EU-US Relations: EU plots course as US awaits election winner

With key states still up for grabs, the US presidential election is anything but decided. Foreign policy experts point out that, no matter the outcome, the European Union must be willing go its own way.

Read more at: EU plots course as US awaits election winner | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 04.11.2020

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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Turkey's Erdogan says Turkey needs S-400 missile defence systems - by Tuvan Gumrukcu

The United States has expressed concern that NATO ally Turkey’s planned deployment of the S-400s could risk the security of some U.S.-made weapons and other technology used by Turkey, including the F-35 jet.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for military officers, Erdogan said Turkey also needs F-35 fighter jets and will continue to pay its installments to procure them from the United States, but would procure jets elsewhere if the United States halts the delivery of the F-35 fighter jets.

A Reuters report: Turkey's Erdogan says Turkey needs S-400 missile defence systems | Reuters

EU-Bitcoin Concerns:The Bitcoin Surge Sparks Bubble Warning by Top European Official - by Alexander Weber

The frenzy on virtual-currency markets has prompted the starkest warning yet from the European Union’s financial-services chief, who said that investors are at risk of losing everything.

EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis asked the heads of the EU’s three financial supervisors to update their warnings to consumers “as a matter of urgency” in light of recent market developments, acording to a letter seen by Bloomberg.

“The developments relating to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in recent weeks require our heightened attention,” Dombrovskis wrote in the letter. “While I acknowledge the important opportunities offered by blockchain technology and its various applications, the current market developments around bitcoin constitute the signs of a pricing bubble, even if -- in terms of global volume -- it remains at the moment within a small share of the financial markets.”

Read more: Bitcoin Surge Sparks Bubble Warning by Top European Official - Bloomberg

USA: Trump Tweets Gives A Glimpse Into Foreign Policy Approach

President-elect Donald Trump has used Twitter — his preferred means of communication — to weigh in on a swath of foreign policy issues over the past few weeks.

His comments give glimpse into how his incoming administration will deal with pressing foreign matters — but also highlight how reactionary comments on social media can immediately spur international concern and attention.

And his staff have indicated that taking to Twitter to air his concerns or, often, grievances, won't end once he enters the Oval Office.

Read more: Trump Tweets Gives A Glimpse Into Foreign Policy Approach

Jamaica: Shocked at demise of US democracy - by R.Oscar Lofters

For years, the United States has proclaimed itself the finest democracy in the world, a shining city on a hill, a nation that welcomed immigrants with open arms, a country supposedly of impeccable values and political civility.

Instead, of this glowing resume, the world is witnessing a steady flow of political sewage and despicable behaviour that even startles the Ku Klux Klan.

The world has been bombarded with the vitriol of the Republican presidential nominee, who declares that the Democratic presidential nominee is a liar, a fraud and a traitor who should be locked up.

On the other hand, the Democratic nominee has labelled the Republican nominee a liar, a fraud, a hypocrite unprepared for the presidency of the United States.

The world is aghast at the unravelling of political sobriety and the cloud of nastiness to which we have been exposed.

The civility and political decency of a great country have now been transformed into a dump.

Read more: Shocked at demise of US democracy | Letters | Jamaica Gleaner