News and Views on the Global Stage....

Nowak
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What Do Henry Nowak and George Floyd Have in Common?

Riots are gripping the streets of Southampton in Great Britain today as the tragic events of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, an accounting student, play out in the media with the conviction of his murderer and the release of footage of what happened. Like George Floyd here in the United States, Nowak’s last words were “I can’t breathe,” and like Floyd, he was being held to the ground by police, even being handcuffed as he bled to death. The more potent underlying similarity with Floyd’s death, however, is that of reverse racism — people of color are believed, those who are white are not. White Always Guilty, as the Democrats here in the U.S. want us to believe. Unfortunately, the same mantra seems to have gripped Great Britain. Some background: On the night of December 3, 2025, Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old first-year accountancy student at the University of Southampton, was walking home alone after a night out with his soccer team. He was unarmed and completely sober. On the way home, he encountered a Sikh named Vickrum Digwa, who was carrying an eight-inch blade, larger than the ceremonial Sikh blade allowed under British law. What followed was Digwa stabbing Nowak.

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Bibi
My Take

Is a Desparate-for-Peace Trump Doing Iran’s Bidding? Looks Like….

This is a follow-up to my news item yesterday about President Trump getting Israel and Hezbollah to agree to quit killing each other. Reports have it that Trump used some foul-mouthed language to convince Bibi Netanyahu to forego plans to invade Beirut as a final step to eradicate the terrorist cell operating in Lebanon at Iran’s behest, i.e., the aforementioned Hezbollah. According to Axios (believe them if you like, but I see no reason not to), Trump, in his call with the Israeli Premier yesterday, told him: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.” By way of backdrop, Iran has demanded that any ceasefire include Hezbollah and Israel. Otherwise, Iran says, there can be no moving forward on a peace deal, let alone a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to open the Strait of Hormuz and continue further negotiations. Netanyahu, by many accounts, is the force that got Trump involved in the Iranian conflict to begin with. Following a public uprising in Iran, for which Trump promised that “help is on the way,” the president saw an Iranian bombing campaign as the

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Hezbelloh
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Any Bets on How Long Trump’s Israeli-Hezbollah Truce Will Last?

Not sure if Trump is calling today’s announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah his ninth — or umpteenth — peace deal, but I look upon this agreement as representing maybe a 72-hour window. Or, perhaps restraint will last only until “dawn’s early light” before we see “the rockets’ red glare” again. In other words, I’m fairly skeptical that either Bibi Netanyahu or the Hezbollah hierarchy really wants to end a conflict that stretches back two or three decades. I’m not a gambling man, though I’ve been known to bet on the nags, but this deal looks like a sure winner for a gambling man, or woman, on Kalshi or Polymarket, the so-called prediction gambling sites. I’m not sure anyone can negotiate with Hezbollah, but the president claims to have done so through “highly placed Representatives.” The Lebanese government — you know, those folks that Hezbollah never listens to — has confirmed the deal. On Truth Social, the Trumpster announced of the two warring parties: “Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.” He also wrote that Israel will not send troops into Beirut, the Lebanese capital. In related news, Trump said that peace negotiations with

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Ike2
My Take

Trump Needs to Study Ike’s ‘Middle Way’ and Apply It ‘Extremely’

When Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the White House in 1953, the United States was deeply polarized. The country was locked in the Cold War abroad, and at home, fierce debates raged between New Deal Democrats who wanted to expand government programs and conservative Republicans who wanted to completely dismantle them. Eisenhower’s solution was The Middle Way (sometimes called “Modern Republicanism”). It was a political philosophy that rejected extremes on both sides. He described it as a path where “the government does not avoid its responsibilities to the human individual,” but also “does not assume that the federal government is the only instrument for solving all human problems.” In short: be conservative when it comes to money and the economy, but liberal when it comes to human beings. The Core Pillars of the Middle Way To understand how Eisenhower balanced these competing ideas, it helps to look at how he handled the biggest issues of his presidency: Reining in Government Spending Eisenhower was a fiscal conservative. He believed that a runaway national debt and high inflation were just as dangerous to national security as a foreign military threat. Balancing the Budget: He worked hard to balance the federal budget, successfully achieving

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PutinEternal
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Putin Seeks Physical Immortality, Trump Just Institutional Immortality

Good ol’ Vlad, too good to die. He has every intention of strangling the Russian people — and more world citizens if he gets his way — for all eternity. He is seeking immortality, and just this past week told China’s Xi Jinping that immortality is possible through organ transplants. Gee, you think he had someone in mind when he mentioned the onset of immortality science? The Wall Street Journal reports that the Russian Premier is funding (through OPM — other people’s money — of course) what he calls “New Health Preservation Technologies,” a $26 billion longevity initiative. The WSJ article says this consists of two components: “bioprinting, or 3D-printing living tissue, and xenotransplantation, or growing human organs inside mini-pigs, a porcine breed deemed genetically compatible to humans.” Welcome to Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory. Meanwhile, Donald J. Trump is seeking a different type of immortality, but I’m sure he’d be happy to share in Putin’s version as well. Not only did the 47th U.S. President name a drug website after himself — TrumpRx.gov — but he is now eyeing the printing of a $250 bill with his image on it to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Problem is, the law governing

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My Take

Trump’s Broken Record on the Iran Narrative Sends Out Uneasy Vibes

The ceasefire with Iran, so-called, has now been going on longer than the combat, but from all looks and purposes, it’s still a stalemate. President Trump, as is his style, continues to play a broken record, to wit, that a deal is at hand — while Iran says no deal is at hand. For starter number one, we know that you take Iran at its word at your own peril, that is, when it makes promises it has no intention of keeping. In this case, however, the IRGC is making no promises. The Praetorian Guard wants only to stall everything until Trump is forced to cave in because of the midterm elections and ongoing inflation. For starter number two, unfortunately, Donald J. Trump has been known to twist the facts to suit his narrative, and in his case, he must be playing Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” on his gramophone. He’s twisting the facts every time the subject of peace with Iran and opening the Strait of Hormuz comes up. Another interesting twist: When the combat started, the official narrative seemed to be regime change. Now it’s making sure Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The problem here is, as

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Currently...

Note to Trump: No Midterms for IRGC

Everyone is hopeful that Iran will agree to some sort of peace deal that, initially at least, opens the Strait of Hormuz and gets the world’s oil and fertilizer flowing again. Ever the optimist, President Trump keeps saying how much Iranian leaders (whom he also says he cannot identify) desperately want a deal. Unfortunately, for Trump and the peace-seeking world, the IRGC is in no hurry to strike a bargain. Unlike Sir Donald, the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who hold sway over all things Iranian, face no elections in November — or for that matter, at any time in the next umpteen years. They’re more than happy to play a waiting game. This leaves the president in a nice pickle. If he doesn’t strike a deal soon, the GOP is toast in the midterms. If he returns to bombing Iran, the GOP is also going to be toast come November. The only bright side for Trump, who claims not to be worried about the midterms, is that, no matter what he does, GOP House hopes for retaining a majority basically have zip, nada, zilch, zero chance of success. So, why not just finish the job —

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