Speaking of escalation the tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir continue to escalate as well. Pakistan just threatened India with retaliation.
The situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate as well. The situation in Venezuela puts pressure on Cuba which is dependent on Venezuela for its oil.
In Paris a radical Islamist has killed four police officers in Paris police headquarters in a knife attack.
There’s just 25 days until a “hard” Brexit.
I can’t help but wonder what the rest of the world thinks of our reaction to the impeachment inquiry in the House. I know what the Europeans thought of the Nixon impeachment hearings. They thought we had lost our collective mind.
Lots of flash points, don’t forget Erdogan’s threat against our friends in Syria. We have people there.
Why I didn’t like Clinton, but didn’t like tying his hands, diverting his focus.
Although a hard Brexit fits with the mood – I just do not see how a hard Brexit happens before next Spring or ever.
Parliament has a strong anti no deal majority; an anti no deal speaker; and an anti no deal judiciary – strong enough to block any initiative of the government towards no deal.
I don’t see anything happening until there is an election and this parliament is not inclined to allow one for quite a while, maybe until past 2020.
“I can’t help but wonder what the rest of the world thinks of our reaction to the impeachment inquiry in the House. I know what the Europeans thought of the Nixon impeachment hearings. They thought we had lost our collective mind.â€
Our? You mean Dems and media, which is one and the same. If it seems the reaction is insane then maybe you should consider that you underestimate the stakes, which are nothing less than the destruction of the Obama legacy, HRC and the DNC along with their surrogates.
More later.
The only Democratic candidate intent on preserving the “Obama legacy” is Joe Biden. The other candidates are in essence abrogating it.
Let’s do a headcount. How many other candidates have come out in support of preserving the Affordable Care Act? Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke. Warren and Sanders support M4A which, whatever its benefits, would undermine the Obama legacy.
Go on down the list of President Obama’s accomplishments. By and large the other candidates oppose them.
Earlier this year I heard a quip that European reactions to Trump’s presidency has come in three flavors: The French typify the view that they were right all along about the true perfidious national character of America; the German government typified the view of strategic patience — this too will pass; and the Poles were offering to name an airbase after Trump.
It seems globally most countries are engaged in some kind of conflict — tribal warfare, fiscal uncertainties, economic woes, dictatorships tottering, people suffering. Here, though, the US has been wholly submerged in one party’s attempts to devour another’s elected leader. Not a day passes when the public is not subjected to yet another migraine-causing investigation, nonsensical political recriminations, dueling testimonies of government abuse by both the R and Ds, despite signs all around us that life is much better here than most other places around the world. This is easily demonstrated by millions of people who are seeking to come here rather than stay in their own countries.
Nonetheless, the quest for political power seems to dull the common sense of those not in complete control. Hence, there seems to be an urgent need to create chaos, not wait for another election to turn the tide of governance, which must make us look like impetuous, foolish people in the eyes of countries beset by much larger concerns and problems.
@curiousonlooker, the most likely scenario of a no-deal Brexit by the end of the month would be if one of the twenty-seven EU countries rejects an extension of time. Perhaps not likely, but it just takes one, and I think the UK Parliament is too cavalier about its assumptions. Ostensibly, the EU needs to know the justification for the extension to judge its merits and forcing the PM to send a letter requesting an extension over his objections without any justification seems to be blind to the risks.
“. Not a day passes when the public is not subjected to yet another migraine-causing investigation, nonsensical political recriminations, ”
BENGHAZI!
Steve
Steve: There were plenty of political repercussions from Benghazi. The biggest of course being HRC didn’t get elected. Without the Benghazi hearings, knowledge of her using a private e.mail server conducting US State business would not have become public. The election loss was a direct result.
And Benghazi was not nonsensical. Four people died because State was running the operation and set it up so that DOD was not legally allowed to respond to an attack, hence the dithering about whether the rescuers could or could not be in uniform, among other complications. It was known that an attack was planned, but because they couldn’t reveal that knowledge afterwards because it would exposed their incompetence how they failed to protect the consulate, they then blamed the infamous video as being the prime mover for a ‘spontaneous’ attack when it was clear that it was not.
TarsTarkas, Steve regards Benghazi as a settled event, not warranting any criticism in how deftly the Democrats sidestepped and disowned their botched operation in Libya. Lives, lost, including the first ambassador killed since 1979, assertions ofâ€standing down†orders, repetitive lies by the Obama Administration, stonewalled cooperation from democrats in producing important memos and emails….IMO, Benghazi did not receive the justice it was due.
Benghazi was not investigated 8 times because 4 people died. That was addressed with the first investigation. There was no stand down. The last 7 investigations didnt provide anything new.
The reason there were 8 investigations, that lasted all 4 years of the second Obama term, was to harm Clinton’s election chances. You guys were going to prove all kinds of conspiracies about how the Obama admin lied about the reason for the attack, cover ups, just letting people die, etc. If we want to use current GOP talking points, then it was also an attempted coup to get Obama, the legally elected POTUS, out of office. It was also great at maintaining anger amongst the base and donations. You guys forget (deliberately?) that even after an entirely Republican lead investigation, you didnt accept that either and had another Republican led investigation.
You guys had non-stop investigations during the Obama years trying to find some way to attach blame directly to Obama, and failed. Fast and Furious, IRS, etc. Then you wonder why it is hard to take your complaints seriously about Trump having a 1 1/2 year Mueller investigation.
Steve
You may have noticed that I mentioned the incident at Benghazi here at most once or twice. That’s because I thought that Republicans were mostly just keeping it alive to have a campaign issue.
It was an embarrassing failure by the Obama Administration and a revealing one but that was about it. We should never have provided air support to the Libyan rebels. That was the first mistake.
@PD Shaw, the chances of one of the EU27 refusing an extension is low. (1) because no deal would wreck Ireland and one wants to take the blame for that (2) UK is a net contributor to the EU budget.
Mid 2020 maybe a different story because the next EU budget must be negotiated then and the UK wrecking those negotiations would change the motivations for the others.
There are usually multiple reasons for keeping a tragic event alive. When it comes to Benghazi, though, I see being a campaign issue not at the forefront for the partisan inquiry that followed or lingering feelings of undelivered justice by people like me.
Listening to gritty interviews, vastly differing from versions offered by the Obama administration, via men personally involved in that siege, was a head-spinner for me. Then, add in HRC, Susan Rice, and Barak Obama’s false statements, stirring in the secret arms to Syrian rebels gambit, the shrinking security available to protect the Benghazi compound in the midst of growing threats causing the UK and Red Cross to leave, and finally spiked by a round of NDSs demanded by the government of those who witnessed the overtaking of the Benghazi compound – the investigations appeared to be a shallow effort to achieve the truth.