Four Score Years and then?

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, ... their strength, labour and sorrow... is soon cut off, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10 KJV

FIFA Peace Prize: Art of the Deal

The self-appointed boss of the world reached four score years at the weekend by reason of some shady deals. He celebrated his birthday, whilst commemorating, or should that be demeaning, the 250th birthday of the United States with cage fighting on the White House Lawn with invites to his acolytes and accomplices.

He then flew to the G7 summit in France, where he claimed credit for stopping the war he started with Iran and re-opening the Straits of Hormuz to world shipping and signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran in the Palace of Versailles. His ego, as ever, was floating on the helium of trash-talking and his boast of another Peace deal was posted with his usual metronomic contradictions on Truth Social. 

Destitution

Since taking up his second term of office, he has reduced the United States' contribution to United Nations Aid from $14.1billion to $3.38billion. and withdrawn funding to 66 international organisations. At home, the Institute for Policy Studies estimates that through his Big Ugly Bill, he has made cuts of $73billion to Medicaid and heating and food support for low-income families, children and the homeless.

War

His expenditure on the wars he has executed in Venezuela and Iran has led to a 42% increase in war spending to $1.5 trillion. There have been no new aid bills to support Ukraine since he began his second term as President. $127 billion had been provided until then, but since there has been just a $ 20 billion loan for European NATO members to procure and provide American weapons to Ukraine. Since 2023, Israel has also received $16.3 billion in direct military aid for the war in Gaza. The underlying principle of most military aid is that it should be used to procure weapons, equipment and training from American firms or the stockpile of US weapons. Arguably, the American arms manufacturers are the largest beneficiaries of the Big Ugly Bill.

Peace

A Peace Prize was gifted to the President by FIFA president Gianni Infantino for making the world a safer place. A consolation for not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize from those woke Scandinavians. They had realised that there was not much peace breaking out in the countries where the 47th President of the USA had done deals. Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen were still in active conflict, and Cuba and Greenland were in the waiting room for his next tranche of peacemaking.

We can only hope that Psalm 90:10 comes to pass. And then?

Signing the Iran Peace Deal in the Palace of  Versailles