World

Donald Trump’s racism is not going over well in this new coronavirus-sensitized world in which we now live. We all know now that he’s had an epiphany and decided to take covid-19 seriously, but before that he was calling it the “Wuhan virus” and on March 2 he took the step of expelling 60 Chinese journalists as part of the “tit for tat statecraft that has become a hallmark of the strategic rivalry between the United States and China, encompassing trade, military and cybersecurity confrontations, tensions over human rights and the coronavirus epidemic.” So today, China addressed that issue and struck back in kind. New York Times: China instructed American journalists “whose press credentials are due to expire before the end of 2020” to “notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days.” It went on to specify that the American journalists now working in China “will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.” […] In a translated statement, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said the decisions “are entirely necessary and reciprocal countermeasures that China is compelled to take in response to the unreasonable oppression the Chinese media organizations experience in the U.S. They are legitimate and justified self-defense in every sense. What the U.S. has done is exclusively targeting Chinese media organizations, and hence driven by a Cold War mentality and ideological bias.” That observation is spot on. The Trump administration’s “foreign policy” was determined from the get-go, with the Musliim Ban by two ideologues, Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, without substantial government experience, let alone executive. That sent the tone for the entire regime and the most recent Wuhan virus insults have not helped Chinese-U.S. relations one whit. Relations between the two superpowers are declining and it would appear that in the face of global recession and the potential for millions of deaths, that other countries have had enough of Trump’s bullshit and are now going to fight back. At least that is a legitimate knee jerk response to China’s actions today. The Times said that this story would be updated as it developed.  

Authorized by President Donald Trump, U.S. forces late Thursday carried out a wave of airstrikes across Iraq purportedly targeting an Iran-linked militia that the Pentagon claims was behind a rocket attack that killed two...

Before humans began hunting whales, scientists believe that there were around 250,000 blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere. By 1967, when a ban on hunting the blue whale was introduced, that number was down to around 1,500....

It will be interesting to see what Donald Trump says about this, since he and Kim Jong Un “fell on love” and all nuclear proliferation stopped — according to him. The truth is probably closer to Kim Jong Un had a great laugh over the whole thing and today he’s laughing even harder. Little Rocket Man launched a missile from North Korea in the early hours of Monday, local time. CNBC: Pyongyang has repeatedly fired projectiles over the past year and bragged about developing a new strategic weapon as relations with the Trump administration have soured. North Korea and the U.S. failed to restart talks at the end of last year, after Washington refused to respond to Kim Jong-Un’s demands for concessions. President Donald Trump has sought to convince the North to give up its nuclear arsenal, banking on a personal relationship he has tried to develop with Kim as well as pressure through sanctions. Trump has held two summits with Kim and met him at the de-militarized zone between the North and South. However, Washington and Pyongyang have proven unable to strike a deal, with the North refusing to give up its nuclear arsenal and the U.S. refusing to roll back sanctions. It’s going to take more than a photo op to set this one straight. Trump starting war with North Korea has always topped my list of Trump phuque ups. Which is not to say that those of you who are thinking that his withdrawal from the Paris agreement, or his dismantling the nuclear deal with Iran, or his screwing with NATO, or any of the business with Russia are wrong if those are your favorites. Korea is mine, because it was such a spectacular flop. But you know what has crossed my mind? i’m wondering about the timing of this. I’m wondering if Kim doesn’t want to mess with Trump’s mind, or if launching the missile right when the coronavirus is exploding, and Trump is due to start his reelection campaign in earnest on Monday, is simply coincidence. Hard to say.

While President Donald Trump bragged Saturday about an agreement signed by the U.S. government and the Taliban as a milestone towards ending the war in Afghanistan that has raged now for the nearly two...

After nearly a year of on-again, off-again discussions, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement Saturday in Doha, Qatar. If it succeeds, it will mean the complete withdrawal of all U.S. and other...

We are in one huge mess.   We have to have someone ready to take the reins from day #1.  It will be one heck of a job.  We have had enough drama since 2017....

U.S. President Donald Trump got a warm welcome from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to kick off a whirlwind 36-hour tour of the world's largest democracy and announced the two countries were finalizing a...

The Dow Jones plummeted 900 points, over 3% on Monday, which was one of it’s biggest drops in years. The S&P 500 dropped 100 points, also three percent as fear spreads from the mounting death toll from the coronavirus world wide. Nobody knows how to contain the virus and the scenario has gotten scary enough to where comparisons are being made to the book by Michael Crichton, “Andromeda Strain.” The Hill: The declines follow reports that countries beyond China are now struggling to contain the spread of the coronavirus. South Korea raised its alert level to the highest level as infections topped 830, while Italian officials worked to contain an outbreak of 220 cases and Iranian officials confirmed 61 cases. The vast majority of the 78,000 cases of the virus are in China, where more than 2,400 people have died from the illness. Steps to contain the virus have disrupted air travel and some businesses dependent on Chinese manufacturing, including supply chains for electronics. Last week, a Goldman Sachs analysis warned that investors weren’t taking the coronavirus seriously enough, and that markets were due for a correction. Some economists have predicted the virus will weaken growth in the near term, but also expect markets and the global economy to bounce back quickly when the spread of the virus is under control. That’s the big “if” right now, is when will the spread of the virus be under control. So far, the strain has proven itself to be virulent and elusive. Do not look for international travel to go back to anything resembling normal any time soon.

When President Donald Trump arrives in Ahmedabad, India on Monday, he's expected to be greeted by roughly 100,000 cheering Indians along a sparkling clean route to the world's largest cricket stadium where another crowd...