Understanding the US - Again

[abhik]

Lol, so macaroni is the new napoleon. Reminds me of talk show where the panelists were debating weather Canadian liberandu was the new "Leader of the free world" after Trump's election

[UlanBatori]

Move over for the Emperor of New Zealand and the Grand Duke of Iceland.

[UlanBatori]

Desi papparazu heading for Pooliterature Prize

Note the names (and ethnicities) of both reporters assigned to write up this stuff where there are no records with the Secret Service, the victim denies it, but CNN races forward with the slander. Both will see their careers ended, if not broke and in jail.
Think back to what happened to the ppl who wrote about Death Squads (IIRC) operating during the Vietnam War with the Special Forces. Seemed like a GREAT story, massive dirt, but then everyone denied it, and the reporter(s) found themselves the targets with no one to defend them. They were totally destroyed.

These 2 are gambling everything. You don't biss on Rear Admirals even if u think it is fashionable to biss on the WHOTUS.

And the WHOTUS is hitting back, big-time. I think unless these papparazzi can did up proof, this Senator Ton Jester is history. The coverup if any is well underway, if the Secret Service denies finding ANY documents or recollection of this "event". The POTUS has called Jester a flat-out liar, and asked for his resignation. In Montana that's High Noon. And if they can topple a senator, they can certainly fry 2 papparazzi.

[UlanBatori]

you are welcome to your opinions sir

Thanks so much! I didn't know I needed permission to express them. Also, the items I listed are facts, not opinions. Taxes have come down (I don't know about Billionaires). Trump lowered the marginal rates by some 12 percent, plus he raised the Standard Exemption to $24K! Most American families don't add up anywhere NEAR that much today in Itemized deductions. Plus it is the Fed taxable income that is used by the State so the effect is nonlinear.
As for Korea, the news is visible to all.
And the economy for the past year (until Dec. 2017) is also clear for anyone.
As for the US Syria disaster, the POTUS seems to be desperately playing the game to avoid exposing the USA as a war criminal invader in public. The realities of the two "Missile Strikes on Syria" are there for all to see: a total of 26 + 105 = 131 cruise missiles launched, each with 450kg warhead. 6 old junked planes and one building and one toxic dump destroyed; one person reported dead (in the first strike, which I doubt).
You think the US was serious about these attacks?

So perhaps others should check their facts or absence thereof.

[kiranA]

. Also, the items I listed are facts, not opinions. Taxes have come down (I don't know about Billionaires). Trump lowered the marginal rates by some 12 percent, plus he raised the Standard Exemption to $24K! Most American families don't add up anywhere NEAR that much today in Itemized deductions. Plus it is the Fed taxable income that is used by the State so the effect is nonlinear.
As for Korea, the news is visible to all.

Yes taxes were reduced and deficit increased. This is precisely populist and liberal (the deficit part) politics. Trump ran on a populist platform. Not sure what is an "achievement" here. Its an achievement if he can increase govt revenue but when did decrease become an achievement.

And the economy for the past year (until Dec. 2017) is also clear for anyone.

Nothing to do with Trump. US actually grew less than EU with all its liberal migrant crisis. i do support Trump policies of less regulation. But thats classic republican politics. Any repub president would do that.

As for the US Syria disaster, the POTUS seems to be desperately playing the game to avoid exposing the USA as a war criminal invader in public. The realities of the two "Missile Strikes on Syria" are there for all to see: a total of 26 + 105 = 131 cruise missiles launched, each with 450kg warhead. 6 old junked planes and one building and one toxic dump destroyed; one person reported dead (in the first strike, which I doubt).
You think the US was serious about these attacks?

No country would like to present itself as a non-serious or flippant player in the international scene. This sloppy "bombing" is not good for US interests. Either avoid it , throw its sunni allies under the bus or show you are a reliable freind. This neither here nor there shows weakness.

So perhaps others should check their facts or absence thereof.

I think you are not presenting facts for the sake of understanding full picture. but rather picking facts which builds a pro-trump narrative. Why is such a narrative required ?

[kiranA]

Meanwhile in another U turn.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... t-workers/

Donald Trump to Farmers: We’re Going to Let in Migrant Guest Workers.

It basically goes with Trump populist practices. Just give what people want (whether it is racist theatrics or populist tax cuts) when it can benefit, throw people under bus when it is expedient to do so (like poor whites in this case) , take credit for any positive stuff that shows up along the way, blame negative things on liberals/immigrants/"shit hole" countries, come blazing guns but immediately compromise if shown a firm stance (like with china). No real policy other than some standard repub stuff like less regulation.

[Mort Walker]

you are welcome to your opinions sir

The esteemed Mongolian is making you aware of the facts sir. Indeed, you are welcome to become of aware of it.

[UlanBatori]

[quote="kiranA"]
Yes taxes were reduced and deficit increased. This is precisely populist and liberal (the deficit part) politics.
NOW u r using MAH brain, as Laurel said to Hardy. When someone reduces (my 6th coujin's) taxes, they are good.

[kiranA]

Yes taxes were reduced and deficit increased. This is precisely populist and liberal (the deficit part) politics.
NOW u r using MAH brain, as Laurel said to Hardy. When someone reduces (my 6th coujin's) taxes, they are good.

Well congrats to your "6th coujin" for the tax cut . It didnt come from DT pocket though it blew a trillion dollar hole in US govt revenues.

[Mort Walker]

It didnt come from DT pocket though it blew a trillion dollar hole in US govt revenues.

Not true at all.

The reduction of corporate taxes brought the US in-line with the EU and east Asia. Further, the amount of deductions and exemptions has been reduced, so less cheating by big companies like GE. As more USD becomes re-patriated by corporations, it will be a net benefit to the US economy by at adding 0.5-0.75% to the GDP. As far as individual income taxes go, those whose $100K<AGI<$300K/yr will actually pay more taxes. Many of the deductions are gone. The standard deduction has gone up, but individual exemption of $4,050 per family member goes away. Couple that with the SALT limitation of $10K; those who live in VT, NY, NJ, MN, IA, OR, and CA will be hit with a higher federal tax bill. Only those families earning less than $100K/yr will benefit the most.

What will blow a hole in the US budget is the actual increase in expenditure. Defense and national security has gone up, what a good time to be a defense contractor, as well as entitlements and discretionary spending. The last budget gave both parties lots to party about. Pretty soon the Federal Reserve will resort to more "quantitative easing" by directing the US Treasury Dept. into printing more money.

[g.sarkar]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/tree-pl ... pears.html
Tree planted by Trump and France's Macron mysteriously disappears
The French ambassador to the U.S. has stepped in to quash speculation surrounding a tree gifted to President Donald Trump from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Trump and Macron planted the oak tree sapling on the White House lawn during Macron's state visit to the U.S. last week.
Days later, a Reuters photographer took a photo that showed just a yellow patch of grass where it was planted on the South Lawn.
The disappearance prompted a flurry of speculation online as to its whereabouts.
But French Ambassador to the U.S., Gerard Araud, tweeted that the sapling had been put in quarantine to comply with U.S. customs regulations, and would be replanted at a later date.
.....
Gautam

[Lalmohan]

My dear Mort, i am aware of many facts and opinions, even alternative ones, since i have a bad habit of reading from a wide range of sources, even when they disagree with ‘my preferred narrative’. I prefer to make my own mind up
Thank you for your concern

[panduranghari]

[quote=“kiranA”]Nothing to do with Trump. US actually grew less than EU with all its liberal migrant crisis. i do support Trump policies of less regulation. But thats classic republican politics. Any repub president would do that.[/quote]

PMI about 57. ISM above 56. These are good numbers. One or other going below 47 means recession. I agree it’s nothing to do with Trump.

Problem is trump like other right wing presidents elsewhere like May are actually calling to increase wages. And nominal wages are rising.This will lead to wage inflation trickling into something catastrophic.

[quote=“Mort Walker”]What will blow a hole in the US budget is the actual increase in expenditure.[/quote]

D’Oh! It’s self evident isn’t it. But I doubt trump has much power. Powell is not as amenable as Yellen. So why was he appointed?

[Mort Walker]

What will blow a hole in the US budget is the actual increase in expenditure.

D’Oh! It’s self evident isn’t it. But I doubt trump has much power. Powell is not as amenable as Yellen. So why was he appointed?

The budget is the one approved by the Trump administration as it was signed by the executive. That is DT gave congress whatever it wanted from both parties. The current budget is very much both Democratic and Republican. The reserve bank is raising interest rates which means servicing US debt becomes more expensive for the government.

[Lalmohan]

and the debt level has skyrocketed. although the interesting thing would be to see what proportion is still held by emperor Xi

[Rudradev]

Thomas Friedman in NY Times claims the US and China are finally "having it out"

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/opin ... trade.html

With the arrival in Beijing this week of America’s top trade negotiators, you might think that the U.S. and China are about to enter high-level talks to avoid a trade war and that this is a story for the business pages. Think again. This is one for the history books.

Five days of meetings in Beijing with Chinese, U.S. and European government officials and business leaders made it crystal clear to me that what’s going on right now is nothing less than a struggle to redefine the rules governing the economic and power relations of the world’s oldest and newest superpowers — America and China. This is not a trade tiff.

“This is a defining moment for U.S.-China relations,” said Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s research institute. “This is about a lot more than trade and tariffs. This is about the future.”

In one corner stand President Trump and his team of China trade hard-liners, whose instinct is basically right: This is a fight worth having now, before it is too late, before China gets too big.

And in the other corner stands President Xi Jinping of China, whose instinct may also be right — this is a fight worth having now, because it is too late — China is just too big.

Or, as one Chinese expert put it at a Tsinghua University dialogue on trade I attended, “No one can contain China anymore.” You hear that confidence in Beijing a lot today from Chinese: Our one-party system and unified society can take the pain of a trade war far longer than you Americans can. And there is a trade imbalance today because we’ve been investing in our future and you Americans have been eating yours.

A Chinese economist who worked in the West summarized it this way: “You brought China into the world and changed China,” but now China is in the world and it is becoming “self-propelled.”

Here’s how we got here:

In Act I, U.S.-China relations were all geopolitics, with the U.S. and China against the Soviet Union. That lasted until the late 1970s, when Act II began: China shifted toward capitalism, becoming a huge factory and new market — and 30 years later turned into the world’s second-largest economy.

In large part this was due to the work ethic of the Chinese people, the long-term thinking of China’s leaders and the government’s massive investments in infrastructure and education. But in part it was also due to China’s willingness and ability to bend or ignore rules of the World Trade Organization and, at times, outright cheat.

In some cases China used industrial espionage to just steal innovations from the West. Other moves were more subtle: When China joined the W.T.O. in 2001, it was allowed in as a “developing nation,” subject to very low tariffs on its exports to our country but permitted to impose high tariffs to protect its own rising industries from U.S. and European competition.

The assumption was that as China grew, and the W.T.O. moved to a new regime, China would quickly cut its tariffs — like its 25 percent tax on car imports, compared with the 2.5 percent tariff imposed by the U.S. But the W.T.O. still has not completed a new trade round and China has refused to voluntarily lower its tariffs.

Moreover, China developed an industrial policy that often bent W.T.O. rules. The government gave away cheap land, and state-guided banks granted cheap loans for new industries, but foreign companies that wanted access to China’s market were forced to pay to play — to have a Chinese partner and be willing to transfer their advanced technology to them.

As a result, over time, Beijing was able to force multinationals to shift more and more of their supply chains to China, and grow Chinese competitors to Western companies in its protected market, and then, once they were big enough, unleash them on the world as giants.


Nothing here we don't already know for a fact. The remarkable thing is that it's coming from the mouth of Thomas Friedman, globalist prophet. The same Friedman (and the same NY Times) were volubly bashing Trump for making these very same arguments before the 2016 election and for quite some time afterwards. What has changed now? Lifafas have run dry?

Even when the U.S. protested to the W.T.O. — as in the case of how China unfairly kept U.S. credit card companies out, then lost the arbitration case at the W.T.O. — China still dragged its feet before following through on promises made 17 years earlier to open up. By then, Chinese companies, like UnionPay, so dominated China’s credit card market that U.S. companies, like Visa, were left with the crumbs.

Meanwhile, Chinese government-guided companies and investment funds went abroad and began to buy up strategic industries to bring their technology back to China — like Germany’s biggest and best robotics company, Kuka.

U.S. and European businesses tolerated all of this because they were still making money in China or were afraid to be frozen out of its massive, growing market — until a couple years ago, when more and more told their governments: This is not working anymore. That ushered in Act III.

And we think the Americans are very chanakian.


ACT III opened in October 2015, when China announced its new long-term vision: “Made in China 2025,” a plan to dominate 10 next-generation industries, including robotics, self-driving cars, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, biotech and aerospace.

When the U.S. and Europe saw this, they basically said: Wow. We were ready to turn the other cheek when your combination of hard work, cheating and industrial policy was focused on low-end industries. But if you use the same strategies to dominate these high-end industries, we’re toast. We need some new rules.

Yes, very chanakian.

And I heard this as much from E.U. officials as U.S. ones. That is why many E.U. countries are now scrambling to pass new laws to prevent China from buying up their most advanced industries. And that is why China is telling E.U. countries, as one E.U. official put it, “Whatever you do, don’t join the U.S. camp” on trade. The last thing Beijing wants is a U.S.-E.U. united front demanding it play fair. Does this suggest a possible agenda item for the recent Modi-Xi talks at Wuhan?

Don’t get me wrong. I am a free trader and genuinely not afraid of some state-directed 2025 plan beating Western free-market innovators. I welcome China focusing more on 21st-century industries. It could be better for everyone.

Economics is not like war — they can win and we can win. On one condition — we all play by the same rules: hard work and innovation, not hard work and stealing intellectual property, massive government interventions, ignoring W.T.O. rules, lack of reciprocity and forcing Western companies to pay to play inside China.

That is what this moment is about — that’s why it’s a fight worth having. Don’t let the fact that Trump is leading the charge distract from the vital importance of the U.S., Europe and China all agreeing on the same rules for 2025 — before it really is too late.

Have no doubt, though: Both Presidents Trump and Xi are approaching this moment with enormously high-risk strategies.

At a time when we are at a historic juncture in defining the West’s economic relations with China — clearly our No. 1 priority — Trump is also risking a trade war with the very allies we need to move China in the right direction — Japan, South Korea, Europe and Canada — by threatening them with steel and aluminum tariffs if they don’t meet his demands. Trump seems to believe that he can reshape how China approaches the next era of global trade without allies — just American brute force. Good luck with that.

As one E.U. official warned me: “If your concern is U.S. jobs, China is the big challenge and you should not be starting a steel war with Europe. Nobody is going to go with you on China if you’re hitting us on steel.” Added one longtime U.S. observer in Beijing: “If we make this the U.S. versus China alone, we lose.”

This is Bharat's moment. The US and China are bracing for open economic war and both sides really, really need allies. Modi has heard Xi's pitch at Wuhan. Is Trump residually intelligent enough to present a counter-offer to us, or is India-China-Russia a foregone conclusion?

Worse, Trump tore up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have brought together the most powerful economies on the Pacific Rim around a set of trade rules perfectly aligned with U.S. interests and focused on all those things, like intellectual property, that we want China to embrace as it moves to 2025.

In short, with a lot of allies in Europe and on the Pacific, we might be able to move China in the right direction. But Trump is alienating them all. How foolish is that?

Trump also has nothing to say about investing in the real source of long-term U.S. strength — infrastructure and education.

But Xi’s bet is also no slam dunk. China is a much more open country today than it was 25 years ago — but it’s also much less open than it was five years ago. Xi’s allies argue that his crackdown on corruption; his repeal of term limits, which position him to rule for what could be decades; and his tightening of the control that the Communist Party wields over every institution was urgent because collective rule did not work. China’s society, government and military were being eaten away by corruption from within, those allies say.

That may have been true. But creating a regime of one-man rule; controlling the internet, free speech and universities more tightly than ever; and resurrecting the teaching of Marxist thought cannot be the best way to stimulate and attract the most creative and innovative minds that China needs to propel a start-up economy and deliver on “Made in China 2025.”

I think Friedman is wrong. Here he is simply slipping back to his "World Is Flat" dogma: that the "American way" of "freedom, democracy, global openness" etc. is the only path to the sort of innovation that results in economic success. All BS of course.

Will China’s best and brightest want to work in such a system? I don’t know. China’s autocracy has managed to produce a tremendous number of patents and start-ups so far, so maybe Xi can pull this off. But it’s a big bet.

As I said, this is not just a front-page business news story. What’s being written is the first page of a whole new chapter in the history of U.S.-China relations. And how it gets written and how it ends will shape the Trump and Xi legacies — and touch every major economy in the world.

Trump, for better or for worse, has abandoned the haughty hubris of the Clintonistas and the fond dogmatic prescriptions of the globalists. He is a player of China's own game: Lie, Cheat, Steal, Bluster, Posture. The Chinese, however, have been playing this game since the Korean War in one way or another. Trump is like a batsman changing style and strategy late in the innings. He is taking the riskiest path. My sense is that the Chinese know that game far better than him.

[UlanBatori]

Friedman senses that the stakes are high, but I wonder if one trade summit will achieve anything. Is trump silly enough to think that Xi's china will observe any rules agreed with the rest of the world? He contradicts himself badly there.
So this is just another step in the continuing dance.
As for Oirope, they are like the proverbial Pr1ck#3 at a wedding. Who needs them? They are sliding back into the Dark Ages.

(sorry I am probably typing nonsense, too sleepy).

[Singha]

they will come to some agreements, but then grow increasingly disillusioned as china continues on its own chosen path of slowly moving the lines and daring others to call that out or keep the peace. noko pacification is a play to wean soko off from the US protectorate status and make it deviate.

idea is to slowly peel off US vassals like soko, philippines now, then perhaps malaysia, laos & cambodia .... until the ring that encircles china is fragmented and falls apart with only vietnam and japan holding out . bilateral deals on generous terms will be given to those who settle their cases with china, including perhaps a share of the undersea resources. china is usually generous to those who pay tribute and accept the dlagon lord as the one true emperor....just as the US looks after its vassals on generous terms.

europe has nothing to say or do in this process of readjustment. they are having a hard time confronting russia in their own backyard the black and baltic sea without substantial US help. they will talk big thats all.

I am not sure how india can profit from all this. we can perhaps use this window of 15 years to build our domestic defence complex and make it impossible for china to push us or US to pressure us.

[ricky_v]

https://abcnews.go.com/International/ir ... d=54862664

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars to parents, spouses, siblings and children of more than 1,000 9/11 victims, court documents obtained by ABC News show.

The default judgment issued by Judge George B. Daniels finds the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran are liable for the deaths of 1,008 people whose families sued.

The lawsuit, which was first filed in 2004 and allowed to go forward in 2016 after Congress passed Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act to open sovereign states accused of terrorism to liability, alleged Iran provided assistance, including training, to the 9/11 hijackers even though the 9/11 Commission found no direct evidence of Iranian support.

....??

[Philip]

A well written piece."Mad Dog Mattis" appears to have a better understanding of the tri-nation defence relationship.After all,what difference does it make if Russian arms are used by India to defend itself against China?!

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion ... bazar.html

Of US, Russia & India’s arms bazar
Published May 3, 2018,

For Western arms manufacturers, particularly those from the United States, India is just “waiting to be lapped up”.
US defence secretary James Mattis

America’s defence secretary James Mattis understands military hardware well. A retired Marine general who commanded US troops in southern Afghanistan in the opening weeks of the war in 2001, Mr Mattis sees India as one of the most lucrative and attractive destinations for his country’s defence contractors as he gleefully advised members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He is clearly trying to reshape the psyche and policy of his country’s political masters when he comments: “India... we probably have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to find more common ground” … “I think it’s there... We don’t have to search hard for it in the sense of creating it. We just have to get an understanding of each other’s interests”.

A profound observation indeed. For Western arms manufacturers, particularly those from the United States, India is just “waiting to be lapped up”. The country seems a readymade and tailored market. The arms manufacturers just have to land, in the manner of Vasco da Gama or Robert Clive, and things will immediately fall into place.

Mr Mattis appears to be a practical, wise and thinking general. His advisory comes as a forewarning to his political colleagues, who more often than not have shown propensity to pass laws which later came back to harm, and not help, their own cause.

Mr Mattis’ diagnosis is near perfect and precise. He urges that US legislators should allow the government “flexible waiver authority” pertaining to Russia-related sanctions that seek to punish Third World countries, like India, for making “significant transactions” like arms purchase from Russia. He has clearly seen through the US fault line; he says “it is likely to prevent ourselves (US) from acting in our own best interests and place an undue burden on our allies/partners”. The waiver he seeks is from punitive actions under the “Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)”, passed by the US Congress in January last year.

So what’s the status of the Indo-Russian relationship? The answer is that it’s solid. Despite the volatile and changing international scenario, India’s reliance on Russia, even today, is peerless. Russia supplied 68 per cent of India’s imports in 2012-2016, compared to the US’ 14 per cent and Israel’s 7.2 per cent. Imports from Russia are often in the form of assembly or licensed production of major weapons by India’s state-owned arms industry. If we look at the contemporary order list and long-term planning, it will be clear that Russia will continue to be India’s main supplier of major arms and equipment in the foreseeable future.

Hence, it is necessary to make everyone understand, and particularly the United States, that there is no point even in trying to think of imposing sanctions on India for buying Russian arms. Despite its chaotic polity and its endlessly quarrelling and squabbling leaders, India can’t be cajoled or compelled to “fall in line”. No one doubts Russia’s loyalty towards India; what Russia has been doing for India in the armaments industry since 1950s no other country has done! No doubt Russia too has made money and at times did not play fair financially, yet in the overarching scenario, despite being a virtual monopoly stakeholder in the Indian arms bazar, Russia has always given whatever India has asked for and it never pulled strings or imposed conditions on the “end-use” of weapons that it supplied to this country.

A cursory glance at the inventory of India’s Army, Navy and Air Force reveals this reality. According to Military Balance 2018 (published in February 2018 by International Institute for Strategic Studies, London), apart from 122 (India-made) Arjun tanks, all 1,950 T-72M1 and 1,025 T-90S main battle tanks (MBTs) are of Russian origin. Further, infantry fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, armoured engineering vehicles, recovery vehicles, anti-tank infrastructure and surface-to-air missiles are also from Russia.

The Indian Navy’s dependence on Russia goes back to the 1960s when the first Foxtrot-class diesel electric patrol submarine was inducted into its fleet on December 8, 1967. Today, the lone nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) INS Chakra (ex-Russian Akula II) is on lease from Moscow. So is the case with nine imported Kilo-class submarines. The Navy’s long-range lethality originated with five Rajput (Kashin) class destroyers on September 30, 1980. The sole aircraft-carrier INS Vikrama-ditya today is of Russia’s Kiev class. All the indigenous surface shipbuilding programme of India, like those of the Delhi, Kolkata and Shivalik class destroyers and Brahmaputra, Godavari, Talwar class frigates are either designed by Russia or derived heavily from it. In naval aviation too, there is the MiG-29K/KUB Fulcrum; Ilyushin-38SD and Ka-28 helicopter.

The Indian Air Force too has banked heavily on various types MiGs — MiG-21, 23, 25R, 27 and 29 — for more than 50 years. Although MiG-25R and 27 are retired, according to Military Balance 2018, there are “62 MiG-29 fighters” and over 250 operational MiG-21 and 23 “fighter ground attack” aircraft in the Indian fleet. The IAF also flies Mi-25, 35 and 17 helicopters.

So the relationship between the Indian military and Russia just cannot be wished away by anyone. I am no supporter of Russia, or for that matter anyone else, other than our own enterprises. However, realpolitik and real-time “situations” became a compulsion for India from 1962 onwards to
seek assistance. That was the time when the West did not feel it necessary to give us the “latest and the best”.

When late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had complained over the arming of Pakistan with the F-86 Sabre jet, Lockheed F-104 and (then) General Dynamics F-16, the situation indeed looked grim and gloomy for the Indian armed forces. Her fault was that she had waged a war in 1971 to break what some in the West felt was perhaps the strongest bulwark against “hegemonic India”. It was during those dark hours that the Russians came to New Delhi’s rescue. Of course, the Russians too had their own motives — to counter their Cold War rivals on Indian soil. However, it was a blessing in disguise for India.

The point to make today is that the American establishment — both the administration and Congress — should heed what Mr Mattis says, and desist from trying to impose sanctions on India for purchasing arms or collaborating with Russians in matters related to India’s national security. The Americans’ fight with Russia can’t be carried out on, or from, Indian soil the way 18th and 19th century Europe’s Anglo-French wars were waged from Wandiwash and Arcot to Plassey and Bharatpur to Seringapatnam.

India needs to be able to take its own sovereign decisions on what it considers best for its national security. Other nations need to stay out and not try to interfere, just as the Indian Parliament does not try to exercise jurisdiction over foreign lands!

[UlanBatori]

BR and UBCN ahead of the wave as usual
Finally! A deserving candidate for the Peace Prize with real accomplishments:
a) Refused to go fight illegal war by dodging draft
b) Stopped flow of terrorists into US
c) Supported Russia in finishing off ISIS and freeing Syria
d) Made biss with North Korea
e) Largely emptied State Dept.

[ramana]

Tom Friedman is bashing Trump while writing about US-China trade negotiations.

One malaise with elites is they think they know what is needed.
Same way Tom F think she knows what Trump should do!

[UlanBatori]

https://abcnews.go.com/International/ir ... d=54862664

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars to parents, spouses, siblings and children of more than 1,000 9/11 victims,... even though the 9/11 Commission found no direct evidence of Iranian support.

....??

As the Ayatollah might say, "AoA! This bothers me as much as a fa*t in a thunderstorm.". Yes they can all bark around some bank accts seized from the Iranians post-1978 Teheran Embassy Tamasha, but that's it.

However... it does set a precedent for the upcoming case against KSA. I wonder how much the SD will intervene to get that dismissed.

[Rudradev]

Tom Friedman is bashing Trump while writing about US-China trade negotiations.

One malaise with elites is they think they know what is needed.
Same way Tom F think she knows what Trump should do!

Donald Chump has irrevocably lost Korea for the United States. The North-South detente is moving forward at Xi's behest, and on China's terms, while the 7th fleet has floundered uselessly (and expensively) in the Yellow Sea to no avail.

I have to love Moon Jae In suggesting that Donald Chump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for "denuclearizing NoKo" (as if Chump had a damn thing to do with it, or indeed has the foggiest notion of what's really going on).

The Nobel Prize, as widely recognized in Asia, is nothing but a pinch of talcum powder for the tantrum-inducing nappy rash Donald Chump will certainly have on realizing how profoundly he has been upstaged by Xi on the Korean peace process.

Not that the Nobel has ever been anything more than a cracker-jack award mutually bestowed by self-congratulatory practitioners of the EuroAmerican circle jerk, anyway.

[darshhan]

Tom Friedman is bashing Trump while writing about US-China trade negotiations.

One malaise with elites is they think they know what is needed.
Same way Tom F think she knows what Trump should do!

Donald Chump has irrevocably lost Korea for the United States. The North-South detente is moving forward at Xi's behest, and on China's terms, while the 7th fleet has floundered uselessly (and expensively) in the Yellow Sea to no avail.

I have to love Moon Jae In suggesting that Donald Chump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for "denuclearizing NoKo" (as if Chump had a damn thing to do with it, or indeed has the foggiest notion of what's really going on).

The Nobel Prize, as widely recognized in Asia, is nothing but a pinch of talcum powder for the tantrum-inducing nappy rash Donald Chump will certainly have on realizing how profoundly he has been upstaged by Xi on the Korean peace process.

Not that the Nobel has ever been anything more than a cracker-jack award mutually bestowed by self-congratulatory practitioners of the EuroAmerican circle jerk, anyway.

But then why should US even be in asia. White man's burden. South korea and Japan can both defend themselves. There is no need for US to be present in Asia at all especially when the threat of next economic recession is just around the corner.

Trump will be doing the right thing by drawing down american involvement in rest of the world. His primary responsibility should be safety and prosperity of American citizens and not koreans or japanese.

[darshhan]

American involvement outside of western hemisphere only reinforces the status quoists and prevents the geopolitical situations from returning to their natural order. This also benefits the deep state as well as their extremely corrupt and malicious Military Industrial complex.

[ricky_v]

As the Ayatollah might say, "AoA! This bothers me as much as a fa*t in a thunderstorm.". Yes they can all bark around some bank acct/s seized from the Iranians post-1978 Teheran Embassy Tamasha, but that's it.

However... it does set a precedent for the upcoming case against KSA. I wonder how much the SD will intervene to get that dismissed.

Depending on who you ask, 9/11 was executed by the saudis,joos,deep state,lizard people or any combination of these, iran has never been mentioned in such august company. Why should then such a ruling occur specifically when
1) The israeli nut has presented "evidence" of iranian nuclear activities hood winking the fact finding commitee
2) The us-iran nuclear deal is supposedly for the chop
3) Iran has almost won the battle of mid east against massa/saudi/israel
4) The clown prince of arabia is kow-towing to massa
5) There is a case filed against saudi for 9/11

Added later: The murica crowd wont care either way, a muzzie is a muzzie after all, that too so far from home, plus there is the small matter of spreading freedom and democracy amongst the "oppressed".

[Singha]

Murica has close to 1000 bases around the world if you count small ones and few dozen major sized ones
The logistical and support contracts for these bases is a small fortune

[Lalmohan]

and these bases are not really there for the wellbeing and uplift of the poor huddled dark masses, but to guarantee the supremacy of American power across the globe. so the idea of it being a benevolent act seems a little strange

and yes, china finally won the Korean war

[panduranghari]

US is making noises of rejoining TPP. If they do, that would be interesting.

[UlanBatori]

EuroAmerican circle jerk

U mean Jerk Circle. One has to be terminologically exact in these things.

[g.sarkar]

"http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/i ... yndication
Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla’s killer gets life imprisonment
.....
A federal judge in Kansas yesterday sentenced Purinton to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Kuchibhotla and 165 months imprisonment for each of the other two murder charges.
....."
The 51 year old Purinton will die in prison, costing the system millions of dollars over the years. However, the worth of a young man full of possibilities is surely more than that of an old alcoholic who made a mess of his life. The exchange is not equal.
Gautam

[Singha]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
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Our high level delegation is on the way back from China where they had long meetings with Chinese leaders and business representatives. We will be meeting tomorrow to determine the results, but it is hard for China in that they have become very spoiled with U.S. trade wins!

[UlanBatori]

"http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/i ... yndication
Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla’s killer gets life imprisonment
.....
A federal judge in Kansas yesterday sentenced Purinton to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Kuchibhotla and 165 months imprisonment for each of the other two murder charges.
....."
The 51 year old Purinton will die in prison, costing the system millions of dollars over the years. However, the worth of a young man full of possibilities is surely more than that of an old alcoholic who made a mess of his life. The exchange is not equal.
Gautam

He'll be out in 7, by the age of 58. But things are improving. In Dera Prinjeton Khan, a locality in NooJoiseyStan, it was standard practice that cases where Indians were murdered were prosecuted on "manslaughter" which of course was an advancement because non-WASPS were not considered human at all.

[A_Gupta]

The news says

Purinton, 52, would not be eligible for parole until after he turns 100.

. I suppose that is quietly changed later?

[Mort Walker]

The news says

Purinton, 52, would not be eligible for parole until after he turns 100.

. I suppose that is quietly changed later?

He's still up for federal hate crimes by US district court. Watch for that activity in Western District of Missouri. If they do nothing, then that will be a clear indication of actual hate at the federal level.

[A_Gupta]

The New York swamp from which Trump emerged:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/20 ... trump.html

[A_Gupta]

With a gun permit, in an open carry permit state, with “stand your ground law”
https://www.vox.com/2018/5/4/17311452/g ... -salama-ra

[UlanBatori]

New York Attorney-Jarnail resigns. Convicted by magazine article.

Looks like Bleat Pharara was an exception in that he only enjoyed the vicarious rapes, cavity searches etc. These other guys were "into it" big time, pun intended. Drunk and violent.

And on the Other Side:
Steve Wynn steps down as RNC Chair over - u guessed it - Sexual Misconduct.

Seems like US Politics is limited to 2 kinds: F*ckers and Liars.

[pravula]

New York Attorney-Jarnail resigns. Convicted by magazine article.

Looks like Bleat Pharara was an exception in that he only enjoyed the vicarious rapes, cavity searches etc. These other guys were "into it" big time, pun intended. Drunk and violent.

And on the Other Side:
Steve Wynn steps down as RNC Chair over - u guessed it - Sexual Misconduct.

Seems like US Politics is limited to 2 kinds: F*ckers and Liars.

Wasn't he the one pushing for the law allowing state criminal charges & trial even after a presidential pardon?

edit: Yep https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/nyre ... rdons.html