“May you live in interesting times” is said to be a curse originating in China intended to bring the cursed one the pain, stress, turmoil, and anxiety of living in a time, not of peace and tranquility, but of “interesting” things like instability, danger, war, and disorder.
We, unfortunately, live in very interesting times, interesting because our times are perilous, chaotic, and sad – with International wars, terrorism, dysfunctional government, dysfunctional border policy, crime, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, shootings, inflation, Trump, Trumpers, and the likes of Matt Gaetz.
Oh, and Tubby Tuberville. Really? He came from Alabama with his banjo on his knee, and his head up his . . .
We live in troubled times. And the troubles take a toll on us. We get less sleep, we eat too much, drink more, cry at TV images of buildings leveled and children killed or wounded. We wish for less “interesting” times. We hope for much less interesting times
But do we dare hope?
We could hope for an end to the Ukraine war, but Putin won’t settle until he sees whether Trump wins, or takes, the next election. That would no doubt put an end to U.S. aid to Ukraine. But Putin may not have to wait until the election for a reduction or end to U.S. aid since the new Speaker of the House may end it sooner.
Still, we can hope, I suppose, that Zelenskyy will realize that Ukraine is too small to defeat Russia, and that help from the U.S. and NATO is inevitably going to decline markedly. Biden made a mistake promising unconditional support “as much as it takes, as long as it takes.” We give billions but have not even a bit of influence? It’s important to stop Putin, and its wonderful not to have to do it with our own troops, but totally blank checks forever is too much.
We might hope that Zelenskyy will give up “winning” and settle for stopping the Russians where they are. His forces are really good at defense. Maybe, even without much aid, they can do defense well enough to discourage Putin so he decides eventually to quit?
Anyway, we can hope . . .
But can we have any hope about the Israeli-Hamas war? I don’t think so; there seems to be no hope for that to end without horrendous slaughter on both sides and centuries more mutual hatred. And perhaps even with major U.S. involvement to save Israel from annihilation.
In my opinion, Israel made a mistake when it decided to get quick revenge for the massacre of 1400 people on October 7. Awful as that was, and it was totally awful, they should have reacted smarter. How? Build a monument, fix their defenses (and I mean really fix them), and realize they cannot eliminate Hamas, certainly not without killing so many Palestinians that they lose the support of the world. (Biden will lose, too.) They could also come out for a two-state solution, and begun working to achieve it.
It is not a sustainable notion that the horror of October 7 means we and the world must forget and never again consider that the Palestinians have been badly mistreated, and their land taken, by Israel for decades.
Instead of their conventional war of tanks, bombs, and bullets on Hamas and Palestine, Israel could have, after seeing to their defense, made a five-year plan to degrade Hamas to ineffectiveness with cyber, smart bombs, espionage, assassinations, and smart public relations.
Again, Biden made a mistake promising unconditional support for whatever Netanyahu wants to do for as long as he wants to do it. We have to retain some control when we give so much.
But – too late now. No hope now. All we can do is wait for it to get worse, maybe much worse if the U.S. is drawn in, or stumbles in. Interesting times, huh?
Well, if we can’t hope for a happy ending in Israel-Hamas-Palestine, maybe we dare hope that Trump will be defeated in the next election. There is only a glimmer of hope for that, but we have to grasp the glimmer.
Maybe some unlikely legal surprise will keep him from running, or some health issue (of his, not of Biden), or some awakening of his cult that causes them to see him for what he is and drop him. Not likely, but we can hope.
The Trump cult sticks with him because they think he, and he alone, can fix “it”, whatever “it” is. But he didn’t fix it before when he had the chance, and he can’t fix it now. He’s just not smart enough, and he’s too consumed with personal revenge (and law suits) to worry about anything else. He’s also signaling clearly his love of and desire for autocracy.
But be careful what you hope for. If the next President becomes, not Trump, but DeSantis, you are very likely to be very sorry what you hoped for. Trump would be an incompetent government-wrecker; DeSantis would be a competent one.
The Democratic establishment believes Biden will beat Trump in the election. They are mistaken, and lulling themselves to sleep. The recent election doesn’t change that. It was about abortion; the next election will be about Biden and Trump. The Democrats can’t run on issues of crime or the border; they believe people should like Bidenomics even though the data show that we don’t care about it. Bidenomics is too abstract and ignores inflation, but the price of groceries and energy– the things people buy – have doubled. Inflation, and the border, and crime, and the demise of our culture, and his age, are the reasons Biden is unpopular, but the Dems just don’t get it. (P.S. People don’t have much confidence in Kamala Harris, either.)
Then, too, there is no hope that Trump and his crowd will ever accept an election where he loses. Please remember that Adolf Hitler lost his election but became Chancellor anyway. You can bet plans are being made here . . .
We live in interesting, troubled times. I’m sorry but I do not think there is much hope for better times any time soon. Ukraine is our best hope, but Israel-Hamas-Palestine, and Donald Trump are troubles that feel hopeless and only likely to get worse.
No! Not hopeless. We must have hope — and do our damnedest.
Just Sayin’.
John R. Dixon 