Category Archives: politics

An Award, or Two

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Recall Congressman Steve Cohen’s (D, TN) performance during last week’s House hearings with Peter Strzok, during which Cohen said Strzok deserved a Purple Heart for the questions he was being asked.  This, of course, is outrageous, deprecating as it does the decoration for servicemen who are wounded or killed in combat defending the right of guys like Cohen to be stupidly insulting.

As Sean Higgins, an Air Force veteran, put it,

How do you compare someone getting wounded in combat to someone getting in trouble for message he sent?

Indeed.

Cohen, on hearing the outrage (and not before) expressed regret for his comparison.

I regret mentioning the Purple Heart medal at yesterday’s hearing. My intent was to speak metaphorically to make a broader point about attacks against the FBI and Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation into a Russian attack on our country[.]

This is nonsense.  Cohen is an experienced politician; words are his stock in trade.  He knew exactly what he was “mentioning;” it plainly was a carefully planned slur against his Republican colleagues.  Were he regretful, he would have walked back his comment before the risk of political damage from it arose.

On the other hand, both Strzok and Cohen do deserve awards.  Strzok should get an Oscar for his performance as Starring Witness with his carefully staged outrage over his being called—gently—to answer for his shameful behavior as an FBI agent pretending to investigate Hillary Clinton’s (D) email escapades and Trump-Russia collusion.

Cohen deserves an Oscar for Best Supporting Politician for his staged “outrage” over the questioning of Strzok.

Voters should remember Cohen’s acting this fall.

An Example of Irrationality

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Here’s Donald Trump decrying Germany’s willingness make itself dependent on Russian energy supplies by pushing for Nordstream 2, which will mean that Germany will get 60% of its natural gas from Russia, to go with the 40% of its oil imports that already are from Russia.  Aside from becoming so dependent on an enemy for its energy, Germany will be paying Russia billions of euros for the privilege.

I have to say, I think it’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where you’re supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.

The Progressive-Democrats went hysterical over Trump’s remark.  Here’s House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, NY) in a joint statement:

President Trump’s brazen insults and denigration of one of America’s most steadfast allies, Germany, is an embarrassment.  His behavior this morning is another profoundly disturbing signal that the President is more loyal to President Putin than to our NATO allies.

Because not wanting billions of euros to go to Russia in return for dependency on Russian good offices is somehow being loyal to Putin.

Sure.

Not Far Wrong

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In an interview with the British newspaper The Sun, President Donald Trump said that Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit “blueprint” for Brexit would likely kill any opportunity for special trade deals with the US.  A critical part of that blueprint would have Great Britain

stick[ing] to a common ­rulebook with Brussels on goods and agricultural produce in a bid to keep customs borders open with the EU.

The EU’s trade rulebook, not just on goods and ag products, but covering all trade, explicitly blocks nations from entering into unilateral trade deals with non-EU nations.  Trade deals with non-EU nations can only be EU trade deals.  Sticking to the EU’s trade rulebook, then, would make it impossible for Great Britain to enter into its own deals with other nations—including with the US.

If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it will probably kill the deal.

If they do that, then their trade deal with the US will probably not be made.

Trump isn’t far wrong on that.

At a joint news conference the day after the Sun interview, though, May said that

the leaders had agreed to pursue an “ambitious” trade deal between the two nations that “works for both countries right across the economies.”

That would seem encouraging for Great Britain, implying as it does that May’s blueprint doesn’t, or will be modified to not, include a commitment to the EU’s trade rulebook.

An Apology from a Soccer Player

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Domagoj Vida, a starter for Croatia’s World Cup soccer team, after Croatia beat Russia to make it into the Cup finals, posted a collection of videos in which he said “glory to Ukraine.”

Then he apologized.

I know I made a mistake and I would like to apologize again to Russian people.

I’m sorry. That’s life. You have to learn from your mistakes[.]

FIFA, which runs the World Cup, issued a warning (which has implications concerning Vida’s ability to play the next several games after an additional warning, should one be issued) to Vida because with those videos, he’d violated a FIFA rule regarding maintaining political neutrality.

And that gets to my problem with Vida’s apology.

Apologize to FIFA, sure—he broke their rule.

Apologize to Russia?  No, that was wrong.  Russia has no business partitioning and occupying Ukraine.

A Couple of Interesting Graphs

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This, via Stratfor, illustrate the level of commitment and its nature of NATO member nations toward their own defense.  The first shows the breakdown of expenditures of those monies aimed at each member’s commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense.

Notice who’s spending the most on equipment—that actual teeth of defense.  Most of the nations spending the most are right across the fence from the Russian Bear.

This graph shows which nations actually are meeting their 2% commitment.

In case the note is unreadable, the asterisk for Bulgaria notes that its figure does “not include persons.”

There are four nations that didn’t meet their 2% commitment in 2017, but that are expected to meet it in 2018: Poland (which was very close in 2017), Romania, Latvia, and Lithuania.  France, which was nearly as close to its commitment as were Romania and Latvia, will not meet its commitment in 2018.  Germany, well down the list, isn’t even trying.