Is Turkey a Dedicated Member of NATO?

Erdogan needs to specifically say whether Turkey will be a continuing member of NATO or if they are satisfied to shift into the Russian orbit. This is important today because the Turkish military and the US military are both in Syria and they seem to have very different interests.

To Stay or Not To Stay, That is the Question

I believe we should destroy ISIS/Daesch and then leave Syria. Vladimir Putin has said he will protect his naval repair station in Syria and will protect the Assad presidency and administration, so the United States isn't required to enforce U.N. sanctions or international law. Putin will do that (supposedly).

But, President Trump may have other ideas. They may contradiction themselves, but he has ideas. They may also conflict with those of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

For example, here is one story on Trump vs. Tillerson: Trump says US is in Syria to beat ISIS and 'go home' - Business Insider

But then, there is also this Trump view: Trump to Use AUMF to keep US Military in Syria - 2018-2

America and the world need to know what America is going to do. In the meantime, I would suggest other nations leave Syria (my view).

Real Green Energy -- Trees

The "Trump Forest" is a project to plant trees to offset President Donald Trump's pro-coal energy policy.

The rest of the article explains who, what, where, why, when, etc.

Trump Forest Project Pledges One Million Trees

Go team!

School Teachers as Bodyguards

Republican politicians have used rhetoric about the "right to life" for a long time. Yet, their inability to actually do anything is a problem. Today school teachers are expected to protect children and even give their lives to protect them. Any parents who have children in schools and any school teachers or administrators would be foolish to vote for another Republican. They would be putting their own lives and those of the children at risk.

Justice Clarence Thomas on Guns

https://thinkprogress.org/justice-thomas-pro-gun-rant-parkland-e08504e87ee3/

Justice Thomas has made a suggestion that someone who already owns a gun (or guns) should not have to wait ten days to buy another gun. He claims they have already passed the background check and are 'good to go'. I would argue that after some passage of time and with the desire to buy more guns (than one could presume a person needs for self defense), that this is precisely an important time to do another background check. Has something changed in their life? Are they more prone to suicide or some other aggressive violence?

Thankfully the other Justices haven't seen fit to take another major Second Amendment case.

Is the Trump Administration Trying to Kill Boeing and GE?

http://www.businessinsider.com/emirates-warns-us-economy-to-suffer-open-skies-ends-2018-2

If they want to review a trade treaty or some kind of trade standard in order to ruin it, that would have a big effect on the airplane manufacturers involved -- Boeing primarily. Why do that? Is it because Boeing has been manufacturing in Washington State (Seattle) and that's a 'Democratic state'? Is he playing politics with people's lives and the economy?

Let's not go 'fixing' things which aren't broken!

International Law, and a Book Recommendation

I just watched a great C-SPAN show where an author was speaking at Trinity Church in Atlanta, Georgia, USA about a new book he and a co-author have published. It's entitled The Internationalists and it's about a rather large swath of human history from about 1600 (at the beginning of the Renaissance to today) and the core issue of the book is the world order concerning "the right to war".

Here's a link to amazon.com: The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World

He said the publisher only allowed 150,000 words, so they cut it down to 150,310. His humor was subtle and yet caught the audience every time.

Perhaps the most critical moments in history relate to a changing of the 'world order' and he explains Napoleon, The Nurmberg Trials, the Vietnam War, Crimea, South Sudan, and Iraq wars. It's fascinating stuff in large part because this isn't a subject ever discussed. Yet, its crucial t how nations relate and restrain one another.

I've been thinking of an idea for a few days and this book lecture has inspired me to suggest the idea today. It is that we should prevent wars of conquest, such as Russia taking Crimea, by sanctioning Russia, but we should also offer other solutions to the problems. For example, Russia desperately needs its access of Crimea for a very important military base and the fact Ukraine became independent of the Soviet Union was almost an accident. These things happen, but how can we readjust to enable Russia what it needs while letting Ukraine keep its territory and national unity.

In the lecture the author discusses the beginning of the League of Nations and the United Nations and how there wasn't a great replacement for the old standard world order wherein wars of aggression were acceptable, but to outlaw them without a sufficient replacement led to chaos.

Now, I'm suggesting we need more than simple sanctions against nations such as Russia, who may have serious important reasons for their unlawful behaviors. We cannot supply a blind stupid Justice. Thus, I recommend Ukraine and Russia, perhaps with others, discuss a way for Ukraine to lease Crimea (or at least some part of it) to Russia for monetary or other payments. Rather than continue the sanctions which our current US president doesn't even want to impose, we could find a way to resolve the issue to a simple contract. The UK leased Hong Kong from China for a century, surely Russia can lease Crimea from Ukraine with benefits to everyone.