Very traumatic for whom Mr. Trump?

 Very traumatic for whom Mr. Trump?

President Trump recapped his sixth meeting this year with his real boss, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, by stating it will be “Very traumatic” for Iran if a nuclear deal isn’t reached soon.

With his vast military armada perched on Iran’s doorstep, Trump’s warning is clear. The US is preparing a massive attack to decapitate the Iranian regime and splinter Iran into a failed state. Of course this has nothing to do with US national security interests. It’s about Israel’s decade’s long demand that its US servants remove Israel’s last hegemonic rival for Middle East supremacy.

When asked about a timeline for Iran to capitulate to every US, Israeli demand that would essentially nullify Iranian sovereignty, Trump said “I guess over the next month. They should agree very quickly.” Netanyahu echoed that delusional assessment stating “The president believes the Iranians now understand who they are dealing with” (and that) “conditions could emerge for achieving a good agreement.”

Trump and Netanyahu know full well Iran will never negotiate away their ballistic missile defense which will devastate both US military forces and Israel itself once Trump launches all out war.

Knowing no deal is possible, Trump and Netanyahu likely spent their 3 hour meeting discussing when and how to destroy Iran militarily. The Israeli news site Ynet, concurred, stating the two leaders discussed military options and that Israeli officials expect the US will eventually attack Iran.

Best we in the peace community can hope for is that someone close to Trump convinces him that the trauma Trump threatens Iran with will boomerang into unfathomable trauma for the US and Israel as well as Iran.

Walt Zlotow  West Suburban Peace Coalition 

Walking away on top better than being airlifted away from the top

 Walking away on top better than being airlifted away from the top

Experiencing world class athletic success must be the most exhilarating drug ever. Once on top, it’s difficult to imagine one’s body will eventually betray the prowess that allowed the inhabitant to experience the glory sports stardom brings.

But history is replete with fabulous athletes who didn’t know when to walk away. The Sultan of Swat Babe Ruth was so slow in his last full Yankee season, pitchers refused to take the mound if he was bumbling around in left field. When the Yanks unceremoniously cut him loose after the '34 season, the Braves picked him up as a gate attraction for the ’35 season. A shadow of his former greatness, Ruth staggered off the field with 6 dingers and a .181 average in just 28 games.

Bronx Bomber Joe Louis, heavyweight champion from ’39 to ’40, came out of retirement highly overweight in 1950 at age 36 to pay off tax debts. Failing to regain the heavyweight title, Louis suffered 2 of only 3 losses in 69 fights, the last of which was a merciless beating by Rocky Marciano in 951. Rocky learned Joe’s departing lesson well, retiring on top as undefeated champ at 46-0.

That brings us to world class alpine skier Lindsey Vonn. Few such athletes reached the pinnacle of success achieved by Vonn: four World Cup championships, three Olympic medals including first American woman to win Olympic downhill gold. Vonn retired twice due to injuries but the lure of Olympic fame at the current Cortina Games was too much to resist, prompting her second comeback last November at age 41.

Even a torn ACL nine days before her first event could not dissuade Vonn from attempting the unattainable. Thirteen seconds into her run she suffered a catastrophic fall severely breaking her left leg. Three surgeries later Vonn is in for a long road ahead to simply enjoy normal, pain free mobility with likely decades to live.

Vonn’s ordeal should be a lesson to all great and not so great athletes to leave on a high note….not on a high mountain.

Guthrie kidnapping coverage symptomatic of failed mainstream media

 

Guthrie kidnapping coverage symptomatic of failed mainstream media

 

There are critical issues that mainstream media must cover to provide an informed American public. Continued death and destruction of Palestinians in Gaza and their homeland. America on the cusp of war with Iran that may blow up the Middle East. Ukraine being systematically destroyed by failed US proxy war against Russia. Cutting off oil to degrade the Cuban people and force regime change. Obliterating small unarmed boats off Venezuela and the violent kidnapping of its president to score political points back home. Refusal of the Trump administration to release the Epstein files to bring justice to Epstein’s sex trafficking victims. Refusal of the Trump administration to investigate the brutalization, even homicides of innocent citizens in Democratic cities.

 

These just scratch the surface of what mainstream news must cover in depth to foster an informed electorate. But mainstream news is not about informing the public. It is about entertaining the public to bring additional vast riches to the rich folks who run media outlets.

 

Case in point is the lengthy coverage of the February 1 Nancy Guthrie kidnapping in Arizona. Had Guthrie not been the mother of NBC news host Savannah Guthrie, the kidnapping would have been unmentioned as the other roughly 2,100 violent crimes committed on Americans that day.

 

Of course, any crime involving a celebrity will be mentioned on mainstream news. But the Guthrie coverage was both lengthy and largely uninformative while it pushed infinitely more important stories aside.

 

 The other night while watching an important piece on congressional wrangling over release of the Epstein files to bring justice to Epstein’s victims, MSNBC dramatically interrupted coverage with BREAKING NEWS. Why? To spend about 20 minutes to tell we clueless viewers nothing of value. What was the breaking news? A “person of interest” was detained for questioning. That was it. A reporter rushed to the investigation scene to repeat over and over that no information was being released. All the while the door cam video of the masked man at the door was repeated on an endless loop. As they say in Hollywood…’That’s entertainment.’

 

This worthless use of 20 minutes could have been handled in 20 seconds. ‘A person of interest has been detained in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping. No further information has been released.’  

 

Mainstream news coverage of important stories is either non-existent or so superficial it’s worthless.

 

Today legions of Americans lament how 77 million voters can elect an authoritarian con man who, among other crimes, unleashed masked thugs on American streets to inflict senseless violence in the name of law enforcement. Spend a little time watching mainstream news and you’ll know how.

Sixth Trump meeting with his de facto boss…good day to fire him

 Sixth Trump meeting with his de facto boss…good day to fire him

President Trump’s de jure, constitutional boss is We the People. 77 302,580 of us, giving Trump 58% of the Electoral College, hired him November 5, 2024. Trump serves and reports to Us.

But during the past 13 months he’s dismissed his true boss to take orders from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Support the Israeli genocide obliterating Palestinians in Gaza with billions in weapons…check. Conspire with Netanyahu to sucker punch Iran with a sneak attack to decapitate their regime last June…check. Support Israeli provocateurs to infiltrate domestic Iranian protests to overthrow the Iranian regime last December…check.

Netanyahu is furious both his murderous Iranian regime change ventures failed. So he demanded, and of course got, his sixth sit down with Trump scheduled for today. Topic Number One? Iran, and not to make peace with Iran, likely the next and most massive attack that will finally achieve Netanyahu’s cherished dream of a decapitated, degraded Israeli rival for Middle East supremacy.

At Netanyahu's behest Trump has moved a massive military armada into the region. Pulling back is near impossible when Trump’s boss demands he pull the trigger on senseless war that could blow up the Middle East, indeed possibly the world.

It would take a psychiatrist, maybe a team of psychiatrists, to unravel why Trump allows Netanyahu to be his real boss. It may simply be the near quarter of a billion dollars Netanyahu’s Israel Lobby has provided Trump’s campaign coffers since 2020.

Regardless, someone in the Trump orbit needs to convince Trump who his real boss is. We the People do not want our treasure supporting genocide in Gaza. Nor do we want it used to launch massive war on Iran to please Trump’s de facto boss Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump needs to usher Netanyahu into the Oval Office today and immediately announce…’You’re fired.'

Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn IL

Ghost of McGovern haunts Democratic Party foreign policy 2028 will be the 16th presidential election in my 81 years. The only true antiwar Democratic presidential nominee in my lifetime was George McGovern in 1972. He ran against pro Vietnam War president Richard Nixon, who claimed America could achieve peace with honor there. McGovern said ‘Bunk’ and pledged to end the war without, as Nixon’s policy guaranteed, getting hundreds of thousands more Vietnamese, and tens of thousands more U.S. soldiers killed. Result? The U.S. electorate rejected McGovern’s vision overwhelmingly, giving Nixon 49 states and a 23.2% vote margin. Democrats, traditionally less militaristic than Republicans, learned a hard lesson: never campaign for peace over war. In the 14 presidential elections since, including two years ago, Democrats dared not champion peace against war loving Republicans. In 2004, former Vietnam peace advocate John Kerry had the chance to call out George W. Bush for his illegal, immoral, criminal Iraq war. Instead he bailed, campaigning on winning the war, which was in tatters, by fighting it more intelligently than stupid Bush. In 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama hinted at withdrawing from senseless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Once in office, he not only didn’t fully end them, he added to America’s Wars of Shame, intervening in Libya, Yemen and Syria; helping turn them into failed states, with hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees. Trump also campaigned against America’s forever wars in 2016, then dropped more bombs than Obama, assassinated a high ranking Iranian general, and nearly started massive wars against both Iran and North Korea. But rather than call out and campaign against this military bellicosity, Joe Biden campaigned for more military spending, more confrontation with China and Russia, adversaries he called “near peer powers”. Biden got off to a good start by quickly ending America’s disastrous 20 year war in Afghanistan. Then he doubled, tripled quadrupled down on other perpetual warfare thruout his first term. He provoked and enabled the Russian war in Ukraine, then sabotaged every effort to end it early on. Ukraine is now on US, NATO life support near collapse as the US Trojan House against Russia that came up lame. Hundreds of thousands are unnecessarily dead and injured. Millions have evacuated to safer climes. Biden expanded provocative rhetoric and military exercises against North Korea and China in the Far East. Worst of all he enabled and supported Israel’s grotesque genocide of Palestinians in Gaza following Hamas’ attack Kamala Harris, Biden’s Vice President and nominee successor in July 2024 when his mental decline could no longer be contained, followed the pro war Biden script perfectly. Not a word against his support of Israeli genocide and the utterly failed US proxy war destroying Ukraine. Result? Over 6 million 2020 Biden voters abandoned Harris They voted third party, some even for peace promising Trump, or simply stayed home. Biggest reason? Democratic war policies. Trump immediately pivoted from his peace pledge, going war crazy upon re-election. He’s bombed 7 countries including Somalia over 125 times. He continued suppling Israel with billions in weapons to obliterate Gaza, then ignored their daily ceasefire violations that have killed hundreds while denying the 2 million decimated survivors the necessities of life. He killed over 200 by bombing small boats off Venezuela, then invading outright to kidnap its president. He nearly triggered a Middle East regional war by bombing Iran in June. He’s also bombed Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and Iraq. Tragically for peace, the Democratic Party responded by ignoring the message that peace loving Democrats delivered the Party in November. Aside from independent Bernie Sanders who is unwelcome by party elites, no prominent Democrat calls out Trump’s deranged war mongering worldwide. Peace in the upcoming party platform. Not a chance. Democrats have clearly learned the lesson of 1972. In their warped view of good governance, promoting peace will not promote electoral success this November or in 2028. They’re helped by mainstream media which has largely banished US worldwide warfare criticism from their editorial pages. The Democratic Party will not give peace a chance, believing peace doesn’t sell with a war obsessed government and military fueled by companies selling hundreds of billions in weapons of mass civilian destruction. They continue to foster a clueless, compliant and complicit electorate. And astride Democrats’ shoulders, every blood drenched step of the way, is the ghost of George McGovern. Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition

 Ghost of McGovern haunts Democratic Party foreign policy

2028 will be the 16^th presidential election in my 81 years.

 

The only true antiwar Democratic presidential nominee in my lifetime was George McGovern in 1972. He ran against pro Vietnam War president Richard Nixon, who claimed America could achieve peace with honor there. McGovern said ‘Bunk’ and pledged to end the war without, as Nixon’s policy guaranteed, getting hundreds of thousands more Vietnamese, and tens of thousands more U.S. soldiers killed.

 

Result? The U.S. electorate rejected McGovern’s vision overwhelmingly, giving Nixon 49 states and a 23.2% vote margin. Democrats, traditionally less militaristic than Republicans, learned a hard lesson: never campaign for peace over war.

 

 

In the 14 presidential elections since, including two years ago, Democrats dared not champion peace against war loving Republicans. In 2004, former Vietnam peace advocate John Kerry had the chance to call out George W. Bush for his illegal, immoral, criminal Iraq war. Instead he bailed, campaigning on winning the war, which was in tatters, by fighting it more intelligently than stupid Bush.

 

In 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama hinted at withdrawing from senseless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Once in office, he not only didn’t fully end them, he added to America’s Wars of Shame, intervening in Libya, Yemen and Syria; helping turn them into failed states, with hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees.

 

 

Trump also campaigned against America’s forever wars in 2016, then dropped more bombs than Obama, assassinated a high ranking Iranian general, and nearly started massive wars against both Iran and North Korea.

 

But rather than call out and campaign against this military bellicosity, Joe Biden campaigned for more military spending, more confrontation with China and Russia, adversaries he called “near peer powers”.

 

Biden got off to a good start by quickly ending America’s disastrous 20 year war in Afghanistan. Then he doubled, tripled quadrupled down on other perpetual warfare thruout his first term. He provoked and enabled the Russian war in Ukraine, then sabotaged  every effort to end it early on. Ukraine is now on US, NATO life support near collapse as the US Trojan House against Russia that came up lame. Hundreds of thousands are unnecessarily dead and injured. Millions have evacuated to safer climes.

 

Biden expanded provocative rhetoric and military exercises against North Korea and China in the Far East.

 

Worst of all he enabled and supported Israel’s grotesque genocide of Palestinians in Gaza following Hamas’ attack

 

Kamala Harris, Biden’s Vice President and nominee successor in July 2024 when his mental decline could no longer be contained, followed the pro war Biden script perfectly. Not a word against his support of Israeli genocide and the utterly failed US proxy war destroying Ukraine. Result? Over 6 million 2020 Biden voters abandoned Harris They voted third party, some even for peace promising Trump, or simply stayed home. Biggest reason? Democratic war policies.

 

Trump immediately pivoted from his peace pledge, going war crazy upon re-election. He’s bombed 7 countries including Somalia over 125 times. He continued suppling Israel with billions in weapons to obliterate Gaza, then ignored their daily ceasefire violations that have killed hundreds while denying the 2 million decimated survivors the necessities of life. He killed over 200 by bombing small boats off Venezuela, then invading outright to kidnap its president. He nearly triggered a Middle East regional war by bombing Iran in June. He’s also bombed Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and Iraq.

 

Tragically for peace, the Democratic Party responded by ignoring the message that peace loving Democrats delivered the Party in November. Aside from independent Bernie Sanders who is unwelcome by party elites, no prominent Democrat calls out Trump’s deranged war mongering worldwide. Peace in the upcoming party platform. Not a chance.

 

                                                                                                         

Democrats have clearly learned the lesson of 1972. In their warped view of good governance, promoting peace will not promote electoral success this November or in 2028. They’re helped by mainstream media which has largely banished US worldwide warfare criticism from their editorial pages.  

 

The Democratic Party will not give peace a chance, believing peace doesn’t sell with a war obsessed government and military fueled by companies selling hundreds of billions in weapons of mass civilian destruction. They continue to foster a clueless, compliant and complicit electorate.

 

And astride Democrats’ shoulders, every blood drenched step of the way, is the ghost of George McGovern.

Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition

Has Trump been trumped by large, powerful, resolute Iran?

 Has Trump been trumped by large, powerful, resolute Iran?

Last June Israel attacked Iran, got blooded bad enough to beg Trump to negotiate a ceasefire. Trump got a reality lesson as well. Iran responded with its own attack to Trump’s one-off strike that did not “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear program, damaging a US base in Qatar. The message was clear. Any all out US attack could bring home hundreds, possibly thousands of US body bags.

Both Iranian responses demonstrate Iran has enormous firepower to both defend any US Israeli attack, but also inflict enormous damage on its attackers. And that damage would not only be to US, Israeli forces, it would shut down the Strait of Hormuz, likely wrecking the US, Israeli; indeed world economy.

Did Trump get the message? At first no. He conspired with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December to foment violent domestic protests to overthrow the Iranian regime. Trump planned a mid-January attack to push the protesters to victory. But when Iran crushed the protests, Trump backed down once again, realizing a strengthened Iranian regime would repel any attack just like in June.

That has left Trump in an impossible quandary. He’s put the massive US military armada on Iran’s doorstep knowing he cannot possibly succeed without incurring US, Israeli losses. But his credibility is destroyed if he admits defeat and withdraws the US armada.

What to do? Trump’s M.O. when cornered is to set up fake, negotiations with his adversary to buy time and seek trifling concessions so he can claim a complete, overwhelming victory. That won’t work with Iran. His upcoming negotiations with Iran will fail worse than his failed negotiations with Denmark and NATO to gobble up Greenland. Trump’s demands going in are so extreme, essentially guaranteeing end of Iranian sovereignty, they are a non-starter.

Trump is also not the master of his destiny with Iran. He knows Iran poses no threat whatsoever to US interests. But Trump also knows he’s subservient to his Israeli masters who demand he attack Iran to destroy Israel’s last Middle East hegemonic competitor. Even major US casualties could serve Israel’s agenda by forcing Trump launch all out war to avenge those casualties as not dying in vain. It’s even possible that Israel would use their own massive casualties to drop a nuke on Tehran. Once Trump pulls the trigger on his armada installed at Israel’s behest, there is no reversal of the inevitable catastrophe for Middle East peace; possibly world peace.

It was a snap for Trump to bring his military up to Venezuela’s border and slaughter a few hundred folks with boat strikes and outright invasion to score a presidential kidnapping. Bringing that same military up to Iran’s border will be a criminal war too far for Trump. Either he blows up the Middle East, destroying US and Israeli forces along with Iran in a conflict that could go nuclear, or he admits defeat, turns tail and sheds his warrior credibility.

By caving to Israeli demands, Trump has left himself no satisfactory way out. Has he met his match in large, powerful, resolute Iran? Sure looks like it.

Walt Zlotow  West Suburban Peace Coalition  Glen Ellyn IL