50 Years After Vietnam, Our Troops Remain Demoralized By Defeat
We would do well to consider how our choices in Vietnam affected our military and society in ways still felt today.We would do well to consider how our choices in Vietnam affected our military and society in ways still felt today.How NATO’s ‘model intervention’ shattered Libya and Europe
In 2010, Muammar Gaddafi made a dire prediction about Europe’s future. While negotiating a deal with Italy to prevent African migrants from using Libya as a gateway to Europe, he warned: “Tomorrow, Europe might no longer be European … as there are millions who want to come in. … We don't know if Europe will remain an advanced and united continent or if it will be destroyed, as happened with the barbarian invasions.”
A year later, Gaddafi was dead. His removal during an Arab Spring uprising created a power vacuum in Libya, allowing nearly a million migrants from Africa and the Middle East to cross the country unchecked into Europe — just as he had foreseen. Years later, the Migration Policy Institute described Libya’s continued instability, stating: “Post-Gaddafi, the trade and extortion of human beings became a central source of income for communities in Libya, often to the migrants’ detriment.”
No territorial body — whether in Africa, Europe, or anywhere else — can truly function as a nation without securing its borders.
At the peak of the migration surge into Europe in 2015, Libya became a primary transit point, with nearly 200,000 migrants per year making the journey. Smugglers charged between $5,000 and $6,000 per person to cross the Mediterranean on unsafe dinghies. Many landed first on the Italian island of Lampedusa before continuing to welfare-rich destinations like Germany and Sweden.
That same year, a separate wave — the “European migrant crisis” — unfolded, likely influenced by Libya’s collapse. This migration, largely over land, passed through the Middle East, Turkey, and Greece before reaching Germany, where then-Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the influx.
The 15th anniversary of Gaddafi’s warning is also a reminder of NATO’s direct role in his downfall. The U.S.-led alliance, facing unprecedented criticism from the current White House, orchestrated the dictator’s removal in 2011. The Arab Spring provided a pretext to eliminate a longtime regional obstacle, setting the stage for the chaos that followed.
Libya remains far from recovery and needless to say has not transitioned into a Western-style democracy. Instead, it resembles a slightly less chaotic version of Iraq, marked by deep tribal and factional divisions. However, a 2017 agreement between Italy and the Libyan coast guard has significantly reduced migrant crossings from Libya to Europe. Meanwhile, rising foreign-led terrorism and organized crime in Germany and Sweden have bolstered the appeal of right-wing populist movements.
NATO’s removal of Gaddafi, once hailed as a “model intervention” by Foreign Affairs, exposed the fundamental flaw of nation-building — failing to account for the vacuum left behind (or, really, just the folly of nation-building itself).
More than a decade later, Libya, like Iraq and Syria, remains fractured not just along political lines but also by tribal and ethnic divisions. Under Gaddafi, Libya had been both a destination and transit hub for migrants, particularly black Africans seeking work in the oil industry. After his fall, many became victims of racial violence and even enslavement by local militias and Islamist groups.
Barack Obama later admitted that failing to plan for Libya’s post-Gaddafi future was his “worst mistake” as president. Reflecting on the crisis, he noted that any stable government must first control its own borders. Given the source, the irony is unmistakable. But the point remains: No territorial body — whether in Africa, Europe, or anywhere else — can truly function as a nation without securing its borders.
Trump suggests America will take over Gaza Strip and expel residents
President Donald Trump suggested during a press briefing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening that the United States will "take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too."
On his first day in office, Trump suggested that "some beautiful things can be done" with the Gaza Strip, a 140.9-square-mile stretch of war-torn coastal land that has a "phenomenal location on the sea, the best weather" but presently looks like a "massive demolition site."
Trump noted in his prepared remarks at the briefing Tuesday that Gaza's over 1.8 million Palestinian residents should be sent to "other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts" at the expense of neighboring countries.
'Do a real job. Do something different.'
"The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is because they have no alternative," said Trump. "This is just a demolition site. Virtually every building is down. They're living under fallen concrete that's very dangerous and very precarious. They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again."
Trump indicated that with the Palestinians out, the U.S. will "own" Gaza and assume responsibility for disarming unexploded bombs and munitions; removing ruined structures; leveling the site; and creating an economic development zone that "will supply an unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people of the area."
"Do a real job. Do something different," said Trump.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — an outfit previously run by a British diplomat who denied that Hamas was a terrorist organization — as of last month, 92% of housing units in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged; 69% of all structures were destroyed or damaged; over 80% of commercial facilities were kaput; and 68% of the total road network was ruined.
Daniel Egel, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, told Bloomberg in August that the cost to rebuild Gaza, which by then had been reduced to roughly 46.29 million tons of rubble, would far exceed $80 billion.
'That piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials, and so many tribulations.'
According to the president, his plan would not only mean an end to the Palestinians' "bad luck" but "will end the bloodshed and killing once and for all."
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Netanyahu was highly receptive to Trump's plan, stating that the 47th president "sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials, and so many tribulations. He has a different idea, and I think it's worth paying attention to this."
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's former national security minister, said on X that Trump's proposal amounts to the "only solution to the Gaza problem" and called on Netanyahu to adopt the plan "as soon as possible and to begin immediate practical progress."
Former deputy national intelligence director Beth Sanner suggested to CNN that Trump's plan may be easier said than done, as millions of Gazans might resist expulsion and international law prohibits their forceful removal.
Noting that "no Arab army is going to be carting people against their will out of their homeland," Sanner suggested that the U.S. might have to step in, which could prove to be an ordeal.
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry issued a statement following the press conference, insinuating that Trump's plan is a nonstarter and reaffirming the crown's desire to "establish a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital" and its "unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, land annexation, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land."
While the plan has been criticized by activists, foreign governments, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, there has been some speculation that Trump actually has a different endgame in mind when it comes to Gaza than he has let on.
BlazeTV's Jason Buttrill, chief researcher for Glenn Beck, a former U.S. Marine and intelligence analyst for the Pentagon, suggested that Trump might actually be attempting to destroy "the Arab status quo on the entire situation. He's ending the game and beginning a new one."
"The status quo is this: Hamas and the PA continue their terrorism to expel the Jews from Israel. This will never happen, and the Arabs know this," continued Buttrill. "But none of them will accept the Palestinians because they're all just a bunch of terrorists. They start coups and revolutions every time they they go to a new country."
Buttrill indicated that Trump might be working to apply pressure on neighboring Arab nations to recognize Israel's territorial claims, bid on the Gaza rebuilding project, and volunteer to house refugees in the interim.
Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, told CBS News that Trump was putting "some very bold, fresh, new ideas out on the table" in an effort to "bring the entire region to come with their own solutions."
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Joe Biden's latest claims about vaccinations and the economy warrant a FACT-CHECK
If you’re a fan of laughing at President Joe Biden, there’s good news.
As of this weekend, there are even more reasons to laugh. Biden took to the podium to tell a cheering audience that while his detractors often poke fun at his age, he still saved the country.
“I vaccinated the nation and rebuilt the economy,” he said triumphantly (and stupidly).
“Those aren’t the wins you think they are,” Keith Malinak comments, laughing. Pat Gray is in agreement, noting that Biden “forced” many Americans to get vaccinations, and “people are still dying to this day from that.”
“The vaccine has really messed up some lives, and you forced people into getting it, otherwise they’d lose their jobs,” Gray continues, adding, “and the economy is in shambles. Are you seriously trying to claim that you fixed the economy?”
But Biden didn’t stop at claiming he “vaccinated the nation” and “rebuilt the economy.”
“When Russia invaded Ukraine, I knew what to do. I rebuilt NATO and brought our alliance to rally the world,” he told the audience.
Gray notes that the only reason Russia invaded Ukraine under Biden is because the Russians were afraid to do it under Trump.
“They had the green light now because Biden’s in office,” he says. “So he knew what to do. Start sending them hundreds of billions of dollars, and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons that we now don’t have. Send them all our ammo, which we now face a shortage of.”
But according to Biden, despite all his “wins,” he still has more work to do.
“I wish I could say the threat to our democracy has ended with our victory in 2020, but it didn’t. Our democracy is still at stake. We have more work to do, you and I,” Biden continued. “Because our most important freedom is the right to choose, the right to vote, the right to be who you are, love who you love. These basic rights are being attacked.”
The president went on to claim that children are now afraid of being gunned down in school by “weapons of war” because of the people “banning books.”
“Nobody’s banning books, douchebag,” Gray says. “Stop your lies.”
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