“The egocentric ideal of a future reserved for those who have managed to attain egoistically the extremity of `everyone for himself’ is false and against nature.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man From time immemorial, world politics have been rooted in Realpolitik or power politics. Although such patterns of thinking are normally [...]
“The loftier the soul, the more it feels the unity that there is in us all.” – Rabbi Avraham Kook By any reasonable standard, the belligerent nationalism of Realpolitik or power politics makes no sense. After all, without exception, this zero-sum mantra of “everyone-for-himself” clearly undermines every country’s national security. Most perplexing, perhaps, is that [...]
“There exists a deep-seated conviction among Americans that the Constitution is an expression of the Higher Law, that it is, in fact, imperfect man’s most perfect rendering of eternal law.” – Presidential scholar Clinton Rossiter Introduction: Following recent Trump-inspired attacks on the United States Capitol, a second impeachment of the President is now under active [...]
“States shall not take….any measures which may be prejudicial to the international obligations they have assumed in regard to the detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” – Principles of International Cooperation, General Assembly Resolution, 1973 “It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals, [...]
“The safety of the people shall be the highest law.” – Cicero, On the Laws Abstract: From the beginning of his sordid presidency, Donald J. Trump has shown willful indifference to the security and justice of the United States, including unwillingness to find relevant fault with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, to separate himself from baseless conspiracy [...]
“ANTIFA SCUM ran for the hills today when they tried attacking the people at the Trump Rally, because those people aggressively fought back…..DC Police, get going — do your job and don’t hold back!!!” – US President Donald Trump, November 14, 2020 “Whoever can dominate the street will one day conquer the state, for every [...]
“The mass-man has no attention to spare for reasoning; he learns only in his own flesh.” – Jose Ortega y’Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses (1930) In the United States, prima facie, presidential elections represent a core fixture of democracy. Nonetheless, though necessary – and never more so than in the just-completed defeat of Donald [...]
“Hic Sunt Dracones” – the Hunt-Lenox Globe, 1504 “Friction is the difference between war on paper, and war as it actually is.” – Carl von Clausewitz, On War Once again, on October 9, 2020, with immodest displays of tangible hardware, North Korea mocked Donald Trump’s lingering expectations of “denuclearization.” Here, in Pyongyang, President Kim Jong [...]
“The goal is to dominate the street.” – US President Donald J. Trump, June 1, 2020 There are disturbing connections. Before openly embracing the “Proud Boys” during his first debate with Democrat opponent Joe Biden, Donald J. Trump praised the value of “good genes” in Minnesota. Though such a seemingly “positive” evocation might not normally [...]
“Everything is very simple in war, but even the simplest thing is difficult.” – Karl von Clausewitz, On War There is palpable wisdom in Clausewitz’s classic observation about war. Where this wisdom is understood in terms of current United States national security challenges, one overarching extrapolation comes immediately to the fore: It would be trouble enough [...]
