Two bonuses for the US Democrats: Trump ketchup fury and ban on abortions

The United States these days seems to be permanently in outrage over big issues of the day, whether it be about abortion rghts, smuggling of illegal immigrants, shootings or the developing sensations re the January 6 failed insurrection. The key questions is: will these mighty issues favour the Republicans or the Democrats in the midterm elections in November? Increasingly I would say the Democrats will benefit which is good news for Joe Biden and bad news for Donald Trump. On the face of it, the pro-life decision by the US Supreme Court, overturning the Joe v Wade ruling guaranteeing the constitutional right for women to have abortions, should be a boost to the conservative half of the nation, thus a big boost for Trump who welcomed the court decision. But the reality is that one in five conceptions in the US ends in an abortion. A staggering figure, but it means a helluva lot of women are now to be deprived of easy access to local doctors to receive terminations, especially, of course, if they live in states that support the Supreme Court ruling. That could well bring a backlash at the polls against the Republicans, and definitely against Trump whose past comments about women and his attitude towards them should go against him if he decides to stand again. So the scrapping of Joe v Wade just might help the Democrats to keep control of the House of Repesentatives and the Senate in November. Likewise, the revelations by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson about Trump's furious temper and his ketchup moment should send alarm bells across the country. Richard Nixon had a terrible temper and used foul language too and look what happened to him. So, all in all, I think Biden and the Democrats will be feeling quietly confident about the midterms which goes to show, not for the first time, that events can change the political landscape overnight.

Former White House aide's devastating testimony against Trump

Cassidy Hutchinson is a name that will forever be remembered, especially if the US Justice Department takes the mighty step of charging Donald Trump with criminality in relation to the armed insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 2021. The assistant to Mark Meadows, Trump's then chief of staff, spoke fluently, calmly and, ultimately, very bravely when questioned by the Congressional committee investigating the January 6's attempt by Trump's followers to overturn the election result which handed the White House to Joe Biden. She revealed a man determined to back his supporters even though he was told many were armed and who refused to intervene because, as he said, they weren't going to be violent against him. And he wanted the Secret Service to drive him to the Capitol so that he could be there with them. Effing and blinding, the then president of the United States wanted his way because he was the f.... president. Everything, well almost everything, Cassidy Hutchinson said should be reason enough for American voters never ever to even consider voting for Trump again. He was clearly a man determined to overthrow the democratic result of the 2020 presidential election and remain in power and when he was told his legal adviser disagreed with him he hurled his lunch plate against the wall, splashing tomato ketchup all over the place. Cassidy helped clear up the mess. The only thing about her testimony that worries me is her claim that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of The Beast presidential armoured limousine to force the driver to take him to the Capitol rather than back to the White House. She didn't witness this, she was told this was what happened and that this was when he said he was the f.... president. But the president never sits in the front of The Beast next to the driver. He always sits in the back. So how could he try and grab the steering wheel from the back seat which is well away from the driver's position? That didn't somehow ring true, unless he jumped out of the vehicle and moved to the driver's side to grab the steering wheel. But that sounds unlikely, and, anyway, if that is what happened, surely Cassidy would have said so. So I think that bit of her testimony, based as it was on a third party's comment, needs a little more clarification. Nevertheless, the answers she gave to the questions should ditch Trump's chances of winning a second term as president!

The West can't save Ukraine from Putin's destruction strategy

Despite billions and billions of dollars worth of weapons pouring into Ukraine from 30 countries, led by the US, I have come to the tragic and unavoidable conclusion that Vladimir Putin cannot be stopped. He will continue to destroy Ukraine, city by city, town by town, port by port, factory by factory until there is nothing left to sustain the country as an independent nation on this planet. Putin is literally tearing Ukraine apart, taking his revenge on a country which dared to align itself with the West when it should have stayed subservient to Moscow. Ukraine, Putin said, was a non-country and ever since the invasion began on February 24, his brutal army has dedicated itself to making sure Ukraine becomes a non-country for ever. The destruction of schools, hospitals, apartment blocks and supermarkets is Putin's message to his neighbour. He wants nothing left worth keeping. Sending more and more heavy weapons for the Ukrainians to attack Russian military units is never going to be enough. Nato leaders meeting in Madrid have come up with bold statements about backing Ukraine to the end. But what is "the end"? The defeat of Russia? That's not going to happen. The defeat of Ukraine? Nato can't let that happen. I'm afraid the bold words are just that. Western weapons are not going to win a war when the enemy - Putin - is determined to destroy and annihilate and murder. The western weapons will stall some of the destruction for a period but they won't bring victory for Kyiv and humiliation for Putin. The Russian autocrat has watched with pleasure the consequences of the invasion - energy supply crises in Europe, food price hikes, cost of living turmoil - and all of this plays into his hands. There is nothing the Nato leaders can do in Madrid which will change any of this, unless......Unless the alliance issues a warning to Putin: stop the destruction now or face a war with the 30 nations of Nato. I know, I know, everyone is scared that this could lead to a nuclear war. So the likelihood of this sort of warning being made is zero. But something more than just arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia is going to have to be found. Otherwise Putin is going to win, win, win. And so will China. Big time.

Please Joe Biden speak up!

No one has to bellow and gesticulate like Donald Trump. But raising your voice a little really helps when trying to get across a very important message. Joe Biden just hasn't got it. The voice I mean. At the G7 summit in Bavaria he spoke like a lost soul when he appeared before the cameras. He spoke about Ukraine and the importance of not letting Pootn win as if he had just woken up from a long sleep. The message came across so quiet, almost a whisper, and no conviction at all. Surely he could have raised the decibles a touch and remind the world, and especially Pootn, that he is the president who has sent more than $5 billion of weapons to help the Ukrainians survive against the Russian onslaught. Of course we don't miss Trump, no one does, at least on this side of the Atlantic, but when he walked into a room or onto the stage he barged everyone out of the way and spoke to camera wanting the whole world to hear what he had to say. With Biden, it's all gentle gentle sleepy sleepy. Putin I bet had to turn up his TV volume to actually hear what he said about Ukraine. The thing is that as Biden gets older I doubt he is going to change the volume. Indeed, he is more likely to get quieter and quieter and more and more sleepy-sounding. When Maggie Thatcher came to power she received speech-training to lower her vocal tones and inject a more forceful sound. It worked although her voice became somewhat strident, but no one doubted who was the boss. Biden needs some serious speech-training and advice on projecting his voice and throwing his arms around a bit. Just to give the impression that he really does care what he is saying and wants everyone to hear his every word. Come on, Joe, speak up and at 'em.

Is the West too complacent about Putin's "strategic" failure?

Ever since Putin and his invasion army failed to take Kyiv in a blitzrieg attack at the beginning of the assault on Ukraine it has been a source of comfort to Nato and Nato's partners that the Russian leader had suffered a strategic failure. This comforting conclusion was repeated yet again today by Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, in a TV interview. The trouble is the war is more than four months old and things have changed. Putin, yes, failed to grab Kyiv in the first few days of the invasion as it seems he had planned and a helluva lot of things went wrong for him, mostly the failure by his army chiefs to get the logistics side of the invasion sorted out. Tanks ran out of fuel, soldiers ran out of food and water, and a huge amount of armour was destroyed by the Ukrainian military as the Russian convoys ground to a halt. But Putin appointed a Big Cheese general to take charge and here we are four months later and the Russians have destroyed several cities, reducing them to rubble - Mariupol being the first to get the treatment - and the Donbas region in the east is steadily falling into Russian hands. Putin has a new strategy and he is reminding the likes of Blinken that he hasn't dropped his initial strategy because he is pounding Kyiv with missile strikes and is probably hoping that it will eventually force a surrender to avoid the capital also being turned to dust. So, in reality, there is no comfort zone for the West, let alone for poor Ukraine which has suffered untold casualties and property destruction. Putin is still in charge and the Russians are still advancing. I don't think it is either realistic or truthful to try and put it across that Putin has suffered a mighty strategic defeat. Tell that to the millions of Ukrainians who have had their lives ruined, probably for ever.

Belarus demonstrates its backing for Putin

The firing of missiles into Ukraine from Belarus has reminded Nato and the Kyiv government that they are fighting two nations, Russia and its lackey, Belarus, led by the autocratic, Putin-loving Aleksandr Lukashenko. Seeing these two men together, Putin several inches shorter, never exactly creates confidence that the war in Ukraine is going to end any day soon. Putin and Lukashenko are the terrible twins, both unmovable from their leadership roles and both seriously anti-West and probably as paranoid as each other. As far as we know the Belarussian army is not fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian soldiers but Lukashenko is perfectly happy for Putin to use the territory of Belarus for missile attacks. The latest reports from British intelligence is that the Russians are running out of weapons to launch at poor Ukraine but I see no sign of that and just to prove Putin is keeping his missile factories working, 40 missiles were launched today at multiple targets, all from Belarus. You get the feeling Putin is more than happy the way things are going.

Guantanamo detainee numbers drop to 36

Three dozen to go. At the height of the Guantanamo story there were 780 prisoners in the detention camp in Cuba. With the transfer of one detainee on Thursday to Qatar, the total has dropped to 36. At this rate, under the Biden administration, we should be down to about a dozen by the end of Biden's first term of office. But Guantanamo which was first set up in January 2002 will still be there. One detainee who should by now be released and enjoying a new life outside Gitmo remains in detention in a catch-22 situation. Majid Khan, a 42-year-old Pakistani, is one of the few detainees to have cooperated with the US authorities. He decided to plead guilty to being an al-Qaeda courier and in return for a lighter sentence agreed to tell all to the FBI and CIA. When he first appeared in the military tribunal court in Guantanamo he wore a very smart pinstriped dark blue suit. He was very dfferent from other detainees who always turned up in their loose, baggy white cotton pantaloons and shirts. He completed his reduced in March. But he hasn't been able to leave Gitmo because as he cooperated with the US it's too risky for him to be repatriated to Pakistan or any third country who agrees to accept him, and there are presumably tricky legal reasons why he can't be allowed to set up home in America. So he's stuck. It's just one of the many conundrums created by a detention camp that should have been closed years ago.