Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Cohen Lawyer: ‘Literally No Way to Dispute’ That Trump Committed a Crime | The Last Word | MSNBC
Senator Slams Administration After Jamal Khashoggi Meeting | Morning Joe | MSNBC
Labels:
Donald Trump,
Jamal Khashoggi,
MbS,
Morning Joe,
MSNBC,
Saudi Arabia,
USA
Food Fight: Doubts Grow over Post-Brexit Standards
Chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef are already infecting the debate over a post-Brexit trade deal, with one of the US’s most senior diplomats dismissing the European Union’s “museum of agriculture” approach to food safety.
The US ambassador, Woody Johnson, claimed fears over US food standards leading to lower quality food were “myths” and part of a “smear campaign” to cast American farming in the worst possible light.
The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has pledged that food standards will be the same if not better after the UK leaves the EU, but campaigners are concerned that welfare and environmental protections could be jettisoned in the rush to strike a US trade deal.
On Wednesday, the leading Brexit supporter George Eustice, who resigned from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs last week, wrote in the Guardian that the UK should not countenance signing any deal that would reduce food standards as it could “give free trade a bad name”. He called US agriculture “quite backward”. » | Lisa O'Carroll, Brexit correspondent | Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Labels:
Brexit,
food standards,
trade deal,
USA
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Fears Grow of Rift between Saudi King and Crown Prince
There are growing signs of a potentially destabilising rift between the king of Saudi Arabia and his heir, the Guardian has been told.
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are understood to have disagreed over a number of important policy issues in recent weeks, including the war in Yemen.
The unease is said to have been building since the murder in Turkey of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA has reportedly concluded was ordered by Prince Mohammed. However, these tensions increased dramatically in late February when the king, 83, visited Egypt and was warned by his advisers he was at risk of a potential move against him, according to a detailed account from a source.
His entourage was so alarmed at the possible threat to his authority that a new security team, comprised of more than 30 hand-picked loyalists from the interior ministry, was flown to Egypt to replace the existing team. » | Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Nick Hopkins in London | Tuesday, March 5, 2019
EU Faces Nationalist ‘Nightmare’ in Next Five Years, Says Verhofstadt
The European Union risks a populist-nationalist “nightmare” by the middle of the next decade unless centrists can win greater public backing for the European cause, the liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt has said.
Elections this May could herald a big shake-up of the European parliament. The duopoly of centre-right and centre-left is expected to lose its majority for the first time in 40 years of direct elections although Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche (La REM) is expected to win seats for the first time, boosting liberal forces.
Verhofstadt, the leader of the European parliament’s Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) since 2009, said pro-European centrists had “a last chance” after the vote to wrest back ground from nationalists and populists before the next electoral contest in 2024.
In an interview with the Guardian and five continental papers, the former Belgian prime minister said the EU needed an overhaul – managing the eurozone, migration and common defence – if it was to gain greater public support.
“Nothing is eternal. Nothing. Not all political institutions are eternal. To reform is a duty that we have … and if if we fail, then the tragedy, the nightmare will become reality,” he said. » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Labels:
Brexit,
EU,
Guy Verhofstadt,
populism
“How to Hide an Empire”: Daniel Immerwahr on the History of the Greater United States
Incestuous Relationship Between Fox News And Trump Has Been Exposed
Donald Tusk Claims Anti-European Forces Meddled in Brexit Vote
Donald Tusk has claimed external powers meddled in the Brexit vote as he called for EU member states to do more to protect the upcoming European elections.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels with the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, the European council president said he agreed with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who used an editorial in the Guardian and other newspapers to call on European countries to be alert to malign influences.
“There are external anti-European forces, which are seeking – openly or secretly – to influence the democratic choices of Europeans, as was the case with Brexit and a number of election campaigns across Europe. And it may again be the case with the European elections in May,” said Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland and vociferous critic of Vladimir Putin.
Tusk’s intervention echoed fears Russia sought to foment anti-EU sentiment during the 2016 EU referendum campaign in the UK. » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Labels:
Brexit,
Donald Tusk
Lawrence's Last Word: Bulls**t | The Last Word | MSNBC
Monday, March 04, 2019
Dear Europe, Brexit Is a Lesson for All of Us: It’s Time for Renewal
Citizens of Europe, if I am taking the liberty of addressing you directly, it is not only in the name of the history and values that unite us, but because time is of the essence. A few weeks from now the European elections will be decisive for the future of our continent.
Never since the second world war has Europe been so essential. Yet never has Europe been in such danger. Brexit stands as the symbol of that. It symbolises the crisis of a Europe that has failed to respond to its peoples’ need for protection from the major shocks of the modern world. It also symbolises the European trap. The trap lies not in being part of the European Union; the trap is in the lie and the irresponsibility that can destroy it. Who told the British people the truth about their post-Brexit future? Who spoke to them about losing access to the EU market? Who mentioned the risks to peace in Ireland of restoring the border? Retreating into nationalism offers nothing; it is rejection without an alternative. And this is the trap that threatens the whole of Europe: the anger mongers, backed by fake news, promise anything and everything. » | Emmanuel Macron | Monday, March 4, 2019
Sanders on Venezuela - Does His Critique of US Policy Go Far Enough?
Guaidó Returns to Venezuela as US Issues Warning to Maduro
Washington has warned Nicolás Maduro he faces a “strong and significant response” if his rival, Juan Guaidó, is detained or threatened as he tries to reenter Venezuela on Monday before a day of fresh protests.
Guaidó sneaked out of Venezuela on the eve of a failed bid to force humanitarian aid into the economically ravaged country on 23 February and subsequently set off on a five-nation tour of South America.
The 35-year-old visited Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay despite a travel ban introduced after his decision to challenge Maduro by declaring himself Venezuela’s rightful interim president.
Most western governments now recognise Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president but, beyond widespread popular support, he enjoys little concrete power in Venezuela. » | Tom Phillips, Latin America correspondent | Monday, March 4, 2019
Sunday, March 03, 2019
Killing Jamal Khashoggi: How a Brutal Saudi Hit Job Unfolded | NYT - Visual Investigations
Trump and Netanyahu Scandals a Very Dangerous Moment - Wilkerson & Jay
Calls to Raise Smoking Age to 21 "Infantalise Young Adults"
The proposal is included in a report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health which is run by the anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
Other proposals include further restrictions on the portrayal of smoking on television and in films, and introducing a levy on tobacco companies that would be used to fund further anti-smoking initiatives.
Simon Clark, director of Forest, said:
“These proposals infantilise young adults. If you’re 18 and old enough to vote, drive a car and join the army you’re old enough to make an informed decision to smoke. » | Sunday, March 3, 2019
Labels:
smoking
Saturday, March 02, 2019
US Ambassador to UK Under Fire over Defence of Chlorinated Chicken
The US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, has come under fire from a leading food critic, a farming union and trade justice campaigners over his push to open up the UK to American farmers post-Brexit.
Jay Rayner, the BBC presenter, Observer columnist and MasterChef critic, said the UK should tell Johnson where he can stick chlorinated chicken, the US’s preferred approach for protecting consumers from pathogens such as salmonella and campylobacter.
Writing in the Telegraph on Friday [£], Johnson attacked warnings that a post-Brexit trade deal would result in chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-pumped beef arriving on supermarket shelves. “You have been presented with a false choice,” he wrote. “Either stick to EU directives, or find yourselves flooded with American food of the lowest quality. Inflammatory and misleading terms like ‘chlorinated chicken’ and ‘hormone beef’ are deployed to cast American farming in the worst possible light. » | Jamie Doward | Saturday, March 2, 2019
Did President Donald Trump Just Have His Worst Week Yet As President? | The 11th Hour | MSNBC
Labels:
Donald Trump,
MSNBC,
The 11th Hour
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