2022 was the year of living dangerously. The war between Russia and Ukraine soon escalated with no end in sight. US officials, especially Democrats, are pushing Ukraine as if it were her 51st state in the US. Aid to Ukraine, mostly in the form of arms and other war materials, approached her $100 billion in less than a year. Zelensky has been touted as a “wartime” leader akin to Winston Churchill and lionized in Congress. Meanwhile, President Biden has joined Republican voices like Senator Lindsay Graham in calling for Putin to be removed from power. Nevertheless, it continued to reject calls for diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Heading into 2023, wars and rumors of war persist. Fear of a possible Chinese move against Taiwan helped drive a record Pentagon budget of $858 billion, $45 billion more than Joe “Armageddon” Biden requested. The Air Force has requested 100 new His B-21 nuclear bombers and hundreds of new Sentinel ICBMs at a cost of about $500 billion. Congress collectively concluded that the Pentagon’s failure to audit again, five times in a row, is no reason to cut or control large-scale military spending.
The so-called leftist or liberal Democrats have emerged as America’s war party. Meanwhile, Republicans are torn between demanding more military spending, trying to cut military aid to Ukraine, and runaway spending on “Ferrari” weapon systems like the F-35. increase. Prominent figures in either party are not calling for peace or drastic cuts in spending on war and arms.
Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you’re worth, Biden once said Clearly, Washington’s elite values war and the profits it makes. It is an anti-democratic commitment that fosters greater authoritarianism and oppression, not only on the so-called mainland, but abroad.
I wish I could say the promises for 2023 change. At least not from our government and its leaders. Change must come from us.
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I have an old Polaroid dated January 1, 1980. In the photo, he is seen doing a welcoming Vulcan gesture with his high school friend. Recently, I got together with another old friend and gave the same salute.
Of course, the message of the Vulcan salute is “Peace. Live long and prosper.” The highly logical aliens of Star Trek fame, the Vulcans employ logic and emotional control in place of violence and genocide. and did their best to change their belligerent nature. I doubt America is ready to adopt logic and emotional control en masse, but we can certainly find ways to foster peace. There are also means to “live longer and thrive” if you can stop wasting your efforts.
The Balkan salute contains a lot of wisdom. May we learn to accept that message in 2023.
Happy new year everyone.
Brace view
