Sleepwalking to war, quote of the day

“The sleepwalkers of 2017 should consider: On the brink of conflict, you never know just where the edge of the cliff may be.”

- David Ignatius, “What North Korea told a U.N. envoy trying to prevent war”, Washington Post, 2017-12-19

"Sleepwalkers" is a reference to "The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914", Christopher Clark

Donald Trump has worn me down

When I read the reports of Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations, I could not get over the feeling that it was George Washington’s worst nightmare.

Washington warned against factions.  Donald Trump is creating them faster than I can even type “faction”.

In his Farewell Address, which the Senate reads every year and then ignores, George Washington warned against factions:

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”

Donald Trump railed against North Korea and Iran.  George Washington warned against being too close to other nations and against being too hostile to foreign nations:

“Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp
the applause and confidence of the people to surrender
their interests.”

I plan to send this reminder to my Senators: Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.  If you are a U.S. reader, I hope you will send something similar to your Senators, regardless of their party.

But I have no idea how many real, live U.S. readers I have.  Every so often I get a big wave of Russian readers.  My feed is generally United Kingdom readers.  I get a lot of French readers, but I only have three correspondents in France.  Are these other readers really French, or are they Russian trolls?  I do know that at least one U.S. troll site is really a Russian front.

These trolls and Donald Trump have worn me down.  I don’t really know when I will be inspired to post more here.

The Axis of Weasels

Syria, Iran, and North Korea have voted against the Arms Trade Treaty.  An axis of weasels that would rather have the right to threaten opponents, domestic and foreign, than have a reduction in the arms trade that enables petty tyrants and terrorists to destabilize countries.

Now, thanks to a few who wrongly fear that the Arms Trade Treaty would take away their right to have their guns, the United States may be prohibited by a vote of the Senate from signing the treaty, thus joining the Axis of Weasels.

Oh, well, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who warned against the military-industrial complex would be a RINO to those opposing the Arms Trade Treaty.

See "Tell the Truth about the Arms Trade Treaty", Rachel Stohl, New York Times, 2013-04-11