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ALPERN AT LARGE - Not saying that I agree with Trump on the whole Ukraine/Russia policies now doing a 180-degree turn from the Biden Administration’s policies, but it does seem that he wants our military focus to be on our southern border.]
“I stand with Ukraine” is a phrase that many Americans, and also European leaders like to use...but when it comes to the funding and the soldiers sent to Ukraine, I’m not so sure that the support won’t end up being “a mile wide and an inch deep”.
Putin is a horrible thug...but he won’t stop at killing Americans or Europeans, and NATO membership for Ukraine obligates the U.S. and European NATO nations to send troops to Ukraine if attacked.
Yet will the Trumpian approach (no one, certainly not yours truly, is asking anyone to “like” the Orange Man in the White House) of sending American civilians all over Ukraine in the rare earth minerals deal, and force Putin to back off of Ukraine and make peace, work? Will it be popular in the eyes of Americans?
Similarly, will declaring Mexico’s and other drug cartels from south of the border to be terrorist organizations work, and be popular in the eyes of Americans?
For those of us who’ve paid close attention to the impact of Mexico’s cartels, and how that nation has become much more of a “no-go” location for American citizens compared to how things were a few decades ago, they should frighten all of us.
Hence when American citizens get injured or killed at the hands of Mexican or Venezuelan cartels (or even illegal immigrants residing here), Trump’s response will be very different than the possibility of sending American troops to Ukraine.
Now our troops are amassing at the U.S. Mexican border, including a Stryker Brigade and a General Support Aviation Battalion ...so if you think the Zelenskyy/Trump blowup was a doozy, just wait for the Sheinbaum/Trump confrontation.
Things don’t appear to be too cozy between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and United States President Donald Trump, but I suspect that these cartels instill fear in both Mexicans and any United States citizen who knows that they set a new standard for the word “ruthless”.
So of course President Sheinbaum is warning the U.S. against invading her nation after the terrorist designation of Mexican cartels, but what will she do?
Fight the American troops? Supply the cartels with weapons and intelligence against American troops?
Or assist the American troops if she deems it beneficial for all parties involved?
Scary stuff, here, so stay tuned.
Because with Putin and the Mexican cartels bearing so much weaponry, and if they’re not likely at all to be afraid of killing American citizens, we’ve got a lot of “dread and loathing” in our nation, and perhaps some day in our neighborhoods, to start reeeeeeeeeeeally thinking about.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
