Destined for conflict? Xi Jinping, Donald Trump and the Thucydides trap | South China Morning Post

Source: Destined for conflict? Xi Jinping, Donald Trump and the Thucydides trap | South China Morning Post

Tulare County vows to defy Newsom and reopen more businesses – Los Angeles Times

The Tulure County Board of Supervisors voted to push the county all the way through Phase 3 of California’s reopening road map.
— Read on www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-20/tulare-county-defies-californias-stay-at-home-order-in-push-for-wider-reopening

The price will be paid by dead citizens

Thoughts and Prayers for Having a Real Election This Year

He can bluster and bully but courts will not support him. kuedfbxizeekndsxvhtm.jpg

President Trump falsely accused Michigan and Nevada of illegally sending vote-by-mail ballots to registered voters Wednesday morning, threatening to halt funding to the states in retaliation. In reality, the states are merely joining the ranks of other states—both red and blue ones—that are making absentee ballot…

Read more…

The French Connection: Trump Family Trusts Are Invested in Hydroxychloroquine Maker

Kenneth Fisher, the founder of investment advisory firm Fisher Investments, along with his wife Sherrilyn, combined to give $250,000 [to fund the Trump Victory Committee]. Fisher historically has backed Republican efforts and contributed to Trump’s first run for president. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a loyal Trump appointee, previously ran the Invesco mutual fund. That fund is also heavily invested in Sanofi. In a Monday statement obtained by the Times, Ross sought to distance himself from both his former work and the administration’s current jones for hydroxychloroquine pills.

Source: The French Connection: Trump Family Trusts Are Invested in Hydroxychloroquine Maker

Pompeo Defends Firing of Inspector General, Denying It Was Retaliation – The New York Times

Congressional officials said the inspector general was examining several areas of policy and potential misuse of government resources that had raised concerns about Mr. Pompeo’s actions.
— Read on www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/us/politics/mike-pompeo-state-inspector-general.html

Liar! Big time liar!🤬

‘We give you 30 minutes’: Malta turns migrant boat away with directions to Italy | Global development | The Guardian

Survivors say an armed forces’ patrol vessel intercepted an overloaded dinghy, giving the refugees fuel and GPS coordinates for Sicily
— Read on www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/20/we-give-you-30-minutes-malta-turns-migrant-boat-away-with-directions-to-italy

Uncivilized behavior

He joked about killing endangered species. Trump gave him a top environment job

Despicable is not strong enough to describe this person’s beliefs and actions.

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Under the leadership of William Perry Pendley, the Bureau of Land Management is failing to fulfill its most basic duties of safeguarding America’s public lands, his critics say

In July 2017, William Perry Pendley, a crusading conservative attorney, delivered a speech to a group of rightwing activists in North Carolina in which he was completely candid about his ideological commitments.

He accused “the media” of selling “their soul to the greens”. And after criticizing the Endangered Species Act, he made light of killing endangered species.

Continue reading…

Survey finds 87% of America’s nurses are forced to reuse protective equipment | World news | The Guardian

The vast majority of America’s nurses say they have not been tested for Covid-19, are reusing personal protective equipment (PPE), or have exposed skin or clothing while caring for Covid-19 patients, a new survey has shown. The nationally representative survey finds that “dangerous healthcare workplace conditions have become the norm” since Covid-19 spread widely in the US, said the union which conducted the survey. More than 100 nurses have died since the beginning of the pandemic.

Source: Survey finds 87% of America’s nurses are forced to reuse protective equipment | World news | The Guardian

Mercenaries To The Right…Mercenaries To The Left

I have written many times about the modern use of mercenaries. I do not approve of using mercs to fight wars. If the war is necessary and for the right reason then man up and use the military…….do not use thugs masquerading as “security specialists”.

Like I stated I have lots to say about the use of mercs……pick on or read them all…..

https://lobotero.com/2018/02/13/the-dogs-of-war/

https://lobotero.com/2017/01/03/rise-of-the-american-mercenary-2/

https://lobotero.com/2016/03/11/those-security-contractors/

https://www.your-poc.com/the-private-military-industrial-complex-extending-conflict-duration-and-quality-the-cost-of-using-private-military-contractors/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/outsourcing-war/

https://lobotero.com/2019/11/27/curb-your-mercenaries/

Now you know how and why I feel that way about the use of mercs in today’s world.

Occasionally I get to read some of the papers that grad students are writing on international relations and conflict management…..this one is very interesting…..

The roots of the mercenarism can be traced back to the sixteenth century, argues Janice Thomson in one of the most comprehensive studies dedicated to this issue, in her book entitled “Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereigns: State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe”. Countries like Switzerland were the main suppliers and France, one of the main beneficiaries of mercenary troops in the 16th and 17th century. By the 18th century, armies could be considered truly multinational. “Frederick the Great recruited all over the Holy Roman Empire (…) At the onset of the Seven Years War he attempted to incorporate the entire Saxon army into his own”, argues Thomson. Large scale mercenarism began to fade in the 19th century, and by the 20th century the citizen-army became the norm with the employment of foreign fighters beginning to be regarded as an anomaly, representing either the remnants of imperialism or an ad-hoc response to a shortage in fighting forces. Janice Thomson argues, and her view is consistent with Barry Posen’s, the fading of this practice can be seen as a corollary of the evolution of state authority claims.

The practice of mercenarism is sanctioned under Humanitarian and Public International Law, under Article 47 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries and under a regional convention sponsored by the African Union. The 1989 Convention describes a mercenary as “any person who is especially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight an armed conflict” who is “motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain”. The convention entered into force in 2001 and was signed only by 36 countries – with notable absentees like the US, Russia, Turkey or the UK. Arguably, these states have not ratified it because they use Private Military Contractors (PMC), who are of a different kind from mercenaries. However, the distinctions are more often hard to make – it is hard to find out whether foreign fighters are hired in a registered organization – which is what defines a PMC.

Opinion – The Rise of Mercenarism: Avoiding International Accountability

Let’s not forget that failed merc operation to kidnap Venezuela’s Maudro…..of course this was not in any way sanctioned by the DoD.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”