Way back, in one of my earliest Blogs, I mentioned being in one cross-starred Santa Parade in my home town of Brighton where the wind was so strong that day it blew every float away save the sturdy Santa Float.
The parade consisted of that one float plus a station wagon which provided the only music...Gene Autry's Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with yours truly winding the gramophone and its 78 rpm record.
So it probably comes as no surprise that upon Donald Trump's return from Paris earlier this year where he witnessed its annual Bastille Day Military Parade, he started planning one of his own.
A Parade with marching bands, armed forces personnel and tanks.
After all, what is a parade if it does not contain tanks and hopefully a bucket load of nuclear rockets thrown in.
I am sure that you, like me, this brings to mind such worthy defenders of Democracy as Vladd Putin, Xi Jinping and North Korea's Yong-un and their impressive military shows of power and might.
Not to leave out a plethora of petty dictators and tyrants that circumnavigate the world. And their need for such displays has more to do with scaring the bejeepers out of their countrymen to ensure none of them have the temerity to challenge their enlightened rules.
And we know of course that this would never be Donald Trump's goal... why he is only out to have a nice sunny 4th of July and enjoy America's delicacy... the Hot Dog.
At least I hope that this is the intended goal for his parade.
But maybe...just maybe there is something else at play here.
Maybe it has something to do with xxxxx envy as was evident recently when the Yong-un bragged about the seize of his Nuclear Button to which Trump quite rightly responded that his Nuclear Button is much Bigger and in fact can kill more than any other country in the world.
Not though in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt and encompassed in his oft repeated quote, 'walk softly but carry a big stick'.
Not though in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt and encompassed in his oft repeated quote, 'walk softly but carry a big stick'.
From the beginning of Donald Trump's Administration there were several areas where I had reservations about the direction they might be going. One of those and one of the most important was his reliance upon elderly male Generals. Indeed his top 3 Advisors all fall into this category.
As a Libertarian, I do not trust Big Government including Big Military especially a Military which is not held in proper civilian check.
I have written about the Cuban Missile Crisis where had it not been for President Kennedy and to a lesser extent his brother Bobbie, the world would have likely experienced its first nuclear war. The Joint Chiefs wanted to go into Cuba with guns blazing but thankfully neither Kennedy trusted the Chiefs all that much and devised a less confrontational response, namely, a naval blockade.
I say thankfully since post crisis, America discovered that the Russian Troops on the ground had been instructed from Moscow to respond to any attack, with nuclear missiles.
So have a parade and enjoy your hot dog President Trump and leave the scare tactics to those leaders who are insecure enough to need them.
I have written about the Cuban Missile Crisis where had it not been for President Kennedy and to a lesser extent his brother Bobbie, the world would have likely experienced its first nuclear war. The Joint Chiefs wanted to go into Cuba with guns blazing but thankfully neither Kennedy trusted the Chiefs all that much and devised a less confrontational response, namely, a naval blockade.
I say thankfully since post crisis, America discovered that the Russian Troops on the ground had been instructed from Moscow to respond to any attack, with nuclear missiles.
So have a parade and enjoy your hot dog President Trump and leave the scare tactics to those leaders who are insecure enough to need them.
