I was alone and awake in early morning darkness, when I picked up the first reports coming in today (from two very different sources--The Drudge Report and Citizen Free Press) about the US/Israeli strike on Iran. As I read those reports, I experienced a mixture of thoughts and feelings that included a sense of resignation, uncertainty and trepidation over what was unfolding, and what was yet to come. With all of it bringing back to mind what I'd felt as I watched the incoming 2020 election results for MI stall in the middle of the night and come back in the early morning hours turned around in favor of Biden. Back then I knew at the time that something out of the ordinary had happened, but hadn't known what it was or how hugely significant whatever it was would turn out to be for the entire world. And today, with this new situation and world event unfolding, I'm once again holding all that accompanies the awareness of another significant change underway.
By the time I read the following statement by President Trump made at 3:37PM today (twelve hours after his first announcement at 2:30 AM), and came to the line, "This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country", I was ready to say, "Yes! I hope the Iranian people take that chance" and join President Trump in the hope that the chances being taken by all involved will, in his words, "achieve the objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST, AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!"
6 comments:
George Washington advised the United States to avoid permanent foreign alliances to maintain independence, peace, and national security.
George Washington’s caution against foreign entanglements was a central theme of his Farewell Address in 1796. He urged Americans to steer clear of permanent alliances with foreign nations, emphasizing that the young republic should maintain neutrality whenever possible while still honoring existing treaties. Washington’s guidance stemmed from his personal experience with the high costs of war and the instability of European politics, which he believed could easily draw the United States into unnecessary conflicts.
The farther we get from the original operator's manuals the worse our Republics machinery seems to work.
That and not dealing with the traitors within our own leadership.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero
Maybe we should deal with our small fires inside our house and the rats chewing the wiring before we spend time FIXING the government of other countries.
Dealing with the fires inside our house and rats chewing on the wiring sounds like a good idea to me. I'd couple it with addressing the fires outside the house that are emitting toxic smoke that poisons and compromises air quality, and red hot sparks that can burn holes in the exterior, blow in the windows and start the house next door burning.
I'm not seeing it as an either/or choice, to take care of the small fires inside our house or spend time FIXING the governments of other countries. I believe it would be in our country's best interest to attend to the overall situation and take care of whatever been threatening and compromising our well being and safety, inside and outside porous walls of our house.
Interestingly enough (at least to me) is that my connection to Cicero goes back to a poster that used to hang on the basement wall of the home I grew up in during the 60's and 70's. It had the following quote, printed on pink paper with the two statements next to each other, side by side, one on light paper with dark words, and the other on dark paper with light words:
“When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, "How well he spoke"
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, "Let us march.”
I thought at the time that the point was to present one outcome as better and more effective than the other, but have since come to believe there is a time for speech that prompts reflection (or even admiration) and a time for speech that stirs or invites action. With Iran the time for pretty or amirable speech has come and gone, and the time to invite action and change appears to be upon us all.
I'd have commented earlier, but I've been sick as the proverbvial English mastiff.
Isolationism worked better in 1783 than it does now.
Like it or not, we've been at war with the mullahs for 47 years, ever since they seized our embassy. They've been the root of just about all the Islamic terrorism in the world and have financed countless attacks against us as well as other Western nations.
Trump is attacking the state and its means of making war (including economic), as well as going after the leadership, religious and military. He intends to decapitate it.
Remember, too, before Bucketmouth gave the mullahs a free hand, Iran was a very secular and modern state, much like Egypt. Women went to college. This is something that should have been done decades ago, but people were more worried about world opinion.
Sometimes, you gotta get nasty.
Here's hoping your comment presence here now edutcher, means you are turning to corner to being on mend. Being sick as a dog of any kind is a hard and energy sapping experience. Best wishes for a return to health and strength.
Thank you, ma'am.
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