Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

The terrible news last evening produced world wide condemnation and expressions of sympathy for the victims and their families, to which this Blog adds its own shocked voice.

Unfortunately there is really no defence against random attacks by low profile terrorists using ordinary vehicles as weapons. One can only hope that as time goes by a way will be found to increase the protection of innocent people. Having said that the level of protection provided by police and security forces all across Europe is remarkable, considering the ease with which these outrages can be put into effect. The shooting dead of a number of terrorist suspects by the police in what appears to be a repeat attempt to run down pedestrians in Cambrils, shows just how fine is the line between success and failure in this deadly situation.

As always the heroes of the hour are first responders, the police and the medics who rush forward into danger to save and protect. So are those who are free to flee but stay to help loved ones or complete strangers who have been struck down in the mayhem.

It would be good if we could see and end to all this. Meanwhile we have to do our best to minimise and contain it. In that we all have a responsibility to watch and be wary.

Click Image For Details

Click Here For U.S.

On the face of it this is a situation full of hate and extremism which must be condemned. Driving a car at speed at people with intent to kill is an evil act for which there is no excuse and for which retribution is due. White Supremacists, Ku Klux Klan and all similar organisations should simply not be there. But they are. And that is the problem.

The scars of the American Civil War run very deep, as perhaps do those of all civil wars. True the majority accept the way it is and want to live in harmony focused on the future not the past. But a minority passes, from one generation to the next, a bitterness about being conquered which does not dim with time. Rather, it smolders until a bursts into violence over a contentious issue. Perhaps it is made worse because the losing side, the South, has not  ever become generally as prosperous as the North.

Partly it is because of a different culture and interpretation of what America is about. There is a legacy about slavery and about poor whites. None of this provides a set of excuses but it does point to a set of reasons and worst of all it provides a breeding ground for hate. Condemnation is both good and necessary. But so would be action to delve beneath the surface, identify the issues and do something about them. Because extremism can only prosper in a bed of injustice, it does not function without a driver.

This is not about Trump. Yes he did not chose his words well and yes his brawl with the press was neither presidential nor wise. Yes it is the case that most of the Alt Right if they vote at all, vote for Trump. Yet not all the points Trump made were without merit. The business of moving statues is one. And the reminder that Washington and Jefferson were slave owners is another. But the suggestion of equivalence between locals confronting the Alt Right in all its forms and organisations like the Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacists and Neo Nazis, is plainly offensive to most of the world.

What really shocks Brits and I suspect many others is the fact that these organisations which offend and appall are legally protected under the U.S.Constitution. There is surely a distinction between freedom and licence. Moreover they marched in Charlottesville with a formal permit provided by the authorities.

It is now clear to all the world that America has many social fault lines and is both divided and and a lot less happy than it believes itself to be. It has failed to inaugurate a proper healing process from the legacy of the Civil War and it has failed to address the root causes of the schism which caused it in the first place. Only slavery itself has been resolved and while that is indeed good, much else has been left to fester.  All Americans must share the blame.  Now they must unite to start seriously to resolve these issues. They will not go away on their own.  It will take time, patience, tolerance and compromise to deal with them, but time has shown they are not fading away.

Sorry everyone! Have been off line for 48 hours due to a cable fault about a mile away. Engineers worked hard over two days. Up and running again and this Blog will be back to normal tomorrow.

Most of Trump’s difficulties since he became President can be traced back to his own hand, for good or bad. But he inherited North Korea. All of his predecessors kicked the can down the road until the end game arrives to a schedule which coincides with his arrival at the White House. For this Trump cannot be blamed. Neither is it rational to complain if he speaks to the North Koreans in florid terms which hit home and mirror their own scary rhetoric and blood curdling threats. We know the cautious, diplomatic, non-provocative approach has spectacularly failed to deliver. So talking their language is at least worth a try.

How this is going to end is now impossible to predict. It is finely balanced between a negotiated peace across the entire Korean Peninsular and the destruction of much of it with millions of casualties and unknown consequences to follow. It is useful to state the position of each side, so that at least we know from where we begin.

America no longer cares whether North Korea is a communist totalitarian State or not. Neither does South Korea, which has done very well as an engine of global capitalism. What both care about is a nuclear threat from the North. If that threat is extended by advances in missile technology to include a real and viable threat to the cities of America itself, this is something which will not be allowed to happen.

America knows that it lives under a potential threat from both Russia and China but it knows both are rational and understand that they too face destruction if they start to press red buttons. But there is no certainty that such a determination to avoid self destruction drives strategic thinking in Pyongyang. But that could be wrong. In fact there is evidence that if you think it through the reverse is true. It is known that Kim Jon Un took note that although both Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi had nuclear weapons programmes they gave them up and it did them no good. He knows about Syria and Afghanistan.

He figures that the only way to stop an American led coalition at some point embarking on regime change  to bring his rule to an end, is to offer an unacceptable cost for the enterprise. He already is capable of inflicting hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties on South Korea even if the war only lasts an hour. But the real guarantee comes if the cost includes San Francisco or LA. In other words he is well aware that if he were to launch a nuclear attack his country would be wiped out before the end of the day. But the knowledge that he has the capability to do so will, he thinks, bring America to the negotiating table, not just to state take or leave it terms, but to cut a deal which leaves his regime intact and secure. In return he will make peace with the South and renounce first use of nuclear weapons. He will need a lot of guarantees to give them up.

What happens next depends on whether he is right in his calculations and whether America’s risk reward analysis allows it to cut him some slack. I would not bet on it.

FREE PROMO DOWNLOADS until midnight Tues U.S. Pacific Time. GB 8.am Wed.       DOWNLOAD NOW!

Ideal holiday/travel reading. From departure lounge to beach, two compelling reads with a spooky touch.

         Click Images  U.K.

U.S.  Amazon.com                U.S. Amazon.com

FREE PROMO DOWNLOADS until midnight Tues U.S. Pacific Time. GB 8.am Wed.       DOWNLOAD NOW!

         Click Images  U.K.

U.S.  Amazon.com                U.S. Amazon.com

In the beginning, after the referendum, the Brexiteers were cock a hoop and making the running. What a difference now. Not only was there a general election disaster, but since then muddle and confusion within the government has mired the Brexit negotiations in a quicksand of real issues demanding much more than quips and slogans to resolve.

Meanwhile criticism is piling in on all sides about uncertainty of purpose and lack of clarity in defining objectives. Brexiteers fear a sell out so that the whole project is either watered down or abandoned. Remainers fear chaos in negotiations leading to a cliff edge exit. Now the President of the Supreme Court has weighed in demanding Parliament get a grip over the ECJ and its future role in our law. No wonder. Because the plain fact is that although we may leave the EU, the EU will remain. And if we step outside our own borders for business, vacation, education or whatever, it will be into the jurisdictions of all the EU’s political, financial, trade and judicial institutions. The only difference will be that we no longer have power or influence over what they do or how they treat us.

In other words you can leave the party if you want to but the party goes on.

FREE PROMO DOWNLOADS until midnight Tuesday. Get yours now. 

         Click Images For Details U.K.

U.S.  Amazon.com                U.S. Amazon.com

Tor Raven Gothic Crime Series mysteries make ideal holiday/travel reading. FREE PROMO DOWNLOADS until midnight Tuesday. Get yours now. 

         Click Images For Details U.K.

U.S.                                           U.S.