TOWSON, Maryland, Thursday, August 3, 2017 - Both the Kremlin and These United States today said relations between the two nations have degenerated to a very dangerous point. This, even though I have the impression (and I don't believe I am alone in this) that the leaders of both nations are able to get along with each other. They are able to talk, they are able to communicate constructively.
That being said, the nations are very different. While Russia has a nominal legislature, it is largely there for show and has no real power. In fact, Russia is little more than a dressed up dictatorship. The dictator is Russian "President' Vladimir Putin.
Putin is a former agent of the Soviet Union's 'secret police,' popularly known as the "KGB." This outstanding group of men was a ruthless, sometimes blood-thirsty collection of 'All Communist, All-the-Time' thugs which were hell-bent on making the Soviet Union the most feared and most powerful nation on this planet. Putin adds to the typical characteristics of your average KGB agent a list of other skills. He is educated, he is shrewd, he is 'patriotic' in the sense that he believes that the Russian nation deserves all the respect it gets, and then some.
During the years of the Obama Administration, Putin perceived weakness emanating from Washington. He reacted by taking sure advantage. He invaded the Crimean Peninsula and then occupying it. That situation continues today, even though the United Nations recognizes the historically strategic warm water port as belonging to the Ukraine.
Secure and, really, unchallenged, in the wake of that little picadillo, Putin next slithered into Eastern Ukraine. Local Militia there, with open help from Moscow, has been in a running battle wier of nastiness, all of which amounted to a few mild economic sanctions liberally mixed with some very disturbing finger waving.
Despite the abject failure of Obama's responses to Russian adventurism, the Ukraine openly colluded with Hillary Clinton in last year's Presidential Elections.
President Trump - whatever you might think of him - has acted in a sure and strategic manner since taking over the reigns in Washington. He has beefed up Poland's Defenses (it is true that on his way out the door, Obama did send a few hundred troops to our NATO ally.) and promised, during a visit to the former Communist Block country, to further enhance Poland's ability to defend its eastern border. Included in Trump's commitment was a promise to equip the Poles with the most modern and recent configuration of Patriot Missiles. You may recall that Patriot Missiles are able to destroy enemy missiles in mid-flight, that is, after they are launched.
Trump announced today that he intended to sign the bill passed recently by Congress that sanctions the Russians for interfering with the recent election. Moscow has responded by ejecting over 700 American Diplomatic Personnel.
Trump was not happy about the Congressional measure because it prevents him from lifting the sanctions, in most cases, absent Congressional approval. He signed it, he said, because the measure passed a strangely united Congress by such an overwhelming percentage that it would almost certainly survive a Presidential veto.
All of this spins out of the senseless and completely untrue charge that Trump somehow colluded with the Russians to defeat Hillary in the recent election. By the month after the election, anyone who cared had figured out that Trump had not colluded at all with anybody but Americans. Hillary lost because a whole lot of folk do not like her. I'm one of them. I am the kind of voter she should have had in her back pocket: a liberal Democrat with a long history of voting for Democrats. But Ms. Clinton had no new ideas and was so profoundly narcissistic that she made liking her simply impossible. Can you imagine Ms. Clinton in charge of the USA Military with the impending showdown with North Korea?
What will Trump do to avoid catastrophe with Russia? There are plenty of flashpoints. The Middle East, with the two nations on different sides of a civil war in Syria, North Korea, where the USA and Russia are on opposite sides and where Russia will not be amused by a USA intervention so close to Russian territory, the Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe, including Macedonia, Poland and Romania, where simmering Russian Expansionism threatens war on multiple fronts, or even the Pacific Ocean east of Russia, where the Kremlin is solidifying its claims on islands also coveted by Japan; all of these are centers of potential conflagration. What's worse, Trump has no certain support for any necessary military response, what with the Republicans in Congress doing everything but helping the choice of the American people.
The one good thing, the one factor that is in Trump's favor, is his penchant for choosing an incredibly strong cabinet. From Defense Secretary, Secretary of State, Housing Secretary and the men in charge of the money at Treasury, the people chosen by Trump are smart, accomplished, and experienced at leading people. Trump himself might be a cornpone in public, but the men and women helping him are the cream of the crop. We can all count ourselves as lucky that a bunch of selfless people heeded his call to help the country. Today, we learned that General Kelly, Trump's new Chief of Staff, called Attorney General Sessions over this past weekend and told him his position is safe. This was a very good idea.
Now, if we can get my party to stop acting like fools....
Sports in Brief: The Baltimore Orioles have won five straight games. Last night, newly acquired Jeremy Hellickson made his first Oriole start and threw seven scoreless innings as the Birds whacked Kansas City, 6-0. The win completed a three game sweep of the Royals, and allowed the Orioles to creep within just 2.5 games of Kansas City for the second Wild Card spot. The other major trading deadline addition, infielder Tim Beckham, rapped out two extra base hits and added two runs batted in.
According to Fox Sports, two of Burnley's first four Premier League matches will be televised on NBC Sports Channel, including the opener on August 12 at powerful Chelsea. Meanwhile, in the preseason, the Claret stand at 4 wins, 2 draws and no defeats. The wins came against the Shamrock Rovers (4-0) in Dublin, Alfreton Town (3-2), Kidderminster, (1-0), and Preston North End (2-1). The two draws are with the Nottingham Forest and Celta Vigo. The only remaining friendly is at Turf Moor on Saturday, 3 pm in Lancashire, against the German Side Hanover 96. One week later, the Claret are at Chelsea to open a second consecutive campaign in the Premier.
Here in dear 'ole Baltimore, the phone lines and back yard fences are abuzz with 'discussions' about signing Colin Kaepernick. The Ravens have claimed that an ESPN report claiming that Coach John Harbaugh and GM Ozzie Newsome want to sign the former 49'ers and University of Nevada QB, while Ravens' Owner Steve Bisciotti is opposed to it, is false. In a recent interview, Bisciotti did not seem opposed to Kaepernick, but that was before a telephone poll showed 97% of all respondents were against signing the man who refused to stand for the National Anthem. Many of those opposed say they will not support the team if they sign Kaepernick. How many of those folk are season ticket holders is not clear.
I believe the whole thing will blow over as soon as Joe Flacco gets back on the field. Of course, if the Ravens are terrible against the Redskins in the exhibition opener next weekend, watch out!
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