A Tale of 2 Empires. Or is it 3?

We are witnessing the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Many people are saying – Why is this happening now? This is part of a pattern. Empire states tend to control smaller ones at their borders.

What to do with an unbalanced president?

The evidence is so overwhelming that we are becoming inured to it. President Trump’s erratic behaviour is becoming the new normal. We poor souls, bewildered by it all, hardly know how to react anymore.

He lies and he flip flops on his story about Russia. First he knew nothing about Russia. Later he knows Russia well. Then he has never met Putin. Then later he admits that he did meet him (at a beauty pageant in Russia). This behaviour is all captured on video. However, all of this recorded evidence does not seem to phase Donald Trump, nor his ardent followers.

He has made outlandish claims about himself, and he has done it so often that we hardly know how to respond.

Trump, Democratic Dictator

Africa

I have spent a lot of time in Africa. I have seen dictators at work. They are characterized by:

- They usually take power by a coup d'etat (but not always).

- At the beginning of their reign they make wonderful promises to all.

- With time these dictators surround themselves with a group of sycophants. These surrounding henchmen (they are usually all men) share in the power and perks of office. They also make it difficult to remove the dictator.

US Politics: America and guns

This is about the strange phenomenon of gun laws and usage in the United States. As I see it they are trapped by their own history and traditions. In fact, we are all to some extent trapped by the past of our particular group or nation. The USA story goes something like this.

Cuba: It’s working better than you might think

Introduction

There is an island just 90 miles off of the coast of the USA that has an average life expectancy equal to the USA. The difference is that Cuba has achieved this by providing universal free health services to all of its citizens at an annual cost of $180 per capita spending, while the US with its largely privatized health care system costs 25 times as much at $4,659 per capita. This is just one of the many striking differences between Cuba and its giant neighbour to the north.