Canada: Blame Canada: Trump paints us as suave international swindlers - Adrian Morrow

To hear Donald Trump tell it, Canada is a suave international swindler, repeatedly conning American leaders and waltzing away with his country's money.

The U.S.'s neighbour to the north is "very smooth," has "outsmarted our politicians for many years," and has been "very rough" as it has "taken advantage" of the hapless superpower.

For months, the U.S. President has painted this portrait of Canada as Machiavellian manipulator in his public comments. Earlier this week, he took it to a new level.

During a meeting with state governors to discuss school safety, Mr. Trump went on a lengthy digression about trade policy, rounding on his country's partners in the North American free-trade agreement, which is being renegotiated this week in Mexico City. Mr. Trump accused the slick Canadians of trying to trick him into believing the deal is working well.

"We cannot continue to lose that kind of money with one country. We lose a lot with Canada. People don't know it," he said. "Canada's very smooth: They have you believe that it's wonderful, and it is – wonderful for them. Not wonderful for us."

This doesn't exactly jibe with the Great White North's usual image – the guileless neighbourhood nice guy, maybe a little quietly insecure next to his hyper-confident next-door neighbour.

"'Canada is very smooth.' – Donald Trump," tweeted CNN pundit Chris Cillizza. "No one has ever said this about Canada before. Not ever. Never."

In the Reputation Institute's 2017 list of the best-regarded countries, an annual survey of 39,000 people in the world's 55 largest economies, Canada scored high on perceptions of public safety, ethics, effective government and favourable business climate. The country topped the list, just ahead of Switzerland and Sweden. (The U.S. was 38th, between Mexico and Venezuela.)

"It's both an unusual and exaggerated take," Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, Reputation Institute's executive partner and chief research officer, said of Mr. Trump's apparent image of Canada. "Outside of, maybe, some stand-up comics, there's no one with any substance who would characterize Canada in such a disparaging light."

Christopher Sands, director of the Center for Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said Mr. Trump's comments serve a political purpose: The Trudeau government has been lobbying free-trade-friendly governors and members of Congress, and encouraging them to pressure the White House to drop its protectionist demands in NAFTA talks. What Mr. Trump is trying to do, Mr. Sands argued, is drive a wedge between those American politicians and their new Canadian best friends.

Read more: Blame Canada: Trump paints us as suave international swindlers - The Globe and Mail

USA: The end of America's leaderless foreign policy - by Hal Brands

Independent counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 13 Russians for waging information warfare against the United States by tampering with the American electoral process in 2016. Sadly but predictably, America’s commander-in-chief did not respond by rallying his country to meet the threat. Rather, President Donald Trump went out of his way to dodge the question of Russian interference, while publicly attacking the officials and institutions that have had the temerity to confront that issue head-on.

Observers from both sides of the political spectrum, appropriately, deplored Trump’s abdication of his duty to defend the nation. Yet this episode also has a broader significance: It gives the lie to the idea that the U.S. can have a constructive foreign policy while a profoundly destructive individual is president.

This idea has commanded a respectable following since Trump took office. The fact that Trump appointed mostly mainstream figures to key positions, and that his “America first” agenda has been considerably watered down in practice, has led a number of Republican policy hands to argue that the administration’s actions have been broadly praiseworthy even if the president’s rhetoric has not. Elliott Abrams, who worked for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, has argued that Trump has adopted a “fairly familiar Republican approach to foreign policy.” Matthew Kroenig, who advised the Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio presidential campaigns, contends that the administration has “the right people” and “the right positions.”

As I point out in my new book, “American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump,” these arguments are not entirely wrong. Despite his campaign promises, Trump has not (yet) launched an all-out trade war with China, torn up U.S. alliances, or quit the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization. In these and other cases, his advisers have persuaded him to take a more moderate course.

Even with respect to Russia, a similar pattern has prevailed. Trump continues to talk up the dangerous fantasy of a rapprochement with Putin, yet his administration has increased funding for forward defense in Eastern Europe, resolved to provide lethal weaponry to Ukraine, and pursued other policies that Russia hawks should welcome.

It is thus true that there are pockets of normality in U.S. policy, even in the age of Trump. What this most recent manifestation of Trump’s bizarre stance toward Russia demonstrates, though, is that there is only so much containing, circumventing and moderating of a president who refuses to take his duties seriously.

It is important to stipulate here that we don’t know precisely why Trump is so reflexively dismissive of the mountains of concrete evidence documenting a deliberate Russian campaign to suborn American democracy. It could be that Moscow possess some compromising information on him or his prior business dealings. It could be that he genuinely believes he is a diplomatic genius who can strike a grand bargain with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It could be that Trump perceives any discussion of Russian electoral interference as an assault on his presidential legitimacy, and that he is simply too narcissistic to separate that issue from the broader national wellbeing.

Whatever the answer, Trump’s refusal to personally take on the information-warfare threat from the Kremlin is crippling U.S. policy in several ways.

First, it is discouraging concrete — and badly needed — responses to the threat. If, as seems likely, there are covert efforts that the intelligence community might undertake either to strengthen U.S. defenses or retaliate against Russian attacks, they would likely require additional legal authorities or presidential findings — neither of which this president is likely to support.

In the same vein, European officials have privately advocated greater trans-Atlantic cooperation to address the common danger posed by Russian meddling, but Trump’s indifference to that danger has limited the possibilities for such collaboration. Within the U.S. government, too, Trump’s attitude is raising the political costs and risks for advisers who seek to counter Russian measures. It is hardly surprising, then, that the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies have made so little progress in hardening American defenses, even as intelligence officials have warned in increasingly dire tones that the Russians will seek to re-run the 2016 playbook in 2018. In the American system, decisive action generally requires presidential buy-in, and that has been sorely lacking.

Second, Trump is making it impossible for the U.S. to issue clear and believable deterrent threats. Information warfare and cyberattacks are inherently difficult to prevent, and so a better approach may be to go on the offensive, by threatening sharp retaliation through reciprocal cyberattacks or other measures. But such threats only work if they are seen to be credible, and why would anyone believe that Washington would inflict significant costs on Russia — and risk significant escalation of bilateral tensions — when Trump declines even to acknowledge that a threat exists?

Third, the president’s position is not just having pernicious effects within the executive branch; it is undercutting the broader national will and consensus needed to meet a grave security challenge. The genius of the Russian meddling in 2016 was that it avoided the normal “rally around the flag” effect that often occurs in the wake of a foreign attack. Instead, it pitted Americans against one another — Republicans against Democrats, state authorities against the federal government.

Another president would surely see it as his or her duty to surmount such divisions by issuing a broad, nonpartisan call to arms. Yet Trump is aggressively politicizing the issue, impugning the reputations of the agencies that are striving to defend U.S. democracy, and thus making it far less likely that the country will achieve unity in the face of danger.

Finally, Trump’s performance is reminding us of the critical role the American president plays in leading not just his own country but the larger “free world,” and how powerfully the absence of that leadership is felt at times of crisis. The liberal international order America has anchored for generations is facing an array of challenges from authoritarian, revisionist powers, namely Russia and China. Yet rather than placing himself at the vanguard of the international response, Trump is shirking that obligation. And in doing so, he is exacerbating the demoralization and division that is weakening the liberal West just as the dangers are mounting.

To borrow from former French President Jacques Chirac, the position of leader of the free world is indeed vacant today — no matter how hard Trump’s advisers labor to make it seem otherwise.

Read more: The end of America's leaderless foreign policy | The Japan Times

Britain: Jeremy Corbyn backs permanent customs union after Brexit

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has backed the UK being in a permanent customs union with the EU in a speech setting out his approach to Brexit.

He said this would avoid the need for a "hard border" in Northern Ireland and ensure free-flowing trade for business.

The policy shift could lead to Labour siding with Tory rebels to defeat Theresa May on her Brexit strategy.

The Tories said it was "a cynical attempt" to frustrate Brexit "and play politics with our country's future".

Mr Corbyn insisted in an interview with BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg that his speech was a "firming up" of Labour's existing policy and that he did not want the UK to follow the Norway model, ending up bound by EU rules but having very little say in them.

Read More: Jeremy Corbyn backs permanent customs union after Brexit - BBC News

Post Brexit EU Budget: EU agrees budget to focus on defence, security and migration - by Eszter Zalan

EU leaders agreed on Friday (23 February) to spend more on defence, security and "stemming illegal migration" in the next long-term budget, European Council chief Donald Tusk said.

After leaders held their preliminary discussion of the first post-Brexit budget, Tusk told reporters that many European heads of government were ready to contribute more money to the next budget cycle, that runs 2021-27.

"All the leaders approached [the budget] with open minds, rather than red lines," he stated.

Tusk however said that the EU Commission's ambitious deadline for reaching an agreement by the end of this year seemed "really difficult".

The EU executive wants to conclude talks by the next European elections in May 2019, however, haggling over the budget usually takes more than two years.

Germany's Angela Merkel said the debate was "constructive", and said leaders will decide how fast to move with agreeing to the EU budget after the commission's proposal will be published in May.

The German chancellor also warned cuts will have to be made to "bureaucratic" policies, like agriculture.

One of the countries that does not want to pay more after the UK leaves the EU, the Netherlands' PM Mark Rutte, said the bloc needs to modernise and reform existing programs to finds more money.

"We, in any case, do not want our contribution to rise," he said.

EU leaders also discussed the possibility of linking EU funds to migration and respecting the rule of law.

Donald Tusk told reporters the discussion was less toxic than many had speculated in the run up to the summit.

Member states that benefit from cohesion funds earlier warned against using EU money aimed for reducing economic differences across the EU for integrating migrants or for punishing countries that breach EU rules.

After the discussions Tusk said that he had only heard "positive reactions", and that the concept was not questioned by any leader who spoke.

Tusk said that Poland's premier Mateusz Morawiecki also said he was ready to support conditionality, adding that it should be built a very objective criteria.

"The possible conditionality was less controversial than expected," Tusk said - adding that the debate at this point was very general.

France's president Emmanuel Macron had a strong warning to those who infringe EU values, something Poland had been accused of by the commission.

"It would be matter of good sense to halt the payment of some [EU] funds where is there is a breach of our values," Macron said.

Read more: EU agrees budget to focus on defence, security and migration

EU and Russia vie for influence in volatile Balkans region - by Dusan Stojanovic

For years, Russia has worked to gain influence in Southeast Europe, using Serbia as a foothold to establish a friendly pocket on a hostile continent.

The European Union finally is pushing back. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is embarking on a seven-nation Balkans tour Sunday to promote the EU's new eastward expansion strategy.

Russia mainly wants to discourage the Western Balkan countries — Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia — from joining NATO. But Moscow also is trying to deter them from joining the EU.

The EU sees the prospect of membership as an incentive for reform in the volatile Balkans region, which was torn apart by war in the 1990s. Its expansion strategy puts Serbia and Montenegro in position to join should the bloc open its doors to more members, tentatively by 2025.

Read more here: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/world/article201944074.html#storylink=cpy

Read more: EU and Russia vie for influence in volatile Balkans region | The Fresno Bee

Brexit: Pro-European Conservative and Labour MPs join forces over Brexit - by Denis Staunton

Pro-European Conservative and Labour MPs have joined forces behind an amendment that would oblige Britain to stay in a customs union with the European Union after Brexit. 

The group, which includes former Conservative ministers Anna Soubry and Nicky Morgan as well as Labour’s Chuka Umunna, claimed on Friday that they had enough support to defeat the government, which is committed to leaving the customs union and the single market.

“There is no majority in the House of Commons for us not to participate in the customs union, that is absolutely clear,” Mr Umunna said.

“If they are not going to change their position they are going to lose votes in the House of Commons, it’s as straightforward as that.”

The move comes ahead of a speech on Monday by Jeremy Corbyn, who is expected to announce that Labour now supports remaining in a customs union after Brexit. Mr Corbyn said this week that remaining in a customs union could be the only way to avoid a hard border in Ireland.

Read more: Pro-European Conservative and Labour MPs join forces over Brexit

Hotel Industry: Airbnb reveals new hotel-like service called Airbnb Plus - by Nick Statt

Airbnb has announced a new hotel-like tier of service on its platform that the company is calling Airbnb Plus. The news went live today on Airbnb’s website in conjunction with a story in The New York Times ahead of a big reveal event in San Francisco this morning. It confirms rumors that Airbnb has been working on a higher-end accommodations offering that would let it more easily compete with hotels. Airbnb Plus is being marketed as a more standardized style of service that is “verified for quality” and includes a set of amenities one might typically find in a hotel.

Read more: Airbnb reveals new hotel-like service called Airbnb Plus - Th

US Economy: Dow Jones drops another 166.97 points today after a loss of 254 yesterday.

U.S. stocks on Wednesday ended a tumultuous session firmly lower after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy-setting meeting sparked a fresh wave of volatility, as bond rates clambered higher and the dollar strengthened, weighing on equities.

Rea more: Dow gives up 300-point gain to end lower as bond yields rise after Fed minutes - MarketWatch

USA AND THE STATE OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION: After Parkland: Murder By Congress - by Alon Ben-Meiert

Nothing can assuage the agony and the unbearable pain that parents feel when their child is lost to an outrageous and utterly senseless attack that could have been prevented.

When will lawmakers face the bitter truth that America is at war with itself? A de-facto civil war is consuming us from within. Firearms are mercilessly robbing the lives of 33,880 each year—nearly five times more than American soldiers killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined (4,530 and 2,408 respectively).

On average, 93 people are killed from gun violence every day, and at least 239 school shootings have occurred across the United States since 2012; a majority of the over 400 casualties are children under the age of 19.

And yet, after every such unconscionable carnage, you hear our derelict political leaders suggesting that it is not the right time to talk about gun control laws when the families and friends of the victims are agonizing about the loss of their loved ones.

When will the right time come? How much more pain and suffering must our own fellow citizens endure before we act?

Shame on every single House and Senate member who each year takes millions in blood money as a political contribution from the National Rifle Association to ensure their re-election.

Perhaps only when some of these lawmakers lose a child of their own will they begin to grasp the excruciating pain that parents bear when their telephones ring, only to be told that their child was just gunned down at school by a random shooter. Yes, every lawmaker should stop and think how it really feels. But then again, are they even capable of feeling?

The Book of James says it best: “Faith without works is dead.” Without action, “thoughts and prayers” cannot be counted on to stop random mass killings; this has been proven by history time and again. The occasion for condolences and prayers expired a long while ago.


Read more: After Parkland: Murder By Congress - The Globalist

US Economy: Trump's America will be saddled with debt – like his bankrupted hotels were - by Richard Wolffe

Once upon a time, conservatives said they hated Barack Obama because of his budget deficits. They said he was destroying America and its future, which made them very angry indeed. They were so mad about all those Obama debts that they invented a new party, and named it after the revolutionaries who opposed a nasty British king.

The Tea Party was a collection of strange people, including one candidate who promised she wasn’t a witch. But the strangest thing happened after Obama moved out of the White House, and an orange man moved in. That was when conservatives all across America decided they didn’t actually hate debt and deficits after all.

That was just one of the many ways Donald Trump made everyone happy in America all over again. Another one was the stock market, which sometimes goes up and sometimes goes down. Everyone was happy when it went up, and nobody talked about it when it went down.

Donald Trump knows a lot about debt because he has created so much of it himself. He’s like a grand wizard of debt because he has magically escaped from several dark boxes of it. He also knows a few grand wizard types and thinks they are some very fine people
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Grand Wizard Trump first learned his magic debt spells when he built a palace called the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. He called it the eighth wonder of the world, and it certainly was wonderful how the business went bankrupt a year after it opened. Five other Trump palaces went bankrupt the next year, but he waved his wand and everything turned out fine. For him.

Read more: Trump's America will be saddled with debt – like his bankrupted hotels were | Richard Wolffe | Opinion | The Guardian

US Economy Is in Danger of Overheating and Exploding Into Financial Crisis - by Desmond Lachman

My long career as a macro-economist both at the IMF and on Wall Street has taught me that it is very well to make bold macro-economic calls as long as you do not specify a time period within which those calls will occur. However, there are occasions, such as today, when the overwhelming evidence suggests that a major economic event will occur within a relatively short time period. On those occasions it is very difficult to resist making a time-sensitive bold economic call.

So here goes. By this time next year, we will have had another 2008-2009 style global economic and financial market crisis. And we will do so despite Janet Yellen's recent reassurances that we would not have another such crisis within her lifetime.

There are two basic reasons to fear another full-blown global economic crisis soon: The first is that we have in place all the ingredients for such a crisis. The second is that due to major economic policy mistakes by both the Federal Reserve and the U.S. administration, the U.S. economy is in danger of soon overheating, which will bring inflation in its wake. That in turn is all too likely to lead to rising interest rates, which could very well be the trigger that bursts the all too many asset price bubbles around the world.

Read more: US Economy Is in Danger of Overheating and Exploding Into Financial Crisis | Economic Intelligence | US News

USA Global Image: Top German diplomat: 'We no longer recognize our America' - by David Rising

Germany's foreign minister slammed the "America first" approach of President Donald Trump's administration Saturday, saying that close U.S. ties with a strong European Union are as much in Washington's interest as they are in Europe's.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told world leaders and defense officials at the Munich Security Conference that with the United States no longer the only indisputable superpower, it makes sense for Washington to count on traditional partners in Europe for help.

"Our strength in Europe is not sufficient for this. Neither the EU nor the U.S. can go it alone. We have to count on our friends and our partners," he said.

Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, met one-on-one with Gabriel after his speech. McMaster reassured the forum that the United States still is strongly committed to its traditional alliances, but emphasized that "we must all share responsibility."

"International peace and prosperity depends on all nations," McMaster said. "For this reason, President Trump has called for stronger alliances and partnerships based on shared values, shared interests, shared responsibilities and shared burdens."

No country in Europe has benefited as much from American help as Germany since World War II, Gabriel said. He said the country "eagerly learned" principles of democracy, multilateralism, international law and free trade from the relationship with the U.S.
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"Maybe this can explain why we Germans in particular are so perturbed when we look across the Atlantic — because we no longer recognize our America," he said. "Is it deeds, is it words, is it tweets we should look at to measure America?"

He urged a return to greater joint cooperation, saying now is not the time for "just pursuing individual national interests."
 
Read more: The Tribune

EU Economy: Euro area international trade in goods surplus € 2 5 . 4 bn ($31.52 bn). December 2017

The first estimate for euro area (A19) exports of goods to the rest of the world in December 2017 was €180.7 billion, an increase of 1.0% compared with December 2016 (€179.0 bn).

Imports from the rest of the world stood at €155.3 bn, a rise of 2.5% compared with December 2016 (€151.4 bn). As a result, the EURO  area recorded a €25.4 bn surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in December 2017, compared with +€27.6 bn in December2016.

EURO area  trade rose to €142.4 bn in December 2017, up by 2.8% compared with December 2016

EU-Digest

USA Florida Parkland shooting: - Many US policians have blood on their hands: The NRA and gun lobby invested millions in Trump and other Republicans in 2016 and they are tied to the NRA hands and feet

At least 17 high school students are believed dead in a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The suspect, a 19-year-old former student, had threatened his peers before, and collected guns at home, students told the Miami Herald.

The US’s political response to these tragic incidents has become rote—Republicans offer up “thoughts and prayers,” Democrats demands new legislation that stands no chance of passing.

America’s gun lobby has deep pockets. The National Rifle Association and its affiliates spent over $50 million in political advertisements in the last US general election, boosting Republicans who promised to support the NRA and targeting Democrats who propose stricter gun laws.

In fact, the pro-gun lobby spent over twice as much to fight Democrats ($34.5 million), as it did to support Republicans ($14.5 million). President Donald Trump, who tweeted his condolences to Parkland parents on Wednesday, was the biggest beneficiary of those ad dollars.

Separately, the NRA and affiliated pro-gun groups donated millions directly to individual politicians in Congress as well. Paul Ryan, Ryan Zinke, and Martha McSally were among the biggest recipients in 2016:

The NRA has a dedicated lobbyist, Marion Hammer, in Florida. She has helped make Florida a “laboratory for generating new types of gun protections,” as NPR host Terry Gross explained last year.

This year, Hammer is pushing for legislation that would prevent local sheriffs from testifying for gun control laws in uniform. Meanwhile, Republican politicians in the state are pushing to allow guns in elementary schools and airports.

Read more: Parkland shootng: The NRA and gun lobby invested millions in Trump and other Republicans in 2016 — Qua

EU Policy: Why China and Russia will be best frenemies forever - by Sijbren de Jong

On 3 and 4 July, Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Russia for a two-day state visit that included his third meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the space of a year.

Despite what these visits and the pledge to forge closer strategic and economic ties between the two nations suggest – and much to the chagrin of Vladimir Putin – Russia features awkwardly little in China’s major strategic plans for Eurasia.

Read more: Why China and Russia will be best frenemies forever

Sex Abuse: hyped by the Media is among, but not the most important issue the world is facing today

Life's experiences can make you bitter, hateful,  resentful or cynical if you let them. It's even worse if you trying to build a relationship with the opposite gender and you already had some share of disappointments in your life.

Sometimes it's good to go through all those things for some individuals, because sometimes you decide there and then that "I wouldn't never put anyone through what he or she put me through. " .

And  sometimes it's not good at all for others because they can decide that "I will never let anyone put me through this again, therefore I will hurt them before they hurt me" and they just do that. Hurt or hurting people hurts people,

But honestly isn't that what life is all about? Maybe the best way to to label that is experience.

Unfortunately, the Media, and Government, which influence the majority of the population around the world, are now all riding on the bandwagon of combating  "sexual abuse"which now mainly focuses on celebrities, the Catholic Church, and most recently NGO's like Oxfam.

Obviously, it is important to combat sexual abuse, but it certainly should not be on top of the list of all the other horrors the world is facing today, like war, poverty, the causes of mass migration, or weapons industry.

The number of people displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution last year exceeded 60 million for the first time in the United Nations’ history, a tally greater than the combined populations of the United Kingdom, or of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, says a new report released on World Refugee Day today.

The Global Trends 2015 compiled by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) notes that 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of more than 5 million from 59.5 million a year earlier.

The tally comprises 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million people internally displaced within their own countries.

Measured against the world’s population of 7.4 billion people, one in every 113 people globally is now either a refugee, an asylum-seeker or internally displaced – putting them at a level of risk for which UNHCR knows no precedent.

In the past years Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia produce half the world’s refugees, at 4.9 million, 2.7 million and 1.1 million, respectively.

Colombia in Latin America had the largest numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs), at 6.9 million, followed by Syria’s 6.6 million and Iraq’s 4.4 million.

While the spotlight last year was on Europe’s challenge to manage more than one million refugees and migrants who arrived via the Mediterranean, the report shows that the vast majority of the world’s refugees were in developing countries in the global south.

In all, 86 per cent of the refugees under UNHCR’s mandate records were in low- and middle-income countries close to situations of conflict.

Nearly 1/2 of the world's population — more than 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty — less than $1.25 a day. 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.

Like it or not, dear feminists, you might find sexual harassment a terrible crime, so do most most of us, but there are also other crimes against humanity, which are far more dangerous and deadly.

Harvey Weinstein, one of Hollywood’s most revered moguls and influential kingpins, who has been sexually harassing and abusing women for nearly 30 years, is a terribly sad case, but in reality his case is only a drop of water on a hot plate, compared to the results of wars, proxy wars, hunger, or poverty around the world.

Unfortunately those horrific events hardly ever get the attention they deserve because those problems are usually the the result of our own governments deeds and actions and are shoved under the table.

Not one Western Government, which has taken part in the Middle East wars has ever been asked  by their Legislative Representation to justify the destruction and enormous number of casualties suffered by the local population, and the total failures of these wars. 

"We the people" are really the only ones who can do something about it. This destructive policy of wars has to stop and we should not get side-tracked by the smoke-screens our Governments and media are applying to divert our attention. 

It is high time our governments get their priorities right.

EU-Digest  

The above report can be used
 only if the source is mentioned

EU: President Juncker to propose merger of EU Commission and Council presidencies

Could the next Spitzenkandidaten process elect a single president for two jobs?

Five months after European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker first proposed combining the Commission and Council presidencies as part of his State of the European Union speech and a week after the European Parliament’s vote to retain the lead candidate – or  Spitzenkandidaten – process, the Commission appears ready to seriously consider the proposal.

“Europe would function better if we were to merge the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council,” Juncker told the European Parliament during his annual address in Strasbourg last September, adding, “Europe would be easier to understand if one captain was steering the ship.”

The move would transform the EU leadership and consolidate authority around a single figure who would campaign for the post, Juncker is expected to outline the scenarios for EU institutional changes over the coming years at this week’s College readout.

What is expected this week is a draft plan that will include the option of combining the presidencies of the EU executive body and the national government leaders.

Note EU-Digest: Good idea, if it also provides for a universal European election for the Presidency  and is open to candidates from different political parties. 

 Read more: Juncker to propose merger of EU Commission and Council presidencies

US Economy: Budget: Deficits and Debt to Become a Big Worry Under Proposed Plan-by Shawn Tully

In a year or 18 months, it’s probable that America’s top-of-mind issue will no longer be the terrific economy. Using one of Washington, D.C.’s favorite words, the public debate will most likely “pivot” to a threat so gigantic it can no longer be ignored: The looming disaster of deficits and debt.

The latest signal that our fiscal future will emerge as tomorrow’s dominant issue: The new, bi-partisan budget deal forged by the Senate. The accord not only greatly increases discretionary spending over the next two years, it lifts the baseline for future outlays by double-digits, putting deficits and debt on a far steeper trajectory. Most of all, the measure is proof positive that both Democrats and Republicans, and President Trump, are in denial mode. The parties and the White House are all joining hands to make an already grave situation even worse.

The colossal budget measure passed both the Senate and House on the morning of February 9, ending a several-hour federal government shutdown that started at 12:01 AM. While Trump and Congressional leaders congratulate themselves for reaching common ground and keeping the government funded, their bill’s real legacy will be hurrying the issue of unsustainable deficits from the wing to center stage.

It ensures that two milestones, bound to spook the public, arrive a lot sooner than expected. Deficits will probably reach $1 trillion in the current or next fiscal year, almost double what the Congressional Budget Office had projected less than a year ago for 2018.

U.S. debt is now on track to reach $30 trillion over the next decade. That’s over 100% of projected GDP, well into the danger zone where investors demand higher rates to buy government debt. And if rates do rise substantially, the U.S. will rival the likes of Italy as one of the world’s most debt-ravaged nations.

Read more: Budget: Deficits and Debt to Become a Big Worry Under Proposed Plan | Fortune

USA: Wall Street Volatility: the US economy is not as good as we are being told

You wonder why there is so much commotion about the Wall Street drop. It should not take all these economic wizards to figure out, that with the approved Trump Republican budget, which has cut taxes on one side and greatly increased expenditures on the other side for the Military, Infrastructure, the Mexican Wall, etc., etc., the National US deficit can only increase from what it already is.

One minus one is still a big 0 not 2. Indeed, regardless of all these creative words used by Wall Street, like "versatility", "correction", "volatility", "fundamentals", the US economy is not in good shape,whatever we "the people" are being told.

EU-Digest

EU: Portugal's FM to become next Eurogroup president

The Eurogroup meeting on Monday elected Portuguese finance minister Mario Centeno as president of the Eurogroup.

The new president will take office as of Jan 13, 2018 and will serve a two and a half year term.

He is the first minister from a southern eurozone economy to hold the elected role and first Eurogroup meeting under the presidency of Mario Centeno will take place on Jan 22, 2018.

Mario Centeno has been the finance minister of Portugal since November 2015.

Read more: Portugal's FM to become next Eurogroup president - World - Chinadaily.com.cn

Germany: EU relieved after Merkel clinches grand coalition deal - by Eric Maurice

Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) concluded a coalition agreement on Wednesday (7 February), taking a step closer to ending a five-month long period of political limbo in Berlin.

The deal, under which the two partners will share what they considered as the most crucial ministries for themselves, will however to be approved by SPD members in the coming weeks.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats will occupy the ministries of interior, defence, agriculture, economy and health.

The sensitive interior portfolio - with the management of migration policies - was expected to go to Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CSU, the CDU's Bavarian branch. Seehofer, a hardliner, has been one of the main opponents of Merkel's migration policy since 2015.

Peter Altmeier, one of Merkel's closest allies, and finance minister since September, was expected to become economy and energy minister.



The finance ministry has been attributed to the SPD, with Hamburg's mayor Olaf Schorf being the favourite for the post, also as vice-chancellor.



Social Democrats will also get the ministries of labour and social affairs, justice, as well as foreign affairs for Martin Schulz, Merkel's opponent in the elections last September.


Schulz meanwhile will quit the SPD leadership and be replaced by Andrea Nahles, the leader of the party's group in the Bundestag.

Read more:  EU relieved after Merkel clinches grand coalition deal

EU-US Relations: Pentagon’s colossal works in Italy are funded by us in Europe - by Manlio Dinucci

Colossal works are emerging on our territory both in Northern Italy and Southern Italy. Are we talking about those for which the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is responsible? Works that has every tongue wagging? Not at all! We’re talking about those thought up by the Pentagon that no one mentions. And yet most of these works are funded with our money and bring with them growing risks for us Italians:

- At Ghedi’s military airport (Brescia): the plan kicks off to spend more than 60 million euro (of Italy’s money), on building the infrastructure for 30 F-35s (US fighter planes), purchased by Italy and for 60 B61-12 (US nuclear bombs).

- At the Aviano base (Pordenone): around 5,000 US soldiers are stationed here with the F-16 fighters armed with nuclear bombs (seven of which are currently in Israel for the 2017 Blue Flag drill). Other costly works have been carried out at Italy’s and Nato’s expense.

- At Vicenza: 8 million euro has been picked from Italy’s pocket, to “revamp” the Ederle and Del Din barracks. Both these barracks are home to the US Army headquarters in Italy and the 173a air borne Brigade (now deployed in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Africa), and to extend the “Village of Peace” where US soldiers live with their families.

- At Camp Darby (a US base located in Pisa/Livorno): the construction of a railway infrastructure is beginning in December. The cost of this: 45 million dollars, an expense allocated to the US plus other expenses, allocated to Italy. This infrastructure will enable linking up this base to the Livorno Port and Pisa Airport. This work entails demolishing 1,000 trees in the natural park. Camp Darby is one of the five sites that the US Army has around the world for “stocks stationed in advance” of weapons. The camp contains millions of missiles and projectiles, thousands of tanks and armoured vehicles. From here they are sent to the US Forces in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with large militarized ships and cargo airplanes.

- At Lake Patria (Naples): Nato’s new headquarters, costed at around 200 million euro of which around a quarter is borne by Italy, entails yet more expenditure on Italy’s part. For example, 10 million euro for the new road access close to the Nato Headquarters.

- At the Amendola base (Foggia): works have been carried out for an un-quantified cost, to render the runways suitable for the F-35s and the US Predator drones that Italy has bought.

- At the Sigonella Naval Air Station, in Sicily: works have been carried out for more than 100 million dollars. These expenses will be borne directly by the United States and NATO and therefore indirectly by Italy as well (following on from its membership of NATO). In addition to providing logistical support to the Sixth Fleet, the base is the launching pad for operations in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, with airplanes and drones of all types and special forces. As well as this function, it will perform another one: the advanced base of the US “anti-missile shield”, not for defence but for offense, especially against Russia: should it be able to intercept the missiles, the US could probably launch a first nuclear strike neutralizing a reprisal.

- At Sigonella: the Jtags is on the verge of being installed. This is a station for satellite reception and transmission from the “shield”. Yet it is no coincidence that with the launch of the fifth satellite, Muos is on the verge of becoming fully operational. Muos is the US satellite system which has one of its four land stations in the vicinity of Niscemi.

On 7 June 2017, General James Dickson, Head of the US Strategic Command, in a Congressional Hearing declared:
“This year we have secured support from the Italian government to deploy once again, in Europe, the Jtags at the Sigonella Naval Air Station”.

Was the Italian Parliament in the loop of a decision of such strategic significance, that upgrades our country to the front line of an increasingly dangerous nuclear confrontation? Was it at least discussed in the Defence Committees?

Read more: From the Votaire Network

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a totally meaningless figure, just like the Dow itself - here is why !

The first reason why stock market indexes, like the Dow, rise over long periods of time is that the indexe
s are not adjusted for inflation.

Inflation is when overall prices increase. It is a modern occurrence in most major countries. When there’s inflation, everything costs more as time passes, including the price of shares of stock
.
The Dow Jones index is calculated by adding up the non-adjusted stock prices of all 30 members and dividing by something known as the “Dow divisor,” which is continually adjusted to account for stock splits, spin offs and other changes. This divisor ensures historical continuity.

The importance of the long-term inflation in driving stock market indexes higher is seen by understanding the “rule of 70.” This rule shows how long it takes for the average price in the economy to double. For example, if something costs US$10 today, the rule of 70 shows how many years it will take for the price to reach $20. To determine the number of years, divide 70 by the inflation rate stripped of its percentage sign.

Since the turn of the 21st century, US inflation has increased prices by roughly 2.2 percent per year. If prices continue to rise at this rate, then the typical price of most things in the US will double roughly every 32 years (70 divided by 2.2). So if inflation were to persist at this rate, this means about three decades from now the Dow will hit 40,000, even if businesses sell the exact same number of cars, phones, movies, meals and all the other things available in the economy.

The second reason why the Dow inevitably rises over long periods of time is that under performing companies are periodically removed from the index and replaced by companies that are performing better.

Replacing under performing companies that have a falling stock price, with companies that have a rising stock price ensures the index continues to climb over the long term.

Charles Dow, one of the founders of the Wall Street Journal newspaper, started the Dow Jones Industrial Average in May of 1886.  His intention 120 years ago was not to create an index that regularly hit new highs. Instead, the goal was to give readers a single number to give them a quick understanding of how the stocks of the most important companies were faring.

Nevertheless, because the list of companies in the Dow has changed many times to eliminate under performing stocks, it is essentially designed, even if by accident, to climb ever higher.

The Dow for decades has been comprised of 30 stocks. Nevertheless, over its 120 year existence there have been 133 different companies on the list. The editors of the Wall Street Journal choose which companies are in the index and once a year, on average, add a new company to the list and drop an old one.

Since 2010, the Dow has included five new companies; Apple, Goldman Sachs, Nike, United Healthcare and Visa. To keep the list fixed at 30, five companies have been dropped: Alcoa, AT&T, Bank of America, Kraft Foods and Hewlett-Packard.

General Electric, or GE, is the only company that was both on the original 1886 list and included in the index today. Nevertheless, even this major company founded by Thomas Edison has not been on the list continuously. It was dropped in 1901 and then reinstated at the end of 1907.

Many famous companies in America were on the Dow and then were dropped before going bankrupt or drastically shrinking in size. Eastman Kodak was dropped in 2004, while Bethlehem Steel was removed in 1997, both only a few years before going bankrupt. The editors knocked off Sears Roebuck in 1999 and F.W. Woolworth in 1997 as people shifted away from buying items at department stores and five and dimes.

The periodic replacement of companies means the Dow operates like an actively managed mutual fund, in which humans pick companies that are expected to do well in the future. The Dow needs periodic human intervention. Without it, the list would slowly atrophy as companies die off or become less relevant to the overall economy.

In sum, the presence of inflation in the US and the continued efforts of editors at the Wall Street Journal to replace lagging companies in the index with companies that have high-flying prospects and stock prices will always result in headlines every so often that trumpet “turn-of-the-odometer” milestone.

Bottom-line:  Wall Street basically is a system of financial manipulation, some call it "a financial casino", used by smart financial brokers to get immensely rich, while keeping their clients happy, by providing them with returns on their investments, which are far below their own, but usually above the interest rates of Banking Institutions. The brokers themselves basically don't care if the stock market goes up or down, because they will earn money on shares sold or bought by their clients.  

If the stock market starts dropping rapidly, as it is doing now, and you are holding on to a large stock investment and have time to wait (usually several years)  leave it in, but if you are cash dependent or strapped, sell immediately. rather than going bankrupt.

EU-Digest

The EU Refugee problem: The George W. Bush refugees - and the mess -- including populism - the U.S. played such a large part in creating

George W.Bush "the mission is over" - who was he kidding?

On September 18, 2015 Andrew Bacevich wrote in Politico something which not only the US Government, but also its European NATO partners have never openly admitted.

"As migrants have poured into Europe, Americans must bear the blame".

"if you break it you own it.” Colin Powell’s Pottery Barn Rule, warning George W. Bush of the consequences of invading Iraq.

Bush broke it — “it” being a swath of the greater Middle East. But the U.S. and their European NATO partners, the so-called "coalition of the willing" adamantly refused to accept anything like ownership of the consequences stemming from Bush’s recklessly misguided act.

Not least among those consequences is the crisis that finds refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Islamic world in search of asylum in the West. The European nations most directly affected have greeted this wave with more hostility than hospitality — Germany, for a time, at least offering a notable exception.

For its part, the U.S. has responded with pronounced indifference and silence. In a gesture of undisguised tokenism, the Obama administration announced it would admit a grand total of 10,000 Syrians — one-eightieth the number that Germany has agreed to accept in one year alone. Obviously the situation is now even more grim for refugees wanting to come to America, with Trump's "Make America Great Again" anti-immigration policies.

No doubt proximity plays a part in explaining the contrast between German and U.S. attitudes. Viewed from Wichita or Walla Walla, the plight of those who hand themselves over to human traffickers in hopes of crossing the Mediterranean plays out at a great distance.

Syria is what Neville Chamberlain would have described as a faraway country of which Americans know nothing (and care less). And Iraq and Afghanistan are faraway countries that most Americans have come to regret knowing.

However, To attribute the European  refugee crisis to any single cause would also be misleading. A laundry list has contributed: historical and sectarian divisions within the region; the legacy of European colonialism; the absence of anything even approximating enlightened local leadership able to satisfy the aspirations of people tired of corruption, economic stagnation, and authoritarian rule; the appeal — inexplicable to Westerners — of violent Islamic radicalism. All play a role.

Such attitudes may be understandable. They are also unconscionable.

Yet when it comes to why this fragile structure collapsed just now we can point to a single explanation — the cascading after-effects of a decision made by Bush during the spring of 2002 to embrace a doctrine of preventative war.

The previous autumn, U.S. forces toppled the government of Afghanistan, punishing the Taliban for giving sanctuary to those who plotted the 9/11 attacks. Bush effectively abandoned Afghanistan to its fate and set out to topple another regime, one that had no involvement whatsoever in 9/11.

For Bush, going after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq formed part of a larger strategy. He and his lieutenants fancied that destroying the old order in the greater Middle East would position the U.S. to create a more amenable new order. Back in 1991, after a previous Iraq encounter, Bush’s father had glimpsed a “new world order.” Now a decade later, the son set out to transform the father’s vision into reality.

The administration called this its Freedom Agenda, which would begin in Iraq but find further application throughout the greater Middle East. Coercion rather than persuasion held the key to its implementation, its plausibility resting on unstoppable military power. For Bush’s inner circle, including Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz (but not Powell), victory was foreordained.

They miscalculated. The unsettled (but largely ignored) condition of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban already hinted at the extent of that miscalculation. The chaos that descended upon Iraq as a direct result of the U.S. invasion affirmed it. The Freedom Agenda made it as far as Baghdad and there it died.

That Saddam was a brutal tyrant is a given. We need not mourn his departure. Yet while he ruled he at least kept a lid on things. Bush blew off that lid, naively expecting liberal democracy or at least deference to American authority to emerge. Instead, “liberating” Iraq produced conditions conducive to the violent radicalism today threatening to envelop the region.

So rather than cluck over the reluctance of Greeks, Serbs, Hungarians and others to open their borders to those fleeing from the mess the U.S. played such a large part in creating, Americans would do better to engage in acts of contrition.

The US, even under the leadership of Donald Trump, should at least understand that it is never too late to say they are sorry for creating this total mess in the Middle East and Afghanistan, which saddled the EU and Turkey up with millions of refugees, and indirectly, as a result, also created ISIS.

As to the EU,  it is never too late to recognize, they finally must get off the lap of Uncle Sam, develop their own independent foreign policy, and stop being part of disastrous US military  adventures.

EU-Digest

US Economy: putting all the facts together-not as good as Trump and some economic pundits want us to believe-not benefitting average Americans

With the stock market Dow Jones dropping 666 points today in addition to earlier big decreases in the last few days, the question arises, "is the US economy really  in as good a shape as economic pundits and Donald Trump wants us to believe?

Let us look at some of the facts.

Trump said as president he would be bringing economic growth  “from 1% up to 4%.” He added, “I actually think we can go higher than 4%.”

By the time Trump’s team submitted its first budget, that number shrank to 3%. Unfortunately for Trump and everyone else counting on it, he missed each one of those targets. Meanwhile, our neighbors and allies kept moving forward. 

Here’s how U.S. growth has looked under Trump and what it means for most Americans in 2018.

After two consecutive quarters of growth just above 3%, economists and the Trump administration got bad news about the last three months of 2017. During that time, GDP growth slipped to 2.6%.

When that report came out, Trump had just given his late January speech at Davos. “After years of stagnation, the United States is once again experiencing strong economic growth,” the president said.

However, the rate for his first 11+ months in office was even lower.

Technically, Trump didn’t enter office until late January 2017, so 20 days of the past year fall under the Obama administration. However, for that mostly Trump period, the U.S. economy grew 2.3% for the year.

Looking at recent history, this pace of growth is normal, but it falls well below the expectations set by the first businessman president. Besides, what about all the folks getting bonuses and companies hiring following the GOP tax plan passing? Didn’t that movement boost economic numbers?

Trump’s tax plan slashed the corporate rate by over 40%, meaning billions for some of the richest Americans and many companies. However, a late January 2018 report showed hardly any working Americans joining in on the fun.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 2% of U.S. adults got a raise, bonus, or another new type of benefit following the tax cuts passing in December 2017. It’s difficult to see substantially higher growth without more money circulating to first-time small business owners.

The Republicans don't like to mention it, but natural disasters last year made a dent of $306 billion in the US economy.

Other budget items that will affect the US economy are.the border wall $700 million or more, Infrastructure  1.5 trillion. .Military  budget expansion $716 billion.

You don't have to be Einstein to figure out that expenditures based on receivables re taxes etc. will increase the deficit by large numbers.

And if all this is not enough, as one economist noted, given Trumps skirmishes with the US judicial system including the FBI - re Russian investigation,  the US is also only a few "Trump  tweets" away from a constitutional crises, and major upheavals within the US political and financial establishment.

Bottom-line: the US overall health is not in good shape and that 666 point drop of the Dow Jones could very well be the beginning of a major meltdown,

EU-Digest 

EU diplomats plot against Trump on Jerusalem - by Andrew Rettman

EU diplomats in the Middle East will try to undermine Donald Trump's plan to establish Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The blueprint for the EU counter-measures was contained in a confidential report filed by EU states' ambassadors in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, in Israeli-occupied Palestine, after the US president, on 6 December, unilaterally recognised Israel's claim to the holy city.

Trump's decision was "a fundamental shift in US policy", the 49-page EU report, seen by EUobserver, said.

"This is the first time that one of the final status issues has been subject to a policy change by a third party since the … Oslo Accords [in 1993]," the report added.

EU leaders should send out a "common message", the text said, that Europe will "continue to respect the international consensus" that Jerusalem should be shared by Israel and Palestine in a two-state solution.

EU states should also "ensure that the location of their diplomatic missions remains in line with its provisions on location until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved," the report said, after Trump promised to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The EU report on Jerusalem is a yearly exercise meant to steer talks by ministers in Brussels.

The 2017 edition contained several new recommendations designed to hamper Trump's plan.

It urged EU capitals: to push their line on Jerusalem in all "bilateral and multilateral contacts" in 2018; to "unequivocally oppose" Israeli laws to alter the city's status; and to consider "development of further actions on distinguishing between the territory of the state of Israel and the occupied territories".

Previous EU actions included blocking grants for Israeli settler firms and publishing label guidelines for settler products in European retailers.

The 2017 report also called for "systematic media outreach in support of … [the] EU policy on Jerusalem".

It said high-level EU visits to the city should "ensure that logistics follow EU policy, e.g. through choice of hotel, change of transport between East and West", referring to Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and Israel's West Jerusalem.

There was less violence in the city last year despite some "confrontations" between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police after Trump's announcement, the EU text noted.

Thirteen Palestinians and seven Israelis were killed in violent incidents in total in Jerusalem in 2017, compared to 23 people the year before, and 41 the year before that.

But Israeli settlers were seizing Palestinian land at a "record" pace "including in areas identified by the EU and its member states as [being] key to the two-state solution", the EU report warned.

Israel advanced plans for more than 3,000 housing units in East Jerusalem last year, it said.

This added to the 215,000 settlers who have moved there since Israel conquered it in 1967 to live among the 317,000 Palestinians who are still left.

"Developments in 2016 to 2017 indicate that the Israeli authorities are taking active measures to prepare for settlement expansion in [the E1] area," the EU ambassadors added, referring to a zone that would cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and cut the West Bank into two cantons if it fell into settlers' hands.

The EU said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had systematically ignored its appeals on the issue.

"International objections were met by more announcements [of settlement expansion]," the EU ambassadors said.

The diplomats painted a grim picture of life under Israeli occupation.

They spoke of Israel's "long-standing policy of political, economic, and social marginalisation" of Palestinians, which "worsened" last year and which caused the kind of "high levels of stress and depression" that were fertile ground for violence.

They condemned killings on both sides, but singled out Israeli soldiers for "excessive use of force".

They also said Palestinian economic activity in East Jerusalem halved over the past 10 years and that 75 percent of Palestinians now lived below the poverty line.

That figure rose to 84 percent among Palestinian children, half of whom dropped out of school.

"The city has largely ceased to be the Palestinian economic, urban, and commercial centre it used to be," the EU report said. 

Read more: EU diplomats plot against Trump on Jerusalem