Seattle, Washington has requested drills to keep their populace safe from nuclear attack. Japan is giving recommendations to its citizens on how to survive a nuclear war. China is losing patience with North Korea and threatening sanctions while President Trump cozies up to China's President Xi in the hopes of building a better, and perhaps more lucrative, relationship.
The chess pieces are on the table
While the world awaits the U.S. to bomb North Korea, a slight of hand has them bombing Syria again. CBS news national security correspondent David Martin reports today, "The U.S.
sent aircraft to strike Syrian regime vehicles on Thursday that violated a deconfliction zone set up around al-Tanf, an army base where special forces are training Syrian militias."
Reports from Australia, specifically Dr. John Blaxland from the National University Strategic and Defense Studies Center said it was clear "the US has a much more robust presence in Australia." This build up is in part due to China's claim over the newly created islands in the disputed South China Sea which the United States, at least for now, is no longer disputing.
President Duterte from the Philippines is sending troops and supplies to an island it owns in the South China Sea in support of President Xi. Duterte and Xi have established a new relationship exclusive of the United States and President Trump.
In Jordan, the annual exercise called Eager Lion has American and Jordanian forces doing combat trials. They explain that the exercise in no way is a prelude to an invasion of Syria. However, Far, an Iranian news outlet is concerned enough over the build up to ratchet up tension between all countries involved.
This weekend, President Trump is set to visit Israel and Saudi Arabia while all the other chess pieces rattle on the board seeking war to make things right.
Meanwhile, Israel and Palestine are still at loggerheads unable to come up with a 2 state solution for peace.
The great divide
England is no longer in the European Union and some of the countries that do remain like Greece, Italy and Portugal are unable to support themselves without help from the Central European Bank. In South America, Venezuela is falling apart, the people are starving and the rule of law has completely broken down.
Brasil's stock market was halted today due to another corruption scandal.
The United States is torn apart because one side of the country does not respect, agree, support or acknowledge the current president who won the electoral vote. They claim, rightly or wrongly, that he is insane, unable to govern and clearly out of his depth. They site his Twitter account, his bombastic demeanor and his insufferable ego as proof.
Conservatives claim the last two presidential terms of Barack Obama ignored the reality of middle America whose people continue to suffer from a lack of jobs. Full-time work that was once the engine of the economy like coal, automobiles, mining, logging and manufacturing no longer exist.
With all the chaos in Washington D.C. there will be little reform on either side for the American people and so the suffering will continue. Those that support President Trump sit in silence and seethe as they observe the vitriol spewing from liberal mouths. Those that condemn the current president with unbridled hatred are unaware of the anger that grows behind their back.
What the world needs is a new vision and it is not the Clinton Global Initiative which brought much suffering to Haiti. We do not need the Bush's and their oil rich friends in Saudi Arabia nor is it Trump and the rancorous emotional pleadings that might serve to soothe his soul, but does little for the American people.
I don't pretend to know how to accomplish this, but whatever it takes, I hope we have the guts to face the future with confidence that we are doing the right thing.
We need to stop arguing issues we cannot resolve and focus on those we can.
We need to accept each other and each other's ideas as long as they play out on a moral stage to the benefit of all mankind. As the human species, we need to understand that this planet is not an anything goes type of place. We need rules and regulations and laws to live by or we will degenerate into the animals from which we came.
I pray that we get this right or we will blow the world apart leaving nothing but a shattered planet to our children and grandchildren. We must learn to extend the hand of empathy to each other and we must remember that we are caretakers of this Earth just temporarily.
