A Promised Land

America as a Developing Country

American Nero

Trump's actions are execrable. His inaction is even worse.

If the Shoe Fits

Though dictator Ferdinand Marcos was deposed in the Philippines back in 1986, to this day many foreigners know him best for the 3,000 pairs of shoes accumulated by his insatiable clotheshorse of a wife, Imelda. Her collection was so bizarre, her greed so brazen, that it still astounds.

Imelda Marcos’s footwear symbolized so much about a duo that stole $10 billion from their country’s coffers: their corruption, arrogance, human rights abuses and indifference to the poverty and suffering of their fellow Filipinos. To top it all off, many of those ripped off by the rapacious couple remain loyal to their memory and family to this day.

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Coup

We've been warned.

The First is One Too Many

I first witnessed a coup attempt in the Philippines on the morning of August 28, 1987, a couple of months after I arrived in Manila to work for the democracy-promoting, San Francisco-based Asia Foundation. On that day, a well-armed group of military dissidents nearly toppled the duly elected government of President Corazon Aquino. As tanks and armed personnel carriers rumbled by our office, my colleagues and I had no idea whose side they were on.

Just weeks earlier, a Filipino co-worker had proudly told me about joining the massive “People Power” demonstration that helped depose the country’s dictator in February of 1986. Now he and his fellow Filipinos began to look broken. How had so much turned so bad so fast for their democracy?

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The One Good Thing About Covid

The pandemic and about 45,000 votes saved U.S. democracy.

If Not for a Financial Meltdown…

The 1997-98 Asian financial crisis caused economic havoc across much of the globe, with Indonesia one of the hardest hit nations. But it triggered a chain of events that discredited the country’s corrupt, repressive ruler, Suharto, and led to his 1998 resignation after over 31 years as president. His downfall signifies a lesson America learned this month: how even a disastrous development can rescue a nation from dictatorship.

Suharto oversaw significant economic reforms and growth while in power. In other regards, his record was repugnant.

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How Trump Could Still Steal the Election, Part Two

And why he’s unlikely to succeed, though that's a weak basis for complacency.

A Mess, Not a Process

Last week, I discussed how Donald Trump could try to steal the presidential election through voter suppression, voter disqualification and court decisions, and how Republicans planted the seeds of such an effort long ago.

I’ll now address how, even though Joe Biden is president-elect, Team Trump could seek to reverse the result by taking the fight to state legislatures, Congress and the Supreme Court. The strategy would exploit archaic, arcane aspects of our electoral college system that are even more nonsensical than you might imagine.

I’ll also sketch why Trump will most likely fail, not least because it might not be in the interests of many Republicans or the Court to see this battle through to the bitter end.

But “most likely” leaves no basis for complacency. That’s especially the case since Trump, like other would-be and actual autocrats elsewhere, has shown us who he is.

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An Indian Broadcaster’s Coverage of Biden’s Win and Trump’s Conduct

With some input from Yours Truly.

Here’s an extended clip presenting part of how a major Indian broadcast outlet, WION (World Is One News), covered today’s breaking news about Joe Biden winning the election. The show features joyous American street scenes, reporting by WION’s international correspondents and commentary from Indian and U.S. experts. It also includes some attempted punditry by me.

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