I – The usual sort of day

I started the day, as I always do, by checking the news, starting with the news from NRK, the Norwegian national broadcasting company. Top story:

“Trump repeated the incorrect claim that Zelensky is a dictator.”

Did you notice “the incorrect claim”? Or are you so used to this sort of thing that you’ve stopped noticing. There was no question, not even an expression of polite doubt: Could it be that Zelensky is a dictator? Why would President Trump call Zelensky a dictator?

Most Norwegians read only the Norwegian press. So Norwegians will not have heard about Zelensky’s banning of various news outlets and TV station, etc,. long before the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile right-wing populist parties are gaining ground in Europe. But trust NRK (I repeat: the Norwegian national news outlet) to put their own twist on the story: “The German Security Services warn about Russian interference in the upcoming elections.”

Not a word about:

  • any reasonable grounds German voters might have to distrust their political establishment;
  • US interference in many other countries’ elections;
  • a recent avalanche of information about how USAID is a front for regime change operations and imposition of neoliberal policies on countries all over the world: here, here and here.

I repeat: Not a word about the above.

The Norwegian national network adds, for good measure, that “Danish PM Mette Fredriksen repeats ‘Putin won’t stop at Ukraine.’ ” Never, ever, do we hear or read why anybody should fear that “the Russians are coming”. Nor do we hear about USA’s very real and economic and/or military assaults on countries all over the world over the past 70 years. Moreover, having warned us about “Russian interference” in the upcoming elections, NRK does not inform us of the crackdown on free speech in Germany just last week with the German state’s cancellation of Francesca Albanese. See her response

These days, Norwegians must be among the most ignorant peoples in all of Europe. All they have been told about USAID is that USAID employees risk losing their jobs and that hungry Africans are losing their rations.

Trump was never my man, nor was Biden. But at least Trump has been repeating that he wants the killing to stop, and I thought: Let’s see if he means it. Nobody else seems to be saying that; certainly none of Europe’s top guns.

***

II – US elections

I did not comment on the recently concluded US elections. As far as I was concerned Trump could not be much worse than Genocide Joe and his neocon minions, probably not much better either.

Great was my surprise, then, when Trump and his team dented the roof with their scores at the Security Conference in Munich, an event I have never previously bothered about, but this year’s conference was a humdinger!

  • Marco Rubio started a few days earlier by declaring in an interview that the US unipolar moment is over. For that he scored 10 out of 10 in my book. It was just an interview, but it went viral, I mean, it went global.
  • Then Pete Hegseth advised us all to look at the “realities on the ground” in the Ukraine war. For that he scored 10 out of 10. (The realities are that Russia has won the war.)
  • Finally, JD Vance advised the EU to observe the basic rules of democracy and civil rights and to refrain from cancelling elections they don’t like. For that he scored 10 out of 10.

We have been told the USA’s performance left at least one delegate in tears. I for my part wept for joy. This, I thought, this takes us a big step back from midnight on the doomsday clock.

What followed immediately after the conference was the truly historic meeting in Riadh. Apparently Trump made the initial call. That was all it took! One phone call! And those “horrible” Russians responded at once. They, too, want peace, not because they have been weakened but because they never wanted the war in the first place. (I insist: It was not unprovoked and it did not start in 2022. Regardless, what you think of Tucker Carlson – I think he is rather courageous – you really should listen to what Jeffrey Sachs tells him about the run-up to the Ukraine war.)

The Europeans are furious. I truly do not understand why their policies are so delusional, so I turn to Thomas Fazi and his article: “JD Vance’s speech: change of paradigm or new hegemonic phase?” Yes, he is right to warn people like me. I am so relieved by the break from Biden policies that I am liable to oversee dangers posed by the Trump administration. Trump and his team certainly deserve praise for retreating from the nuclear brink, but they are no angels either. The USA may nominally have abdicated from unipolarity, but old habits are hard to break. Let us not be fooled.

***

III – On political loyalty

I am all for personal loyalty. And I am also all for adhering to principles. But political loyalty… ? To put it briefly, I am more in favour of healthy exchange of opinions supported by factual arguments. Above, I have given kudos to Trump, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, also to Tucker Carlson. I suspect that I would disagree in a big way with any of these guys on most political issues. For instance I am all for taxes, all for workers’ rights, and I believe the very concept “sustainable growth” is oxymoron. But I also believe that we all benefit from exchange of opinions and above all from freedom of information.

So if Trump and his team have earned kudos, they should be granted kudos. I hope they keep up the good work of retreating from midnight on the doomsday clock.

On this note, you might want to watch the conversation between:

former CIA officer Larry Johnson and former UK diplomat Ian Proud