Friday, April 23, 2021
THROW THE GUY SOME BONE OF RECIPROCITY.
LATEST WITHDRAWAL DATE FOR TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN: SIMPLY WISHFUL.
ICHEOKU says no amount of time spent in Afghanistan will ever be enough to accomplish whatever "mission goals" that demanded it, because it is the Afghani society that is troubled and not necessarily the Talibans or any other terrorist groups operating there. If the society was functional enough, those terrorists groups will not find it such a conducive place for their operational base. But it is a permanently failed State and no amount of American presence there, no matter how elongated, will ever right their ship of State. It has everything to do with the brand of ultra conservative Islamism being practiced there, which is entirely anti Western civilization. This makes it difficult if not impossible to have a safe workable tradeoffs that will be acceptable to America and the mullahs in charge of the Islamic orthodoxy to warrant a safe withdrawal. America wants a Western value based Afghanistan, but the mullahs of Kabul prefer the country's full return to their annihilistic Islamism and nothing else.
So, as long as the breeding madrassas which churn out millions of Islamist fanatics, who are completely brained and steeped in their brand of ancient Islamism, continue to thrive in Afghanistan, that long will Afghanistan be burrowing deeper into absolute Islamic orthodoxy. A matter made worse because nearly the entire population want it that way and majority always carries the vote. Whether America leaves on September 11th, 2021 or one hundred years later on September 11th, 2121, Afghanistan will still revert to their brand of extreme Islamism and also instal a Taliban government in Kabul. There is no other way around it. So, unless America is ready to completely annex Afghanistan as a territory or have an irrevocable permanent military base there built there to guard them in perpetuity, it will be better to cut the losses now and beat it. Afghanistan will never change or abandon its ideological extremism and will forever remain an extremists infested parch of desolate earth.
If Afghanistan's neighbors and other countries around that hemisphere are comfortable with it becoming a failed state in the event of American troops final withdrawal, so be it. If Afghanistan implodes, it is a crisis which America can watch from a afar and can always timely mount a response should America become threatened as a result. American troops were not in Afghanistan before September 11th, 2001 and they can always go back to kill off any terrorists should they ever threaten or dare strike at America again. America has been defending itself from so many foes including Russia, North Korea and Iran without American troops being stationed in those countries. So, the argument that terrorists from Afghanistan will strike at America again if the troops are withdrawn is simply a hogwash and not a reason to station them there indefinitely. But if not now, when? If not in September 11th 2021, when? Will September 11th, 2121 be any better? Just bring the troops home and September 11th, 2021 will be just fine.
Thursday, April 22, 2021
CAN WE PLEASE NOT MAKE VLADIMIR PUTIN MADDER: ENOUGH ALREADY.
At least, Vladimir Putin's Russia is somewhat free, with limited opposition and limited press freedom, unlike Xi Jinping China and Kim Jong Un's North Korea with absolutely zero freedom for the opposition and the press. In North Korea, such attempt is ruthless put down by feeding suspected non compliant people alive to purposely starved rabid wild dogs. China also ruthlessly puts them down and have now crushed democracy in Hong Kong and menacingly threatening to do the same in Taiwan. So why single Vladimir Putin out for a separate treatment. He is still European, a white man; and has more to gain with a peaceful Europe than an Europe devastated by fissile materials. He is apparently fully invested in the preservation of the white race and their continuous survival as a people. Therefore, he will be more amenable to reaching a detente with the West and such opening should be exploited for good.
America and other Western European nations as well as Australia and New Zealand should explore some ways to meet Vladimir Putin half way and see how to provide him with some necessary accommodations in order to sooth his ego, towards achieving a more peaceful, non confrontational, co-existence with Russia's Vladimir Putin. The approach of the last two decades of constantly pillorying Vladimir Putin does not seem to have worked or at least worked as anticipated. He has been in power since 2000 and nothing seems to have changed in his operational behavioral pattern and mode of conduct. So, why continue on the same pathway that has led to no where with a change in his behavior; or must the West be so stubborn, continuously powering along a pathway to no where, except of course their primary intention is not to reform Vladimir Putin but to continuously portray him in the light which he seems to now relish and glow.
ICHEOKU is emphatic that it is about time a different solution is put to the problem in order to bring Vladimir Putin closer than to continuously scare him off and eventually back him into a corner, where feeling trapped and left with no option he might spring like a cobra and ask out angrily and devastatingly. Although the West might think that they can win a full scale shooting war against Russia, which is debatable; but it will come at a very grave cost which the West might not be prepared to pay. This begs the question, why not explore the less expensive option, a way to achieve a more acceptable result which will forever free the world of the never ending phobia of Russia and what possibly Vladimir Putin is up to and might do if push ever comes to shove.
But it seems that the continuous hot rhetorics and sanctions against Russia and Vladimir Putin is the agreed upon accepted template and the West latches unto it for a reason, to maximize an agenda. They want to continuously make out Vladimir Putin as the bogey man who the rest of the world must be wary of and in order to protect themselves from him, they need to continuously stockpile up weapons of war to defend themselves from Vladimir Putin's possible invasion of their territories. A signature of the military industrial complex, their tried and tested modus operandi, since fear always works. They love stoking it, so that they can continue plying their weapons sales and war trade.
It might not end well for everyone should Vladimir Putin feel seriously threatened and forced to snap. His latest State of the Russian Nation address to his people seems to suggest that he is trending this way. He seems to be steadily getting very anxious and agitated, feeling about to be ensnared and being gradually boxed in. He has warned against the West crossing certain redlines but failed to describe which things constitute the deadlines which the West must not cross, thus making them his sole exclusive determination as what they are. Such open ended threat is ominous as nobody knows what in particular will trigger his reaction. It is a fluidly developing situation and it does not bode well for world peace. Mankind's survival is at stake as a reactionary Vladimir Putin will readily first explode those stockpiled nuclear weapons in his arsenal than succumb or marched out from Kremlin in handcuffs.
But all these angst can easily end today if the West will allow Russia to be fully integrated into Europe as a bona fide member of the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as other world and regional bodies as an accepted, equal and full partner. Thereafter, he could be made to conform with existing norms within those bodies which sustains peaceful neighborliness. With that, he can also be made to disarm since he will no longer feel threatened and the need to defend himself and protect his position. It is worth exploring and in fact, the West owe the world the duty of peace to explore this solution. ICHEOKU strongly believes that it is exactly what Vladimir Putin is waiting for and there is no harm in trying everything and anything that would ensure that nuclear bombs are not ever dropped again on the humanity which inhabit this world. Enough of the avoidable tensive world of confrontation against Russia and they Vladimir Putin.
PANTAMI: A NIGERIA MINISTER IS A TERRORISTS SYMPATHIZER.
"We are happy whenever unbelievers are killed. September 11th was a good thing. I mourn Osama Bin Laden and Abubakar al Baghdadi. They are martyrs and my heroes. All those fighting are not terrorists, they are fighting for the cause. I will volunteer to fight jihad against the West." - Ali Isa Pantami, Nigeria's Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
ICHEOKU says these are some of the things said by this man who is currently serving in Nigeria's government as a Minister or as America would call it a Secretary. So, what is Washington DC waiting before sanctioning Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria for providing safe territory for terrorists and terrorists sympathizers in his government? When will Joe Biden read the riots act to Muhamadu Buhari for parleying with terrorists sympathizers by allowing them to serve in his government. Better still, let the CIA just drone him and get it over with. Three thousand Americans lost their lives on 9/11. Never Again! #ResignNowPantami.
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
DEREK CHAUVIN'S CONVICTION: AMERICA WAS SAVED BY THE BELL OF A CORRECT VERDICT.
It is also a testament that violence induced fear always works in some situations to achieve a desired outcome, as those who make peaceful change impossible often times make violent change inevitable. Yes, black folks have been taking it by the chin and stoically for so long, but they have risen in unison to say not any more. They took to the streets last summer following the murder of George Floyd and America took notice. America became really afraid of the level of violence which black people were capable and able to unleash; and they do not want a repeat of that experience, not any more. The jurors are representatives of the American society and they took that specific knowledge with them into the jury room and came out, ten hours later, to say "Yes, we got it" by handing Derek Chauvin a guilty verdict on all the three counts charge.
Their verdict is a strong message to all the police officers in America that their brutality will no longer be tolerated nor go unpunished. Hopefully, it will help moderate their interactions and encounters with the general public going forward, particularly black and colored people of America. Last summers George Floyd's death triggered riots cost 12 Americans their lives and caused $2 billion in property damages. This figures would have tripled had a wrong verdict been rendered in this case, triggering yet another riot. So, the juror somehow saved America much pain and agony, both in human toll as well as an otherwise cost overruns. Their guilty verdict was balmy and it helped soothe and calm down frayed nerves. ICHEOKU says America would have burned, but thankfully, it was spared the nightmare, saved by the bell of a right verdict.
The case was an open and shut one anyway, as there was no better, more credible and stronger witness in the case than the video recording which captured Derek Chauvin in the act. The murder was captured on video and it took a long nine minutes to fully execute. The video could have easily successfully pass for a "res ipsa loquitur" and sufficient by itself to persuade the verdict. The rest of the presentations, witnesses and testimonies, were mere prosecutorial formalities, just extras and add-ons. Nobody is to blame for the verdict but Derek Chauvin himself, who arrogantly and intentionally murdered George Floyd in front of a recording video camera. The whole world watched the traumatizing gory spectacle as it unfolded and agreed in unison that the then Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd. Thankfully, the jurors have concurred and the matter should now rest.
ICHEOKU says kudos to the no nonsense Judge Peter Cahill for studiously managing the case to its very successful conclusion. He was exceptional in making sure that the case does not run off course or morph into a theater of absurdity. He avoided unnecessary delays by denying the defendant's motion to dismiss and refusing their motion for a change of venue, as according to him, even the residents of Mars, if any, were aware of the case and there is no safer place to move the trial to than in Minneapolis Minnesota. Boy that judge was right, he is simply magisterial and he is a very stand up umpire in the temple of justice. Neither the prosecutors nor the defense made any special impact on ICHEOKU, so no opinion about them.
Now, as the nation awaits Derek Chauvin's sentencing, lets hope that the judge will be mindful by giving him a commensurate lengthy prison term, otherwise the bullet which was dodged now might ricochet to strike America following a slap on the wrist sentence. ICHEOKU says kudos to the jurors for saving America further pains from the George Floyd's saga, which hopefully now ends. May his soul continue to rest.
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
DEREK CHAUVIN: IT IS NOW UP TO THE JUDGE.
DEREK CHAUVIN: IT IS NOW HIS TURN TO BE HANDCUFFED.
DEREK CHAUVIN, GUILTY!
ADEQUACY OF POLICE TRAINING IN AMERICA: DOUBTFUL AND QUESTIONABLE.
ICHEOKU says certain developments during the past few weeks necessitated this appraisal of police training in America, to see if it is in fact adequate and professionalized enough as should be expected. Could a better trained police, with the right mindset and disposition, have avoided some of the incidents which occurred this past weeks. Could a reimagined police outfit act in a manner which would avoid the frequent triggering of public dissatisfaction against the police, expressed in riots, protests and vandalism.
Other professionals in other fields of life are usually held to a higher standard and when they err in the execution of their profession, are held responsible for professional malpractice and misconduct because of a breach of the professionalism which they hold out to possess. So, why not police professionals too and why are they not held to the same standard of higher expectations, such that whenever they fail to live up to it, they are similarly held to account for breaching their professed professionalism. What causes the constant failure to act professionally by the police or is it the inadequacy of their training that is to blame or what?
On February 4th 2021, a police officer Darrian Jarrott was gunned down during a traffic stop on Interstate-10 highway in New Mexico by an AR-15 assault rifle wielding criminal Omar Felix Cueva. The whole incident was captured on the police officer's dash cam which ICHEOKU has viewed several times, trying to figure out what exactly led to what. In conclusion, ICHEOKU says that the police officer was partly at fault for at least not having a fighting chance when the confrontation erupted. He was too lackadaisical and carefree in conducting the whole exercise and thus compromised his safety by being so cavalierly in dealing with the driver.
First he made a traffic stop of a completely unknown driver in a truck, he proceeded to the passengers side of the vehicle where the driver informed him that he has a firearm which would have set off all red alert alarm in his head. But instead of ordering the driver to remain put inside his vehicle and rushed back to his squad car to call for backup, he asked the driver if he could take the firearm off him for his own safety. Then he watched the driver alight from his vehicle as he casually walked back to meet with the driver towards the tailgate of the pickup truck. At which time the mad criminal raised his assault rifle and point blankly shot and killed the officer from across the bed of the truck.
Everything was captured on the cop's dashboard camera and it could have been prevented or at least the police officer would have had some time to react and space to return fire in defense of himself. But he was caught unawares and he put himself in that dire straits by the manner he conducted the traffic stop encounter with an unknown driver in a pick up white Chevy truck. Why would a well trained police officer conduct a traffic stop in this manner; of a completely unknown stranger who was driving a truck and whose background he does not know.
What if he was an armed and dangerous wanted criminal, a murderer or violent rapist. Why did the police officer take matters concerning his safety for granted and not effectively police the driver while he was exiting his vehicle with the usual command of show me your hands, gradually open the door with your right hand and slowly alight from the vehicle. Why did the police officer put himself in the defenseless position he was in by walking back to his squad car in tandem with an unknown driver who has already admitted to having a firearm was coming out of his pickup truck. Where was the police officer's backup officers and why did he allow the driver to exit the pickup before he could have his eyes completely affixed on the driver.
ICHEOKU has been pulled over before but the experience was definitely different from what was seen in the video out of New Mexico. So, is it possible that the officer was a new recruit with no real experience on how to properly protect himself while conducting a traffic stop. Even when he sighted the rifle, instead of reflectively beating a quick defensive retreat, he became transfixed, as he looked at the pointed barrel and it was seconds too late. A better trained and experienced police officer would have ducked and ran back towards the front of the pickup truck in a life saving lightening speed mad dash. But it is now Monday night quarterbacking as ICHEOKU is not particularly blaming the police officer for his death, but that his lack of sufficient alertness possibly due to inadequate police training could have contributed to his killing.
First he did everything wrong in the manner he handled the traffic stop, as police officer do not normally leave the driver's side of a vehicle unattended to while they approach the passenger's side. Second, they do not allow a driver to exit the vehicle without being totally in charge and completely focused on the driver. He had no complete visual on the driver to ensure that he had no pointed weapon in his hands, which of course proved fatal as he had one and it ended the officer's life.
There are several commands which precedes the exiting of a driver from a traffic stopped vehicle which the police officer did not implement, which if he had done would have made a whole lot of difference. If his training was adequate and he was not a newbie, them he unreasonably exposed himself to the danger which took his life. He let his guard and it proved a very costly mistake. May his soul now rest.
The other case which ICHEOKU wants to discuss pertaining to this topic, the adequacy of police training in America, is the latest shooting and killing of an unarmed black man in Brooklyn Minnesota. A white police officer Kimberly Potter shot and killed Duante Wright and claimed that she mistook her gun for a taser; and this police woman has been with the Brooklyn police department for more than 25 years, but wants people to believe her tall tale. She is an experienced police officer by all standards imagined and must have pulled her gun and taser several times in the past. She is therefore well acquainted with the feel of the butt of gun and taser or at least is affixed with it, assuming she sincerely believed her own sect of peculiar facts.
She must also have fired both weapons and is aware how their triggers respond including difference in their heaviness or weight. A matter made worse because she was even on a training drive beat of a new police recruit when they made the traffic stop leading to the killing too Daunte Wright. So, to believe her explanation is to accept that she herself was not a properly trained police officer as that is the only other thing which could possibly explain the gravity of her mistake, assuming she indeed made a mistake.
It is therefore evident from the circumstances that there is no adequate training or continuing education or assessment retraining going on at various police departments where police officers are constantly updated and upgraded in the knowledge of their profession's best practices. It is also possible that she was simply overworked, tired and not functioning at the highest level of required alertness when she discharged her weapon killing the young black man.
It is unfortunate that another black man has to die in the hands of a white police officer because of lack of proper diligence in the handling of a police gun. It might also be a willful indifference on her part with regard to a black person's life that made her not to be overly conscious of which of her two weapons she actually pulled out and fired. All these suggests that some of these police officers are not well prepared through adequate training, both mentally and psychologically, for the duty which they are asked to discharge.
Any well trained and experienced police officer should automatically, like a clock work, know which holster he or she puts the gun and taser and which side of the harness the teargas, handcuffs and baton are. It is just like having the mouth, the nose, the eyes and the ears and nobody mistakenly puts food in the eyes or hurriedly puts eye drop into the nose or a vaporizer into their eyes. Certain things come to us sort of naturally because of their repetitiveness and a police officer of 25 years experience should have become so acquainted with her weapons not to just mistakenly shoot somebody to death with her gun which she allegedly mistook for her taser.
Therefore, it is about time police academies in America rejig their training to ensure that every officer they graduate understands the burden of the badge they were. They are professionals just like other professionals in the country and they cannot be allowed to make mistakes which ordinary lay persons might be excused for. The message needs to be continuously driven into the men and women in blue that there will be consequences for their unprofessional behavior and that they will be held accountable for any poor judgment on their part in conducting their duties especially those resulting in death or which caused serious bodily harm to any member of the public which they swore an oath to serve and protect.
Most of these cases that result in the shooting deaths of people in America by the police or the killing of police officers as well in America are somewhat otherwise avoidable deaths. Every effort should be made to prevent such deaths whenever possible as the ensuing resignations of such involved officers is no longer enough. Proactive measures to prevent deaths from occurring is better than the after the fact blame game including destructive riots and protests which always follow. The police should exercise additional caution and restraint before they pull the trigger, except in a life and death threatening situation when they have no meaningful alternative.
The police should also protect themselves better and always be on alert non stop while on clock in order to prevent suffering such fate as befell the officer in New Mexico. Enough of the never ending police grabbing news headlines about police killings and police being killed in America. An extended training and continuing training and retraining of police officers might help in mitigating this ugly never ending damaging police tale in America which is now a readily recurring decimal.
Monday, April 19, 2021
KAMALA HARRIS AND MEGHAN MARKLE: TWO OVER ENTITLED QUEENS.
DEFENSE COUNSEL WAS WRONG: DEREK CHAUVIN HAD INTENT.
NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT MINISTER IS A JIHADIST TERRORISTS SYMPATHIZER.
JENNIFER LOPEZ: SIMPLY TOO OLD TO EXPECT TOO MUCH IN LOVE.
But what is even the derivative value in dating such a spent bullet, who so many men have been through that she could easily pass for an "In and Out" burger joint. She has had her moment in the sun and yes, she was the it when it lasted; but not anymore. She is now too old to stay very competitive in the dating field, particularly with the type of men she would rather date and tolerate. Fifty one years for anybody is old and for a woman still in the dating field, it becomes one heck of an inhibitor. At her age and the lengthy history of men who have been through her, she is literary like a left over food which should be otherwise sour by now if not for refrigeration. But she is rich and medical and physical sciences and of course good nutrition and healthy habits have kept her looking better than she would otherwise be, but that has not diminished the fact that is a 51 year old mother of two, some of whose mates are already grandmas.
ICHEOKU says she is simply too old to still be too choosey. How many grandmothers are still out there, wagging their tail feathers, expecting a rich and famous man to look at them. What Jennifer Lopez really needs is no longer another man, but a psychiatric evaluation to figure out why she goes through men with the frequency she does; and then follow it up with a psychological counseling on how to curb her libidinous inclinations that drives her insatiable desire for men. In some other cultures, only a pensioner/widower will be looking at her way by now, so she is indeed lucky that she is still getting propositions. She should therefore learn how to make necessary accommodations for her men to sometimes use their wandering eyes and if they stray a little, just pretend as if she did not know about it.
This is only a commonsensical solution and our mothers and grandmothers deployed it to achieve their long lasting marital experience. Men sometimes do stray and it will be foolhardy to expect a man to become an enoch just because you said so, admitted some men are very loyal when they love and really care about someone. Women, too. ICHEOKU says would have suggested that she pack it up with men and quit trying, but since she likes men as is obviously evident, she should learn to adjust her expectations accordingly in order to help her secure a lasting companionship. But hey, it is only Jennifer Lopez that will rightly advise Jennifer Lopez going forward and hopefully she will advise herself properly and also listen to her advise. Until then, best of luck to her.