December 9, 2025 - Foreign Policy Switcheroo, Today's Battlefield, a Warning from a Bank, and a Disturbing Short Story

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A Big Change in Our Foreign Policy – Very Bad News for the World 

The National Security Strategy document released by the U.S. government last Friday suggested that our counfry will back away from the global alliances formed in the wake of World War II and called for making sure the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the organization that has opposed first Soviet and now Russian aggression since 1949, doesn’t continue to expand. 

The administration’s document calls for a world dominated not by a rules-based international order in which countries must respect each other’s sovereignty, but by a few major powers that control weaker nations in their sphere of influence. Doesn’t this mean that Europeans and other U.S. allies fear that they can no longer trust the U.S.?  Yes, it does. 

Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk posted on social media: “Dear American friends, Europe is your closest ally, not your problem. And we have common enemies. At least that’s how it has been in the last 80 years. We need to stick to this, this is the only reasonable strategy of our common security. Unless something has changed.” 

Well, something has indeed changed, allowing some officials in the Russian government to suggest that “these adjustments in that United States’ National Security Strategy document that we’re seeing...are largely consistent with our vision.” That, friends, is an understatement. In fact, they could have been written in Moscow. 

Moscow, Seat of Russia's Government 

 JL 

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Where the Battlefield Is 

Americans should accept the fact that the unconstitutional and probably illegal behavior of President Trump and those he has appointed will continue so long as the Supreme Court, politicized by his appointees, and his support, although somewhat shaky, in Congress exists. 

Don’t expect things to get better until the Republican Party, as it now stands, is driven into oblivion. Court orders will continue to be ignored or appealed by them.  Democrats, who are far from perfect themselves, must make sure that sufficient voters’ rights, already under attack by Republicans, remain in existence in all fifty States in order to accomplish that in the 2026 elections. 

That is where the battlefield is right now. 

JL 

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A Bank’s Warning 

A recent statement from my bank (I still get them via the U.S.mail despite the banks’ frequent self-serving urging to switch to emailing of statements, saving them a bundle of money) contained the following message: 

‘Artificial intelligence (AI) now makes it easy for scammers to produce fake yet convincing videos or calls from people you know to get you to act fast without verifying it ‘s real. Be wary of unusual requests – even from a family member or close friend. Look for deep fake red flags like robotic voices or unnatural facial movements. Always confirm identities, use codewords with loved ones, double check requests, and limit the personal information you share online.’ 

A word to the wise is, or should be, sufficient. 

JL 

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Recommended Short Fiction

The New Yorker magazine includes a bit of fiction in each issue, something that can be read and perhaps digested in twenty or thirty minutes. Sometimes I skip these pieces entirely or give up after a few paragraphs. Not so with ‘Safety,’ a disturbing story that appeared in their issue dated December 8, 2025. 

Click here or copy and paste https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/08/safety-fiction-joan-silber 

on your device’s browser line. to access it. 

I read it late in the evening and had difficulty falling asleep afterwards. It concludes with this thought from the storyteller: ‘There I was, on the train, ready to go on with my day. I was in two worlds at once, everything fine, everything unspeakable.’ 

Read it.  Fiction allows ideas to be transmitted that  might be awkward to present as fact.

 

JL

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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

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More on the Sources of Information on Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered daily ‘paper’ newspaper (now becoming the South Florida Sun Sentinel) and what appears in my daily email. Be aware that when I open that email, I take these steps: 

 1. I quickly scan the sources of the dozen or so emails I still get each day at my old email address to see from where they are being sent. Most are from vendors which I may have used years ago. Without reading 99% of them, I usually immediately delete them. 

 2. I then go to the email arriving at jacklippman18@gmail.com. Gmail enables ‘Promotion’ emails to be so designated and separated out. I believe their criteria are whether or not they end up asking for donations or if they are no more than advertisements. I ignore most of these ‘Promotion’ emails without reading them, deleting them. A very few, perhaps one or two a day, get moved over to the two or three dozen other emails which I will actually open. 

 3. Then I read my email. 

Besides email, my other source of information is the Google search engine (or other search engines) where I can look up any subject I want. Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). On occasion I might use such search results, but when I do, I will say that I am doing so. Generally, however, I try not to use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri. 

After such ‘AI’ search results, then follows the other results of my search. Unlike the anonymous AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated, giving them a greater credibility than any AI summary. 

I feel that It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information: yourself or something else (Artificial Intelligence), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. At least when I read a column by Timothy Snyder, for example, I know from where it comes, and to some extent, what to expect. 

Caution should be exercised in using Artificial Intelligence. 

JL 

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