Bloomberg (December 28)
“Who is the most important and disruptive leader in the world today? Most Americans would probably answer, Donald Trump—with Russia’s Vladimir Putin running a close second.” There is, however “a strong case that China’s Xi Jinping may deserve the title.”
Washington Post (December 17)
It’s not clear “the country has fully comprehended the damage being done by a president who misbehaves so frequently…. Globally, the United States has lost its power, its aura of seriousness and decisiveness that once made autocrats hesitate before crossing us. Now we are a country that can’t seem to stand up to a ruler who orders the murder and dismemberment of a dissident who was a legal U.S. resident or call out Russia’s intrusion into America’s democratic process…. A child occupies the White House, and the world knows it.”
Tags: Aura, Child, Damage, Decisiveness Dismemberment, Misbehaves, Power, President, Russia, Seriousness, U.S.
BBC (October 21)
“Concern about Russia’s development and deployment of a missile system that breaches the INF treaty predates the Trump administration.” Still, Trump’s “decision to walk away from the agreement marks a significant setback for arms control. Many experts believe that negotiations should have continued to try to bring the Russians back into compliance.” Instead, the move may prove part of a “wider unravelling of the whole system of arms control treaties.”
Tags: Arms control, Compliance, Experts, INF, Missile system, Negotiations, Russia, Setback, Treaties, Treaty, Trump
Time (September 26)
“President Trump’s efforts to isolate Iran at the U.N. backfired.” “The fiery speeches against Iran,” instead, revealed the “divisions… between the U.S. and its closest allies.” Most “foreign nations have opted to defend the agreement” with Iran, “rather than join America’s outbursts against it.” In fact, Russia, China, Germany, Britain, and France agreed “to set up legal entity to circumvent U.S. sanctions.”
Tags: Allies, Backfired, Britain, China, Circumvent, France, Germany, Iran, Outburst, Russia, Sanctions, Trump, U.N., U.S.
Time (September 13)
“The United States may have reclaimed the title of the world’s biggest oil producer sooner than expected.” Based on preliminary estimates from the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. probably surpassed Russia this summer “after jumping over Saudi Arabia earlier this year. If those estimates are right, it would mark the first time since 1973 that the U.S. has led the world in output.”
Tags: 1973, Energy, Oil producer, Output, Preliminary estimates, Russia, Saudi Arabia, U.S.
Reuters (September 11)
Perhaps without realizing it, Donald Trump is playing a very “dangerous Asian game” His “clear tilt toward India will hardly halt Pakistan’s continued drift toward neighboring China and Russia…. Trump must recognize that getting his way across the subcontinent could bring down a fragile edifice, one that has been propped up by delicate presidential balancing acts since the days of the Truman administration.”
Tags: Asian game, Balancing acts, China, Dangerous, Delicate, Fragile, India, Pakistan, Russia, Tilt, Truman, Trump
Washington Post (August 21)
“For foreign countries that have made big bets on Donald Trump’s presidency — such as Russia, China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia — the U.S. midterm elections pose a significant problem: Trump’s maneuvering room may be sharply limited if Democrats win control of the House.” The Republicans hold on power looks “so precarious, that foreign commentators are debating what GOP losses in November could mean.”
Tags: China, Democrats, Election, Midterm, North Korea, Precarious, Republicans, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (July 16)
“In Helsinki, Mr. Trump again insisted ‘there was no collusion’ with Russia.” In the process, however, he “appeared to align himself with the Kremlin against American law enforcement.” By “refusing to acknowledge the plain facts about Russia’s behavior, while trashing his own country’s justice system, Mr. Trump in fact was openly colluding with the criminal leader of a hostile power.”
Tags: Collusion, Criminal, Facts, Helsinki, Hostile power, Justice, Kremlin, Law enforcement, Russia, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (June 8)
“Trump is waging a trade war in the dumbest way possible.” In the best of times, “trade wars are neither good nor easy to win…. Every side loses, experiencing lost jobs, crippled businesses and higher prices for consumers.” Trumps tariffs are now estimated to result in 16 lost U.S. jobs for every job gained in the aluminum/steel industry: a painful, self-inflicted wound. Moreover, the counterpunches of our trading partners “are likely to draw more blood.” With the “already announced $40 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made products,” Canada, the EU, Mexico, Russia, India, Japan and Turkey have “fine-tuned the art of minimizing their own pain — and maximizing ours.”
Tags: Aluminum. Steel, Businesses, Canada, Consumers, Counterpunches, Dumbest, EU, India, Japan, Lost jobs, Mexico, Prices, Russia, Tariffs, Trade war, Trading partners, Trump, Turkey, U.S.
New York Times (March 4)
“There can be little doubt now.” President Donald Trump “truly sees no danger in Mr. Xi’s ‘great’ decision to extend his own rule until death. That craven reaction is in line with Mr. Trump’s consistent support and even admiration for men ruling with increasing brutal and autocratic methods—Vladimir Putin of Russia, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, to name a few.”
Tags: Admiration, Autocratic, Brutal, China, Duterte, Erdogan, Philippines, Putin, Rule, Russia, Trump, Turkey, U.S., Xi
