Siegfried and Roy had a long-running and very successful act at the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas. The act featured two white tigers that did marvelous tricks at the crack of the trainers’ whips. Then one day, one of the tigers attacked Roy and mauled him within an inch of his life. The act has since been canceled and the rogue tiger has been put to sleep.
The obvious lesson here is that no matter how masterful you believe you are as an animal trainer, you never know when a wild beast will turn on you. That lesson holds true not just for those training tigers but also for heads of state who fancy themselves good at dealing with the Russian bear and the Chinese dragon.
American media and the US intelligence community still cannot fathom the relationship that President Donald Trump has or wants to develop with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Since his election to the presidency and up to his visit to Asia to attend the ASEAN Summit, Trump has spoken through both sides of his mouth on the issue of Russian meddling in the last US presidential elections, in spite of its implications of national security.
In response to questions by media about his stand on allegations of Russia’s interference with the very foundation of American democracy, the US intelligence community’s findings that confirmed this interference, and Putin’s denial of the allegation, Trump said that he believed Putin.
In the next breath, he also said that he believed the US intelligence service.
Huh???