USA: Trump signs COVID-19 relief bill, averts U.S. government shutdown

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday signed into law a $2.3 trillion US COVID-19 aid and government-funding bill, restoring unemployment benefits to millions and averting a partial federal government shutdown.

Read more at: Trump signs COVID-19 relief bill, averts U.S. government shutdown | CBC News

USA: Trump threatens to scuttle coronavirus aid bill, demands changes -

President Donald Trump late Tuesday threatened to torpedo Congress’ massive pandemic relief package in the midst of a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty, suddenly demanding changes fellow Republicans have opposed.

Trump assailed the bipartisan $900 billion package in a video he tweeted out Tuesday night and suggested he may not sign it. He said the bill would deliver too much money to foreign countries, but not enough to Americans.

Read more at: Trump threatens to scuttle coronavirus aid bill, demands changes - MarketWatch

Trump will lose in a landslide because of the economy, new election model predicts

The economy has gone from President Donald Trump's greatest political asset to perhaps his biggest weakness.

Unemployment is spiking at an unprecedented rate. Consumer spending is vanishing. And GDP is collapsing. History shows that dreadful economic trends like these spell doom for sitting presidents seeking reelection.

The coronavirus recession will cause Trump to suffer a "historic defeat" in
November, a national election model released Wednesday by Oxford
Economics predicted.

Read more at:
Trump will lose in a landslide because of the economy, new election model predicts - CNN

US Economy Meltdown: Dow plunges over 2,000 points, oil collapses amid price war and coronavirus - by Jonathan Garber

U.S. equity markets tumbled Monday after an oil price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia and amid new cases of coronavirus, especially in America.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	23851.02	-2,013.76	-7.79%
SP500	S&P 500	2758.65	-213.72	-7.19%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	7985.59538	-590.02	-6.88%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 2,000 points lower, coming back from a point drop of more than 2,150 points, or 8.2 percent, at session lows while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were lower by 7.9 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

Monday's sharp selloff, which caused the major averages to be temporarily halted due to volatility, caused the New York Federal Reserve to increase its daily cash injections into the banking system to $150 billion from $100 billion.

The stock-market's steep slide comes after a production dispute between OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia sent West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, plunging by as much as 33.8 percent, the most since the outbreak of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, to a low of $27.34 a barrel in overnight trading. The energy component finished the day down 24.59 percent at $31.13 a barrel.

Note EU-Digest: This is what happens when you elect a President who is a complete "ignoramas", lies like there is no tomorrow, says he knows more about the Corona Virus than the medical profession, brags he is the best deal maker in the world, wants only "yes men" in his cabinet, and unfortunately, that is "only the top of the Trump iceberg drama".

Read more at: Dow plunges over 2,000 points, oil collapses amid price war and coronavirus | Fox Business

USA: Trump is winning, and Wall Street is cheering - by Howard Gold

Readers of this column know I’m no fan of President Donald J. Trump. But it looks increasingly likely he’s going to get re-elected, and Wall Street is responding by pushing the S&P 500 SPX, +0.33%   and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.67%  indexes to all-time highs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.30%  isn’t far behind

That comes as the coronavirus has driven Chinese and emerging market stocks down, and when forecasters have cut their projections for global GDP growth. Also, there’s a slowdown in manufacturing and the industrial economy, critical to key swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, although so far few economists expect a U.S. recession in 2020.

Read more at: Trump is winning, and Wall Street is cheering - MarketWatch

USA,: Trumps economic plan for Mideast met widespread rejection

Trump's economic plan for Mideast peace met with widespread rejection

Read more at:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/cut-out-process-palestinians-reject-trump-s-economic-plan-mideast-n1020706

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Russia-US Relations: New Congress must investigate details of Putin Trump's meetings

Read more at:

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-russia-congress-schiff-ukraine-zamel-cambridge-analytica-1263860?spMailingID=4763795&spUserID=MTI0NzM2NDgxNDcS1&spJobID=1171391951&spReportId=MTE3MTM5MTk1MQS2

USA: More dark clouds are gathering over Donald Trump's credibility as the President of the USA

Even though the US President is not openly showing much anguish over the troubles surrounding his Presidency, it is becoming very apparent that his credibility to govern the US is more and more in doubt.

Specially in light of the recent court verdicts against many of his close associates, and damaging daily press reports, including :

David Pecker, CEO of National Enquirer Publisher, Granted Immunity in Michael Cohen Case

Sessions hits back at Trump: DOJ won't be 'improperly influenced'

The only reason that Trump hasn’t been indicted is that he’s the president

Embattled Trump Startles Israel by Demanding 'Higher Price' for His Delusional Achievements on Jerusalem

Bottom-line, this is not a pleasant time in the history for the United States.  Who would have thought that after the Republican President Nixon was impeached, that another Republican President possibly faces the same fate as Richard Nixon did and,  as a consequence, had to resign on August 9, 1974.

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 only if the source - EU-Digest- is mentioned.

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Davos: Vision versus Economic Capacity and Power - by RM

Economic Power (USA) Versus Vision (EU)

At the end of the Davos economic gathering, it was interesting to note how much the speeches given by European leaders differed from that of the American President.

When the US President spoke, it was clear that he spoke, knowing that he could say just about anything he wanted, given the economic strength of the US. The fact that he added to his now famous slogan , "America first", the words, "but not alone*, just meant that he will support trade agreements and other multi-lateral deals only if they are based on US terms and conditions, certainly not on a multi-lateral basis.

The Europeans,  including their present champion, Emmanuel Macron, spoke with no exception, not only about the positive values of global trade, but also about major issues confronting the world, such as global warming.

The obvious conclusion one could make from these speeches in Davos, listening to these two different trains of of thought, is that unless the one submits to the others way of thinking - there is no harmony possible - and this, regardless of all the enormous challenges the world is facing today.

Unfortunately for the EU, is the fact that the Union is not unified enough to speak with one voice and put their "money where their mouth is", and consequently can not only offer a carrot as an alternative, but also when needed not use a stick against "Bougie Man" Trump.

The result of all this will be, as the saying goes, "when two dogs fight over a bone, another dog will take it",

That dog, if it has not already taken the bone, will be China.

Bottom line : Europe urgently needs to put its house in order, and those member states which like the status quo, better get out, or get thrown out of the EU.

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USA: President Trump again falsely claims he's signed more bills than any president - by Brian Bennett

The President of the No 1 Super Power - "What a guy !"

After another morning at his Florida golf club, President Donald Trump visited firefighters and paramedics at a West Palm Beach firehouse and praised his own performance as president, including a false boast.

Trump touted his administration’s work to roll back government regulations and cut taxes and claimed credit for the stock market hitting record highs. He also said he’s signed more bills into law than any other president, which isn’t true.

“We have signed more legislation than anybody,” Trump said, standing in front of a rescue vehicle inside the fire station.

Note EU-Digest: the King of the BS strikes again. Those who have followed Trump’s career say his lying isn’t just a tactic, but an ingrained habit. New York tabloid writers who covered Trump as a mogul on the rise in the 1980s and ’90s found him categorically different from the other self-promoting celebrities in just how often, and pointlessly, he would lie to them. In his own autobiography, Trump used the phrase “truthful hyperbole,” a term coined by his ghostwriter referring to the flagrant truth-stretching that Trump employed, over and over, to help close sales. Trump apparently loved the wording, and went on to adopt it as his own.

Read more: Tribune News Service | Preview | President Trump again falsely claims he's signed more bills than any president

NATO under pressure from Trump will symbolically join anti-′Islamic State′ Saudi backed coalition

NATO TO JOIN WITH SAUDI BACKED ISLAMIC COALITION

Several NATO sources on Wednesday said that the strategic military alliance would join the US-Saudi led coalition against the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (IS) armed group.

The decision is expected to be formally announced on Thursday at the meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels, the sources said.

The leak was made public hours after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called on the alliance to do more to combat terrorism, following the suicide bomb attack at Manchester Arena that killed 22 people.

Diplomats said the decision comes under pressure from President Trump and is mainly political and symbolic, because all 28 NATO members already contribute to the coalition fighting to retake areas of Iraq and Syria from the extremist group. Some, like Germany, only taking part in support roles such as reconnaissance and logistics.

For America, the lessons of the European tragedy are there to be learned. There is only one solution to the problem of terrorism and it doesn’t involve going abroad in search of monsters to destroy.

The EU must withdraw all its troops from the Middle East – a possibility that doesn’t bear the economic consequences it once did, given the creation of new technologies that make domestic oil production and alternative energy far easier.

For the US the message is that spending billions of dollars defending and sustaining the Saudi monarchy and the Gulf states – some of the most repressive regimes in the world, is throwing money down the drain, and for what?

The interventionists( Republicans and Democrats alike) declare that America’s role as a “global leader” represents the defense of our values. But really, does a regime that beheads “infidels” represent American or European values? Indeed, there is basically no operative difference between the internal rule of the ISIS “caliphate” and the Saudi Kingdom. Yet we are obsessed with destroying the former and cuddling up to the latter.

It’s not too late for the Europeans, who were forced to sleep in a bed they did not make for themselves, to finally step out of that bed, and focus on cleaning-up the ISIS mess at home by themselves, with plans and strategies of their own. 

EU-Digest