| Pompeo subpoenaed over Ukraine documents as US envoy steps down Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:17 PM PDT  Kurt Volker, special envoy for Ukraine, had helped plan a meeting between Giuliani and a Ukraine presidential aide The committees sent a separate note to Pompeo notifying him of a rapid schedule of depositions they expected to hold with five state department officials. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesKurt Volker, the US special envoy for Ukraine, has become the first casualty in the rapidly growing impeachment crisis surrounding Donald Trump, with multiple reports that he has resigned from his post.Volker was due to appear before the congressional committees and was mentioned in the whistleblower complaint as helping Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy "navigate" Trump's demands.The news, first reported in an Arizona student newspaper, the State Press, emerged late on Friday, hours after Congress issued a subpoena to the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to hand over documents related to contacts the president and his lawyer had with the Ukrainian government.It emerged this week that Volker had helped organise a meeting between Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and a Ukraine presidential aide. Giuliani was trying to convince Zelenskiy's government to investigate of the son of Joe Biden, Trump's possible opponent in next year's elections.With impeachment proceedings against Trump under way, further reports emerged of White House efforts to limit access to transcripts of conversations with other countries. Trump's phone calls with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian president Vladimir Putin were also tightly restricted, according to former administration officials quoted by CNN.The Washington Post reported that further restrictions were placed on details from a 2017 meeting between Trump, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and ambassador Sergei Kislyak, in which Trump is reported to have said he was not bothered by Moscow interference in the 2016 election because the US did the same kind of thing in other countries. The White House limited access to the remarks to "an unusually small number of people", the Post said, after speaking to three former officials. The president had already been accused of sharing highly sensitive information on Islamic State during the meeting.Earlier on Friday, in a congressional letter delivered to Pompeo, three House committees demanded documents as part of their investigation into "the extent to which President Trump jeopardised national security by pressing Ukraine to interfere with our 2020 election and by withholding security assistance provided by Congress to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression".The chairmen of the intelligence, foreign affairs and oversight committees also warned Pompeo that "your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House's impeachment inquiry".The committees sent a separate note to Pompeo notifying him of a rapid schedule of depositions they expected to hold with five state department officials involved in contacts with Ukraine. The list begins next Wednesday with the former ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, who was forced to retire from the post in May, earlier than planned.Trump, according to the White House version of his 25 July conversation with Zelenskiy, was scathing about Yovanovitch, referring to her as "the woman" who was "bad news", and who was "going to go through some things".Volker is due to appear before the day after Yovanovitch's scheduled deposition. Giuliani has publicly displayed text messages purportedly from Volker, about a meeting had helped arrange with a Zelenskiy aide.Giuliani was seeking to persuade the Kyiv government to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of former vice-president Joe Biden, Trump's possible Democratic opponent in next year's presidential election.The younger Biden had been on the board of an Ukrainian energy company, but an Ukrainian investigation found no evidence of impropriety.Shortly before making the call to Zelenskiy in July, to press him further on investigating Biden, Trump ordered the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pompeo claimed to have been too busy to read more than a couple paragraphs of the whistleblower complaint about Trump's behaviour towards Ukraine, and insisted that no state department official had done anything appropriate.In their letter to Pompeo, the three committee chairman, noted that he had first been asked to hand over relevant documentation on 9 September, but had not complied."Your actions are all the more troubling given that since our 9 September request, it has become clear that multiple state department officials have direct knowledge of the subject matters of the House's impeachment inquiry," the chairmen – Democrats Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings – said.Pompeo's continued refusal to hand over the documents, they added, would impair Congress's "constitutional responsibilities to protect our national security and the integrity of our democracy".
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| China FM tells UN protectionism risks causing global recession Posted: 27 Sep 2019 05:24 PM PDT  China's foreign minister warned Friday that protectionism could trigger a world recession as he vowed to stand firm in a trade row with the United States. "The lessons of the Great Depression should not be forgotten," Wang Yi told the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "Tariffs and provocation of trade disputes, which upset global industrial and supply chains, serve to undermine the multilateral trading regime and global economic and trade order," he said.
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| At UN, Malaysia PM seeks to curb use of sanctions Posted: 27 Sep 2019 04:32 PM PDT  Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday urged greater international control of sanctions, criticizing US attempts to force all countries to stop doing business with Iran. It appears to be the privilege of the rich and the powerful," the outspoken 94-year-old leader said in an address to the UN General Assembly. The United States has increasingly used sanctions as a diplomatic tool, with President Donald Trump threatening other nations with punishment if they buy any oil from Iran.
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| Pompeo Grapples for Ways to Outlast Hurricane Rudy Posted: 27 Sep 2019 04:31 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily BeastAmerica's top diplomat has a Rudy Giuliani problem. The president's lawyer is now calling out his State Department officials by name on national television for their role in a plot to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate a long-time political rival. Guiliani's mission to dig up dirt on that rival, former vice president Joe Biden, has the president staring at an impeachment inquiry instead. And now, the full wrath of Congressional investigators is bearing down on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his team. On Friday afternoon, the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight Committees scheduled five people for depositions in the coming weeks. All five are current or former State Department employees. Pompeo himself was subpoenaed for Ukraine-related documents. All of which has left Pompeo wondering if there's any way to clean up his Rudy mess. According to sources inside State, Pompeo and his advisers have openly expressed anger about Giuliani's television appearances. One of those officials, U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, resigned his position less than 24 hour after his texts were read on Fox News by Giuiliani. His departure was first reported by the Free State Press. Pompeo is reportedly livid about Giuliani for sharing these private text messages on-air and for publicly dragging U.S. diplomats deeper and deeper into the scandal with him. Pompeo at one point asked an aide if reaching out to Giuliani and asking him to tone it down was an option. It's unclear if Pompeo or other senior officials from the department have communicated with Giuliani since the publication earlier this week of a bombshell whistleblower complaint about Team Trump's Ukraine squeeze.Pompeo is hardly the first member of Team Trump to be vexed by Giuliani. Even before this latest saga unfolded, there certainly hasn't been a shortage in this White House of senior staffers who privately bash Giuliani as a liability for Trump and his administration. However, some senior White House officials have actively avoided criticizing or declined to even try to rein in Giuliani for fear of upsetting the president. One senior Trump aide described the president's confidant and personal attorney as both a "wild man" and as a "protected" person in Trumpworld, due to his close relationship with the president, who he more-or-less successfully defended during the two-year, high-stakes Mueller investigation."Pompeo realizes Giuliani is a dangerous wild card and what he did is not good for our foreign policy. But he has the president's ear. You're not going to see [Pompeo] publicly slam Giuliani because he has a tight relationship with Trump," one former State Department official told The Daily Beast. Earlier this month those three House congressional committees launched an official probe into efforts by Giuliani to convince Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration to look into Biden. That investigation expanded following the disclosure of the instantly-famous whistleblower complaint. Now, the pressure inside the halls of the State Department is mounting. Since the public release of the complaint, Secretary Pompeo has maintained a relatively low profile. But two sources inside the secretary's office said Pompeo and his advisors have spent a significant amount of time over the last several days strategizing on how to handle the department's implication in the Trump-Giuliani affair. In particular, Pompeo and his team have spoken with Volker and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland—two State Department officials who coordinated with the president's lawyer as he tried to undermine one of the people who could replace him. It could not be confirmed whether that conversation led to Volker's sudden departure. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.During a Thursday appearance on the Fox News show hosted by fellow Trump loyalist Laura Ingraham, Giuliani tripled down on his assertion that the State Department had, in fact, enlisted him to reach out to Ukrainian officials in the first place. In doing so, he turned the audience's attention to a text conversation he said he had with Volker."Are you concerned that you are unnecessarily dragging his name into this?" Ingraham asked."He should step forward and explain what he did," Giuliani replied.That same day, the Trump lawyer also posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a private chat between him and Volker, dated July 19, discussing Ukraine matters.When asked if he had heard from anyone in the department expressing displeasure over the past couple days, Giuliani tersely responded, "No complaints."There may not be any, at least not publicly. "Pompeo is playing a game to make sure the policy is right without annoying his boss Trump," the former State Department official said on Friday evening, "If Pompeo can save Volker, he will. But he is not going to risk everything to do it."Less than an hour later, the news broke that Volker has resigned from the State Department.It's become clear in recent days that Volker's overtures to the Zelensky government were extensive, part of an administration-wide effort to forge bonds with the new Ukrainian leader. The outreach to Ukraine was a top priority for the State Department, Volker said during his June 18 testimony with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Earlier that morning, before the hearing, the Pentagon had announced its plans to dole out $250 billion in military aid to Ukraine."I think that the future of Ukraine over the next five years is going to be shaped over the next three months," Volker said. "How this election comes out, how President Zelensky assembles a government, and whether he is able to operate independently... without undue influence of any individuals or oligarchs in Ukraine will be absolutely critical."Volker noted that the Trump administration was already on its way to forging a close relationship with Zelensky and his team. He noted his trip to Kyiv with Sondland and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) for Zelensky's inauguration and said Ambassador Sondland hosted a dinner in Brussels that Zelensky attended. Jared Kushner was also reportedly at the June 4 dinner. Volker said in his testimony that President Trump wrote Zelensky a letter inviting him to Washington. According to Ukrainian press accounts, that letter was delivered to Zelensky May 30. Experts say invitations by the U.S. president are normally delivered by hand by ambassadors."I hope that we are able to assemble another trip to Ukraine in advance of [Zelensky's] White House visit in the next several weeks," Volker said at the June hearing. Although dates had been proposed for a Zelensky trip to Washington, plans for the visit eventually fell apart, according to sources inside the State Department. Rudy's Ukraine Henchmen Made Big Donation to Pro-Trump PACJust days prior to Trump's letter arriving in Ukraine, Volker was in Washington, speaking at a press conference at the State Department and appearing at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In those appearances, Volker stressed the need for the Trump administration, in coordination with European allies, to quickly make inroads with Zelensky team to show support for a new president ready to tackle corruption.In the June 18 hearing, Volker noted that Ambassador Sondland was focusing on working with the Europeans to coordinate Ukraine policy. "He has also made the rounds in Europe and is in fact in Berlin today and was in Paris yesterday," Volker said of Sondland.President Zelensky was in Berlin at the same time as Sondland, meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on a path forward to stronger German-Ukrainian relations. But there was another official from the Trump administration in Berlin that day: then-Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. Two sources inside the State Department say Coats was in the city to meet with U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell and German officials. Coats also talked with Zelensky in a previously-unreported meeting in a Berlin hotel on June 18, sources say. It is unclear how long the meeting lasted. Two sources inside the Trump administration described the meeting as a chance encounter. The office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment for this story. When reached by phone on Thursday, Coats simply hung up on The Daily Beast.Trump, for his part, has so far shown no sign of upset at Giuliani for helping drag him and his administration into arguably the worst crisis of his presidency. At least during the onset of this whole mess, Trump's attitude was quite the opposite, in fact. Not long after Giuliani wrapped his prolonged, heavily combative interview with CNN host Chris Cuomo last week—a segment so off-the-rails it went viral and attracted much ridicule from political observers—the president made sure to congratulate his lawyer for taking the fight straight to CNN, according to a source with direct knowledge of their conversation.Furthermore, President Trump made a specific point of urging Giuliani to keep doing TV and cable-news hits in the coming days, so they could train as much media attention as possible on Biden, this source said.This was mere days before Democrats quickly lined up in favor of an impeachment inquiry. The push to damage Biden had instead exploded in Giuliani and Trump's faces.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Boris Johnson Goes Green With Cash for Electric Cars and Fusion Posted: 27 Sep 2019 04:00 PM PDT ![Boris Johnson Goes Green With Cash for Electric Cars and Fusion]( "Boris Johnson Goes Green With Cash for Electric Cars and Fusion") (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson's Conservative Party will pledge funding for electric cars, fusion power and new green spaces at its conference next week, in the latest sign of how British political parties are fighting for environmentally friendly votes.The Conservative annual conference, which kicks of in Manchester, North West England, on Sunday, is likely to be dominated by Brexit. But the party is keen to talk about other things as well. On Saturday, it announced 1 billion pounds ($1.2 billion) of investment in electric vehicles, to be spent over an unspecified period, and 50 million pounds a year for four years toward the development of a fusion reactor, which the government says it wants to be running by 2040. There's also money for new forests and extra regulations for new homes to make them more energy-efficient."Addressing climate change is a top priority for the Conservative Party, and today's announcements will not only help us reach our Net Zero 2050 target, but will benefit communities and households -- and improve wildlife and well-being -- while doing so," Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said in a statement. "The Conservatives are doing this properly: creating hundreds of thousands of low carbon jobs and growing our economy while successfully reducing emissions."The main opposition Labour Party voted at its conference to create a path toward "net-zero" carbon emissions by 2030. Though that doesn't necessarily mean it will be Labour policy at the next election, it does show what the party's activists want.To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Despite suspension, Syria FM greets Arab League chief at UN Posted: 27 Sep 2019 03:17 PM PDT  The head of the Arab League exchanged a warm handshake Friday at the United Nations with the foreign minister of Syria, which has been suspended from the body since 2011. The exchange between Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary general of the Arab League, and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem appeared to be brief and impromptu during the annual UN General Assembly.
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| UPDATE 1-Venezuela opposition leaves U.N. with 'gestures of support' but no breakthrough Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:27 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Venezuela opposition leaves U.N. with 'gestures of support' but no breakthrough]( "UPDATE 1-Venezuela opposition leaves U.N. with 'gestures of support' but no breakthrough") During their week representing Venezuelan congress chief Juan Guaido at the U.N. General Assembly, an opposition delegation received words of support from U.S. President Donald Trump, funding from the United States, and pledges of stronger action from Latin American and European countries. "We cannot allow Spain to be a paradise for Maduro's bagmen," Borges told reporters.
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| Russia tells US not to release Trump-Putin transcripts Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:21 PM PDT  Russia on Friday urged the United States not to publish Donald Trump's conversations with Vladimir Putin after a growing scandal led the White House to release a transcript from a call with Ukraine's leader. "As for transcripts of phone conversations, my mother when bringing me up said that reading other people's letters is inappropriate," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations.
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| China’s Top Diplomat Warns Trade War Could Plunge World Into Recession Posted: 27 Sep 2019 01:59 PM PDT ![China's Top Diplomat Warns Trade War Could Plunge World Into Recession]( "China's Top Diplomat Warns Trade War Could Plunge World Into Recession") (Bloomberg) -- China's foreign minister hit back at President Donald Trump's trade policies at the United Nations on Friday, warning that protectionism could plunge the world into a recession just as negotiators from both countries prepare to meet in Washington next month.Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking from the UN General Assembly rostrum days after Trump used the same setting to criticize China's trade practices, said that "tariffs and provocations of trade disputes" are upsetting the global industrial and supply chain and risk undermining the "global economic and trade order.""China will not ever be cowered by threats, or subdued by pressure," Wang said. "Erecting walls will not resolve global challenges, and blaming others for one's own problems does not work."Wang's speech came as Trump administration officials discuss ways to limit U.S. investors' portfolio flows into China in a move that would have repercussions for billions of dollars in investment pegged to major indexes. The news rattled markets, with stocks extending losses Friday on concern the trade war is escalating ahead of planned discussions between both countries.Trump devoted much of his General Assembly speech on Tuesday to China's trade practices, accusing Beijing of failing to adopt promised reforms and embracing an economic model dependent on massive market barriers, heavy state subsidies, forced technology transfers and the theft of intellectual property.He defended his imposition of tariffs, saying he wouldn't accept a "bad deal."As the trade conflict unfolded, China targeted American farmers -- an important political constituency for Trump -- in retaliation for U.S. tariffs, cutting purchases of soybeans and other commodities. Trump has responded with a bailout for farmers that, so far, totals about $28 billion."Regarding economic and trade frictions and differences, China is committed to resolve them in a calm, rational and cooperative manner, and is willing to demonstrate utmost patience and goodwill," Wang said. "Should the other side act in bad faith, or show no respect for equal status or rules in negotiations, we will have to make necessary responses to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests."Trade talks are to resume in Washington early in October and China's Vice Premier Liu He is expected to lead his country's delegation.To contact the reporter on this story: David Wainer in New York at dwainer3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UN peacekeeping helicopter crashes in C.Africa, 3 dead: UN force Posted: 27 Sep 2019 01:13 PM PDT  Three Senegalese crew were killed and a fourth was injured when a combat helicopter used by United Nations peacekeepers in the Central African Republic crashed in the west of the country, the UN force said on Friday. "It is with immense sorrow that I have learned of the crash of a Senegalese combat helicopter as it was landing at Bouar, leading to three deaths and one injured," the head of the MINUSCA mission, Mankeur Ndiaye, said on Twitter. The crash of the Russian-made helicopter was confirmed by the Senegalese army in a statement.
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| UK business secretary Leadsom says economy could withstand a no-deal Brexit- FT Posted: 27 Sep 2019 12:44 PM PDT ![UK business secretary Leadsom says economy could withstand a no-deal Brexit- FT]( "UK business secretary Leadsom says economy could withstand a no-deal Brexit- FT") UK business secretary Andrea Leadsom said Britain's economy is robust and that it could withstand a no-deal Brexit, according to an interview https://on.ft.com/2nWiCGV with the Financial Times published on Friday. In the interview with the Financial Times, Leadsom admitted that a no-deal Brexit would pose difficulties. Obviously it will lead to change and to some business disruption, but the government is doing everything it can to minimise it," the newspaper quoted her as saying.
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| UPDATE 4-In swipe at Trump, China tells U.N. tariffs could plunge world into recession Posted: 27 Sep 2019 12:11 PM PDT  In a blunt speech to the annual United Nations General Assembly, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: "Erecting walls will not resolve global challenges, and blaming others for one's own problems does not work. "Tariffs and provocation of trade disputes, which upset global industrial and supply chains, serve to undermine the multilateral trade regime and global economic and trade order.
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| In swipe at Trump, China tells U.N. tariffs could plunge world into recession Posted: 27 Sep 2019 12:02 PM PDT  In a blunt speech to the annual United Nations General Assembly, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: "Erecting walls will not resolve global challenges, and blaming others for one's own problems does not work. "Tariffs and provocation of trade disputes, which upset global industrial and supply chains, serve to undermine the multilateral trade regime and global economic and trade order.
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| Venezuela opposition leaves U.N. with 'gestures of support' but no breakthrough Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:48 AM PDT ![Venezuela opposition leaves U.N. with 'gestures of support' but no breakthrough]( "Venezuela opposition leaves U.N. with 'gestures of support' but no breakthrough") During their week representing Venezuelan congress chief Juan Guaido at the U.N. General Assembly, an opposition delegation received words of support from U.S. President Donald Trump, funding from the United States, and pledges of stronger action from Latin American and European countries. "We cannot allow Spain to be a paradise for Maduro's bagmen," Borges told reporters.
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| Saudi Arabia offers tourist visas for first time Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia on Friday said it was offering tourist visas for the first time, opening up the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom to holidaymakers as part of a push to diversify its economy away from oil. The kingdom also eased its strict dress code for foreign women, allowing them to go without the body-shrouding abaya robe that is still mandatory public wear for Saudi women, as authorities open up one of the last frontiers of global tourism. The push comes just under two weeks after devastating attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure –- blamed by Washington on Iran –- which roiled global energy markets and raised fears of a wider regional conflict.
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| Saudi Arabia Agrees to Limited Cease-Fire in Yemen War Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:01 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia has agreed to a limited cease-fire in several areas of Yemen including the capital Sana'a, which is controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, as part of broader efforts to end a four-year conflict that has threatened to escalate into regional war.A Yemeni government official and a diplomat said attempts were underway to expand the truce. Saudi officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment.Last week, the Houthis announced a unilateral halt to the hundreds of drone and missile attacks that have targeted OPEC's largest producer in recent years.The apparent breakthroughs follow a devastating attack on major Saudi oil facilities that briefly halved the country's output and rattled global markets this month. Yemen's Houthis said they carried out the attack using a swarm of unmanned aircraft, but the U.S. has said Iran was responsible.Houthi Rebels Announce Halt of Drone and Missile AttacksOil fell after Friday's news, first reported by Dow Jones, that a partial Yemen cease-fire was in place. Crude had already been heading for a weekly decline as Saudi Arabia is about a week ahead of its repair schedule following the attack on Abqaiq and a nearby oil field, and is pumping more than 8 million barrels a day, according to people familiar with the matter.Yemen has been on the front lines of a broader standoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia for years and United Nations efforts to broker a lasting truce have repeatedly struggled to gain traction as regional powers continued to support opposing sides. But the scale of the Abqaiq attack, which took out 5% of global supply, exposed the vulnerability of a sector vital to the global economy and has given new impetus to diplomatic efforts.Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, a member of the ruling Political Council, rejected the move as insufficient, according to the rebels' Al-Masirah TV, and said the group would accept nothing short of "a comprehensive stop to the aggression and the lifting of the blockade" on the Red Sea port of Hodeida in return for the cease-fire it announced last week. Understanding the Conflicts Leading to Saudi Attacks: QuickTakeA Yemeni diplomat who has links to different parties of the conflict said there are serious ongoing discussions about the duration and scope of the cease-fire and whether it will cover all territories or just the capital. The discussions are being mediated by Western countries, he said, adding this might be a first step toward either a total cease-fire or a complete halt to airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition.The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia entered Yemen's civil war in 2015 to support the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi after the Houthis managed to seize control of Sana'a and other cities. Despite the overwhelming military superiority of the Gulf allies, the war has turned into a quagmire that has crept ever closer to home.Recognizing the growing danger of a regional escalation, the U.A.E. has signaled that it intends to scale back its presence, with the last soldier leaving by year-end.Yemeni Official Says U.A.E. to End Troop Presence This YearThe Saudi cease-fire comes on the heels of a visit to the country earlier this month by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, who said Washington was talking with the Houthis. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that the Trump administration was also trying to cajole Saudi Arabia into negotiations with rebel leaders, at a time when concerns over a possible broader conflict with Iran were growing.(Updates with Houthi comment in paragraph 7.)\--With assistance from Donna Abu-Nasr.To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Hatem in Dubai at mhatem1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russians Used Greed to ‘Capture’ NRA, Senator Alleges in New Report Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT  Pavel Ptitsin/APTies between the National Rifle Association and influential Russians were substantial and potentially lucrative enough to render the politically potent gun lobby an "asset" of Russia, according to a Senate Democrat's year-plus investigation. More than 4,000 pages of NRA records provided to Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the finance committee, documented deep connections between the beleaguered gun group and Maria Butina, who in December pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a Russian agent without registering with the Justice Department. Wyden's report, released Friday and undertaken without the cooperation of committee Republicans, indicates that greed motivated some NRA officials to engage in the outreach.Butina also made clear to NRA officials long before their controversial Butina-facilitated December 2015 trip to Moscow that Alexander Torshin, her patron and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a man with mysterious pull in the Kremlin. She emailed former NRA president David Keene in January 2015 that Torshin's appointment to the Russian central bank was "the result of a 'big game' in which he has a very important role. All the details we can discuss with you only in person."Maria Butina's Boss Alexander Torshin: The Kremlin's No-Longer-Secret Weapon"During the 2016 election, Russian nationals effectively used the promise of lucrative personal business opportunities to capture the NRA and gain access to the American political system," Wyden said. Representatives for the NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In addition to scrutinizing the December 2015 NRA trip, Wyden found that the NRA hosted former Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak for a three-hour tour of its headquarters in August 2015. Kislyak was a key figure in Russia's 2016 election interference before former national security adviser Mike Flynn pleaded guilty to misrepresenting his conversations with him to the FBI. An NRA calendar entry provided to Wyden suggests that NRA leaders took Kislyak hunting at the Grand National Waterfowl Hunt weeks before the Moscow trip. Wyden's report shows the NRA officials, donors, and supporters meeting with Russian officials under U.S. sanctions during the Moscow trip, something previously reported. But it also shows that Butina ensured the NRA would send sufficiently senior leaders, something necessary to enhance Torshin's prestige, by dangling opportunities for NRA luminaries to enrich themselves. While U.S. sanctions do not make meeting with foreigners under sanction illegal, U.S. nationals can't conduct business with them.Returning from Moscow further inclined the NRA to aid its Russian friend Butina, who presented herself as the head of a rare Russian gun-rights foundation. Soon after, the NRA bought Butina and Torshin memberships in a hunters' advocacy group known as Safari Club International. Later, one of the key NRA figures on the Moscow trip, Pete Brownell, confirmed to Wyden that he personally introduced Butina to Donald Trump Jr. at the NRA's 2016 annual meeting, though Brownell's counsel dismissed it as a "chance encounter." Butina would also write to NRA heavies for formal invitations to their events, something she said would help her get visas to enter the country.The NRA has attempted to distance itself from the Moscow trip after it became politically controversial. It told Wyden's office in May that any relationship "certain individuals, including NRA supporters and volunteers" had with Butina and Torshin was entirely distinct from NRA business.Yet Wyden's report shows then-NRA president Allan Cors, who backed out of the trip, contemporaneously referring to it in an email to Torshin as a chance to "represent the NRA" to influential Russians. Among those Russians were Butina's reputed moneyman, Igor Pisarsky, whom Butina presented as Putin's "campaign manager"; the sanctioned Russian deputy prime minister for the defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin; and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Documentation the NRA provided, the report notes, did not show "action to discourage or prevent its officers from using organization resources to explore business opportunities or to meet with sanctioned individuals and entities" during the trip. Cors' absence from the trip was a problem for Butina. Without a senior NRA leader to show off to the influential Russians who had agreed to meetings, Torshin could lose face. "Many powerful figures in the Kremlin are counting on Torshin to prove his American connections—a last minute important member cancellation could affect his political future," she emailed. In November, Butina turned to Brownell, the NRA's then-vice president and Cors' future successor, with an urgent plea for his attendance. Outside the NRA, Brownell runs a business that sells guns, ammunition, and firearms accessories. A Brownell spokesperson told The Daily Beast in February that Brownell took the trip "understanding that it was an NRA-related event organized with the support of the organization." His corporate compliance officer later said Brownell could meet with sanctioned Russians insofar as his trip was not business but an NRA "cultural exchange."But materials Wyden acquired cast doubt on that. Butina, in emails, told Brownell that while it was an NRA trip, "especially for you and your company I have something more." She told him that Russian gun manufacturers "are ready to meet you and talk about export and import deals." Another email, this one from Brownell, records the NRA vice president musing that he was "not interested in attending if [it is] just an NRA trip." In another email, Brownell called the "strictly diplomatic" trip a chance to "introduce our company to the governing individuals throughout Russia." Among the people the NRA met with in Russia were representatives of the Kalashnikov Concern, a weapons manufacturer under U.S. sanctions. The report states that later Brownell explored a deal with someone he met on the trip but ultimately canceled because the Russian was unable to follow proper import-export rules. Brownell recently resigned from the NRA's board, a move seen as part of the organization's recent turmoil. In April, its president Oliver North resigned after losing a power struggle to longtime NRA magnate Wayne LaPierre. The group is locked in bitter litigation with its former ad firm, which might be the least of its legal woes, considering investigations into its tax status by attorneys general in New York and the District of Columbia.A representative for Brownell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Brownell was not the only one to whom Butina appealed with an offer unrelated to NRA business. Wyden's report corroborated a Daily Beast report that Butina told trip attendee Keene, who was also the Washington Times' opinion editor, that one of the meetings was with a Russian media oligarch who would be able to secure Keene an interview with Putin for the paper.Butina also dangled to the NRA a meeting with Putin himself, though no such meeting appears to have manifested. An email ahead of the trip from Butina's since-indicted boyfriend, the GOP consultant Paul Erickson, to Brownell promised "private meetings with the top ministers in Putin's government and private lunches in oligarch's dachas." Butina fronted money for the attendance of another trip attendee, NRA donor Jim Liberatore, for which the NRA reimbursed her with $6,000 from its president's budget. The NRA was an open door for Butina and Torshin, whose goal was to use the organization as a lever to move U.S. politics in a direction more agreeable to Russian interests. In addition to welcoming the two to the NRA's own events, the NRA aided them in attending other conservative-friendly gatherings, including the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, a staple event for politicians of both parties. Butina asked then-presidential candidate Donald Trump a question about U.S.-Russian relations at a campaign stop in Las Vegas, boasted of being a conduit for his campaign's communications to Russia, and was photographed with prominent GOP politicians like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Wyden stopped a step short of recommending the NRA lose its tax-exempt status, citing insufficient cooperation from the group. "A broader review of NRA's activities in recent years" from the IRS was needed to determine if the NRA's Russian connections fit within a "persistent pattern of impermissible conduct," the report concluded. "The totality of evidence uncovered during my investigation, as well as the mounting evidence of rampant self-dealing, indicate the NRA may have violated tax laws. This report lays out in significant detail that the NRA lied about the 2015 delegation trip to Moscow," Wyden said. "This was an official trip undertaken so NRA insiders could get rich—a clear violation of the principle that tax-exempt resources should not be used for personal benefit."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| UPDATE 2-Rouhani says he rejected U.S. offer to lift sanctions made in message to Europeans Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:17 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Rouhani says he rejected U.S. offer to lift sanctions made in message to Europeans]( "UPDATE 2-Rouhani says he rejected U.S. offer to lift sanctions made in message to Europeans") The United States sent a message to European leaders that it was willing to lift all sanctions on Iran, according to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who said he had rejected talks with Washington while punitive U.S. sanctions remained in place. Rouhani, speaking on his return from the United Nations General Assembly in New York said Germany, Britain and France had insisted on a joint meeting with U.S. officials. "The German chancellor, the prime minister of Britain and the president of France were in New York and all insisted that this meeting take place and America says that it will lift the sanctions," Rouhani said, according to his official website.
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| Iran says inspections show it does not seek nuclear weapon Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:10 AM PDT  President Hassan Rouhani said Friday that Iran's abidance by nuclear inspections proves it does not seek to develop atomic weapons despite having scaled back its compliance with a 2015 accord. "Some were saying this third step, that you want to set up modern centrifuges, means that you are moving towards a nuclear weapon," said Rouhani on state television. Iran fired up advanced centrifuges to boost its enriched uranium stockpiles on September 7 as the latest scaling back of commitments under the crumbling 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
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| Commentary: Is The Shipping Industry Ready For The New Fuel Mandate? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:09 AM PDT ![Commentary: Is The Shipping Industry Ready For The New Fuel Mandate?]( "Commentary: Is The Shipping Industry Ready For The New Fuel Mandate?") In January 2020 new mandates handed down from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), an arm of the United Nations that writes and enforces global maritime regulations, go into effect concerning sulfur emissions from ships. The new regulations are expected to affect around 60,000 ships currently in service. Other shipping companies are considering installing an exhaust cleaning kit called a scrubber.
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| Iran's Rouhani says US offered to lift sanctions for talks Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:06 AM PDT  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Friday that European leaders at a UN summit in the US said Washington was ready to lift sanctions in exchange for talks on a 2015 nuclear deal. "The German chancellor, the UK prime minister and France's president were there (in New York). Rouhani has long emphasised that US-Iran talks cannot happen until Washington lifts sanctions and ends its policy of "maximum pressure" on Tehran.
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| House Members Spar Over Impeachment at Election Security Hearing Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:03 AM PDT ![House Members Spar Over Impeachment at Election Security Hearing]( "House Members Spar Over Impeachment at Election Security Hearing") (Bloomberg) -- House members sparred over the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump at a hearing Friday as they debated how to prevent foreign interference in the 2020 election.Opening a House Judiciary Committee hearing on election security, panel Chairman Jerrold Nadler took aim at Trump's request that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy investigate Democrat Joe Biden. The revelations are shaping up as an even more serious threat to Trump's presidency than the special counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election."President Trump has refused to acknowledge Russia's attack, let alone publicly denounce it or outline clearly how he intends to deter future interventions," Nadler said. "Now we have evidence that the president of the United States asked a foreign leader to interfere in our next election."Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and ally of the president, said he worried that attempts to impeach Trump represent a bigger threat to democracy than election interference."I fear that the greatest risk to our democracy may not be hackers or interference with the vote, it may be the efforts by radical Democrats to try impeach a president who was duly elected," Gaetz said.Digital security experts told the committee that the U.S. still faces state-sponsored cyber attacks from countries such as Iran, Russia, China and North Korea."We must take bold, decisive and expeditious steps to address cyber threats," Debora Plunkett, a cybersecurity expert at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said.To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie AsséoFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Change in the Saudi Birthplace of Islam Is Eyed Warily Worldwide Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The world's 1.8 billion Muslims look to one country above all others.As the birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia is a symbol of purity for many who direct their prayers toward Mecca wherever they are in the world.The latest in a series of liberalizing reforms attributed to the modernizing influence of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman runs counter to that reputation for religious conservatism.As they awoke to the news on Friday that women from outside the kingdom would no longer be required to wear the flowing abaya that's been mandatory for decades, Muslims in Asia broadly welcomed the shift. But many also expressed misgivings about the overall direction of the lodestar of the Islamic world, and wondered just how far the changes would go."I view Saudi Arabia as the most sacred place for a Muslim," said Amirah Fikri, 30, an administrator in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, who called the kingdom "an example of a Muslim country in the eyes of the world."While reforms such as allowing women to drive and to travel without a guardian's approval are positive, some things "are better left unchanged," she said. The risk is of "harming the purity of Saudi when new, non-Islamic practices start to spread in the holy place."Khashoggi MurderThe Saudi bid to appeal to tourists with a relaxed dress code for foreign women and the promise of easier access to the country is aimed at diversifying the economy away from its overwhelming reliance on oil. But it also serves to present a softer image of the kingdom to the west at a time when its reputation is distinctly mixed.The crown prince was excoriated internationally over the gruesome murder in Turkey last year of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and his prosecution of a bloody war in Yemen resulting in famine and thousands of civilian casualties prompted Germany and other countries to halt weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.At home, the kingdom's extensive use of the death penalty, torture, arbitrary detentions of rights activists and "severely restricted" freedoms are among the issues cited by Amnesty International in its overview of Saudi Arabia. "Despite limited reforms, including allowing women to drive, women faced systematic discrimination in law and practice and were inadequately protected against sexual and other violence," Amnesty says.Yet that evidence of the country's deeply conservative nature and its rigid interpretation of Islam helps to give a sense of the potential for domestic resistance to any kind of modernizing reform -- and the risks to the crown prince in pursuing change."Tourism of course will help the economy, but if it involves anything that goes against our religious beliefs then it will not be accepted," said Sultan, a 33-year-old resident of Riyadh, who only gave his first name. "Our religion is more important than anything." Foreign tourists will "import their culture" and "over time, these ethics and values will be stripped away from our conservative society."Necessary ChangeYet for many in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, Saudi Arabia has no choice but to open up."Change is a necessity," said Nasaruddin Umar, Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. "There will be pressure from the traditional clerics group in the country. But I see what MBS is doing as a smart move because he does so in a measured way."Didik Saputra, a 32-year-old high school teacher from Depok in West Java, one of the most conservative Muslim provinces in Indonesia, spoke while on a visit to the country's largest mosque in central Jakarta during its renovation and expansion."Saudi Arabia must accept changes without totally eliminating the old customs and practices," he said over the noise of construction workers. "I agree with MBS that Saudi Arabia must be progressive and promote modernization of Islam. That would be good as it will also improve the image of Islam in the world."Beliefs and CultureThe threat of liberalization jeopardizing Saudi Arabia's global standing among devout Muslims is a proposition dismissed by Ahmed Al-Khateeb, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and a key adviser to the crown prince. Saudi Arabia is any case no stranger to foreign visitors, he said."We don't expect this to affect Saudi Arabia's image as the host for the Muslim world," he told Bloomberg Television in Riyadh on Thursday. "The Muslim world knows that Saudi Arabia follows rules and has beliefs and culture."Saudi Arabia has suffered far worse damage to its reputation in the recent past. It's less than two decades since the kingdom almost became an international pariah after al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi national, claimed the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.The country's post-World War II alliance with the U.S. survived the 9/11 attacks orchestrated by bin Laden. Donald Trump chose Saudi Arabia as the destination for his first overseas trip as president, and was quick to rally to its side after this month's attacks on Saudi oil installations widely attributed to regional rival Iran. However, that dependence on the U.S., more than Saudi Arabia's reform efforts, is regarded with suspicion by some Muslims."Saudi has lost her nobility ever since they chose to be in bed with the United States to fund extremist groups and create violent conflicts in their neighboring Arab countries," said Fatin Mohd Husni, 29, a teacher in Malaysia. "So I see these reforms as neither diminishing nor harming the purity of Saudi, because there's nothing so pure about the Saudi administration to begin with."Drawing a LineIn India, with some 200 million Muslims, men heading out of Friday prayers at the Jama Masjid adjacent to Parliament House in New Delhi welcomed Saudi Arabia's move to open up."Muslims across the world should support Saudi Arabia's decision," said Fazle Mobin Siddique, 45, secretary at the Diamond Charitable and Educational Trust in the central-Indian city of Nagpur. "This is a progressive step for Islam. Excessive restrictions on women and the moral police needed to go."For Tauqueer Khan, 40, a government consultant, Saudi Arabia's reforms are an effort to counter the stigma of being "synonymous with backwardness, extremism, radicalism and terrorism" and show the world it too can change with time."These changes up to a certain level is OK," he said. "But if they go beyond these and open up a pub with liquor, it will not acceptable at all. The Muslim world looks on Saudi as the guardian of Islam. If they go beyond a certain level, obviously, the Muslim community will not like that.''\--With assistance from Donna Abu-Nasr, Sarah Algethami and Bibhudatta Pradhan.To contact the reporters on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.net;Arys Aditya in Jakarta at aaditya5@bloomberg.net;Archana Chaudhary in New Delhi at achaudhary2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China replaces North Korea as Japan’s top security threat in annual military assessment Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:40 AM PDT  China's growing military might means it now poses a greater threat to Japan than North Korea, the government in Tokyo has suggested. The Japanese government's annual defence review, which was published on Thursday, said the People's Republic is rapidly closing its military capability gap with the United States and projecting its influence into the western Pacific with increasing assertiveness. But a worrying lack of transparency about its intentions and an increase in long-range bomber flights and naval exercises near Japan "represent a serious security concern for the region," the report said. "The reality is that China is rapidly increasing military spending," Defence Minister Taro Kono said at a media briefing. "China is deploying air and sea assets in the Western Pacific and through the Tsushima Strait into the Sea of Japan with greater frequency." China hit back at the report. Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said the country would not accept ""groundless criticism" of its normal national defence and military activities. The annual White Paper painted a worrying picture of mounting tension and discord in east Asia, confirming for the first time that North Korea has miniaturised nuclear warheads that can be mounted on missiles. Analysts said the decision to devote its second chapter after the one on the United States, Japan's main ally, to China indicated a shift in the hierarchy of perceived threats. North Korea, which has dominated previous publications, was pushed into third place. Russia, which has mounted joint air and naval exercises with China and is in dispute with Japan over islands occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War, came fourth. It also downgraded Japan's alliance with South Korea, which ended an intelligence cooperation pact that saw the neighbours sharing sensitive information about threats such as North Korea's nuclear program last month. Tensions between the neighbours have been growing amid trade disputes and a row about Japan's occupation of Korea during the Second World War. The South Korean government criticised the report for referencing a rock in the Sea of Japan, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, which both sides claim ownership of. "Our government strongly protests Japan's repeated claim. The Japanese government should acknowledge that it is not helpful for bilateral relations," South Korea's foreign ministry said. China will showcase its latest military hardware at their National Day military parade on Tuesday to mark 70 years since the foundation of the People's Republic of China. The parade is expected to include the new DF-51 intercontinental missile that can reportedly carry up to ten nuclear warheads and reach the United States. Supersonic drones, battle tanks, and 15,000 personnel are also expected to be on display. A new version of the H-6 bomber called the H-6N is will reportedly be revealed at the parade. Recent photos of the H-6N sporting an aerial refueling probe on its nose suggest the new model will have a greater capacity to strike deeper into the Pacific. The photos also show a large recess under the fuselage that is expected to hold a heavy anti-ship ballistic missile, potentially threatening US aircraft carriers in the region.
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| British-flagged tanker leaves Iranian waters after being captured by Revolutionary Guard Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:34 AM PDT  The British flagged tanker seized by Iranian forces in the Gulf was released after more that two months in detention. The Stena Impero left Iran's Bandar Abbas port on Friday morning and crossed into international waters shortly before midday. It was due to dock in Dubai overnight. The 36,000 ton tanker was seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations on July 19, two weeks after Royal Marines detained the Grace 1, an Iranian tanker, off Gibraltar. The Iranian ship, renamed the Adrian Darya 1, was released in August. Erik Hanell, the chief executive of Stena Bulk, the ship's owner, said: "The Stena Impero has now left Iranian waters and is on route to Dubai. "The Captain has reported that all crew members are safe and in high spirits following release. He added that the crew will be given medical checks and be de-briefed, before being reunited with their families. The company asked media to respect the privacy of the 16 Indian, Russian, and Filipino, crew members on board. Mr Hannell added: "Stena Bulk and Northern Marine Management would like to take this opportunity to praise the crew for their professionalism in the handling of this difficult and stressful situation. Also, to their families who maintained a caring and supportive role throughout. The importance of their support cannot be over stated." Iran tensions | Read more Iran released seven other members of the 23-man crew earlier in September. The Iranian Foreign Ministry had said on Wednesday that although the detention order had been lifted, investigations into alleged violations of maritime law by the Stena Impero would continue. The seizure of the tanker was seen as a tit-for-tat response to Britain's boarding of the Grace 1, and raised fears of a return to the "tanker wars" of the 1980s in the Persian Gulf. It followed several attacks on tankers near the strait of Hormuz that the United States and its allies blamed on Iran. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "The Stena Impero was unlawfully seized by Iran. It is part of a pattern of attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation. "We are working with our international partners to protect shipping and uphold the international rule of law."
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| UPDATE 2-Pakistan's Khan warns of 'bloodbath' when Kashmir curfew lifted Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:30 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Pakistan's Khan warns of 'bloodbath' when Kashmir curfew lifted]( "UPDATE 2-Pakistan's Khan warns of 'bloodbath' when Kashmir curfew lifted") Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan warned on Friday there would be a bloodbath once India lifts its curfew in disputed Kashmir and that any all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations would reverberate far beyond their borders. Khan made the remarks in an impassioned speech to the annual United Nations General Assembly after India last month removed the decades-old autonomy in the part of Kashmir it controls and detained thousands of people.
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| US Denies Telling Rouhani Sanctions Would Be Lifted In Exchange For Talks Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:20 AM PDT ![US Denies Telling Rouhani Sanctions Would Be Lifted In Exchange For Talks]( "US Denies Telling Rouhani Sanctions Would Be Lifted In Exchange For Talks") Iran has been accused of involvement in the Sept. 14 attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities; Yemen-based Houthi rebels claimed responsibility. The U.S, France, Germany and the U.K. have all blamed Iran for the attacks, which impacted Saudi Arabia's oil production. Since the attack, exchanges between Iran and the U.S. have become more heated.
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| More Brussels talks as time runs out for Brexit deal Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:19 AM PDT  Hopes for a negotiated Brexit deal were fading Friday as EU negotiator Michel Barnier separately met senior British and Irish ministers for another round of inconclusive talks. Britain is due to leave the European Union in less than five weeks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to hammer out a new divorce agreement in time for a European summit on October 17.
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| Nestle, P&G say they will miss 2020 deforestation goals Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:07 AM PDT ![Nestle, P&G say they will miss 2020 deforestation goals]( "Nestle, P&G say they will miss 2020 deforestation goals") The world's two largest consumer goods companies, Nestle and Procter & Gamble , told Reuters this week that they will fall short of their goals to only source key ingredients that do not contribute to deforestation by 2020. Separately, Procter & Gamble - whose Tide detergent and Olay skincare products use palm oil - says on its website that it aims "to establish zero deforestation in our supply chain by 2020." But on Sunday, a Procter & Gamble spokesman confirmed to Reuters that it would not meet the deforestation goal by 2020. The environmental record of global corporations was in the spotlight at the U.N. Climate Action Summit this week and some investors are calling on companies to stop deforestation after more than a month of fires in the Amazon rainforest.
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| Businesses Finally Think Big About Cutting Emissions Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Amazon.com Inc.'s recent announcement that its operations will be carbon neutral by 2040 stands out for its sheer size. But Amazon is only one among dozens of companies that announced new carbon-intensity benchmarks ahead of this week's United Nations General Assembly.It's hardly a new phenomenon. Eighty-one percent of S&P 500 companies had set emissions-reduction or energy-use targets by at least four years ago. But many of these amounted to business as usual; the goals were set according to existing regulations, or emission-abatement projects already underway. Today's targets are more ambitious, because they're based on science.That is, the targets are set to enable companies to do their share to lower emissions enough to keep warming under 2 degrees Celsius, the scenario outlined in the UN Paris Agreement. They're the first targets to align the private sector with the larger fight against climate change.And that's important, because companies have so much work to do. New research from BloombergNEF has found that the 237 companies that had approved science-based targets through July 2019 (with a cumulative market cap of $6.5 trillion) will need to collectively reduce their emissions by 139 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2030.This is equivalent to eliminating half of Spain's annual emissions. And the total will only grow as hundreds more companies set targets.Certain industries will have an easier time than others hitting their marks. Utilities, for example, which are expected to account for 60% of the emission reductions in BNEF's analysis, have already been switching to clean energy from coal and natural gas. On the other hand, materials manufacturers, which produce emissions via energy-intensive chemical processes, will have a harder time achieving their goals.Unfortunately, science-based targets have yet to be set for several of the world's heaviest-emitting businesses — including agriculture, which produces 24% of global emissions, and the oil and gas industries, which produce 10%. All this adds context to a recent announcement from Rio Tinto Plc that it will work with China Baowu Steel Group and Tsinghua University to lower the steel sector's emissions. Rio Tinto does not actually have any emissions from steel-making; it produces only the coal and iron ore inputs. Its steel-making customers are the emitters, but Rio Tinto can help by exerting influence on their activities. That matters, because steel production accounts for 7% of all carbon emissions. Those emissions are hard to account for, and hard to abate — and therefore, all the more worth addressing with science-based targets.To contact the authors of this story: Nathaniel Bullard at nbullard@bloomberg.netKyle Harrison at kharrison17@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Mary Duenwald at mduenwald@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Nathaniel Bullard is a BloombergNEF energy analyst, covering technology and business model innovation and system-wide resource transitions.Kyle Harrison is a BloombergNEF analyst focused on corporate energy strategy.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Greta Thunberg & Gen Z’s Quest To Save The World Posted: 27 Sep 2019 08:25 AM PDT ![Greta Thunberg & Gen Z's Quest To Save The World]( "Greta Thunberg & Gen Z's Quest To Save The World") She was just a girl standing in front of the leaders of the world, asking them to stop burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate and making our planet hotter and hotter.When 16-year-old Greta Thunberg addressed the 2019 U.N. climate action summit on Monday, the way she excoriated world leaders for their inaction on climate change was striking. "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," she said. "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"Her speech was an unusual public display of raw emotion and candor, even for a teenager. It was distinctly Greta, however. Both she and commentators have drawn parallels between her Asperger's syndrome and the passion she brings to her activism. She says Asperger's, which she herself has called her "superpower," has made her able to focus on a single subject and see the facts clearer, ignoring social cues to be "polite" and downplay the reality of the situation. But the speech was also emblematic of the way her generation is responding to the burning world. Greta's very Gen Z approach is a product of the mix of intense anxiety and impulse to act — out of dire need, not idealism — that has energized other activists of her generation; teens like Emma González, who made the "we call BS" speech shortly after her classmates were massacred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, in February 2018. These young women's resistance to the social pressures to calm down about the fact that so much is so wrong with the world — social pressures which disproportionately affect girls, who are often taught to be well-behaved and polite in public — is part of what's made them both so inspiring to many. You can see it in the thousands of young people who heard their calls, marching for gun reform in the wake of the Florida tragedy and then at the Global Climate Strike last Friday, protesting the response to the looming environmental crisis.It's also what's made them "voices of their generation," so to speak. Except in Gen Z's case, it's not so much a singular voice that has emerged. Quite consciously, neither Greta nor Emma seek attention for themselves as individuals. What animates them is an overwhelming sense of having been abandoned by the adults and needing to take matters into their own hands. Whether it's gun reform or climate change, Gen Z is calling the offenders exactly what they are and not mincing words: greedy, corporate-backed officials who are trading the world for their own benefit. These realities, according to psychologists, have also made Gen Z overwhelmingly stressed and anxious. "In the past year, 91% of Gen Z experienced one or more emotional or physiological stress-related symptoms," B. Janet Hibbs, PhD, a psychology professor and co-author of The Stressed Years of Their Lives, tells Refinery29, citing an October 2018 report from the American Psychological Association. "Top among their list of concerns is climate change. This generational distress, exemplified in Greta Thunberg's passionate appeal to world leaders at this week's U.N. session, is hostage to the reality that they are inheriting the brave and frightening new world that the older generations seem numb to."Not only are symptoms of anxiety and depression up among Gen Z, but they're more likely to be distrustful of the government and corporations, according to 2016 research by Noreena Hertz for The Guardian. They believe the system is rigged against the marginalized.At the same time, 92% of this generation believes that helping others in need is important, and 70% say inequality worries them greatly. So they may be anxious and distrustful — but they're young enough to pick up and actually do something about it. Another study, by Sparks & Honey, a cultural consultancy, found that 60% of Gen Z wants to change the world, compared to 39% of millennials. Commentators note that it's more of a pragmatism than an idealism that inspires Gen Z to do so."The most common name this group is given is Gen Z; I call them Generation K, after Katniss Everdeen, the determined heroine of the Hunger Games," Hertz wrote in The Guardian. "Like Katniss, they feel the world they inhabit is one of perpetual struggle — dystopian, unequal, and harsh." That's the kind of energy Greta brings with her when she addresses a crowd (complete with long braid): urgent, pragmatic, humorless. It's both terrifying and refreshing.All of this has made more than a few adults uncomfortable. You see it in the way that some commentators, especially on Fox News, dismiss Greta as "mentally ill," hysterical, or fed talking points by her parents. They tell her to "go back to school," not understanding that she very much wishes she could. Even the embattled president added a tweet to the mix: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" (Greta immediately trolled him back by making his statement her Twitter bio, showing that you simply cannot mess with teenagers online.)Unwittingly and indirectly, Trump helped Greta make a point about Generation Z: That the days of "happy young girls looking forward to a bright and wonderful future" may be over because scientists are warning us — and have been for a long time — that we're in for a climate catastrophe unless we work as a planet to drastically reverse course. While he's trying to distract us from this fact, Greta is here to remind us whose tiny hands the future is really in. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?How To Join The Fight Against Climate ChangeYoung Women Are Leading The Global Climate StrikeThe 2020 Candidates' Plans To Fight Climate Change
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| UK's Barclay says still a long way to go in Brexit talks Posted: 27 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT ![UK's Barclay says still a long way to go in Brexit talks]( "UK's Barclay says still a long way to go in Brexit talks") There is still a long way to go before Britain and the European Union agree a Brexit deal but with good will on both sides it can be struck, Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said on Friday. Barclay added that the backstop, designed to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland after Brexit, had to go but that a deal could be struck with good will on both sides.
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| Indian PM dodges mention at UN of disputed region of Kashmir Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:58 AM PDT  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi broadly denounced terrorism at the United Nations on Friday but avoided any direct mention of one of the world's most perilous standoffs: Pakistan's recent warning that India's crackdown in the disputed region of Kashmir risks a war. Earlier in the week, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan warned of a possible massacre in Kashmir because of Modi's Hindu nationalist-led government's sweeping military curfew, which has cut off residents in the Muslim-majority region from virtually all communications.
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| Zelensky 'looks like a whipping boy' after Trump phone call, Ukrainian political expert says Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:58 AM PDT ![Zelensky 'looks like a whipping boy' after Trump phone call, Ukrainian political expert says]( "Zelensky 'looks like a whipping boy' after Trump phone call, Ukrainian political expert says") Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky shouldn't expect an impeachment inquiry anytime soon.Unlike his American counterpart, Zelensky's supporters aren't paying much attention to his fawning call with President Trump, much less coming for his head. But Zelensky's flattery could become a problem when he steps onto the international stage, particularly as he enters negotiations with Russia, Politico reports.The White House's memorandum of the call revealed Trump encouraged Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, while Zelensky showered Trump in compliments and mentioned buying Javelin missiles from the U.S. But what happens between Trump and Zelensky is "for political insiders," Volodymyr Fesenko, who runs the Kyiv-based Penta Center for Political Studies, tells Politico. "It has no impact on the everyman," he continued, saying everyday issues like increased heating bills would more likely hurt Zelensky's 71 percent approval rating.That doesn't mean the call isn't embarassing for Zelensky, Fesenko said. "He looks like a whipping boy," Vitaly Sych, editor of the Ukrainian news magazine Novoye Vremya, tells Politico, and "it will be tough for him to stand up for Ukraine's interests with veterans like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin." The two leaders are set to meet soon regarding ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.But as one senior security official in Ukraine tells Politico, there's especially a fear that "Washington will now avoid Ukraine like the plague." Ukraine depends on the U.S. in its fights with its powerful neighbor in Russia, but "we are just small change in their games," the Ukrainian official continued. Read more at Politico.
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| The Latest: Iran says US sanctions 'more unstable than ever' Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:36 AM PDT  Erik Hanell, who heads the Sweden-based Stena Bulk group, also says the Swedish Foreign Ministry and "various UK government departments" assisted in securing the release of the vessel that was held at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. The Stena Impero left Iranian territorial waters headed for Dubai where the crew would disembark and receive medical checks and be de-briefed. Iran seized the tanker July 19 in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil passes.
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| Trump says he rejected lifting sanctions on Iran to meet with its president Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:35 AM PDT ![Trump says he rejected lifting sanctions on Iran to meet with its president]( "Trump says he rejected lifting sanctions on Iran to meet with its president") President Donald Trump on Friday denied that the U.S. had offered to lift sanctions on Iran to clear the way for a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations this week. Trump appeared to be referencing reports that Rouhani claimed the U.S. agreed to lift the punishing sanctions it's leveled against Tehran in order to arrange a meeting between the two leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
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| Sturgeon Urges Parliament to Remove Boris Johnson: Brexit Update Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:25 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the time has come for members of Parliament to oust Prime Minister Boris Johnson to remove the risk of a no-deal Brexit. Her Scottish National Party would be willing to back Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn or another MP as a temporary premier.Key Developments:Sturgeon says Corbyn or another MP should be temporary leader to oversee a Brexit delay, before triggering an immediate electionBrexit Secretary Steve Barclay to meet EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier in BrusselsInternational Development Secretary Alok Sharma said the Benn law blocking a no-deal Brexit is a "form of capitulation"Northern Ireland court rules in U.K. government's favor on impact of a no-deal Brexit on the peace processBoris Johnson's Voters Give Their Verdict on Torrid Brexit WeekPolice Concerned Over Johnson's Brexit Rhetoric (3 p.m.)Senior police officers have raised concerns that the language being used by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and others is increasing the safety risk to politicians as the U.K. heads toward a divisive general election.Police chiefs are stepping up security for Members of Parliament as the debate over Britain's divorce from the European Union becomes ever more fractious, according to a person familiar with the matter.Support Not Yet There for 'Caretaker' PM Corbyn (1:45 p.m.)The key problem with Nicola Sturgeon's idea of installing Corbyn as a caretaker prime minister (see 12:40 p.m.) is that it doesn't have the support of the other opposition parties. The Scottish National Party's 35 MPs, added to Labour's 245 voting members, makes 280. That's close to the 288 Conservatives that Boris Johnson has left since his purge of Tory opponents this month, but as he is learning, it's not enough to get anything done in government.Could they get more? Plaid Cymru's four MPs and the Green Party's only MP, Caroline Lucas, might be possible -- but after that it gets harder.Of the 39 flavors of independent MP, most are former Conservatives who are firmly of the view that Corbyn should never be prime minister. Some of the remainder are former Labour MPs who hold this view so strongly that they quit Corbyn's party. That also describes three of the 18 Liberal Democrats. One of them, Chuka Umunna, was dismissive of Sturgeon's idea on Friday."Jeremy Corbyn cannot command a majority in the House of Commons," Umunna said. "However, all involved have said they would be prepared to support a more neutral figure. The real issue is whether Corbyn will support a neutral figure as a caretaker prime minister to stop a no-deal Brexit."Sturgeon: Time to Unite Around a Temporary PM (12:40 p.m.)The head of the Scottish government called for Britain's political opposition to unite around a candidate to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister.Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party and First Minister of Scotland, indicated she would support installing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn or another candidate as temporary prime minister until a no-deal Brexit is off the table. If other opposition parties all agree, this could pave the way for a Corbyn-led administration within weeks -- or days.Sturgeon made the intervention in response to a tweet from a journalist that said the only "failsafe way" to avoid a no-deal Brexit next month is to pass a vote of no confidence in the government, and then install "Corbyn or someone else as PM.""Agree with this," Sturgeon said on Twitter. "VONC, opposition unites around someone for sole purpose of securing an extension, and then immediate general election. Nothing is risk free but leaving Johnson in post to force through no deal -- or even a bad deal -- seems like a terrible idea to me."Government Won't Use Order of Council to Dodge Law (12 p.m.)Boris Johnson's office has pushed back against the suggestion from former Prime Minister John Major that the government could use an Order of Council -- which he said can be passed by the Privy Council of the Queen's ministerial advisers but without involving the monarch -- to revoke the contentious law passed by Parliament to prevent a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31."It's simply not something which we recognize," Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, told reporters in London.In a speech late Thursday, Major warned Johnson that resorting to this method to dodge the impact of the so-called Benn Act would be in "flagrant defiance of Parliament and utterly disrespectful to the Supreme Court."Japanese Firm Blames Brexit for U.K. Closure (11:45 a.m.)Some more evidence of the toll Brexit is taking on businesses: Japanese manufacturer Senju Metal Industry Co. said in a filing it closed its U.K. factory in June and moved production to the Czech Republic due to pressure from its European customers.Even Smooth Brexit May Need Rate Cut: Saunders (10:30 a.m.)The Bank of England may have to cut interest rates even if the U.K. avoids a no-deal Brexit, according to policy maker Michael Saunders. His argument is that Brexit uncertainties are likely to continue to depress growth even if the departure from the European Union is smooth, delayed or eventually canceled, especially if that is accompanied by a weaker global outlook.Separately, Bloomberg Economics now sees a no-deal Brexit early next year as its most likely scenario, which will drag the U.K. into a recession and push inflation higher. BE's new report forecasts a drop in the pound and higher trade tariffs lifting inflation to 2.8% -- above the Bank of England's 2% target.Victory for Johnson in Belfast Court (9:55 a.m.)A Northern Irish court handed Prime Minister Boris Johnson a much-needed legal victory, throwing out a lawsuit that wanted a no-deal Brexit declared a violation of the Good Friday peace accord.The Appeals Court in Belfast upheld a lower court ruling that the peace accord is a purely political matter. The opinion is a boost for Johnson after the U.K. Supreme Court in London ruled this month his plan to suspend Parliament in the run up to the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline was an unlawful abuse of power.Sharma: 'Surrender' Accurate to Describe Brexit Law (Earlier)International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said calling a law to block a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31 the "surrender act" accurately reflects its impact on the government as it negotiates with the European Union."It does surrender our ability to have effective discussions with the European Union and it does surrender our ability to be able to walk away from the table if that is what happens," Sharma told BBC Radio 4 on Friday. "If you were going into a negotiation with both hands tied behind your back, would you not think it somehow a form of capitulation?"Sticking to the government's line from the last few days, Sharma refused to explain the apparent incompatibility between adhering to the law on Brexit and Boris Johnson's repeated statements that the U.K. will leave the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a deal."We are absolutely going to comply with the law, we are working incredibly hard to get a deal and we will be leaving on October 31," he said.Drug Suppliers Not Ready for No Deal: Watchdog (Earlier)Medicine suppliers are less prepared for a no-deal Brexit now than they were in the run up to the original deadline for leaving the European Union, the government's spending watchdog said.By Sept. 20, pharmaceutical companies surveyed by the Department for Health had sufficient stockpiles for 72% of medicine product lines, the National Audit Office found in its report published Friday.Earlier:EU Is Losing Faith in Johnson's Ability to Bridge Brexit GulfTension Boils Over as A Deal Remains Elusive: Brexit BulletinDrug Suppliers Not Ready for No-Deal Brexit, Says U.K. WatchdogNo-Deal Brexit in 2020 Seen Dragging U.K. Economy Into Recession\--With assistance from David Goodman, Joe Mayes, Peter Flanagan, Dara Doyle and Jessica Shankleman.To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Mike Pompeo says Syrian government used chlorine in May chemical weapon attack Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:11 AM PDT  Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, said on Thursday that the United States had concluded the Syrian government had used chlorine as a chemical weapon in an attack in May during a battle with insurgents in Idlib. "The Assad regime is responsible for innumerable atrocities, some of which rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity," Mr Pompeo told a news conference in New York, where he has been attending the United Nations General Assembly. "Today I am announcing that the United States has concluded that the Assad regime used chlorine as a chemical weapon on May 19," Mr Pompeo added. The United States said in May it had received numerous reports that appeared consistent with chemical exposure after an attack by the forces of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, in northwestern Syria, but it had made no definitive conclusion as to whether they used chemical weapons. The Trump administration has twice bombed Syria over Assad's suspected use of chemical weapons, in April 2017 and April 2018. About | Chlorine gas The United States, Britain and France launched air strikes in April 2018 against what they described as three Syrian chemical weapons targets in retaliation for a suspected gas attack that killed scores of people in a Damascus suburb earlier that month. Speaking to reporters, US Syria envoy Jim Jeffrey said four people had been wounded in the May attack and that Washington's response would be proportionate, although he declined to elaborate. "Given the record of what happens if you use chemical weapons during Trump administration, it's really hard to believe that somebody would have been foolish enough to do that without a very high level of clearance," Jeffrey said. Assad launched an offensive at the end of April this year on Idlib and parts of adjacent provinces, saying insurgents had broken a truce. Use of chemical and biological weapons since 1915 "This is different in some sense because it was chlorine... but know that President Trump has been pretty vigorous in protecting the world from the use of chemical weapons," Mr Pompeo said, said declining to say what the U.S. response could be. Mr Pompeo said Washington had also added sanctions on two Russian entities for providing fuel to the Syrian government. Russia supports Assad in the more than eight-year-long Syrian war. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Friday: "The UK has grave concerns about the chemical attack in May in Syria. "We continue to work with our partners to ensure that those responsible for chemical attacks are named, shamed and held to account."
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| Impeachment Comes with a Foreign Policy Silver Lining Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Even before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pulled the trigger on an investigation into President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine, there were fears and complaints that impeachment proceedings would dangerously compromise U.S. foreign policy. Beyond just stifling the president's communications with foreign leaders, wrote former Justice Department official John Yoo, Congress "would seize the upper hand in foreign affairs, which has produced disasters."But there's another possibility. Even if things fizzle out before reaching a Senate vote, the impeachment process may have a salutary foreign-policy effect: rejuvenating America's image and safeguarding its increasingly tattered alliances and claims to global leadership.Consider the global impact of the conspiracy and ensuing cover-up of the Watergate break-in authorized by President Richard Nixon. As the BBC's Alastair Cooke, America's once-favorite British uncle, wrote in 1974, the revelations of Watergate "brought the American system into contempt abroad and threatened … the strength of the North American treaty alliance, the ability of the United States to bargain about arms with the Soviet Union, threatened in a word the defense of Europe." But Cooke saw the outcome delivered by Congress and the Supreme Court as redemption. So, according to one post-Watergate analysis, did Europe's leading newspapers: "the American political system and governmental processes were beacons of morality and light emerging from Watergate's squalor." Whether Trump's alleged misdeeds rise to the level of Nixon's impeachment is for Congress to decide. But there's no doubt that he's done colossal harm to America's global leadership. A 2017 global survey by Pew Research Center found confidence in the U.S. president and favorable views of the U.S. at historic lows; the 2018 survey found them only slightly improved overall, and lower in key allies such as France. Once-steadfast partners such as Japan and Germany are distancing themselves and hedging their bets. "The German chancellor and other European leaders have run out of patience with the president," warned the New Yorker. An Economist headline fretted: "Japan is worried about its alliance with America." Whether isolating the U.S. at the United Nations, moving ahead on trade pacts that the administration has abandoned, or resisting White House efforts to blow up accords on climate change and Iranian nuclear proliferation, many countries are looking less to Washington for leadership. In Gallup's most recent survey of more than 130 countries, the median global approval rating of U.S. leadership stood at 31 percent. That was below not just Germany but also China. It was down 17 points from the last year of Barack Obama's presidency and three points under the previous low, during George W. Bush's final year in office.To be sure, public opinion is an imperfect barometer of policy effectiveness. And Trump fans may feel his global unpopularity shows his America First policies are working. But for the most part, the problem with Trump isn't so much his policies. Fighting for better trade deals and greater burden-sharing on our allies' defense is well within mainstream U.S. policy. Trump is also not the first president to argue against multilateral agreements that he feels impinge on U.S. sovereignty. As ill-considered as his drastic cuts to programs such as refugee resettlement and foreign aid are, even they have some less extreme precedents.What makes Trump so corrosive to U.S. power and pre-eminence are not his goals so much as his manner of pursuing them. The world can shrug off his tweeted insults and otherwise boorish behavior. The real problem is the madness of his methods: his short-term, zero-sum transactional thinking; his mercurial and opaque decision-making; and his highly personalized "I alone can fix it" policy process.For starters, this ensures that none of his cabinet members or subordinates speaks with any authority. Just ask former National Security Advisor John Bolton, the latest high-level official to get kicked off the island. Maintaining alliances and deterring enemies both depend on predictability and trust — not exactly Trump's strong suits. Who knows, for instance, if the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan next week or next year? Trump's promiscuous linkages of security guarantees and trade agreements have devalued relationships built over decades, and left partners with no solid footing. As former State Department counselor Eliot Cohen wrote in Foreign Affairs, "To a stunning degree, the Trump administration has diminished the sense of U.S. constancy that has been indispensable to the postwar liberal order." Trump's unwillingness to stand up for democracy and human rights and his willingness to truck with "favorite" dictators and petty tyrants are another problem. This represents a dangerous repudiation of American values that also undermines U.S. interests. As legislators consider the costs and benefits of impeachment, they should therefore bear in mind that the impact of impeachment will not stop at the water's edge. (Two days after Nixon resigned in August 1974, the U.S. ambassador in Moscow cabled Washington that Watergate will cause the Soviets "to revise even further upward their view of Congressional power.") Given Trump's track record, those global reverberations will be mostly good. Even if the president is not ousted, a resolute attempt to hold him to account could diminish his ability to pursue his destructive policies, consume his time and attention, and further reduce his credibility abroad. It will also remind defenders of the international liberal order that they still have allies in at least one branch of the U.S. government. To contact the author of this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.James Gibney writes editorials on international affairs for Bloomberg Opinion. Previously an editor at the Atlantic, the New York Times, Smithsonian, Foreign Policy and the New Republic, he was also in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1989 to 1997 in India, Japan and Washington.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| U.K. Police Chiefs Raise Concerns Over Johnson’s Brexit Rhetoric Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:59 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Senior police officers have raised concerns that the language being used by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and others is increasing the safety risk to politicians as the U.K. heads toward a divisive general election.Police chiefs are stepping up security for Members of Parliament as the debate over Britain's divorce from the European Union becomes ever more fractious, according to a person familiar with the matter.Johnson was challenged repeatedly by women from opposition parties in the House of Commons on Wednesday and asked to moderate his language. Several said they had received death threats using words like "surrender" and "betray," which the prime minister used in his comments on Brexit.A 36-year-old man was arrested Thursday at the office of Birmingham MP Jess Phillips, West Midlands said. Phillips told LBC Radio that her staff had locked themselves in after someone started kicking at the door and shouting that she was a "fascist."Police see elections, when candidates and activists go door-to-door canvassing support, as a particularly dangerous time. It is difficult to provide effective security while also maintaining the openness and approachability that characterizes U.K. politics, according to the person, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans are private.TensionsFormer Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who quit Johnson's cabinet earlier this month in protest at his Brexit strategy, said the prime minister's rhetoric is stoking tensions."The sort of language I'm afraid we've seen more and more of coming out from Number 10 does incite violence," she told the Evening Standard newspaper in an interview published on Friday. "It's the sort of language people think legitimizes a more aggressive approach and sometimes violence."The women who raised their fears with Johnson in Parliament have genuine concerns, Rudd said, and it is "terrible" that the premier had brushed them off. Johnson dismissed the fears about "inflammatory language" raised by Labour MP Paula Sherriff as "humbug.""The best way to ensure every parliamentarian is properly safe, and to dial down the current anxiety in this country, is to get Brexit done," Johnson said.'Disgrace'Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said the prime minister's comment, which he said suggested the safety of MPs "should depend on the way they vote," was "a disgrace."The threat to British politicians is not theoretical. Jo Cox, a Labour MP and passionate pro-European, was murdered during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, and in May, a neo-Nazi was jailed for life for plotting to kill Rosie Cooper, another Labour lawmaker.Kim Leadbetter, Cox's sister, told Sky News that Johnson should "think very carefully about the language he uses."Even Johnson's sister, Rachel, called the prime minister's remarks "tasteless" and "highly reprehensible" in an interview with Sky News.But Johnson doubled-down on his rhetoric on Thursday, telling Tory MPs that he won't be bullied into changing his language. He also denied that his choice of words had contributed to threats against MPs."It's important to be able to use a simple English word like 'surrender' in a parliamentary context," Johnson told the BBC. "I was sitting opposite people who were shouting all sorts of things at me all afternoon that were far, I'm afraid, harsher than that."To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in London at sbiggs3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Hutton, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran releases seized UK-flagged tanker Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:57 AM PDT  A British-flagged oil tanker held by Iran since July was released Friday and was heading toward the United Arab Emirates, the company that owns the vessel said. Iran's marine and port authority said the Stena Impero left Iran Friday morning. The head of the Swedish shipping firm Stena Bulk that owns the tanker said it "has been a long wait" for the vessel and its crew to be released.
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| Trump’s Attack on Whistle-Blower in Private Meeting Was Caught on Video Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:51 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump used a closed-door gathering with U.S. diplomats in New York to attack Democratic rival Joe Biden and disparage a whistle-blower complaint over his controversial phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy now at the heart of an impeachment inquiry."We're at war," Trump said, referring to the whistle-blower in a 15-minute video obtained by Bloomberg News. "These people are sick. They're sick.""I want to know who's the person, who's the person who gave the whistle-blower the information? Because that's close to a spy," he added. An audio recording of some of the comments was posted online earlier by the Los Angeles Times.He added what appeared to be a thinly veiled threat: "You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now."In a tweet on Friday, Trump questioned the whistle-blower's motives. "A partisan operative?" Trump wrote.Trump's address to the U.S. mission to the UN wandered freely from Biden to the 2016 election, from coal miners to the size of Democratic Representative Adam Schiff's neck: "He's got a neck about this big," the president said as he pressed his index finger to his thumb. "He's got shirts that are too big because you can't buy shirts that are that small. He was never a coal miner, lets put it that way."The White House set up the event, allowed cellphones and cleared the guest list, which included people other than immediate family of U.S. Mission to the United Nations staff.At one point, Trump said his only predecessor to appear more presidential than he was Abraham Lincoln."I'm the most presidential except for possibly Abe Lincoln when he wore the hat. That was tough to beat," Trump said. But he added: "I have better hair than him."Trump repeated his claims that Joe Biden helped his son, Hunter Biden, improperly win millions in dollars in business from Ukraine and China. Those claims have been at the center of the controversy over the president's call with Zelenskiy in which he implores the Ukrainian leader to investigate the Bidens. He referred to the former vice president as "Sleepy Joe Biden who's dumb as a rock."Trump said he keeps alive the rumors among Democrats and the media that he would disregard presidential term limits because it drives them "crazy." He also disparaged the media coverage of his meeting in New York on Wednesday with Zelenskiy, and assailed a familiar target, CNN."You know these animals in the press. They're animals. Some of the worst human being you'll ever meet," Trump said. "They're scum. Many of them are scum.""Basically, that person never saw the report, never saw the call, he never saw the call, heard something and decided that he or she, or whoever the hell they saw -- they're almost a spy," Trump said of the whistle-blower.The president also spoke of his "love" of coal miners and that "we gave them back their jobs." He joked about how they didn't want to be retrained for other jobs and weren't interested in his Manhattan lifestyle.Trump said he had asked miners whether they wanted to work in technology and "they almost threw up all over the place.""Can you imagine miners with massive arms, shoulders -- who love what they're doing -- in a line with little tiny widgets?" he added. "They're putting little tiny computer parts together. These big strong guys? They don't want to be doing that.""If I said, 'I'm going to give you an apartment on Fifth Avenue, you're going to come with me, you're going to have a great time in New York, they would say, 'No, no thank you.' That's just the way it is. That's their life, that's what they want."Trump also took credit for what he suggested was an improvement in the UN's performance."I've always said about the United Nations it has more potential than any institution that I've ever dealt with," Trump said. "It hasn't lived up to its potential. It's starting to more. I think one of the reasons is because I feel that way. I will use the United Nations to our benefit as a country.""The United Nations is going to finally live up to its potential," he said.He told Kelly Craft, the new American ambassador to the U.N., that "You're going to be a star." Then he added: "You got to make good deals otherwise it's over."(Updates with Trump tweet in fifth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net;Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Jeremy Corbyn Has Property Funds Plotting Their Own Brexits Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:47 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Mark Stephen has bobbed and weaved through the worst that U.K. real estate markets could throw at him since the Brexit referendum upended British life in June 2016.Now, as the Oct. 31 deadline for a deal with the European Union approaches, Stephen said he fears he may be about to hit a wall.It isn't crashing out of the European Union without a transition agreement that worries him. If anything, he sees a no-deal Brexit as an opportunity to scoop up U.K. real estate on the cheap. What really has him spooked is the possibility that Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing leader of the Labour Party, becomes prime minister in a snap election that could be called before the year-end."I'd leave the country and relocate the business, probably to Singapore," said Stephen, founder and managing director of Reditum Capital, a London-based firm that has made 487 million pounds ($610 million) in secured loans for property investments. "Corbyn is a game-changer."Financial professionals have long recoiled at the prospect of a Labour government. Whenever an election looms, the City of London's pubs are often filled with talk of decamping to the Caribbean or Monaco should Labour take power. For the most part, it's idle chatter. But Corbyn, 70, is different. He sings the socialist hymn "The Red Flag" at rallies, and has vowed to aggressively tax the wealthy and nationalize industries. A June report commissioned by Labour offered a series of proposals to "discourage land and housing from being treated as financial assets."A proposal to require landlords to sell to tenants at deep discounts "would make it impossible to operate in the property market," Stephen said.Stephen, 39, isn't blind to the problems that plague U.K. housing. He has even tailored his investments to focus on some of the same issues that Labour seeks to tackle.Ever since the 2016 Brexit vote, Stephen, an Australian who voted to remain in the EU, has been navigating the fallout by making moves he never anticipated.For starters, Reditum, which invests capital for more than two dozen family offices from around the world, switched its focus from luxury real estate in prime London neighborhoods to more modest multi-unit housing projects in less posh locales.Affordable HousingWracked by an acute shortage of affordable housing, the U.K. must build more than 3 million homes over the next 20 years to meet demand, according to a report by housing charity Shelter. The National Housing Federation said this week that 8.4 million people in England are living in unaffordable or substandard homes.The U.K. isn't the only market struggling with this problem. Campaigns to address the lack of affordable homes for first-time buyers are roiling cities from Toronto to San Francisco to Lisbon. In Berlin, advocates are calling for a referendum that would permit the state to expropriate apartments from big landlords. City leaders in June proposed a five-year freeze on rents. That same month, New York state passed a sweeping package of rent controls and protections for tenants.In the U.K., Stephen bet affordable housing projects would move forward no matter what happens with Brexit. So he provided debt financing for projects aimed at first-time buyers in the London suburbs and cities in western and northern England. He also shunned developments dependent on sales to foreign investors even though overseas money was the fuel that drove U.K. real estate to such frothy heights before the Brexit vote."We knew there was a period where no one knew what was going to happen and foreign investors may slow down as long as Brexit remained a question mark," Stephen said."So we felt more comfortable dealing with domestic buyers less prone to Brexit fears."His moves have delivered investors an annualized 17% return since 2016, and now he's trying to raise a 250 million pound fund. Until recently, he and other investors were feeling pretty bullish about the U.K. property market's recovery. After hitting a three-year low in October 2016, average house prices in the U.K. have jumped 8.6% to 232,710 pounds in July, according to government data.Pivotal MomentThe high-end property market in London has reached a pivotal moment. On the one hand, the average price of a residence in the capital's most desirable neighborhoods has skidded more than 20% from its high in June 2014, according to Savills Plc, a London-based real estate firm. While prices have stabilized -- they fell by only 0.3% in the third quarter -- many foreign investors may prefer to keep their powder dry. "London is a good value but buyers remain reluctant to come in as long as there is a risk of a hard left government," said Lucian Cook, the head of residential research at Savills. "They want to see that pass."More bullish players see signs of a turnaround. Knight Frank, another luxury property firm, said an average of 8.3 buyers turned up for every listed new property in September, the highest in a decade. The 10% slide in the value of the pound to the U.S. dollar this year is driving some of that interest, but the data also show that affluent buyers are looking beyond Brexit, said Tom Bill, Knight Frank's head of London residential research.A Corbyn victory, though a long shot, could thwart a rebound. In a YouGov poll released on Sept. 19, Labour was running 11 points behind the Conservative Party and two points behind the resurgent Liberal Democrats, a centrist party that has vowed to revoke Brexit.'Dangerous Waters'"We are in dangerous waters," said Bruce Dear, the head of the London real estate team at the law firm Eversheds Sutherland. "We have a government that seems hellbent on smashing out of the EU -- deal or no deal -- and the possibility of another government that could abruptly and carelessly redistribute wealth and property, damaging house values and real estate markets."It isn't just property investors who are worried about Corbyn. Wealthy British clients are preparing for a possible move by opening bank accounts in Portugal, Malta, and other countries with low taxes and fast-track citizenship, say advisers to family offices. And British business owners, wary that a Labour government would scrap tax breaks on capital gains, have been selling off minority stakes since 2017, said Claire Madden, managing partner of Connection Capital, a London-based private equity firm. "They want to derisk," she said.When it comes to handling a potential Corbyn-led government, Stephen and other property investors see little but pain. The party is hashing out specific proposals this week at its conference in Brighton. Potential measures include using a government-supervised trust to bring land into common ownership so rents can be socialized instead of flowing to private landlords and banks, and increasing capital-gains taxes on second homes and investment properties.Earlier this month, John McDonnell, a member of Parliament and Labour's top official on financial matters, said tenants should have the right to buy residences they are renting at a substantial discount to market prices. While McDonnell said in a BBC interview that landlords would be duly compensated, property owners decried the proposal as unfair. Just the prospect of such a law may trigger mass selling of residences, which would hurt the market as well as renters."There would be absolute pandemonium," said Eversheds' Dear.That's why Stephen, despite the costs and hassle, is contemplating pulling up stakes and taking his business to Singapore. "It would be disruptive," he said, "but not as much as trying to do business in that environment."(Updates with residents living in unaffordable homes in 10th paragraph.)\--With assistance from Ben Stupples, Jack Sidders and Kitty Donaldson.To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Robinson in London at edrobinson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Rob UrbanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Johnson’s Voters Say Boris Is Just Being Boris Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:46 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The London suburb of Uxbridge is less than an hour by tube from the House of Commons in Westminster. Politically, it's almost a different country.The debate over Brexit in the House of Commons reached, even by its standards, an unprecedented level of vitriol this week. Prime Minister Boris Johnson dismissed the death of Jo Cox, a lawmaker murdered during the 2016 referendum campaign, and repeated his mantra of no "surrender" to the European Union. Then his influential adviser, Dominic Cummings, enraged the government's opponents by saying the only way to stop the turmoil is just to get Brexit done.But for all the fiery talk between politicians in Westminster, an afternoon in Johnson's own electoral district of Uxbridge suggests voters are weary of the debate over Brexit and are more sympathetic than angry with the prime minister. Here, they don't see him as the only politician to use inflammatory language: The venom comes from both sides. Boris is just being Boris."If you voted leave, you're called idiot – thick," said Louise, 57, a Brexit supporter. She didn't want to be identified by her full name because of potential family repercussions. "He's responding to that, fights back with similar language, which sometimes makes him look like a buffoon," she said.The view from this part of west London matters because it's where Johnson will face his primary task in a general election most people think is months, if not weeks, away. He needs to win in Uxbridge to ensure he keeps his seat in the House of Commons and can remain prime minister should his party prevail at the polls."People have high expectations and want him to deliver on things very quickly without giving him any kind of fair opportunity to do so," said Rob Try, 39, an accountant at a travel company. "You need to give him a chance and see what he can deliver really. He's doing the best he can – but it's a mammoth task."Like Try, Jeannette Lynam is a supporter of Johnson's Conservative Party who voted to remain in the EU but now just wants to respect the vote to leave as long as the prime minister can strike a deal with Brussels."His hands are tied. The MPs are taking away his power," said Lynam, 70, a semi-retired dressmaker who was just finishing off her grocery shopping. "He's got personality, he charms people when he wants to. I think he's very intelligent. He just comes at a very difficult time for the country."Read More: Will Brexit Trigger the Nation's Next Civil War?If Johnson calls an election, or if Scottish National Party Leader Nicola Sturgeon succeeds in forcing one, opinion polls suggest he has a chance of winning – provided the people of Uxbridge and South Ruislip don't decide otherwise. The last election suggests he could be vulnerable to an upset.The district is traditionally safe Conservative territory but, like in so many parts of the U.K., Brexit has threatened to upend the established political order. While the area voted to leave in the 2016 referendum, at the election a year later Johnson's majority shrank by more than half as Labour unexpectedly gained traction.Robert Wright, 72, who owns an artist materials and graphics store in the center of Uxbridge, voted for Johnson in 2017, but isn't sure if he will do so again.He was critical of how Johnson handled his suspension – or prorogation – of parliament, an act that caused uproar among lawmakers and was this week judged by the Supreme Court to be illegal. When it comes to fiery rhetoric, Wright blamed both sides of the debate, especially for invoking the death of lawmaker Cox."MPs on both sides were shouting," Wright said. "They were just losing their rag, all of them," he added. "I understand the pickle Boris is in, but some of it is his own making because he promised so much."Johnson, though, has refused to tone down his language, continuing to call legislation aimed at stopping a no-deal Brexit the "Surrender Act," with its echoes of World War II. Cummings doubled down on the strategy this week, saying: "We are enjoying this, we are going to leave, and we are going to win."Like nine of the 11 constituents interviewed for this article, Wright said he still thinks Johnson is doing his best in an intractable situation. Most offered sympathy to the prime minister in the same way as they did to his predecessor, Theresa May. She failed to get her Brexit deal through Parliament and was forced to resign, ushering in Johnson's "do or die" approach to leaving the EU on Oct. 31."He has been voted by his party to do what people voted," said Caroline Valentina, 32, manager at a restaurant in central Uxbridge. She's not sure how she will vote yet. "He seems to be stopped every time he tries to do something and he gets his character assassinated. I don't know who he is, but if we had to judge him by his job, he's trying to do something."On Thursday, the stores and walks around the center of Uxbridge were thronged with people. In the afternoon, students from Brunel University and Buckinghamshire New University added some different nationalities when the classes were over. Hairdressers and barbers were busy with clients popping up after the workday and restaurants were setting tables."He's got a very tough job to do, I do sympathize in a way," said Michelle Butler, 50, the manager of a hairdressing salon. What about his language and the way he angers Parliament? "I probably wouldn't agree with that, it's harsh," she said. "But that's Boris, that's what he does."To contact the author of this story: Irene Garcia Perez in London at igarciaperez@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rodney Jefferson at r.jefferson@bloomberg.net, Edward EvansFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Report: No-deal Brexit could leave UK with medical shortages Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:39 AM PDT  Britain's government watchdog says there's still a "significant amount" of work to do to make sure the country has an adequate supply of licensed drugs in case of a no-deal Brexit. In a report issued Friday, Britain's National Audit Office said additional shipping capacity chartered by the U.K. for sending goods across the English Channel might not be operational until the end of November — one month after the Oct. 31 deadline for Britain to leave the European Union. Of the more than 12,300 medicines licensed in the U.K., about 7,000 arrive from or via the EU, mostly across the Channel.
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| Russia hopes White House won't publish Putin's calls with Trump Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:27 AM PDT ![Russia hopes White House won't publish Putin's calls with Trump]( "Russia hopes White House won't publish Putin's calls with Trump") After the publication of Ukrainian President's Volodymyr Zelensky's phone call with President Trump, Russia would very much not like to go next.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked if Moscow is concerned the U.S. might publish transcripts of calls between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Friday, "we would like to hope that it wouldn't come to that in our relations, which are already troubled by a lot of problems," ABC News reports. A rough transcript of the conversation between Zelensky and Trump was made public earlier this week after it was the subject of a whistleblower complaint; it showed Trump asking Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son. Some within the administration voiced concerns about the precedent it would set to release such conversations with foreign leaders, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.Peskov on Friday described the release of the call with Zelensky as "quite unusual."What a transcript of a conversation between Trump and Putin might be like is anyone's guess, but The Washington Post reports Trump allies upon reading his conversation with Zelensky observed it was actually "'one of his better' phone calls with foreign leaders."
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| CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Rouhani says he rejected U.S. offer to lift sanctions made in message to Europeans Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:15 AM PDT ![CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Rouhani says he rejected U.S. offer to lift sanctions made in message to Europeans]( "CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Rouhani says he rejected U.S. offer to lift sanctions made in message to Europeans") The United States sent a message to European leaders that it was willing to lift all sanctions on Iran, according to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who said he had rejected talks with Washington while punitive U.S. measures remained in place. Rouhani, speaking on his return from the United Nations General Assembly in New York said Germany, Britain and France had insisted on a joint meeting with U.S. officials. "It was up for debate what sanctions will be lifted and they (the United States) had said clearly that we will lift all sanctions," Rouhani said, according to his official website.
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| The Latest: Irish minister: No proposal from the UK yet Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:11 AM PDT  Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney says EU negotiators "simply haven't seen yet" a British proposal that could form the basis for negotiations to break the deadlock in the stalled Brexit process. Conveney said after meeting with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier that "the two sides are quite a long way apart," while the clock is ticking inexorably toward the planned Oct. 31 departure date. There is already talk of granting the U.K. yet another extension to its departure date, but Coveney first wants to center on avoiding a no deal.
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| The fight against climate change needs better weapons Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:03 AM PDT ![The fight against climate change needs better weapons]( "The fight against climate change needs better weapons") Every global climate summit to date has featured lots of tough talk but little action. The United Nations confab in New York that is wrapping up is no different. Nor will anything change in the future unless climate change warriors stop insisting that the world go on an energy diet -- and start offering cheaper and cleaner energy options that don't require a lifestyle where transcontinental travel means a boat like the one that the 16-year-old Greta Thunberg took from Sweden to deliver her rebuke to world's leaders.Human-caused global warming is real, but activists have to get real. They think that they can spur action by simply exaggerating the urgency of climate change. Thunberg insisted that if drastic action to cut emissions isn't taken now, basically the planet as we know it will cease to exist. Likewise, Green New Dealers like Rep. Alexander Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have been saying that the planet has an "expiration date."But anyone who has watched Game of Thrones knows that dialing up apocalypse talk alone can't overcome the collective action problem preventing action on climate change. In that drama, Queen Cersei, chooses to free ride rather than join other kingdoms in fighting the forces of Armageddon.Climate change activists are confronting the same problem -- and the more they exaggerate the sacrifices required, the more they'll exacerbate it.The 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that preserving the planet as we know it will require keeping the global mean surface temperature at no more than 1.5 degrees Centigrade above the average temperature in the 19th Century before the industrial revolution. This is a more stringent target than that set during the 2015 Paris accords whose goal was to hold the temperature increase to 2 degrees Centigrade. Allowing them to rise more than that would mean planetary change, but not necessarily planetary catastrophe, a distinction that climate warriors refuse to make. Allowing them to rise more than that would mean planetary change and disruptions, to be sure. For example, coral reefs would be damaged, storms may be worse, and Arctic ice may melt in summers -- but not necessarily planetary catastrophe with fiercer cyclones and droughts causing mass death, a distinction that climate warriors refuse to make.In order to hold temperature to the 1.5 degrees threshold, the IPCC calculated that the world would have to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 50 percent by 2030 and completely by 2050. This will mean a total transition from fossil fuels to renewables like wind and solar by 2050, a goal that AOC has whole-heartedly embraced for the United States.What would the price tag for this be?As per the IPCC's own calculations, around $2.4 trillion annually between 2016 and 2035 in 2010 dollars -- or about 2.5 percent of the global GDP. To understand just how daunting that is consider that the total energy investments in the world amount to only around $1.7 trillion right now -- which means that the world is being asked to make an additional $45 trillion in investments over 19 years to generate the same amount of energy and improve energy efficiency. The higher costs will mean scaling back First World lifestyles, of course. But they will also mean forcing Third World countries where many people don't even have electricity to stay stuck in poverty for many more decades to help out generations a hundred years from now.This may be a good long-term investment but the upfront costs -- both monetary and human -- are formidable which makes the politics of climate change intractable. That's why the New York conference didn't go anywhere. The UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres asked countries to up the commitments they'd made four years ago in Paris. Only 65 countries obliged; the biggest polluters just shrugged.America didn't even request a speaking slot at the event because that would have meant laying out concrete plans for actual cuts. The Australian prime minister was in town but didn't bother showing up. China failed to announce new targets and renewed its calls that developed countries go first -- no doubt because it doesn't want to put an anchor around its already limping economy. Likewise, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump's new best friend, outlined more investments in renewables but remains committed to coal projects for the foreseeable future. And the European Union, historically a leader in pushing for emission cuts, didn't signal any intention to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.Climate activists are blaming much of this on Trump's Paris pullout. But that's head-in-the-sand evasion because even if Trump were the Joan of Arc of climate change, he couldn't ensure results. America enthusiastically led the way for the 1995 Kyoto Treaty that convinced many countries to pledge cuts, but almost none delivered before George Bush bailed. And the reason is those that dutifully made the cuts would end up harming their economy for no gain if others didn't follow through. So it was more expedient to promise and leave.Climate activists are now counting on woke capital to bring these countries to heel by withholding investments from polluting nations. And several asset fund managers indeed did commit to net-zero emission portfolio by 2050. But the investor community as a whole is going to face the same collective action problem that the international community is confronting, namely, that if one of them foregoes lucrative investments, there will be just that much more temptation for others.The better way might be offering clean fuel options that are so attractive that consumers simply can't turn them down. Phone users did not switch from landlines to cell phones because they were forced to do so. They did so automatically and voluntarily because the new technology offered massive advantages relative to the costs that the old one didn't.Something equivalent needs to happen on the energy front to make fossil fuels obsolete. The most promising alternative on the horizon so far isn't renewables but nuclear. Yet environmentalists are mostly opposed to it. This was reasonable when nuclear's upfront capital costs -- namely to build layers of safety in reactors -- were astronomical and options to safely dispose spent radioactive fuel weren't great. But the new generation of nuclear reactors is overcoming at least some of these problems. For example, Bill Gate's Terrapower, a traveling wave reactor, is experimenting with using depleted uranium, a waste product leftover from conventional reactors.The most revolutionary fuels are ones that no one can even imagine yet. But they will only come about if today's young environmental activists don't skip school to spend two weeks boating across the ocean to attend a summit. Rather than lecturing world leaders, they'd help more if they stayed in class and listened to their teachers with the goal of becoming future innovators.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.
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| UK's Boris Johnson defends his fraught Brexit language Posted: 27 Sep 2019 05:37 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday rebuffed allegations that he was whipping up social divisions with charged language about his Brexit opponents, saying the only way to calm the simmering tensions was to stop delaying and leave the European Union. In truth, the British public and its politicians are both bitterly divided over how, or even whether, to leave the 28-nation bloc.
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