Not Donald J. Trump...

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Today is the 80th anniversary of VE day, and we duly observed two minutes silence, even though we were sat in the car outside the pharmacy at the Medical Centre this morning.  A brief time of reflection in the humdrum of life. Also, today we hear of a UK trade deal with the US, and the announcement of a new Pope. India and Pakistan appear close to military conflict and in today's New Statesman, Jeremy Bowen laments the situation in Gaza in his piece 'The War to End All Peace'. Global business as usual? Who knows? The observance of VE Day is as far as I'm concerned, a given: we really cannot forget the consequences of nationalism and expansionist aggression.

My take on the Starmer/Trump thing is that the Labour government are in a very uncomfortable place: this was - and the Labour Party and we all knew it would be - a very bad time to take the reins of government; only to be amplified a thousand percent by the re-election of Trump to the White House. Schmoozing the Cardinal of Chaos might seem to be the only way to at least start to reduce the scale of the schism between the US and the rest of the world, as queasily uncomfortable as the public arse-licking came over. India and Pakistan still haven't transcended Partition: someone needs to sit these people down and get them to talk seriously about the future of the sub-continent, which has the real possibility of taking a very serious place in the world's economy in the very near future, if only it can sort out its domestic inequalities and internecine religious issues.

As if to fall into lockstep with all of this is the announcement this evening of the first American Pope: Robert Prevost, born in Chicago but an adopted Peruvian: Pope Leo XIV. What this means for the world I'm not exactly sure, but it looks as if world politics might have made some small mark on the decision made today in the Sistine Chapel. Could Trump's recent tasteless display of AI-assisted hubris have had an influence? As for Gaza, the tragedy continues, and the world and its superpowers appear reluctant to step in and do something to stop Israel's own continued expansionism, reflected equally tragically, in Ukraine. In both these conflicts, the US [Trump] has the potential to influence and instigate peaceful settlements: in Gaza it [he] sides with Israel, in Ukraine, it [he] sides with Putin's Russia; but the problem with the Cardinal of Chaos is that he is about as predictable as the weather. Let's just hope that things start to untangle themselves a bit over the next four or five years...

Comments

  1. Anonymous9 May 2025 at 10:38

    Stamer's ignoring your yesterday post; does he not have it read to him?
    ATB
    Joe

    ReplyDelete

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