241 Trump too late

Trump is a bit too late with his ambitious "Star Wars" plans. ('World 19/01). both Russia and China are already years ahead in this new hypersonic missile and glider technology. Currently there exists no affective counter measures against these missiles capable of reaching speeds up to 27 times the speed of sound and such an eratic flight trajectory that they are impossibe to detect. America is several years behind and is only expected to catch up somewhere after 2025 it is believed. Apart from America having more than 21 trillion national debt and virtually on the brink of bankruptcy Trump will find research in this new technology is not sustainable in the long run. Trump's announcement therefore should not be taken seriously and be taken with a large pinch of salt to keep the true believers happy.
Tom Van Meurs.
19 January 2019

240 Bitcoin or no coin ?

That Russia is considering replacing the US dollar with Bitcoin (Press 15/1) is only one way of countering the declining US dollar as the world's reserve currency and has nothing to do with sanctions. Sanctions in fact have had  the opposite effect and failed to harm the Russian economy, which on the contrary has surged  by more than ten percent over the last year. In 2018 Russian trade with China has increased to more than 107 billion dollars. Increasingly more countries among which India, South Africa, Venezuela and Iran are now trading in either their own or alternative currencies. The Chinese yuan  (renminbi) is expected to replace the US dollar within years from now.
Tom Van Meurs
15 January 2019

239 Border or disorder

Althoufh I disagree with many of Trump's policies and do not like to see walls wherever they are in the world, I do however agree with his proposed border wall. America has a 3000 km long border with Mexico, which separates the U.S. from the southern part of the American continent where most of the the Columbian drug cartels are situated. Every country in the world protects and controls its borders against illegal entry of unwanted people, some being terrorists and harmful substances. In America where've right to bear arms is a Constitutional right and almost everyone carries a gun it's even more important, since guns and drugs are a lethal combination. More than once we have seen its devastating effects on our televisions. Trump is not the first President who favours a wall. Bush and Obama in fact were the first starting the wall during their Presidencies. Trump is opposed simply because he is Trump.
Tom Van Meurs
10 January 2019

238 Name Calling

John Balneaves (9/1) quoted Martin Van Beijnen on some of his political views with regards Chinese and Russian political systems, which amounted to nothing else but cheap name calling. Name calling is always bad journalism and is precisely what leads to identity politics, which Van Beijnen so fervently condemns in his article (eg I am wrongly identified as 'anti American',  because of my political views) .During his next holiday I suggest that Martin catches up with studying Capitalism, especially in relation to the emergence of the military industrial complex (MIC), the death and destruction it has caused in Korea and Indo China and in the aftermath of 9/11, which has run into the many millions of innocent people. Communist China on the other hand has since 1949 lifted many millions out of the most inhuman and dire poverty and still continues to do so at an unprecedented record in world history.
Tom van Meurs
9 January 2019

PS Martin Van Beijnen is a staff member of the Christchurch Press, a leading news outlet in the South Island of New Zealand. He writes a weekly article in the Saturday issue in one of the paper's supplements. I very often agree with his views and he is a good analyst on several issues of great public interest. His analysis of the David Bain murder trial I think was sublime.

237 Meddling ?

Vic Smith so it seems from his last comments (12/12) still believes in the "Russian meddling" hoax during the American elections, which supposedly made Trump win the Presidency. Over the last two years this rediculous story has been pushed relentlessly by the media. However a closer look will reveal that the real "meddling" was done by the DNC and ms Clinton herself when they saw that their opponent "the socialist" Bernie Sanders was gaining a foothold. Trump at that time was still lagging far behind. By ditching Sanders, Clinton hoped the electorate would switch back to her. However that did not work out as well as she had hoped for and in doing so she shot herself in the foot.  American voters subsequently turned to Trump en mass, who preached peace and healthcare issues during his election campaign. American wanted to get away from the Bush, Clinton, Obama clan and their endless war policies and they still do.
Tom Van Meurs
13/12/18

236 World at Crossroads

Can we expect a major war during 2019? The nearest we came to (nuclear) war during 2018 was the US/North Korea stand off.  Defusing the Korean crisis was Trump's most successful. Summit diplomacy.  Russia's new hypersonic weapons technology as well as Russia's pivoting towards Beijing thanks to western sanctions, have given these countries a significant edge. China remains Russia's largest and strategically most significant ally in Asia. The upcoming 2020 November Presidential elections will also prevent a sharp deterioration in US/China relations. The two countries will eventually come to some accommodation on their current trade disputes. It must also be noted that the Trump administration is very much aware that war with China or Iran in an election year I said not very desirable not be waged with a31 trillion debt. China cannot be isolated, given its profound economic integration into the world economy. The world today stands at a crossroads of a new multi polar world. As Trump already conceded, the US cannot be the policeman of the world anymore. America's hegemonic aspirations have come to an end.
Tom Van Meurs
5 January 2019