The iPINIONS Journal: Commentaries on the Global Events of 2019—Volume XV

By Anthony Livingston Hall

ANTHONY L. HALL takes aim at the global events of 2019 with a unique and refreshing perspective. Some of the topics in this volume include:
Republicans and Democrats aping Sunnis and Shias
“Even if Democrats impeach Trump in Congress or defeat him at the polls, his presidency has already sown seeds of division and dysfunction that could harvest political thorns for a thousand years.”
Social networks abolishing ‘Likes’
“They can’t quit likes. Because networks are as hooked on the money likes generate as users are on the high they stimulate.”
Colin Kaepernick moving NFL tryout and making new demands
“Kaepernick must think he’s Trump and the NFL the Republican Party. Because only delusions of grandeur on that scale explains him thinking he can play the NFL like this.”
White evangelical Christians supporting Trump
“The hypocrisy inherent in them showing abject loyalty to this two-legged golden calf is almost too contemptible for words. Suffice it to know that a skunk has more regard for a garden party than Trump has for a house of worship.”
Hong Kongers protesting Chinese rule
“These protests amount to nothing more than a self-hating, Stockholm Syndrome-like preference for the British over the Chinese. Hong Kongers don’t want democracy so much as a return to British colonial rule.”
MTV trying to whitewash Michael Jackson’s name from VMAs
“Frankly, his pedophile exploits were such that MTV paying any homage to him is tantamount to Jello paying homage to Bill Cosby.”
Rich parents offering bribes to get their kids into elite colleges
“The real indictment is that, despite all the resources at their disposal, these parents raised such dumb, lazy, and untalented kids.”
Failure of latest US-North Korea nuclear summit
“While Trump flew off to take a cold shower back in America, Kim was smoking a cigarette and planning sightseeing tours around Vietnam. So who do you think is zooming who in their “brokeback” bromance…?”

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532092640

Anthony Livingston Hall

Anthony L. Hall is a Washington-based lawyer who is licensed to practice in a number of foreign jurisdictions. He hails from The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands and was educated at some of America’s best schools, including Williams College. Hall is also a syndicated columnist and the author of The iPINIONS Journal, a weblog of enlightening and entertaining commentaries that provide a refreshing take on current events. He lives in Arlington, Virginia. http://ipjn.com

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Copyright © 2020 Anthony Livingston Hall.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-9263-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9262-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9264-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020902021

iUniverse rev. date: 02/13/2020

Contents

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Acknowledgements

Introduction

Africa / Middle East

At ICC Gbagbo Walks Free

Trump’s Art of Diplomacy Has Europe Siding with Iran against US

Bolton concedes North Korea ‘jiving’ Trump

Aping Egypt’s Ouster of Mubarak, Sudan Ousts Bashir

Sudan’s delayed Arab Spring now withering away … too

Africans Dying to Become Europeans

Hey Europe, wait til Nigerians get tired of—waiting…

Ebola Killing Blacks in Africa Won’t Matter Until It Starts Killing Whites from America…?

10 Years of Nelson Mandela Day!

Protesting Egyptians Continuing March Back to the Future

Trump Makes Way in Syria for Erdogan to Displace (or Massacre) the Kurds. Maybe…

‘The Afghanistan Papers’: US Officials Have Always Known This War Is Unwinnable

Iran

Preview of Gulf War III Starring Trump as Othello, Netanyahu as Iago, and Iran as Desdemona

From blaming Iraq for WMDs to blaming Iran for mines…

Iran downs drone, dares Trump. Here’s what Trump should do…

Trump launches panic attack

Fail, Britannia: Iranian Dinghies Humiliate Royal Navy

Israel

PM Netanyahu Hails Israel as ‘Only for the Jewish People.’ And Rep Omar’s the Problem…?

Trump—Sent by God to Save the Jews

Netanyahu Race-Baits His Way to Historic Fifth Term

Netanyahu indicted

Israel deadlocked!

Israelis Blocking Christians from Visiting Holy Cities…

Americas / Caribbean

China Encroaching, Migrants Caravanning, US Retreating, CARICOM Flailing, Russia Reclaiming… It’s All a Trumpian Mess!

After humiliating DHS secretary Nielsen, Trump fires her…

Migrants drowning to breathe free

Arresting Pharma Execs Like Drug Lords Won’t Win This War. Legalize Drugs!

Happy Independence Day, Bahamas!

Chávez Disciple Evo Morales of Bolivia Surrenders and Flees

Venezuela

Cry for Venezuela

Venezuela failing

Maduro defying (and may outlast) Trump, just like Assad did Obama (and Castro did Kennedy)

Hurricane Dorian

Devastates My Bahamaland…

Worse Than Words Can Say

Dorian’s Wake: Please Help ‘SOME’ (So Others Might Eat)

Dorian Stirs Up Cottage Industry of Fundraising

Why are gas companies exempt from donating?

In Rebuilding, Bahamas Had Better Look Chinese Gift Horse in the Mouth

Asia

China Lays Claim to Taiwan…

Trump Is So Self-Absorbed, He Thinks Kim Is Equally Susceptible to Idle Flattery

Tiananmen Square at 30 Years Later: For the Right Price, Even Do-Gooders Like Google Will Be Evil

Hong Kongers Are More Unruly Secessionists than Pro-Democracy Activists

Kashmir Is to India as Hong Kong Is to China. Sorry Pakistan.

Former Pakistani president Musharraf sentenced to death … in absentia, permanently

Obama Adviser Finally Sees What Was Always True About Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi

Rohingyas rebuffing repatriation

Europe

British Monarchy: Abdication by Any Other Name Would Betray the Same

Get over yourself, Meghan! Royalty is as royalty was

Charities firing Prince Andrew as patron compel Queen to strip him of royal duties

Notre-Dame Is Burning

Yellow Vest protesters ignite perspective

Les Misérables: This is France…today

If America Can Elect a Reality-TV Star as President, Surely Ukraine Can Elect a Popular Comedian

Who Knew the Dalai Lama Was a Racist, Sexist, Anti-Immigrant Hypocrite

Well, at least he’s man enough to apologize

Pope Hears Echoes of Hitler in Trump. I See Traces of Hitler in Putin.

Brexit

Exit Brexit … Stage Right?

Britain Elects Boris to Make England ‘an Island Entire of Itself’

The final tally

United States

OK, RBG, But…

Observing MLK Day

Observing Presidents’ Day

Smollett Lied, Others Died…for Viral Attention (and the $$ That Brings)

Smollett gets off scot-free

Crime Fighting after the Green New Deal

Cops Escape Charges for Killing Another Black Man, Stephon Clark. Upsetting but Justified.

DOJ: No charges warranted in Garner case

NYPD fires cop who killed Garner

‘Operation Varsity Blues’ Exposes Deviant Strain of Affirmative Action for Rich White Students

Thanks for nothing, mom and dad

It’s really about the parents, not the kids

Don’t celebrate tax-dodging billionaires for paying off student debts. Make colleges affordable.

I’m Going to Miss You (on C-SPAN), Brian Lamb

Stupid and Dangerous Anti-Vaxxers Must Be Only New Yorkers Who Support Trump

Vanity Fair, Not Beto, Should Apologize for Celebrating His White Privilege

MLK Wasn’t Just a Womanizer, but a Gang-Bang Rapist Too…?

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre Exposed as a Dandified Shyster. No Sh*t.

Supreme Court: Kavanaugh Climbing Hill to Redemption; Thomas Wallowing in Valley of Resentment

Happy Independence Day, America. This Is What You Voted For…

And so Trump did it his way…

Boycott of Equinox and SoulCycle Just Another Feckless #Protest

Jeffrey Epstein Killed Himself! This, Despite Prevailing Suspicions of Foul Play

The 1619 Project

The Trump Presidency

Trump Haters Rooting for Stock Market Crash…

Stocks hit record highs

Biden-Harris 2020: That’s the Ticket!

And Biden makes 20 for 20

Democratic debates: Biden gaffing the nomination away

I am not watching. Here’s why…

Deep-rooted homophobia explains reluctance of blacks to embrace Buttigieg

Harris Suspends campaign … to Wait for VP Nod

Shutdown: Republicans Calling on Democrats to Compromise…

Chris Christie’s Book Shows He’s Just a Blowhard Coward

Pelosi Makes It Official: Trump Is the ‘Projector’ in Chief

Cohen: Trump is a ‘Racist,’ a ‘Con Man,’ and a ‘Cheat’

Republicans Abandon Faith and Values to Hail Trump as ‘Chosen by God’

‘Dying of Whiteness’ explains why poor whites support Trump

Rich benefiting most from Trump’s MAGA promises. Duh.

Republicans knew from day one that supporting Trump was like Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf…

Trump Says He Didn’t Pay Kim for Comatose Otto. Do You Believe Him?

Trump Insists China Is Paying for His Tariffs… (Just like Mexico Is Paying for His Wall…?)

Becoming President Proving Worst Business Deal Trump Ever Made

Golfer-in-chief is scamming taxpayers and calling it charity

Stop Praising Trump for Saying or Doing What Any President Should!

For Putin, Trump Proving more Poisoned Chalice than Political Puppet

Michael de Adder Is the Latest Cartoonist Fired for ‘Lambasting’ Trump

UK Ambassador Damns Trump as Hopelessly ‘Insecure,’ ‘Inept,’ Etc.

The ambassador resigns

Trump Telling US Congresswomen to ‘Go Back’ Where They Came From Is Textbook Racism … and Clinical Projection

House condemns Trump

Alas, Trump Is Not the Only Republican Betraying US for Political Gain

Carnival Barking Masquerading as White House Briefing

Trump has even sh*thole countries laughing at US

Cartoons Best Explain Trump’s Policies on Guns, Vapes, and Everything Else…

The New York Times cutting cartoons is a public disservice

P.T. Barnum Biographer Validates My Analogies to Trump

Every Dictator Believes He Can Play Trump Like a Puppet on a String

The Mueller Report/Impeachment

No Collusion Conclusion. But Our Long National Nightmare Is Still Far from Over

Obstruction enough to make Nixon blush

Mueller Speaks!

Democrats Left Scrambling After Mueller’s Rambling Testimony

Putting country before party, Democrats launch impeachment inquiry

Trump’s Impeachable Quid Pro Quo with the Ukrainians, My Favorite Ex-Communists

As Much about Tribalism as Trumpism

Republicans’ Shifting-Sands Defenses against Impeachment

Trump Sneaks Out for Dr.’s Note to Resign Presidency…?

Trump Impeached

‘Putin Told Me,’ Said Trump, His ‘Useful Idiot.’

The Globalsphere

Priests Who Rape Boys More Forgivable than Those Who Rape Nuns…?

‘Eighty percent of Catholic priests are gay.’ No surprise then that a ‘gay cabal’ rules the Vatican.

Victims sought new concrete action. Pope offered old hollow words.

International Women’s Day: ‘Men Should Be Barred from Politics’

Finland is great because women rule

A Tale of Two Floods: Nebraska and Mozambique

UK Arrests Wikileaker Julian Assange (for Extradition to US) … Finally!

Sweden still wants him after all

Commemorating 75th Anniversary of D-Day. Don’t Forget the Russians.

Juneteenth and the Holy Grail of Reparations for Slavery

Here’s to Pride and Progress this LGBTQ Pride Month

Eating Dogs? Yes, Why Not? You Eat Pigs.

G7 Biarritz: Where Trump Will Be Treated Like a Skunk at the Garden Party

For Trump and the NBA, Doing Business in China Like Squeezing Sand and Walking on Eggshells, Respectively

Catalonia (Re)joins ‘World on Fire’

France’s Macron: NATO Is Dying; Germany’s Merkel: Don’t Be So Quick to Surrender.

NATO ‘Summit’: They never laughed at US, President Trump. But they are laughing at you!

Terrorism

A ‘Very Fine’ White Supremacist Massacred Muslim Immigrants in New Zealand…

She will not speak his name. Nobody should!

NZ bans assault weapons. US should take heed.

Aping Al-Qaeda, Terrorists Bomb Churches and Hotels Across Sri Lanka

Inspired and Lured by Infamy, Lone Wolf Shoots Up San Diego Synagogue

El Paso and Dayton Suffer Latest Mass Shootings. Blah, Blah, Blah…

Trump citing mental illness as cause for gun control is clinical projection

Sometimes a picture really says it all

ISIS Caliph al-Baghdadi Is Dead. Beware the Next Matryoshka Terrorist Leader.

Like After 9/11, Saudi Suspects Vanish After Pensacola (Terrorist) Attack

On This Eighth Day of Hanukkah…

Hitler was just jealous because Jews, not Nazis, are the real master race…?

Climate Change

World Economic Forum at Davos Finally Makes Redeeming News

Polluting to talk about ending pollution…?

Earth Day

The Only Way Caribbean Countries Can Help Fight Climate Change…

Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg Striking Decisive Blow Against Coal

Mars Beware, Mankind Is Plotting to Do to You What It Has Done to Earth

Did You Know Cigarettes Are Far Worse than Plastics?

What deforestation? Kill that messenger!

‘Is Earth on fire?’

First Harvey, Now Imelda. Mr. Trump, Instead of Walls to Stop Migrants, Build Levees to Stop Floods.

Historic floods are the new normal. Surely this is now self-evident.

Mother Nature Batters Japan with Typhoon and Earthquake

Venice Is Flooding…Again

Coldplay’s Hot Air About Not Touring to Combat Climate Change

Greta Winning TIME Person of the Year Drove Trump Crazy with Jealousy

Sports

Tiger Masters The Masters…Again!

Best sports event ever?

Boxing Farce: Ruiz Beating Up Joshua Is like Fat Albert Beating Up Black Panther

Wimbledon: Serena Becoming Forever Lady-in-Waiting … for GS 24

Djokovic outlasts Federer in historic match

What’s Up, ‘Doc’…Gooden?

The IAAF World Championships in Doha … and the Sound of Silence

MLB Nats Celebrate by Shading Bryce. But They’ll Be Eating Humble Pie If They Don’t Match WNBA Mystics…

October woes continue for the Yankees. Time to play ‘Moneyball.’

World Series champs! Congrats, Nats!

6 Down, 2 to Go for Hamilton to Dethrone Schumacher as Formula One’s GOAT…

Horse Racing Is to America What Fox Hunting Is to England. So Ban It!

World Anti-Doping Agency Bans Russia from Olympics for Doping … Again

NCAA

In Epic Upset, Tigers Roll Tide for CFP National Championship

Top college coaches making more than top NFL players

Zion’s Fall Should Lift Hopes for Paying College Athletes, but It Won’t

The End of March Madness: Hail, Women of Baylor, Men of Virginia!

In First Step Act, NCAA Emancipates Student-Athletes

NFL

Conference Championship Sunday: Hail, Rams! Hail, Patriots (Again)!

Predicting NFL plays makes Romo more Smart Aleck than Nostrodamus

So ‘Mad Dog’ Russo finds Romo irritating too

Super Bowl LIII: dynastic Patriots humble Rams and seal their legacy

Evidently Kaepernick Is Interested in Playing Politics, Not Football

‘Year of the Black Quarterback’

Women’s World Cup

Media Coverage and Players’ Pay Still Unequal

Here’s why women are still struggling to climb the ladder of success…

Team USA Looks Invincible

Brazil and Marta disappoint … again

Hail, Team USA…Again

Coco puffs at Wimbledon

Entertainment

The Grammys Fading into Irrelevance. Even Drake Says So.

Ratings ‘an all-time low’

The Oscars: My Picks

And the Oscar Goes to…

Lady Gaga pooh-poohs Cooper love affair

White Actor Ralph Fiennes Pours Scorn on ‘Black Bond’…and Rightly So

Elba, wannabe black Bond, feels rejected. Good.

Then how about a black female Bond…?

Aladdin Was Supposed to Be Will Smith’s ‘Ishtar’

Video Music Awards Show Might Still Be Hip But It No Longer Hops

Potpourri

Happy New Year!

Gillette: When Subliminal Message Trumps Supraliminal Priming

‘Leaving Neverland’ Like Xscaping Michael Jackson’s Pedophile Cult

‘Motown 60’ special whitewashes Jackson(s)

Oprah believes the victims

Industry delivers guilty verdict

‘Bezos Exposes Pecker’

Hey Lovers, Valentine’s Day Is for Suckers!

World Press Photo of the Year!

My Good Friday Sermon

J.K. Rowling Milking Pottermore, Despite Promising … Nevermore

Happy Indigenous People’s Day

In Observance of Veterans Day

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Trump’s Impeachment Festivus

Merry Xmas!

Happy Kwanzaa!

Social Media

Kylie Captures the Emptiness of Social Media in a Snap

Ban Anonymous Comments to Save the Internet

Social Media Explains Why So Many Are Dying on Mount Everest

Ape Scrolling Instagram Says More about Humans than Apes

Amazon’s Alexa is listening, and she’s recording you

Facebook, Too Good (a Friend) to Break Up

Testing social networks without ‘likes’ … because a ‘mind is a terrible thing to waste’

Fake news billionaire…

Political Ads: Twitter, Facebook, Fox News: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. And Then There’s Google.

In Memoriam

Christy, My Big Brother

Now Derek, my baby brother

Barry Randall, My Editor and Friend

Bibi Kisovec—Loving and Devoted Wife, Mother, and Friend

Re your social-media condolences: Thanks, but no thanks!

Toni Morrison, the ‘Beloved’ One

Diahann Carroll, Black Diva Entertainer

Don Imus, Godfather of Shock Talk Radio

Bibliography: Notes on Source Materials

About the Author

Kids now resting in the sky

 Are memories that defy

 Cares that trouble you and I.

 Hold fast to love, do or die.

 All else is folly, or a lie.

Acknowledgements

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Thanks to my production and design team for their professional and personable support.

One of my pet peeves is finding typos in published books. But I have come to accept that, no matter how keen the editing, there’s no avoiding them. In fact, works by acclaimed authors like Tom Wolfe, Henry Miller, and Kurt Vonnegut have had the dubious distinction of appearing on the dreaded Corrigenda List of Book Errata. Therefore, please forgive me if you find any typo that makes this book a candidate for that list.

Thanks to my group of extraordinary friends for their continued interest in my commentaries. Never mind that their support these days amounts to little more than suggesting snarky topics, which I invariably ignore. All the same, I say a special thank you to Mary Lauture. She is easily my most loyal reader.

Thanks to my darling Katherine—whose love, support, and friendship have sustained me in all of my endeavors for the past thirty-three years. She has a pretty sharp editorial eye too.

Last, but by no means least, thanks to you, my readers. You may be relatively few in number, but you inspire appreciation beyond measure.

Introduction

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To paraphrase John Dean, President Trump is a cancer growing on democracy. And if reelected, he will destroy—beyond repair—the norms and alliances that made the United States the most powerful and respected country in the history of mankind. The entire world has been rubbernecking at the slow-motion train wreck that is his presidency. The commentaries in this fifteenth volume of The iPINIONS Journal are duly weighted to reflect this worldwide fixation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin famously bemoaned in 2005 that the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century. That seismic event marked the triumph of democracy over communism. Yet Putin is looking these days like the cat that swallowed the canary. The following two points explain why:

1. The cyberwarfare Putin launched to get Trump elected demonstrated unprecedented mastery of the black arts.

2. Trump has done so much to sow political discord and undermine democratic institutions (at home and abroad) that Putin must see him as his avenging puppet.

I have remarked in several commentaries that Putin could not have created a better Manchurian president than Trump is turning out to be. But no less a person than Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) echoed it with this famous question:

She did so during an October meeting at the White House. A photo memorializing the moment went viral. It shows Pelosi standing and pointing a damning finger as she hurled that rhetorical question across the conference table at a cowering Trump. Her question resonated because Trump has shown a suspicious willingness to speak and act in furtherance of Putin’s geopolitical interests. This was the case, for example, when he

• dumped on the US intelligence community’s finding that Russia perpetrated cyberattacks during the 2016 presidential election (Trump said he saw no reason why it would be Russia and that Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial);

• upbraided G-7 leaders for excluding Russia from their talks (Trump said it makes no sense to discuss the threats Russia poses unless Putin is at the table);

• peddled Putin’s revisionist history about Crimea being a part of Russia (Trump said this is self-evident because everyone there speaks Russian);

• endangered Kurdish allies by abruptly withdrawing US troops from Syria (Trump said the US had already paid the Kurds handsomely for any support they rendered in the fight to destroy ISIS).

Frankly, this dupe is acting more like Putin’s puppet than even Hillary Clinton could have imagined. No doubt you recall when she famously slammed him as such during their third presidential debate on October 19, 2016.

Meanwhile, the Mueller Report documented the myriad ways Trump abused his power and obstructed justice to cover up his collusion with Putin. Yet history will record his attempts to extort the president of Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden as his most impeachable acts. Specifically, Trump told Vlodomyr Zelensky that he would not receive nearly $500 million in desperately needed military aid unless and until he announces criminal investigations of Biden and his son Hunter. And Trump couldn’t care less that Zelensky could only do this on trumped-up charges.

Except that, before Zelensky could perform his side of this quid pro quo, a whistleblower reported Trump’s attempted extortion to a congressional oversight committee. Less than forty-eight hours later, fully appreciating that he had been caught, Trump released the military aid. But the die was cast. Democrats who control the House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry. This, despite Republicans who control the Senate telegraphing their intent to acquit no matter how clear, convincing, and abundant the evidence of bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Again, worldwide fixation on Trump’s reality-TV show masquerading as a presidency was such that you’d be hard-pressed to see anything else in a word cloud of the major events of 2019. Of course, this has been the case from day one. In fact, it provoked me to decry in the introduction to last year’s volume the adhesive media coverage he gets. Interestingly enough, no less a person than Michael Wolff is now decrying this coverage too. He, of course, is the author of Fire and Fury, the bestselling insider’s account of the chaos that defines Trump’s presidency:

This is why I often feel like the proverbial John the Baptist as I persist in publishing commentaries on other less popular but no less important events.

Accordingly, this volume includes others related to Africans dying to become Europeans; Hurricane Dorian devastating my Bahamaland; women soccer players taking the fight for equal pay from board rooms to playing fields; Oscar viewers going gaga over Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper; Trump attempting to sanction Iran into signing a new nuclear deal; activists spewing more hot air about climate change; Tiger Woods winning his first major since 2008; Amazon’s Bezos exposing Enquirer’s Pecker; Venezuela continuing its death spiral; white nationalists normalizing mass shootings; NCAA taking a first step towards paying student athletes; politicians leading calls to breakup tech companies like Facebook and Google; Hong Kong’s long protest rivaling China’s long march; Catholic nuns telling MeToo stories of sexual abuse; Washington Nats winning their first World Series; Leaving Neverland documenting Michael Jackson’s pedophile exploits; Europe still wallowing in Brexit malaise; Notre-Dame nearly burning to the ground; teenage Coco wowing the tennis world; the bell tolling for famous people and relatives alike; and, believe it or not, many more.

Still, although major, these and other events played out like mere tributaries to the raging river that is the Trump presidency.

As always, I have left the commentaries in their original form—as published on my weblog The iPINIONS Journal (www.ipjn.com). I have defied my publisher’s repeated entreaties to allow professional editors to polish them up, hence the hedging in my Acknowledgment above about any missed typo. Publishing them in this form not only gives you a sense of time and place, but also lends authenticity to my take on events in real time. I have included many updates not posted on my weblog. I’d like to think they add value.

This volume is by nature anthological and argumentative. It is not a narrative. It unfolds more like a magazine than a novel. Further, I wrote each commentary to stand alone. Unfortunately, this results in some unavoidable repetition in this compilation format.

I quote extensively from previous commentaries. I do so not just to show how current events vindicate them, but also to distinguish myself from commentators whose opinions seem no more rooted than the trending topic of the day. The problem, alas, is that I appear to gloat I-told-you-so throughout. I am also obliged to repeat a relevant quote on the odd occasion. But I beg your indulgence because there’s no other way to distinguish myself in this context. For example, I delineated my misgivings and even warned about a Trump presidency in many commentaries, including Trump for President?! Don’t Be a Sucker, April 8, 2011, and WTF! President-elect Donald J. Trump?! America. What. Have. You. Done. November 9, 2016. Therefore, it would seem a form of commentary malpractice if I failed to quote from them (repeatedly) in commentaries on his chaotic, incompetent, three-card-monte presidency.

I use two block quotation styles: shorter quotations have one vertical line on the left; longer ones have two horizontal lines—one above and one below.

I grew up in the Caribbean; I attended schools in the United States and England; I have degrees in political economics and law; I am licensed to practice in four foreign jurisdictions; and I have traveled extensively. All of this gives me a relatively unique perspective on global events and frames my commentaries.

I hope that, for posterity, this volume proves a reliable source for reflection on the most important and noteworthy events of 2019. I especially hope these commentaries serve as a provocative, informative, and entertaining antidote to snarky social media postings that now trigger and inform so much public debate. And if, like me, you prefer non-fiction, you will find plenty in this volume to affirm the proverb:

-—ALH

January 3, 2020

Africa / Middle East

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At ICC Gbagbo Walks Free

January 28

I have been railing for years against the unfairness and incompetence of the International Criminal Court (ICC). I can cite such commentaries as Alas, the ICC Charging Bashir of Sudan with Genocide Means Nothing! July 15, 2008, ICC Double Standards…, June 29, 2011, No Equitable Justice in ICC Prosecuting Kenya’s Kenyatta, March 25, 2013, and International Criminal Court Lost All Credibility, June 5, 2013. But most notable is ICC Decides Not to Prosecute Kenya’s Kenyatta. Duh, December 8, 2014. It includes this instructive, precedent-setting observation:

_____________________________

Last week the International Criminal Court in The Hague decided not to prosecute the president of Kenya for inciting ethnic violence that killed 1200 men, women, and children, and displaced 600,000. …

As my headline indicates, I was not surprised by the ICC’s decision. I have written a series of commentaries foreshadowing it and delineating why the ICC is such a hopelessly discredited institution.

In fact, this case was as much about the ICC’s credibility as it was about Kenyatta’s guilt. [My commentaries] explain not only why this case failed, but also why the ICC should be abolished.

_____________________________

Given that, this comes as no surprise:

Mind you, I was convinced that, like Kenyatta, Gbagbo was guilty as charged. I indicted him accordingly in Noose Tightens on Gbagbo in Ivory Coast, April 11, 2011. Any leader who incites people to protest the outcome of a democratic election should be held responsible for the mayhem and death that ensue. It’s just that the ICC is guilty of such selective prosecution, it operates as little more than a paternal tool of neo-colonialism. What’s particularly damning is that it has yet to prosecute a non-black strongman like Erdogan of Turkey, Sisi of Egypt, Salman of Saudi Arabia, or Putin of Russia. After all, Kenyatta and Gbagbo incited family squabbles compared to the massacres those men incited.

Meanwhile, the ICC’s failed attempts to convict so many high-profile defendants—who had blood still dripping from their hands—does not inspire confidence.

If they felt they needed judicial overlords, Kenya and Ivory Coast would have been far better served by a shoestring special court under the auspices of the United Nations. Other countries have used such courts to prosecute local leaders for similar crimes. Most notable were International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Rwanda (ICTR) and Sierra Leone (SCSL), which resulted in the notorious conviction of no less a person than Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia.

More to the point, though, I hope this acquittal finally forces African countries to do what I’ve been urging Caribbean countries to in commentaries like For Independence Sake, Caribbean, Abolish the Privy Council! February 1, 2016, and No More Privy Council; Take Care of Your Own Judicial Mess, October 8, 2009. The latter includes the following:

_____________________________

In an interview published in the September 20, 2009, edition of The Financial Times, Lord Phillips complained that the five British judges who sit on the Privy Council spend 40 percent of their time adjudicating cases from the former colonies. He indicated—with forlorn hope—that he wished these now-independent countries

You’d think Lord Phillips’s admonition would chasten any self-respecting Caribbean leader. And, that this in turn would compel that leader to relieve Britain of this ‘white man’s burden,’ which is plainly anachronistic, untenable, and unfair. Not to mention that Lord Phillips is only admonishing Caribbean leaders to do what they have known for nearly 40 years they should, indeed must, do.

Yet I fear it will take far more than paternal rebukes to get our leaders to do the right thing.

_____________________________

Nearly 70 years after decolonialization, I hope African countries will finally help Caribbean countries see the categorical imperative of handling their own judicial affairs. As it happens, Ivory Coast ended up prosecuting Gbagbo in absentia. This alone threw into stark relief the self-abnegating folly of relying on the ICC to prosecute crooked or genocidal local leaders:

What’s more, this poses the ironic and seemingly unfair prospect of subjecting him to double jeopardy. That is, assuming ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda fails in her face-saving bid to keep Gbagbo in The Hague for life by appealing his acquittal.

What a farce!

Trump’s Art of Diplomacy Has Europe Siding with Iran against US

February 16

Unsurprisingly, the source of abiding discord in this context is Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In fact, the only global officials who bothered to show up were from

• developing countries that would like to goad him into giving them millions to support any foreign misadventure his crazy little heart desires;

• Israel that would like to goad him into fighting their looming, existential war with Iran; and

• Sunni states (led by Saudi Arabia) that would like to goad Trump into dealing a decisive blow in their 1400-year internecine battle with Shia states (led by Iran).

But anyone who knows anything about the Iran nuclear deal knew the other signatories (namely China, France, Russia, United Kingdom—plus Germany) would dis this conference. Yet, listening to US Vice President Mike Pence hail its success, you’d think he got those signatories to join the United States in withdrawing from it too. But Trump himself set the precedent for this self-deluding artifice. After all, here is how he hailed the success of his first summit with North Korean President Kim Jong Un:

Except that here is how the heads of his own intelligence agencies exposed his big lie not only about having success with North Korea but also about having just cause to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal:

Despite that, Trump is hyping another summit on North Korea for later this month—hot on the heels of this ill-fated conference on Iran. More to the point, this dangerously deluded dotard is showing no hint of irony or concern that he’s only promising to do at this second summit what he proclaimed he did at the first one. Granted, none of this should be surprising. After all, he forced a 35-day government shutdown in a vain attempt to get Congress to pay to begin building a wall on the US-Mexico border, which he (falsely) claims is already mostly built, hence his Orwellian sleight of slogan from Build the Wall to Finish the Wall. Not to mention that he promised he would get Mexico, not US taxpayers, to pay for it.

In any event, I explained why racism is motivating his fool’s errand in this case in Trump Decertifying Iran Nuclear Deal more MALO than MAGA, October 13, 2017:

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Trump’s my-way-or-the-highway attitude towards international relations is isolating enough. But he’s turning friends into enemies by repeatedly calling all parties to this deal with Iran ‘incompetent fools’ (a.k.a. clinical projection). This is utterly baffling; not least because he’s expecting these same parties to join him in negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran and a similar one with North Korea. Only his un-diagnosed autism explains Trump thinking that hurling insults is the best way to win friends and influence people. …

There’s no denying the dark force that is provoking nearly everything Trump does. That force is the enviable legacy of his predecessor, Barack Hussein Obama. Nothing has defined Trump’s beleaguered presidency quite like his unabashed efforts to nullify or undermine Obama’s achievements.

Frankly, whatever Trump’s ambition to Make America Great Again (MAGA), it is no match for his pathological intent to Make America Loathe Obama (MALO). Only this explains his Mad-Hatter efforts to repeal and replace (or failing that to undermine) Obamacare, President Obama’s signature domestic achievement.

In any case, it’s impossible to overstate the danger inherent in Trump decertifying this Iran nuclear deal, Obama’s signature foreign-policy achievement. … As it was with healthcare, climate change, international trade, and others:

Congressional Republicans have been goading and enabling Trump in his Faustian quest to effectively decertify Obama’s presidency. But no Republican has had anything on Netanyahu with respect to goading and enabling him to rip up the Iran nuclear deal.

Nonetheless, I am certain that, just like Obamacare, this deal will remain in force.

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Sure enough, all of the other signatories responded to Trump’s withdrawal by declaring their intent to stick with the deal, leaving him even more isolated on the world stage than ever before. It speaks volumes that the joint statement of rebuke his European allies issued is the kind they usually reserve for Russian President Vladimir Putin:

Remarkably, the Europeans are now helping Iran circumvent US-led sanctions the way the Chinese (and Russians) have been helping North Korea circumvent them. Therefore, sanctions (in both cases) are bound to prove even less effective than America’s embargo against Cuba, which is nearing 60 years of futility. Yet the manifest fecklessness of these sanctions seems completely lost on Trump and his foreign-policy advisers.

In any event, if that unprecedented rebuke left any doubt about how European leaders feel about Trump, the way they reacted to Vice President Pence’s speech at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday surely erased it:

The cringeworthy video of Pence waiting, head bowed for the applause that never came has gone viral. So too, though, has the laudatory video of that same audience applauding German Chancellor Angela Merkel throughout her speech, and giving her a sustained standing ovation when she finished. This is especially noteworthy because she spent most of her speech criticizing Trump for his misguided policies on everything from the Iran nuclear deal to his fraternization with strongmen like Putin.

Incidentally, this is not the first time Trump has dispatched Pence to be his skunk at an international gathering. I commented—in PyeongChang Olympics: Diplomatic Brinkmanship Upstages Opening Ceremony, February 9, 2018—on a similar spectacle that played out at last year’s Winter Olympics.

But, hey, at least Trump has just cause to boast that he’s demonstrating the art of diplomacy like nobody has ever seen before. #Idiot!

Related

Bolton concedes North Korea ‘jiving’ Trump

December 20

Frankly, North Korea is treating Trump like the sucker to whom it can sell the proverbial Brooklyn Bridge.

Of course, far from being alarmed, regular readers might ask, incredulously: Why is this news? After all, I’ve been saying as much for over a decade. For example, I refer you to Why Do World Leaders Even Give North Korea the Time of Day, October 4, 2006, North Korea’s Missile Diplomacy: Calling the World’s Bluff … Again, April 4, 2009, and North Korean Nukes like Quicksilver for China and US, June 26, 2017. The last of these includes this preemption of Bolton’s assessment:

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Trump has been bluffing his way through his presidency from day one. …

Therefore, given his record, nobody should have any expectation that Trump will do anything ‘to solve North Korea.’

Because, as counterintuitive as it may seem, it will take military warfare to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. What’s more, this warfare will only happen if North Korea triggers it by escalating from merely testing nuclear missiles to actually bombing South Koreans or Americans (with nukes or even with conventional weapons).

North Korean President Kim Jong-un might seem mad. But this baby-faced dictator is sensible enough to avoid pulling this trigger.

Which is why the advice I gave Obama—in North Korea to The World: Nuke Off! December 13, 2012—is the only effective way to deal with the menace North Korea’s missile testing poses. [Namely, draw a red line, ignore him, but nuke him if he crosses it.]

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All else is folly.

Aping Egypt’s Ouster of Mubarak, Sudan Ousts Bashir

April 17

We’ve seen this kind of surprising uprising before. And, given how it played out in neighboring Egypt, these Sudanese protesters would do well to take heed. No doubt you recall the mass protests of 2011 (a.k.a. the Arab Spring). They triggered the ouster of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak after three decades in power … too. But just the titles to some of my commentaries on what followed there give a sense of what portends in Sudan:

• Army Pledges No Force against Protesters, February 1, 2011

• Protesters Return to Tahrir Square, June 6, 2012

• Egyptians Continue March Back to the Future, December 20, 2013

• Egypt’s Arab Spring Spawns Brutal Military Dictatorship, March 25, 2014

• Egypt Sentences Morsi to Death: Exposes Fecklessness of US Mideast Policy, May 20, 2015

• Sisi Completes Egypt’s Vicious Cycle by Releasing Mubarak, March 24, 2017

• Egypt’s Sisi Aping Russia’s Putin to Continue Serving … for Life, March 26, 2018

The first of these turned out to be most prescient, including as it does this sobering and equally relevant observation:

I fear that, like the Egyptians, the Sudanese will end up replacing one devil with another. I just hope theirs is more benign.

In the interim, precarious is the fate of any civilian leader who succeeds Bashir. One need only look at what has befallen Mohamed Morsi. He presumed Egypt’s military leaders, including then General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, would allow him to govern according to his historic democratic mandate. But today he’s rotting away in prison—perhaps even thanking Sisi for commuting his death sentence.

Now president, Sisi is doing all he can to help Sudan install a leader like him. He is clearly doing so because championing democratic dictatorships in surrounding countries will help secure his own in Egypt. But he’s also doing so in furtherance of a new world order of metastasizing dictatorships—headed by Xi of China and Putin of Russia. Indeed, it’s noteworthy that, like Sisi of Egypt, Déby of Chad is following this China-Russia model of the strongman leading for life. And, like Sudan, both Libya and Algeria have wannabe strongmen now engaged in a deadly battle of wits to emulate Sisi, respectively.

Meanwhile, President Trump seems more interested in comradery with dictators wielding autocratic power than fraternity with protesters seeking democratic freedoms.

In fairness to Trump, though, the sympathy his predecessor, Barack Obama, offered Egyptian protesters did them no good. This might explain why no Western leader seems even remotely interested in what becomes of Sudan. Of course, Brexit has European leaders so awash in political futility these days, they could be forgiven feelings of utter fecklessness where Sudan is concerned.

In any case, the result is that, for the first time in modern history, democratic leaders from the West are effectively ceding influence all over Africa to dictatorial leaders from the East.

That said, I couldn’t be happier to see Bashir ousted. To give a sense of the many reasons why, here is an excerpt from "Alas, the ICC Charging President Bashir of Sudan with Genocide Means Nothing! July 15, 2008:

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The only reason Bashir has been able to get away with his alleged crimes is that the US has not deemed stopping him a matter of national (economic) interest.

This raises the question: What is the point of charging him if the ICC has no power to arrest him?

I submit that the ICC has announced these feckless charges in a vain attempt to assuage the collective guilt of western countries. After all, they did not lift a finger to stop Bashir’s Arab militias from killing over 300,000 black Africans and forcing another 2 million to flee their homes in Darfur. This, because they dared to oppose his Islamic-based government.

The UN, US, and EU had promised that, never again, would they allow anyone to perpetrate another Rwandan-style genocide in Africa. This genocide made a mockery of that promise.

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Bashir knew he had nothing to fear from the ICC but fear itself. This, especially given the lengths to which even democratic countries like South Africa were willing to go to help him escape justice. I vented dismay in Abetting Sudan’s Bashir Betrays All That’s Wrong with African Leaders, June 15, 2015:

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African leaders are beaming with foolish pride today over the way they conspired to help Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir abscond from justice. They perpetrated this conspiracy during an African Union summit in South Africa last weekend. …

Instead of abetting him, you’d think black African leaders would want to tar and feather Bashir. Except that far too many of them have more in common with him than their own people. None more so than Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe—who has implemented policies and ordered brutal crackdowns that have killed and displaced as many, if not more black Africans during his 35-year dictatorship.

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This is why I cannot blame the people of Sudan for taking matters into their own hands. And I commend the Sudanese Professional Association and other NGOs for coordinating non-violent efforts to keep the eyes of protesters on the prize: a civilian-led government and a re-secularization of the country away from the Islamization Bashir imposed.

But I fear that, despite making one political concession after another, Sudan’s military leaders will continue to wield the kind of power they did during Bashir’s dictatorship. They have too much vested in seeing another military strongman succeed Bashir—the way Sisi (eventually) succeeded Mubarak. Again, one need only look at what has become of Egypt’s civilian-led government. In a similar vein, I fear that, despite pretending to prosecute him, Sudan’s military will make sure Bashir lands with a golden parachute, eventually—the way Egypt’s made sure Mubarak landed, eventually.

This is why protesters would at least have banked some consolation if they had completed the job—the way the people of Libya did when they ousted Muammar Gadaffi after four decades in power. I duly commented/celebrated in Gadaffi Is Dead, October 21, 2011.

In any event, I wish the people of Sudan well. And, for what it’s worth, if I were there, I’d be protesting too.

Update

Sudan’s delayed Arab Spring now withering away … too

June 18

Sudan’s pro-democracy protesters celebrated the ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir eight weeks ago. In doing so, they showed the same kind of naiveté Egypt’s pro-democracy protesters showed when they celebrated the ouster of strongman Hosni Mubarak eight years ago. But if you’ve read how I admonished the Sudanese in my original commentary, it will come as no surprise to you that Sudan’s spring has turned blue.

Sudan’s security forces have now pruned that revolutionary chaos and uncertainty into the order and certainty that define all dictatorships. Indeed, one cannot overstate the existential interest Mideast dictatorships have in seeing Sudan’s Arab Spring wither away like Egypt’s. The last thing countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE want is a shining example of transition to democracy for their own people to follow, respectively.

But there’s no denying the guidance a Far-East dictatorship, namely China, is providing to both Sudan and those Mideast dictatorships. The coincidence cannot be lost on anyone that June 4 marked the 30th anniversary of China’s brutal but precedent-setting crackdown on China’s pro-democracy protesters (in Tiananmen Square).

Meanwhile, feckless Western calls for nonviolence are speaking volumes. Because this practically concedes the geopolitical shift afoot: More and more developing countries are looking away from Washington towards Beijing not just for economic assistance but also for political guidance and alliance. But this compels me to reiterate the admonition I offered in ‘All the World Is at War’ Hardly Means World War III, November 30, 2015. I warned that China’s self-preserving policy of non-interference would have compelled it to stand by and watch the Nazis turn Europe into a fascist paradise during World War II. Further, that this behooved developing countries to think twice about hailing China as a more worthy superpower than the United States.

But this latest admonition compels a clarification; not least because the United States is conspicuously absent among the nations making those Western calls the Times mentioned. No doubt you recall the open support former president Barack Obama offered Egypt’s pro-democracy protesters. Unfortunately, his indispensable guidance proved so inept that Egyptians are now living under a dictatorship that is far worse than the one they sprang up to overthrow.

Here is how I warned, in real time, it would be thus:

Yet far more troubling is the support President Trump is offering. Because, evidently, he feels no duty (and sees no common cause) to side with, let alone guide, Sudan’s pro-democracy protesters. (The same goes for pro-democracy protesters in Algeria and Hong Kong—whose struggles you’d be forgiven for thinking he does not even know exist.) Instead, Trump is tweeting commendations to strongmen like Egypt’s Sisi and