We are not headed to a Second Cold War. We are not at risk of heading to a Second Cold War. We are traveling at trans-warp speed toward the First Flash War. It will start and end quickly, laying the groundwork for WWIII and FWII to follow.

These pieces of our times are important to distinguish. Different analysts with different levels of understanding of history are trying their best to explain our times. To a novice—either to history or to the West or to the East—who just begins to understand, it may seem like we are headed toward Cold War II.

China and the US are in a growing conflict on the surface, but Russia is whispering in China's ear. Russia wants the same old thing. The US is generally unaware of Russia's intent or dismisses it.

China thinks that the US wants to retain power. China wants to rise, so Beijing feels the need to "beat back" the US.  · · · →

Our president called off an invasion that could have been what the Bay of Pigs was to JFK. We were on the brink of nuclear war with Russia 58 years ago, and we didn't even know it! What is the value of a human life compared to a drone? Isn't the purpose of drones to spare human life? Some would use the loss of a drone as an excuse to end human life, but not our president.

Strategy and navigation that win always elude the untrained mind. What seems to most people like the way to win is precisely how to lose. What seems idiotic to most people is the only way to win. Trump's ongoing fight against establishments in both Asia and Washington prove who is on which side of the "which way is wise" debate. One of those important, counter-intuitive strategies is mercy.

"To err is human; to forgive, divine," wise words, courtesy Alexander Pope.  · · · →

Look at your own situation, then take a good, long look past it. One of the most important decisions is whether to ask for help. Sometimes it's better to ask sooner rather than to make more work for friends later. But, if you can suck it up long enough to help someone else, do so.

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One million people in a population of just over 7 million protested a Beijing-backed extradition law in Hong Kong. Protests continued all week until a second, larger march returned one week later. What in the world is happening in the Far East? To understand Hong Kong, first take a look at Taiwan.

Much like the Asian Mad Scientist Theorem for North Korea, consider the Taiwan Schedule Theorem, as follows: Unknown to the world, China has a military expansion schedule which requires possession of Taiwan. By a certain time, Beijing wants to use Taiwan's harbors to anchor China's Navy. Anything that threatens or delays that schedule causes China to take more extreme steps elsewhere, in fact anywhere, anyway.  · · · →

One million people in a population of just over 7 million protested a Beijing-backed extradition law in Hong Kong. Protests continued all week until a second, larger march returned one week later. What in the world is happening in the Far East? To understand Hong Kong, first take a look at Taiwan.

Much like the Asian Mad Scientist Theorem for North Korea, consider the Taiwan Schedule Theorem, as follows: Unknown to the world, China has a military expansion schedule which requires possession of Taiwan. By a certain time, Beijing wants to use Taiwan's harbors to anchor China's Navy. Anything that threatens or delays that schedule causes China to take more extreme steps elsewhere, in fact anywhere, anyway.  · · · →

All this international conflict is outshining the Left's ever weakening calls against Trump. But, the Left doesn't give up easily.

The summary of Robert Mueller's argument against Trump is that Trump tried to stop an investigation known to be fake. A group of people started a fake investigation against Trump, they broke the law, along with customary rules and ethical precedent. Mueller thinks Trump tried to stop this lawless, no-rules, fake investigation. Because of that, Trump "interfered with justice"?

Financially, the term for Mueller's side of the argument is called a "hostile takeover".  · · · →

All this international conflict is outshining the Left's ever weakening calls against Trump. But, the Left doesn't give up easily.

The summary of Robert Mueller's argument against Trump is that Trump tried to stop an investigation known to be fake. A group of people started a fake investigation against Trump, they broke the law, along with customary rules and ethical precedent. Mueller thinks Trump tried to stop this lawless, no-rules, fake investigation. Because of that, Trump "interfered with justice"?

Financially, the term for Mueller's side of the argument is called a "hostile takeover".  · · · →

You have your own painful self-cuts you must make, sooner or later. We need don't cut back on our stuff every day, that's not necessary. But, when the time comes, we always find an excuse—or five—to say, "Not today."

No, we all must make painful cuts at times. Once we do, we grow.

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Chinese rhetoric spiked over recent weeks. They made threats. Trump made threats. They made more threats. Trump and Xi are BFF, just like Xi and Putin, but Xi and Putin are BFF-er. Now, we move toward quiet action. If China stops exporting "rare earth metals" to the US, the US would simply get them from somewhere else. "Rare" means many countries can get them, but few actually do because China does it so much.

The US is selling several tanks and tank-buster rockets to Taiwan. Beijing isn't happy—about the $2 Billion in weapons sales to Taiwan, but also because of the people who publicly express memory of what happened 30 years ago at Tienanmen Square.

Around the time Taiwan's primaries finish, the US launches its first Ford-class carrier in October, larger than a Nimitz. It still has a year of training and won't be commissioned until 2022.

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One of the best-kept secrets in America is that tariffs discourage imports; if we raise tariffs, imports go down. Another best-kept secret is that if imports go down, domestic jobs go up. These two secrets are so well-kept that not even Senate Republicans know. They think that the same amount of imports will keep flowing in, even with tariffs. They think tariffs will not make consumers want to buy American-made goods again.

Even better-kept is the secret that tariffs discourage certain things in the country that makes the goods. When threatened with tariffs if "irregular" immigration wasn't stopped their side of the border, Mexico suddenly stopped illegal immigration previously said to be unstoppable. This comes as such a revolutionary surprise, perhaps we should consider that threatening tariffs on the sun could stop global warming! Tariffs seem capable of doing things no one imagined, after all.

Another well-kept secret is that America's government has its need to follow rules.  · · · →

The unpredictable nature of war should serve as both a caution and an encouragement.  Take no small victory to rationalize overconfidence—though aggressors do anyway. Free people defending home and country find hope knowing storms always precede calm.

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The "Symphony Asian Mad Scientist Theorem" continues to play out. Trump engaged North Korea in talks that led to a calm without North Korea changing its DNA. Trump eventually reminded North Korea what everyone knew would be necessary to reach an agreement and North Korea stomped off.

Now, Trump comes off a marathon of wider-scope talks with China and continues to talk about talk, while the message is sent more clearly to China every day. China already knows what will be necessary to reach an agreement, its ambitions otherwise are classic Imperial-Confucian wishful thinking.

Over the weekend, the US and China exchanged insults at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore. America isn't gonna' tip-toe around China anymore! And, China will risk any and every cost and will defeat everyone who stands in the way! They sure told each other! We can't say China didn't warn us, just like China warned the world before the victorious Korean armistice and before China's great and splendid invasion of Vietnam.  · · · →

America is dividing between the "hopers" and the "doers". On the one hand, many voters look for hope through our current times. On the other hand, voters work hard and smart to push the times along.

The Left is lost in a lost hope of impeaching Trump. Their suggestions get more outrageous by the day—it's hard to keep up with. By the time one pundit offers an interpretation, the next suggestion is already in draft. The problem is with order of strength. Usually we present our strongest arguments first. Usually the first strategies used are the strategies most likely to succeed. If so many things have failed this far into Trump's term, the likelihood of success isn't exactly high.

The Right—well, some of the Right—has been working harder than ever. The boring managers who can't keep an organization from floundering always hate the people who know what they're doing—like Trump.  · · · →

Moving on to the next phase doesn't involve what we often suppose. Yes, it's usually unpopular. Yes, it's usually political and partisan. But above all, moving into the phase of decision is about resources. Diligence, work, wits, strength, practice, study, smarts—these enforce decisions.

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Trump has taken no action nor signed any orders giving Kim more permission. Many pundits and opinion commentators have speculated that Trump will have difficulty with Abe because of his patient words for Kim, but all of this speculation is speculation only. They are presenting a model to analyze Trump's decisions, but that model is devoid of a grid of using "kind words" in the face of betrayal. Kim's strategy has not deviated: provoke a US response. Trump's words "defuse" that strategy, so to speak. Trump is no pretentious fool, more of a patient father.

The situation in China, however is heating up, obviously for the same reasons.  · · · →

In terms of pre-election analysis, Republicans win by energizing the base. Nothing will energize the Republican base like the declassification about to drop onto the other end of what Mueller was investigating, except one thing. War with China is coming.

Censorship is having a blossom effect and it is difficult to know how it will end, other than to know that public utility status is coming for any company deemed to be a social media giant. Radicals don't exist on any single end of political spectrums. When one radical end calls for censorship of the entire half of the other spectrum, boomerang and escalation effects soon kick in. But, the call for censorship from the ever self-radicalizing Left was so extreme in degree and scope, it made a monster that couldn't not grow beyond the control of its mad creator.  · · · →

Evil and injustice only have chance to spread when people believe that they don't matter merely because they are small. Small things always come in numbers, so they always matter for better or worse.

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