revisiting yalta

Joe Biden didn't want to draw 'red lines'
in Ukraine like Obama'd done before
in Syria, but tripped his own landmines,
enticing Putin to wage halfway war.
Monroe'd been wrong to stake a hemisphere
once we'd cast off Brittania's sea-girt throne.
As hegemon among our smaller peers,
it's not our place to chart their course alone.
The Baltics read the threat, and rush in aid
as if Ukraine'd joined NATO long before,
before the Russians stage another raid
in what they coyly still won't name a"war".
The seaside kingdom Putin's namesake staked
is just the first this Czar-manqué would take.

vayishlach

His brother Esau's inarticulate,
while Jacob's way too clever with his tongue.
That masquerade in Edom's borrowed kit
earned twenty years of sweat, 'midst sheep and dung.
Those twenty years elapsed, and both men grew
each filled a father's and a rancher's niche.
'Though only one of them remained a Jew
each waxed content, and evidently rich.
When last they'd met, one'd threatened violence
but they're more genial than bellicose
the solemn meeting that began so tense
resolves they'll live in peace--but not live close.
They're wholly reconciled, yet dwell apart
two brothers in two lands, 'though one in heart.

two-faced

The Pakistanis leased binLaden space
Wahhabi puritanic man-cave pad
within the aegis of their army base
he operated from Abbotabad.
The master strategist surprised in bed
attempted what his underlings do best
two bullets made a pilaf of his head;
it's rarely prudent to resist arrest.
Musharref claimed to share Obama's view
and parrot talking points he'd learned by heart.
What we'd agreed was rarely what he'd do
duplicity exalted to an art.
Untrusted ally, best among the rats
Islamabad's a Hell for diplomats.

parlous times

This latest antic in the BoJo show
might be a hoot if stakes were not so high.
He dared to ask his sov'reign to prorogue
without a guarantee that she'd comply.
Her Majesty signed off, they'll be on break
until October's run full half its course.
Scant opportunity to fix mistakes
as Britain's prospects sag from bad to worse.
Were Corbyn less unpopular by half,
this present Parliament would boot the clown.
But Corbyn as Prime Minister's a laugh;
the multi-party system's broken down.
Yanks dared the world to top Trump's flair to fail;
the British gamely answered "hold my ale".

RSVP

Prince Charles pulls duties Harry would disdain;
to socialize with Trumps he rates a "pass".
He'll never let the Press hear him complain
but Harry'd rather nappy Archie's ass.
The pomp and circumstance that Trump adores,
for Harry seems the height of normalcy.
He's trained to guard his country from new wars
and from this blight upon diplomacy.
But Charles can't ever turn his mummy down.
He's desperate to stay in her good grace.
Still thinking he might someday wear the crown,
he studies showing Donald his best face.
Arriviste peasant, sure he's born to rule;
the Windsors recognize an arrant fool.

infidelity

Trump wants our longtime allies to defray
the cost to billet troops on foreign soil.
His shoulder's cold if they won't pay to play;
The LongPeace is dissolving in turmoil.
Taipei may build a tower in his name,
and wink when he defaults on what he owes.
That he's corrupt, they're not the ones to blame
to buy a friend against their mainland foes.
But Xi perceived he's not a friend to trust;
he'll pick off border-states like so much fruit.
Let academics scream that it's unjust;
they bring no armaments to this dispute.
Like James Buchanan, many lives before;
Trump's legacy will be a world at war.

Punch and Judy

Trump claims "a very special bond" with Kim
'though no one's clear exactly what's agreed
each preens, to think the world's in love with him
and takes their gushing words for 'complished deeds.
Like Chamberlain in Munich, long ago
Trump boasts he brings us "peace" and courts the press
but Kim's the winner in the status quo
and Trump's still digging, chin-deep in his mess.
Stale pleasantries ambassadors should trade
their propagandists praise unto the heights
as if substantive progress had been made
but neither spoke a word of HumanRights.
Contemptuous of diplomatic ways,
twin childish despots, desperate for praise.

"Chairman Un" (sic)

Pompeo flubs addressing Chairman Kim
How's his first name the same as his old man's?
This Harvard lawyer's more than slightly dim,
but Kochs--at least--remain his ardent fans.
Machinists fabricating aircraft doors
need more experience, and less degrees.
But now he's getting us into new wars,
there's still no evidence of that JD.
To graduate West Point, first in his class
perhaps he seemed more clever in his youth.
But presently, he seems an arrant ass,
and fails consistently to speak the truth.
Of all the candidates from which to choose,
Trump picked a sycophant who reads no news.

out of his depth

The "fucking moron" tossed Obama's deal
expecting he could renegotiate
based on no evidence but his gut-feel
as if his Midas-touch made all things great.
Our allies warned us, he'd be on his own
if he reneged on what Obama'd signed.
New sanctions would be toothless, all alone.
But in his arrogance, he paid no mind.
For Putin, high gas prices mean more gold;
he'll gouge the Poles and Germans while he can.
Trump's sanctions reinforce his stranglehold,
suppressing competition from Iran.
In straits to vex the smoothest diplomat,
a world's entrusted to this preening brat.

old pro

Zarif could teach a Hogwart's class, or five

on how to get a price below a 'steal'

and leave the merchant grateful he's alive

and only lost his garment in the deal.

This man Trump thinks he'll out-negotiate
could sell a snowball to an Eskimo.
The egotistic fool, convinced he's great
has no idea how badly this could go.
At ease in half a dozen worldly tongues
each ambiguity's a chosen tool.
Where Trump can't finish sentences in one
a master haggler, picked on by a fool.
What madness drives this puerile orange brat
to try to scam a black-belt diplomat?

big league

Iran's Zarif denies he backs Assad
they're merely hand-in-hand against the threat
of al-Baghdadi, who insists that God
won't hear except from ISIL's minaret.
This man Trump thinks he'll out-negotiate
could sell a snowball to an Eskimo.
The egotistic fool, convinced he's great
has no idea how badly this could go.
At ease in half a dozen worldly tongues
each ambiguity's a chosen tool.
Where Trump can't finish sentences in one
a master haggler, picked on by a fool.
What madness drives this puerile orange brat
to try to scam a black-belt diplomat?

Churn II

Rex Tillerson looked every inch the part,
and Condoleeza Rice thought he'd excel.
But Trump resents an underling who's smart;
each wished his counterpart would go to Hell.
The two brought scant credentials to their roles;
an engineer's an awkward fit at State
an insecure boss, grasping for control
were prone to clash, and not de-escalate.
Mike Pompeo's a creature of Charles Koch,
a Kansas fabricator of 'plane doors.
To head our diplomats, he'd be a joke;
he's heavily invested in more wars.
New cast can't rescue ratings for this show,
but bets are down on who's the next to go.

Rexit

The torture Cheney ordered, Haspel ran,
then blithely threw the evidence away.
Now, Trump's advancing someone else's plan
by making her director, CIA.
Mike Pompeo's whole resume's a hoax
engorged with contracts where no bids were weighed.
But he discretely services the Kochs.
And that's how this administration's played.
With Rexit, there's one less adult at State,
to tell Trump what he can't or what he can,
or what would make a nation good, or great;
Mike Pompeo's just not that kind of man.
Trump's butler watches hundreds come, and go
but only fools stay long on his shit-show.

Presidential Records

Trump muses now, that someone should record
his every utterance, so we can know
a huuge idea! We all should get aboard!
No court can rest on journalists' say-so.
Dog-whistle rhetoric for good-old-boys
like they alone will weigh in on his fate
expecting Christians will hear only noise;
he's deaf to resonance to Watergate.
This shithole president, whose potty talk
has allies thinking they'll go it alone
might get away with it when in New York
but failed to learn new mores when in Rome.
A Nazi proud of his "good German blood"
has mired our Ship of State in stinking mud.

Facts on the Ground

Rejectionism's served the Arabs ill,
for fifty years, the West Bank's occupied.
Israelis claim each spring, and every hill
the Greenline's half-erased and nullified.
The monument to Yasir Arafat
must show he served his ego more than God,
the Settlers won't hand over what they've got
not even to the saint, Salam Fayyad.
A People's right, as author of its fate
is in the UN charter, plain as day
but Bibi's still intent to dominate,
no road, no olive grove's beyond his sway.
Where one controls what two were meant to share,
we've gone too far to reach a peace that's fair.

Arms Race

Seismometers show Kim makes more than noise
he's bought technology from Russia's past
an adolescent with a grown-up's toys
thinks WorldWar III could be a total blast.
The dotard on his far-off Yankee throne
perceives it as a personal offense
his manhood shrinks with each Pyongyang nosecone
contesting out death-cult predominance.
Sage diplomats recoil to hear the twain
trade threats like little boys raised on a farm.
It's not apparent either one's quite sane
but each is armed to bear for grievous harm.
Our world's beleaguered by contempt for truth
as much in dotage as in reckless youth.

leaderless

For Putin, North Korea's bomb's a win
that blares in neon lights Trump's impotence
he'll crush that stubby paw and chat, and grin
let no one doubt who brings the competence
a world on fire suits Vladimir just fine
exporting Arms will bring a flood of cash
let diplomats swap lies, and wine and dine
there's profit building cities back from ash
the fear of refugees scares Xi at night
when Kim collapses, millions mean to flee
he's no our ally in this global fight
Korean fallout mostly drifts to sea
to play the man's more than this Trump is worth
no Churchill's stepping forth to save the Earth