DonViejo
DonViejo's JournalChina's debt-trap diplomacy is spreading across Africa
Erica Pandey 47 mins ago
China is leveraging debts to gain control of strategic ports and secure primary access to African oil in Angola, Kenya and Djibouti.
Why it matters: The Chinese are offering up attractive infrastructure projects to the countries that need them most and following up with escalating demands for influence. That approach will spread to even more of the globe under Beijing's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.
Angola is using its precious resource, crude oil, to chip away at a $25 billion debt to China.
Since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1983, China has loaned $60 billion to Angola through investments, loans and projects — one of the most recent being a $600 million deep sea port off the small African nation's shores.
Instead of using cash, Angola pays China back with oil (it's Africa's second-largest producer) which means its ability to repay debt depends on the price of oil, writes Yinka Adegoke, Quartz's Africa editor, in his weekly brief. It also leaves less oil for Angola to sell to other trading partners.
Djibouti is home to China's only overseas military base, and it could soon give up a key port to Beijing.
more
https://www.axios.com/china-debt-africa-djibouti-kenya-angola-belt-and-road-initiative-c65b82fa-48a6-4140-bb01-bc19580a16c9.html?utm_source=sidebar
Trump Moonwalks Away From Pledge to Denuclearize North Korea - By Josh Marshall
By Josh Marshall | May 14, 2018 1:13 pm
From the outset, there was little reason to think that North Korea would agree to surrender its nuclear weapons and the infrastructure and labs required to build them. If we set aside the never-very-plausible idea that the Kims are madmen intent on prepping some secular apocalyptic nuclear confrontation with the U.S., a more prosaic, rational strategy becomes clear: build a credible nuclear deterrent, thus making military-backed regime change unthinkable. Then reach an accommodation with the U.S. from a position of strength and fundamental equality. Such an agreement might involve restrictions on nuclear weapons development, limits on numbers of warheads. But fundamentally it would mean accepting North Korea as a nuclear power.
Now the Trump administration appears to be trying to define “denuclearization” in such a way as to bring it into line with that kind of agreement. Most notably he seems to be focused now on eliminating the nuclear threat to the United States rather than North Korea’s nuclear weapons in general. That seems like it can be addressed by restrictions on missile capacity and/or some treaty which eliminates by some definition how much we consider North Korea a “threat”. Indeed, at one point, Pompeo has suggested that the U.S. is more categorical about North Korea getting rid of chemical and biological weapons than nuclear weapons – another hint that ‘denuclearization’ does not imply denuclearization.
Put it all together and you see a ‘deal’ in which North Korea gives up missiles that can reach the U.S., gets rid of chemical and biological weapons, and perhaps limits some ability to manufacture new nuclear weapons. In each case, North Korea gets an end of sanctions, partial withdrawal of U.S troops from South Korea and an undetermined amount of economic aid. (Note that this amounts to pretty close to the deal Republicans and finally President Bush trashed 20 years ago, only with the addition that North Korea has nuclear weapons and U.S. troops leave the region.)
What is notable is that such a deal means at least partially decoupling the U.S. from its regional allies in South Korea and Japan. One fact that aligns U.S. interests with South Korea’s is that we station over 20,000 U.S. military personnel and a substantial number of their dependents in the part of the country that would be the scene of intense fighting in a conflict with North Korea. Reduce the U.S. deployment and that alignment of interests or vulnerability diminishes. Also, note that the focus on ICBMs would mean that the U.S. safeguards its own population at the cost of accepting a North Korea nuclear capacity which covers all of South Korea and Japan.
None of this amounts to denuclearization. And much it is a ‘deal’ the U.S. likely could have gotten many times over recent years or decades.
more
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-moonwalks-away-from-pledge-to-denuclearize-north-korea
Conservative Columnist: 'These Are Soulless People Working For A Soulless President'
By David Taintor | May 14, 2018 4:54 pm
Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin responded to the White House’s squabbling over leaks about the John McCain “dying” remark with some tough words about the administration on Monday.
“These are soulless people working for a soulless President,” Rubin said on MSNBC. “The President of the United States doesn’t have a purpose higher than himself, and therefore the people who work for him do not have a higher purpose.”
Watch:
https://twitter.com/TPMLiveWire/status/996131387915816960
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/conservative-columnist-these-are-soulless-people-working-for-a-soulless-president
The most important book on impeachment in decades
By Jennifer Rubin May 14 at 2:30 PM
Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz’s new book, “To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment,” is the first book in several decades for lawyers and laymen to thoroughly examine the topic. The previous gold standard was Charles L. Black Jr.’s “Impeachment: A Handbook” (first published during Watergate and reissued in 1998), which took the lessons of Watergate and broadened the discussion to other situations that might arise. Via email, I asked Tribe and Matz a series of questions about their book and our current circumstances; they replied jointly. The first part of that conversation follows, edited for style. Part 2 will appear on Tuesday.
Why did you think a book on impeachment of this type was necessary now?
Everyone with a pulse and an Internet connection knows that impeachment haunts Trumpland. Starting a year before the election and continuing through the present, discussion of [President] Trump’s disgraced ouster has been unavoidable. Amid all this impeachment talk, we found it distressing that many voters deeply misunderstand what’s involved in ending a presidency. Lots of people, for example, believe impeachment is justified based only on dislike of a president’s policies or personality. In addition, many accounts offer a stunningly incomplete picture of the risks on both sides of this equation. Perhaps most alarming, it’s become commonplace to describe the consequences of impeachment in fantastical terms — suggesting it will either magically solve our worst problems or swiftly destroy the American experiment. If the public is going to spend the coming years debating Trump’s removal, we must nurture a reasoned understanding of impeachment’s role in our constitutional order. That’s what the book seeks to provide.
The “bible,” if there is such a thing on impeachment, until now was Charles Black’s book. Where do you agree and disagree with him?
Black’s book is a masterpiece. We differ from him less in substance than in scope and emphasis. He devoted substantial attention to defining which offenses are impeachable. As we see it, that question is just the tip of an iceberg. We offer a thorough explanation of why the Framers created an impeachment power, what role they imagined for Congress and how they forced us to make tough political judgments. We also offer a guided tour through those judgments, examining Congress’s power not to impeach and the vast discretion it exercises throughout an impeachment process. More broadly, we survey the history of impeachment campaigns in U.S. politics, drawing lessons for the present and emphasizing impeachment’s vital (but limited) role in protecting our democracy. Although Black’s book is authoritative on the topics it covers, we conclude that it offers too narrow a vision of the dynamics that shape impeachment.
What are some common myths about impeachment that you wanted to dispel?
Where to start? We’ll hit just a few high notes here:
That consulting the original public understanding of the Constitution will answer many of the hardest questions about impeachment
That impeachment calls only for a single “yea” or “nay” judgment on the sitting president, rather than an ongoing, multidimensional series of political decisions
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/05/14/the-most-important-book-on-impeachment-in-years/
Scott Pruitt requested, received 24/7 security starting on his first day at EPA
Source: The Washington Post
By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin May 14 at 3:51 PM
Scott Pruitt began receiving round-the-clock security from the moment he stepped foot inside the Environmental Protection Agency in February 2017, the agency’s inspector general said Monday.
“EPA’s Protective Service Detail began providing 24/7 coverage of the Administrator the first day he arrived,” Inspector General Arthur Elkins wrote in response to inquiries from Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Thomas R. Carper (Del.) about what threats prompted Pruitt’s nonstop security, which has cost in excess of $3 million. “The decision was made by the Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training after being informed that Mr. Pruitt requested 24/7 protection once he was confirmed as Administrator.”
The inspector general’s office, which investigates threats made against any EPA employees, “played no role in this decision,” Elkins added.
The EPA could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. But agency officials, including Pruitt, have said repeatedly that he has experienced notably more threats than previous administrators. And Pruitt has maintained that he left decisions about the size of his security detail, as well as related decisions such as traveling first class for safety, to Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, the special agent in charge of protecting him.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/05/14/scott-pruitt-requested-and-received-247-security-starting-on-his-first-day-at-epa/
Trump to keynote anti-abortion gala next week
Source: The Hill
BY JESSIE HELLMANN - 05/14/18 02:55 PM EDT
The Susan B. Anthony List announced Monday that Trump would keynote its 11th annual "Campaign for Life Gala" on May 22.
“President Donald Trump is governing as the most pro-life president in our nation’s history and Susan B. Anthony List is honored to receive him at our annual Campaign for Life Gala,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.
Anti-abortion groups have cheered the Trump administration for taking many actions targeting abortion, including his reinstatement of the "Mexico City Policy," a ban on the use of taxpayer dollars to governmental organizations that promote or offer abortions.
“President Trump has diligently and successfully gone about fulfilling his promises to the pro-life voters who worked so hard to elect him, and it has been a privilege to stand with him to defend the innocent unborn," Dannenfelser said.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/387622-trump-to-keynote-anti-abortion-gala-next-week
Wilbur Ross: We're exploring 'alternative remedies' for ZTE ban
Source: Politico
By ELI OKUN 05/14/2018 02:10 PM EDT Updated 05/14/2018 02:51 PM EDT
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday that the Trump administration is open to changing its ban on U.S. companies buying and selling products from Chinese phone-maker ZTE, a day after President Donald Trump hinted at a surprising reversal.
“ZTE did do some inappropriate things. They’ve admitted to that,” Ross said at a National Press Club event. “The question is: Are there alternative remedies to the one that we had originally put forward? And that’s the area we will be exploring very, very promptly.”
Ross’s Commerce Department levied a harsh penalty against the electronics company last month, imposing a seven-year ban on American companies selling or purchasing its products. The U.S. had reached an agreement with ZTE in March 2017 that included a $1.19 billion fine, but it added the new ban because it said the company broke the agreement by failing to punish top managers.
ZTE acknowledged in the agreement that it had violated sanctions on Iran and North Korea, but the new penalty seemed poised to destroy ZTE. The phone-maker announced last week that it had stopped “major operating activities,” and The New York Times reported that workers at a Shenzhen plant had almost nothing to do.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/14/wilbur-ross-zte-ban-584713
Wilbur Ross: ‘I don’t think the sky will fall’ with census citizenship question
By ELI OKUN 05/14/2018 02:40 PM EDT
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday defended the Trump administration’s decision to add a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 census, saying he didn't think the addition would mean the "sky will fall."
“It’s been asked every year on the American Community Survey in the exact same form that we’re planning to do in the census this year. Sixty-one million families have already been exposed to the question, and the sky has not fallen,” Ross said at a National Press Club event. “So I don’t think the sky will fall when we add it to the census itself in 2020.”
He rattled off several steps the department would take to ease the change for non-English speakers, including providing access to multilingual instructional material and call-center resources and working with community groups to explain the importance of participation.
“We’re also putting the citizenship question last so that someone who, for whatever reason, feels uncomfortable with that question, at least they can deal easily with the questions with which they are not uncomfortable,” Ross added.
more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/14/wilbur-ross-census-citizenship-question-585623
Harry Reid receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer
Source: Politico
By BURGESS EVERETT and JOHN BRESNAHAN 05/14/2018 02:43 PM EDT
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer, a person close to Reid said.
Reid underwent surgery on Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and his doctors caught the cancer early, the person said.
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Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/14/harry-reid-receiving-treatment-for-pancreatic-cancer-585646
White House: Trump spoke with Waffle House hero
Source: The Hill
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 05/14/18 02:24 PM EDT
President Trump spoke Monday morning with James Shaw Jr., who confronted a gunman at a Nashville-area Waffle House last month, the White House said.
Deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters that Trump called Shaw and commended him for his “heroic actions and quick thinking.”
Shah said he did not know whether an invitation to visit the White House had been extended.
A gunman killed four people and injured at least four more after opening fire at the restaurant. Shaw, a customer at the Waffle House, rushed the gunman and wrestled the gun away, according to multiple reports. Shaw later started a GoFundMe page for families of the victims.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/387613-trump-speaks-with-waffle-house-hero
Wisconsin DOJ: Project Veritas Videos Of Activist Don't Show Election Fraud
Source: Talking Points Memo/AP
By Associated Press | May 14, 2018 2:12 pm
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Justice has again concluded that secretly recorded videos of a liberal activist reveal no evidence of election fraud. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday that it had obtained investigatory reports that show the probe into recordings made by conservative group Project Veritas during the run-up to the 2016 election ended on May 2 with no crimes substantiated.
The investigative film group released footage in October 2016 of Scott Foval boasting about connections to the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Foval, who was based in Wisconsin, appears to say he had arranged for people to incite violence at Donald Trump rallies and that it would be easier to get away with voter fraud if out-of-state residents drive to the polls themselves rather than organizers busing them in.
Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel said shortly after the videos were released that he was worried they suggest election fraud. Word broke in April 2017 that the state Justice Department Criminal Litigation Director Roy Korte had concluded that January that the statements in the videos were vague and lack context. He said there was no basis to believe the videos show or suggest violations of state law.
James O’Keefe, the conservative activist who runs Project Veritas, accused Schimel of not mounting a serious investigation. Days later, Schimel said the investigation was ongoing.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/wisconsin-department-of-justice-no-election-fraud-evidence-project-veritas-videos
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Name: DonGender: Male
Hometown: Massachusetts
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Member since: Sat Sep 1, 2012, 03:28 PM
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