74 Million Reasons to Worry

 “Since the time of Reagan, the American economy has ridden waves of speculation -- in real estate, in information technology, in mortgages, and now in real estate once again -- each leading to a bust.” James K. Galbraith, The Nation

One thing is for certain: the West is treating the carnage, destruction and refugee crisis in Ukraine very differently than it did when the victims were Afghans, Syrians, Yeminis and Somalis. What accounts for this? Is it because Ukranians, by and large, resemble us and pray to the Christian God rather than Allah? Or does the West consider the lives of Ukranians more valuable and worthy of our concern and compassion? Afghanistan is a ruined country, and a forgotten one as millions of its people face the possibility of starvation. Most of the world yawns. 

How does Tucker Carlson -- the poster boy for hysterical white grievance -- get away with spouting pro-Russian drivel on Fox News? Commerce, of course, advertising revenue based on his devoted audience. As long as Carlson attracts eyeballs to screens he will be allowed to continue spewing nonsense like a busted sewer pipe. 

Reports in the corporate media indicate that Russian forces are targeting civilian targets in Ukraine, a charge that Russia denies as fake news. Apparently, any video footage coming from Ukraine that is critical of Russia or evidence of war crimes, has been doctored. Sounds to me like Putin plays the same PR game as his pet and protege, Donald J. Trump. Meanwhile, Biden is doing his best to thread the needle by keeping NATO on the sidelines while he authorizes billions in military assistance. If only it was as easy to fund health care and education for all Americans. Funny thing about war spending: it always receives swift approval and is exempt from all accountability for how the money is spent. No cost-benefit analysis or means testing, none of the hurdles faced by any initiative to assist the poor or needy. War is better for business. 

Remember when the Soviet Union collapsed and there was talk of a “peace” dividend? No? Can’t blame you because it lasted about a minute and was quickly forgotten after 9/11 and Bush/Cheney’s global War On Terror. That blunder cost trillions of dollars, caused thousands of civilian casualties and a refugee crisis, and no one was held accountable. George W. Bush paints and slides into dementia, Dick Cheney clings to life, and people like David Patraeus are invited to prognosticate on cable news programs. What did America get for its “investment” of several trillion dollars? We practiced torture abroad and cruelty at home (we incarcerate more people than any nation in the world), our economy is obscenely tilted in favor of the wealthy, and our political system is a dysfunctional farce. The GOP is so far up Trump’s behind that it didn’t even bother to offer a platform in 2020; whatever Trump wanted was the platform. We demonize the poor and less fortunate. Naked racism is on the rise, greenlighted after five years of Trump. We praise the stupid and villify the intelligent. We’re afraid to look in the mirror and confront our nation’s history. Intolerance is on the march and it comes packing heavy heat, thanks to the perversion of the 2nd Amendment. How long before it turns really ugly? Listen to the rhetoric, the explicit calls for violence. Do you think it will simply dissipate, like fog? I don’t. Malevolent forces are loose in our land and closer than we think.

What happened to the criminal referral for Mark Meadows on charges of contempt of Congress and those highly anticipated public hearings about January 6, and the various probes into Donald Trump? Swept aside by Ukraine and rising gasoline prices. This Congress will run out of time and the work of the January 6th committee will probably never see the full light of day. DOJ will abstain from prosecuting Trump on the pretense of not wanting to divide the nation. Besides money, you know what destroys democracy? Cowardice. If you think these are the delusions of an overwrought old liberal keep in mind that Donald Trump received 74 millions votes in 2020 -- after being impeached, after bungling the federal government’s response to the Covid pandemic, after embarrassing the nation time and time again on the world stage, after all the scandals, after all the lies. 74 million of my fellow Americans saw all that and still voted for Trump. The question for the ages is how can so many people be so stupid and irrational? 

That’s why I must conclude that we are well and truly fucked, as Hunter S. Thompson might say. 

The Tide of Injustice

 “One should never discount the historical importance of lunatics.” Marci Shore, Historian

Vladimir Putin is fighting the war he instigated with the sons of Russian mothers and fathers who have little say in matters of public policy. According to one report I heard, nearly 500 Russian soldiers have perished thus far. More will follow, of course, as will more casualties on the Ukrainian side. I still cannot fathom why Putin chose this course of action at this time. Did he miscalculate the response from the people of Ukraine and much of the world, the economic sanctions that threaten his vast stolen wealth and that of his oligarch cronies? I’ve read speculation that Putin has lost his mind, is suffering from an illness and might possibly be addled from steroids. Be that as it may, I wonder how long he can keep the Russian population in the dark about what he’s doing in Ukraine. Putin has many plates in the air. 

Putin is a case study of a brutal tyrant who has clung to power for too  long. It seems to happen to them all, the lure and curse of power; Putin has been Russia’s top dog longer than any man should. He’ll likely win the first significant military victories, taking more and more territory, but then what? How is Putin going to keep the Ukrainian people under control while Russia is under brutal economic sanctions? 

Putin, Trump, Orban, Xi Jinping, Erdogan, Modi, it’s the age of the tyrant and the autocrat. How many refugees will ultimately flee Ukraine, and how will the receiving nations manage the influx of so many desperate people at one time? The logistics are daunting. The suffering will be extreme. Because of one man, Vladimir Putin.  Why do we fall for these people, allow them to amass such powers to themselves, these men so deranged that they should never be within feet of power? Because they make things simple. They say, you’re the real people, the ones who deserve to be taken care of, not those free-loading immigrants; they say, you’re struggling financially because of the evil European Union or the Democrats and the snobby, woke intellectuals. These autocrats are skilled at simplifying the complex, casting the battle as good against evil, us against them. It speaks to our need for association with like-minded believers. Same as religion, and often hand in hand. Marry Grievance with the Bible and you’ve got something. 

We -- and by we I mean as many nations as possible -- should provide relief and relocation for the innocent victims of Putin’s War. Seize his financial assets and real property and that of his cronies and major enablers, and use the funds for resettlement and rebuilding. But we should also remember that the Ukrainians are not the first people to face a relentless, lethal military assault: that distinction belongs to the Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, Yemenis, and many more who came before. People who by no fault of their own suffered for decades. Creating scores of refugees is a world problem, and we keep doing it, as if we can’t learn our lesson in the unintended consequences of war. It’s always the same with us: start a military conflict, create a humanitarian crisis, rinse and repeat. 

The tide of injustice rises ever higher.