Dispatches from Vilnius

Plaza Venezuela y Paseo Colon, Caracas, 1950 Is it oil or development that the US seeks in the Western hemisphere? I remember my mother telling me of her time in Caracas back in the 1950s when she followed my father down to Venezuela. He was a geologist, principally interested in copper. He had spent a great portion of his life in Southern Africa but here he was back in the Americas. I don't recall how long they spent in Venezuela but my mother said she really enjoyed Caracas. It was such a beautiful city. It was run by a conservative government that catered to American interests including the development of oil reserves, but my father had no part in that.  There were big plans for Caracas. Venezuela was seen as an emerging giant in the Caribbean that would challenge Brazil and Mexico for hegemony in the region. Its GDP per capita was on par with the United States, which was also enjoying a huge economic boom at the time. This new prosperity was thanks to autocratic leader Marcos ...

Donald Trump ushers in the New Year with a fireworks show in Caracas, Venezuela. It seems this administration has made a resolution to overthrow the "presidential republic" and install a more oil friendly government in its place.  They even have a president-in-waiting, Maria Corina Machado, most recent Nobel Laureate and firm supporter of Trump, who is itching to take over the seat the US hopes to soon make vacant.  Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chavez have long been seen as a thorn in the side of American hegemony in the combined Gulf of America (nee Mexico)/Caribbean Sea region. The Trump admin. wants nothing that goes in or out of this combined waterway to escape its watch and has beefed up naval military presence in an effort to more tightly patrol this region, much to the chagrin of the countries that border or are engulfed by these two bodies of water.  It seems that the US has taken its cue from Russia, which similarly wants to control the Sea of Azov and Black Sea on th...

I'm not quite sure if this massive Epstein photo dump is a good thing as it sure is implicating a lot of people, not just Donald J Trump. Chomsky was a real surprise to me. He was apparently BFF with Epstein, believing him to be an intellectual worthy of reform as Noam continued to correspond with Jeffrey right up to the time he mysteriously died in prison. Chomsky supposedly got financial advice from Epstein and enjoyed the contacts he made at the infamous soirees. All these new faces serve to take the focus off Trump, who has his boys assiduously scrubbing the Epstein files clean of himself before releasing them in full. What the DOJ has given us so far largely implicates Bill Clinton . Epstein reminds me of Hugh Hefner, who was able to draw a who's who of celebrities, politicians and intellectuals into his orbit thanks to his pleasure palaces, first in Chicago then New York and LA. His television show  Playboy After Dark was considered quite radical in its day, bringing to...

Senate Leader John Thune with House Speaker Mike Johnson discussing healthcare. The Little Leprechaun from Louisiana has done it again. After being told by the 8 Democrats who voted for the funding bill in November that Republicans would put forward a health care funding bill before Christmas, Mike Johnson said no . Gee, why didn't I see this coming? You'd think by this point that Dems would realize that their GOP counterparts don't play fair, yet here was Sen. Fudderman of Pennsylvania telling Chrissy Cuomo that he can still deliver it . Good luck with that Johnny. Republican leaders are banking on this being a non-issue in the midterms despite rumblings within their own party that this could kill them in the upcoming Congressional elections. Yet, Johnson and Thune just see this as a way to kill "Obamacare" once and for all. Don't forget their party voted more than 70 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act between 2010 and 2017. For more than a decade they...

George Bush with Lithuanian Pres. Adamkus in Vilnius, 2002 The reaction to Trump has become decidedly more fierce in recent days with German Chancellor Merz lashing out at the new American National Security Strategy and publicly stating that Pax Americana is over . Europe can no longer rely on the US for support.  Far from it, the new security strategy is explicitly aimed at undermining current European governments by actively supporting alternative nationalist parties throughout Europe. Over 70 years of a mutually beneficial relationship thrown out the window just like that. It doesn't stop there.  The Trump administration on its own has worked out deals with Belarus to free alleged political prisoners in exchange for easing sanctions. John Coale, another mysterious special envoy, was in Minsk this past week formalizing the latest deal with a friendly handshake with President-for-life Lukashenko much to the chagrin of Lithuania, which was forced to receive many of these 123...

It was bad enough that His Trumpness decided to overhaul the Kennedy Center. Now he is hosting the year-end event, essentially turning it into a MAGA rally . No more backseat to the cultural arts of America, Trump made it known loud and clear that he would be honoring the unsung heroes of his orange revolution from this point forward. Surprised he doesn't tear the Edward Durell Stone national theater down and build a new gilded palace in his own honor. I'm sure the thought has crossed his mind. Donald wasn't done there. He was off to the Poconos to make a pitch for the great economy no one seems to recognize. He called affordability a "hoax" and blamed Joe Biden and immigrants for dragging the economy down despite giving it an A+++++ himself . Privately, he did admit tariffs might be an adverse factor and announced a $12 billion bailout package to win back the farm belt in time for the midterms next year, but it might be too little too late as his approval number...

Steve Witkoff with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev It appears that someone forgot to tell Donald that the  28-Point Peace Plan for Ukraine  was a draft, not a final plan. He was so happy to see his name emblazed on it that he brazenly told the world that it was time for the war to end. He gave Pres. Zelenskyy until Thanksgiving to sign it or the future wouldn't look so bright for Ukraine. This plan was apparently written up  at Mar-a-Lago in October. The alleged authors are Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Kirill Dmitriev. The Russian special envoy managed to sneak over on a flight to Miami without anyone knowing about it until afterward, as he and his investment firm were on the US Treasury sanction list. No matter, Russia denies having any involvement in the negotiations. Apparently, Kirill was there on his own cognizance to help Jared and Steve sort out the finer points of this agreement. Thanks to Donald's big mouth no one got a chance to review the plan before ...

One of the reasons Trump is so successful is that his administration mirrors a reality show and is perfect for television. Who could script a dysfunctional White House any better? Seeing his cabinet sit around that long oval table with red caps before them and praising Trump in turn is pure comedy, yet we are supposed to take it seriously.  Of course, the late night talk show hosts have had a field day with these scenes, earning the ire of the Orange King, with repeated threats to their shows. He almost got away with it with Jimmy Kimmel , whose late night show was briefly pulled only for ABC to reinstate him after the severe backlash, not to mention lawsuits that would have ensued. It's well known Donnie can't take a joke, which is why his subordinates all coddle up to him. What's worse is that foreign leaders are coddling up to him as well, ever fearful of a trade war that could damage their fragile economies. In case anyone didn't know it, we are on the cusp of anot...

For whatever reason I got over 200,000 hits in September, mostly from the United States, which is nice, as I usually get spammed from Singapore or some other Asian country. I say spammed as I get so few comments and assume these are automated bots. If these are real people, then thanks! You pushed the total number of visits to over 1 million since blogger started keeping tabs. This site used to be more active when we had members engaged in book readings but that was many moons ago. I started the blog for American history buffs with our first group reading being Team of Rivals . We had moved from Escape from Elba to evade the trolls.  Seems like Melba, as we called it, has gone defunct, no longer popping up early on searches. It is pretty much just me here, posting my vitriolic thoughts from my armchair in Vilnius. I've renamed the blog several times. Sorry to have become so bitter but the election last year left me really upset and things haven't improved since then. The Trump ...

Trump and his mini-me The 20-point peace plan has worked so well in Gaza that now His Trumpness is pitching one for Ukraine. After a 4-hour call with Vlad the Impaler, His Trumpness tried to convince Zelenskyy into signing a similar deal.  He even sweet talked the Ukrainian president, telling him what a nice jacket he wore and what a beautiful signature he had, a veritable work of art. The press conference was painful to watch as it was so obviously orchestrated to make the Ukrainian president look small and inconsequential. However, Zelenskyy said no thanks.  Not until Russia quits bombing our cities.  I really don't understand why it is so difficult for the Trump administration to recognize what is happening.  Either that or they simply don't care.  More important to get those mineral deals to keep making those hi tech products that dominate our market today.  Even in this regard, Russia has the upper hand, as it has seized the most valuable lithium de...

I guess if you can't win an award, the next best thing is having it dedicated to you , and that is exactly what Maria Corina Machado did with the Nobel Peace Prize.  Of course, it was a calculated move as she wants the United States to support her ongoing effort to oust Nicolas Maduro. In fact, her "democratic" campaign goes back to when Hugo Chavis was president of Venezuela. I'm not sure who she actually represents but she reminds me of  Aung San Suu Kyi . Needless to say, the White House still wasn't happy but the deadline for this year's Nobel Peace Prize was January 31.  All of Trump's great achievements came after that deadline if we are to accept his extensive resume . Better luck next year, Donald. High on the list will be the peace deal he claims he has brokered in Gaza. This went down literally on the same day the Nobel Peace Prize winner was announced.  It remains to be seen how this armistice holds up.  So far, all we have is a ceasefire, but ...