath on what steps Iran would take to exact that revenge. 

On January 8th, the world had its answer when Iran attacked two Iraqi bases that held U.S. troops within its walls. Strategically missing everyone and only causing minimal damage to the stations. 

This attack was a way for Iran to save face and also send a clear message to Trump not to push their buttons. Unfortunately, as with any conflict, innocents end up paying the price for being caught in the middle. 

A Ukrainian civilian aircraft that flew too close to one of the Iranian military bases in the early hours of January 8th, was shot down by an officer who mistook the civilian aircraft for a U.S. military response. 

This tragedy was a shock to the world and to the nations that had its civilians on the airliner. For days, speculations were thrown as to how and what downed the airliner, until Iranian officials admitted to mistakenly shooting down the plane with missiles.

Looking at this new conflict at the dawn of a new decade, led me to contemplate how many countless issues similar to this current one also escalated to catastrophic levels… over impulsive decisions, brave words, and cries for bloody revenge. 

How much time have we had to put aside our differences? Whether those differences deride from religious beliefs or the pigment of one’s skin tone? How much time have we been given to know better? 

How much time have we been given to learn from our forefather’s mistakes and our past? When will we individually hold ourselves and those we elect to represent us on a global scale accountable? When does it end? The divide we set amongst ourselves that only hinders our evolution and deconstructs all the hard work our species has done thus far to advance us collectively?

2020 is a big year. A year that I hope none of us can hide behind falsehoods and half-truths anymore. 

A year where we will be held accountable for our actions, and if there is any justice in this universe, a year that Trump will exit his role as president and pave the way for someone else to stand center stage. 

Someone who values life over ego. 

Top Iranian General Killed, Immediate Reaction From Army Veteran

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(An attack and murder of General Qassim Suleimani) in Baghdad, Iraq… I suppose if you’re going to do it, those are good conditions.

It’s a precarious place we’re in now.  If we knew that the embassy attack was managed from the top, the alternative would have been to let Iran think that it was ok… to assault US soil.  But it also forces Iran to either do something or eat it. I’m not sure they’re ready just to eat it, or take that loss, in laymen terms.

This is likely to escalate to open conflict.

I suppose the reason you do it this way is that if we can make the case that these guys managed the embassy assault, Russia will stay out of it.

I think we are fine with fighting Iran inside Iraq and Syria, so long as we aren’t in Iran and Russia doesn’t join.  China will also accept our word.  They won’t openly support us, but they’ll get it.

And as I think about it, this was about the best circumstance we could’ve asked for… to hit Iran hard without drawing other world powers to their side. 

If we aren’t trying to take over or topple Iran, we can fuck them up pretty badly; but this is going to be a big thing now.

And we are going to need Russia and China to stand down – and all the while we are making our case, they’re going to be saying on the surface that it’s a fake case just like the 2nd invasion of Iraq was a fake case.

Overall, it’s probably good for asserting ourselves in the Middle East.  Good for asserting ourselves as strong to Putin, and OK with China because we just inked that phase 1 deal last week. 

I would guess had we not inked and announced the deal with China, this attack wouldn’t have happened.

I understand there are a lot of troops at Fort Drum and Fort Bragg that were given mobilization orders this morning. I don’t know the number, but based on the people getting called it would be between 10,000 and 40,000. That’s a shit ton of people given that we are currently under 5,000 troops in Iraq.

Similar Read: Syria Will Be Part of Trump’s Legacy – But History’s Judgement Is Still Unclear

The Trump Doctrine: What Ukraine Says About Trump’s Foreign Policy

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One of the biggest stories of 2019…  

In the latest episode of The D.C. Apprentice reality show, we unpeeled another layer of the onion that is the Trump Doctrine. Whether it’s Brexit, Afghanistan, Jamal Khashoggi, summits with North Korea, tariffs and trade deals, Putin, and now, Ukraine, we bear witness to a convoluted set of policies without specific details and a heavy emphasis on maximizing publicity and attention. Trump’s foreign policy is based on minimizing or eliminating long-term military engagements, renegotiating agreements that play into his deal-making reputation, and provoking diplomatic altercations that further establish Trump as the Commander-in-Chief of Red State America.

Trump vocally embraces the paleoconservative philosophy championed by Patrick Buchanan, Steve Bannon, Lou Dobbs, and numerous contributors to Fox News and Breitbart News. It embraces traditional social positions and nationalism while strongly opposing trade agreements, immigration, and international organizations. It also has a strong isolationist influence that opposes military interventions. Between the trade wars, ICE raids, border wall funding, immigration and asylum reductions, NATO criticisms, and troop withdrawals in Afghanistan, Trump is reliably committed to Paleoconservative orthodoxies. 

Trump’s reputation as a deal-making businessman from his real estate business in New York to his TV show to his book, ‘The Art of the Deal,’ is built on maximizing publicity by making grandiose, must-see-tv gestures that consumes all oxygen from other competitors. Whether it’s the summits with the North Korean dictator, renegotiating NAFTA, and imposing tariffs on trading partners like China, Trump uses each opportunity and/or manufactured diplomatic crisis to further burnish his perceived deal-making reputation. 

Perhaps most importantly, Trump’s foreign policy is dependent on cementing his status as the Commander-in-Chief of red-state America. The President has gone all-in on being the war-time commander in the new cold war between red and blue America. Withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty is the perfect example. The trade wars with Mexico and China appeals to the rural working-class voters in Midwest and Southern states who see their manufacturing tradition threatened by globalization. Trump’s coalition swapped out college-educated middle-class voters in suburban counties for working-class voters in rural areas. He relishes any attack from blue-state America because it further establishes his war-time credentials with red-state America. Therefore, the Ukraine news only solidifies his support from his fans. In the mind of his supporters, they are at war, and all is fair in love and war. That might seem drastic, but his supporters love that there is no line he won’t cross to defend them against their enemy. Trump has nearly 3 years of history proving himself to his supporters that he will fight every fight that they believe his predecessors were too weak to engage, and this is no different.

This article was originally published on 27 September 2019.