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7/31/19

MIDDLE EAST: Germany:has not offered to join U.S.- led mission for Strait of Hormuz- by Paul Carrel, Robin Emmott


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USA - A silent Trump coup continues: Trump's intelligence pick is attempt to "neutralise" spy agencies, say ex-officials

Trump's intelligence pick is attempt to 'neutralise' spy agencies, say ex-officials


Read more at:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/29/trump-intelligence-director-nominee-john-ratcliffe-dan-coats?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger


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EU EMPLOYMENT FIGURES : Reach historic lows

Europe's unemployment rate hits historic lows

Read more at:
https://p.dw.com/p/3N4Kd

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Britain - Brexit - the Netherlands: British fleeing Brexit helps boost Dutch immigration increase

ECO TUNE UP: 23 EASY THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BE MORE ECO NOW

23 easy things you can do to be more eco now

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7/30/19

Saudi Arabia-Democracy and US Senate fails to block Trump vetoes to sell billions of dollars of arms to Saudi Arabia

US Senate fails to block Trump vetoes on Saudi arms sales The Senate has failed in a bid to override a series of vetoes issued by President Donald Trump, allowing the administration to move forward with plans to sell billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.


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France: French tell Trump his threat to tax French wine is stupid

Health France: How to keep fit as a Parisian

USA: What is “Medicare for All”? – by William Wayland

Fifty-four years ago today, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law, the overwhelmingly popular program that provides health care and supports the economic security for more than 58 million seniors.

Yet, despite Medicare’s overwhelming success, we continue to face a serious health care crisis in our country, especially for those without Medicare or other government-sponsored health care. Millions remain uninsured or underinsured, and many others who have health coverage are just one serious health issue away from bankruptcy. While the United States spends the most on health care per capita in the world, we have some of the lowest health outcomes among developed nations.

That’s because the health care industry – insurance companies, pharmaceutical giants, device manufacturers, hospital groups, private equity, and Wall Street and their well-paid lobbyists – are raking in billions off the backs of sick people and spending millions to keep their profits flowing. Republicans and even some Democrats are all-too-happy to oblige. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Progressives lawmakers in Congress, policy experts, health care professionals and others who demand a bold solution to fix this for-profit health care fiasco have a commonsense, popular alternative, and you’ve probably heard about it. It’s called “Medicare for All” – a plan to expand Medicare to everyone to ensure all Americans have health coverage provided by the government.

What exactly is Medicare for All, how would it work and why are Republicans and many in the health care industry so opposed to it?

What is Medicare for All?

Health care is a basic human right, not a luxury for just those who can afford it. Medicare for All ensures that all Americans have access to health care provided by the government. 
It’s a single, national health plan that makes sure everyone can see a doctor when they’re sick. 

Medicare for All would replace the greedy, for-profit leeches that drive up costs without making us any healthier and would result in more health care coverage and better outcomes while reducing overall medical costs. Medicare for All would also improve the program for today’s seniors by including younger people and adding dental and hearing coverage into Medicare.

Here are more details about Medicare for All and an FAQ that dispels many of the misconceptions about single-payer health care from the Physicians for a National Health Program.

Who supports Medicare for All?

Medicare for All is extremely popular. Polling consistently shows that the American public supports a single-payer, Medicare for All system. In fact, a recent poll shows that 70% of Americans support Medicare for All, including 52% of Republicans. National Nurses United, a 150,000-member labor union, supports Medicare for All. More than 100 members of Congress support Medicare for All, and at least a dozen 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls support some version of Medicare for All.

In 2018, CREDO, along with many of our progressive allies including Healthcare-NOW, Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America, Daily Kos, Justice Democrats, MoveOn and Public Citizen, delivered more than 1 million petition signatures urging Congress to take action to pass Medicare for All.

Is there legislation in Congress to pass Medicare for All?

Yes, and CREDO actively supports these bills. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders recently re-introduced his comprehensive Medicare for All legislation in the Senate, and Rep. Pramilla Jayapal introduced an incredibly detailed, 125+ page Medicare for All version in the House of Representatives. 

In May, CREDO Action Co-Director Josh Nelson visited Rep. Jayapal’s office to host a great panel with Alex Lawson of Social Security Works where they discussed why profit has no place in our health care system and why Medicare for All is the best plan to ensure all people have health care. You can watch the full livestream here:

What’s stopping Medicare for All from being enacted?

 Simply put: greed.

CREDO needs your help to show tremendous grassroots support for Medicare for All. While conservative Democrats resist the plan and some presidential candidates float proposals that fall short of expanding Medicare to everyone, we believe that bold, progressive ideas deserve support. 

 

Read more: What is “Medicare for All”? – CREDO Mobile Blog

 

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7/29/19

Brexit: Boris Johnson's Brexit strategy is 'doomed to fail', says Scottish leader - by Nick Miller

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted he is “very confident” he can strike a fresh Brexit deal with Brussels before the end of October, as he spent a day north of Hadrian’s Wall trying to quell a potential Brexit rebellion.

Johnson headed to Scotland on Monday as a new report from a respected Whitehall think tank predicted the Union would come under “unprecedented pressure” in the months following a no-deal Brexit.

The Institute for Government report anticipated a fresh, heightened campaign for Scottish independence in 2020.

“Johnson may well find that having left one political union [the EU], he spends an increasing proportion of his time trying to keep another together [the UK],” the IfG report said. “All nations will look to Westminster to help cushion them against any economic fallout from no deal.


Read More at:
Boris Johnson's Brexit strategy is 'doomed to fail', says Scottish leader

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Putin’s treatment of protesters and rivals shows weakness, not strength: by Simon Tisdall

 Vladimir Putin is no ordinary two-faced politician. For Russia’s Janus-like president, double-speak, disingenuousness and duplicity are a way of life. For 20 years, he has shown himself the master of having it both ways. But is he about to be found out? As riots shake Moscow, with the promise of more to come, is an end to the long, dark night of the Putin supremacy a dawning possibility?

On the infrequent occasions when Putin openly presents himself to the Russian public, he cultivates the persona of a caring, fatherly figure, not unlike a tsar, valiant in the cause of people and nation. Kremlin publicists project images of a bare-chested, no-nonsense tough guy and stern, stalwart patriot, as was the case on Sunday when he was pictured reviewing a St Petersburg naval parade.

But the alternative reality was also on show at the weekend, when riot police violently attacked pro-democracy demonstrators enraged by official attempts to fix upcoming municipal elections. More than 1,300 people were arrested. It was the most serious disturbance since 2012, when protests targeting Putin’s rule brought a sweeping crackdown on civil and legal rights. In this netherworld that is Putin’s Russia, any pretence of meaningful democratic and electoral processes has been all but abandoned. Political opposition is discouraged and penalised. Free speech and peaceful assembly are severely restricted, media are censored, courts and judges are nobbled, and NGOs, religious minorities and human rights activists are harassed and persecuted.

Nor, on the dark underside of the Putin presidency, is he the universally respected, almost omnipotent figure his backers and boosters like to pretend. His latest nationwide telephone call-in show in June produced sharp criticisms, despite the risk of reprisals. “Just one question: when will you leave?” one brave caller asked. Another compared Putin to Leonid Brezhnev, whose Communist-era reign remains synonymous with harsh economic times.

The Russian regime’s shocking treatment of Alexei Navalny, the best-known opposition leader, is cruelly reminiscent of that cold war period, when dissidents were jailed and tortured. Navalny was picked up again last week, for no good reason, and jailed for 30 days. Now it is feared he may have been attacked in prison with a chemical agent, as has happened to so many Putin opponents in the past.

Read More at:Putin’s treatment of protesters and rivals shows weakness, not strength | Simon Tisdall | Opinion | The Guardian

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Bacteria: Drug resistant superbug spreading in Europe

Drug-resistant superbug spreading in Europe's hospitals

Read more at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49132425

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7/28/19

EU-Migration Policies: Tragedy is inevitable if we fear migration rather than celebrate its benefits : by Jonathan Portes

 Migrants don’t steal jobs or bring down wages. Rather, they’re more likely to bring dynamism and prosperity

our years ago, Europeans were shocked by the photograph of the drowned three-year old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi. Now, Americans are similarly horrified by pictures of El Salvadorans Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter, Angie Valeria, dead on the banks of the Rio Grande. Meanwhile, in the UK we are struggling with what our immigration policy should look like after Brexit, with Boris Johnson trying to have his cake and eat it with the promise of an “Australian-style points system”.
 
Few subjects are more politically charged than immigration. However, like free trade, it unites most economists, regardless of their politics. Immigrants don’t take our jobs, nor do they have much impact on wages. Just look at the UK, where sustained high levels of immigration have coincided with unemployment falling to its lowest level in 40 years.

More importantly, immigration makes economies more dynamic and is generally positive for productivity and prosperity. Even legitimate concerns about “brain drain” from developing countries turn out to be exaggerated, with such countries often gaining from remittances and new economic connections.

The economic and political forces driving immigration are only likely to intensify, in both Europe and the rest of the developed world. They will be powered by “demand” – demographic pressures, with every single country in Europe having a fertility rate below replacement level – and “supply” – population growth in developing countries, especially in Africa, and perhaps climate change. So the number of people seeking to move countries, whether through economic migration, refugee flows or a mix, will continue to grow. At the same time, we will need migration; even Japan, long resistant, has recently begun to liberalise policy.

If the economic benefits are clear, what explains the recent political backlash? What is the connection between the election of Donald Trump, the Brexit vote and the rise of far-right populists in continental Europe? A decade on from the financial crisis, the political foundations of the postwar (and post-cold-war) liberal order appear to be crumbling.

But while anti-immigrant rhetoric and sentiment are common themes, the circumstances of individual countries are very different. In the US, Trump’s focus is on irregular migration from Mexico and Central America and its supposed impact on crime and security, although there is little or no evidence, in the US or elsewhere, to substantiate his claims. In the UK, the ostensible focus of the Brexit campaign was on EU free movement, predominantly by white eastern Europeans, although future migration from Turkey and points farther east was also a strong theme. In western European countries such as Sweden, Germany, France and Italy, rightwing populists were boosted by public reaction to refugee and migrant flows from Syria and Africa. And in Poland and Hungary, while immigrant flows are extremely small, parties in power have successfully appealed to nationalist sentiments by focusing on the threat of Muslim immigration overrunning “Christian” Europe.

Twitter is full of lunatics who talk about “race replacement” or “white genocide”. But more respectable versions of much the same argument can be found in the mainstream press. London’s population is no longer majority “white British”, but most of us were born in the UK and even more identify as British (white, black, Asian or mixed) and have British citizenship. Nevertheless, the eminent economist Paul Collier claims that the “indigenous British [have] become a minority in their own capital”. Spectator writer Douglas Murray, who argues for reducing or eliminating Muslim immigration, says London has become a “foreign country”. Eric Kaufmann, a political scientist and author of Whiteshift, suggests that we should favour immigrants from ethnic or cultural backgrounds who are easier to “assimilate” into the white majority. The favourite philosopher of some Conservatives, Roger Scruton, thinks it’s impossible for the (British-born) children of Muslim immigrants to be loyal British citizens. So the view that only white people can be “really” British, and that black or Asian Britons are still somehow alien and threatening, remains prevalent in some elite circles.

Some argue that if progressive politicians fail to accommodate these views, they will drive their traditional voters to the populist right. But there’s little evidence that this will help those most vulnerable to the lure of rightwing populism or improve public perceptions of immigration. Instead, countries such as Ireland, Canada, and Spain have combined relatively open policies with public consent by building a pro-migration coalition across much of the political spectrum.

Germany offers a particularly striking example. Amid the panic about the refugee influx in 2015, I wrote that it was an opportunity more than a threat. But many argued that it would be impossible, economically, socially or politically, to absorb so many people from supposedly “alien” cultures. But three years on, while far from perfect, the balance sheet appears mostly positive. Refugees are learning German and getting jobs. Although the far right continues to try to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria, crime is at its lowest level in almost 30 years.

Brexit, paradoxically, offers a window of opportunity. The most illiberal and restrictionist prime minister in living memory is about to depart. Public concern about immigration has fallen sharply and attitudes towards its effects are more positive than for many years. Both Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, as well as the home secretary, Sajid Javid, have signalled that they want an immigration policy better attuned to the needs of the UK economy.

Politicians could make the case for liberal policy not just on economic grounds but much more broadly, defending the rights of immigrants, eg EU citizens resident in the UK, UK-born children of immigrants who are denied British citizenship, UK citizens who marry people from abroad, and so on. This would also include a more positive approach to the impacts of immigration on communities and services at a local level – by promoting integration and channelling funding to areas where there are pressures resulting from population growth. There is a chance for a “reset moment” not just in policy but in our wider public and political attitudes to immigration and immigrants: we should not let it slip away.  

Read more: Tragedy is inevitable if we fear migration rather than celebrate its benefits | Jonathan Port

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USA: The Careless Superpower

President Donald Trump has made the United States into an unreliable ally, a loose cannon on turbulent terrain, and a careless superpower—careless in both senses of the word, meaning reckless and without care, oblivious to the consequences of its conduct. 

Four incidents, just this past week, clinch the case. First, and most notorious, was Trump’s comment, during a state visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, about the war in Afghanistan. “If I wanted to win that war,” Trump said, “Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth.” He added, “I could win that war in a week. I just don’t want to kill 10 million people.” 

On an obvious level, the remark was merely stupid and callous. On a deeper level, it reflects a profound ignorance about war in general and the war in Afghanistan in particular—and should give ulcers to the leader of any country that depends on the U.S. for its security. 

“This is a bad regime,” Pompeo said. The recent back-and-forth, involving seized tankers and shot-down drones, is happening not because of Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and his imposition of sanctions, but rather “because the theocracy, the leadership in Iran, their revolutionary zeal to conduct terror around the world, for now four decades, continues.” He added, “I am ultimately convinced that the Iranian people will get the leadership behavior that they so richly deserve.” 

If anyone still needed proof that regime change is the true policy of the Trump administration—or at least of its top diplomat—there it was. 

As long as Pompeo’s message is regime-change-or-nothing (and as long as Trump says nothing to contradict this), the Iranians will have no incentive to return to the talks, and EU nations will keep seeking ways to circumvent Washington’s policies. Allies are good to have in wars and diplomatic confrontations; by alienating them, Trump and Pompeo are thus weakening their own position.

Read more at: Trump’s Afghanistan remarks were one more example of his utter carelessness.

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Iran: Talks held in Vienna to try and salvage Iran nuclear deal

After meeting officials from Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in Vienna, a senior Iranian official said the atmosphere had been "constructive".

Tensions have soared since the United States withdrew from the 2015 accord last year and reimposed sanctions
.
In recent weeks, Iran and Britain have seized a tanker each - putting further pressure on the 2015 accord.

Iran has also admitted breaching restrictions on its production of enriched uranium, used to make reactor fuel but also potentially nuclear bombs.

Read More: Talks held in Vienna to salvage Iran nuclear deal - BBC News

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7/27/19

USA - Trump Gets His Way Again As US Supreme Court says Trump can proceed with plan to spend military funds for border wall construction - by Robert Barnes

A split Supreme Court said Friday night that the Trump administration could proceed with its plan to use $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to build part of the president’s wall project along the southern border.

The court’s conservatives set aside a lower-court ruling for the Sierra Club and a coalition of border communities that said reallocating Defense Department money would violate federal law.

Friday’s unsigned ruling came in response to an emergency filing from the administration during the court’s summer recess. The majority said the government “made a sufficient showing at this stage” that private groups may not be the proper plaintiffs to challenge the transfer of money.

The court’s action is a stay of the injunction issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on a 2-to-1 vote, and the litigation continues. The administration wants to finalize contracts for the work before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh voted to lift the 9th Circuit injunction. Three justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — would have left it in place.

Note EU-Digest: Bottom-line, the US Taxpayer is ending-up picking up the bill for Donald Trump's wall.

Read more: Supreme Court says Trump can proceed with plan to spend military funds for border wall construction

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Heatwaves: You ain't seen anything yet until you tried living in the Middle East

Think the heat wave in Europe and N. America is bad? Try living in the Middle East.

While people across Europe and the US are suffering under a cloak of stifling heat, experts point to even higher temperatures in the Middle East and North Africa, where less-developed infrastructure magnifies the effects.

Read more at : 

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Germany: Pride Parade as Berlin remembers homosexuals killed by Nazis in World War II

Berlin remembers homosexuals killed by Nazis in World War II


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Russia: Protestors defy ban on opposition rally in Moscow

Russia: Protesters defy ban on opposition rally in Moscow


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7/26/19

The Netherlands: Nato assembly document confirms US nuclear bombs are in NL

One of the worst kept Dutch military secrets, that US nuclear weapons are being stored at the Dutch airbase in Volkel, has been been confirmed in a draft report to the Nato parliament.

The information is contained in a document drawn up for discussion in the Nato parliamentary assembly on June 1, entitled ‘A new era for nuclear deterrence? Modernisation, arms control and allied nuclear forces.’

The report was written by a member of the Nato parliamentary assembly’s defense committee and is not an official Nato document, the organisation told DutchNews.nl.

‘Nato PA reports are public documents based soley on open source information,’ the Nato PA press service said. The report’s compiler discovered the slip and has removed the sentence in a new version of the report which was published on July 11.

The original document states that the US forward deploys 150 nuclear weapons for use by US and allied aircraft.

These, it says, are stored at six US and European bases, including Volkel in the Netherlands and Kleine Brogel in Belgium as well as bases in Germany, Italy and Turkey.

Note EU-Digest: This will make Europe an immediate target for any attack from a foreign aggressive military source. As someone suggested: "lnstead of storing these weapons in Europe, why not keep them in the basement of the White House in the US"

Read more at:
Nato assembly document confirms US nuclear bombs are in NL - DutchNews.nl

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Spain: Spanish leader Sanchez fails to get backing from MPs to become PM

Spanish MPs fail to back Sanchez as prime minister in second vote, raises prospect of new elections

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France - Britain relations: France reiterates EU rejection of Johnsons Brexit policy

France reiterates EU rejection of Johnson’s Brexit policy France on Friday reiterated the EU’s rejection of an aggressive push by Boris Johnson to rewrite the Brexit agreement. 

But Paris is ready to "work with" the new British prime minister, said a senior French official.

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Nationalism: From Trump to Johnson nationalists are on the rise, backed by billionaire oligarchs

From Trump to Johnson, nationalists are on the rise – backed by billionaire oligarchs

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Aircraft Industry: Boeing considers pausing production of troubled 737 Max jets

Boeing considers pausing production of troubled 737 Max jets

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China US Relations: China probes FedEx for holding up Huawei deliveries

China probes FedEx for 'holding up' Huawei deliveries

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7/25/19

EU, Canada agree first workaround to avoid U.S. block on WTO judges = by Tom Miles

Canada and the European Union announced a deal on Thursday to stop their trade disputes falling into limbo at the World Trade Organization, where a U.S. block on appointments of judges will paralyse the world’s top trade court from December.

The agreement aims to ensure that if Canada launches a trade dispute against the EU, or vice-versa, they can be sure that the case can be adjudicated, appealed and settled in a ruling that both sides will respect as binding and final.

Such final rulings are widely seen as vital to tackling trade protectionism and supporting business confidence, and trade negotiators know that deals struck at the WTO will become part of a rulebook that has some teeth.

But under President Donald Trump, the United States has held up all appointments to the WTO’s Appellate Body, which makes final rulings in trade disputes, and the WTO is set to run short of judges from Dec. 11, 2019.

Without an appeals process, trade disputes brought to the WTO risk going into legal limbo, rendering it useless as a place to enforce agreements.

The United States says the Appellate Body has a history of ignoring procedural rules and overstepping its own mandate, but critics say Trump is imperilling the global trade system because he wants to destroy an organisation that can overrule U.S. law.

The Canada-EU agreement uses the WTO’s arbitration rules to replicate the Appellate Body as closely as possible, with former WTO judges hearing cases.

“The parties agree to abide by the arbitration award, which shall be final,” their bilateral agreement said.

The text of the deal said they had been prompted to act by extraordinary circumstances and utmost concern about the failure to fill judicial vacancies.

It is intended to be temporary and to last until the Appellate Body is restocked with judges.

The United States has repeatedly said that it will not allow appointments because its concerns remain unaddressed, although 114 WTO members have petitioned it to do so.

The EU and Canada are expected to try to agree similar workaround arrangements with other WTO members such as China, India and Brazil, to ensure they can continue to rely on binding dispute settlement in future.

Some trade experts think the United States, freed from binding judgements, could revert to a pre-WTO style of settling trade disputes, using diplomatic muscle to negotiate a solution rather than relying on judges in Geneva. 

Read more: EU, Canada agree first workaround to avoid U.S. block on WTO judges | 
Euronews

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Britain: Two Crises, One Existential Dilemma for Boris Johnson - by Tom McTague

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been in the job a matter of hours, but he is already short on time to deal with not one, but two full-blown international crises—and they may yet collide into each other.

On September 5, two days after Parliament returns to work following a six-week summer recess, an Iranian-imposed deadline for European powers to relieve an American effort to strangle its economy is set to expire, and no one knows what happens then.

This September pinch point, which could see a rapid escalation in tensions between Tehran and Washington, will come just as Britain enters a two-month race to meet its latest Brexit deadline—the country is set to leave the European Union on October 31, but no agreement setting the terms of its withdrawal has yet been approved by London. Johnson has promised to take the United Kingdom out of the EU by then, deal or no deal.

The two crises pose enormous, intermingled questions for both Johnson and his country, exposing the raw dilemma at the heart of Brexit: Will the U.K. remain principally a European power, aligned with its continental neighbors on trade, foreign policy, and defense, or will it feel compelled to move much closer to the U.S. in the aftermath of an acrimonious breakup? In effect, will Britain be able to quarantine Brexit and the resultant ill will among its European neighbors from other foreign-policy issues?

Britain’s choice is a difficult one. It prizes its “special relationship” with Washington, largely centered on intelligence-sharing and defense, but as a member of the EU, it is much more closely intertwined with European economies. Throughout the presidency of Donald Trump, London has also showed itself far more willing to strike out against the U.S. position, aligning itself with Brussels, Paris, and Berlin on a range of foreign-policy questions from climate change to tariffs—and, crucially, the Iranian nuclear deal.

If Britain were to leave the EU without a deal, an event that critics fear could lead to chaos the country is unprepared for, its options then become more limited. Because such a scenario likely means its relations with the Continent have suffered, the U.K. may feel it has little choice but to move quickly toward the U.S. as it seeks to strike a quick trade deal to protect its economy.

Tensions over Iran have already risen sharply following Trump’s May 2018 decision to withdraw from a nuclear deal—signed by the United States and Iran, as well as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China—that saw international sanctions eased in return for a dramatic scaling back of Iran’s nuclear operation. The U.S. decision to reimpose its own sanctions since then has left the three European countries scrambling to find a way to keep the deal alive, but with little success.

Two events may change this calculation: an escalation in Iranian hostility or a breakdown in relations with Europe. The British government has so far sought to separate Brexit from all other questions of strategic national interest. Boris Johnson may soon find that’s no longer possible.

Read more at: Two Crises, One Existential Dilemma for Boris Johnson - The Atlantic

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Turkey needs higher productivity for continual growth says World Bank

In a written statement, the World Bank Group said it recently launched an economic memorandum on "Firm Productivity and Economic Growth in Turkey" at a conference held in the capital Ankara.

"While acknowledging the importance of economic stability, the memorandum explored how Turkey could achieve sustained growth by accelerating productivity, particularly in 'pro-development' sectors, capable of delivering both added value and employment," it said.

The World Bank highlighted that economic integration and innovation have boosted firm-level productivity, though reforms could further accelerate these positive impacts.

"The analysis shows that the most productive industries and firms are not necessarily capturing the most resources.

"Apart from a handful of industries such as motor vehicles, basic metals and textiles, productivity in manufacturing has more recently stagnated," it said.

The group said that while construction and services have expanded rapidly, they also exhibit low and falling productivity.

"In services, there is scope to expand more sophisticated industries like information and communications technologies which raise productivity in manufacturing and other sectors," it said.

The World Bank also noted that growth and development required more productive companies to compete in the current world market, which can be enabled through structural reforms.

Read more at : Turkey needs higher productivity for continual growth: World Bank - Latest News

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Britain - EU Relations: EU negotiator Michel Barnier calls Boris Johnson′s Brexit stance ′unacceptable′

Since taking office on Wednesday and filling his Cabinet with hard-line Brexiteer politicians, Boris Johnson has insisted on striking a new deal with the European Union that would omit the so-called backstop for preventing a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and the British territory of Northern Ireland.

In an email to national governments on Thursday, EU negotiator Michel Barnier wrote that Johnson's demand was "of course unacceptable and not within the mandate of the European Council."

"No deal will never be the EU's choice, but we all have to be ready for all scenarios," Barnier wrote. The EU had to be ready for  Johnson giving "priority" to planning for a no-deal exit, "partly to heap pressure on the unity" on the remaining 27 member states, he added.

Current President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker confirmed Barnier's comments he spoke with the new British premier on Thursday. "President Juncker listened to what Prime Minister Johnson had to say, reiterating the EU's position that the Withdrawal Agreement is the best and only agreement possible — in line with the European Council guidelines," Juncker's spokeswoman said after the telephone conversation.

"President Juncker reiterated that the Commission remains available over the coming weeks should the United Kingdom wish to hold talks and clarify its position in more detail," she said.

A spokesman for Johnson's office said the prime minister had told Juncker the backstop would have to be abolished to avoid a no-deal Brexit. Johnson also stated that the withdrawal agreement made between Prime Minister Theresa May and the US would not pass parliament in its current form.

Britain-EU Relations: EU negotiator Michel Barnier calls Boris Johnson′s Brexit stance ′unacceptable′ | News | DW | 25.07.2019

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Puerto Rico - teaches US a lesson in Jefferson Democracy:‘We Just Changed History’: Cheers and Tears in San Juan- by Jose A. Del Real

 All day, the drums and the chants had blared through the streets outside La Fortaleza, the governor’s residence in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital.But just before midnight on Wednesday, a silence fell over the crowd.

 For nearly seven hours, Puerto Ricans had gathered to protest their embattled governor, Ricardo A. Rosselló, in hopes that days of demonstrations and political unrest would culminate with his resignation.

 But as the night dragged on, many had begun to worry their activism would not be rewarded. Some believed he might not resign, perhaps plunging the country into further political divisions.

And how would the crowds react if he did not step aside? A hot night. Mounds of empty beer cans. Weeks, months, years of pent-up energy.

When the governor finally began to speak, in a statement delivered on Facebook, hundreds of protesters huddled together to listen to their phones.

Then, the sound of exultation pierced through the crowd: “RENUNCIÓ!”A flurry of Puerto Rican flags flew into the air, strangers clasped arms and friends began jumping in circles, singing “¡Oé! ¡Oé!

Note EU-Digest: Democrats and other opponents to the Trump regime can learn from the events in Puerto Rico. When all else fails. take to the streets and make it happen.  

Read more at:‘We Just Changed History’: Cheers and Tears in San Juan - The New York -Times

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7/24/19

Weather - Record Heat In Europe: Temperature records surpassed across western Europe - by Jon Henley


Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have recorded their highest ever temperatures as the second extreme heatwave in as many months to be linked by scientists to the climate emergency grips the continent.

The Dutch meteorological service, KNMI, said the temperature reached 39.2C (102.5F) at the Gilze-Rijen airbase near Breda on Wednesday afternoon, exceeding the previous high of 38.6C set in August 1944.

In Belgium, the temperature in Kleine-Brogel hit 38.9C, fractionally higher than the previous record of 38.8C set in June 1947. Forecasters said temperatures could climb further on Thursday.

Germany’s national weather service, DWD, said it believed a new all-time national high of 40.5C – 0.2C higher than the record – had been set in the town of Geilenkirchen near the Dutch and Belgian borders, but had still to confirm it.

“The most extreme heat will build from central and northern France into Belgium, the Netherlands and far western Germany into Thursday,” said Eric Leister of the forecasting group AccuWeather.

Read more at Temperature records surpassed across western Europe | World news | The Guardian

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FRANCE: Survival of the free press as France becomes first country to adopt EU.copyright reform

Essential for survival of free press': France becomes first country to adopt EU copyright reform.


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EU: A new made for action for the EU - proritising - the polity - by Sophie Pornschlegel

Switzerland: Worlds most innovative country

7/23/19

Middle East: Remaining Iran nuclear deal signatories to meet in Vienna

Representatives from the nations that are still parties to the Iran nuclear deal will meet on Sunday in Austria's capital, to discuss to what extent the agreement can be salvaged, according to the European Union's foreign policy service.

China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the EU representatives will "examine issues linked to the implementation of the [2015 nuclear accord] in all its aspects", the EU statement said on Tuesday.

The urgent meeting in Vienna, which will be chaired by the EU foreign policy service's Secretary-General Helga Schmid, was requested by France, Germany, the UK and Iran, it said.

The accord, which is formally known as the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has been on life support since the United States withdrew from it last year and reimposed biting sanctions against Iran.

Read more at: Remaining Iran nuclear deal signatories to meet in Vienna | Iran News | Al Jazeera

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Britain - EU relations: EU welcomes Johnson by rebuffing his Brexit plans - by Eszter Zalan

The EU has welcomed Boris Johnson, the next UK prime minister, with scepticism as the new Conservative leader promised his party peers to deliver Brexit by the end of October.

The former mayor of London and ex-foreign minister Johnson won 66 percent of the votes in the Conservative party leadership race to succeed Theresa May, against foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, party officials announced on Tuesday (23 July).

French president Emmanuel Macron and the next president of the EU commission, Ursula von der Leyen, immediately congratulated Johnson, and said they looked forward to constructive talks with him.

"I'm looking forward to having a good working relationship with him," von der Leyen told a joint news conference with Macron in Paris.

"We have the duty to deliver something which is good for people in Europe and in the UK," she said.

Von der Leyen has earlier stated that she would be open to an extension of the Brexit deadline, currently 31 October, but that would have to be decided by EU leaders at their summit in mid-October.

While EU leaders want to avoid a no-deal Brexit, most of them are frustrated with the ongoing political crisis in the UK.

Read more at: EU welcomes Johnson by rebuffing his Brexit plans

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Britain: New UK prime minister: Boris Johnson winner of Tory leadership contest - by Paul Seddon, Hamish Mackay and Joseph Lee

Today, Boris Johnson was confirmed as the new leader of the Conservative Party. 

Tomorrow, he will formally take over as prime minister and begin to reveal his new cabinet.

So what can we expect to happen and when?

Wednesday 12:00 BST onwards: Theresa May will take part in her last Prime Minister's Questions. After lunch she will make a short farewell speech outside No 10 before travelling to see the Queen to tender her resignation.

Mrs May will leave Buckingham Palace in a different vehicle to the one she arrived in - she will no longer be allowed to travel in the PM's official car.

Mr Johnson will then arrive for an audience at the palace where he will be invited to form a government - this process is known formally as "kissing hands", though former PM John Major said in his autobiography: “The phrase is traditional and outdated - the Queen’s hand is not kissed.”

Mr Johnson will then leave in the PM's official car - an armoured Jaguar.

After that he will make a speech outside Downing Street before being clapped in to the building, where he will meet his new staff.

He will then receive briefings from the National Security Adviser and heads of intelligence agencies. 

Later, he will begin announcing his most senior cabinet appointments, such as chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary, and will make and take his first calls from other world leaders.

Thursday: Mr Johnson is expected to make a statement to Parliament about his Brexit strategy and take questions from MPs. Parliament will break up for its summer recess later.

The new PM will continue announcing his new cabinet.

Read more at: New UK prime minister: Boris Johnson winner of Tory leadership contest - BBC News

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US Wine Exports Hurt ByTariffs: Hit by 93 percent tax, Napa wine falls victim to trade war - by Romy Varghese

A decade ago, basketball legend Yao Ming was such a celebrity in China that he carried the Olympic torch into Tiananmen Square.

But these days, not even the 7-foot, 6-inch Yao can fight his way through the U.S.-China trade war.

Yao’s trouble involves, of all things, wine, his post-NBA business in Napa Valley. Across California, the state’s signature wine business is getting hit by the tit-for-tat tariffs coming out of Washington and Beijing.

China’s latest round of retaliatory tariffs put the combined tax rate on a bottle of American wine at 93%, pushing prices out of reach for much of the Asian country’s growing middle class. Yao Family Wines, started by the Hall of Famer in 2011, has seen its export business drop by half over the past year, said Tom Hinde, the vineyard’s president and winemaker.
California vintners large and small who have spent years building relationships with China are now seeing their work undone by the tariff dispute.

Their travails illustrate the far-reaching effects of President Donald Trump’s trade war, where carefully laid business plans from fishing rod suppliers to soybean farmers can turn on the latest headline, meeting or tweet.

“There’s indecisiveness in the outcome, so that puts a pall over the buyers’ enthusiasm,” Hinde said. “We’re hurting ourselves.”

Read more: Hit by 93 percent tax, Napa wine falls victim to trade war

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7/22/19

Iran - US Conflict: Between 'ending Iran' and 'no more endless wars': The unraveling of Trump's incoherent Iran strategy - by Alexander Griffing

One month on from U.S. President Donald Trump’s last-minute non-bombing of Iran, tensions in the Persian Gulf have escalated even further and his administration’s strategy for dealing with Iran is less clear than ever. 

Trump now faces critical challenges within his own party and his own administration to both sides of the carrot-and-stick dynamic he hopes will achieve a nuclear and ballistic missile-neutered Iran: military force and negotiations with Tehran. 

Confidence at home in Trump’s leadership on Iran suffered a major bipartisan rebuke this month, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to block Trump from waging war with Iran without Congressional approval. 

Republican leaders in the Senate, who are likely to kill the amendment (repeating a similar effort in June), slammed the move as signalling to Tehran that the United States is divided. They fear that could potentially weaken Trump’s position in any future negotiations with Iran.

Meanwhile, the list of hostile incidents between Iran and the U.S. and its allies is lengthening. Iran seized two British oil tankers in the Gulf, eventually releasing one, a day after Trump said the U.S. destroyed an Iranian drone in the Gulf - a claim that Tehran immediately denied. In June, Iran shot down a U.S. Navy drone in the same area.  

That act prompted Trump to authorize a military strike on Iran, only to call it off at the last moment, despite being, in his own words, "cocked and loaded" - because the estimated death toll of 150 Iranians was "not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone."  

Critics derided Trump’s hesitation to take action as analogous to former President Barack Obama’s inaction after Syria’s Bashar Assad crossed the president’s much-hyped "red line" and used chemical weapons against civilians and opposition forces.  

Trump is being squeezed between his bombastic rhetoric, having vowed to "end Iran" if they attack the U.S. or its allies in the region, and his lack of action in response to serial Iranian aggression. 

Trump has scored one minor victory: Iran has offered, for the first time, to enter negotiations on its ballistic missile program. However, they are demanding a quid pro quo that Trump would be loathe to offer: a commitment from the U.S. to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE - a policy which has been roundly rebuked by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress because of their use in the devastating civil war in Yemen.  

Trump has also been playing around with the officials tasked with the Iran file. At the end of last week, Trump confirmed that he gave Republican Senator Rand Paul, a staunch isolationist, a green light to negotiate with Iran.

Paul, son of libertarian lion Ron Paul, is a strange character to add to the White House mix deciding Iran policy: both National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are known as longtime Iran hawks. Bolton once even penned a New York Times op-ed entitled, "To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran."

Trump has boxed himself in between establishment GOP hawks and a growing, more isolationist faction within the party. The divide between Rand Paul and John Bolton, or Tucker Carlson and Mike Pompeo, perfectly illustrates that when it comes to war/no war with Iran, none of Trump’s choices are good choices. None will bolster his credibility with all wings of the GOP, his White House staff or the international community, which is watching with mounting concern.

Read more at: Between 'ending Iran' and 'no more endless wars': The unraveling of Trump's incoherent Iran strategy - U.S. News - Haaretz.com

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Tender equality: Jimmy Carter: "twisten interpretatie of religious scripture result of gender inequality "

7/21/19

USA: Drug prices UP IN THE US despite Trump claims to the contrary


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FRANCE: WINE PRODUCTION HIT BY HEATWEAVE

France: French inventor to attempt to cross the Channel on Jet powered flyboard

French inventor to attempt to cross Channel on jet-powered flyboard - refueling twice along the way.

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Iran - US relations: US is on the war path again in the Middle Middle East

Is a US-led war with Iran on the horizon as troops head to Saudi Arabia?

Read more at :
https://p.dw.com/p/3MQVA

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EUROVISION SONG COMPETION: Rotterdam and Maastricht remain in the running to host 2020 song festival

7/20/19

EU reform: The Spinelli Group in the starting blocks - by Hervé Moritz

During the previous European Parliament plenary session, the members of the Spinelli Group that brings together federalist MEPs organised their first meeting of the new term. It was an occasion to present the role of the group, its raison d’être and its objectives for the new mandate.

On Tuesday at lunchtime, around forty MEPs were present at the first meeting of the Spinelli Group at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Comprising both old and new federalist MEPs, the informal group coordinates the work of the members on the future of Europe and on EU reform.

Read more at; EU reform: The Spinelli Group in the starting blocks - The New Federalist

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