“I am not on anyone’s team.”

Bill Maher has a very valid point. This may be a time in history when a radical right president may have found a way forward to peace with several countries in conflict.

Azerbaijan and Armenia (click here) did sign a peace pact with Trump mitigating at least some of it. The fact Trump’s victory is celebrated by Iran is interesting. But, there is a lot about this that should be a good lesson to future UN and/or USA peacemakers. This peace agreement also adds to the validity of Trump’s efforts with Ukraine. 

So, as long as Maher opened the door, I am going to walk through it.

Azerbaijan is a study unto itself in its current state of affairs as it leaves behind Russian propaganda and intimidation. The fact that Trump was able to pull this together is to understand Azerbaijan was teetering on rebellion against Russia. This particular peace agreement was waiting to happen for the same reasons Ukraine is fighting it’s war; basically Russian aggression and oppression. 

Putin finds himself at a very odd stance in that countries normally intimidated by Russian power are NOW moving toward freedom and trade with the Free World at a rapid pace. In this agreement Trump opened the door to Azerbaijan purchasing USA weapons. That is huge. To Azerbaijan it is also a time of profound autonomy and independence from the communist block in Asia. Basically, it now has the ability to arm itself exactly as Ukraine has since the invasion into Crimea of 2014. 

When the Free World found its backbone to stand with Ukraine in its self-determined war against Russia, it inspired the remaining countries not yet as free as the larger and wealthier Post Soviet states of NATO. This movement to freedom has existed from the time of the fall of the Soviet Union. The Free World did not have to push that hard to bring these countries to NATO’s door and alliance. They want and wanted that alliance, albeit a dream, even while under the thumb of Khrushchev. There were sign posts all along the way, primarily first in labor unions and workers’ rights.

So, today Trump is using the power of the USA to bring peace to people who have desired it for decades and generations. Russia is not the same as it was in 2014. It also has nothing to offer to these countries as their populations long for better quality of life. Putin has not been good for Russia. Alexei Navalny was hopeful he would be able to lead again when he returned to the country he loved even after being poisoned. The communist ideology is too oppressive and requires enormous sacrifices by the people to live within that ideology. But, those are my somewhat damnable perspectives. Self-centered egos would strongly disagree with all that and claim only they were the answer for those freed in the name of peace.

So be it. Navalny is still dead and assassinated in the name of Putin. The painful truth is that oppression is still very alive and powerful in Russia. We are right to not want anything that resembles it in the USA. It is currently manifested in racketeering as permitted and implemented by the Attorney General of the USA Pam Bondi. That is the flaw that Trump is hoping to cover-up as well as his other past regrets with Epstein. But, Trump may yet come away with a Nobel Peace Prize if he can continue to use the power of the USA to lean into a sincere global chilling of tensions among countries.

Do I dare dream of a nuclear free world where children live and are happy beyond their birth and short lives in war zones.

One other thing.

Azerbaijan has a court system that kneels to its president. It is an interesting model Trump is chasing!!!!!

(Click here)

29 years of great reporting.

Rebranding can be beneficial, but, there is always the side effect that viewers and listeners can be lost along the way. I consider MSNBC an important cable channel. I think it is NBC News obligation to views to promote the new name and the places where it can be found.

Good luck to the entire crew, the new CEO, and the remarkable journalists and commentators of MS NOW.

(Click here)

Putin can end the war he started, too.

President Zelenskyy and Ukrainians are victims in this war. They were invaded. Russia is the aggressor that destroyed a long honored agreement when Ukrainian nukes were dismantled. Russia and Trump should be asking what it will take for Ukraine to have their sense of national security back. 

The majority of European countries are also victims to the failure of that Ukraine agreement with Russia regarding nukes. Europe was without concern and are now faced with threats to their own national security. All because Russia aggressively rolled tanks into Ukraine after it was fully disarmed of nuclear weapons while Crimea was occupied in 2014 by Russia. 

There is a lot of ground for Russia to cover as the USA has obligations for national security of Europe through the NATO alliance. So, Russia needs to get out of its own way and allow Ukraine legal status with NATO. Any peace agreement must return Ukraine’s sovereignty over its land with guarantees it will have an alliance with other countries the Ukrainians consider friendly. Russia can be one of the friendly nations by returning to earlier agreements guaranteeing Ukraine’s safely and peaceful trading partners. War with Russia can never be a problem again.

Russia has disrupted the entirety of two continents burgeoning on three since 2014 when considering the Middle East. It has to stop and allow security and economic growth between countries. No more brutal

Interference. 

NATO has worked diligently to eliminate the Russian threat until the invasion into Crimea and years later into Donbas. There is no destruction of NATO and its benevolence. That is like throwing away nearly a century of growth and investment. 

There is no threat to Russian speaking people, only propaganda. The war could end today if Russia cooperates with a peace initiative. The tensions between Russia and the Post Soviet States ends with Ukraine’s peace.

(Click here)