That NAFTA has provided benefits for Mexico and Canada is evident.
Certainly volume of trade has increased sharply since NAFTA was established in 1994. But for the US the trade deficit has also ballooned. Some US jobs have shifted to Mexico. And whether NAFTA has created any real, net benefits for the US economy is more than a little doubtful.
from Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, Spring 2014
When Donald Trump castigates US industry for shifting jobs to Mexico, he has a point.
Donald Trump has found a new tool, a new weapon which seems to be a remarkably effective way of getting a favourable response.
Without debate and without even being in office.
The Tweet.
CBS: House Republicans decide to strip ethics change in emergency meeting
House Republicans agreed Tuesday to withdraw the rules change that would have stripped the chamber’s outside ethics watchdog of its independence and power after heavy public backlash and tweets of disapproval from President-elect Donald Trump.
Republican lawmakers agreed by unanimous consent in a closed-door emergency meeting Monday to strip the rules change from their overall rules package that the lower chamber is scheduled to vote on later in the day, according to a GOP aide.
This came as the new Congress was supposed to gavel in, and just two hours after Mr. Trump tweeted that congressional Republicans shouldn’t be wasting their time with a major ethics change.
On Monday night, a majority of Republicans voted to rename the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) to the Office of Congressional Complaint Review. The House Ethics Committee–whose members are lawmakers–will now oversee that outside office’s work.
Under the change proposed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, the outside office would not have been able to investigate anonymous tips, it couldn’t have had a spokesperson and it would have been barred from releasing its findings to the public. Members of the House Ethics Committee would also have been able to stop the office’s investigations.
Two tweets and he got the House Republicans to backtrack. In two tweets he manged to do what Paul Ryan could not. Note that Trump gave the House Republicans who had secretly voted for the rule change, a face saving way to back off by terming the ethics watchdog as possibly “unfair”.
It was a negotiation by twitter and a successful one at that.
Evidence of Bias in Studies of Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness in Elderly Patients
Russia denies CNN report on closure of Anglo-American School in Moscow
“Fake News” And How The Washington Post Rewrote Its Story On Russian Hacking Of The Power Grid
Planet Earth II ‘a disaster for world’s wildlife’ says rival nature producer
Cologne Police Screen Hundreds Of North Africans, As Migrants Storm Spanish Enclave In Africa
Source: Exxon 2017 Outlook for Energy
One city, one year, 780 murders.
In 2015 Chicago had 478 murders.
The 780 victims are mainly young and male, mainly black and Hispanic.
The murderers are mainly young and male, mainly black and Hispanic.
Chicago has gun control.
Chicago murders 2016 – Chicago Sun Times
Politically, Chicago is a Democratic stronghold, voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton and it is “home” to Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel among others.
Clinton won more than 83 percent of the city’s vote, just shy of Obama’s 2008 and 2012 results. Of Chicago’s 2,069 precincts, Trump won 51.
Liberalism has become licentiousness.
Leap seconds were invented in 1972 (in which year we had 2 leap seconds, one in June and one in December). In 26 of the 44 years since 1972 we have had leap seconds. A year with a leap second happens more often than a year without. Today we add the 27th leap second since its introduction.
A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to keep its time of day close to the mean solar time, or UT1. Without such a correction, time reckoned by Earth’s rotation drifts away from atomic time because of irregularities in the Earth’s rate of rotation. Since this system of correction was implemented in 1972, 26 leap seconds have been inserted, the most recent on June 30, 2015 at 23:59:60 UTC, and the next leap second will be inserted on December 31, 2016, at 23:59:60 UTC.
Having a leap-second is the new normal.
Deviation of day length from SI based day – Wikipedia
Of course Barack Obama does not have to live with the consequences of his last few weeks of hectic, rather childish and vindictive flailing around. A not untypical example of demobilisation blues.
This transition is turning out to be particularly graceless with a peevish, petulant Obama intent on “getting his own back”. His legacy, such little as it is, stands to be further tarnished by his dead duck quacking routine. It seems that Obama cannot bear to see Putin succeeding in Syria where he and Kerry so spectacularly failed. The Russian hacking – if you believe the speculation with little evidence by the US intelligence agencies – has apparently been going on for a decade. So exactly why Obama had to wait to the last gasps of his administration to act is difficult to explain as anything other than a childish desire to make trouble for his successor. I put it down to simple, vindictive s**t stirring. (It reminds me during my professional life of how we used to be rather wary of vindictive s**t stirring by unsuccessful CEO’s or project managers as they were being replaced. As a rule such exiting project managers were removed from authority as quickly as possible to avoid “graceless” transitions).
He has 3 more weeks for further s**t stirring.
The Russians reacted to his expulsion of 35 diplomats with this tweet from the Russian Embassy in the UK.
It seems to have been the absence of the US, the EU and the UN that has allowed Turkey and Russia to broker a ceasefire and peace talks in the 5 year old conflict in Syria.
Perhaps it could have come earlier if the false – and eventually futile – strategy of getting rid of Assad had not been followed so intransigently by the US, the EU and the UN as a pre-condition. The Obama/Kerry (earlier Obama/Clinton) foreign policies are degenerating into fiasco. And in the meantime Obama and Kerry still follow a theoretical, but practically doomed, 2-state solution in Israel. The Israel/ Palestine issues will only – can only – be solved by Israel and Palestine.
Perhaps those talks would also benefit if the US and the UN butt out.
The Assad government and armed Syrian opposition have signed a ceasefire agreement and agreed to begin a new round of negotiations to find a political solution to the country’s civil war, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday.
“We have just received news that a few hours ago the event we have all been waiting for and working towards has happened,” Putin said during a televised meeting with the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.
Putin said three documents had been signed: a ceasefire agreement between the Syrian government and the armed opposition; a list of control mechanisms to ensure the ceasefire will work; and a statement of intent to begin negotiations on a political end to the conflict.
Putin said the ceasefire, which is due to come into force at midnight on Thursday (10pm GMT), was “fragile and will require a lot of attention”. Turkey and Russiawill act as guarantors, Turkey’s foreign ministry said, adding that the agreement excluded groups deemed as terrorists by the UN security council.
In Damascus, the Syrian army said the ceasefire comes after the “successes achieved by the armed forces,” an apparent reference to the capture of rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo earlier this month.
Right and wrong are relative.
A “just”, but losing, cause is a contradiction in terms.
Having might alone is of little use, and all conflicts are decided by the might applied.
In Syria, the US had by far the most might but applied very little of it and are “now in the wrong”.
Russia applied sufficient might to defend Assad and break the back of the ISIS resistance and their intervention is now “in the right”.
In Aleppo, Assad and Russia and their Hezbollah/Iran supported groups applied sufficient might and they are now “in the right”.
In Mosul, the US/Iraq/Kurd/Shia militia coalition have as yet applied insufficient might and the outcome and the “rightness” are still to be decided.
I listened to John Kerry’s speech today and if you think a two state solution for Israel and Palestine will work, it seemed eminently reasonable. But the fundamental problem with the 2-state solution is that Palestine consists of 2 factions which will never see eye to eye – Fatah and Hamas. A 2-state solution would be self-destructive and would not accept Israel’s right to exist. A 3-state solution would only give two non-viable Palestinian states. Kerry’s speech was very defensive and his attempts to deny that the failure of the US to veto the UN resolution was anti-Israel were unconvincing, and sounded like rationalisation. It was not difficult to discern the personal vindictiveness (against Netanyahu) that Obama/Kerry were giving voice to.
Kerry warned that the 2-state solution is in jeopardy – and so it has always been since it is based on wishful thinking rather than the realities on the ground.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal based on a two-state solution is in grave jeopardy.
And he insisted UN condemnation of illegal Jewish settlements on occupied land was in line with American values.
Earlier, US President-elect Donald Trump tweeted in support of Israel, saying he would not allow it to be treated with “disdain and disrespect”.
He urged Israel to “stay strong” until he assumed office next month.
On Friday, the US chose not to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlement construction, leading to an angry response from Israel.
The 2-state solution is going nowhere and alternatives have to be found. But Obama and Kerry have no capability of thinking outside the rut.
John Kerry and Barack Obama have a habit of choosing the wrong horse to back. After years of futile attempts to broker peace in Syria (after having first initiated and then encouraged the opposition to Assad), Turkey and Russia have managed to plan talks aimed at a nationwide cease-fire. That is something Obama/Kerry and the UN have not yet managed because they backed the wrong horse running in the wrong race. The new talks maybe have a chance because the US, the EU and the UN have been excluded.
Turkey and Russia have prepared an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, adding that Ankara would not give up its opposition to President Bashar al-Assad staying on as leader. ….. Turkish minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s comments appeared to signal tentative progress in talks aimed at reaching a truce. While the insistence on Assad’s departure could complicate negotiations with his biggest backer, Russia, another Turkish official did not rule out a transitional role for the Syrian president.
Russia, Iran and Turkey said last week they were ready to help broker a peace deal after adopting a declaration in Moscow setting out principles that any agreement should adhere to. Russia has said the next talks are set for Astana, the Kazakh capital.
…….. Last week, Russia’s foreign minister said Russia, Iran and Turkey had agreed the priority in Syria was to fight terrorism and not to remove Assad’s government – comments that suggested a shift by Turkey, which has long pushed for Assad to go.
…… Russian officials have said invitations to participants for the Astana talks have not been sent out and the time has yet to be decided. The talks would not include the United States and would be distinct from separate, intermittent U.N.-brokered negotiations.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura had spoken by phone with Lavrov and supported the efforts to establish a ceasefire and new peace talks.
Obama and Kerry have based too much of their foreign policy on wishful thinking – and wishful thinking supported by intelligence agencies producing reports, therefore, with a confirmation bias. They have given the administration just what they wanted to hear. In almost every instance (Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen ….) they have provided what the US government wanted to hear and ignored the realities that actually existed.
Hard on the heels of Obama’s betrayal of Israel in the UN Security Council, now comes Erdogan’s accusation – and he says he has proof – that Obama has been supporting ISIS. Now Russia, Turkey and Iran have sidelined the US and the EU from the Syrian process, and Russia has announced today that peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups would begin in Kazakhstan. The Obama/Kerry strategy is in tatters as it is, and now Erdogan’s accusation gives weight to the suspicion that Obama has even been prepared to support ISIS and other terrorist organisations in his zeal to get rid of Assad. Erdogan made his accusationa at a press conference on Tuesday.
ISLAMIC State militants are being supported by America, blasts Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, who claims to have proof at his disposal.
In the wake of two members of the Turkish military being savagely burnt to death by ISIS jihadis, Erdogan has launched a stinging attack on the Obama government, accusing it of supporting the terror cell.
The 62-year-old, who recently survived a military coup, said: “They (US) were accusing us of supporting Islamic State.
“Now they give support to terrorist groups including Daesh, YPG, PYD. It’s very clear. We have confirmed evidence, with pictures, photos and videos.” …..
Turkey has rushed tanks and heavy weapons to its border and blamed the US-led coalition for inadequate air support after Erdogan’s forces encountered deadly resistence from ISIS militants – 14 Turkish troops were killed.
SIS claims it has killed 70 Turkish soldiers during the conflict and just a few days ago the warped death cult released a video of two Turkish men being burned alive.
Turkey has entered into an arrangement with Russia and Iran whereby Erdogan’s forces will be awarded the strategic city of al-Bab should they wrestle it from ISIS’ clutches.
Obama’s foreign policy legacy has been dominated by paralysis by analysis and is a legacy of many failures. And now even his intentions, it seems, were not always good.
The k2p blog 