Maybe Trump actually does deserve a Nobel Peace Prize

While Republicans are pushing for Donald Trump to get a Nobel Peace Prize for doing little or nothing in Korea, it turns out that Trump is succeeding in doing the impossible and uniting almost the entire world - against the United States.

“Even mass media are talking about extraterritorial measures, sovereignty, and standing up to the U.S.,” Delhpine O, a French lawmaker with President Macron’s En Marche party, said at a panel discussion Wednesday at the Atlantic Council in Washington. She added: “And all of a sudden this becomes something of national pride, which I’ve not seen … for a number of years. We have to be careful with this because it will probably become a matter of public opinion … of sovereignty, or pride, of standing up to protect our own interests.”
...“Neither side wants this disagreement [over the Iran deal] to affect other parts of the relationship,” Axel Hellman, a policy fellow at the European Leadership Network, said Tuesday at a separate panel discussion at the Atlantic Council. “But … we might see foreign ministers start to question the very foundations of their relationship with Washington. Security has always been a cornerstone of that relationship, and from a security point of view this is really kicking the EU in the teeth.”
“There had been lots on discussions and controversies across the pond for the last decades, but this is the hardest one because we see our core national security and continental security interest being just ignored,” Omeed Nouripour, a German lawmaker with the Greens, told me. “This drives us into the hands of the Chinese and the Russians.”

Oh, no. Not ScaryRussia!
Even the American news media is picking up on the changing political winds.
Consider this Bloomberg headline from today:

Rapprochement With Russia Is Now a Core Policy Objective for Germany

Rapprochement with Russia is now a core policy objective in Berlin, according to a senior German official with knowledge of the chancellery’s strategy. The shift in sentiment, underscoring why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 election campaign to favor the Republican wild card, is a consequence of the actions of a U.S. president who has strained the long-standing alliance with Europe.
..“Putin likes the irritation that Trump has created with Europe,” said Josef Janning, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “In his eyes, I think, the development is quite positive.”

Trump is demanding that Germany drop support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, or face American sanctions. This may work with multinational corporations, but it doesn't work so well with our European allies.

Now, even EU officials and national leaders who have no particular love for Nord Stream 2 are on the side of Germany. Meanwhile, the German government shows no fear of U.S. sanctions, just growing aggravation.

Even the NYTimes is chiming in with a headline like this:
Sanctions on Iran and Venezuela May Empower U.S. Rivals
The problem is that sanctioning two major oil exporters is driving up the price of oil, and that's good for oil exporters like Russia.
Plus with China having a booming oil exchange and openly defying the sanctions by buying all the oil that Venezuela and Iran can export, this whole foreign policy appears to be America shooting itself in the foot.

As for the Russian sanctions, they simply aren't working.
The MOEX, Russia's stock index, just hit a record high, while S&P Global Ratings in February lifted Russian sovereign debt back into investment grade.

Another Moody's report on Wednesday said Russian corporate liquidity “remains strong.” Economic stability, higher oil and commodity prices, lower interest rates and the weaker ruble all contributed to a broad picture of corporate health.
...Russia’s economy grew 1.3 percent in the first quarter, at the low end of the central bank’s forecasts. It’s not a disaster – it’s up from 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter, and in line with the slower pace of expansion seen in Europe.
Inflation and interest rates were both at 17 percent three years ago, and they’re now at 2.4 percent and 7.25 percent.

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Plus, in a symbolic event, an enormous bridge between Russia and Crimea was opened this week (ahead of schedule).

The U.S. was already considered the greatest threat to world peace before Trump took office.
The Russiaphobia of the last two years may play well with the American audience, but Europe isn't buying it.

It revealed that 83 percent of Germans said they weren’t afraid of Russia, while half of all respondents blamed American policy for creating a tense relationship between Russia and the West. Only a quarter of Germans believed that conflict was Russia’s fault. More than three-quarters of respondents (79 percent) said they considered US President Donald Trump to be a greater threat to world peace than his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Now normally, when faced with a situation of allies turning away from us, Washington would respond with a diplomatic blitz. However, we can't do that because we don't have any ambassadors. In fact, the State Department largely doesn't exist.
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43 Percent of American Households Can’t Afford Basic Needs

On Thursday, the United Way’s ALICE project released a study showing, as CNN reports, “Nearly 51 million households don’t earn enough to afford a monthly budget that includes housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and a cell phone.”

These numbers include both the 16.1 million families living at or below the federal poverty line (currently $24,600 for a family of four) and the 34.7 million families the United Way calls ALICE, or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. This means people who earn too much to qualify for federal poverty programs but are still unable to cover their monthly expenses.

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@gjohnsit That kinda news is never OT.

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Anja Geitz's picture

That the entire diplomatic corps that usually addresses this kind of tension is largely non existent. Is that unprecedented almost two years into a presidents tenure?

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI-ZOlbFLmU]

Just in case folks don't know who Sterculius is. Long story short, he's the Roman god of shit.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Alphalop's picture

Did he drone murder less people than Obama per year?

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

karl pearson's picture

@Alphalop This article gives some statistics, although it's a bit dated.

Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations recently calculated that Obama authorized 542 targeted drone strikes and special ops missions in 2,920 days -- an average of once every 5.4 days. In his first 74 days in office, President Trump has given the go-ahead at least 75 times, or about once a day.
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gulfgal98's picture

what must happen to the United States. Our imperialism must be stopped. If the rest of the world shuns us, that may be a good thing.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98

capitalists and the government they own, somebody has to. Until the rest of the countries unite to put us in our place, their greed and entitlement will not stop. It will be a one world nation with the Kochs and Mercers calling the shots.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

@gulfgal98 how I feel.

And I support Trump's efforts to reduce our trade deficits, even if it does create international 'tension.'

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dfarrah

internal movements and protests are going almost nowhere, that the forces for real change in the US would come from external forces.
I do not think the 99% can revolt against the 1% successfully without "furriners".

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

gulfgal98's picture

@on the cusp to come to a similar conclusion. Hopefully, it will not be as a result of violent conflict.

I do not think the 99% can revolt against the 1% successfully without "furriners".

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@on the cusp an international power, so I don't see furriners helping, as they are also trapped in the 1%'s web.

The only reason for the Trump hysteria is that he is upsetting some well-entrenched interests here and there.

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dfarrah

Seems starting with the eastward expansion of NATO, the Europeans were complicit in what has happening by going along with Obama's and now Trump's policies toward Russia and any other declared enemy of the neocon state establishment. Even the small nations had a good time pounding their chests and giving off their diplomatic Tarzan yells. EU politicians got up and gave brave anti-Russian speech after speech. In the long run sanctions may have hurt the EU more.

And Trump is now using this whole "sanctions mentality" which was fostered very much by the democrats also, to go after the Chinese. And now American companies must pay the price. China could really fck over US agriculture as something like 20% of US food exports go to China I believe. The French learned very quickly how important Russia was to their ag business when Putin blocked all EU imports

The price of imperialism is getting expensive.

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@MrWebster of what you said.

The tariff efforts are related to Trump trying to bring back jobs; if it works, I'm all for it.

I'm not too concerned about all of the huffing and puffing amongst world leaders as adjustments are made.

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dfarrah

as to how to deal with Wall St and all of the Big Banksters who mess with government and politics in order to freely terrorize and attack citizens in a form of inverted terrorism?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HvY5Ev1Io

Iran Switches From Dollar To Euro - US Labels Bank Terrorist
The Jimmy Dore Show

Published on 18 May 2018

Iran is switching over to Euro amidst difficulties with the dollar. The US labels the banks terrorists in response.

In a sane world, that would be US criminal banksters he'd be going after, and he wouldn't merit a booby prize.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

lotlizard's picture

Huge imperial machine astride the world, its goal domination of the entire planet, its daily reality committing crimes against humanity?

Better that the leadership be incompetent and full of hubris, if humanity’s only hope left is that the machine fail sooner rather than later.

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@lotlizard

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

CB's picture

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@CB

This needs to replace fluoride in the water supply...

Damn, Maddow's voice now makes me mentally wince every time I hear it - and I really liked her show before money turned her head in endless, vomit-emitting circles.

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0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.