"I
must follow the people. Am I not their leader?"
Benjamin
Disraeli.
The big news this
weekend is the expected re-election of President Putin in Russia. No other
outcome is possible, although with the west in full hue and cry blaming
President Putin personally for the nerve agent hit in Salisbury on March 4th,
most Russians would probably vote for President Putin even if the election were
truly free and fair. Come Monday the
world will have President Xi for life in China, and at least another 6 years of
President Putin in Russia, with neither president about to play rollover for
the west.
Offsetting that
combination in the west we have the chaotic Trump Presidency in increasingly
erratic trade war Washington. A greatly weakened Chancellor Merkel almost
leading Germany. The very weak governments of the UK and France, plus the still
to be formed government of Italy, and the amusing Trudeau Presidency in Indo-Canada.
Then there is the unreformed, unreformable rump-EUSSR, on the receiving end of
Trump’s Great Trade War, and busy erecting trade barriers with GB, its 3rd,
4th or 5th largest trade customer, depending on who’s
counting and how. What could possibly go
wrong?
Below, some of the interesting
news on this St Patrick’s Day. We’ll need all of the luck of the Irish, a four
leaf shamrock and then some, to escape 2018 without a repeat of 2008, or far
worse, war.
"We
hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."
Aesop.
March 17, 2018 / 2:43 AM
China's parliament re-elects Xi Jinping as president
BEIJING
(Reuters) - China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament on Saturday unanimously
re-elected Xi Jinping as the country’s president.
The vote was
witnessed by journalists inside central Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
The
legislature is packed with delegates loyal to the ruling Communist Party
meaning Xi’s re-election was never in doubt. On Sunday parliament voted to
amend the constitution to remove presidential term limits, meaning Xi can stay
indefinitely.
Sessions Fires FBI Official McCabe Two Days Before He Was to Retire
By Chris Strohm
Updated on 17 March 2018, 04:21 GMT
Attorney
General Jeff Sessions fired the FBI’s former deputy director, Andrew McCabe --
a favorite target for President Donald Trump and Republicans -- on Friday
night, two days before he was to retire.
Sessions
made the politically explosive decision after the FBI’s Office of Professional
Responsibility recommended that McCabe be dismissed for not being forthcoming
about authorizing discussions with a reporter about a pending investigation.
Sessions said he relied on internal assessments that McCabe lacked candor on
multiple occasions.
The move by
the attorney general appeared to open a new episode in the criminal
investigation into Trump being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
McCabe
responded to the decision with a combative statement saying he was the target
of a political attack by Trump and that he has knowledge of events that took
place after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May.
McCabe said
he had been "singled out and treated this way because of the role I
played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the
firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my
testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate
former Director Comey’s accounts of his discussions with the president."
Michael
Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general who is representing
McCabe, said the efforts to investigate and eventually fire McCabe came after
disclosures that McCabe would be a “corroborating witness” against the
president.
More
March 16, 2018 / 6:10 PM
Exclusive - European powers propose new Iran sanctions to meet Trump ultimatum
BRUSSELS/PARIS
(Reuters) - Britain, France and Germany have proposed fresh EU sanctions on
Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in Syria’s war, according to a
confidential document, in a bid to persuade Washington to preserve the 2015
nuclear deal with Tehran.
The joint
paper, seen by Reuters, was sent to European Union capitals on Friday, said two
people familiar with the matter, to sound out support for such sanctions as
they would need the support of all 28 EU member governments.
The proposal
is part of an EU strategy to save the accord signed by world powers that curbs
Tehran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, namely by showing U.S. President
Donald Trump that there are other ways to counter Iranian power abroad.
Trump
delivered an ultimatum to the European signatories on Jan. 12. It said they
must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal” - which was
sealed under his predecessor Barack Obama - or he would refuse to extend U.S.
sanctions relief on Iran. U.S. sanctions will resume unless Trump issues fresh
“waivers” to suspend them on May 12.
“We will
therefore be circulating in the coming days a list of persons and entities that
we believe should be targeted in view of their publicly demonstrated roles,”
the document said, referring to Iranian ballistic missile tests and Tehran’s
role in backing Syria’s government in the seven-year-old civil war.
The steps
would go beyond what a U.S. State Department cable seen by Reuters last month
outlined as a path to satisfy Trump: simply committing to improving the nuclear
deal.
It also
reflects frustration with Tehran. “We’re getting irritated. We’ve been talking
to them for 18 months and have had no progress on these issues,” a diplomat
said.
European
Union foreign ministers will discuss the proposal at a closed-door meeting on
Monday in Brussels, diplomats said.
More
March 16, 2018 / 7:16 PM
London court rules UK spy behind Trump dossier must give evidence in U.S. libel trial
LONDON
(Reuters) - Former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a “dossier” of
allegations linking U.S. President Donald Trump to Russia, must give a
deposition in a U.S. libel case, lawyers for the Russian businessman involved
said on Friday.
Businessman
Aleksej Gubarev is suing the Buzzfeed website, which published the dossier in
January last year, for libel in a Florida court over claims made about him and
his companies and as part of his case his lawyers asked to take evidence from
Steele.
Last
November, a British court ruled Steele should undergo lengthy pre-trial
questioning and in February his lawyers sought to have that order quashed,
arguing it could put his sources at risk and harm UK national security
On Friday,
the High Court in London agreed Steele should provide a deposition which would
be used in the Florida trial, Gubarev’s lawyer said.
“The court
has rightly ordered that Christopher Steele must now answer under oath the
relevant and appropriate questions to be put to him in deposition. I expect the
deposition to take place in the next eight weeks,” said lawyer Steven Loble.
Sources
close to Steele said the judge had said the questioning had to be limited to
avoid anything that could expose his informants.
Steele, a
former MI6 officer, authored the report which alleged Moscow had attempted to
interfere in the 2016 U.S. election and potential collusion between Russia and
Trump, along with other unverified and salacious claims about the president.
Trump has
described the report as “bogus” and Moscow has repeatedly rejected accusations
of interference in the election.
More
In markets news,
higher interest rates are here to stay.
The World Economy Risks Turning Too Hot to Handle
By Enda Curran and Rich Miller
15 March 2018, 23:00 GMT
The world economy risks growing too fast for its own good.Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers meet next week in Argentina amid the broadest and strongest economic upswing since 2011, with President Donald Trump’s tax cuts adding a dose of accelerant. They convene days after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development raised its forecasts to show global growth of 3.9 percent this year and next.
For policy makers and investors, the key questions are how much faster can the world grow -- and do they even want it to if overheating means an inflationary boom is followed by another bust.
Global growth has only matched or bettered 3.9 percent 8 times since 1990 and HSBC Holdings Plc notes every synchronized upswing since then presaged an abrupt shock. The peak of 5.6 percent in 2007 was followed by the financial crisis a year later.
“
When lots of countries are growing strongly, the global economy is at its most vulnerable, thanks to heightened interest rate and financial risks,” said Stephen King, senior economic adviser at HSBC.
In a study of 50 economies published last month, King observed that the credit-crunch recession hit the U.S. in 1990 after a period of robust global demand and then bond markets collapsed in 1994 following another growth spurt. The next boom in 1997 came before the Asia crisis and then the world was buoyant from 2004 to 2007 until the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Signs are already appearing
that activity is now looking toppish as the Federal Reserve and other central
banks tighten monetary policy, China curbs borrowing and Trump implements
tariffs.
Citigroup Inc. calculates data in major economies are currently
undershooting forecasts by the most since September and measures of
manufacturing confidence appear to be cresting, albeit at lofty levels.
“Even though the sun still
shines in the global economy, there are more clouds on the horizon,”
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a blog
post addressed to G-20 policy makers. “Think of the growing concerns over trade
tensions, the recent spike in volatility in financial markets, and more
uncertain geopolitics.”
The fear of a trade war will be high on the agenda in Buenos Aires, with
Bloomberg Economics estimating such an event could wipe $470 billion off the
world economy by 2020.Read more on the risks associated with a global trade war
More
March 15, 2018 / 5:33 PM
EU ready to hit big U.S. tech firms with 3 percent turnover tax
The proposal, expected to be
adopted next week and still subject to changes, updates an earlier draft which
envisaged a tax rate of between 1 and 5 percent.
The tax, if backed by EU
states and lawmakers, would only apply to large firms with annual worldwide
revenues above 750 million euros (£662.2 million) and annual “taxable” revenues
above 50 million euros in the EU.
The threshold for EU revenues
has been raised from 10 million euros initially foreseen to exempt smaller
companies and emerging start-ups from the tax.
Large U.S. firms such as Uber,
Airbnb and Amazon could also be hit by the new levy, which would apply across
the 28 EU countries.
Big tech firms have been
accused by large EU states of paying too little tax in the bloc by re-routing
some of their profits to low-tax member states like Ireland and Luxembourg.
While an earlier version of
the draft seen by Reuters mentioned several companies, the latest proposal
contained no such references.
Services that will be taxed
are digital advertising, which would capture both providers of users’ data like
Google, and companies offering ad space on their websites, like popular social
media such as Facebook.
The tax would be also be
levied on online platforms offering “intermediation services,” a concept under
which the Commission includes gig economy firms such as Airbnb and Uber.
Digital market places, including Amazon, would also be within the scope of the
levy.
Companies with thinner
margins, like Amazon, which often operate at a loss would be hit hard by a tax
on turnover, whereas they are largely exempt from taxes on profits.
More
Finally, EV comes to
the old familiar black London taxi.
Electric Black Cabs Are Taking Over in London
The six seater has wifi,
air conditioning, a glass skyroof and no smelly diesel fumes.
By Robert Hutton
The driver next to him winds down his window and shouts, “you like it?” Robertson, 53, knows what he’s asking about. “It’s good!” he answers. He gets a skeptical grimace in response.
The drivers are so interested in Robertson’s car because they know it’s their future. Robertson’s is one of the first vehicles delivered to meet the city’s decree that all new taxis have to be electric. It’s a TX City, built by the London Electric Vehicle Company, a subsidiary of China’s Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. There are 34 on the road at the moment, with 20 a week rolling off the line.
On the outside, it’s a little boxier than a traditional London taxi but recognizable nonetheless and it meets the regulatory requirement of a 25-foot turning circle—small enough to negotiate the roundabout at the entrance to the Savoy Hotel. There’s still an engine there, though it looks tiny in the space: The sole function of the 1.5 litre petrol motor is to charge the batteries if they get low.
Those batteries have been stored along the floor and then under and behind the rear passenger seat. There’s no luggage space at all, but even heavily laden travelers rarely bother to use the trunk of a London cab.
The
passenger compartment remains familiar: a three-wide bench and then fold-down
seats opposite: three of them, meaning the car can now carry six people. There
are fixings for a wheelchair and a built-in ramp under the door. It’s kitted
out as a mobile office, with a socket for a laptop, USB ports for other
devices, and wifi. And you might be able to get some work done since you’re no
longer jostled by every bump in the road.
But sit down
and you’re immediately struck by the biggest change: The huge clear roof panel.
“It’s quite a nice effect at night,” says Robertson, who has been a
chauffeur for 30 years. “It will be excellent for the Christmas lights.”
When
Robertson pulls away, you notice the other difference. London black cabs are
loud. Even when they’re not moving, you can hear their diesel engines chug
away. The new copy isn’t just quiet, it’s silent. There aren’t many more
ways to describe the total absence of noise, but try this: At one point as we
drove past St James’s Park, I swear I heard birdsong.
- The taxi is projected to travel more than 70 miles on a charge, and a typical driver covers 120 miles a day. A public charger in 45 minutes can add 50 miles of range, according to the manufacturer.
"Foreign
Aid: taxing poor people in rich countries for the benefit of rich people in
poor countries."
Bernard
Rosenberg.
And next, a last word
from Jason in Lake Tahoe. Making “sense” of US media.
American Media’s Fixation on All Things Trump Obscuring Relevant News
N. Jason
Jencka March 17th, 2018 3:22 am EST
The first
year of the Trump presidency has doubtlessly been a ratings boon to the news
outlets that have breathlessly covered each declaration, gaffe and tweet with
fervid vigor. Against a backdrop of cord-cutting that saw the television
behemoth NFL football lose viewers in each of its three weekly primetime slots
with NBC drawing the fewest viewers since 2008, cable news has seen strong
ratings growth. This growth has occurred across the televised political
spectrum with left-leaning MSNBC seeing 48% ratings growth in 2017 while
conservative bastion Fox News saw 8% growth. At first glance these figures
suggest that American viewers are becoming more informed about the world around
them when in actuality they are feasting on breathless coverage of the global
docudrama that is the Trump administration. Whether analyzing for the umpteenth
time the latest “revelation” regarding potential Russian influence in the 2016
election or reporting the gaudy details of the Stormy Daniels saga, anchors and
pundits feast on Presidential tweets ad-nauseam at a cost of lost coverage of
relevant scientific developments and happenings in global markets beyond the
Dow 30.
The death of legendary theoretical physicist and warrior against ALS
Stephen Hawking gets only a brief mention compared to exhaustive discussion of
the details of Mr. Trump’s private affairs. If there is to be a reasonable
expectation of the public discourse in the U.S. to emerge from its present
shallow gutter, those making the decisions of what news to cover on major
networks and how extensively can and must take the lead.
Sources:
Stephen Battaglio,
Los Angeles. Times, December 3oth 2017
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