15 Jun
News and Analyses, A Foreign Perspective
News and Analyses, A Foreign Perspective
English Online International Newspapers
Nearly all of these are English-edition daily newspapers. These sites have interesting editorials and essays, and many have links to other good news sources. We try to limit this list to those sites which are regularly updated, reliable, with a high percentage of “up” time.
View All>>
It’s Time to Isolate Donald Trump
The G-7 summit once again made it clear that U.S. President Donald Trump is intent on treating America’s allies worse than its enemies. Europe must draw the consequences and seek to isolate Trump on the international stage.
A Commentary by Roland Nelles
The demise of the West. The end of the postwar world order. The beginning of a new era. There are lots of dramatic claims making the rounds to describe what exactly U.S. President Donald Trump is currently up to. And all of them are both correct and incorrect at the same time.
The debacle at the G-7 clearly shows that the real problem with Donald Trump’s policies is Donald Trump himself. There is no rhyme or reason to his actions aside from the desire — the need — to be the best, the most important, the biggest. The collapse of the West and the destruction of alliances that have held up for decades are merely the side effects of this unprecedented ego trip.
At the G-7 summit, Trump treated America’s oldest friends as though they were enemies. At the same time, he fawns over Russian President Vladimir Putin and calls dictators such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “very honorable.” He sees the reflection of himself in such men. He does what he wants. Agreements with partners, the rules of the international order: None of that holds water with Trump.
Trump wants complete control and can’t stand being contradicted. He always has to have the first word and the last. Indeed, it was far from surprising that he sought to impose his own agenda (the trade conflict and Russia) on the summit. The tweet he sent from his plane out of Canada, in which he revoked his support for the summit statement, was merely a logical result of his egomania. It’s always just me, me, me.
The problem facing the “West,” or at least the West as represented by Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, et al., is that leaders end up playing the role of extras in this lunacy. They do so because they continue to try to hold up the old ideals and the old rules. They believe in the power of words, logical arguments and alliances. That might be honorable, but in dealing with an egomaniac like Trump, it isn’t particularly helpful. One hopes they will have finally realized as much following the embarrassing end to the G-7 summit.
It was the French president who made perhaps the most prudent observation. “No leader is eternal,” he wrote on Twitter, a message that was clearly aimed at his American counterpart. It was, intentionally or not, a reminder of how this objectionable show can be brought to an end. American voters have it in their power to issue a sharp rebuke to Trump. They can punish him and the Republicans in the mid-terms this fall, and they can vote him out of office in 2020.
And Europe? Europe can offer resistance by isolating Trump, by avoiding him and by making it explicitly clear why they are doing so.
In this conflict, Europe must also learn how to be louder than Trump — its message must reach not only European citizens, but Americans as well. Many in the United States, after all, haven’t yet fully realized the degree to which Trump has damaged the Western alliance.
Trump, of course, has his followers who celebrate him exactly because of the chaos he is causing. But many other voters aren’t happy about the destructive course Trump has charted. They are Europe’s most important allies — and Europe’s greatest hope.
British primatologist Jane Goodall visits a chimp rescue centre in Entebbe, Uganda
Photograph: Sumy Sadurni/AFP/Getty Images
Read Full Article>>
IPCC says ‘rapid and far-reaching’ measures required to combat climate change
Countries can fight climate change and keep warming below 1.5C if they take immediate measures, says the leaked UN draft report. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
The world is on track to exceed 1.5C of warming unless countries rapidly implement “far-reaching” actions to reduce carbon emissions, according to a draft UN report leaked to Reuters.
The final draft report from the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) was due for publication in October. It is the guiding scientific document for what countries must do to combat climate change.
Human-induced warming would exceed 1.5C by about 2040 if emissions continued at their present rate, the report found, but countries could keep warming below that level if they made “rapid and far-reaching” changes.
Under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, almost 200 countries signed up to limit global temperature rises to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C.
Climate scientist and Climate Analytics director Bill Hare said the draft report showed with greater clarity how much faster countries needed to move towards decarbonisation under various temperature situations and that the impacts of climate change greatly increased between 1.5C and 2C of warming.
Necessary actions include making the transition to renewable energy, powering the transport sector with zero carbon electricity, improving agricultural management and stopping deforestation.
“This IPCC report shows anyone drawing from published papers that there are big differences between 1.5 and 2 degrees warming in both natural and human systems,” Hare said. “Two degrees warming and the tropical reefs have basically no chance – 1.5 degrees, they have a small to modest chance of survival.
“There’s a range of commentary that comes out of the report that provides a stronger narrative for us to act than ever before.”
He said it showed that if emissions continued on their present pathway, there was no chance of limiting global temperature rises even to 3C.
Economic modelling in the draft report showed that the dangers for economic growth, particularly in developing countries, were significantly greater at 2C than 1.5C.
The Greenpeace International executive director, Jennifer Morgan, said the moment of truth had come for leaders and the feasibility of achieving the Paris goals was a political choice.
“This choice must be driven by a moral obligation that binds us together. Through international cooperation, real ambition and working with communities, our leaders still have the time to do what they must,” she said.
“That means saying no to fossil fuels and standing up for forest and ocean protection with decisions that prove they understand the urgency. It means cutting down on meat and dairy consumption, and changing the way we produce our food.”
Read Full Article>>
Dust from a storm covers the horizon on the outskirts of New Delhi, 9 June 2018. Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP
Smog more toxic than can be measured by monitoring devices has blanketed the Indian capital this week, months before the start of Delhi’s traditional “pollution season”.
A thick haze was visible across the city from Tuesday and some government pollution monitors have recorded concentrations of 999 – the highest they can measure – as dust storms kicked up in nearby Rajasthan state blanketed the region.
Though the billowing clouds of dust and sand were blamed for the immediate spike in pollution levels, the sight of dense smog engulfing Delhi months before winter has underscored a growing awareness that harmful air is a year-round problem for the city.
Air quality in Delhi usually begins to plummet in October when slower winds and cooler temperatures trap pollutants closer to the ground.
But data published by the government’s Central Pollution Control Board shows that air quality has been classed “very unhealthy” – with index scores as high as 270 – every April and May for the past three years, or since authorities began collecting and publishing the statistics.
Just a single day in April or May of the past three years had air classified as “good” – 12 April this year, when levels fell to 99. “It clearly shows that this is also a summertime problem,” said Aishwarya Sudhir, an independent researcher who studies air quality in India.
Authorities have ordered a halt to all construction in the capital and its satellite cities until the weekend to reduce pollution levels, and doctors have advised people to stay indoors as much as possible.
Meteorologists said the presence of a layer of dust across the city is also trapping heat, sending temperatures soaring in excess of 40C.
Concern about north India’s air quality crisis is usually most acute after the Hindu festival of Diwali in autumn, when hundreds of thousands of Indians release firecrackers that combine with existing pollutants to form a poisonous haze over the region that persists for months until temperatures cool. Public health experts said pollution levels on some days in November last year were the equivalent of smoking 50 cigarettes per day.
India, home to 14 of the world’s top 20 most polluted cities, has the highest rate of respiratory diseases of any country. A leading lung specialist, Arvind Kumar, says the cancer patients he sees Delhi are younger, more often female and more likely to be non smokers than those outside the city.
Children are the most vulnerable: a 2015 study concluded about half Delhi’s 4.4m schoolchildren had stunted lung development and would never completely recover.
Read Full Article>>
World Politics
Germany
Dispute over interior minister’s immigration policy could bring down new government
Horst Seehofer and Angela Merkel are in a heated battle over immigration. Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images
Germany’s ruling coalition remains in a state of heightened suspense over a growing dispute on refugee policy between Angela Merkel and her interior minister that could yet bring down the fledgling government.
Horst Seehofer remained poised to carry out his threat to introduce police controls on Germany’s southern border, according to reports, as leading members of his Christian Social Union, junior partners in Merkel’s government, urged the chancellor to back down over her opposition to turning away refugees if they have already applied for asylum in another EU country or had their applications rejected in Germany.
Merkel, who is in her fourth term as chancellor, has rarely found herself in such a precarious position. If Seehofer goes ahead and implements the most contested part of his immigration “masterplan”, she will have little choice but to sack him. But that would also lead to the collapse of her government, which has been in power for less than 100 days, and would almost inevitably end her chancellorship.
A source from the interior ministry told German media that Seehofer would be able to implement his plan at any time. “All that’s needed is a phone call,” the source said.
Merkel is continuing to insist the only answer to the issue is a pan-European one, arguing that national border controls will only speed up the collapse of the passport-free Schengen system which applies to most EU countries.
Her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, on Friday said she was firmly opposed to unilateral moves to turn back refugees that could increase pressures on countries such as Italy and Greece.
“We must not contribute to weakening the European Union and purely national measures setting the tone again in Europe,” Seibert said. “Then Europe wouldn’t play the strong role in the world that’s required now.”
The row reached new heights on Thursday after the regular Bundestag session was interrupted for four hours, allowing the CDU and CSU parliamentary groups to meet for emergency talks. Merkel received the backing of her party to wait until an EU summit at the end of the month at which she hopes an EU-wide asylum policy can be agreed on. She reportedly said she felt “strengthened” by the party support and was not expecting her government to collapse.
Read Full Article>>
United States
Press secretary rejects criticism of Jeff Sessions citing Romans 13 to justify policy and says ‘it is very biblical to enforce the law’
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, invoked the Bible to defend the Trump administration’s immigration policy of separating mothers from their children.
She was speaking at Thursday’s White House briefing, in response to a question about comments made by the attorney general Jeff Sessions, where he cited a passage in the Bible to justify the policy.
“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” said Sessions.
He added: “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.”
Sanders was asked about Sessions’ statement, and was challenged: “Where does it say in the Bible that’s moral to take children away from mothers?”
Pushing back, Sanders said: “I’m not aware of the attorney general’s comments or what he would be referencing, [but] I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is repeated throughout the Bible.”
The policy of separating undocumented parents from their children at the border was announced by Sessions in May as part of a “zero-tolerance policy”.
He said at the time: “If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border.”
It has since met a wide range of criticism including from the United Nations human rights office as well as from prominent evangelical groups.
Sanders blamed congressional Democrats for the situation, a view shared by Trump on Twitter.
Earlier this week, Trump said: “Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats. Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems can’t get their act together! Started the Wall.”
The decision to separate minors from their parents was a policy decision and not a matter of law. Previously, children and parents had often been kept together in shelters as they awaited hearings on their asylum status or potential deportation.
Heartrending stories about children being separated from their parents at the border and placed in detention collided with negotiations on Capitol Hill over a compromise immigration bill.
In a draft proposal, published by several news outlets on Thursday, the Republican plan would end the policy of separating immigrant children from their parents in addition to providing legal protections for young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers.
Read Full Article>>
Trump to reject immigration proposal protecting families separated at border>>
Republicans consider immigration plan that would end family separation>>
