I laughed out loud when I saw that Putin had not only refused to expel 35 American diplomats in a diplomatic tit for tat, but he also invited their children to the Kremlin for a New Year’s Eve party. 

I used to think Putin played chess to Obama’s checkers. Now I just feel sorry for Obama. But should I? Is there more to the story? As Paul Craig Roberts says, why would Obama set himself up to look like a fool? Perhaps we are the ones being set up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PGv8VZ0QN8

Then there are the 1600 armored tanks that the U.S. has just shipped to Europe. What? What’s THATabout? Pedogate perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQKTvxy71lI

Meanwhile, Obama’s foreign policy legacy as President has dwindled — to what? Zero? 

Master Judoka Putin “The Gracious” Outclasses “Lame Duck” Obama

Excerpt:

The foreign policy of two Obama administrations has been a terrible mess. Think about his big initiatives and the results at the end of his rule:

• “Reset” with Russia: FAILED
• Negotiations with Iran: Somewhat succeeded but not institutionalized and in high danger of being reversed
• “Pivot” to Asia: FAILED
• TTP and TTIP trade pacts: FAILED:
• New Middle-East peace initiative: FAILED
• Regime change in Ukraine: Somewhat succeeded by ended in a huge fascist mess
• Regime change in Libya: Somewhat succeeded by ended in a huge terrorist haven mess
• Regime change in Syria: FAILED

_____

Remember that Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in 2009 to President Barack Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”?

If Obama’s (let’s call it “preemptive”) Nobel Prize was an idealistic expectation then, by now it’s a sick, tragic joke. Only no joke. Not when millions, of lives have been lost, ruined, displaced, refuged, disabled, abandoned, PTSD’d. Not when our Earth continues to receive the beatings of our ruinous wars. Not when the capitalist, materialist “growth economy” still prevails on this finely tuned, grief-stricken, finite planet. 

Has the world ever looked more topsy turvy?

I warn my young housemates: “Make sure you do your practices, daily, to get and stay, centered. It’s not going to get any easier. It’s going to get a lot harder.”

Welcome to 2017.

Me? Rather than let the larger world’s accelerating absurdity drive me crazy, I’m going to focus locally next year, more than ever before. Not only have we just purchased another house to join the first two in our Green Acres Village pod, but tonight, podmate Rebecca and I plan to attend Mayor Hamilton’s New Year’s Eve party with over 1300 other civic-minded souls.