Posted on 01/06/2026 2:19:58 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Three things were said in the aftermath of the remarkable"Operation Absolute Resolve," mounted by the American military, which resulted in the arrest in Venezuela and removal to a Brooklyn jail of dictator Nicholas Maduro and his wife in the early morning hours of Saturday which deserve particular attention.
During the press conference that morning, after President Donald Trump had announced the stunning success of the American military’s actions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "President Trump doesn’t play games."
In the course of the press conference that followed, President Trump declared at one point, simply but directly: "Life is a deal."
And on Air Force One Sunday, a reporter asked the president what would happen next, and President Trump replied: "It depends."
There in those three short statements is, in a nutshell, not just the "Donroe Doctrine," but, also the explanation for Operation Midnight Hammer which devastated the Iranian nuclear weapons program on June 21-22 last summer.
President Trump had extended offers to Ayatollah Khamenei, who is the dictator of Iran, and to Maduro as well, to work out deals that would remove the threats they both presented to the American people. In both cases, the dictators refused their opportunity to negotiate in good faith. In the case of Iran, the president removed the threat and in the case of Venezuela, he removed the dictator.
(He has issued another warning now to Khamenei not to kill protesters who are flooding the streets of Iran. The world will see if the aging tyrant pays attention.)
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Which allies would those be?
Great bunch of allies. For the most part, those countries aren’t even allies of their own people.
Yes, we must be very cautious not to dismay our allies.
Great point. Are we hearing from the people of those allies, or the elites? Can their “people” speak freely?
Allies? Maybe years ago, but now half of Europe is an extension of the mid east. We’ve been taken advantage of by most of Europe for decades. Unfair trade practices, not paying their fair share to NATO, many other issues. Poland is probably one of the few real allies we have in Europe today.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Maybe we should invade Minnesota, New York City and Dearborn.
We’ve been taken advantage of by most of Europe for decades. Unfair trade practices, not paying their fair share to NATO, many other issues
How naïve, Europe has been behaving precisely the way we wanted them to behave, enabling us run NATO. From the Marshall plan to tariffs, we have structured our relationship with Europe to gain their compliance.
This is not a question of who has been fair or unfair.
What allies? We don’t have allies so much as opportunistic Marxist parasites that have been undermining us at every opportunity since World War 2.
Meh. The Yurps cling to their fanciful notions of “international law.” The reality is its a cold cruel world out there and our adversaries were never going to allow their freedom of action to be constrained by any such notions. What President Trump did was both necessary and useful. He showed everybody that we can and will play hardball too. The message is “We are the big dog in the Western Hemisphere. You will not act directly against us - or we’ll take your ass out. We don’t give a damn what the Europeans or what UN Bureaucrats have to say about it - they won’t save you.”
enabling us run NATO.
*******
Excuse me, Europe has not come close to paying its share of NATO and has relied on us like kids rely on daddy. Basically taking advantage like heedless brats.
From perplexity:
The European Commission is not directly elected by citizens, but it is indirectly tied to elections and requires approval by elected bodies, which is why it is often labeled “unelected” in political debate.
How the Commission is chosen
The President of the Commission is proposed by the European Council (heads of state or government) “taking into account” the results of European Parliament elections, and must then be elected by an absolute majority of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
Each member state nominates one Commissioner, in consultation with the President‑elect; the full “College of Commissioners” then undergoes hearings in the European Parliament and must receive a single consent vote before being formally appointed by the European Council.
Why it is called “unelected”
Citizens vote only for MEPs and national governments, not for individual Commissioners, so there is no direct popular vote for the Commission or its President in the way there is for a national parliament or president.
Because the decisive stages are negotiation among national leaders in the European Council and coalition bargaining in the Parliament, critics argue that the Commission’s leadership emerges from an elite, multi‑step appointment process rather than a transparent, voter‑driven contest.
Counter‑arguments on democratic legitimacy
Defenders emphasize that both key actors in the appointment chain—the European Council and the European Parliament—are themselves composed of elected politicians, so Commission authority is indirectly rooted in democratic choices at national and EU levels.
Since the Lisbon Treaty, and especially with the “Spitzenkandidaten” (lead‑candidate) practice, European political parties present lead candidates for Commission President before elections, making the link between EP vote shares and the eventual President more visible, even if this link has not always been strictly followed.
Accountability once in office
The Commission as a whole is politically accountable to the European Parliament, which can force its resignation through a motion of censure; individual nominees can also be effectively vetoed during the confirmation hearings.
Commissioners are formally required to act independently of national governments and not seek or take instructions from them, which is meant to give the institution a technocratic, EU‑interest‑focused character, but also reinforces the perception that it is distant from direct electoral control.
Then let them buckle up and take on the Russians
US GDP is now half again the size of the EU's. The Western Europeans have been backsliding massively on western values like freedom of speech and democracy - the EU itself is anti democratic and increasingly be it overturning Romanian elections, or conveniently ruling the top political opponents to be criminals and the top opposition parties to be "threats to democracy", etc. As for them being allies - there was a time when they had credible military forces but the truth is they've been freeloading since at least the early 1980s. Until the last year or two look at how many of them couldn't even be bothered to spend a paltry 2% of GDP on defense like they all promised to do over a decade ago.
Given all of the above, I'm not inclined to pay them much heed - particularly not in matters America deems vital to its national security in the Western Hemisphere.
From someone who held legal residency in Germany for decades and worked throughout Europe, with one of whose neighbors was a elected MP sitting in the Bundestag, and having worked multiple times in Brussels itself ---
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
A recent item worth referencing in this thread.
How Brussels is moving to bailout Europe’s left-wing NGO industry
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4360513/posts
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