Trump wants a military parade

US President Donald Trump wants a military parade, like he saw in France during his last visit there, July 2017. I’m sure many of his citizens would rather like a parade like Anwar Sadat saw in 1981.

This just confirms what I wrote in my previous blog post, that he’s shaping up the military not for deterrence but for use.

He will play the silly boy who wants to glitter, pomp and circumstance, just like he always pretends to be an embarrassment of the office to get free publicity, and analysts will say that he’s playing to his base (which he is) but his main objective will be: to make being militaristic decent.

Actually, with its sickening amount of chauvinism, patriotism, nationalism, isolationism and growing xenophobia, this step could be dangerously successful in generating more racism and selfishness.

However, never forget that his objective is not the nation’s glory and success, but rather only to sell weapons to benefit the super-rich.

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I’ll tell you a story that bears on this. It’s a true story. You won’t find it in the history books yet. Historians do not even want to investigate it. Yet.

I was told first-hand by an old loyal worker of the Dutch postal authority this account that I’m sure he never had told before and never ever since.

It was probably four decades ago and he then looked close to pension. The temperature in Amsterdam was above 30⁰C/85⁰F (which is very high in a humid maritime climate), streets were deserted and sweating in his uniform with his collar open, he still was doing some job that needed to be done, though the doors to the post office itself were closed.

I complimented him on his sense of responsibility and there came the story.

He said: Do you know that even during the war [“the war” in the Netherlands is always WW II since that was the only war it was involved in, in modern history] we continued the transmission of the messages between the markets in Germany and London? We never missed a day, he added with clear pride.

I don’t understand. He elaborated.

Here, right under the main postal office of Amsterdam, were the telegraph lines between the Ruhr area and London. We made sure that twice a day in both directions at each stock exchange knew what happened at the other one.

The implication was clear. While the man in the street from England and Germany were killing each other off at the battlefield, so-called for the sake of their nations, silently, the rich of Germany and England were doing good business with each other. They were not enemies; they were acquaintances negotiating business deals.

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I remember this Israeli general who had some shares. He had foreknowledge that the next day would be war and (unethically) he sold all his stocks before the stock market in Tel Aviv would crash. The idiot. Thankfully he was a better general than economist.

The next day the war broke out and the stock market went up! Every missile send by Israel cost millions. You would expect that to be hard on the economy. It’s not. The stockpile of these projectiles needs to be replaced, bought anew. The super-rich are going to profit and the public is going to pay. “The economy” means: the interests of the super-rich. (If only, all Jews would be rich, as anti-Semites believe. Unfortunately, most of us are barely getting by.) That’s the nature of war in capitalism.

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Trump will get his parade. Let’s hope that the opposition demonstrating will not be just pacifists – because their admirable moral stand will be too idealistic (idiotic) for most Americans. Let’s hope that most counter demonstrators rather will call for moderation in military expenditure.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1