Thursday, August 22, 2019
Psychiatrist on ‘The Essential Emptiness of President Donald Trump’ | The Last Word | MSNBC
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Trump Calls Danish Prime Minister's Statement 'Nasty'
Labels:
Denmark,
Donald Trump,
Greenland
Trump Cancels Denmark Trip as Greenland Says It’s Not for Sale
Mette Fredriksen said the US is still a close ally, but last week described President Trump's proposal as "absurd". Today he said the Prime Minister's comment was "nasty".
THE GUARDIAN: Greenlanders on Trump: ‘We are neither for sale nor can be bought’ »
THE GUARDIAN: The Guardian view on Trump and Greenland: no sale » | Editorial
Labels:
Denmark,
Donald Trump,
Greenland,
state visit
Former US Ambassador to Denmark: 'This Is Not the Way You Treat an Ally'
Labels:
Denmark,
Donald Trump,
Greenland
Brexit: Merkel Gives Johnson 30 Days to Find Backstop Solution
The EU has always insisted that the backstop is the only solution for avoiding a hard border in Ireland - and they had no intention of scrapping it as the Prime Minister had demanded.
Angela Merkel's suggestion that the issue can be solved in 30 days does not fly in the face of that - she says perhaps a long term solution to the border problem can be found. But its taken months to get to this point, will one more make a difference?
Labels:
Angela Merkel,
Boris Johnson,
Brexit,
Germany
Joram van Klaveren: Why I Left the Far-Right
Joram van Klaveren is now the president of the Anthony Janszoon Association. The English translation of his book, Apostate, will be published towards the end of the year by 't Kennishuys.
From Critic to Convert | The Joram van Klaveren Story: From Islamophobe to Believer
Joram van Klaveren was a lawmaker in the Party of Freedom, led by Dutch anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders, from 2010 to 2014. During that time, he advocated a burqa ban, a ban on masjid minarets and a ‘de-Islamization‘ of the Netherlands.
In February 2019, he announced his religious conversion to Islam. The Islamophobic polemic he had been penning morphed into a rousing defense the the faith.
In Denmark, Bewilderment and Anger Over Trump’s Canceled Visit
The cancellation was a rare snub of Denmark’s head of state, Queen Margrethe II, who had extended the invitation to the president and would have hosted him and the first lady.
News that Mr. Trump is not coming “came as a surprise,” the Royal House’s communications director told the state broadcaster, adding, “That’s all we have to say about that.”
Others, however, had more to say. “Is this some sort of joke?” Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a former prime minister, wrote on Twitter. “Deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark.”
It was not a joke. A day earlier, Mr. Trump said on Twitter that Denmark was “a very special country with incredible people” but added that he was abandoning plans to visit because of the country’s refusal to sell Greenland, a semiautonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark. » | Martin Selsoe Sorensen | Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Labels:
Denmark,
Donald Trump,
Greenland
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
The Guardian View on Boris Johnson and the EU: He Cannot Be Serious
If there is any fragile encouragement to be squeezed out of Boris Johnson’s letter to the European Union this week, it is perhaps the fact that he wrote it at all. After four weeks of acting as if the EU does not exist, the existence of the letter is at least an implied recognition that the relationship with the EU matters. For nearly a month, Mr Johnson’s government has also promoted the fiction that a no-deal Brexit is an acceptable prospect for Britain. So when Mr Johnson starts his letter by saying that he very much hopes the UK will be leaving with a deal, it is just about possible to muster some carefully guarded optimism that he may actually mean it.
Yet the content of what he wrote makes a mockery of any such conclusion. In fact it is difficult to see how Mr Johnson could have done less than he does in the letter to Donald Tusk. At the core of the letter is the statement that the Irish backstop is not viable. The letter then excoriates the backstop as undemocratic, a brake on UK trade and regulatory policy and a threat to the Northern Ireland peace process. In most respects, this is the opposite of the truth. In some ways it is downright mischievous. The letter is more like one of Mr Johnson’s fact-free and irresponsible newspaper concoctions than a serious diplomatic approach to solving an impasse that imminently threatens British economic stability, trade, jobs, constitutional cohesion and security. » | Editorial | Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Labels:
Brexit
Donald Trump’s UK Trade Promises Are Hot Air – His Aim Is Brexit Chaos
As the UK races towards a potential no-deal Brexit, President Donald Trump is cheering it on. But Brexit – especially without a deal in place with the European Union – would be bad for the US-UK special relationship and would make the UK a much less important US ally.
The ramifications of Brexit – in particular without a deal with the EU that pleases everyone – could be explosive. It could hurt the UK economy at a time when Trump’s trade war and economic policies are increasing the risk of a global recession, and threaten the very integrity of the UK amid growing signals that Northern Ireland and Scotland would consider breaking away. Boris Johnson appears willing to drive Britain off this cliff come hell or high water, threatening a no-deal Brexit and saying that the UK will leave the EU by the end of October, “do or die”. Everyone hopes that the UK finds a way out of this mess, but the past few years haven’t provided much evidence to believe that it will end well. » | Michael H Fuchs | Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Labels:
Brexit,
Donald Trump
Donald Tusk Rejects Boris Johnson Request to Remove Backstop
Donald Tusk has rejected Boris Johnson’s request to strip the backstop out of the Brexit deal, with a thinly-veiled message that the British government was refusing to admit the lack of realistic alternatives.
Tusk, the president of the European council, issued the EU’s first official response, after Johnson published his letter on Monday night, calling for the “undemocratic” backstop to be scrapped.
The EU response underscores the stalemate over the backstop, a policy intended to avoid the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. The UK government agreed the backstop under Theresa May, but hardline Brexiters have long called for it to be scrapped or subject to a time limit.
Tusk wrote: “The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support re-establishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.” » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Monday, August 19, 2019
Brexit Curse in the Caribbean | DW Documentary
Anguilla, a popular holiday destination, is 6,500 kilometers away from Britain, but just a 20-minute boat ride from the half-French, half-Dutch island of Saint Martin. Relations between both islands are like a smaller, Caribbean version of the EU-Brexit tugging war. ‘Saint Martin is our downtown, that’s where we go shopping, or see a doctor’, says the Premier of Anguilla, Victor Banks. ‘What will happen to my EU passport?’, worries DJ Hammer. He fears the consequences of Brexit will be even worse than Hurricane Irma, which devastated the island in 2017. Will theater director Felix Fleming still be able to visit his family - and his father’s grave - in Saint Martin without applying for a visa and queuing at the border each time? What will become of the turtles in the Marine Park, currently subsidized by EU funding? How has the Anguillan blogger Shellecia Brooks-Johnson been experiencing the mood in England since she moved to Cambridge six months ago? One thing is for sure: Although residents of Anguilla were not entitled to vote in the Brexit referendum, they will still suffer the consequences.
Brexit and its impact on the Caribbean: This film looks at Europe’s thorniest current issue from a more unusual perspective.
Labels:
Anguilla,
Brexit,
DW documentary
The Guardian View on Violence against Public Figures: The Threat Is Growing
Any unprovoked violent attack is disturbing. Thuggish behaviour is repellent, all the more so when an individual is targeted by a group. When a person is singled out because of their political beliefs, or due to their assailants’ hatred of a particular group or minority, the crime has additional significance. With a police investigation ongoing, it is too soon to draw conclusions about the motives of the men who attacked Guardian journalist and activist Owen Jones outside a London pub in the early hours of Saturday. But given that Jones has previously been accosted by far-right activists, targeted with threatening social media posts and subjected to homophobic abuse, there was already cause for concern. » | Editorial | Monday, August 19, 2019
Prince Andrew 'Appalled' by Epstein Sex Abuse Claims
The Duke of York has said he is “appalled” by recent sex abuse claims surrounding his former friend Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew released a statement after new footage emerged showing him inside the convicted paedophile’s Manhattan mansion in 2010.
The video, obtained by MailOnline, was reportedly shot on December 6 2010, around the time Andrew was photographed with the disgraced billionaire in New York’s Central Park. It shows the duke looking out from a large door of the mansion waving goodbye to a woman after Epstein leaves and enters a chauffeur-driven car.
A Buckingham Palace statement said: “The Duke of York has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes. His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent.” » | PA Media | Sunday, August 18, 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Overthrow: 100 Years of US Meddling & Régime Change, from Iran to Nicaragua to Hawaii to Cuba (March 2018)
Inside America's Meddling Machine: NED, the US-Funded Org Interfering in Elections Across the Globe (2018)
Trump Starves Venezuela, Democrats Are Silent
No Justice for Epstein Accusers as Queen Denies Ties – Galloway
Saturday, August 17, 2019
A Trade Deal with Trump Will Change Britain for the Worse
A trade deal with the US would be a defining moment for the UK. It is not an exaggeration to say it would reveal the country’s direction of travel more than any other decision in the aftermath of Britain quitting the European Union.
Amid the confusing array of government pledges – more police and more spending on the regions while also cutting taxes for the better off (mostly in London and the home counties) – it is the basics of any trade deal that will set Britain’s course for decades to come.
The most emotive questions apply to agriculture, and not just in the UK. It’s fair to say that American farmers can get very emotional about access to foreign markets, especially when they have put more time and effort into producing cheap food than probably anyone else in the world.
US policymakers have long understood that cheap food and cheap energy are the bedrocks of a flourishing economy. In the modern era, they are the keys to higher disposable incomes when wages are flat. They allow workers to maintain some semblance of their living standards from year to year while the producers and owners of capital walk off with the bulk of any gains. » | Phillip Inman | Saturday, August 17, 2019
Labels:
Brexit,
Donald Trump,
trade deal
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