He’s a “wartime” president!

W.J. Astore

How about words of praise for “peacetime” presidents?

I caught only a couple of minutes of mainstream media coverage of the Zelensky visit, and I suppose that makes me lucky. In that brief period, I heard Zelensky described twice in positive terms as a “wartime” president. As if it’s a great thing to be the leader of Ukraine during a devastating war.

Remember when George W. Bush took a fancy to being described as a “wartime” president in the aftermath of 9/11? The mainstream media seems to fancy the term as well. What a wonderful, praiseworthy thing it is to be a wartime president! Look at how Zelensky dresses so simply, in olive drab, as if he just stepped out of a command post. What a guy.

War shouldn’t be a spectacle. Battle flags are far less impressive than flags of peace

When I caught that media coverage yesterday of Zelensky’s visit, which included a quick meet and greet with Joe and Jill Biden with Marine Corps guards saluting in the background, I was with my brother. My brother Stevie is mentally ill. But as I watched the coverage on TV, in my brother’s room, I reflected that he’s far saner than those media types gushing about war, and a far wiser and more honest soul than the so-called leaders I was watching at the White House.

There’s nothing like being a “wartime” leader that makes certain people gush. Obviously, many leaders love it too, since wartime grants them far more authority in the cause of waging and “winning” the war. And all this is treated as the height of sobriety and sanity within our war-crazed society.

When is the mainstream media going to praise our leaders for being peacetime presidents? Jesus Christ, after all, was the Prince of Peace. We need some princes of peace today. Then again, look what they did to Jesus.

18 thoughts on “He’s a “wartime” president!”

    1. I do take issue with this generalization in Caitlan Johnstone’s article as everyone here knows doesn’t include me.
      Most forms of spirituality serve only to sedate people and help them hide from reality, others do the opposite and awaken you to reality. The former is the “opiate of the masses” which creates a sedentary populace; the latter is the sort that’s useful in creating a healthy world.

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  4. The Claim That The Ukraine War Advances US Interests Discredits The Claim That It’s “Unprovoked”

    One of the most illustrative examples of how the mainstream worldview is based on narratives rather than facts is the way Republican officials like senate minority leader Mitch McConnell have been branded servants of Russia despite consistent track records as virulent Russia hawks.

    “Moscow Mitch”, as Democrats absurdly titled him during the height of Russiagate hysteria in 2019, gave a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday arguing that the primary reason to back Ukraine in its war against Russia is because doing so serves US interests.

    “President Zelensky is an inspiring leader,” McConnell said in his speech ahead of the Ukrainian president’s visit to Washington. “But the most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical American interests. Helping equip our friends in Eastern Europe to win this war is also a direct investment in reducing Vladimir Putin’s future capabilities to menace America, threaten our allies, and contest our core interests.”

    https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-claim-that-the-ukraine-war-advances?publication_id=82124

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      1. Speaking of “wartime” U.S. presidents — namely, all of them — I recall not long ago watching a Hollywood idyllic depiction of a Democratic White House occupant entitled, appropriately enough, “The American President,” starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening in the principle roles. About 38 minutes into the film, the President dances with a lady lobbyist at an opulent state dinner hosting the French president and his wife. I thought the orchestral accompaniment sounded vaguely familiar so I did a little research and found that the tune: <a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCRtuzZPNzQ“>”I Have Dreamed”, comes from The King and I, a 1956 musical/film featuring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. When I looked up the lyrics for the tune — while considering the “kingly” prerogatives now routinely usurped by the U.S. Commander in Brief — the following happened:

        The American Precedent
        (to the tune of “I Have Dreamed,” from The King and I)

        I have schemed to despoil and pillage.
        I have launched Shock and Awe campaigns.
        I have bombed every town and village
        That would not – and gladly – wear the empire’s chains.

        What a thrill to observe the rubble
        Where once houses lined the streets.
        Fields of grain now a blackened stubble
        Signs of our predictable trademark defeats.

           In your worst dreams you will see
   What has long-since come to be:
   Ugly Truth revealed by night and day.
   Still, you seek to turn your eyes away.

        I have lied just to keep in practice;
        Just so I wouldn’t lose my touch.
        Even though no one has attacked us,
        I insist that someone “bad” did such-and-such.

        I have seized assets on deposit.
        If I want it, then it’s mine.
        “War” is needed, so I’ll cause it,
        then exploit its opportunities. Divine!

           In these nightmares I’ll appear
   As a barking-mad King Lear:
   What I’ll give you ‘cause you chose to kneel.
   You deserve a “life” beneath my heel.

        Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright © 2022

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  5. And here, we have a “warmongering” Historian……
    Shame on him…

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  6. The only way Ukrainians will see anything approximating a holiday season is if a ceasefire can be arranged by New Year’s Day, and it just might happen, regardless of President Volodomyr Zelenskiy’s repeated assertions that there will be no negotiations with Russia until it withdraws all its troops from all occupied territories, including Crimea. There are several reasons for the possible ceasefire.

               First, the Russian hammer is about to fall on Ukraine. The gloves are coming off; electric energy stations, bridges, and even ‘decision centers’ such as central Kiev’s government buildings are being targeted. Russia is one or two more massive bombing attacks on Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure from permanently disabling Ukraine’s electricity, water, and railroad systems. With ‘only’ 50 percent of Ukrainian electricity infrastructure knocked out by the first three widespread bombings of electricity grid components, demonstrations are already breaking out in Odessa and other places over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, with Zelenskiy sending the Ukrainian KGB, the SBU, in to break up the protests and banning coverage in media. The Office of the President was reportedly recently informed by technicians that the electricity system has entered the stage of ‘arbitrary and uncontrolled imbalance,” and one official has urged Ukrainians to be prepared to leave the country in winter. What will the sociopolitical situation be like when these critical infrastructures are in complete collapse and temperatures are 20 degrees colder? Russia will be moving closer to the strategy of ‘shock and awe’, fully destroying all infrastructure – military or otherwise – as the US did in Serbia and Iraq and will likely take less care now to avoid civilian casualties................................................

    https://gordonhahn.com/2022/11/22/the-russian-winter-offensive/

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    1. I don’t know why the article intro appears the way it does, but here it is in a better format.

      First, the Russian hammer is about to fall on Ukraine. The gloves are coming off; electric energy stations, bridges, and even ‘decision centers’ such as central Kiev’s government buildings are being targeted. Russia is one or two more massive bombing attacks on Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure from permanently disabling Ukraine’s electricity, water, and railroad systems. With ‘only’ 50 percent of Ukrainian electricity infrastructure knocked out by the first three widespread bombings of electricity grid components, demonstrations are already breaking out in Odessa and other places over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, with Zelenskiy sending the Ukrainian KGB, the SBU, in to break up the protests and banning coverage in media. The Office of the President was reportedly recently informed by technicians that the electricity system has entered the stage of ‘arbitrary and uncontrolled imbalance,” and one official has urged Ukrainians to be prepared to leave the country in winter. What will the sociopolitical situation be like when these critical infrastructures are in complete collapse and temperatures are 20 degrees colder? Russia will be moving closer to the strategy of ‘shock and awe’, fully destroying all infrastructure – military or otherwise – as the US did in Serbia and Iraq and will likely take less care now to avoid civilian casualties……………

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  7. As with Ngo Dinh Diem shortly before his assassination in 1963, yet another puppet “Winston Churchill” — this time from the Russian borderlands — comes to Washington to receive bogus accolades from the clapping-seal Congress and White House. Or, stated somewhat differently:

    Hoisting the Hero

    Breaking “defense” that is already tanking,
    “braking” offense when we’ve no wish to stop.
    Borrowing trillions to boost bad-boy banking
    Ponzi-scheme bubble about to go “POP!”

    “Warrior” wastrels in Washington whimper
    throwing more money at contractor friends.
    Supplicants shrink as they snivel and simper,
    begging to “battle” for Seizure Class ends.

    Surely the Russians and Chinese feel frightened.
    How could they not, as we lunatics laugh
    loudly while ropes ’round our own neck we’ve tightened.
    “Hoist by himself,” our deserved epitaph.

    Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright © 2021

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Michael, in the spirit of your letter yesterday, this writer wrote in the same spirit in Asia Times yesterday. These 2 paragraphs were screaming out to me. The rest of the article is good too!

      Indeed, Germany’s recent overtures to Beijing in quick succession – Chancellor Scholz’s high-profile visit to China last month with a delegation of top German CEOs and Steinmeier’s phone call last week – have not gone down well in Washington. 

      US President Joe Biden’s administration expects Germany to coordinate with Washington first instead of taking its own initiatives toward China. (Interestingly, Xi Jinping underscored the importance of Germany preserving its strategic autonomy.) 

      I came Alive to God in me February 1, 1975 when I was 29 going on 30. I was Dead to God since I left the Church at 13 and God was Dead to me. No place in my Head or my Heart in all my thoughts of the way the World was, is, and going.
      That Day was unexpected Wonder and Surprise, and I “Repented” in the since of changing my way of thinking now seeing the World in a wholly new way, like the Star of David simply being 2 Pyramids inverse or upside-down to each other the way Today’s World looks to the increasing numbers of Believers and Atheists. How to figure it out? Leading up to that Day I already sensed this Material World was not going in the right direction.

      The shouting has me carried away! What I found interesting reading those 2 paragraphs, was how the spirit of the letter is so similar to what SoS Blinken and the US now has to deal with, like it’s unfolding in this letter in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
      And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

      Obviously those words describe an EARTHLY kingdom without mentioning the US which hadn’t come into existence yet. I think the Pope is alluding to the US as most here already know is the US as we talk about it constantly. “I think a war is fought when an empire starts to weaken, and when there are weapons to use, to sell and to test” That’s the place the US and Americans are AT, and only Americans can fix it, starting by talking about it at the street level. It will filter up!

      For the Bankers and Merchants, Christmas is their biggest money making Season, as the Mass Media Incites and Manipulates the Minds of the Masses to spend to celebrate the 2,2023rd Birthday of Christ Jesus.

      https://asiatimes.com/2022/12/a-germany-china-russia-triangle-on-ukraine/

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        1. And that final straw that got him crucified was overturning the Bankers and Merchants working the Shopping Mall on the Jewish Temple property in a Kosher Deal with the Priests of the Temple.

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  9. Putin “Ready” To Negotiate End To Ukraine War, But West Wants To “Tear Apart” Russia

    In a Sunday interview with Rossiya 1 state television, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is now ready to negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine. However, he once again pointed the finger at the West for making any dialogue toward an acceptable end to the fighting all but impossible. 

    “We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,” Putin said.

    Putin is not setting unrealistic preconditions to end the killing and destruction.
    He’s just saying let’s TALK it out in place of bombs, bullets and missiles.
    It’s Zelensky, the hand puppet of US WAR Mongers, holding on to unrealistic preconditions.

    Only Americans can change that fantasy hard line position guaranteeing the US leading this World to WWII/Armageddon.

    President Kennedy woke up to how close the World came to a Global Nuclear Holocaust during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and in 1963 uttered the essential Truth that can keep us alive today:
    “Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war.
    To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy–or of a collective death-wish for the world.”

    Americans no longer have that clear thinking wise Leadership.

    This was posted to my Blog 10 Days before THE WAR started;

    US POLITICIANS ARE SLEEPWALKING TOWARD THE NUCLEAR ABYSS

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