I awoke up a little later yesterday morning and realise that I have a certain amount of shopping to do as I forgot one or two important items yesterday. I have watched on ‘Sky News’ some of the first hand reports of the situation in Minneapolis where less than a week ago a woman was shot dead by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers who act almost as a private army for the Trump regime. The situation on the streets is incredibly tense as a second person has been shot but not killed outright and there is almost a running battle between the citizens of the city and the ICE agents who themselves deploy pepper spray and flash bombs quite freely. It looks as though the ICE agents actively search out anybody who is non-white and bundle them into their vans (i.e. arrest them) until such time as they can prove to be legitimate US citizens. The BBC correspondent on the ground is reporting that one would think that tis is 1936 in Germany here the Gestapo lifted Jewish people off the streets merely on the grounds of appearance. But this is a massive stand-off as Trump is deploying more and more agents whilst the Minneapolis citizens are arming themselves and resisting with all of their might. Never was the word ‘flashpoint’ more accurately used and the very presence of the ICE agents, extremely heavily armed. Trump is threatening to use some legislation called the Insurrection Act which would enable him to send in actual troops to attempt to quell the situation although it is hard to see how much better armed regular troops might be than the IC agents themselves. It could be the case that ‘regular’ American troops are more disciplined than the ICE agents themselves but, of course, troops of every stripe are not particularly well trained or accustomed to dealing with their own citizenry and one fears that further bloodshed is inevitable. This whole scenario does not the criteria to be labelled as a ‘civil war’ but it certainly feels that way in Minneapolis at the moment. Absorbed by our own political domestic news, replete with defections and back-stabbing within the Tory party the issue is relatively unreported n the British media. Sky News does a good job but the American unrest is low on the priorities of the BBC who one feels dare not to make it their headline news for fear of offending the current Trump regime. Trying to curry favour with rump is the Nobel peace prize winner, Maria Machado who has ‘given’ her medal to Donald Trump in order one suspects to gain power in Venezuela. Trump for is part has indicated that the offer of a medal is a ‘nice gesture’ but is in no hurry to instal Machado or anything like a democratic regime in that troubled country. It is another sign of the corruption of the American political system that Venezuela has had its past dictator removed by the Americans but they themselves are not minded to restore democracy even to a leader who by all accounts actually won the last election held there.
Yesterday was a running around kind of day. I picked up my newspaper and then popped into my local Aldi to pick up some provisions which I forgot to buy the day before. I also wanted to buy some particular little presents for the house-warming party in my friend’s house tomorrow and this involved re-parking the car and making a flying visit down the High Street. Then I came home and did not feel particularly hungry so had a little doze and then made myself a fish-on-bread type meal which I always find both nutritious and sustaining. Then I decided to bite the bullet and make the round trip to the tip to dispose of my three large old suitcases which the bin men refused to take yesterday. To be fair, the round trip was about 12 miles and took me only half an hour but the road diversions en route do not help. I spent some time wrapping up my little presents ready for tomorrow and my friend and I exchanged texts and may need to make some final, final tweaks before tomorrow. If this sounds very mysterious, all be revealed in a later blog.
Just when you think things could not get worst over the Greenland issue. Trump threatens tariffs against countries that don’t go along with Greenland. Donald Trump has said just now that he may put tariffs on countries that do not support his plan dor the US to control Greenland Trump said at a rural health roundtable at the White House. Trump has repeatedly said that the US “absolutely” needs to acquire Greenland, increasing pressure on Denmark, which the island formally belongs to. This latest comment follows a high-stakes meeting at the White House on Wednesday between Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, and Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, along with US secretary of state Marco Rubio and vice president JD Vance. Te Europeans are already escalating the situation and France has already sent along the first of a contingent of French troops to support the Danes inn the face of an imminent invasion and the Germans may not be far behind. I cannot see the UK being bold enough to put boots on the ground in the present conflict because it could mean UK soldiers being asked to fire upon and kill American troops. But there are moves afoot in the US Congress to impeach Trump over the Greenland issue and some Republican senators are getting seriously alarmed. A meeting between the Danes, Greenlanders and Americans failed to resolve the issue and it now appears almost certain that Trump will attempt to get his way ‘one one way or another’ The message that sends to the rest pf the world is lightly too horrible to contemplate. The impeachment issue is given additional force by the way in which ICE is acting as a private paramilitary force and the moment may soon be approaching when parts of the American political system say that ‘Enough if enough’ and realise that the global interests of America are best served by the de-fenestratipn (‘throwing out of the window’) of the American president.