I have a real problem with:
- any leader, especially a democratically-elected one, addressing the democratically-elected legislature of the United States, while wearing military fatigues or any military dress. We have not (yet) had a military coup.
- The Speaker of the House, who tore up President Donald Trump's State of the Union, fawning all over a foreign leader, even to the point of displaying a Ukrainian flag. They would never celebrate the American flag that way.
- It's worth noting that Zelensky, who is Jewish, wished his audience a "Merry Christmas" but not a "Happy Hanukkah." It was a bit strange.
I have long admired Zelensky for his courage in standing against Putin -- a threat Democrats belatedly realized only because of their befuddled conspiracy theory that turned Putin from Obama's pal to their domestic enemy.
I also find his general ingratitude unappealing. He lectured to Israelis about how Ukrainians -- some of whom joined the Nazis in persecuting Jews -- saved Jews from the Holocaust. He attacked Elon Musk, whose satellites arguably saved Ukraine when Russia shut down the country's Internet, at massive cost to Musk, for having the temerity to suggest that negotiations might be necessary.
Now he wants more money from Congress. "Is it enough? Honestly, not really."
I think Zelensky gets away with this because Democrats have fetishized him; because people in the "military-industrial complex" are making money hand over fist; and because the Biden Administration has decided that this is a cheap way to remove Russia as a world power. They might argue that their strategy is working: after all, the Russian military has been exposed as something of a paper tiger, at least in conventional terms, and Russia has lost global support.
But, as in Iraq, a vacuum created by the erosion of one enemy has created new room for another: China. Russia is now closely tied to China, economically and otherwise, and a defeated Russia would simply become China's northern colony.
I don't think the U.S. should stop supporting Ukraine. But I do think that Biden, who campaigned on "diplomacy," should do more to insist that this war end with a lasting peace agreement and not with Russian capitulation or regime change.
There was some hope when Republicans looked certain to win Congress, when Kevin McCarthy said that the days of the blank check were over. The weaker Republican result, coupled with Mitch McConnell's astonishing willingness to fork over additional billions to every Democrat spending authority, have meant that the one possible brake on the march to expanding war has been removed.
I fear that the Democrats' absurd foreign policy may lead us -- and Ukraine -- to disaster. And I wish they cared as much about our border as theirs.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
