Rob's Flash Messages
Rob's Stories
Phone(y) tap claims
137 
While taking a rest for a week to see how the world was developing without responding to it too eagerly every time, I admit I was gasping for air after last Sunday's Trump tweets. Without any visible proof Trump accused Obama for tapping "his" phones while insulting Obama viciously (and still has not stopped doing so with almost every tweet he blasts). It was not only embarrassing to see that happen but moreover it is starting to feel awkward and dangerous that a man who is obviously not smart enough to be a president of any country, is in charge of the most powerful one.
Trump obvioulsy does not seem to understand that even a president of the US is not in charge of everything and everyone and that in a democratic system there are "checks and balances" and a division of powers to avoid that a single man can do what Trump now obvioulsy seem to aim for. His phone tap rant on twitter, as a response to probably another Breitbart story he had read earlier, shows that he is unaware of or even simply does not accept the Trias Politica and the existing legal procedures of the US. He also does not seem to understand that this will most likely backfire in his own pocket, whatever the outcome is.
The Apprentice (The Reality Show President - Season 2)
119 
It's both amusing and terrifying to rewatch episodes of Trump's "The Apprentice" and see how that TV persona has shaped his presidencies. Remember how contestants were evaluated on communication, team building, and results, culminating in his trademark "You're fired!"? The irony is palpable when we look at his own performance in these areas.
Communication? Trump has evolved from Twitter tantrums to Truth Social tirades. His thin skin hasn't thickened – every perceived slight still triggers a cascade of ALL-CAPS posts. His press conferences remain exercises in alternative reality, with each appearance more disconnected from facts than the last. Where once we had KellyAnne Conway and Sean Spicer twisting themselves into pretzels to defend him, now a rotating cast of spokespersons attempts to explain away his latest indictments, election interference claims, and increasingly erratic behavior.
Team building? His first term was a revolving door of resignations and firings. Now, after Biden's interlude, he's struggling to build a team for his second term. Many experienced Republicans are quietly declining positions, wary of associating with his brand of chaos. His promise to pursue "retribution" against political enemies has made recruitment even harder. The party that once grumbled about his leadership now faces a choice between complete submission or political exile.
And results? His first term gave us chaos, COVID mismanagement, and an insurrection. His campaign promises then – like now – were grand but hollow. The wall? Partially built and crumbling. Healthcare? No replacement for Obamacare materialized. Infrastructure? Biden actually delivered on that one, though Trump claims credit. His job creation announcements were often recycled news about previously planned investments, just as they are now.
His current promises sound eerily familiar: another wall, more deportations, trade wars 2.0. He still doesn't grasp that presidential powers have limits – though he's made it clear he plans to test those limits further. His understanding of global technology and trade remains stuck in the 1980s, even as AI reshapes the economy and geopolitical alliances shift.
The tragic comedy continues with his base still believing in the reality show version of governance. They cheer for the spectacle while actual governance crumbles. Polls show his supporters still can't distinguish between political theater and real policy achievements – much like those who once couldn't tell the difference between the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare.
After four years of Biden attempting to restore normalcy, we're back to the reality show presidency. But this time, the stakes are even higher, and the script is darker. If America were still "The Apprentice," the host himself would have been fired long ago for incompetence. Instead, he's somehow gotten a second season.
YOU'RE REHIRED? (Heaven help us all.)
(big thanks to all the great cartoon artists in this article: Signe Wilkinson, David Horsey, Mike Thompson and Steven Camley)
Now what?
685 
People ask me why I am so mad about Trump: "It's not even your country, it's far away, we have our own problems, do something about that!". Well that's exactly what I am doing. For decades my family and history lessons at school taught me about the Americans who saved us in WOII and are stil protecting us during the cold war and up until today. And for decades I took that for granted. Meanwhile the American dream came to me through TV, movies, music and stories from my friends and colleagues who crossed the ocean to find their personal luck, love and success. And I've even been there too for work and holidays a few times to sniff the air of that dream.
But somehow in the back of my mind there've been always some questions. Big decisions were made for us. In Europe we didn't have the "bombs" at least not in the quantity like the US and Russia so the cold war was mainly a fight between the US and the Soviets with Europe somewhere in between. The last decades or so big wars were started to "defend democracy" and protect us from terrorists. Yes, in Europe we also know democracy and we do have serious problems with terrorists. From everywhere. In the past from the IRA (Irish Republican Army), RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion in Germany), ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, armed Basque nationalists in Spain), quite a few more and recently Islamic fundamentalistic radicals too.
Nevertheless under guidance of the US (and the UK) and under the flags of the UN and NATO "we" have started or kludged a couple of huge wars like in Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and more. No real results (except Kuwait) are delivered, all the war zones are severely instabilized and Europe is suffering from a huge refugee problem as a consequence. Reliable figures are difficult to get but rough estimates say that somewhere between 250.000 and 500.000 people were killed in those wars due to "our efforts". City's, economies, families are completely ruined.
Meanwhile Crimea is taken by Russia again. A Malaysian aircraft with about 300 people was shot by the Russians out of the air above Ukraine. Israel, Turkey, Ukraine, Libia and quite a few countries in the neighborhood of European borders are still a complete mess. And on top of that, the economic downturn, by the way started in the US due to bad legislation in the fincance sector, brought populism in huge numbers. Le Pen in France, Wilders in the Netherlands, the FPÖ in Austria, Boris Johnson in the UK and more everywhere cause instability and protectionism with Brexit as an disastrous example. And with all the above examples in the heart of Europe, nothing is really done.
To me, Trump is just a caricature of the ultimate wrong direction. He says and does everything a sensible European leader or even any human being would or at least should never do. But he is there and even attracts "fans" in Europe with his clownesque behavior. Meanwhile he is the President of the United States, the self proclaimed "leader of the world". And that is just terrifying. Being mad at him is in fact being mad at myself having lived in a bubble of false stories. And I must admit, his strategy is satisfying. Create an enemy, condemn the past and get enough energy from that to tell your own stories. I can only hope my facts are more accurate.
I believe it's time that Europe unites again. The French have "liberté, égalité, fraternité" as their motto and in the heart and constitution of every European country and their people something similar is close by. It's time that we break free of our "big brother": the US. Not that we should run to Russia, on the contrary, but given our long common European history we do have lots of experience collaborating with the far east countries like China, Japan, India and Indonesia and some more in Africa too.
Lets enjoy the turmoil coming from the US (they have some real good comic shows every night :)) and lets take them as an example how we shouldn't create our world. Hopefully common sense will emerge there soon and maybe we can than reboot cooperation between Europe and the US again too. But for the time being, no, we should build to our own strength.
Meanwhile in a few months elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands will set the pace. Fast forwards to a brave new world with promises of prosperity for everyone due to reliable collaboration between all European countries and their partners. Or backwards towards a tired and frightened society with every country on its own.
Vote!
Small countries, big countries
723 What makes a country big? If you don't take pride and ego into consideration, the answer is simple: the amount of natural resources and/or people (which means: tax payers). You have to have at least one of the two but having them both is better.
With natural resources you can generate money by just selling them and do something with the profit. Given the fact that almost no resources are ever endless, the Norwegian model is far superior: put a big share of the profits on the bank and invest in infrastructure. The Dutch model has proven to be quite bad: spend the money on social facilities. Not that it's bad to care for your people but this business model is doomed to fail someday and then the money is gone leaving a big black hole in social care behind.
Tax payers build the other pillar underneath a countries cashbook. If you have more people, the pile of (tax) money is bigger. You can even be generous and decrease taxes. After all, if you have the bureaucracy under control, the economy of scale makes you powerful. Just like big companies. That's why they are expanding all the time with full power on autonomous growth and buying other companies.
Small countries just don't have the investment power. They can not do big "projects" like versatile and powerful defense systems, high level and expensive industrial technologies like for cars, ships, airplanes and spacecrafts, or a state of the art infrastructure for communication and transport. The Dutch might say: "Hey, we do have Rotterdam, Schiphol and some good universities!". Yes, we have, but the power of these examples is already rapidly declining thanks to the investments of more powerful (= more money) countries like Dubai, Turkey and China. The harbour of Rotterdam is still impressive with an 11th place after 10 Asian (!) container terminal harbours but 10 years ago Rotterdam was in the top 10 itself. The university of Amsterdam is 57th on the worlds ranking list, Delft 62 and the rest is outside the top-100.
Does this mean small countries can not be proud of themselves on their culture or their achievements? Of course they can! But it's on an other scale. Let's be honest, with less impact to the rest of the world. The smaller you are, the lesser the impact. Liechtenstein, Andora and even the Netherlands are proud countries but their impact on a global scale is less impressive as opposed to the impact of the US, China, Japan, Germany and the UK. I am just summing up the top-5 countries in the world with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Europe (with the UK) would be first or second depending on which figures you take (from the IMF, World Bank or the UN). India, Russia and Brazil are other promising top-15 countries not in the least due to their military capabilities. Funny, if California, Texas and New York were countries, they would be in the top-15 as well with California even in teh top-10! Very impressive is the rapid growth of South Korea, Taiwan, the United Arabic Emirates and Turkey. All examples of countries who are almost relentless investing in their industrial or services powers. The "traditional" top-10 will change just within a decade or so and the new top will be demanding their seats in important councils like the G-7 or the Security Council. Germany, France, the UK and Italy have to be satisfied with the G20 and give up their currently more important seats and depend on their influence in the EU.
So what can smaller countries do? Well, still be proud on themselves of course and protect their culture, history and capabilities. But unite as well. And focus on lesser but stronger powers. It may be hard to give up aspects of self-determination but it is inevitable. Losing some military defense systems, border control, tax collection and industries might make a proud country feel bad on the short term. But they will be sooooo much more proud to play an important role in the world for the long term with their strongest capabilities as opposed to a scatter of "unimportant things".
Imagine that some day a big spaceship shows up. Let's assume it's friendly and seeking development and trade. Just like we do. To whom are they talking to? To some congress like a hall with hundreds or even thousands of people? A group of dozens of "world leaders" representing the worlds population? That would be quite funny!
Happy growing :)
(this article has been published on my old website earlier)
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