DANANG, Vietnam — President Trump pitched a go-it-alone, “America First” trade policy on Friday to nations that once pinned their economic hopes on a regional pact led by the United States. He vowed to protect US interests against foreign exploitation.
“We are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore,” Trump told business leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Danang, Vietnam. “I am always going to put America first, the same way that I expect all of you in this room to put your countries first.”
Promising to pursue “mutually beneficial commerce” through bilateral trade agreements, Trump roundly condemned the kind of multilateral accords his predecessors pursued, reprising a message he brought to China this week that blamed weak US leadership for trade imbalances that he said had stripped jobs, factories, and entire industries from the United States.
“What we will no longer do is enter into large agreements that tie our hands, surrender our sovereignty, and make meaningful enforcement practically impossible,” Trump said.
It was a strikingly hostile message to an audience that included leaders who had tied their fortunes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping 12-nation accord that was to be led by the United States, from which Trump withdrew after taking office, and it indicated the degree to which, under Trump, the United States — once a dominant voice guiding discussions about trade at gatherings such as APEC — has ceded that role.
Even as he was railing against multilateral approaches, the remaining 11 countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership were negotiating intensively to seal the agreement. Under the terms being discussed, the United States could reenter the pact in the future.
As if to underscore the contrast, President Xi Jinping of China, who took the stage immediately after Trump, used his own speech to make a spirited defense of globalization, saying it should be “more open, more inclusive, more balanced, more equitable, and more beneficial to all.”
Trump instead spoke witheringly about the World Trade Organization of treating the United States unfairly.
Many of the president’s toughest lines — his vow to fight the “audacious theft” of intellectual property from US companies and the forced transfer of technology to foreign firms — were aimed at China, but Trump avoided criticizing Xi personally. And he repeated his contention that he did not blame China, or any other country, for taking advantage of what he called weak US trade laws.
“If their representatives are able to get away with it, they are just doing their jobs,” the president said. “I wish previous administrations in my country saw what was happening and did something about it. They did not, but I will.”
Yes, I wish my corporate slaves known as politicians had looked after the national rather than corporate interest.
US officials said no substantantive meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected during the Vietnam conference, but the two presidents did end up shaking hands and exchanging greetings before posing for a photograph at the APEC gala dinner Friday evening. Both wore silk Vietnamese shirts for the picture.
The floods must have receded just in time, 'eh?
White House officials had framed Trump’s speech as a chance to articulate the theme of a “free and open Indo-Pacific” region, which the Trump administration has adopted as its answer to former President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia.
First proposed by the Japanese, it envisions the United States strengthening ties with three other democracies in the region — Australia, India and Japan — in part to counter a rising China. But the president offered few details about that approach.
He spoke of the need for freedom of navigation — a reference to the South China Sea, which Vietnam, Malaysia, and other countries complain Beijing is turning into a private waterway. But the president stopped short of calling out China by name.
He also did not fault China or his host, Vietnam, for their checkered human rights records, even as he offered a general endorsement of the rule of law and individual rights.
The mass-murdering, torturing, spying U.S. government can't lecture anyone on those issues anymore.
As in his speech to the United Nations in September, Trump emphasized the idea of sovereignty, a concept that is often seen as being at odds with global cooperation and that is sometimes used by countries to fend off interference by outside powers.
That is the speech where he received polite but unenthusiastic applause.
He closed the speech with an inward-looking paean to the virtues of home, declaring, “In all of the world, there is no place like home.”
Xi, in contrast, argued for pursuing the kinds of global initiative. He championed the Paris climate accord, called globalization an “irreversible historical trend,” and said China would continue to pursue a free-trade area in the Asia-Pacific.
As Trump arrived in Danang, the White House announced that he would not hold formal talks with Putin of Russia during the summit meeting.
If they are, they are not telling you!
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Trump is like a like a beached whale over there.
"Uber suffered another setback in its biggest market outside the United States on Friday when an employment tribunal in London rejected the ride-hailing company’s argument that its drivers are self-employed....."
Well, that will throw a wrench into the gig economy.
New Delhi’s pollution is off the charts, and making residents ill
The article is about Italy and their intention to reduced the use of coal.
WTF?
Come to think of it, I'm feeling a chill.
Emergency manager resigns in Puerto Rico; Army ends its mission
Remember Pearl Harbor!
"Hawaii boat wreck shows risk of fishing fleet’s practice" Associated Press November 10, 2017
HONOLULU — Just offshore from Waikiki’s pristine white sand beaches, a fishing boat transporting foreign workers destined for low-paying jobs in Hawaii’s fishing fleet smashed into a shallow reef last month.
The stranded boat has been leaking oil and diesel ever since in an area prized by swimmers and surfers, and there was a visible sheen around the boat this week.
The crash of the 79-foot Pacific Paradise illustrates a potential environmental impact of the Hawaii fishing fleet’s practice of transporting foreign workers by boat.
The industry faced criticism after a 2016 Associated Press investigation revealing that the workers from Southeast Asia and Pacific nations work without visas, some making less than $1 an hour and living in squalid conditions.
Swimmers say they feel and smell the petroleum even when they are in the water far from the wreck site. Some visitors mistakenly assume the crippled boat is a tourist attraction. The Coast Guard said the pollution removal will take several more weeks to complete, and efforts to remove the boat have failed so far.
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Also see:
Final Salute
Hero squares get biographical upgrade
Slain Marine honored with park in Springfield
US soldier in Niger ambush was bound and apparently executed, villagers say
"The Iraq War veteran who fatally shot his 6-year-old son and then committed suicide nearly two months ago in Foxborough stole a handgun from a friend to commit the attack, the Norfolk district attorney’s office said Friday....."
Related:
Father suspected of killing son, then himself in Foxborough
Foxborough suspect was Army vet, nurse, and worked in movie business
Documents show mother of murdered 6-year-old in Foxborough feared son would be killed by his father
Veteran who killed himself and son suffered from depression, kin say
Want to thank veterans for their service? Listen to their stories
"A Marine Corps drill instructor was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for choking, punching, or otherwise tormenting recruits, especially three Muslims — one of whom ultimately killed himself by leaping down a stairwell. Gunnery Sergeant Joseph Felix, a 34-year-old Iraq veteran, was a central figure in what was found to be a group of abusive drill instructors at Parris Island. After the March 2016 suicide at the base, a hazing investigation led to charges against Felix, five other drill instructors, and the training battalion’s commanding officer. Eleven others faced lesser discipline....."
You think the enemy is going to play patty cake?
"Framingham firefighter charged with robbing Natick bank" by Danny McDonald Globe Staff November 10, 2017
A Framingham firefighter was arraigned Friday on a charge of armed robbery for allegedly robbing a Natick bank, according to a statement from the Middlesex district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said Michael Espinosa, 34, of Framingham, entered a bank on Worcester Street in Natick late Thursday morning wearing black sunglasses, a black scally cap, a dark T-shirt, a gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants, and black shoes.
He allegedly approached the counter of the bank and demanded cash from the tellers, telling them that he was armed with a gun, prosecutors said.
Espinosa left the bank with about $1,000 in cash, according to the DA’s office. Using surveillance footage, police identified Espinosa’s vehicle.
Authorities then carried out a search warrant at his home, where they found clothing, including a black scally cap and black sunglasses, that matched the clothing worn by the suspect during the robbery, the statement said.....
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Turns out he had two accomplices.
**********
"Tensions build over Lebanon after prime minister’s pullout" by Anne Barnard New York Times November 10, 2017
BEIRUT — A week after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri flew to Saudi Arabia and announced his resignation, what seemed at first like a bizarre domestic political dispute is escalating tensions in the Middle East and threatening to become a flashpoint in the struggle for power there.
On Friday, Hariri remained stranded in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah said the Saudis were holding him against his will, while the Saudis have said there was a plot to assassinate him.
Fractious Lebanese politics and interference in them by Saudi Arabia, Iran, and a host of other powers are nothing new, but the Hariri case has become part of a high-stakes buildup of tension that is fueling anxiety about whether the region is on the verge of war.
The United States on Friday urged calm, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warning “against any party, within or outside Lebanon, using Lebanon as a venue for proxy conflicts or in any manner contributing to instability in that country,” a message apparently aimed at Hezbollah as well as Saudi Arabia.
As events in the region have unfolded over the past week, each more surprising and bewildering than the last, world leaders, analysts, and diplomats have scrambled to figure out what is behind them and whether they are all connected.
Some analysts fear they are part of a broader plot to spark a war between Israel and Hezbollah that would risk a wider conflagration.
Who would want to to do that?
(Short answer: same people behind the invasion of Iraq and meddling in Syria).
President Michel Aoun of Lebanon told the Saudi chargé d’affaires in Beirut, Walid Bukhari, that the manner of Hariri’s resignation was “unacceptable,” and a consortium of countries and organizations interested in Lebanon’s stability said they had met Friday with Aoun, who called for Hariri’s return.
Hariri said he was quitting because of what he said was Iran’s disproportionate influence in Lebanon through its ally, Hezbollah, which is part of the unity government he headed.
A week ago, Hariri unexpectedly flew to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, without any of his close advisers. A day later, he announced his resignation on Saudi television.
On Saturday, a missile fired from Yemen came close to Riyadh before being shot down. Saudi Arabia blamed Iran and Hezbollah for the missile, suggesting that they had aided the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen to fire it.
If you ‘‘connect the dots,’’ it is an outright lie.
Before the world had a chance to absorb this news, the ambitious and aggressive Saudi Arabian crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the arrest of hundreds of Saudis, including members of the royal family, in what is either a crackdown on corruption, as Saudi officials put it, or a political purge, as outside analysts have suggested.
Even before these events unfolded, analysts and officials around the region had been anxious about the youthful Saudi leader escalating threats to roll back Iranian influence, the Trump administration signaling broad agreement with Saudi policies, and increasingly pointed warnings from Israel that it may eventually fight another war with Hezbollah.
Good luck with that one. Got their asses kicked last time, and sure they can drop chemical weapons and raze Beirut to the ground, but at the end of the day Hezbollah are not some disarmed and destitute Palestinian who can hardly lift a finger in resistance.
Some Israeli officials have said Hezbollah has grown too powerful and it is time to strike a decisive blow against it. On Friday, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, declared in a televised speech that Saudi Arabia had asked Israel to attack Lebanon, after essentially kidnapping Hariri.
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Related:
"Fighting ISIS is no longer top priority, shifting the focus back to Syria’s intractable conflict between President Bashar Assad’s government and rebels — and to concerns that foreign powers such as Iran will now dominate the country’s future....."
That's what this plan B road through Lebanon is about (a wider war against Iran), and did you notice that the word Syria never appeared in the AB piece by the NYT?
