New Age

Trump arrives in the United Kingdom on Thursday to what the Guardian says is a massive police mobilization "in numbers not seen since widespread rioting in 2011, in order to meet planned anti-Trump protests." The UK is in turmoil as the hard Brexiters play out their weak hand. There is no appetite for a clean break with the European Union. Business is raising an alarm of massive layoffs. According to Stephen Castle's "Theresa May in Fight to Save Government Amid Brexit Rift":

Several major British employers have issued warnings in recent weeks over the risks of a chaotic, or “cliff edge,” Brexit. Most prominently, Jaguar Land Rover said it could derail more than $100 billion worth of investment plans in Britain and force the closing of some factories. Airbus and BMW also questioned whether they could continue to keep manufacturing facilities in the country under those conditions.

May's muddle will continue until the day of reckoning when parliament must vote to accept whatever deal the EU grants it.

But that's several months off. Right now it's summer, and I feel as if we entered a new era. It's Trumpian of course: Life on the street as the floor beams of neoliberalism continue to disintegrate.

Craig Murray captures the spirit of our new, confused age in his post devoted to the OPCW report on Douma, "No Trump, No Clinton, No NATO":

Trump’s reaction to yet more lying claims by the UK government funded White Helmets and Syrian Observatory, a reaction of missile strikes on alleged Syrian facilities producing the non-existent nerve agent, was foolish. May’s leap for British participation was unwise, and the usual queue of Blairites who stood up as always in Parliament to support any bombing action, stand yet again exposed as evil tools of the military industrial complex.

Hillary Clinton, true to form, wanted more aggressive military action than was undertaken by Trump. Hillary has been itching to destroy Syria as she destroyed Libya. Libya was very much Hillary’s war and – almost unreported by the mainstream media – NATO bombers carried out almost 14,000 bombing sorties on Libya and devastated entire cities.

The destruction of Libya’s government and infrastructure directly caused the Mediterranean boat migrant crisis, which has poisoned the politics of much of the European Union.

Donald Trump has not started any major war. He has been more restrained in military action than any US President since Jimmy Carter. My own view is (and of course it is impossible to know for sure) that, had Hillary been in power, Syria would already have been totally destroyed, the Cold War with Russia would be at mankind threatening levels, and nuclear tension with North Korea would be escalating.

“He hasn’t destroyed mankind yet” is faint praise for anyone. Being less of an existential danger to mankind than Hillary Clinton is a level achieved by virtually the entire population of the planet. I am not supporting Trump. I am condemning Clinton. I too, like Susan Sarandon, would have voted for Jill Stein were I an American.