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An Internal Front in Russia? Beware Mr Biden.

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The recent killing of Daria Dugin, daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, both Russian ultranationalists and strong supporters of Putin’s war, can be seen as a sign that a new front against the war is opening up inside of Russia.
Which is bad news for Russia.
Russian authorities are blaming Ukraine for the killing while Ukraine has vigorously denied it.
But it takes a lot of inside knowledge to pull off that action, so my take is that it’s coming from Russia itself, the military in particular.
The attack was a bold move, planting a bomb in the car she was travelling in.
My take is that we’re likely to see more of these attacks, a sign of sharp disagreements with the conduct of the war and a new resolve to put an end to it.
Will Putin be the next target?
Putin is further restricting gas exports to Europe, but the alliance is holding.
Should there be an attempt on Putin himself, would he then imagine that the West is somehow involved and try to retaliate against a western leader?
Not inconceivable given Russia’s steady downward slide in international prestige.
Putin already knows that he cannot claw himself back up to a position of respectability. He’s killed too many people, committed too many atrocities.
Additionally, there’s been a widespread deterioration in international standards.
In 2018, the Saudi prince, MBS, was considered responsible by our intelligence agencies of ordering the killing and mutilation of Jamal Khashoggi, who held resident status in our nation and was a contributing journalist to the Washington Post.
On August 12th, Salman Rushdie, the distinguished writer, was stabbed in public in Chautauqua, NY, by an American of Iranian descent who may have been influenced by Iran’s issuing an edict to kill him for having written the Satanic Verses in 1988, which Iran considered blasphemous.
India, which has enjoyed wide support from America, is oblivious to it and is joining Russia and China in military exercises.
We have an ex president thinking of running for office, who may yet be found guilty of lying on his taxes, found guilty of inciting the riot on Capitol Hill on January 6th 2021 and is suspected of tampering with the ballots in the 2020 elections in Fulton County, Georgia.
I trust that the American people, in their wisdom, will see the essence of our former president and defeat him again at the polls, as he was in 2020.
In the meantime, the war in Ukraine goes on and Putin is not winning.
If an attempt on his life were made, would he retaliate by targeting Mr Biden?
I think the FBI and the Secret Service should be on high alert to protect our president.
He has courageously pulled together the western alliance that is pushing back Russia.
Planes are said to be on the way to further aid the courageous Ukrainians.
A desperate Putin, knowing that he is a failure as a leader to Russia, may try anything.
We must be ready.

Oscarvaldes.oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts

Why Do I Write?

Each writer will have his/her reasons.
As for me, I write because I have to. It makes me feel wiser and stronger.
I have said before, that I write because I want to share with people how I see the world and maybe that might be helpful to them, but behind that impulse is the raw desire to write.
Simply that.
As tranquil as writing appears to be, it can be a dangerous affair.
The word and the emotions that go with it, can lead you to places that you may not want to visit. Which is why I keep a personal diary that no one sees, and where I strive to enter thoughts and emotions as raw as they come. I go back to it often, just to see what connections they carry.
There’s a good deal of self forgiving I must do when I read my diary, but I know I need to go there to keep myself honest.
I see a parallel between the dissecting words of a writer and a surgeon’s scalpel, as they carefully explore tissue they may suspect might be covering up something, yet are not quite sure until they get there.
Words and the emotions that come with it can be inventive, as when you discover links you didn’t anticipate before you started, which makes it fun.
Then there’s the satisfaction of completing something. When I’m through with the draft of a piece I always feel lighter. Sometimes, I even have the sense that I’ve learned a thing or two.
Or, I end up nowhere, the void then staring me back and making me feel empty.
But it doesn’t last.
To contrast myself with a biographer, the biographer examines his subject’s mind while I examine my own, the mind being the prism that refracts the light of the world.
Each writer has their unique prism. Prisms can be made richer by the writer’s imagination and life’s experiences.
Hemingway was quoted as saying that a writer should write for himself. I think that’s good advice.
We’re all very different in how much experience we need to then turn it into words. And, of course, we’re all differently gifted. The distinguished Salman Rushdie, recently in the news after having been stabbed, has an enormous facility with words.
Would I be less of a person if I didn’t write?
I think so. I would still strive for competence in whatever job I was doing, as I have many times before, but something would be missing. I would feel less satisfied and less rounded as a human being. And I wouldn’t be able to say, ‘I’m leaving something behind, something that when anyone reads it, would bring me back to life, if only for that moment.’
There’s a writer in all of us. It’s up to us to activate it or not. It’s too tempting to have a mind guide us through life, remind us daily that we are unique, and not feel inclined to put our thoughts down. If only for our own eyes. To start. We get bolder as we move along.
I started this piece on a Sunday afternoon because I needed to write. I had gone to a nearby museum earlier in the day and seen the works of famous artists. They could be very playful with their craft, which I enjoy seeing.
So I asked myself, ‘Why do I write?’

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts

What China Gets

They get that they would not be at this level of development without the West.
They get that.
They know that without the infusion of western knowhow they would be far behind.
They have been smart to use western knowhow and to improve on it, and they still rely on cyberattacks on the West to keep stealing scientific and industrial secrets as detailed by our intelligence services.
Meanwhile, their ruling class, still adheres to the antiquated communist system of government.
They have trouble accepting that they need to move on to a different style of leadership.
It will take time.
As a reminder of the importance of making that move, they only need to look north to Russia, to see how an intellectually limited leader like Putin, is slowly pulling his nation backwards, all the while talking nonsense about how Russia can develop in isolation. What hogwash!
With every Russian shot fired in Ukraine, with every mother, father or child killed, Russia steps further backwards, and the harder it will become for them to catch up to the rest of the world.
It would be heartwarming for the world to see some sign of unrest in Russia, like an attempt by citizens to storm the prison where Alexei Navalny is held on false charges, and set him free.
But so far, Russians are hypnotized, listening to the blah blah of Putin talking about his special operations campaign in Ukraine and the glory that awaits the nation. Which will never come.
Instead, China gets that the creative minds of their citizens need to be given room to grow, though they’re afraid they may not be able to keep a leash on them, hence their harsh restrictions on freedom and the constant surveillance.
That’s the problem.
China looks at the West and wonders how is it that we can live with so much dysfunction.
How can we elect to our highest office people with no presidential qualities, and still function.
And in the meantime, industry keeps producing and inventing, science keeps flourishing, the arts keep pushing boundaries, and all of it happening while there is much social disorder that is unacceptable.
America is an open book. All our flaws are on display. And there are plenty. But we’ve learned that it is better to display them, to feel the outrage and shame that comes with it than try to hide them. Like China tries to do with their treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.
America is a very troubled nation. But there is a free press. Putin wouldn’t have become what he has become here in our land. Neither would Xi Jinping.
I believe that both Chinese and Russian citizens would much prefer a system where they had a voice in their future, rather than blindly trusting a leader to make choices for them.
But to get to that point they must take chances.
China is much closer to political freedom than Russia. And that is good news because China has become more important than Russia. On the other hand, it is tragic to see a nation with the potential of becoming a first rate nation in the free world, to waste it by surrendering to a single man.

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts

Do Most of Us Live Smaller Lives?

Compared to whom?
Compared to the people appearing in Forbes magazine’s list of wealthiest people?
Don’t do it. Don’t compare yourself with anyone in those lists.
You haven’t been featured in an article in the New York Times or Wall Street Journal?
Never mind.
You’re doing yourself a disfavor to compare yourself with those folks.
Each one of us has their own value.
Joe Biden has played a powerful role in uniting the West to fend off Putin’s assault on Ukraine.
But many people made important contributions to make that possible.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, is often in the spotlight saying something or the other about the company. I’ve yet to hear him take a pause and say, ‘my thanks to the hundreds of thousands of engineers, designers and other talented contributors for what you bring to the finished product. I just keep an eye on things.’
Same with Elon Musk.
I live in a building made possible by the efforts of hundreds and hundreds of craftsmen with many different skills, all coming together to bring about the final product.
Were they living smaller lives as they did their work? Not at all.
I recently had surgery and got an excellent result. My surgeon, a lady, did a terrific job. To me she has more value than all those people in the lists mentioned. She’ll never make those lists, but she’ll keep extending the lives of lots and lots of folks who, in turn, will make their own contributions to others. Her life is not a small life.
In assessing whether our lives are small or large we have to be thoughtful.
The press and media in general will want to rank people based on their own metrics and values.
We must not forget our own values.
A good guide is to try to do our best with what we have and always search for what we could do better and which will give us greater satisfaction.
We don’t have a lot of time, so we shouldn’t be complacent.
Given the capacities nature gave us, if we try our best to express them, our lives will not be small. We should be the judge of that. Just us. We shouldn’t let anyone else sit in the jury.
Smallness comes from not trying our best, from not taking chances, from hiding from risk.
To those who do try their best, thank them for their efforts.
Jonas Salk and Alfred Sabin gave us the vaccines against polio, sparing lives and deformities.
Countless mathematicians, physicists and computer programmers have changed our world through advancements in communication and brought us closer to each other.
There are people who have worked to make wood as hard as steel so we can build skyscrapers with wood instead, and so cut the huge carbon emissions that come from steel making and concrete. I don’t know their names and you probably don’t either but their lives are not small.
They’re doing their best with what they have.
That’s what all of us have to do, and our lives will not be small. Never mind the media.

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts.

The Business Side – China

Two American business executives, Ray and Andrew, talk about the China threat.

Ray – Much too much is made of China taking advantage of what we produce, then working with it to improve it.
Andrew – They do a good job at it.
Ray – They do. The way to deal with it is keep improving our products. Making them better and better. Sure, if a particular technology is highly specialized and critical for our security, we should consider not letting them have it. But only for a little while. We should see China as a challenge for us to keep getting better and better. We’re in the making and selling of stuff, anything, and constantly improving it.
To do that we need markets. China is a great market.
Andrew – Does the Chinese state subsidizing private businesses gives them an advantage?
Ray – Of course. So, for critical industries, we should get our government to subsidize us too.
Andrew – We can’t change China. Might as well join them.
Ray – In some things.
Andrew – Do you have any doubt that they have the ambition to become the dominant power in the world?
Ray – No doubt at all. We just won’t let them. Period. If we need to go to war, then that’s what we’ll have to do.
Andrew – Nuclear war?
Ray – We don’t need to go there. More sophisticated conventional weapons should do. In Ukraine, the mobile launchers they now have are making a difference. And if they get the F-16’s they were promised, it will turn things around.
We just have to compete better with China. They are stealing from us because we have more than they do. In some areas, where they’re making a lot of progress, we need to invest more here in the states.
But China ought to be seen as a great stimulus to us, so we can become more efficient.
Andrew – We need to keep track of what they produce so we won’t become dependent on them.
Ray – Right. We shouldn’t become dependent on any one country. Just in case there’s conflict and the supply lines get gummed up. Like with Covid and in Ukraine. That was amazing how Europe got so trusting of Russia to provide their energy needs.
Andrew – So you’re not afraid of China getting stronger?
Ray – I’m not. But we need to keep getting stronger than them. As I said, let’s look at them as a stimulus to do better. Not just economically but politically.
Andrew – Do you think immigration gives us an advantage?
Ray – I do. There’s two things that give us a huge advantage. One is immigration – people all over the world want to come here, not to China. And the other is Freedom. They don’t know what that is in China. But they dream of it in secret.
I’m a believer that as they continue to get richer, one day they’ll want to have their freedom, too.
That will upset a lot of people in the communist party.
Andrew – Any challenges that you see we’re having trouble with?
Ray – Yes. We need to give our people more opportunity for advancement. So they can get a better education and earn more. If that means raising taxes on the wealthier, so be it.
The more educated our work force the better.
But keep immigration open. And our freedom.
Andrew – You heard about Liz Cheney announcing she’s interested in a presidential bid?
Ray – I did. She needs to change her stand on abortion to have a shot. Just say, ‘I changed my mind. This is too important to women. I’m now pro choice.’ And women would run to vote for her, just to see her in the primary debates go up against Trump and say to him, ‘Hey, didn’t you just try to overthrow our government? What are you doing here?’
Andrew – You think Biden will run again?
Ray – I do. And if Ukrainians manage to push back Russians he’ll win handily. That’s how important that war is.
Andrew – What do you think of Musk?
Ray – I think they’ll force him to buy Twitter and he’ll say to himself, ‘I should watch my mouth.’
Andrew – Thank you, Ray. We’ll meet again.

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts.

How Do We Lose our Freedom?

Through intimidation.
How do we get it back?
Through confrontation.
(Is there room for persuasion? Of course. The earlier the better.)
So we should be keenly aware of any evidence of intimidation in our interactions with other human beings.
Make a note of it.
We must be aware also of a tendency in frightened human beings to identify with the aggressor. The frightened person takes their side.
We’re all vulnerable to being intimidated but the more aware we are of it, the more likely we are to recognize it.
Fear is a powerful force. In America, the second amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms. Will it make a difference if our civil liberties were to be endangered?
It will depend on the civic education of the bearer of arms.
A person with a proper civic education will clearly understand the importance of respecting other people’s rights even if he/she disagrees with their views.
Increasingly, though, in daily discourse, we see evidence that people with strong views on any given subject are intolerant of those who disagree.
The opposing parties don’t want to give in, which leads to the shunning of civil dialogue as a means to building bridges between the dissenting parties.
We’re doing too little bridge building in America today.
Too little of holding conversations with those with dissenting views just to get familiar with the arguments.
Even if no agreement is found, bridge building lets us learn about the other side and that is invaluable, for it informs us about their humanity.
The learning of freedom starts at home, with parents encouraging their children to speak their minds, to feel at ease in expressing their opinions.
‘What do you think, Nancy?’ ‘And what do you think, Tommy?’
‘I hear you,’ replies the parent, ‘And I think this and that.’
The foundation of dialogue is laid out at the dinner table, or in the after dinner chat.
The beauty of it is that the child internalizes the exchange and begins to ask questions about other things as well.
The benefit will extend to the classroom, where the child will ask better questions in class. And also in their interactions with friends.
And so the civic spine of a human being is formed. Step by step.
If children like that want to later become soldiers when they grow up, they will have a sense that their acquired powers are to be used in defense of freedom, not to suppress it.
And so the people of that nation will not be fertile ground to grow a totalitarian regime like in Russia or China today.

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts

China Will Fail. The Mirror of Russia

It is up to the West, from where China has got most of its stimulus for its economic growth, to decide on the rate of decline that China will suffer.
But decline they will.
Russia is holding up a mirror for them as their invasion of Ukraine exposes their flaws.
Repressive systems that blunt the development of human beings achieve only short lived victories. And so it will be with China.
There’s a lot of talent in that country, and my take is that the political docility they have shown toward the Communist party won’t last forever.
Eventually, they will start to buck the system. They will say something like, ‘our political development is as important as our technological and industrial growth, so let’s start to let up on the restraints you have on us. How about letting us run for office?’
Of course, those who dare say that will be sent to a reeducation camp, to rewire their brains and relearn how to bow to Xi Jinping, kiss his feet and venerate his image.
But the more people object, the more likely the dissident movement will grow.
Hong Kong may end up playing a leading role in that process.
When that starts to happen, the likelihood of an invasion of Taiwan will grow, so as to keep people distracted with outside matters.
China will have to be very careful with that move because I suspect America and the West won’t let Taiwan be trampled on and be stripped of its remarkable achievements in manufacturing.
Again, the mirror of Russia will do wonders for China’s political evolution.
It is very hard to persuade smart people that life is better without freedom.
Russia has nowhere to go but down with their invasion of Ukraine.
And the Chinese will pay close attention. They will ask themselves, ‘do we want that to happen to us?’
The mirror of Russia stands to be very important for China’s future. Whether Russia declines and retrenches into greater cultural isolation or whether it shakes itself up and dares to unseat Putin.
So Xi Jinping and his select group of power holders are watching very carefully.
They are tempted to help Putin massacre more Ukrainians, but they know their image will suffer even more than it has already.
They don’t want to anger Putin either, since the man has more nuclear weapons than they do, so they’re probably assisting him in some covert manner.
China does not represent an alternative political system, just like Russia’s doesn’t either.
There’s only one political system that is viable, and that is the one that respects human beings’ right to speak their minds and exercise their freedom while respecting that of others.
Democracy, with all its flaws, is the only system that sees that as its core belief.
Any other system to govern people is a pretext to preserve the benefits of an elite at the expense of the rest.

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, anchor.fm, apple and google podcasts.

The Republican Senator

He’s in his office, in Washington D.C., thinking about his circumstances.
He’s not pleased.
The congressional hearings investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6th are still going on. He wishes they would go away, but there they are, day after day.
Secretly – he hasn’t said a word about it to anyone – he wishes he’d had the guts that Liz Cheney has shown, taking a leading role in investigating Donald Trump’s part in the attack.
She is doing what she thinks needs to be done, not what her constituency wants her to do.
That’s the hard part, he thinks to himself. Going against your constituency.
‘It takes a certain kind of courage.’
‘The congressional investigation has uncovered enough, as if the facts themselves, as reported by the press at the time of the event, hadn’t been sufficient.’
‘Donald Trump had incited the crowd to march on the Capitol with the intention of disrupting the counting of the electoral ballots. Clearly an assault on democracy.’
Yet there he is, as Senator, sitting in his office, unable to say so.
A pang of shame fills him for a moment.
If he spoke out against Trump he’d face harsh criticism from his constituency. They would demand that he resign. And then, what would he do with his life?
All the attention he gets now would be gone.
No more ‘Senator, tell us about this, Senator, tell us about that…’ No more reporters chasing after him, photographers clicking their cameras, newspapers quoting him, lobbyists wanting his approval, trips here or there to investigate this or that, meetings with foreign leaders… and worst of all… losing the possibility of being picked for secretary of state or… dream of dreams… as a running mate for the presidency.
All he needs to do to keep those possibilities alive is to not criticize Trump.
All he needs is to simply keep lying to himself, repeating that on January 6th, Trump didn’t really incite his followers to march on capitol hill to disrupt the electoral ballot counting… that what he really was doing was asking his supporters to remind the ballot counters of their sacred duty to the country. Remind them to do the patriotic thing. But then things got out of hand.
‘But you cannot hang that on Trump,’ he repeats to himself.
‘The president would never, ever, try to disrupt the democratic process. Far from it, instead, Trump would offer his life to defend it. Because that’s who he is.’
The senator takes a deep breath. ‘It will blow over. I just have to wait it out. We all have to.’
‘I just don’t think I could live without all that attention I get every day.’
‘I’ll admit, it’s a little sad… to have become such attention junkie. But I would get very depressed if I didn’t have it. In a way, though, to have become so dependent on the opinions of my constituency is unsettling… I’m their mouthpiece.’
The thought of Liz Cheney comes to him again. ‘How can she do it? Surely, she won’t be reelected. So what will she do with her life?’
‘Hmm. Maybe, because of her willingness to disagree, she’ll get some nice offers to be a board member with some big companies. She’d get stock options and so forth. And she’d have that pride, that lasting satisfaction, that she’s made a name for herself. People might revile her, but they will remember her for her guts. That’s a nice way to be remembered.’
The Senator leans forward, rubs his face.
‘All is not lost. I could still change my mind.’
‘What makes matters worse is that I don’t think Trump will win the Republican nomination. There will be a big rift in the party and DeSantis will be chosen to run in 2024. But we won’t win the presidency, unless Biden screws up… but so far, unbelievably, he’s holding up.’
‘I don’t think we’ll win the presidency because Biden’s done a good job on the war in Ukraine… and I don’t think we’ll go into a recession… and if we do, it will be mild.’
The Senator stands up and goes to the window where he stands looking out.
‘But what if… I changed my mind and… came out in support of Liz Cheney?’
He smiles.
‘The phone wouldn’t stop ringing and right away Trump would endorse someone to run against me this Fall.’
He laughs.
‘My family would be all upset… but I’d explain and they’d settle down. I’d tell them that I have to do it for myself… for my self-respect. I’d figure out something to do with my time. It’s not like I haven’t earned a decent living before. And if, later on, I’d want to return to Washington, I’m sure I can find a job as a lobbyist.’
‘But do I have it in me to go against the pack?’
He looks out, a determined expression now coming to his face.
‘Deep inside, we’d all want to be like Liz Cheney… and maybe… just maybe… I’m due for a good fight in my life.’

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts

Are We Becoming More Violent?

Two friends, Craig and Walter, talk about the state of the nation.

Craig – Would you say that we’re becoming more violent?
Walter – Yes, I’d say that.
Craig – What do you think contributes to it?
Walter – The internet.
Craig – How so?
Walter – It’s now so easy to put anything you think of out there. Without the benefit of inner censors. So the most outlandish ideas get to circulate and gain supporters.
Soon enough people start making things up. Twisting facts. Selling fake news.
It’s odd. The greater ease of publication has led to less thinking rather than more thinking.
People are quicker to insult, to bash other people.
In democracies, inner censors are crucial, but that’s the task of a good education.
Leading up to the 2020 elections there was a news thread going around saying Joe Biden was a pedophile. I remember talking to an otherwise intelligent person and she swore it was true. She had seen it in a website, she said. I told the person those ideas were trash but she didn’t believe me.
‘I’ll send you the link,’ she replied. ‘Please don’t.’
Craig – Where do you think we’re heading?
Walter – More violence.
The church has failed. They’re in to preaching violence also. Take Iran. Salman Rushdie writes The Satanic Verses and the ayatollahs order him killed.
Craig – Have you read the book?
Walter – Parts of it. Rushdie is a very talented writer. Great command of the language. Amazing ease with words. He was making fun of religious beliefs, playing with them, taking artistic license, if you will, because that’s his talent. We need people to help us see religion in another light. But the ayatollahs saw his work as a great offense and issued an order to kill him.
It tells me those clerics are all closed minded. Men with fragile egos, their view of the world so narrow. It’s too bad they’re so many people in that nation who have not organized to revolt against the government.
So, on the one hand the church has failed us and on the other, people haven’t stepped up and learned to think for themselves. So you might say we’re in a transitional period, in a moral void.
I think we’re transitioning to discovering we have a mind. That we can think on our own. That we don’t have to wait for an ayatollah or a pope or a Putin or a Xi Jinping or a Narendra Modi or a Donald Trump or a Ron DeSantis to tell us how the cookie crumbles. It’s very sad to see the lack of intellectual independence in human beings.
In school there should be courses teaching us to think on our own. But the parents probably won’t allow it, because they may think the teachers are socialists. The parents, not able to think on their own, don’t want to allow their children to find their intellectual freedom.
We need more and more education early on. Teach us how to learn to manage envy, to be kinder to others.
Craig – So what do we do in the meantime?
Walter – With a few exceptions, we don’t have our best people in politics. The task of leadership is a civic duty. More of our best and brightest should be encouraged to run for office and so counter the professional politician with their set of alliances and bad habits.
We need leaders who can talk to us weekly and say, this is what is happening in our world, this is what needs to be done and why. It takes courage to do that.
We need men and women willing to lead and are not afraid of not getting reelected. People who can do what is best for our country regardless of whether it will be seen as popular or not.

Oscarvaldes.medium.com., apple podcasts

Salman Rushdie is Stabbed

The distinguished writer was stabbed in public yesterday, in Chautauqua, N.Y., as he prepared to speak to an audience on the subject of America as a place for freedom of expression.
He had just taken his seat when the assailant went up on stage and started stabbing him.
Early reports speak of serious injuries to the liver, arm and the loss of an eye.
A religious edict to kill Mr Rushdie was issued in 1989, a year after the publication of his ‘Satanic Verses’ which was seen by Muslim authorities as blasphemous.
Iran’s current leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has said that the edict to kill the writer remained valid.
And now the assault has happened.
While living in Britain the author had police protection for 9 years. He’s lived in the US for the last 20 years both writing and teaching.
We’re told by the Chautauqua Institution, the host for the event, that state troopers were in attendance, for security purposes. I wonder why they weren’t near the stage, to bar a potential assailant. Or did they think the assailant would come down the hall draped in an Iranian flag as he shouted ‘death to Rushdie!’
Someone was not doing their job.
Recently, our Justice department charged an Iranian national with plotting to murder former security adviser Michael Bolton. Luckily, that action was intercepted.
But who will be next?
And so I ask, what’s the point of proceeding with a nuclear deal with Iran?
They can’t be trusted, no matter what they say or sign.
As those negotiations proceed, they’re starting to send drones to Russians so more Ukrainians will get killed.
Iranians are not hiding anything from us. They are being very clear. It is us that need to wipe clean our eyes and see them for what they are.
They’ll try anything. It wasn’t long ago that they were insisting that, as part of the negotiations, their Revolutionary Guards no longer be labelled terrorists. But that is what the Guards do.
As I understand it, if the nuclear deal is reenacted, we will be paying Iran billions of dollars in compensation for having broken the treaty during the Trump administration.
So, we give Iran money so they can build drones for Russians to kill Ukrainians and then also order operatives to come into our country to kill our former government officials?
It’s time to part company and stop trying to make a deal.
We should trust that, eventually, the forces of reason in Iran, will topple their oppressive theocracy. It is those people, now suffering under the weight of repression, who need our support. Not the Iranian governing class.
As for Mr Rushdie, I’m deeply saddened that this happened because it was preventable.
Ayatollah Khamenei should be charged with inciting the assault on Mr Rushdie and tried in the International Criminal Court.
And we must prepare for whatever has to be done.

Oscarvaldes.medium.com, apple podcasts.