Once in a while a turn of phrase, a paragraph, a seminal thought, or a zeitgeist moment captures the temper of the times. Here, Semafor, in a memorable paragraph, places the US Election Day in focus and context. Semaforte. Yes, the US and world’s changing all around us…
Category: United States
November 5th, 2024, a Day to Remember
As the US prepares for Election Day, the consequences of the vote are drawing nigh. The election results, however they are reported and certified (certification itself looms in the days following the election), the nation will no longer be the same on November 6th… It is time to ask what is truly on the ballot. […]
The Gamble in the Mideast
The world is looking at Israel and an expanding war, a generational war, a religious war, an international war, a war with entangling alliances, a war that could drag the US into another war. Amid the realities of war, Israel’s Netanyahu releases a message to the Iranian people
Russian Disinformation Targets US
Breaking News presented via Google Wrap Up: After the 2016 US election documented a “Great Hack” of data breaches, foreign-campaign disinformation, and online targeting, who can say that today’s headlines of “DOJ Bombshell” are anything but more of the same CyberWar. Online manipulation, cyberattacks, hacking, disinformation wars resound
President Biden Steps Away from His 2024 Campaign
The withdrawal letter of the US president, delivered to the nation via social media, was not a shock given wide concerns about the President’s health condition
Israel’s Netanyahu Goes to DC
This week’s visit to the US by Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu presents palpable tension. The relationship between the two old politicians, Joe Biden and ‘Bibi’, is a boldface question mark and now come the public scenes. How will House Speaker Mike Johnson act? Donald Trump? The Republican party, Democratic party? Political activists, dissidents, protestors? […]
Nuclear Ratcheting
Russian nuclear exercise drills held near the border with Ukraine are meant to send a message. The message is sent, a message similar to the US-NATO alliance’s F-35A with new configurations for stealth delivery of nuclear weapons by alliance countries
Democracy Challenged
“Democracy Awakening”, Heather Cox Richardson’s new book, continues to stand out among non-fiction big publishing releases as its message, its history and its contemporary warning, comes into greater focus everyday. Those who support democracy full on are all better for Heather’s blend of news as history in-the-making. The times are changing. Hold on to democracy […]
Netanyahu Says No to Biden, Middle East Reacts
‘No’ to a ‘Two-State’ solution is Benjamin Netanyahu’s firm position, expressed in increasingly strong language since he entered Israel’s government. Netanyahu’s refusal this week of a negotiated political settlement is not surprising, nor is US President Biden’s ‘hug’ after decades of support for Israel. A Hug with Reverberations
Henry Kissinger Dead
Henry Kissinger, Failed Diplomat, US National Security Adviser, Secretary of State, Corporate Consultant Dies 100 Years Old November 30, 2023
Blowback Far Beyond Gaza-Israel
Acknowledging the seemingly insoluble problem of the Middle East wars, now in a Gaza-Israel incarnation, few believe there are solutions to interminable conflict. The history is one of ‘begats’. After all, it’s ‘Biblical’, right?
An Associated Press Story of US Nuclear Modernization
A feature news story by the globally distributed Associated Press (AP) service only begins to touch on a deeper story of nuclear proliferation. Strategic Demands takes a few salient lines from the AP update on US nukes and reminds our readers of what we are now calling a “Nuclear Arms Race 3.0”
More Indictments for ex-President Trump
The story of a former New Yorker and US president continues … Long-time political journalist Susan Glasser, now at The New Yorker, sums up the state of Georgia’s charges — “the Georgia indictment cites the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law against Trump, essentially defining him and his gang of alleged conspirators […]
Oppenheimer replies to the US charges against him
The following letter is a first-person narrative story that presents the origins of the atomic age and creation of the first nuclear weapon. The Oppenheimer story here, in its telling, also captures the beginning of the Cold War and end of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s career as the US government targets the threat of communism […]
Indictment of Ex-President Trump
The United States of America versus Donald J. Trump, defendant August 1, 2023: The former president has been charged with grave federal crimes by the US Department of Justice — attempting to block the outcome of the 2020 US election for president… attempting to defraud the people of the United States and the democratic republic
While the World Waits
The results of “the deal” announced between Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, and Russian president Vladimir Putin are yet to be seen. Prigozhin remains out-of-view, although a meeting of the two supposedly occured but… until the world hears more, we are changing focus. Here’s a bit, megabits, about China — and chips.
F-16s and NATO, Russia and US
Years of failed negotiations between the Russian Federation, NATO, EU and US that led to war in Ukraine has entered a next phase. Not a new phase, but a ‘next phase’. The delivery of F-16 fighter systems delivers a next level of fear and loathing — and more that is not in the open