Opinion International Geopolitics

Remove this Banner Ad

The world has been devoid of commonsense leadership in the 21st century. The likes of Trump, Johnson, Putin, Bolsonaro etc. showed little inspirational leadership during the pandemic and the days hence. To that list we must now add Netanyahu who has turned world opinion against Israel. In a sane world Trump, Putin and Netanyahu would be incarcerated as they all have criminal indictments hanging over there heads.

As one who lived during the cold war and one who remembers events such as the Cuban missile crisis I believe the major difference between events of the cold war and the present day is that world leaders back then had experienced the impact of a global conflict. Leaders such as Eisenhower, Kennedy and Khrushchev had experienced the horrors of World War II and were tempered by that experience. They had been there and did not want to go back. Idiots like Putin and Trump who are both criminals have no idea of the death and destruction they can inflict of the world.

As Barry McGuire once sang...

The eastern world it is exploding
Violence flarin', bullets loadin'
You're old enough to kill but not for votin'
You don't believe in war but whats that gun you're totin'?
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'

But you tell me
Over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction

I have a feeling of déjà vu as the possibility a major conflict looms but alas the sanity at the top is missing and that is worrying.
 
Last edited:
ibd77 said:
The world is OK with Ukraine hitting valid military targets in Russia, just not civilian targets as an act of terrorism. Military bases, oil refineries, bridges, weapons factories, etc are all fair game.
Click to expand...
Kerch bridge is fair game. I hope they destroy it.
As I said Putin probably arranged for the apartment block to be destroyed. Would suit his agenda.
 
raptalia said:
The world has been devoid of commonsense leadership in the 21st century. The likes of Trump, Johnson, Putin, Bolsonaro etc. showed little inspirational leadership during the pandemic and the days hence. To that list we must now add Netanyahu who has turned world opinion against Israel. In a sane world Trump, Putin and Netanyahu would be incarcerated as they all have criminal indictments hanging over there heads.

As one who lived during the cold war and one who remembers events such as the Cuban missile crisis I believe the major difference between events of the cold war and the present day is that world leaders back then had experienced the impact of a global conflict. Leaders such as Eisenhower, Kennedy and Khrushchev had experienced the horrors of World War II and were tempered by that experience. They had been there and did not want to go back. Idiots like Putin and Trump who are both criminals have no idea of the death and destruction they can inflict of the world.

As Barry McGuire once sang...

The eastern world it is exploding
Violence flarin', bullets loadin'
You're old enough to kill but not for votin'
You don't believe in war but whats that gun you're totin'?
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'

But you tell me
Over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction

I have a feeling of déjà vu as the possibility a major conflict looms but alas the sanity at the top is missing and that is worrying.
Click to expand...

True leaders usually come out during times of crisis. Charismatic leaders usually come out to scam you.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

GremioPower what is the latest with the Brazilian floods in Porto Alegre and the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Is Brasilia helping out or have they been dragging their feet??
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
GremioPower what is the latest with the Brazilian floods in Porto Alegre and the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Is Brasilia helping out or have they been dragging their feet??
Click to expand...

Waters beginning to going down, but for the Southern cities.

Is Brasilia helping out? It depends. It is, but is it fully helping? Of that, I’m not so sure. If we were a friendly state, the response would probably be different.
 
Guilty as charged m'lud.

But it is all a set up says Donald.
edition.cnn.com

Trump found guilty on all counts. Here's the count-by-count breakdown

A Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records he faced in his New York hush money criminal trial. Follow here for the latest live news updates, analysis and more.
edition.cnn.com edition.cnn.com

Now we will see if the judge has the balls to send Trump to gaol.
 
Last edited:

(Log in to remove this ad.)

BornPort said:
Feels kinda hollow considering his reward for being a despicable human will be another term as president.
Click to expand...

The truth is no one really knows what happens from here in. Trump could serve up to four years gaol which would make his candidacy extremely difficult as he may need to conduct it from a gaol cell. It all depends on the judge but given Trump's comments about biased Court proceedings etc. he is unlikely to get any sympathy from the bench.

Trump will probably appeal but an appeal would likely run into or past the Presidential election campaign which will be interesting.

You would like to think that there was enough common sense among Republicans to halt Trump's campaign before it goes any further. You would also like to think there is enough common sense among the American electorate that they will not vote for a convicted felon but any thing is possible in the land of the free.

We await developments.
 
raptalia said:
The truth is no one really knows what happens from here in. Trump could serve up to four years gaol which would make his candidacy extremely difficult as he may need to conduct it from a gaol cell. It all depends on the judge but given Trump's comments about biased Court proceedings etc. he is unlikely to get any sympathy from the bench.

Trump will probably appeal but an appeal would likely run into or past the Presidential election campaign which will be interesting.

You would like to think that there was enough common sense among Republicans to halt Trump's campaign before it goes any further. You would also like to think there is enough common sense among the American electorate that they will not vote for a convicted felon but any thing is possible in the land of the free.

We await developments.
Click to expand...
I mean most legal experts seem pretty certain that even if the sentence involves gaol time (which is unlikely) it will be delayed until the appeals process is finished. That will not be until well after the November elections.

There is no common sense left among republicans. They are determined to see Trump on the ballot no matter what and they will vote for him no matter what.
 
I don't understand how Trump was found guilty. I mean I do, I am not challenging it, but why? Why did he go to those lengths? Couldn't he have just took out 130k cash and paid it off that way? Why some sort of elaborate cover up leaving a paper trail?

I don't think he's that dumb, more that he was trying to be far too clever, and that in way, was an even dumber thing to do. Dumb mixed in with ego.
 
edgie said:
I don't understand how Trump was found guilty. I mean I do, I am not challenging it, but why? Why did he go to those lengths? Couldn't he have just took out 130k cash and paid it off that way? Why some sort of elaborate cover up leaving a paper trail?

I don't think he's that dumb, more that he was trying to be far too clever, and that in way, was an even dumber thing to do. Dumb mixed in with ego.
Click to expand...

The evidence of the trial convinced the jury about a narrative that said Trump had an affair with a pr0n star (Stormy Daniels) while his wife was home with their newborn baby boy and that he paid $130k in hush money to Ms Daniels to keep the story secret.

Whether he paid that money in cash or via a cheque is irrelevant really. Because paying 'hush money' is not illegal. What IS illegal in the US is falsifying documents in an attempt to cover those payments up - regardless of how they are made.

The testimony of witnesses, especially his ex-lawyer, made it clear that Trump’s motive for doing that was not to protect his wife but to promote his election chances. He did not want those payments to become public - that's the point - and so he tried to hide them in his accounts as legitimate business expenses. He would have got caught out the same way even if he made a cash payment.

Once Ms Daniels came out with details of the hush money payment - and showing the payment on her side of the ledger - it was only a matter of time that the source of the payment, hidden in Trump's books, was found and the reason for it being hidden was disclosed.

He wasn't 'trying to be far too clever' at all. He was trying to hide proof of his affair from the country for political gain. Because that's what Trump does - cheat and lie and hide the evidence. And this time he got caught in that lie.

The 'cover up' of the payment was the felony. Not the cheating not the hush money payment in an attempt to keep it secret.
 
Last edited:
Festerz said:
...

The 'cover up' of the payment was the felony. Not the cheating not the hush money payment in an attempt to keep it secret.
Click to expand...

I get that.

But what would the risk have been using good old fashioned cash from his personal account, under the mattress, from the safe, whatever?
 
edgie said:
I get that.

But what would the risk have been using good old fashioned cash from his personal account, under the mattress, from the safe, whatever?
Click to expand...
The risk of the the person making the actual cash payment (his attorney Michael Cohen for example) testifying against him was even greater.

After all it was Cohen whose testimony helped sink him.

And the subsequent fall out of a revelation Trump had a hidden cash slush fund at his disposal would have made him subject to even greater felony criminal charges, including for tax fraud. Let alone making a cash payment from his 'personal account'. The need for a cover-up story to hide the purpose of the payment was still there once Daniels had shown she had received the money.

We are not dealing with 'cash money' payments to tradies here. Remember it was a cover up of cash payments that started the ball rolling in the Watergate scandal that sunk President Nixon and financial tracking mechanisms for Presidential candidates are far more sophisticated now than they were in 1972

Also remember that one early line of defence of the Trump Defence was that Trump paid Ms Daniels only to protect his family, not to defraud voters (i.e. he did make the payment but for selfless reasons) but then the team never developed that argument once the full story of what transpired came out.
 
Last edited:
edgie said:
I get that.

But what would the risk have been using good old fashioned cash from his personal account, under the mattress, from the safe, whatever?
Click to expand...

Who cares

It's like going after mobsters for tax fraud. In the scheme of things it's one of the least bad things they've done, but at least it's a chance to get them for SOMETHING. This is a guy who's used his wealth his whole life to be a scummy piece of shit with no consequences. It's like being coach of port Adelaide with Koch as chair. No accountability
 
What kind of a world are we living in where someone who has been paid hush money doesn't keep hush.
That's the real crime here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top