zoogs Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/sunday/trump-tillerson-state-department-diplomats.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&mtrref=t.co&assetType=opinion An exodus is underway (...) The 8,000 Foreign Service officers are not sure how to defend American values under a president who has entertained the idea of torture, shown contempt for the Constitution, and never met an autocrat who failed to elicit his sympathy. Trump seems determined to hollow out the State Department in a strange act of national self-amputation. There's a good perspective presented here on the role of values in American foreign policy. 1 Link to comment
zoogs Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Flying blind: https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/1/16075052/north-korea-defese-state-department-vacancies This is a situation in which you want smart, levelheaded people in the top Korea-related posts in the US government. You want leading subject matter experts running Asia policy in the Departments of State and Defense, and someone who knows the South Korean government well serving as ambassador in Seoul. Yet in the Trump administration, those positions remain vacant. (...) In fact, no one has even been nominated to these positions. Also, what the flying : Sen. Lindsey Graham said the president told him he was willing to go to war with North Korea to stop their missile program if necessary because “if thousands die, they’re going to die over there.” Our CIC is a wanton madman. Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 Another world leader Trump can admire. 1 Link to comment
zoogs Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Terrible people sure take after each other. “By any means, this NGO must get out of Cambodia,” he said, referring to a nongovernmental organization, adding that all children living in Agape’s rehabilitation center would be taken into government care. “My country is poor, but you cannot insult our people,” Mr. Hun Sen said. “You bombarded our country, and now you make more trouble. It is fitting that CNN was blasted by President Donald Trump. I would like to say that President Trump is right: U.S. media is very tricky.” This is certainly one way for a government to devote its energies. Link to comment
NM11046 Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Wow. Do yourself a favor and read the transcripts attached to this article. Each day I think I can't be more embarrassed, but today I am. I can not imagine what being on the other end of this phone is like. How bizarre. 2 Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 I'm having a hard time getting past the part where he refers to himself in the 3rd person. In Ohio, they are having rallies for Trump right now because Trump has taken a hard stance on Mexico. We lost a lot of factories in Ohio and Michigan and I won these states – some of these states have not been won in 38 years by a Republican and I won them very easily. So they are dancing in the streets. You probably have the same thing where they are dancing in your streets also, but in reverse. Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Trump on The WallTM: The only thing I will ask you though is on the wall, you and I both have a political problem. My people stand up and say, “Mexico will pay for the wall” and your people probably say something in a similar but slightly different language. But the fact is we are both in a little bit of a political bind because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall – I have to. I have been talking about it for a two year period, and the reason I say they are going to pay for the wall is because Mexico has made a fortune out of the stupidity of U.S. trade representatives. They are beating us at trade and they are beating us at the border, and they are killing us with drugs. Now I know you are not involved with that, but regardless of who is making all the money, billions and billions and billions – some people say more – is being made on drug trafficking that is coming through Mexico. Some people say that the business of drug trafficking is bigger than the business of taking our factory jobs. So what I would like to recommend is – if we are going to have continued dialogue – we will work out the wall. They are going to say, “who is going to pay for the wall, Mr. President?” to both of us, and we should both say, “we will work it out.” It will work out in the formula somehow. As opposed to you saying, “we will not pay” and me saying, “we will not pay.” Because you and I are both at a point now where we are both saying we are not to pay for the wall. From a political standpoint, that is what we will say. We cannot say that anymore because if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that. I am willing to say that we will work it out, but that means it will come out in the wash and that is okay. But you cannot say anymore that the United States is going to pay for the wall. I am just going to say that we are working it out. Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about. But in terms of dollars – or pesos – it is the least important thing. I know how to build very inexpensively, so it will be much lower than these numbers I am being presented with, and it will be a better wall and it will look nice. And it will do the job. --------PN (Mexican President): You have a very big mark on our back, Mr. President, regarding who pays for the wall. This is what I suggest, Mr. President – let us stop talking about the wall. I have recognized the right of any government to protect its borders as it deems necessary and convenient. But my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.T: But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that. You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances. (This is a pretty fair look into the addled mind of a poorly-informed individual who cannot extend beyond the absolute basics of what he is talking about. Rambly nonsense that is hard to follow) 3 Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Weirdo: It is you and I against the world, Enrique, do not forget.---- You know, we should put that in the statement. Your words are so beautiful. Those are beautiful words and I do not think I can speak that beautifully, okay? It would be great to put those words at the end of the statement. Really nice though. Link to comment
zoogs Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Yeah, maybe we should elect smart people to this office. Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Good god. I'm not even going to post excerpts from the call with PM Turnbull from Australia. It's a trainwreck. Boasting about his electoral votes, telling Turnbull he's presided over many stupid deals in business, railing on Obama... What a disgrace. 1 Link to comment
zoogs Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/4/16090812/trump-russia-sanctions-congress-putin https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/08/trump-russia-sanctions-putin/535824/ The sitting U.S. President is functionally doing the job of Kremlin mouthpiece for them. Much to their delight, and probably to nobody's surprise. These are good reads. The Russians are doing quite effective work. Not only in procuring a willing ally and champion in the White House for god's sake, against U.S. interests ... but also in encouraging the fissures between the American people and their Congress, between the U.S. and Europe. We voted for a guy who would lend either an unwitting or an active assist to Russia's efforts at reclaiming their strategic position. And that's exactly what we're getting. Yay? 1 Link to comment
zoogs Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/08/08/war-afghanistan-trump-white-house-weighs-bold-plan-privatize/548004001/ Future War Love Sounds. Link to comment
TGHusker Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Trump on The WallTM: The only thing I will ask you though is on the wall, you and I both have a political problem. My people stand up and say, “Mexico will pay for the wall” and your people probably say something in a similar but slightly different language. But the fact is we are both in a little bit of a political bind because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall – I have to. I have been talking about it for a two year period, and the reason I say they are going to pay for the wall is because Mexico has made a fortune out of the stupidity of U.S. trade representatives. They are beating us at trade and they are beating us at the border, and they are killing us with drugs. Now I know you are not involved with that, but regardless of who is making all the money, billions and billions and billions – some people say more – is being made on drug trafficking that is coming through Mexico. Some people say that the business of drug trafficking is bigger than the business of taking our factory jobs. So what I would like to recommend is – if we are going to have continued dialogue – we will work out the wall. They are going to say, “who is going to pay for the wall, Mr. President?” to both of us, and we should both say, “we will work it out.” It will work out in the formula somehow. As opposed to you saying, “we will not pay” and me saying, “we will not pay.” Because you and I are both at a point now where we are both saying we are not to pay for the wall. From a political standpoint, that is what we will say. We cannot say that anymore because if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that. I am willing to say that we will work it out, but that means it will come out in the wash and that is okay. But you cannot say anymore that the United States is going to pay for the wall. I am just going to say that we are working it out. Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about. But in terms of dollars – or pesos – it is the least important thing. I know how to build very inexpensively, so it will be much lower than these numbers I am being presented with, and it will be a better wall and it will look nice. And it will do the job. -------- PN (Mexican President): You have a very big mark on our back, Mr. President, regarding who pays for the wall. This is what I suggest, Mr. President – let us stop talking about the wall. I have recognized the right of any government to protect its borders as it deems necessary and convenient. But my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall. T: But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that. You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances. (This is a pretty fair look into the addled mind of a poorly-informed individual who cannot extend beyond the absolute basics of what he is talking about. Rambly nonsense that is hard to follow) :facepalm: Link to comment
ZRod Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/08/08/war-afghanistan-trump-white-house-weighs-bold-plan-privatize/548004001/ Future War Love Sounds. Remind me again who Erik Prince is related to? ...Oh that's right he's the brother of someone in the Trump administration, and he would stand to profit greatly from this deal. Nothing to see here... except continued nepotism. 1 Link to comment
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