What Is It Good For? 

Photo by Tyler Merbler | CC BY 2.0

It goes without saying that Donald Trump is an abomination, and that if he is not stopped in his tracks, he could be not just America’s worst president ever, but also its last.

Nevertheless, on matters of war and peace, his policy pronouncements, if not his actual policies, are sometimes less pernicious than those of Democrats, “moderate” Republicans (insofar as they still exist), and the corporate media flacks who “manufacture consent” in their behalf.

It is they, not he, who are doing their best to revive long dormant Cold War hostilities with Russia; and it is they who are most eager to “pivot” towards Asia — in other words, to go after China as well.

They are also the ones who are most intent on fomenting a potentially catastrophic war with Iran.

To their credit, they used to be less confrontational than Trump on North Korea, but ever since the Donald met with Little Rocket Man in Singapore, the level of bellicosity has, for the most part, evened out.

Meanwhile, the level of hypocrisy now everywhere on display is staggering.

The most egregious examples cluster around accusations of Russian “meddling.”  Russia, they hypocrites say, is a chronic meddler in the affairs of the United States and its (traditional) allies.  They are especially fond of accusing it of acts of aggression in cyberspace.   No doubt, Russians do meddle.  They are hardly the only ones; everybody who can does.

Indeed, the United States is,…

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