Blog, Musings

Invade Greenland, Really?

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I have a friend who is a school teacher in England.  He was telling me a story of an event at school the other day, specifically:

“Yesterday in school, this is true, a pupil asked me if Trump invades Greenland what’s the difference between that and Putin and Ukraine? I really didn’t know what to say except the war or ‘special military operation’ would be over a lot quicker. I’m hoping that behind the scenes US intelligence and military pull him aside and tell him that a US president can’t do/say things like that, that he’s the leader of the democratic world.

His observation, is right on, the only difference between Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Trump’s musing that he wouldn’t rule out force taking over Greenland is if it were to happen it would be the same, but over a lot quicker…

I thought , why not ask AI the following question:

If the US invades and takes over Greenland, what is the difference between this and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
ChatGPT

The difference between a hypothetical U.S. invasion of Greenland and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine lies in several factors, including legality, historical context, geopolitical circumstances, and the motivations or justifications for such actions. Below is a breakdown:

1. Sovereignty and Consent

  • Greenland: Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. If the U.S. were to invade and take over Greenland, it would violate Denmark’s sovereignty and international law, as there is no indication Greenland or Denmark would consent to such an action.
  • Ukraine: Ukraine is a sovereign, independent nation recognized internationally. Russia’s invasion violated Ukraine’s sovereignty, international law, and the territorial integrity guaranteed under treaties like the Budapest Memorandum (1994).

In both cases, the lack of consent from the relevant sovereign authority makes the act a violation of international law.

2. Motivations

  • Greenland: A U.S. invasion would likely stem from strategic motives, such as controlling Greenland’s resources (e.g., rare earth minerals) or its strategic position in the Arctic.
  • Ukraine: Russia’s invasion was justified by claims of protecting Russian-speaking populations, “denazification,” and historical ties, though most analysts view it as a move to reassert control over Ukraine and prevent it from aligning with NATO and the EU.

While the motivations differ, in both cases, geopolitical ambitions drive the aggressive actions.

3. International Law and Global Response

  • Both scenarios would likely be deemed illegal under international law, particularly the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
  • Greenland: An invasion would likely result in widespread condemnation of the U.S. by the global community and severe diplomatic, economic, and possibly military consequences.
  • Ukraine: Russia’s invasion has been widely condemned, resulting in sanctions, military aid to Ukraine, and diplomatic isolation for Russia in many international forums.

4. Historical Context

  • Greenland: Greenland has no historical ties to the U.S. apart from being a Cold War strategic location. It has never been part of U.S. territory or under American influence.
  • Ukraine: Ukraine has a complex historical relationship with Russia, being part of the Soviet Union and earlier Russian empires. However, Ukraine has been an independent state since 1991 and has sought closer ties with the West.

The historical context doesn’t justify invasion in either case but influences the narratives used to rationalize aggression.

5. Involvement of Local Populations

  • Greenland: Any invasion would likely face opposition from Greenlandic and Danish populations, as they are not seeking U.S. governance.
  • Ukraine: Russia has faced significant resistance from Ukrainians, despite initial claims that some parts of Ukraine would welcome Russian intervention.

6. Scale and Precedents

  • The U.S., as a democratic nation and a member of NATO, invading Greenland would mark a stark departure from its usual adherence (or public alignment) with international norms, creating a precedent similar to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
  • Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already been criticized as destabilizing international norms against territorial aggression.

Conclusion

The primary difference lies in context, geography, and the specific nations involved. However, in both cases, an invasion would violate international law, disregard sovereignty, and have significant global repercussions. The hypothetical U.S. invasion of Greenland would likely receive similar condemnation to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, though the specifics of each situation would color the international response.

God help the free world over the next four years!

Musings, Poems

It’s Five Days In

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It’s five days in.
We can make it.
This year is so long.
Until it is gone too fast.

I wonder what is waiting for us?
Is waiting the same is wondering?
Does wondering have the same
time slowing magic?

How come we don’t ask why?
Or maybe we do, and
don’t like the bloody
obvious answers?

Let’s let time fly like a bird
we release from our hand,
and then it seems to have
nowhere to go, and it just sits.

Then be bold enough to
ask it to sit for a bit longer,
and it will fly away as
if it is being chased.

Yes, it’s five days in,
and we’ve got so much
time left for wherefores
and whynots, and more.

Let’s sit back and take it all in.
The poetry of life!

Musings, Poems

The New Year (2025)

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It is of course, an arbitrary demarcation, everybody knows
but as a new year approaches and this one draws to a close.
it is a time of reflection, and time of for taking stock of the year
and realize more good than bad did occur and we are still here.
There are new births of life, new advancements in love and career
there are accomplishments, as well as, tears in any given year.
And then there is the opportunity, even if only in our mind
to start out anew, to be refocused, to accomplish, to be kind.
And in this arbitrary demarcation everyone must know
that we are remembered most, by the love we did show.

I pray this new year brings us a world with more peacefulness
with a bit more reasoned and compassionate thoughtfulness.
I pray we are guided by our better angels toward the higher values,
of equality, opportunity, democracy and freedom of the news.
And that we find a renewed faith in core ideals which make us great
those of freedom and fairness, as we repudiate the politics of hate.
Yes, this arbitrary demarcation, is a good time for reflection
with honesty and without blame and avoidance of deflection.
For we must understand and really know who we are
and aspire to become in our next journey around our star.

 

Musings, Poems

Merry Christmas 🎄

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Oh
angel
spreading wings
over this Christmas
tree listen to supplications
of our love and hope for everyone
for this to be the beginning of another
time when we can truly say that we have
become what the child born for all of us would have
us be, in joy and happiness a kinder more forgiving world
so that peace will reign and forever remain like this evergreen
and
this
child
within us!

 

Musings, Poems

Our Own Night of Broken Glass

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I don’t know what caused the altercation, maybe it was nothing.
Maybe a bumping of shopping carts, or something simpler, as I can imagine, it doesn’t take much in the crowded shopping exit of a Costco on a mid-December Saturday.
But the elderly white man clearly was saying you should be deported… the Hispanic man, yelling that he was not an illegal, and he has rights… the white man answering, well you look like it and so it went… the anger, the self-righteousness, and the responding demand for respect of rights… but the chaos made me think of how we are near a tipping point like we’ve not seen for 86 years… since maybe Germany’s Kristallnacht.

Unser Eigenes Kristallnacht*

Righteousness is killing us
the cruelty is purposeful
the gradual normalization of hate
was always intended to get to this point.
The language of otherization is vermin,
rapist, criminals and this is purposeful
as is the cruelty of separation, of division,
and worse.

Yes, take criminals off the street
but we need no special laws or actions
except enforcement of current law.
We need a path toward compassion
and fairness, without mindless mob
action by the righteous and
morally compromised.

Tipping points are never quite
clear until we are seeing it with
the eyes of history, in the analysis
of the past we find we are no
better than those who came before,
we who think we are better
may someday witness “our own
night of broken glass”.

 

Musings, Poems

If Well We Chose

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The light filters through the trees
from the closest star we know,
feeding fauna, deer, birds and bees.

We stroll through using faint paths
worn by others for there is nowhere
untrodden and no undiscovered maths.

For we are merely the next, in a long line
of discoverers of universal truths
leaving bread-crumbs as a sign.

For those who will follow us into the past
and who will occupy this future life-space,
for nothing of us and of this is meant to last.

And some poet, someday, may for a bit think
about us as a continuum of thought from
forever ago to forever to come as a link.

And then the faint path we’ve left for those
who come next and those who come after
will give a bit of wisdom, if well we chose.

 

Musings, Poems

Separated

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Where are we on the subject of empathy?
Oh yeah, we don’t care for it nor for sympathy
or so I’ve been told for they are the others
while we are the first, we and our brothers.

Others are not us, so it has become perfectly okay
to separate families once again, and deny them a way
to a better future, the one we feel is our birthright
and for this we will cast the others to the night.

The night of horrors, roundups, and detentions
the night of deportations, and rights suspensions
as separations will resume, and children will be lost
as families who are not us, are into the night tossed.

But what do we care?  We who so quickly forget,
we who have no empathy and no feeling of regret.
We are okay, we are Americans and we are first,
and we no longer think of hunger and thirst.

We no longer think of oppression and threats
of violence, we’ve protected our precious benefits,
our prices and our borders, from imagined horrors
as we gave up on our love of God and human morals.

 

The Washington Post reports that there are 1400 children still not reunited with families from the policies of Donald Trump’s first term and the chaos by which they were separated from families at the border.  Imagine, what will happen at the border and throughout the country as the roundups begin, especially as he promised them to be violent. 

 

 

 

Musings, Poems

Songs of Birth

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When you light the candles
in numbered wishes of happiness,
we give homage to our ancestors,
who sat aglow around fires of warmth
and laughed and sang in unison to the
songs of birth, and songs of life.

We sing in unison to life’s
shared  values, creating wishes
of play and of health too,
the wealth of family, the
fellowship of friends, in the
songs of birth and long-life wishes.

And when we are well celebrated
of birth,  we shall sing our songs
of accomplishments and joys,
in the fortune of family and friends,
and of storied-lessons in the
songs of birth and life’s legacy.

 

 

 

Musings

Elections have Consequences

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In 2020, I published a short book before the election, warning of the threat to our democracy which an election of Donald Trump would pose to our country.  With his loss in November of that year (which he continues to deny), I hoped this would bring an end to the need for such warnings.  Furthermore, after the Insurrection on 6 January 2021 led by Trump for the purpose of overthrowing a free and fair democratic election, I thought there is no way he would ever be in power again, but I misjudged the American people and here we are!

The first page of that 2020  book, Trump, Power & the Lessons of Orwell’s 1984 is about the cover which included rows of books in a library:

In George Orwell’s 1984, learning and books were considered unnecessary and counter to the goals of The Party, of Big Brother.  Ignorance of history and humankind’s struggle for a better life, greater liberties and freedom and enlightenment was prevalent and ensured through the institutions of government.

We currently enjoy the opportunity for knowledge, intellectualism and an understanding of history.  We have our unalienable rights as declared in our Declaration of Independence, we have the protections of the Constitution of The United States of America, and we have the strength of the people engaged and dedicated in the separate but equal institutions of government: The Legislative, The Judicial and The Executive Branches of Government!

But what if the opportunity for information and knowledge is taken from us?  What if the unalienable rights where no longer guaranteed, because the constitution of the USA is adapted to meet a new agenda?  And what if the institutions of government are no longer separate and equal?  Are these just the consequences of an election?

Threats to our democracy are a very near and present danger.

What if the selections we see for Cabinet posts are intentionally shocking, underqualified and dangerous?  What if the purpose is to solidify power into one office while dismantling the protections and guard rails of legislative and judicial branches?   There are 2.3 Million people working in government, what if Musk and Ramaswamy slash workers in the federal ranks and leave only those who pass a loyalty test in an avowed effort to cut costs and improve efficiency (and consequently loyalty to Trump rather than the constitution)?… And what if the loyalty tests are not just for civilian workers but through an Anti-woke evaluation panel to affect the senior leadership in the US military services?

The goal seems to be to replace the “Deep State” with another Deep State totally in alignment with the stated objectives of the Trump campaign promises and Project 2025.

Consider our country with DOJ pursuing political enemies instead of criminals.  Consider the Homeland Security focused on rounding up 11 million undocumented workers and housing them in tent cities as the deportations start.  Consider Health and Human services cutting valuable research into infectious disease and vaccines?  While at the same time the military purges those who are considered “diverse” from the accepted norm.

Imagine our treasury department focused on normalizing bitcoin, imagine the DJT Cryptocurrency.  Of course, then the commerce department will advocate for punitive tariffs on designated enemies and maybe friends alike if they don’t properly flatter our dear leader.  in the meantime the free-press institutions are challenged by the FCC and without flattering coverage of DJT these “fake news media” will lose their licenses and be sold to the Oligarchs which will control all news.  Think about a future where NBC, CBS, the Washington Post and New York Times are no different than Fox news and NewsMax.  Then again, maybe all we need is Elon Musk’s X .

We can hope for the Senate and the House of Representatives to keep the administration in check.  Oh oops, I forgot they are Republican led and spineless when it comes to standing up to Trump… and therefore useless.  So if something becomes useless, it could then be eliminated.

Expect an attempt to change the constitution.  More Executive directives.  Just a rubber stamp legislative branch.  By 2026, will we even need midterm elections?  Maybe, depending on how it goes.  I could imagine no meaningful election in 2028.   While Dems are hand-wringing over what went wrong and considering what they will do in the next elections, they should be worried if there will even be a future of free and fair elections.

Consider if the Senate confirms the selection of Gaetz as AG, then the advise and consent oversight of the Senate to the administration is meaningless?  If the Senate fails to confirm Gaetz, then expect Trump to have a scorched earth campaign against the Senate, again making the Congress an unwanted and unneeded appendage to the operation of government.  If Trump over steps and the Senate changes after the 2026 election, do you think he’ll agree it was a free and fair election and accommodate a divided government he must negotiate with, or rather dismiss this useless appendage?   Do you think the courts will stand by and let this affront to the constitution slide by? … No… surely not, but will the Executive branch under Trump enforce laws of congress and rulings of the court if not in his favor?   I think not.

Do you think the military led by the generals who passed the Anti-woke vetting will intervene? Do you think the cabinet of sycophants would stand up to Trump? Do you see an impeachment by Congress mattering at all?  Oh and the “not-so” free press, run now by the Oligarchs, will condemn the bureaucrats for being un-American.

The test of Trump’s power will be the approval of a clown cabinet, Gaetz is the ultimate litmus test for DOJ, but so is Hegseth for Defense who is completely unqualified to run an organization of 3 million people.  Kennedy as HHS Secretary, an anti-vax conspiracy theorist with no medical education or experience.  Additionally the idea of Noem for Secretary of Homeland Security, with no qualifications, and Director of National Intelligence, Gabbard, who is herself a security risk.  These picks are a big middle finger to what Trump believes is the “deep state” and a huge challenge for dominance over the Republicans in the Senate.

There is no question this is a battle for the consolidation of power in the Office of the Presidency, and consequently a battle over what shall be the revised constitution of the United States of America.  Democracy as we have known it is at risk.  The well being and welfare of the people of the United States is at risk.  Our economy could be put into a tailspin, and our standing as leaders in this world could be ceded to Russia and China.   Women will be kept in their place, protected whether they want it or not and climate change will not be addressed in any meaningful way.

Elections have consequences.  At this time we have decided by all measures that we prefer strongman rule over compromise and consensus.  We have decided that democracy and our constitution is secondary to our image of ourselves wrapped in the flag void of the historic meanings of freedom and the right to self-determination.  This was the most consequential election of our history since 1860, and it unfortunately could be the last consequential election.

Democrats, hand-wring all you like, it will not matter if you don’t mount a communication program to undermine what we will be told by the new leadership.  Republicans, especially in Congress. if you want to have a party that matters; it is time for you to grow a backbone and fight for our constitution and democratic freedoms instead of kneeling to the throne.

Yes, this election has consequences.

 

 

 

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