Author Archena Posted on Categories MondayTags , , , , ,

China Destroys Digital Fish

The President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-Wen met with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on April 5, 2023. The Chinese took it in stride by pitching a fit all over diplomatic channels and social media. Then they sulked for a few days. Once no one was lulled into any sense of security whatsoever, China unleased its military fury by pretending to blockade Taiwan and very politely staying out of the way of most maritime traffic. But just in case anyone … Continue reading “China Destroys Digital Fish”

Author Archena Posted on Categories Current, FridayTags , , , , , , , , , ,

Chicken Little Politics is not Finger Licking Good

Y’all remember that ‘Ok Boomer’ meme from a couple years back? Well, here’s you’re first grown up lesson as grown ups: careful who you mock because you will be on the receiving end eventually. Oh, we Boomers still love y’all and we do feel for you, but it is so incredibly funny watching Millennials and Zoomies freaking out and panicking because Russia decided to act like Russia and China still wants to rule the world. Actually, it’s hysterical. It’s almost … Continue reading “Chicken Little Politics is not Finger Licking Good”

Author Archena Posted on Categories Current, WednesdayTags , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Biden Who?

You know, that guy that stays in the White House occasionally and has a badly messed up kid? The guy 81 million people allegedly voted for after he hid in his basement during the campaign. Yeah, him. Is it just me or has Biden been amazingly unimportant? He managed to screw up Afghanistan, there is that. Oh, yeah, and there was, rather is, all that censorship and Orwellian disinformation board stuff. Trying to enact some sort of abortion law that … Continue reading “Biden Who?”

Author Archena Posted on Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , ,

NATO’s Back! And the World is More Complicated than Ever!

The world was always complex but being the biggest kid on the block means a lot of the block just avoids you. Not the best situation but it does simplify matters. Comes in handy when having to help sort out an entire planet but it also makes it pretty easy for us to be blindsided. I can remember in the Nineties being astonished that some Eastern European country was actually expecting Bob Dole, then candidate for president, to have an … Continue reading “NATO’s Back! And the World is More Complicated than Ever!”

Author Archena Posted on Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , ,

Why Russia Matters if China is the Enemy

Because everything is interrelated. There ya go, a college edumacation in one sentence. You know, these posts would be a lot shorter if y’all’d just figure out all the details. Okay, okay, here goes: Realists are wrong; the international game isn’t a single board with only a few main players. In reality (pun left in because it’s funny), international relations are twenty different games being played by two hundred players all at once and with a lot of pieces missing. … Continue reading “Why Russia Matters if China is the Enemy”

Author Archena Posted on Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , , , , , ,

Isolationism is NOT in America’s Best Interest

George Washington famously advised that the US ‘avoid foreign entanglements’. In typical American fashion, we proceeded to ignore it completely and take it completely overboard as it suited us. Washington’s warnings were specific to his time and certainly an accomplished general like Washington had more than enough sense to realize the US had survived the Revolutionary War by the skin of its teeth and didn’t need to be trying that again anytime soon. We did, of course, in the War … Continue reading “Isolationism is NOT in America’s Best Interest”

Author Archena Posted on Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , , , ,

Don’t Become The Monster: Foreign Policy Edition

Look guys, being opposition for the sake of being oppositions is STUPID. So quit it. Any questions? What? Oh for Pete’s sake… We’ve spent the last forty years in American politics with the Democrats desperately clinging to the coattails of Civil Rights in the vain hope of maintaining relevance. They settled for maintaining power. That’s now ending. Yes, the whole process was stupid. Could we please not repeat it on the conservative side? No, I didn’t say Republican because I’m … Continue reading “Don’t Become The Monster: Foreign Policy Edition”

Author Archena Posted on Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , ,

Is There Anything in the World Besides Russia and China?

Sure. Australia. See y’all la… What? You weren’t kidding? Sigh… Okay, let’s lay this out straight. Nations-states can rub their tummies and pat their heads at the same time because nation-states are made up of LOTS of people and have a bunch of those people working in their governments. No one person has to do it all. Individual humans have limitations. We can’t know everything we need to know at any given moment about the whole world. A supercomputer couldn’t … Continue reading “Is There Anything in the World Besides Russia and China?”

Author Archena Posted on Categories MondayTags , , ,

It’s About the Future

Communism and socialism were both born in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century. I’m aware that the concepts of communal ownership and related practices do predate the Industrial Revolution but as political and economic movements, both are born in the later Industrial Revolution. The distinguishing of property into classes which could or could not be privately owned is a modern invention. You get to own your bed but not the land that the house sits on – modernity is … Continue reading “It’s About the Future”

Author Archena Posted on Categories WednesdayTags , , , , , ,

It Ain’t About Putin

Before you ask, yes, this has to do with American politics and yes, it’s Wednesday. I’m not suggesting for an instant that Putin didn’t order the invasion – of course he did. Russia would have lost a LOT more generals and not in Ukraine had they invaded so much as a Mickey D’s without Putin’s say-so. What I am going to tell you is that events have gotten well away from Putin’s control. From the point of view of his … Continue reading “It Ain’t About Putin”