Thucydides' Trap

Thucydides was a historian as well as a successful general of ancient Athens. His writings have surfaced again, this time in a question posed by President Xi Jinping to our would be US emperor, Donald Trump. Are China and the US destined to go to war because they are the two most powerful nations on earth?

Most of Thucydides' writing on the ancient war between Athens and Sparta has to do with the ill fated invasion of Syracuse. Athens had poured almost all of its wealth and power in trying to capture Sparta's colony in present day Sicily. Incompetent generals and greedy politicians had cost Athens its magnificent fleet as well as tens of thousands of its warriors.

Were Thucydides alive today, he would be building a bomb shelter. A war between the US and China would almost certainly be a nuclear one. Like members of our billionaire class today, the Greek historian would probably recognize the signs of disaster all around him. He would be joining the filthy rich in building bomb shelters in New Zealand, or surveying missile-silo conversions in the American midwest. Maybe he would be blasting off to a safer place in the universe with Elon Musk.

Are the rest of us, the 99.9 percent, destined to be left behind in a dying world? The billionaires and their class are crazy with the same hubris that has led to world wars in the past. Only this war will be our last.

Fred Nagel
 

Cuba Si

I admit it; I am a lover of Cuba. It is not so much for its universal healthcare, free college tuition, or  99.67% literacy rate. All are accomplishments achieved despite 67 years of US military attacks, assassination plots and crushing blockades. It is not so much for its doctors that it sends to needy nations around the world. Or the courage that the Cuban people, who through all these years still demand their freedom and national sovereignty.

No, I love Cuba because they had their revolution against US supported dictatorships and never looked back. Instead of being run by thoughtless billionaires, Cuba has directed its efforts to the betterment of its people. The nation is an egalitarian dream come true. 

Cuba, only 90 miles away from our precious jewels of unlimited greed, born again lunatics, and golf courses for international grifters, is especially dangerous. If the people of the United States ever realized how corrupt our system really is, Trump's new ballroom might become the setting for a gilded age national guillotine. 

"Government of the people, by the people, and for the people," a quote from Abraham Lincoln's famous speech, is a reality in Cuba. There is no billionaire class on the island, nor any right wing Bible thumpers. And Cuba's crooks end up in jail rather than in the presidency. 

No, Cuba is not perfect. But compared to the hopelessly corrupt government we have now in our country, it is a haven of justice and humanity. 

Fred Nagel

 

Death Star in the Middle East

There we go again. Slaughtering civilians in a country that presents absolutely no danger to our ourselves, our military bases, or our international hegemony. It is hard not to think about what a bully our nation has become. We obey no international rules about killing women and children, or destroying any number of hospitals and colleges. We are the Death Star home of Darth Vader, that ominous murderer of peace on earth. 

For people like me who always cheer for the underdog, disliking one's own country has become inescapable. I think about those 20,000 children killed by US bombs and drones. Or about the hundreds of reporters assassinated. I think about how racist and criminally insane our one true friend in the world really is. The people of the earth understand what we have become. In fact we have been coming to that conclusion ourselves. 

Can we disarm Israel, and end its 75 years of Palestinian extermination? Would that be enough to regain our basic humanity? Would our grandchildren forgive us when pictures of starving children came up in their Social Studies books? Will their beloved nation ultimately do the right thing? Or will we as a people join the dark side, and take our place with the monsters of the Death Star?

We can start with shaming any member of Congress who takes Israeli bribes. How about Pat Ryan, who talks about human rights but received a quarter of a million in Death Star funds last year?
 

The Last Chapter

No matter where a Social Studies curriculum starts, it always ends up in the same place. It can begin with Athens and Sparta, or the fall of the Roman Empire. It can explore the Industrial Revolution, the Renaissance or the Holocaust. But no matter where these courses start, they all culminate in the ascendence of the United States. At the end, students and teachers join in  hoping that the mass murders of history will somehow melt away under our country's benevolent world order. 

In the spirit of human advancement, students explore the end of slavery, but not the 100 years of Jim Crow that followed. They celebrate the American flag on Iwo Jima, but not the two nuclear explosions that wiped out hundreds of thousands. We can all agree that the barbarism of the past will certainly give way to the American dream of human rights and world peace. Our Judeo-Christian leaders fill us with thoughts of a better world. 

Except that Israel and the US are perpetrators of the worst genocide of the twenty first century. Hundreds of thousands are being slaughtered, a godless crime against humanity. Is this the Judeo-Christian alliance we are urged to glorify? The empire makes the bombs, and the colony drops them on its helpless victims. The empire manufactures the bullets that the Israel Defense Force shoots through the heads of Palestinian reporters, doctors, and ambulance drivers. And through the heads of the children. Perhaps Moloch, the ancient deity of child sacrifice, is really the last chapter of our curriculum.     

Kleptocracy

No matter how crazy Trump gets, the DNC (Democratic National Committee) wants to keep him in power. Instead of taking its cues from the vast majority of Democratic voters, the committee refuses to consider ending military aid to Israel. And despite an ongoing genocide in Gaza, the committee won't condemn the bloodbath. This despite polls that show 77% of Democratic voters think that Israel is the cause of the slaughter. 

Is the majority of the DNC just keeping Trump around long enough to run against him in the next election? Palestinians be damned, as long as the Democrats gain control of the Congress?

I think the truth is worse than that. To understand what really motivates the DNC, we have to learn the meaning of an unusual word: "kleptocracy." It is really a combination of two Greek words, one for "thief" and one for "ruler." Of course, no one fits that definition better than our current scoundrel in chief. But we can identify other elected official much closer to home.

Representative Pat Ryan thrives in our current kleptocracy. He talks endlessly about human rights, despite spending most of his career in the US military occupying foreign countries in the Middle East. He was also a contractor for Palantir, an AI company linked to the killing of 120 school children in Iran. Not surprisingly, Ryan's top two campaign contributors were the Israel Lobby and Palantir. Together, they lined Ryan's pockets with about 269,000 dollars for the last election. Our hometown grifter is doing very well.  

Fred Nagel
8 Clay Ct.
 

The American Genocide

All of us are aware of what Gaza looks like. It is rubble, bones and dust. What we don't get to experience is how we could ever live in such an environment. Or how we would protect our family and loved ones. There are 20 thousand Palestinian children who will never grow up, and each one is a tragedy for some extended family. How would we cope? Would our lives ever be whole again?

The Old Dutch Church in Kingston presented a play this Friday that is made up of the real text messages sent to a family friend in the United States. There is a Palestinian father who spends his days looking for a few cups of water. There are words of encouragement and empathy that he gets from his friend in return. Finally, there is a news reporter who covers the facts and figures of who gets hit by shrapnel, and who is dying of starvation.  

Will future history books call this the American Genocide? Will we, peace loving and enjoying our own lives, ever be blamed for these war crimes? These are all questions that this theater production brings up. Congratulation to the Old Dutch Church for this thought provoking theater event. 

Fred Nagel

Film Screening of "Jenin's Freedom Theatre"

Live theater presentation of “One Family in Gaza”

Friday, April 3 at 7 pm, at the Old Dutch Church, 272 Wall St., Kingston, NY. Live theater presentation of “One Family in Gaza,” a screenplay that follows the emails of a family caught in the Gaza Genocide. Written by Crystal Zevon. Cosponsored by: Middle East Crisis Response mideastcrisis.org, Veterans For Peace, and Women In Black - New Paltz. Contact: mecr@mideastcrisis.org or 845 876-7906