Category: US Power
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Will the 20 point plan lead to more….
Having read Yair Lapid’s argument for change in Israel there is one lesson and that is not to take anything coming out of the mouth of Netanyahu as having any value when in negotiation. In announcing Trump’s proposal for his 20 point peace plan, there is a realisation that Netanyahu had decided to destroy the…
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Diplomacy or revenge
There was something that didn’t quite fit in with the news conference given by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The niceties of the press conference were mixed with a statement from the state that rambled on with threats and then on to international law. The elements that were most talked about were those of international law,…
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Ninety days before Trump returns with economics 101
Once the stock exchanges around the world crashed last week, the US Treasury secretary argued that most of the investors in the exchange whose pensions were on the line were down only 40 percent, but the majority of those with pensions on the line were hammered by US bonds failure to sell. It was argued…
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A step to far
Trump wants the trade deficit reduced and by putting tariffs on imports Trump believes he can reduce the US trade deficit. But tariffs are a tax on the consumer and an added tax for articles that will be entering the US market. It really is a question of whether the President understands what a tariff…
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With soft power comes influence
It was very much a trick of the Conservatives in the UK to stop all spending whether the economy needed it or not. But Trump’s tactic or should I say Rubio’s is extraordinary, “Stop all Foreign Aid”. Of course they have the ultimate answer to stop voices being heard and that is to fire the person…
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Its all in the air now the US election is over
It is all in the air with the US elective electing Trump to the presidency. Countries in Europe, China and right across the Middle East are wondering what his presidency will bring. For Europe it is about trade, for China it is about tariffs and for the Middle East it is about stability, all arguments…
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Critical time for the world, is America up to it…?
It was sad to see Biden stumble about on stage and lose his train of thought. Neither candidate seemed that well-informed and if the free world rests on the inconsistencies of Trump or the frailty of Biden, the world is in trouble. There was an element of sadness that the frailties of Biden were on display,…
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NATO, Europe and the question of Ukraine
It is strange that when a country invades part of your territory, you are not allowed to attack the supply line that is enabling the attacking power to invade your territory in the first place. Ukraine is in this position, a position of weakness because it cannot attack Russia’s supply lines with the Western weapons…
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Middle East in conflict
In an article by editor in chief of Haaretz, Aluf Benn, tells the story of Roi Rotberg, a man patrolling the fields of kibbutz Nahal. He had been taken by Palestinians and was horribly tortured, his eyes were poked out and the body was found on the Gaza side of the border. He told this…
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Is US intelligence being undone by the isolationists in US Congress.
The rise of intelligence agencies activities is not much of a surprise, but the movement into the realm of technology is a spate that worries those who remember Edward Snowdon and Julian Assange’s warnings of mission creep. That William Burns, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency is writing in this weeks Foreign Affairs, tells…
Current Affairs 