| Trump pick for national intelligence director is withdrawing Posted: 02 Aug 2019 05:42 PM PDT  The announcement will leave the intelligence community without a permanent, Senate-confirmed leader at a time when the U.S. government is grappling with North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the prospect of war with Iran and the anticipated efforts of Russia or other foreign governments to interfere in the American political system. Trump didn't cite specific media reports, though multiple stories in the last week have questioned Ratcliffe's qualifications and suggested that he had misrepresented his experience as a federal prosecutor in Texas. Ratcliffe is a frequent Trump defender who fiercely questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week.
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| North Korea confirms another test of rocket launcher system Posted: 02 Aug 2019 05:24 PM PDT  North Korea said Saturday its leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test-firing of a new multiple rocket launcher system that could potentially enhance the country's ability to strike targets in South Korea and U.S. military bases there. The report by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency came a day after South Korea's military said it detected North Korea firing projectiles twice into the sea off its eastern coast in its third round of weapons tests in just over a week. Experts say the North's increased testing activity is aimed at ramping up pressure on Washington and Seoul over stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States and planned U.S.-South Korea military exercises, and that its weapons displays could intensify in the coming months if progress in talks isn't made.
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| UN report: North Korean prisoners killed for escape attempts Posted: 02 Aug 2019 05:13 PM PDT ![UN report: North Korean prisoners killed for escape attempts]( "UN report: North Korean prisoners killed for escape attempts") Secretary-General António Guterres says in a new report on North Korea's grim human rights record that prisoners who tried to escape or steal have reportedly been publicly executed, and detainees have been subject to sexual violence and severely beaten with clubs and metal rods. The report to the General Assembly, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, said guards make detainees undress and repeatedly subject them to body searches for money and concealed items. The secretary-general said the U.N. human rights office received and analyzed accounts of North Koreans who had experienced detention, the vast majority of them women who escaped initially to China.
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| The Latest: Trump's intelligence director pick withdraws Posted: 02 Aug 2019 04:56 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's pick for national intelligence director, Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, has withdrawn from consideration after just five days of growing questions about his experience and qualifications. Democrats had openly dismissed the Republican congressman as an unqualified partisan and Republicans offered only lukewarm and tentative expressions of support. The announcement leaves the intelligence community without a permanent, Senate-confirmed leader at a time when the U.S. government is grappling with North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the prospect of war with Iran and the anticipated efforts of Russia or other foreign governments to interference in the American political system.
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| UPDATE 1-Maduro says he 'repudiates' Trump statement on possible Venezuela blockade Posted: 02 Aug 2019 03:57 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Maduro says he 'repudiates' Trump statement on possible Venezuela blockade]( "UPDATE 1-Maduro says he 'repudiates' Trump statement on possible Venezuela blockade") Maduro said he had asked Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, to denounce the "illegal" threat to the U.N. Security Council. "All of Venezuela, in a civic-military union, repudiates and rejects the statements of Donald Trump about a supposed quarantine, of a supposed blockade," Maduro said in a state television broadcast.
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| Trump administration tells Boris Johnson UK-US trade deal relies on dropping tax on tech giants, says report Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:46 PM PDT  The Trump administration has made it clear to Boris Johnson that any post-Brexit US-UK free trade deal would rely on Britain dropping plans to tax large American tech firms, according to reports.Last month, Donald Trump announced that he and the British prime minister had already discussed the projects of a free trade relationship, when he telephoned to congratulate him on winning his way to No 10."We're working already on a trade agreement," Mr Trump told reporters. "And I think it'll be a very substantial trade agreement, you know we can do with the UK, we can do three to four times, we were actually impeded by their relationship with the European Union."Now it has been reported any special deal between the two countries would depend on Britain dropping the digital services tax, which was first announced by then chancellor Phillip Hammond in his October 2018 budget, and which is due to come into affect in April next year. While campaigning to secure the Conservative Party leadership, Mr Johnson had spoken in favour of the plan to tax the British earnings of companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon."I think it's deeply unfair that high street businesses are paying tax through the nose, whereas the internet giants, the Faangs – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google – are paying virtually nothing," Mr Johnson said last month in York. "We've got to find a way of taxing the internet giants on their income, because at the moment it is simply unfair."The Telegraph said the Trump administration had made clear its opposition to the tax to "multiple levels" of the British government. As such, it would raise further questions about Mr Johnson's claims that Britain should push for a no-deal Brexit because of potential arrangements to be forged with nations such as the US.If true, this is not the first time US politicians have made clear their displeasure over the UK taxes due to be applied to major tech companies, which a White paper published last month was intended to address a "misalignment between the place where profits are taxed and the place where value is created".Last month, Bloomberg News reported that leaders of the congressional committees tasked with setting tax and trade policy, said a British digital services tax would impair a potential post-Brexit trade deal."I met with the UK officials earlier, and said 'You expect a trade agreement with the United States and the UK It will not happen with your digital services tax. Period. Full stop'," said senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate finance committee.Congressman Kevin Brady, the ranking Republican on the House ways and means and committee, also said it would impede post-Brexit trade talks. "It's not the way to start this discussion."The warning comes as France pushes ahead with its own plan to tax the revenues of major tech firms such as Google, something Mr Trump threatened to retaliate against by taxing French wine.There was no immediate response to enquires from the White House or the US state department.A Downing Street spokesperson told The Independent it would not be commenting on the report.
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| Colombian cocaine crops reduce but still world's largest: UN Posted: 02 Aug 2019 01:56 PM PDT  Illegal coca plantations in Colombia reduced slightly in 2018 but the country remains the world's biggest producer of the primary ingredient in cocaine production, the United Nations said on Friday. Although the crop reduction was small, it's a welcome reversal of a trend that saw plantations grow rapidly since 2013, when the area under cultivation was just 48,000 hectares.
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| Pelosi Cites Progress in Trump Probes as Impeachment Calls Rise Posted: 02 Aug 2019 01:31 PM PDT ![Pelosi Cites Progress in Trump Probes as Impeachment Calls Rise]( "Pelosi Cites Progress in Trump Probes as Impeachment Calls Rise") (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats in Congress will continue to "legislate, investigate and litigate" to hold President Donald Trump accountable for what she called an assault on U.S. elections and the Constitution.At a time when increasing numbers of her rank-and-file members are calling for a formal impeachment inquiry, Pelosi issued a statement Friday outlining legal battles and investigations that she said make up an aggressive posture toward the president."In America, no one is above the law," Pelosi said in her statement. "The president will be held accountable."She outlined the work of six congressional panels conducting activities such as seeking Trump's tax returns, filing to obtain grand jury testimony underlying Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, and looking into the president's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. She said 54% of all House Democrats serve on a committee engaged in some sort of Trump investigation.Pelosi issued her statement on the same day the Washington Post reported that a majority of House Democrats have endorsed an impeachment inquiry.To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Bill FariesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump plays down latest North Korea missile tests Posted: 02 Aug 2019 11:54 AM PDT  President Donald Trump on Friday downplayed recent missile tests by North Korea and flattered the country's leader as a friend with a "great and beautiful vision for his country," as the U.S. tries to lure Kim Jong Un back to nuclear talks. Trump's series of three tweets — which take great pains to excuse the actions of a man he once dismissed as "Little Rocket Man" — shows just how much the president has riding on North Korea. Despite widespread skepticism that Kim will give up his prized nuclear weapons program, Trump regularly touts his personal diplomacy with Kim as a great success.
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| UN: Slight drop in Colombia coca production in 2018 Posted: 02 Aug 2019 11:36 AM PDT ![UN: Slight drop in Colombia coca production in 2018]( "UN: Slight drop in Colombia coca production in 2018") The report delivered to Duque's government Friday showed that coca production dropped about 1.2 percent in 2018. Colombia has struggled to contain coca plantings that reached record levels in 2017. While the U.N. report has not yet been released, a representative speaking alongside Duque Friday said there's been modest progress.
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| UPDATE 2-China's new U.N. envoy says Beijing ready to fight U.S. on trade Posted: 02 Aug 2019 10:56 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-China's new U.N. envoy says Beijing ready to fight U.S. on trade]( "UPDATE 2-China's new U.N. envoy says Beijing ready to fight U.S. on trade") China's new U.N. ambassador warned on Friday that if the United States wanted to fight China on trade "then we will fight," and signaled that trade tensions could hurt cooperation between the countries on dealing with North Korea. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Thursday to slap a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports from next month, sharply escalating a trade dispute between the world's biggest economies. In unusually blunt remarks for a United Nations' diplomat from China, Zhang Jun described Trump's move as "an irrational, irresponsible act" and urged Washington to "come back to the right track." He also said Beijing was prepared to take countermeasures.
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| China's new U.N. envoy says Beijing ready to fight U.S. on trade Posted: 02 Aug 2019 10:16 AM PDT ![China's new U.N. envoy says Beijing ready to fight U.S. on trade]( "China's new U.N. envoy says Beijing ready to fight U.S. on trade") China's new ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, said on Friday that if the United States wanted to fight China on trade, "then we will fight" and warned that Beijing was prepared to take countermeasures over new U.S. tariffs. "China's position is very clear that if U.S. wishes to talk, then we will talk, if they want to fight, then we will fight," he told reporters.
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| Trump again downplays North Korean missile launches even as senior official calls them 'huge mistake' Posted: 02 Aug 2019 10:10 AM PDT  It's a sign of the divides within the U.S. on how to respond to North Korea's tough stance since Trump and Kim's second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, ended without an agreement, but it may also be a strategy of good cop, bad cop. In the early morning hours Friday in North Korea, the regime fired what appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles, similar to those launched on Wednesday, according to a U.S. official and South Korean officials.
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| No-deal Brexit an 'instantaneous' shock to economy: Carney Posted: 02 Aug 2019 09:59 AM PDT  Bank of England governor Mark Carney on Friday warned that a no-deal Brexit would be a shock for Britain, causing supply disruption and potentially undermining entire sectors of the economy such as the car industry and farming. Carney also said that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the falling pound would suddenly increase prices for imported goods such as petrol and food and force up inflation. "There are some very big industries in this country where that which is highly profitable becomes not profitable, becomes not economic" in case of no-deal, Carney said.
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| Reagan daughter calls father's newly-surfaced comments about 'monkeys' in Africa an aberration Posted: 02 Aug 2019 09:45 AM PDT  The daughter of former President Ronald Reagan has written an op-ed in the Washington Post denouncing her father's recently uncovered racist remarks as "ugliness" but asking for forgiveness. "There is no defense, no rationalization, no suitable explanation for what my father said on that taped phone conversation," Patti Davis said in the op-ed posted Thursday. On the private phone call from October 1971 between Reagan, then-governor of California, and then-President Richard Nixon, Reagan can be heard on the recording calling United Nation delegates from African countries "monkeys," venting about delegates who voted against the U.S. to have the United Nations recognize the People's Republic of China.
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| UPDATE 1-Trump: North Korean missile tests may defy UN, but not his agreement with Kim Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:55 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Trump: North Korean missile tests may defy UN, but not his agreement with Kim]( "UPDATE 1-Trump: North Korean missile tests may defy UN, but not his agreement with Kim") U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that North Korea's missile tests may have violated United Nations resolutions but did not break his agreement North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea fired missiles for the third time in eight days, a series of launches that analysts say have appeared designed both to improve military capabilities and pressure the United States and South Korea as they seek to restart denuclearization talks with Pyongyang. North Korea has been testing missiles despite a June 30 meeting between Trump and Kim at which the two agreed to revive stalled talks, which have yet to resume.
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| NKorea's Kim won't 'disappoint me,' despite missile tests: Trump Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:49 AM PDT  President Donald Trump on Friday underlined his intense personal support for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, even if he admitted that Pyongyang's recent missile tests "may" violate a UN resolution. "There may be a United Nations violation, but Chairman Kim does not want to disappoint me with a violation of trust, there is far too much for North Korea to gain," Trump said in a series of tweets on the subject. "Chariman Kim has a great and beautiful vision for his country, and only the United States, with me as President, can make that vision come true," Trump added, misspelling the North Korean dictator's official title.
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| Nato won't deploy nuclear missiles to Europe after end of US-Russia arms control treaty Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:42 AM PDT  Nato has said it will not deploy nuclear missiles in Europe to avoid a new arms race with Russia following the demise of a key arms control agreement. The United States on Friday officially withdraw from the intermediate nuclear forces treaty, which was signed in 1987 by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to end a Cold War arms race on the continent. In February, Washington had given Moscow six months to destroy the 9M729 missile it has said violates the agreement. Moscow, which has accused Washington of seeking an excuse to free itself from the treaty limits, confirmed its own exit later on Friday. Nato head Jens Stoltenberg told journalists in Brussels that Russia "bears sole responsibility" for the end of the treaty by developing a missile that threatens Europe, but promised that the alliance would not respond in kind. "We will not mirror what Russia does," Mr Stoltenberg said. "We don't want a new arms race. And we have no intention to deploy new land-based nuclear missiles in Europe." Instead, Nato will increase conventional weapons capabilities and reconnaissance. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab tweeted that the UK supported the Nato response to Russia's "treaty-violating missile system which can target Europe's capitals". The Russian foreign ministry on Friday called on the United States to not deploy medium-range missiles on land, again arguing that American missile defence launchers in Poland and Romania can fire such missiles in violation of the treaty. The range of the 9M729 (SSC-8) missile Washington is now planning to test a land-based version of its medium-range Tomahawk cruise missile later this month and a medium-range ballistic missile in November. "The United States has taken a course toward destroying all international agreements that don't suit it for one reason or another," the foreign ministry said. "This will essentially lead to the dismantling of the existing arms control system." Barack Obama's administration first complained in 2014 that the 9M729 missile had a range of 1,500 kilometres, well within the 500- to 5,500-kilometre range banned by the treaty. Moscow claims the 9M729 only can fly 480 kilometres. Russia shows journalists and military attaches the 9M729 missile outside Moscow in January Credit: Pavel Golovkin/AP Donald Trump ratcheted up the pressure last year by announcing that the US would withdraw from the agreement, sending national security advisor John Bolton, a long-time opponent of the INF, to Moscow to tell Vladimir Putin. Mr Trump has complained that other countries are racing ahead on developing medium-range missiles while America's hands are tied. Angela Merkel later convinced him to provide a grace period for Russia to come back in compliance. The United States and Russia now only have the New Start arms control treaty signed by Mr Obama and then-president Dmitry Medvedev, which is set to expire in 2021.
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| Johnson's Brexit Enemies Prepare for Fight After Tasting Victory Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:40 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- In the rolling hills of the Welsh countryside, 73-year-old retired civil engineer Alan Marr fears the U.K. is heading for the "lunacy" of a no-deal divorce from the European Union.His vote for the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats in the Brecon and Radnorshire special election Thursday helped the party score a significant victory over Boris Johnson's Conservatives, reducing the prime minister's parliamentary majority to one and making his task of delivering Brexit even harder."How can we not have a trade deal with such a big bloc?" said Marr, whose wife is Dutch and who brings home honey, olive oil and wine from vacations in Portugal and Spain. He also used to work on EU-supported infrastructure projects in Wales. "I feel very close to Europe, and don't want to break away."Deep in sheep-farming country, the Liberal Democrats overturned an 8,000-vote Tory majority with the help of an electoral pact between pro-EU parties, who stood aside to improve the chances of a "Remain" victory. A repeat of such cooperation in Parliament or in a potential general election -- though it's much harder in a national poll -- could make it more difficult for Johnson to keep his "do or die" pledge to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31."In the first week of Boris Johnson's premiership, we've burst his bubble," Jane Dodds, the winning Liberal Democrat politician, said against the dramatic backdrop of the Brecon Beacons range of hills, where the military conducts training. "I hope he listens and takes a no-deal Brexit off the table."Electoral BoostThough that's not likely to happen, the Brecon victory is another boost for the Liberal Democrats, who are currently polling at about 20% nationally after years in the doldrums following their coalition with the Tories until 2015. The constituency mirrored the 2016 Brexit referendum result, voting 52% to 48% to leave the EU.But a no-deal divorce from the bloc is worrying farmers, whose sales of Welsh lamb to the continent could face steep export tariffs.Gill Bradshaw, a 62-year-old Remain supporter who voted Lib Dem for the first time, welcomed their alliance with the Green Party and Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru party. The Liberal Democrats have indicated they'll consider similar pro-EU alliances on a seat-by-seat basis at any future election."It was a good tactical move," Bradshaw, who normally votes Labour, said as she sold china and glassware in the market hall. "Brexit is a backward step."Brexit Vote SplitBy contrast, the Tories suffered from the emergence of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, whose candidate received 3,331 votes. Johnson's Conservatives would have won had they taken those votes.To be sure, local factors mean that what happened in Brecon doesn't necessarily apply nationally. Turnout was lower than usual, while the vote only happened because incumbent Chris Davies was convicted of faking expense claims. Some residents said they voted against him entirely because of that.Others cast their ballots for reasons beyond Brexit. James Adair, 51, a former post office worker who helps run a military memorabilia shop and wants to leave the EU, said he actually voted tactically for the Liberal Democrats to keep the Conservatives out."Johnson, I think, is dangerous," said Adair, whose wife relies heavily on the state-run National Health Service and is worried it will be privatized by the government. "The more important thing for me at the moment is to put Brexit aside and get rid of the Tories."For Johnson, the immediate concern is how the Brecon result has cut his already wafer-thin Parliament majority, making him more vulnerable in a no-confidence vote. The main opposition Labour Party has hinted it could propose one as early as September.There are plenty of potential Tory rebels. Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, former Secretary of State for Justice David Gauke and former Business Secretary Greg Clark may be willing to tip the vote against their own party to prevent what they see as a calamitous no-deal Brexit.If Johnson were to lose a confidence vote, he would have a short window to try to form an alternative grouping in Parliament that has a majority. Failing would trigger a general election.Still, the prospect of a grand anti-Brexit alliance at a general election among opposition parties remains limited, not least because the Liberal Democrats are unwilling to do a deal with Jeremy Corbyn's Labour.'Not Idiots'"We'd be idiots to trust him, and we're not idiots," prominent Liberal Democrat Ed Davey said at the vote count, pointing to Corbyn's ambiguous position on Brexit. "He's under immense pressure to back Remain, and he hasn't."That doesn't mean the challenge facing Johnson isn't significant, especially if he tries to get his own Brexit deal with Brussels -- which currently looks unlikely given the impasse on both sides -- through Parliament. The math is against him, which is why speculation the prime minister might seek a direct mandate from the public in an early general election, or even that he might suspend the legislature to get Brexit done, refuses to go away.Yet the result in Wales suggests Johnson will face a stiff fight whichever route he chooses."We're going to be open-heartedly working with others to achieve our ultimate goals," the Liberal Democrats' new leader, Jo Swinson, said in Brecon.To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Paul SillitoeFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| German public trust in UK falls to historic low amid Brexit stand-off Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:27 AM PDT  German public confidence in Britain as a reliable ally has collapsed in the face of the current Brexit stand-off, a poll has found. Only a third of Germans still believe the UK can be trusted, according to the findings — a drop of 17 per cent since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. It is the lowest figure ever recorded for the UK by the Deutschland Trend survey for ARD television, which has been tracking German public opinion of key allies since 2007. And in further evidence Germans mistrust the man known in the popular press here as "Brexit Boris", more than two-thirds of those polled said they believe relations between Britain and the EU will deteriorate under his premiership. "Boris Johnson has been leading the British government since last week, and his accession to office has affected the image of the UK in Germany," Infratest Dimap, the polling company behind the survey, said in its report. "Hardly anyone believes that relations between the EU and UK can get closer under the new Prime Minister." The UK and Germany are longstanding Nato allies Credit: Cpl Wes Calder RLC/Crown Copyright Britain has long been one of Germany's most trusted allies according to the findings of the poll, regularly coming second only to France. German public trust in the UK dropped from a 2008 high of 85 per cent in the wake of the 2016 referendum, but remained above 50 per cent throughout Theresa May's premiership. As recently as February - the most recent figures available - as it became clear Mrs May did not have the necessary support in parliament for her withdrawal agremeent, 54 per cent of Germans still believed Britain was a reliable partner. But that figure has now dropped to 37 per cent in the face of Mr Johnson's hardline approach to Brexit. "Brexit or the dispute over it, has led to a massive loss of confidence in a partner who has not been insignifcant for German security, and who remains of great importance to the German export industry," Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, a respected commentator, wrote in the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. "The expectation that the relationship between Britain and the EU will continue to deteriorate gives European negotiators little reason to be open to Johnson's demands." The drop in German confidence mirrors a similar collapse in trust of the US under the presidency of Donald Trump. In mid-2016, when Barack Obama was president, German public confidence in the US was above 50 per cent — although it remained lower than trust in the UK even after the Brexit referendum. But following Mr Trump's election in November that year it dropped to 22 per cent, and in the latest figures it has slipped further to just 19 per cent. The drop in German support for the US and UK represents a worrying erosion of confidence in the Western alliance that won the Cold War. Germans currently have more confidence in Russia than the US according to the poll, with 26 per cent of Germans believing Vladimir Putin is trustworthy. Only France among key allies appears to be still trusted by Germans, with 89 per cent of those polled believing it is a reliable partner. But in a boost for President Trump, the poll findings suggest that German public opinion is shifting in favour of higher military spending. Mr Trump has been pressuring Angela Merkel's government to meet Nato's defence spending target of 2 per cent of GDP. German spending currently lags far behind at just 1.2 per cent. The poll found that half of Germans now believe Germany should increase military spending to meet the target — a rise of 7 per cent compared to April.
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| Trump accuses China's Xi of failing to halt fentanyl exports to U.S. Posted: 02 Aug 2019 07:55 AM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday accused his Chinese counterpart of failing to meet promises to stem a deluge of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States, after months of praising Chinese President Xi Jinping for his pledges. "My friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of fentanyl to the United States - this never happened and many Americans continue to die," Trump said in a tweet. "We're losing thousands of people to fentanyl," he later told reporters.
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| Airstrikes halt in Syria's Idlib as truce goes into effect Posted: 02 Aug 2019 07:49 AM PDT  Syrian government airstrikes halted on Friday in the country's northwest after a truce went into effect there, but ground fire killed at least one person in a government-held village near President Bashar Assad's hometown, state media and opposition activists said. The al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the most powerful rebel group in Idlib, said the government declared the cease-fire because it wasn't able to advance into rebel-held areas during its recent offensive "without resorting to a scorched-earth policy." The group said that it would abide by the cease-fire but has "the right to retaliate" if the government attacks. The rebel stronghold is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants and other jihadi groups.
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| Venezuela's opposition ambassador, the 'Cracker from Caracas', calls for diplomatic recognition Posted: 02 Aug 2019 07:41 AM PDT  As a high-profile socialite in London in the 1990s, she was known as the "Cracker from Caracas" when she dated Mick Jagger. Now, as the official representative of Venezuela's "interim president" Juan Guaido, Dr Vanessa Neumann is determined to use all her explosive charm - alongside her extensive foreign policy experience - to liberate her country from what she calls the "tyranny" of the present regime. Since her appointment earlier this year by Venezuela's National Assembly as Mr Guaido's official representative to Britain, Ms Neumann is at the forefront of the opposition's attempts to force the country's current president, Nicolas Maduro, from power. And, as part of her campaign to lobby support for Mr Guaido's attempts to end the repression her country has suffered under its hard-left regime, she is calling on the British government to give her full diplomatic backing. Speaking exclusively to the Daily Telegraph at her Kensington apartment, which also doubles as her make-shift embassy, Ms Neumann called on Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to resolve the confusion surrounding her diplomatic status. "I have been received by the British government as the official representative of interim President Guaido, but I have not been able to present my credentials to the Queen," she explained. "The British government has shown its support for Guaido, and says it is fully behind us. Yet they continue to grant full diplomatic status to a government that is totally repressive. "They have even allowed Venezuela to send a new military attache to London. This is an outrage. The military is involved in torture, repression and money laundering. "This glaring inconsistency provides succour for an administration it does not recognise." Ms Neumann outside the Venezuelan Embassy in London Credit: Paul Grover Now Ms Neumann, a political risk expert, is hoping to arrange meetings with Mr Raab and Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a bid to resolve her diplomatic status. She is calling on the British government to revoke the diplomatic status of the Maduro government's official representative to London and allow her to take over the Venezuelan Embassy. "Other countries like the US that support Guaido have done this and officially given the representative of the interim government diplomatic recognition," she said. "If the British government were to give us full diplomatic status, it would be a great boon for the forces of democracy in Venezuela. We need Britain to be on the right side of history." Ms Nuemann's impressive network of social connections means she is well-placed to lobby on behalf of the Guaido cause. Apart from dating a Rolling Stone, she was also married to the writer and journalist Bill Cash, and was a popular figure on London's social scene, meeting up-and-coming politicians such as Mr Johnson. She is now working on setting up a more formal meeting with Mr Johnson. And she is also hoping to meet soon with Mr Raab, whom she met at this year's Conservative Party ball, when he was still a backbencher. "He seemed to understand our position, and he was very supportive," she said. Britain was among more than 50 countries that supported the opposition led by Mr Guaido against the Maduro government, which resulted in mass street protests earlier this year. Venezuela | Read more But Mr Maduro, who has received backing from Cuba and Russia, has managed to cling to power by maintaining his regime's repressive practices. According to Ms Neumann, an estimated one third of the members of the country's National Assembly, which is controlled by Mr Guaido's supporters, have been arrested, forced into exile or even murdered during the past year. Meanwhile the country is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster, with an estimated 17 million people facing starvation. In addition the Maduro regime continues with its repressive policies, with an estimated 8,000 extrajudicial murders said to have taken place in the past year. "All they do under Maduro is murder the opposition, traffic drugs and launder money," says Ms Neumann, who owes her appointment to the work she did previously exploring the links between drug lords said to be linked to the Venezualan government and terror groups, such as Hizbollah. She even spoke at a counter-terrorism conference in London chaired by then Home Secretary Theresa May. Venezuela food crisis | Twins lose five stone amid economic collapse She decided to take a more active role in the opposition after witnessing violent anti-government protests in 2017. "I saw the military running over students with armoured tanks and students being shot. I was completely outraged. "I have always been deeply concerned about what I see happening in Venezuela. After Chavez came to power in 1999, I saw how his regime centralised power at the expense of the constitution which resulted in a descent into tyranny." And she is particularly critical of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for continuing to support the Maduro regime. "I think it is shocking that Jeremy Corbyn can declare his support for a regime that abuses human rights, ignores the rule of law and crushes democratic opposition. Mr Corbyn is guilty of rank hypocrisy." Now she wants the government to back the opposition cause. "We want Britain to help us liberate our country from tyranny. "And we want to build a long-term relationship with after the tyranny has ended. You could say there is a wonderful post-Brexit opportunity for Britain once the regime has been removed."
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| Zarif Sanctioned: Does Trump Still Want Talks With Iran? Posted: 02 Aug 2019 07:22 AM PDT  President Donald Trump says he wants to talk to Iran, but hawkish elements in the Trump administration have closed yet another avenue to negotiations, putting economic sanctions on Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, late Wednesday. Meanwhile, the hardline Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has forged a role for himself in the administration's Iran policy—and emerged as a potential contender for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's job."This is simply absurd. It's the same as someone claiming to want to win the World Cup, and to prove it they cut off their own legs and sanction FIFA," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute.Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin banned Zarif from doing business in America or with Americans. He cited Executive Order 13876, signed by Trump on June 24, to block anyone "appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran or the SLO [Supreme Leader's Office] to a position as a state official of Iran, or as the head of any entity" from the U.S. economy.Trump has the authority to do this because U.S.-Iranian relations have been in a declared "state of emergency" since 1995.The U.S. Treasury also claimed that the Iranian foreign ministry "coordinates with one of the Iranian regime's most nefarious state entities," the elite Qods (Jerusalem) Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.The Trump administration declared the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group in April 2019—"the first time that we had sanctioned the military of another country," said Barbara Slavin, director of the Atlantic Council's Future of Iran Project.
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| Asia-Pacific ministers push dialogue to end region's spats Posted: 02 Aug 2019 07:13 AM PDT  Asia-Pacific foreign ministers called for the peaceful resolution to regional disputes at Friday's close of an annual security meeting, which was eclipsed by the U.S.-China rivalry and a deepening trade spat between Japan and South Korea. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who chaired the ASEAN Regional Forum, said members supported calls for the resumption of stalled denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea, which have been clouded by Pyongyang's recent missile launches. The forum is an offshoot of annual meetings of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations that adds the participation of key dialogue partners such as the U.S., China, Japan and South Korea.
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| Trump and U.K.’s Johnson Talk Trade for Second Time in a Week Posted: 02 Aug 2019 07:12 AM PDT ![Trump and U.K.'s Johnson Talk Trade for Second Time in a Week]( "Trump and U.K.'s Johnson Talk Trade for Second Time in a Week") (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and Boris Johnson spoke for the second time since the British prime minister took office last week, agreeing to cooperate on trade and global security, according to a White House statement.Johnson has made securing a post-Brexit trade deal with the U.S. a key priority, while according to his ambassador in London, Trump has talked about putting Britain "at the front of the line" once it has left the European Union.In their phone call on Thursday, Trump "reiterated his strong appreciation for the special relationship" between the U.K. and the U.S., according to the statement, and said he was looking forward to the two meeting in Biarritz, France for the Group of Seven summit this month. A spokesman for Johnson's office confirmed the call had taken place, without giving a summary.The two leaders also agreed to cooperate on global security and on 5G mobile broadband networks, the White House said. That's a potentially contentious issue between the two governments, after former Prime Minister Theresa May's administration delayed a decision on whether to allow China's Huawei Technologies Co. to play a role in the next-generation networks.Using Huawei equipment risks angering the Trump administration, which has imposed a ban on the company -- an issue that goes to the heart of recent U.S.-China trade tensions.In their first call after Johnson took office, he and Trump expressed their commitment to delivering an ambitious free trade agreement and to starting negotiations as soon as possible after the U.K. leaves the EU -- which Johnson has promised to do by Oct. 31.On Friday, Johnson spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who urged his British counterpart to ensure an orderly Brexit, according to a statement from Japan's Foreign Ministry. Abe also expressed his concern about the impact on Japanese companies operating in the U.K., the ministry said.To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Andrew AtkinsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| White House Asks for List of Top Spies During Intelligence Shakeup Posted: 02 Aug 2019 06:30 AM PDT  REUTERSThe Trump administration is taking inventory of many of America's top spies, The Daily Beast has learned. The White House recently asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for a list of all its employees at the federal government's top pay scale who have worked there for 90 days or more, according to two sources familiar with the request. The request appears to be part of the White House's search for a temporary director of national intelligence—a prospect that raises concerns in some quarters about political influence over the intelligence community.The request, which specifically asks for people in ODNI at the GS-15 level (the pay grade for most top government employees, including supervisors) or higher, comes as ODNI's leadership faces turmoil. Earlier this week, President Trump tweeted that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats will step down on Aug. 15, and that he plans to nominate Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe for the post. But Ratcliffe faces a contentious confirmation process that's all but certain to stretch past the 15th, and the White House needs someone to take the DNI role in the meantime. According to federal law, ODNI's Senate-confirmed second-in-command—the principal deputy director of national intelligence, currently Sue Gordon—steps in if the DNI departs. Gordon, who has spent decades in the intelligence community, is revered there and on Capitol Hill. But as a career intelligence official, she isn't viewed as Team MAGA. And the White House is reportedly eyeing ways to put someone they trust in the top role after Coats departs. (The New York Times reported Friday afternoon that the White House was planning to block Gordon's elevation.)That may not be as easy as it sounds. As Bobby Chesney of the University of Texas School of Law detailed at Lawfare, the law indicates that if both the DNI post and the post Gordon currently holds are vacant, then the president could choose from a fairly wide pool of people to take Gordon's post and, therefore, become acting DNI. That includes any Senate-confirmed officials in the Executive Branch, and any senior employee who's been at ODNI for 90 days or more—in other words, anyone on the list the White House just requested from ODNI. It's unclear why the White House asked ODNI for that list, but a search to replace Gordon appears to be the most likely explanation. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.But while questions swirl about her future, Gordon hasn't stepped down. This disquiet is the latest episode of the president's long-simmering feud with the intelligence community. During Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, he often fumed on Twitter about the "deep state." And he even singled out his own officials. On Jan. 29, Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel told Congress in an open hearing that Iran was complying with the nuclear deal and that North Korea was still running its nuclear program—two statements that contradicted the president's rhetoric on those countries. The morning after the hearing, the White House abruptly canceled the president's daily intelligence briefing with Haspel and Coats, a move that raised eyebrows. The hearing incensed the president, and he took to Twitter to lambaste them. "Perhaps intelligence should go back to school!" he wrote. 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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| Pro-EU party wins, cuts Johnson's UK Parliament margin to 1 Posted: 02 Aug 2019 06:22 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit-backing Conservative Party lost a special election Friday to a pro-EU opposition candidate, leaving Johnson with only a one-vote majority in Parliament as the U.K.'s departure from the European Union looms. In the Conservatives' first electoral test since Johnson became prime minister last month on a vow to complete Brexit "do or die," the party was defeated for the seat of Brecon and Radnorshire in Wales by Jane Dodds of the Liberal Democrats. Dodds won 43% of the vote, against 39% for Conservative Chris Davies, who fought to retain the seat after being convicted and fined for expenses fraud.
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| The Latest: Yemen rebels claim to have collaborators in Aden Posted: 02 Aug 2019 06:07 AM PDT  Yemen's rebels claim they had intelligence and collaboration from inside the southern port city of Aden that enabled them to attack a military parade there the previous day. The Houthi rebels, who control northern Yemen, had said they fired a medium-range ballistic missile, killing at least 40 militiamen trained by the United Arab Emirates in Aden.
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| COLUMN-Western democracies face problems, but so do Russia and China Posted: 02 Aug 2019 05:02 AM PDT ![COLUMN-Western democracies face problems, but so do Russia and China]( "COLUMN-Western democracies face problems, but so do Russia and China") It has not been the easiest year for democracies in the West, with storm clouds gathering over Brexit and also now over next year's U.S. presidential election. Protests in Hong Kong and Russia show the limits of what many see in the West as autocratic power. In Hong Kong, the huge demonstrations against Chinese rule have deepened a crisis that now threatens those in power on the mainland.
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| Yemen officials: Al-Qaida kills at least 20 at military camp Posted: 02 Aug 2019 04:39 AM PDT  Al-Qaida militants targeted a military camp in Yemen's southern Abyan province, killing at least 20 troops and setting off hours-long clashes that lasted into early morning Friday, Yemeni officials and tribal leaders said. The attack began around midnight, with militants firing rocket propelled grenades at the camp belonging to members of a Yemeni force trained by the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015. The militants then overran the camp, seizing and confiscating equipment and weapons, before setting it on fire, according to the tribal leaders.
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| China threatens retaliation for Trump’s planned tariff hike Posted: 02 Aug 2019 04:07 AM PDT ![China threatens retaliation for Trump's planned tariff hike]( "China threatens retaliation for Trump's planned tariff hike") China's government accused Trump of violating his June agreement with President Xi Jinping to revive negotiations.
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| Trump Slaps More Sanctions On Russia Triggered By Alleged Chemical Weapons Use On Ex-Spy Posted: 02 Aug 2019 03:38 AM PDT  President Donald Trump put more sanctions on Russia via executive order Thursday as required by law in response to Russia's use of chemical weapons in a 2018 attack on an ex-spy in the U.S., two U.S. officials said.The attack in question centers on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter Yulia Skripal, who fell critically ill on March 4, 2018, after being exposed to dangerous nerve agent Novichok. The suspects, two Russian men, denied culpability.The sanctions follow an original set of sanctions imposed in August 2018, reported The Financial Times. They were required under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act following a determination that Russia did perpetrate the chemical weapons attack, and the 1991 law also requires that the U.S. impose more sanctions after 90 days if Russia does not guarantee it will not use chemical weapons again.The Russian government has denied any connection to the attack, according to The Financial Times.Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke via telephone Wednesday, but it is unknown if they talked about the sanctions, the White House confirmed to Politico.
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| Trump praises North Korean dictator's 'great and beautiful' vision for his country Posted: 02 Aug 2019 03:32 AM PDT  Donald Trump has heaped fresh affection on North Korea's Kim Jong-un - praising his "great and beautiful" vision for the country.Earlier this week, the US president played down the significance of a series of short-range missile tests carried out by Pyongyang, saying they were "very standard" and would not impact his ongoing diplomatic engagement with Mr Kim.Speaking to reporters before he left the White House for a rally in Ohio, Mr Trump was asked about the missiles tests, the latest of which was fired from North Korea's South Hamgyong province."I think it's very much under control, very much under control," he said, saying the tests were of short-range missiles. "We never made an agreement on that. I have no problem. We'll see what happens. But these are short-range missiles. They are very standard."More follows…
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| Head-To-Head: Russia, Japan, South Korea, and China Face-Off in the Skies over the Pacific Posted: 02 Aug 2019 03:26 AM PDT  The South China Sea cauldron has been at a full boil now for nearly a dozen years, chiefly over the significance of various obscure reefs and rocks. But, thankfully, the occurrence of shooting among the claimants and external powers has been extremely rare, underlying the obvious risks that such a course would entail. Thus, it came as a surprise to many that South Korean interceptors fired warning shots at a Russian military aircraft over the Sea of Japan on the morning of 22 July.With four major powers suddenly appearing to lock horns in that same dispute, the incident would seem to be further evidence of the "great unraveling" in the world order. Indeed, the episode is bizarre in numerous respects, not least because the Russia-South Korea dyad has been one of the least conflictual in this volatile region over the last decade. In fact, as a symbol of these strengthening ties, President Moon Jae-in took the unusual step of making the long trip to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin last summer. Moreover, the dangerous aviation encounter last week had the similarly strange effect of, at least temporarily, stealing the thunder from Pyongyang's recent missile tests that were apparently intended as "a warning to South Korean warmongers."
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| Appeasing Iran Will Fail Posted: 02 Aug 2019 03:13 AM PDT  On July 19, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran ordered a British oil tanker to change course and enter Iran's territorial waters. The British tanker was escorted by a British frigate. An officer aboard the frigate addressed the Iranian marauders, calling, "Please confirm that you are not intending to violate international law by unlawfully attempting to board the MV Stena." The Iranians ignored the plea and their Special Forces attacked the oil tanker and took control. The British warship, some sixty minutes away, did not give chase (though it was much faster than an oil tanker) nor call for assistance from a nearby U.S. war vessel. Sometimes such small vignettes speak volumes. This one illustrates the lame response by the West to Iran's rising aggression.
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| Trump Is Pushing China Ever Closer to the Edge Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:55 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.Where do we go from here?Only days after the U.S. and China described their first return to the trade negotiating table since May as constructive, Donald Trump shattered the truce by announcing new 10% tariffs on Chinese goods ranging from smartphones to children's clothing.In doing so, the president resisted Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's proposal to give China advance warning, Bloomberg's Washington bureau exclusively reports. The sudden tensions sent stocks tumbling globally.China's response was robust. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman warned that Beijing will take counter measures if Trump goes ahead with the threatened tariffs and made it clear the ball is in the U.S. court.The renewed standoff throws up in the air how the trade talks can proceed: Both sides were due to meet in Washington in September. Observers said it dims any prospects for a near-term breakthrough and sets the ground for a protracted dispute between the world's two biggest economies.Yet Trump's hawkish stance only extends so far. Asked by reporters on the situation in Hong Kong, he labeled the recent protests "riots," adopting the language used by Chinese authorities and suggesting the U.S. would stay out of the issue.The escalation was swift and unexpected. Walking it back may not be as easy.Global HeadlinesFeuding allies | Japan and South Korea struck each other from lists of trusted export markets after U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo failed in an 11th-hour bid to keep their feud from spiraling further. The dispute between the two close U.S. allies, which simmered for months as the Trump administration sat on the sidelines, looks set to worsen amid protests, boycotts and economic warnings.Disappearing Tories | Britain's ruling Conservatives lost a special election in Wales to the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats, reducing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's majority in parliament to a single seat. It may not be the start of a fightback to stay in the European Union, but it does further complicate Johnson's promise to quit the bloc by Oct. 31 "no ifs or buts."Dead deal | The U.S. plans to test new missile technology soon that would have violated a landmark treaty with Russia that expires today, Josh Wingrove reports. Trump announced in February he was withdrawing from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that banned deployment of ground-launched medium-range missiles, after accusing Russia of breaching its terms. President Vladimir Putin, who rejects the allegation, pulled Russia out of the INF treaty in retaliation last month.Missed opportunity | Appeals to a key Democratic constituency — auto workers and union members — were noticeably absent from this week's debates in the Motor City. David Welch writes that the candidates ceded a chance to repair what was widely considered one of the party's fatal 2016 mistakes: taking for granted the white, non-college-educated workers who instead embraced Trump's promise to revitalize the Rust Belt.Kamala Harris says she would fund her "Medicare for All" plan by rolling back one of the few provisions of Trump's tax law that Democrats actually wanted. Former Vice President Joe Biden defended Obama's legacy against attacks from fellow Democrats. Click here for more on a brewing battle to dump Jim Crow-era election rules in Mississippi.Haven no more | Mexico City was always a haven from the beheadings and mass graves that beset the country. But as homicides have risen year after year, it's begun to look more like the rest of Mexico. As Nacha Cattan reports, since leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took power in December, crime has become topic No. 1 in conversations in cafes, bars and offices.What to WatchEuropean governments are narrowing the field of candidates to lead the International Monetary Fund, with a decision due later today. New York state prosecutors have subpoenaed documents from the Trump Organization as investigators probe the family business's role in hush-money payments made during the 2016 election campaign. Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benitez pledged to clean up his government after narrowly avoiding impeachment proceedings over a power deal with Brazil. Trump is today due to announce a deal to open up the EU to more U.S. beef exports.And finally...Ever since Ethiopia announced in 2011 that it was building a vast dam on the Nile River, Egypt's opposition – including a threat of war – has captured international attention. Yet the bigger risk to a project on which Ethiopia has pinned its hopes for economic transformation comes from within. Marc Champion and Nizar Manek report on an epic power struggle involving a mysterious death, ethnic tensions and an attempted coup. \--With assistance from Brendan Scott and Kathleen Hunter.To contact the author of this story: Enda Curran in Hong Kong at ecurran8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Anthony HalpinKarl MaierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| BT CEO Gives Boris Johnson a Reality Check Over Fiber Ambitions Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:48 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- BT Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Philip Jansen has given Boris Johnson a reality check.To help secure his party's nomination to the U.K. premiership, Johnson pledged Britain's 32 million homes would have faster and more reliable fiber-optic broadband by 2025. The target raised eyebrows among industry executives, given that it was eight years earlier than his predecessor's. But the U.K.'s biggest network builder has to take it seriously.In a call with reporters Friday, Jansen said the government would need to rip up current planning rules and give carriers building rights now enjoyed by water and power utilities. The industry would also require about 30,000 more workers to dig up roads."It could be a very positive story: national mission, get rid of the obstacles, build like fury, get people the benefits, create a load more jobs -- circa 30,000," said Jansen. "It's a no-lose story here."Telecom executives want to know if Johnson is serious about fiber, and if they'll get a fair return on their investment. He has wavered on key pledges in the past, including on a third runway at Britain's largest airport and previous Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal."Is it a national mission or is it not? If it is, great, accept a little bit of inconvenience, but let's get it done and we'll all get the benefits," said Jansen. "Of course, the productivity of the nation isn't in my business case."He needs to tread carefully -- his predecessor was pushed out partly because he lost key battles with regulators."Having mishandled relationships during changes in political and regulatory personnel in the past, BT will be keen not to contradict Mr. Johnson, even though his ambition flies in the face of previous BT comments about the practical limits of fiber-to-the-premise rollout,'' Berenberg analyst Carl Murdock-Smith wrote in a note to clients last week.Over his five-year tenure, previous CEO Gavin Patterson clashed with various officials at regulator Ofcom in terse and protracted talks over the independence of BT's Openreach network. That discussion will also continue -- Johnson has appointed a senior business adviser who has previously called for Openreach to be split out of the company.Analysts at Jefferies Group LLC called BT's first-quarter earnings a "low-quality beat" due to boosts from one-offs and soft consumer division results. Shares were down 4% at 10:34 a.m., steeper than the 2% decline in the FTSE 100 index of Britain's biggest companies.Achieving the fiber goals "is a tough challenge, but at BT we're up for playing our part in it," Jansen said. "What we need from the government is quick decisive action."To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Seal in London at tseal@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Jennifer RyanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US has no desire to contain China, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:30 AM PDT ![US has no desire to contain China, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok]( "US has no desire to contain China, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok") The United States has no desire to contain China but is keen to see "smooth progress" in their trade negotiations, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday, according to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.The officials met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional forum in Bangkok, a day after trade representatives from the two countries wrapped up their latest talks in Shanghai, with Beijing promising to buy more agricultural products from the US.Wang told reporters in the Thai capital that Pompeo said the US had no intention of containing China and did not wish to restrict people-to-people exchanges."With regards to the recent problems and disturbance to people-to-people exchanges, Pompeo said very clearly that the US welcomes and supports the flow of people between the two countries," he said.Pompeo also "made it very clear that neither [US President Donald] Trump nor the US administration has the intention to contain China's development", but did "hope to see smooth progress in the Sino-US trade talks", Wang said.According to Xinhua, China's official news agency, Wang told Pompeo in the meeting that "any attempts to contain China's development are untenable"."Wang Yi has also made clear China's positions on the South China Sea, Xinjiang and Hong Kong and urged the US side to choose its words to respect the core interests and major concerns of the Chinese side," Xinhua reported.The Asean forum also gave the US a chance to promote its Indo-Pacific strategy and China to push its Belt and Road Initiative, which Washington says lacks transparency.The meeting in Bangkok came amid a stand-off between China and Vietnam over oil exploration at Vanguard Bank in the South China Sea, a dispute that led the US to accuse Beijing of bullying its neighbour.Despite those comments, the two diplomats sought to play down the tensions, with Pompeo saying Washington was not asking Southeast Asian nations to "choose sides" between the US and China."Our engagement in this region has not been and will not be a zero-sum exercise," he said. "Our interests simply naturally converge with yours to our mutual benefit."Wang also said that despite the many problems the two sides faced, they needed to continue to engage with one another.The meeting "helped to increase our mutual understanding ... and contributed to minimising the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation", he said.Wang and Pompeo met after their nations' top trade officials held "frank, efficient and constructive" talks in Shanghai " the first of their kind since long-running negotiations stalled in May.The next round of negotiations in pursuit of "an enforceable trade deal" would take place in Washington early next month, the White House said.Wang also said on Thursday that it was vital for China and the US to keep communication channels open and to find areas where they could work together."There are many areas [outside trade] where China and the US may cooperate and cope with global challenges," he said, citing denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula as an example."China supports the talks between the US and North Korea ... to accommodate each other's legitimate concerns."Earlier on Thursday, Wang met his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, and told her that Beijing would continue to work with Seoul on the denuclearisation issue, according to a spokesman for the South Korean foreign ministry.Additional reporting by Agence France-PresseThis article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| US and Britain join other nations in criticising China's jailing of 'cyber dissident' Huang Qi Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:30 AM PDT  The United States and Britain have joined a growing chorus of international governments expressing concern about China's sentencing of an online activist to 12 years in prison.Huang Qi, who founded the 64 Tianwang website reporting on corruption, human rights violations and labour issues in China, was handed the jail term this week in a Sichuan court after being convicted for leaking and selling state secrets to foreign entities.On Thursday, the US State Department said that Huang's imprisonment underscored "China's continued repression of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including free speech", and called on authorities to release him immediately."We urge the Chinese government to uphold its international commitments related to fair trial guarantees and the rule of law," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.The sentence marks the third time the 56-year-old activist, who suffers from chronic kidney disease, has been imprisoned.Lord Tariq Ahmad, Britain's minister of state for human rights, on Thursday urged authorities in China to ensure that Huang received "adequate medical care and to facilitate meetings between Mr Huang and his family and legal counsel as soon as possible".Stopping short of explicitly calling for Huang's release, Ahmad said the case and sentencing raised "strong concerns about media freedom, due process and the rule of law in China"."We urge the authorities to uphold the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by China's constitution and international law," said Ahmad, who also serves as Britain's envoy for religious freedom.Huang has been honoured for his work by the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, which awarded him the Cyber-Freedom Prize in 2004 and gave his website the Press Freedom Prize in 2016. The "64" in the site's name is a reference to June 4, the date of Beijing's bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests in 1989.Calls from Washington and London for China to respect the rule of law in Huang's case follow similar statements from other members of the international community, including the governments of France and Germany, the wider European Union and the United Nations.On Monday, soon after news of Huang's sentencing broke, the EU called for his immediate release, along with a number of other imprisoned activists, including human rights lawyers Wang Quanzhang and Gao Zhisheng, prominent Uygur scholar Ilham Tohti and Tibetan author Tashi Wangchuk.Huang Qi at his home in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in 2012. He has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on the charge of leaking secrets to a foreign entity, more than two years after his arrest. Photo: AP alt=Huang Qi at his home in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in 2012. He has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on the charge of leaking secrets to a foreign entity, more than two years after his arrest. Photo: APThe call for Huang's release was echoed this week by the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which in April 2018 issued an opinion determining that his detention was arbitrary and in contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."That opinion remains fully valid and is not changed by the fact of the sentencing of Mr. Huang Qi," said Elina Steinerte, the body's vice-chair.Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) welcomed the recent statements from the US, UK and EU on Huang's imprisonment, noting that governments speaking out on individual cases in China had previously either helped to improve detainees' treatment or provided them psychological comfort."But we now live in a time when giving one of China's most famous, peaceful critics of the government the Nobel Peace Prize didn't save him," Richardson said, referring to the pro-democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo, who died of cancer in 2017 while in custody.The number of people who had been allowed to grow gravely ill and die either in detention or soon after release was "a particularly disturbing hallmark of the current government," said Richardson, who is China director at HRW.She said that beyond verbal castigation, it was incumbent on international governments to publicly raise cases during meetings with senior Chinese officials.Huang's situation would have been an "obvious case to have mentioned" during Thursday's meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the Asean forum in Thailand, Richardson said.The State Department did not respond to questions about whether Huang's situation was discussed, though Pompeo told reporters after the meeting that he had raised "the places we are hoping China will behave in ways that they are not behaving today".Beijing traditionally resists efforts by foreign governments to advocate for any change in its policies.During the two diplomats' meeting in Bangkok, Wang told Pompeo that the US should respect China's core interests and concerns when it came to matters such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea, according to Xinhua.Additional reporting by Sarah ZhengThis article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| Donald Trump says US to hit US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods with 10 per cent tariff Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:30 AM PDT  US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he will impose new tariffs on US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports following a high-level trade mission that, Trump said, produced too little in terms of concessions from Beijing.US customs will impose "a small, additional" levy of 10 per cent on the imports, starting on September 1."China agreed to buy agricultural product from the US in large quantities, but did not do so," the US leader said in a series of tweets."Additionally, my friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of Fentanyl to the United States " this never happened, and many Americans continue to die! "" Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2019Trump's announcement breaks a ceasefire that had been in place since he met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping a month ago during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.It also marks the biggest escalation in the 13-month trade war since the US leader announced in May, just ahead of bilateral talks in Washington, that 10 per cent tariffs on US$250 billion worth of goods would step up to 25 per cent.Industry groups affected by the import tariffs weighed in quickly after Trump's announcement, with the US Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the American Apparel and Footwear Association all condemning the move.The action also rattled capital markets and oil prices. The S&P; 500 stock index dived after Trump's tariff announcement, erasing an earlier daily gain of more than 1 per cent and falling to a loss of the same magnitude, while oil prices fell by nearly 8 per cent.The new tariff "is a direct hit on consumer products and family budgets, plain and simple", RILA, which counts Apple and Nike as members, said in a statement.The US tariff increases will hurt American buyers with higher prices on items such as clothing, toys and home goods, the Retail Industry Leaders Association said. Photo: SCMP Pictures alt=The US tariff increases will hurt American buyers with higher prices on items such as clothing, toys and home goods, the Retail Industry Leaders Association said. Photo: SCMP Pictures"Tariffs are taxes on American consumers. And if these tariffs happen, American consumers will bear the brunt of these tactics via higher prices on everyday items like clothing, toys, home goods, and electronics," the association said."American families shouldn't be a pawn in this trade war."Myron Brilliant, the US Chamber of Commerce's executive vice-president and head of international affairs, said raising tariffs by 10 per cent on an additional US$300 billion worth of imports from China "will only inflict greater pain on American businesses, farmers, workers and consumers, and undermine an otherwise strong US economy".However, speaking to reporters at the White House after his announcement, Trump asserted that China was bearing the brunt of the trade war.China is "paying for these tariffs. We're not.", Trump said, adding: "Until such time as there is a deal, we'll be taxing them".The latest twist in the trade war underscores the distance between Washington and Beijing.State television broadcasts ahead of trade talks in Shanghai this week between China's vice-premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin "the first since talks broke down in May ", lauded China's purchases of US agricultural goods as a sign of good will in the trade dispute.The purchases were part of "unremitting efforts to show goodwill" ahead of the resumption of trade talks, as well as a bid to shift the focus away from the controversial issues of forced technology transfer and enforcement, according to state media.After the talks, the US said it wanted further negotiations to result in "an enforceable trade deal".China's statement did not mention enforcement, suggesting that this demand remains a stumbling block to a deal. China's previous objections to US proposals on the issue led to the breakdown of talks in early May.Both sides agreed that the meeting in Shanghai was "constructive" and they agreed to hold another round of talks in the US in September.Trump has repeatedly accused China of not doing enough to halt imports of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has blamed for 18,000 fatal overdoses in 2016.When Trump met Xi in Argentina in December, the Chinese president promised to tighten restrictions on the manufacturing and sale of the drug.As part of the curbs, all fentanyl-related substances were added to a supplementary list of controlled narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances with non-medical use.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| A Battered Professor Leads Moscow’s Growing Grassroots Protests Against Put Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:22 AM PDT  HandoutMOSCOW—Yulia Galyamina's unraveling life illustrates all too well the risks of opposition politics in Russia, even on a local level. Police broke her teeth and jaw and gave her a serious concussion in 2017 when she was caught in a violent street protest. She has suffered from pain in her jaw ever since. Undaunted, Galyamina struggled this summer to take part in a Moscow City Council election scheduled for September. On Tuesday she called The Daily Beast on the phone from a police van driving her away from the Russian capital to jail in the provincial town of Mozhaisk. Galyamina is a 46-year-old linguistics professor at a prestigious university here and on the phone she sounded almost as if she were lecturing students about the dying Ketsky language. But clearly she had a message she wanted to get out.Go Inside Moscow's Poisonous History of Covert Assassinations"I have a few minutes left before they take my phone away and cut me off from all communication with my supporters," she said.Earlier in the day, a court arrested her and eight other key opposition leaders for calling on protesters to stage a rally in downtown Moscow without government authorization. To support the verdict, the judge read aloud a dozen or so of Galyamina's Facebook posts about opposition demands to allow independent candidates, including herself, to run in September. Now from the van she told The Daily Beast, "Putin and [Moscow Mayor Sergey] Sobyanin must be afraid of responsible citizens and I am not surprised to get arrested—I always knew that criminal prosecution would be the price for my opposition activity."Putin's Russia has seen many courageous women fighting against injustice. But instead of embracing their constructive criticism, the Kremlin chose to silence them with police clubs and prison bars. There have also been several brilliant women, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya and activist Natalia Estemirova, who fell victim to assassins. But more women join the demonstrations. Last weekend, for instance, a 17-year-old protester named Olga Misik sat cross-legged in the street and read articles from the Russian Constitution to riot cops arrayed around her about "the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings, demonstrations and marches." The image already is an icon of protest.Alexei Navalny 'Poisoning' Comes at a Critical Moment in Moscow ProtestsTwo years ago I visited Galyamina at the Botkin Hospital in Moscow, where she was recovering from a concussion. She had severe headaches after a Moscow OMON (Special Police) cop smashed her face. Then, too, it was striking to see pale Galyamina on the phone from her hospital bed, calling for her supporters to come out to the next rally. At the time, crowds of demonstrators had turned out in the center of Moscow's to fight against the city hall's renovation plan for the displacement of residents from hundreds of apartment blocks slated for demolition. People did not want to move from the central districts to the outskirts of the capital.Handout"Factories closed, leaving millions without jobs—but at least people had their apartments, their property," Galyamina told me at the hospital in 2017. "The new law allows the state to deprive thousands of Moscow families of their beloved apartments and move them to wherever officials want."Last year Galyamina won a seat in the Moscow municipal elections. Residents of Temiryazevsky region, where she sat on the district council, know their candidate well. She led her electorate in battles about fundamental causes in local politics like saving Dubki Park from development and demanding garbage recycling. She was building her political platform on that public support to run for the Moscow City Duma, a regional parliament, in September this year. "We spent last month collecting almost 4,000 signatures from Yulia's supporters but authorities rejected hundreds of real voters to ban her from running for the election," Nikolay Kosyan, one of Galyamina's supporters, said. Kosyan was angry, as are many young activists protesting in the streets in support of the arrested leaders. "When the mayoral office realized that we had actually collected real signatures and not fake ones, they still decided to shut her up in fear of her powerful spirit."On Saturday Galyamina became a hero for thousands of protesters. Facing rows of National Guard riot police, she said: "You are working for a fascist power, for those who rule for money, not for your sake," she told men covered in body armor. "The men in power grow fat, while you work for kopecks [pennies]. You beat women, you beat sick people. Do you realize what you are doing?" Galyamina continued in a lecturing tone while the police looked like mischievous, slightly terrified students. (Video here in Russian.)Galyamina was wearing her usual red dress and a white jacket and was holding a little Russian flag in her hands. "I am a woman, I feel ashamed of you, strong men, who beat ordinary people—these people came out to the streets, because they strive to have independent institutes of power, which would not rob people like you," the deputy continued. Ten minutes later two policemen grabbed her, twisted her arms behind her back, and dragged her away from the rally. Back in 2013, the Russian opposition leader Aleksey Navalny won 27 percent in a mayoral election in Moscow, even without access to state television channels, coming in second after the incumbent from the ruling United Russia party, Sergei Sobyanin. This time, apparently, Sobyanin wants to avoid the mistake of allowing a strong opposition showing. Nine key candidates for September election are currently behind bars. So is Navalny.Galyamina had been playing by the rules. She collected the necessary number of signatures in her support but authorities turned her candidacy down, claiming signatures were falsified. Police detained up to 1,400 protesters on Saturday, Russian courts opened 200 legal cases against the opposition."She is stubborn and she is good at creating responsible communities in Moscow," her friend Denis Bilunov, a political scientist, told The Daily Beast. "The Kremlin is scared of Galyamina."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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| Trump’s coalition of one Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:04 AM PDT ![Trump's coalition of one]( "Trump's coalition of one") The president has yet to get serious buy-in from other countries for an operation to protect oil tankers sailing past Iran.
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| Boris Johnson’s U.K. Majority Cut to One After Special-Election Defeat Posted: 02 Aug 2019 01:54 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit, sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, and tell us your Brexit story. The anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats won a by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire, reducing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's House of Commons majority to a single seat and making his balancing act more difficult as he seeks to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31.Jane Dodds of the Liberal Democrats won 13,826 votes, beating Conservative Chris Davies on 12,401. Dodds overturned Davies's majority of 8,038, as he stood for re-election in the Welsh constituency even after being recalled in a petition prompted by his conviction for faking expenses claims.It was the first test at the ballot box for Johnson since he became premier on July 24, pledging to leave the European Union with or without an exit agreement. His government now has a working majority of just one: 310 voting Conservative MPs plus 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs. Opposition members, including 13 Liberal Democrats, command 319 votes."My first act as an MP will be to find Boris Johnson and tell him loud and clear to stop playing with the future of our communities and rule out a no-deal Brexit," Dodds said in her victory speech. "Let's get to work."Johnson's strategy has been to commit to leaving the EU "come what may" by the end of October in a bid to win back voters who defected to the Brexit Party in the European elections. The result in Brecon, a farming district which is estimated to have mirrored the U.K. with a 52%-48% vote for Leave in 2016, suggests he still has more to do.Nevertheless, Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly sought to put a positive spin on the result, pointing out that the contest was tight and that the main opposition Labour Party lost support."What we saw was a very close result in a by-election which the Lib Dems were expecting to romp home comfortably," Cleverly told BBC radio on Friday. As for Labour, "the official party of opposition, who are claiming to be ready to step into the tough job of government, went backwards," he said.The win cements the resurgence of the Liberal Democrats, who won 20% of the vote in May's European Parliament election after seeing their poll ratings decimated following five years in coalition with the Conservatives to 2015. They also have a new leader after Jo Swinson was elected to the post last week. Their national support has been at about 20% in recent surveys.Des Parkinson of the Brexit Party came third with 3,331 votes with Labour's Tom Davies on 1,680. Neither Plaid Cymru, which campaigns for Welsh independence, nor the Green Party put up a candidate, instead urging their their supporters to vote Liberal Democrat to maximize the chances of sending a "Remain" MP to Westminster.The threat of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party to Johnson was clear: had the Conservatives won the votes that went to the Brexit candidate, they would've won the seat.Johnson's room for maneuver is wafer-thin. His predecessor Theresa May's Brexit agreement with the European Union was defeated three times in the House of Commons, and her successor will need every vote he can get if he is to get any new deal with Brussels through Parliament.The tight margins have led to speculation that Johnson could call a snap election to secure a bigger majority -- or force through a no-deal divorce -- but the result in Brecon might give him pause for thought.John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and one of the U.K.'s leading electoral analysts, told BBC radio that the continued viability of the Brexit party could cost the Tories seats, with the Liberal Democrats picking up an additional 40 or 50 in a general election.While the Tories are recovering in the polls, the "Boris bounce" isn't yet substantial enough for Johnson to be confident that an early general election would result in parliamentary arithmetic "significantly better than the one that the prime minister is currently going to have to deal with," Curtice said.(Updates with Conservative comment in sixth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Alex Morales.To contact the reporters on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net;Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Reinie BooysenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| WRAPUP 4-China vows fight against Trump's latest tariffs as stocks sink Posted: 02 Aug 2019 01:49 AM PDT ![WRAPUP 4-China vows fight against Trump's latest tariffs as stocks sink]( "WRAPUP 4-China vows fight against Trump's latest tariffs as stocks sink") BEIJING/WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - China on Friday vowed to fight back against U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to slap 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports, a move that ended a month-long trade truce. "China's position is very clear that if U.S. wishes to talk, then we will talk, if they want to fight, then we will fight," Zhang told reporters in New York, also signalling that trade tensions could hurt cooperation between the countries on dealing with North Korea.
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| The Russians, Rooting for Trump, Are Loving the Democrats’ Debates Posted: 02 Aug 2019 01:23 AM PDT  REUTERSRussia's state media openly enjoy the division and chaos brought to the United States and its allies through the presidency of Donald J. Trump, leaving no doubt that the Kremlin would like to see the incumbent re-elected. Mutual affinity between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is undeniable, as gushing adoration dispensed by the U.S. president is received by the Kremlin's perennial occupant with a wily snicker. The Kremlin openly enjoys the chaos of Trump's tumultuous presidency, accompanied by the Republican Party's abdication of American values, as the GOP continues to block stronger election security measures. But it would be a mistake to assume that the Kremlin's sympathies are reserved solely for the Republicans. When it comes to elections, all Americans are Putin's foes and those who can best divide them are the Kremlin's hand picked favorites. Putin's government has a strong preference for the populists who reject the establishment and promote the agenda of inward-looking America. The Kremlin's ultimate goal is the retreat of the United States from global affairs, which would allow the rest of the world to be quietly devoured by despots. In covering Democratic debates, Russian state media elucidated the Kremlin's preferences. The title of one segment echoed Trump's words: "They won't make America great." And the hardest hit were the Russians' least favorite candidates: Former Vice President Joe Biden and California Senator Kamala Harris. The Kremlin's talking heads mocked Biden as an "elderly candidate," with a petty, painstaking accounting of his minor slip-ups. Russian state media snickered about Kamala Harris "having her dirty deeds exposed in front of the audience of millions."Russia Thought the Mueller Hearings Were HilariousClashing with these unflattering descriptions was the upbeat coverage of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. In spite of the fact he's older than Joe Biden, Sanders faced no criticism for his age. The Russian media portrayed Sanders as the frontrunner of the earlier Democratic debate night, allegedly deemed to be "more impressive" by The Washington Post. (The article in question did not contain such a description.) Russian state TV gushed about its second Democrat darling: "Tulsi Gabbard became the most popular candidate in Google searches." Russia's ongoing support for Gabbard is not surprising, since her talking points are in perfect alignment with the Kremlin and its allies, including even and especially the Assad regime in Syria. During Wednesday's debate, Gabbard dramatically proclaimed: "We were all lied to" [by the U.S. government] in perfect synchrony with Russia's constant assertions that the United States cannot be trusted. RT (formerly Russia Today) previously stated that, "Tulsi Gabbard's emergence fills a glaring lacuna in a political culture in Washington chronically afflicted with the moral and rabid sickness of an empire that has entered its mad dog days." Since 2016, RT's pundits have opined that Tulsi Gabbard's "ideology is basically made up" and pondered whether she would abandon the Democratic Party and "go from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump" in order to secure a position within his administration. Russian state media is currently preoccupied with the notion Gabbard was left off Twitter's list of top trending topics intentionally. Russia's efforts to promote Gabbard's candidacy dovetail with the coverage by Fox News, which describes her as "the Democrat who stood out at debates among a pack of radical progressives."Meghan McCain Clashes With 'View' Co-Hosts on Tulsi Gabbard: She's No 'Russian Stooge'Likewise, Russia's support for Bernie Sanders is not a new phenomenon. During 2017 hearings in Russia's Federation Council, RT's Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan admitted that the network spent the largest amount of money to promote Twitter content related to Bernie Sanders—not Donald Trump. RT interviewed Bernie Sanders several times, "because he was the only candidate who would agree to it." Russian analysts surmise that Sanders is too radical for most voters, ultimately pushing them away and causing a fraction of Democrats to vote for Trump. Russian state media analysts predict that the events of 2016 could largely be repeated in the 2020 elections: "At the time, Sanders and Hillary Clinton were spending energy on each other, which led to a split in the Democratic Party and Trump's victory. Today the situation is even worse, since two dozen candidates struggle to divide the electorate among themselves and continue to take away their votes from the party's primaries."Russia's support of Sanders and Gabbard is a continuation of the 2016 strategy that aims to use their candidacies as propaganda fodder—but more importantly, strives to re-elect Donald Trump.One more example of the reason Trump is Putin's pick was on display this week with Trump's to help Russia contain the Siberian wildfires in a phone call initially publicized by Putin, not the American president.It was taken as a promise of normalizing the relations—without any concessions from the Kremlin. In stark contrast with the previous U.S. administrations, the American president did not address human rights violations and the increasing brutality with which the Kremlin is suppressing local protests. During his call with the Russian leader, Trump admittedly failed to bring up the issue of election interference, having consistently misrepresented it as a joke—in spite of the damning findings by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Notably, the American president's offer to help fight Russian wildfires is in sharp contrast with his reaction to the natural disasters taking place in the United States. Trump notoriously blamed California's forest management for the wildfires and chastised Congress for "foolishly" sending excessive amounts of disaster relief funds to Puerto Rico. Trump's description of the USSR as merely Russia by another name, "when it was all together," undoubtedly thrilled Putin's revanchist heart. The stream of outlandish statements made by President Trump overrides Russia's traditional methods of manufacturing disinformation, since the reality is truly stranger than fiction and the Russian headlines seem to be writing themselves. RT predicts that "the liberal-globalist world order" is coming to an end, to be replaced by a fundamentally different system, "which will be discussed in the next three to four years by Putin, Trump and Xi [Jinping]"— unless Trump is replaced by someone like Biden, Sanders, Harris or Warren. According to the Kremlin-sponsored media, the chances of that happening are slim to none and "Donald is doing just fine." 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 1-No-deal Brexit would impair key UK industries -BoE's Carney Posted: 02 Aug 2019 01:15 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-No-deal Brexit would impair key UK industries -BoE's Carney]( "UPDATE 1-No-deal Brexit would impair key UK industries -BoE's Carney") Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Friday that some major industries could become unviable if Britain leaves the European Union without striking a deal with the bloc, adding that this was now a real prospect. New Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31 - regardless of whether he gets a transition deal to keep trade running smoothly - prompting markets to price in a higher risk of a disorderly Brexit. Speaking a day after the BoE cut its growth forecasts for Britain's economy, Carney said he shared a view among the government and public that a no-deal Brexit was now a "significant possibility".
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