Bedfellow’s Putin and the Iranians – so who’s on top ? Vol 73

Whenever I’m caught between two evils, I take the one I’ve never tried !

– Mae West

You know, when you are thumbing thru the many channels on cable, trying to find some interesting content, you sometimes stumble onto a show that makes no sense, has no known actors, seems to have no plot, and makes you wonder who watches this crap ! Personally, I feel this way about the whole Walking Dead saga, and anything with vampires. Yes, I am a science fiction nut, and understand that we could potentially see an apocalypse, but watching seasons of slow motion killing and bad make-up is not worthy.

Obviously, people watch this stuff. I am not sure, as a Boomer, if I am more upset about my inability to understand the attraction of reality, pseudo-reality, and just plain gore, or my lack of understanding of the people who watch this stuff. Kinda talks to a generational problem, maybe.

I get this same feeling watching the Republican primary debates and news coverage. I would probably be classified as a RINO ( republican in name only ), a moderate conservative economically with a liberal heart, but the ideas and solutions debated ( yelled ? ) are just not workable. They seem to have lost touch with reality. First, if you think anyone can deport 11 million people, you are insane. Look at Europe and just a few 100,000 refugees, and see the problems they are having finding, transporting, classifying, housing, feeding, and determining their status. Multiply this by the effects on the US economy, as many of those people are working at something.  Even thinking of building a wall, think of the expense and time it would take, and consider all the roads and bridges that could be built instead. Have walls stopped the Mexican drug cartels from getting their drugs into the US, or the Syrian refugees from continuing their walk to Germany ? Secondly, yes the Middle East is a mess, but it is a mess of their own choosing, and they will have to fix it themselves. The West tried, we showed them another govern option, and we even trained them to implement a new path, but all we got for our treasure was the blame. Kinda like an alcoholic blaming someone else for their addiction. Why does Carly and the other bobble-heads want to continue a failed policy of intervention?  And so on with Obamacare, the Iran deal, tax changes, and Planned Parenthood.

OK, so that’s the inability to understand the attraction part of my dilemma. The other part concerns understanding the audience – who are these people that are being courted ?  I am sure that social conservatives, Evangelical Christians, old white folk, and the rich -however you label the GOP primary voters – are good people, wanting the best for the US, wanting the best for their children and grandchildren, are good neighbours, and care about their place in the world. As best as I can, I try to envision a world view as they see it. It probably starts with the American dream, low taxes, and the right to bear arms. No freeloading – you earn the rewards, not have them handed to you. No illegal’s – their ancestors came across in boats and fought for a future, so should you.  God says every life is sacred – no abortions, against gay rights, alcohol is ok, but no other drugs. America is the world’s Sherriff – our law and order is best, or else there is chaos. We are the creators, everyone else copies us.

Into this world view struts Russian President Putin, starring in “Syria – the Rescue” . Like a bad TV show just starting its run, it has interesting content / consequences, known actors, a plot, and weekly cliff-hangers. Unfortunately, I get this show.

Putin needs another country to conquer, to keep his nationalistic audience at home pre-occupied, away from the economic mess he has created. He needs help to muzzle the Muslims in his own country, to control the terrorism in Russia. He wants the world stage away from the Ukraine, so his troops can complete the annexation of part of the country. He wants markets for his armaments, such as Iran.  He believes he has picked the winner in the Shiite / Sunni war, so supporting the Alawites curries favour with Iran, and sticks a fork into the US and its allies.

Since he has lots of oil and gas, this is not a play for resources. Its simply a power grab, and if I can predict the shows future, it will have a short bloody run. He is now in the quagmire of the Middle East, where all the locals will let him do everything, so they have to do nothing. Sound familiar ? Its Afghanistan all over again, in reverse.

Like the Chinese did in their recent gas deals, the Iranians will use Putin like a bulletproof jacket as long as they can, then blame him for all the ongoing problems, and discard him.

Its interesting that Putin’s world view is similar, in many ways, to the GOP primary voters, and to the Iranian hardliners.  The difference is that the hardliners are in charge in Russia and Iran, and are unelectable nationally in the US.  Perhaps trying to understand the Ayatollah will work to explain Donald Trump. I hope so, because otherwise, those people up on the GOP stage electorally are the Walking Dead.

Next on Boomers – WTF ! ,  can I nudge a response from you Boomers ?