Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Jan 5, 1944: The Transatlantic Daily Mail becomes the first major London newspaper to be published on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Its strategy to capture American hearts and wallets failed & was quietly shelved in 1947.




Jan 5, 1957: In a speech given to the United States Congress, within a "Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East" President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine. Congress approved it in March.


Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state. Eisenhower singled out the Soviet threat in his doctrine by authorizing the commitment of U.S. forces “to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism.”

The Eisenhower Doctrine

The U.S. and Egypt in the 1950s

Question: What did the United States do to try to stop Egypt from becoming a communist satellite state in the 1950s?

Answer:
The goals of U.S. foreign policy toward Egypt during the 1950s were to protect American and western European access to oil in the Middle East, to end British colonial rule throughout the area in line with the ideal of self-determination expressed in the Atlantic Charter, to contain the expansion of communism and particularly the influence of the Soviet Union in the region, and to support the independence of Israel without alienating the Arab states.

...
For the next few years, U.S. policy toward Egypt was guided by what became known as the "Eisenhower Doctrine," a declaration that the U.S. was prepared to offer assistance to any Middle Eastern country (if it asked for assistance) in order to oppose the military threat of "any nation controlled by international communism." In reality, the doctrine was fairly impractical for a number of reasons.

It invited pro-Western countries in the region to gin up internal or external "communist threats" as a simple way to procure U.S. aid without the necessity to negotiate agreements or treaties. Also, the policy was actually aimed at thwarting Nasser's ambitions to undermine his Middle Eastern rivals in the region, many of whom were pro-Western. The policy was given public shape, however, in a resolution that the Eisenhower Administration had pushed through Congress by the expediency of using the phrase "international communism." This left the Administration's actual policy in the dark and often at odds with its publicly expressed policy.

The practical result of this was State Department and CIA involvement, by covert means, in the complicated internal politics of the region, as the political winds within each country shifted. This created unintended and unwanted consequences for the United States, for which the CIA coined the term "blowback." Much of this activity, including coups and counter-coups, was inspired, influenced, or even orchestrated by the CIA. In Egypt, CIA operator Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. (Teddy's grandson), developed an exceedingly complicated and intimate relationship with (and sometimes against) the Nasser regime, as did CIA operative Miles Copeland. The U.S., however, acted for the rest of the decade under the conviction that Nasser himself was too powerful to be deposed and came to reconcile itself to containing his attempts to consolidate his influence with the other Arab states.

Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East


Jan 4-5, 1998: "Scotty, beam me up a Royal!"
Star Trek Experience at Las Vegas Hilton opened. In March 2004, a new Borg Invasion 4D ride was added. The attraction closed in September 2008.




Note that the X algo is tailored to every bluecheck. Meaning if IT considers you a dissenter you'll be served a deluge of nonsense.


As has been said many times over, "When in history has a power vacuum made things better?"



BBC: "Avoid using 'Kidnapped'"
Trump: "It's not a bad term."



"What comes next for Venezuela? CHAOS. Donald Trump has opened a Pandora’s box, and things will get out of hand very quickly." — Sen. Chuck Schumer

REMINDER: Schumer voted to invade Iraq and mocked Trump for not taking Maduro out in 2020.



ATOMIC: One Hell Of A Ride
Desperate for redemption, their paths converge in the Libyan desert as they are swept up in a nefarious Venezuelan cartel’s plot to transport uranium capable of fueling a nuclear bomb. Atomic is an adrenaline-charged, cinematic five-episode odyssey through the labyrinthine medinas and bustling metropolises of North Africa, across inhospitable deserts and hostile borders, where Max and Mohammed – with their lively, funny and unexpected camaraderie – wonder whether some kind of atonement is possible amidst the madness.



The show takes inspiration from the non-fiction book The Atomic Bazaar by Vanity Fair journalist William Langewiesche.

Alfie Allen (SAS Rogue Heroes) plays Max and Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery) is Mohammed. They’re joined by Samira Wiley (The Handmaid’s Tale) as the CIA’s Cassie Elliott. Filmed in the Moroccan desert. The show takes inspiration from the non-fiction book The Atomic Bazaar by Vanity Fair journalist and commercial pilot William Langewiesche (1955-2025).



Atomic Review: A Wild Ride Through the Desert with Killer Chemistry



The liberal veil is gone...

“There’s not a war. We are at war against drug trafficking organizations — not a war against Venezuela.” (Watch)

“We don’t have U.S. forces on the ground in Venezuela. They were on the ground for about two hours when they went to capture Maduro… What the President is saying is very simple — and that is as President of the United States, he is not going to go around telling people what he’s not going to do.” (Watch)

“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States.” (Watch)

“The first steps are securing what’s in the national interest of the United States and also beneficial to the people of Venezuela, and those are the things that we’re focused on right now. No more drug trafficking. No more Iran, Hezbollah presence there. No more using the oil industry to enrich all our adversaries around the world.” (Watch)

“This was not an action that required congressional approval. In fact, it couldn’t require congressional approval because this was not an invasion. This is not an extended military operation… We will seek congressional approval for actions that require congressional approval. Otherwise, they’ll get congressional notification.” (Watch)

“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan. This is not the Middle East, and our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.” (Watch)

“The most immediate changes are the ones that are in the national interests of the United States. That’s why we’re involved here — because of how it applies and has a direct impact on the United States.” (Watch)

“We’ve seen how our adversaries all over the world are exploiting and extracting resources from Africa, from every other country. They’re not going to do it in the Western Hemisphere. That is not going to happen under President Trump. Read our national security strategy. He is serious about it.” (Watch)

“What we are going to react to is very simple: what do you do? Not what you’re saying publicly, what happens… Do the drugs stop coming? Are the changes made? Is Iran expelled? Is Hezbollah and Iran no longer able to operate against our interests from Venezuela?” (Watch)

“It’s running policy — the policy with regards to this. We want Venezuela to move in a certain direction because not only do we think it’s good for the people of Venezuela, it’s in our national interest.” (Watch)

“We retain all the options we had before this raid and this capture and this arrest… until such time as changes are made.” (Watch)

“In the Biden Administration, they had a $25 million reward for [Maduro’s] capture — so we have a reward for his capture but we’re not going to enforce it? That’s the difference between President Trump and everybody else… President Trump did something about it.” (Watch)

“Until they address [the problems], they will continue to face this oil quarantine. They will continue to face pressure from the United States. We will continue to target drug boats if they try to run towards the United States. We will continue to seize the boats that are sanctioned with court orders. We will continue to do that and potentially other things until the things we need to see addressed are addressed… The number one thing we care about is the safety, security, wellbeing, and prosperity of the United States.” (Watch)

“Maduro is not just an indicted drug trafficker; he was an illegitimate president. He was not the head of state. I continue to see these media reports referring to him as ‘President Maduro’ and the ‘head of state.’ He was not the head of state.” (Watch)

RUBIO: This Is Our Hemisphere — and President Trump Will Not Allow Our Security to be Threatened

If I suddenly found myself the Acting President of Venezuela, I'm pretty damn sure my top priority would be to discover why the military stood down and who gave the order. But, that's just me.

Who is next? Colombia? Cuba? Mexico? Panama? Denmark? Nigeria? Palestine? China? Lebanon? Russia? Iran? Unipolarity is gone, yet in an effort to restore it, the US has gone to war on multipolarity. "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters." — Antonio Gramsci


Like clockwork, the EU will dare not say anything that might anger daddy...




Europe is drifting into irrelevance and will soon discover that if you are not at the table, then you’re probably on the menu.



Considering one of the largest trade deals in the world may drop soon, its looking like the EU are very much on the menu.


After 30 years of negotiations, it’s time to finalize the EU–Mercosur agreement


Searching for foylings,
Blessed with apricity,
Makes one effulgent:
What eucatastrophe!



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
— Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)