I more or less dispensed with these 'miscellany' posts in the summer of 2023 due to the ongoing stalemate. There wasn't much to say.
The big events or developments since then are the August 2024 Kursk Offensive in which Ukraine tried to flip the narrative and invade Russian territory. After some initial and yet modest gains the situation turned into another stalemate and now as 2024 comes to a close, they are rapidly losing this captured territory to Moscow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmBOMK_-zcU
Responding to the 7 October attack on Israel, US president
Joe Biden condemned Hamas and rightly so. But then he proceeded to make some
rather astonishing remarks – remarks that should offend anyone who has followed
events for the past several decades, anyone in possession of a conscience.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-66748670
Biden left the G-20 summit in New Delhi which ended on 10
September and headed for Vietnam. For years the US has been trying to coax
Hanoi into a military alliance – to win Vietnam away from China and over into
the US camp.
Anthony Cordesman has received some unsought coverage lately for comments he made on the war in Ukraine. This along with a thirty year old paper I discovered, provide substantial and significant reasons to question key points of the media narrative surrounding the war.
With Biden's open call for regime change in Russia, he has played his hand. Though framed as 'controversial' by the media, Biden was simply expressing what has been US policy for almost twenty years.
I wish to extend a 'thank you' to Terry Mattingly for
publishing this. I don't always agree with him but I appreciate his
thoughtfulness and in this case he's one of the few voices that's pleading for
a bit of reflection – perhaps before some very terrible lines are crossed.
https://news.yahoo.com/cruz-offers-swap-nord-stream-181728222.html
No one can seriously accuse the Democrats of being soft on
Russia. If anything they've led the militaristic charge against Moscow since
the late Obama administration. In 2014, the US backed a coup in Ukraine leading
to the Russian annexation of the Crimea and Putin's open support for
separatists in the Donbass – the already rocky relationship quickly soured. And
when Russia intervened in the US proxy war in Syria, and thwarted plans to oust
Assad, relations grew hostile.
https://www.centralasianews.net/news/270504470/in-india-blinken-meets-representative-of-dalai-lama
The article is most correct. Beijing will respond to this
meeting with great hostility. The Dalai Lama and all things Tibet are touchy.
Tibet is one of the three 'T' issues – Tibet, Tiananmen, and Taiwan – issues
not to be spoken of and that can land one in hot water with the authorities.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/07/30/philippines-us-military-deal/
During the course of his tenure, Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte
has lashed out at Washington. Angry at the long years of US domination of his
country and the hypocritical condemnation by Washington of his administration
for its brutal policies – he may at last be shifting gears. While he officially
is maintaining his 'independent' foreign policy, his days of cozying up to
China may be at an end. Time will tell but signals suggest Manila may be
pivoting back into the American camp.
The Roman Catholic Church was keen to utilise Western
Liberalism in its fight with the government of communist Poland. Backing Solidarity
and the democratic movement, the papacy of John Paul II played a significant
role in the Cold War struggle.
Despite the disinformation campaign waged by the media, Trump never really 'let up' on Russia. In fact in many respects his administration took more actions against Moscow than the Obama administration ever did.
However I expect Biden to be a bit different. Rather than
Obama 2.0, we're more likely to see what a Clinton administration might have
done. The Syria airstrike and the uptick in activity in the Black Sea is only
the beginning. Russia is to endure it even while the United States would hardly
tolerant such actions by either Moscow or Beijing in the Gulf of Mexico, Puget
Sound, or off the coast of California.
Media Hypocrisy on Russian Election Interference, Claims Regarding Biden and China, and Some General Comments on the Moral Spectrum of Western News Coverage
In this polarised and increasingly insane social climate it
is important (even critical) for Christians to understand what is happening.
It's affecting the Church and its testimony in the larger culture. Like it or
not we are being identified with one of the political factions involved in the
present conflagration and it would serve us well to be able to explain what is
happening and why we reject the dominant narratives.
If Trump is so wrong for the Christian Church to embrace, was Biden a viable alternative?
Of course not. As I've repeatedly argued, to politicise and
to vote is to participate in and endorse the system which is in fact evil. In
terms of Providence it serves a purpose and thus we don't oppose the system on
political terms. Calling men to repentance, we warn of the coming Judgment and
we offer hope of life for those who unite with Christ. But our task is not to
challenge the powers that be for they are ordained by God. I couldn't care less
if the president of the United States is a Republican or a Democrat – he's
still the president of the United States and thus represents the American
system.
I am completely open to the notion that elements within the US government would seek to subvert the electoral process. They've done it outside US borders on dozens of occasions and so the thought that it could happen here does not even begin to stretch my imagination.
That said, I am unconvinced that this has taken place with
regard to the Biden-Trump contest. If Deep State actors had intended this, they
would want to make sure the victory was clear-cut – something that didn't
happen. In fact this tight and long drawn-out race was in many respects the
worse scenario.
