sanctions

No Picture

Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Donald Trump, elections, History, International Law, Russia, sanctions, Trump and Putin, Trump-Putin meeting, U.S. Congress, use of force, Vladimir Putin July 7, 2017

“It is an honor to be with you”: Trump and Putin at G-20 in Hamburg

Trump’s statement in the presence of Putin before going into their meeting says it all: “It is an honor to be with you.”

For Trump, it is an honor to meet the military aggressor who invaded the Crimea and the eastern Ukraine in 2014….
For Trump, it is an honor to meet the leader of a country which committed barbarous war crimes in Syria, bombing hospitals and civilian infrastructure in Aleppo, for example.
There is no statute of limitations for military aggression.
The U.S. will not improve relations with Russia by trying to appease the aggressor, Vladimir Putin.
Trump has been, and remains, the first pro-Russian president of the United States at least since 1917….

Read More
No Picture

2016 U.S. Presidential election, Culture and Communication, Dictatorship, Donald Trump, human rights, propaganda, Russia, sanctions, State Department, syria, U.N. Charter, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin March 11, 2017

The level-of-analysis problem in assessing and reacting to Trump’s assault on American democracy

The outlines and methods of President Donald Trump’s asault on the institutions of American democracy and their underling traditions and values are now clear.

First, he has conducted an all-out assault on the very concept of the truth.
Third, Trump not only lies about everything all of the time, but also engages in defamation of the leading news media in the United States on a daily basis, having labeled them “the opposition party” and “the enemy of the people.”
We face a dramatic situation.

We have a president who lies about everything all of the time.

We have a presdient and administration which reject the concept of accountability, dismissing criticism will lies and charges of “fake news”. The president openly defies the requirements of the Enmoluments Clause of the constitution…
We have a president who is under strong suspicion of colluding with the Russians in their intervention into the November 2016 elections in the United States, who has not criticized Putin or Russia directly in any significant way…
Given Trump’s ongoing assaults on the pillars of American democracy, and the values which underlie them, Democrats, Independents and Republicans need to start thinking, with great urgency, about how Trump and Bannon can be removed from office–at an early date.