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Ideas Trump And The World

Mexico Freeze, Is Trump Really About To Kill NAFTA?

The numbers contradict Donald Trump’s claims that leaving NAFTA will benefit U.S. business and workers. It will harm them, not to mention their Mexican counterparts.

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Ideas Trump And The World

Trump’s Big Lie Is Now Clear To All, And It May Not Matter

His false promises to the working class are being exposed. But the paradox of a new expose book is that it may actually strengthen his alliance with traditional Republicans.

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Ideas Trump And The World

For Latest Trump Revelations, Follow The (Family) Money

Trump’s former strategist Steven Bannon was quoted as saying the families of Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner may get caught in a significant federal money-laundering investigation.

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Geopolitics Ideas Trump And The World

Iran To Venezuela, An Ugly Mix Of Oil Wealth And Social Unrest

Donald Trump has become a convenient scapegoat for problems in countries like Venezuela and Iran, where vast oil reserves leave few excuses for pervasive economic problems.

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Ideas Trump And The World

Trump For Christmas, A Grim Update For My Friends In Europe

Impeachment is coming, and other failed predictions.

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Green Or Gone Ideas Trump And The World

As Trump Withdraws, Macron And Putin Step Into The Void

-Analysis- Donald Trump won’t be in Paris on Tuesday. Following his decision to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron didn’t invite him to the two-day One Planet Summit opening in the French capital. Gathering 50 world leaders and dozens of international business leaders, the conference coincides with […]

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Ideas The Endless War Trump And The World

Trump, Jerusalem And The End Of American Diplomacy

Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the surest sign that President Trump wants to dismantle the entire international relations system that the U.S. helped build after World War II.

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Eyes on the U.S. Ideas The Endless War Trump And The World

Donald Trump And Jerusalem: It’s Complicated

Is the American in good faith? Why now? What’s next? Questions pile up in the wake of a decision that reverses 70 years of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East.

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Geopolitics Ideas Trump And The World

Trump’s Frightening Belief That He Can Act With Impunity

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump this week disseminated on social media three inflammatory and unverified anti-Muslim videos, took glee in the firing of a news anchor for sexual harassment despite facing more than a dozen of his own accusers and used a ceremony honoring Navajo war heroes to malign a senator with a derogatory slur, “Pocahontas.” Again and again, Trump veered far past the guardrails of presidential behavior. But despite the now-routine condemnations, the president is acting emboldened, as if he were impervious to the uproar he causes. If there are consequences for his actions, Trump does not seem to […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

Trump, Erdogan, Merkel: What Price For A Free Press?

-Analysis- Donald Trump, the world’s biggest cyberbully, has issued another Twitter threat. The target this time wasn’t North Korea’s “Rocket Man,” but another favorite: the media. Yesterday, hours after NBC News aired a report claiming the president wanted a “nearly tenfold” increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, Trump took to social media to retaliate. In […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

U.S. Should Stop Blaming Colombia For Its Drug Problems

-OpEd- BOGOTÁ — After more than half-a-century of fighting, Colombia’s FARC guerillas have surrendered their weapons and officially transformed themselves into a formal political party. But still, the U.S. government apparently isn’t satisfied. “The FARC hasn’t followed through on the issue of drugs,” the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Kevin Whitaker, said matter-of-factly in a recent […]

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

If Washington Kills Iran Nuke Deal, Europe Will Be Furious

—Analysis— WASHINGTON — More than any other issue that has threatened transatlantic cohesion this year, President Donald Trump’s decision to decertify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal could start a chain of events that would sharply divide the United States from its closest traditional allies in the world. “After the Paris climate decision,” in which Trump withdrew the United States from a widely supported, painfully negotiated accord, “this could push multilateralism to the breaking point,” said a senior official from one of the three European signatories to the Iran deal. None of the three – Britain, France and Germany – […]

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Ideas Migrant Lives Trump And The World

How Immigration Could Make Or Break The Trump Presidency

WASHINGTON — President Trump is hurtling toward a crossroads on immigration — his signature campaign issue and a key source of his law-and-order reputation — where each path before him comes with significant political risks. Trump has temporarily placed the fates of roughly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children in the hands of Congress, buying himself time and shunting responsibility. Should Congress act, the president will have to choose whether to sign on to a legislative solution granting the “dreamers’ legal status — or to let the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics Trump And The World

Mike Pence Is Dull And Conservative And He’s Still Our Best Hope

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump’s presidency has produced a proliferation of Eeyores. It’s not their (our) fault. However dismal one’s view of current American politics, Trump is sure to expose it, with a tweet or the lack of one, as a naive and rosy fantasy. Each day, we adjust our sights down. Each day, the president forces our gaze lower. Some conservatives might take comfort in the prospect — wish, really — of a President Mike Pence assuming office before the current occupant’s term is up. The Indiana Republican is as dull and serviceable a politician as Trump is bizarre […]

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

Six Months On, The Twisted Irony Of The Trump Presidency

In strange and not-so-strange ways, Donald Trump’s actions are having the opposite effect of what he intended.

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

Trump Exits Paris Climate Deal, 24 Front Pages From Around The World

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and seek a new deal. “The planet’s enemy,” a “coup against the future” — and even some barely printable expletives: Here’s how international newspapers reacted to the news Friday. UNITED STATES New York Daily News, a play on […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

Hey World, Look Who’s Coming To Dinner

-Analysis- Donald Trump is not afraid of flying. Since taking office, he’s made it a habit to board Air Force One for back-and-forth weekend visits to his Mar-a-Lago Florida golf resort. But today, four months into his presidency, he takes off for his first overseas trip, with six international flights scheduled over eight days and […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

I Support Trump But Firing FBI Chief Comey Was Wrong

-OpEd- I’m a Donald Trump supporter. I voted for him and — 112 days in — I’d vote for him again. As a former member of Congress, I found his call to “drain the swamp” in Washington particularly appealing. D.C. needs a kick in the rear and I see Trump as the boot. But I’m not here to be a cheerleader for President Trump, and I’m not on his payroll. When he does something wrong, it’s my duty as a talk-show host, and as a citizen, to call him out. I always have and always will, so let me be […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Ideas Trump And The World

Trump Control, From Comey To Korean Peninsula

-Analysis- Having spent his whole life running a family business, Donald Trump is still adjusting to the strategic art of control required to effectively run the White House — and help lead the world. Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, making him the shortest serving director since the 1920s. Comey had orbited in […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Ideas Trump And The World

Duterte And Trump, When Tough Talk Leads To Deadly Action

WASHINGTON, D.C. — During his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump boasted that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” On the 100th day of his presidency, Trump invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said that he used to roam the streets on a motorcycle looking for criminals to kill, to the White House. A Duterte state visit to Washington or Mar-a-Lago would be a ghastly spectacle, given the way the Philippines have pursued a war on drugs even more literal than the one in the United […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

Flying Blind, Trump’s Foreign Policy Keeps Allies Guessing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As he nears his 100th day in office, President Donald Trump’s efforts to appear decisive and unequivocal in his responses to fast-moving global crises have been undercut by a series of confusing and conflicting messages from within his administration. Over the past two weeks, policy pronouncements from senior Trump aides have often been at odds with one another — such as whether Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave power as part of a negotiated resolution to end that nation’s civil war. In other cases, formal White House written statements have conflicted with those from government agencies, even […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

What Trump Talks About When He Talks About War

-OpEd- When U.S. President Donald Trump recounted last week’s bombing of Syria to a Fox News journalist, the first direct U.S. assault on the regime of the war-torn country, he shared an anecdote — in vivid detail — about eating chocolate cake with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-A-Lago estate. Trump: “I was sitting […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Syria Crisis Trump And The World

World Newspapers Analyze Trump’s ‘Trigger-Happy’ Turnaround On Syria

-Analysis- For the longest time, Donald Trump has disparaged U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, mocked his rival’s strategy in Syria, and unequivocally stated that America’s enemy in the country was terror group ISIS, not President Bashar al-Assad. Then on Friday, with little warning, Trump, as U.S. president, launched airstrikes against Syria, the first […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

Italian Magazine: Behind Bars Of Trump Presidency

Il Sole 24 ORE magazine, March 17, 2017 — Photo: Charles Ommanney “The Closing Of The American Mind,” reads the April cover of Il Sole 24 ORE’s monthly magazine IL. This month’s cover is a photograph at the fence between the United States and Mexico, as U.S. President Donald Trump vows to follow through on […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

A Very Dangerous Man In The White House

Beyond his media attacks and over-the-top reality TV performances, Donald Trump’s lack of command of the issues is what should worry us.

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Geopolitics Ideas Trump And The World

Have U.S.-Europe Relations Changed Forever?

After Brexit and Trump, Europe is forced to fight back. The precious Transatlantic Alliance may be at risk.

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Geopolitics True Fiction Trump And The World

True Fiction: When President Trump Met President Le Pen

After the stunning Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election in the United States, all eyes shifted to the land of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” to see what modern democracy held in store, as French voters cast their ballots in the April 23 first round of the presidential election. And it did not disappoint, with France’s two […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

The Wall Of Trump: Stand Your Ground, Pena Nieto!

-Editorial- SANTIAGO — Finally. The Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reacted correctly to the new U.S. President Donald J. Trump, canceling the meeting they were scheduled to have last week. Mr. Peña Nieto seems to have come into his own! Trump had asked for the meeting, to discuss trade, immigration and above all, frontier security. […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

A Call To Philosophers: Join The Fray, Help Fix Our World

Our era of authoritarian rulers and ‘alternative facts’ makes the guiding light of philosophy more vital than ever.

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

Defying Trump, Texas Sheriff Gives Safe Haven To Immigrants

Austin, Texas may be the first of many ‘sanctuary cities’ that disobey President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy.

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Ideas Trump And The World

After Trump, Argentina Restricts Immigration To Fight Crime

-Analysis- BUENOS AIRES — It must be a sign of the times. Echoing the clampdown of foreign visitors by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Argentina is set to tighten its border controls in a country that has long received migrants from around the world. The move was taken ostensibly to target crime, which many Argentines […]

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Geopolitics True Fiction Trump And The World

True Fiction: When President Trump Meets President Macron

It’s October 2017. The spring’s French presidential elections had been won by a fresh-faced ‘Anti-Trump.’ Now it’s time for the two men to meet.

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Economy Eyes on the U.S. Future Trump And The World

A Trump-Era Brain Drain? U.S.-Based Scientists Eye Switzerland

Foreign scientists working in the U.S. are seeking job prospects in Switzerland as they contemplate leaving a country under an unfriendly administration. For one Swiss agency, that’s not necessarily good news.

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

How Merkel’s Lectures To Thin-Skinned Trump Can Backfire

-Analysis- BERLIN — On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump released a joint statement regarding their first phone call earlier that day. The statement about their 45-minute conversation noted — in the neutral tone common to all statements of this kind — that a wide range of topics were discussed: NATO, […]

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

World Reacts To Trump’s Muslim Ban, 24 Newspaper Front Pages

UNITED STATES The Washington Post Chicago Sun-Times MEXICO La Razon de Mexico BRAZIL O Globo Folha de S. Paulo URUGUAY El Observador HONDURAS La Prensa EL SALVADOR El Diario de Hoy POLAND Gazeta Wyborcza NETHERLANDS Nrc.Next Metro Nieuws RUSSIA SPAIN El Pais La Razon La Vanguardia ITALY La Repubblica GREECE E Ephemerida TURKEY Cumhuriyet EGYPT […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

Bannon Rising, Trump’s ‘Alt-Right’ Advisor Consolidates Power

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s elevation of his chief political strategist to a major role in national security policy, and a White House order banning refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries from U.S. entry, appeared to come together as cause and effect over the weekend. Stephen Bannon — whose nationalist convictions and hard-line oppositional view of globalism have long guided Trump — was directly involved in shaping the controversial immigration mandate, according to several people familiar with the drafting who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The order, which has ignited sweeping domestic and international backlash, came […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

Beyond Donald Trump, The Real Problem Is American Exceptionalism

-OpEd- When Donald Trump spoke at his inauguration on Jan. 20, there wasn’t even a hint of trying to be magnanimous. Instead, he called for the most narrow-minded form of nationalism. It’s tempting to see this as one of the many personal shortcomings of the new president of the United States. But that’s not the […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

Special Relationships, A Duo’s Dynamics

— Analysis — To be clear from the start: No, he is not Ronald Reagan and she is not Margaret Thatcher — and this certainly is not 1981. Still, any false analogies aside, today’s White House meeting between brand new U.S. President Donald Trump and newish British Prime Minister Theresa May is charged with the […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

TrumpSpeak To Berlusconisms, New Frontiers Of Political Rhetoric

PARIS — When Donald Trump talks … well, that’s some kind of talking. During his successful run for the presidency, the world got to hear the billionaire real estate mogul turned reality TV star spout his own singular brand of vaguely aggressive and self-aggrandizing forms of communication. And a week since moving into the White […]

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Economy Trump And The World

Donald Trump Tears Down Old Right-Left Divide On Free Trade

Trump’s vow to end NAFTA and bring back factories to the U.S. isn’t typical right-wing ideology. Or is it that we’ve misunderstood the purpose of ideology?

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