A Promised Land

America as a Developing Country

Remember Those “Sh*thole Countries”?

A better term has applied here at home.

A certain republic for the past four years

The Short List

In a Zoom chat today, friends and I briefly discussed Donald Trump’s infamously and callously dismissing El Salvador, Haiti and African nations as “sh*thole countries” two years ago.

That is not a term ordinarily employed in international development discourse.  

As Trump’s presidency finally circles the drain and we consider his legacy, though, I’d suggest that “sh*thole government,” rather than “sh*thole country,” can apply to certain places. Here are some features of such a government’s leadership:

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An Indian TV (and Benicia, CA) View of the Insurrection

The video is from January 6. How the world has changed, even since then.

As part of my occasional commentary on U.S. and international affairs for a major Indian broadcaster, WION (World is One News), the channel interviewed me on January 6 as part of its report on that day’s D.C. insurrection. To my mind, it did a fine job (linked below) in its coverage of the exploding events.

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Bar Him

A lesson from Cambodia about striking when the iron is hot.

“He’s Like a King”

I once shook a dictator’s hand.

Flying from Bangkok to Cambodia about 15 years ago for a consultancy, I ended up seated in the plane’s front row. A well-attired man boarded with his wife and large entourage, and sat across the aisle from me. He was the country’s autocratic prime minister, Hun Sen.

As we stood up and our eyes met after landing, he spontaneously shook my hand, said “Welcome to Cambodia” and turned to go. The Thai Airways flight attendant, unaware that I knew who he was, politely told me to wait until he and his scurrying travel party disembarked, because “he’s like a king.”

Which brings me to the point of this post: For all of the ways in that small Southeast Asian nation differs from America, we can learn from its brave democratic forces’ failure to topple Hun Sen when they possibly had him on the ropes several years later. In the coming days, Congress must bar Donald Trump from ever holding public office again.

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Kristallnacht, Trump and the Termi­nator

The anti-Trump movie star and former governor is a pretty good history teacher.

He’s back

A Turning Point

Arnold Schwarzenegger released a powerful anti-Trump, pro-democracy video yesterday. He starts by likening Wednesday’s mob attack on the Capitol to the November 9-10, 1938  Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). That widespread, state-sponsored riot saw Nazi gangs across Germany and his native Austria destroy thousands of synagogues and other Jewish-owned buildings, kill at least 91 Jews and round up 30,000 more for concentration camps.

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A Case for Impeachment

And a counter to some counter-arguments.

As the world turns

That Was the Week That Was

Quite a week, eh? It’s hard to believe that just last Sunday so much talk was about Trump’s taped talk with Georgia’s secretary of state, while many of us eagerly awaited that state’s Senate elections.

That all seems like ancient history today, as Democrats are circulating a draft resolution to impeach Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” Insurrection is “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government.” Unless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reverses course or something equally unexpected happens, the House of Representatives will impeach Trump this week.

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