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Trump reinstates Brazil, Argentina steel tariffs; reason is farm woes

Brendan Murray, Joe Deaux
Bloomberg
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 06:03 UTC
Steel pipe
© Loren Elliott/Bloomberg
Steel pipes sit stacked at the Port of Houston, Texas.
President Donald Trump is reinstating tariffs on steel and aluminum from Argentina and Brazil, nations he criticized for cheapening their currencies to the detriment of U.S. farmers, and he again called on the Federal Reserve to loosen monetary policy.

Linking his trade agenda with his Fed criticism in an early morning tweet, he said the two South American countries "have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies, which is not good for our farmers."

The president's action amounts to retaliation against two nations that have become alternative suppliers of soybeans and other agricultural products to China, grabbing market share away from the U.S. Rural voters, including farmers, are a key constituency for Trump as he heads into the 2020 presidential elections.

While the steel tariffs could crimp trade, the Latin American countries gain much more shipping crops to Chinese buyers. In the first 10 months of the year, Brazil has shipped $25.5 billion in farm products including soybeans and pork to China. That's more than 10 times the value of steel and iron product sold to the U.S.
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Star of David

Odeh blasts Netanyahu as a 'dangerous psychopath' who targets Arabs and left-wing Jews


The Times of Israel
Sat, 30 Nov 2019 11:47 UTC
Odeh and Tibi
© David Cohen/Flash90
Joint List MKs Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi attend a protest against violence, organized crime and recent killings in the Arab communities, Majd al-Krum, October 3, 2019.
Israel's top Arab lawmaker on Saturday called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "psychopath" and accused him of stirring trouble for those who oppose him.

"Netanyahu's hatred and violence spread like wildfire. Arabs, left-wing Jews, journalists, the judicial system and even members of his own party" were being ideologically attacked, Joint List head Ayman Odeh wrote on Twitter.

"The outgoing prime minister is a dangerous psychopath who knows no boundaries. A criminal with his back to the wall. Does anyone doubt that he will deny a political motive for the next murder?" Odeh wrote.

The rebuke came hours after Joint List lawmaker Ahmad Tibi was accosted on Saturday by several dozen right-wing activists at a Shabbat cultural and political event in the central town of Ramat Hasharon. Protesters held placards accusing Tibi of being a "terrorist" and "murderer," Channel 12 news reported. One sign declared "You're not wanted here!" while another said "Terrorist supporters — not in our city."

Comment: It would appear the 'age of Netanyahu' is over and his mask is coming off in a grand public reveal. Perhaps his 'truths' told over the past decade will also be exposed for the manipulative and corruptive fallacies they are.

See also:

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Rocket

'Iran's surprise for the enemy': A new submarine-launched cruise missile now in mass production


RT
Sun, 01 Dec 2019 16:15 UTC
Jask Missile
© Unknown
Iranian Jask Missile
Iran has launched mass production of its new submarine-launched Jask cruise missile, the country's Navy chief has said, adding that work on upgraded versions of the weapon is already in progress.

Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi was speaking in Tehran on Saturday at an event showcasing new weaponry and other military projects that his force has been involved with. Announcing the launch of the Jask cruise missile's mass production, Khanzadi said the munition will be used by all the subs of Iran's Navy.

While the official did not share any special characteristics of the missile, it's known that the Jask can be fired out of a submarine's torpedo tubes and takes off from the water. The missile was first shown in action to the public this February, during the massive Veleyat-97 naval drills.

The range of the Jask-type munitions is expected to be improved "substantially" in the future, Khanzadi said, revealing that a 'Jask-2 project' was already underway. The expanded range of the missile "will surely be a serious surprise for the enemy," the official added.

Comment:



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Oil Well

Move over, Anglo-America: China is buying up key Iraqi and Iranian oil fields

Simon Watkins
OilPrice.com
Sun, 01 Dec 2019 19:35 UTC
qurna oil field iraq

The West Qurna-1 oil field in Iraq
Ever since the U.S. signalled through its effective withdrawal from Syria that it now has little interest in becoming involved in military actions in the Middle East, the door has been fully opened to China and Russia to advance their ambitions in the region. For Russia, the Middle East offers a key military pivot from which it can project influence West and East and that it can use to capture and control massive oil and gas flows in both directions as well. For China, the Middle East - and, absolutely vitally, Iran and Iraq - are irreplaceable stepping stones towards Europe for its era-defining 'One Belt, One Road' project. Earlier this week an announcement was made by Iraq's Oil Ministry that highlights each of these factors at play, through a relatively innocuous-sounding contract award to a relatively unknown Chinese firm.

Specifically, it was announced that China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp (CPECC) has been awarded a US$121 million engineering contract to upgrade the facilities that are used to extract gas during crude oil production at the supergiant West Qurna-1 oilfield in Iraq, 50 kilometres northwest of the principal oil hub of Basra. The project is due to be completed within 27 months and aims to increase the capture of gas currently being flared across the site. Two factors that were not highlighted in the general announcement were firstly that CPECC is a subsidiary of China's principal political proxy in the oil and gas sector, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), and secondly that the gas capture project will also include the development of the oil reserves at West Qurna 1. The current level of oil reserves at West Qurna 1 is just under nine billion barrels but, crucially, the site is part of the overall massive West Qurna reservoir that comprises at least 43 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. "For China, it's always all about positioning itself so that it is perfectly placed to expand its foothold," a senior oil and gas industry source who works closely with Iraq's Oil Ministry told OilPrice.com earlier this week.

Comment: Once again China demonstrates its ability to think in decades rather than years. The West will be left wondering how they were dethroned as 'the industrial world center'.

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Bizarro Earth

Kyoto failed. Paris failed. Will the Greta-starring Madrid UN climate conference be any different?

Rob Lyons
RT
Sun, 01 Dec 2019 07:41 UTC
Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.
© Reuters / Mike Blake
Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The ill-fated COP25 has found a host location at the third time of asking but, just like its predecessors, the high-powered international summit looks to be big on gestures and small on reversing the direction of humankind.

Starting on Monday, COP25, or the 25th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to give the summit its full name, will bring together top officials from 197 countries with the aim of establishing a set of new national targets towards cutting emissions. The talks were originally due to be held in Brazil, but the government there pulled out 12 months ago. Chile offered to take over but, after weeks of street protests, the government there pulled out, too. Finally, the Spanish government stepped in four weeks ago to take over.


Comment: Wow. Whether the Powers That Be realize it or not, their 'agitation' of the masses - through global warming hysteria, terrorism and color revolutions - has overtaken them. In a sense, they're 'on the run' from a beast they can no longer control.


What are the talks about?

The talks will review the progress made since the much-ballyhooed Paris Agreement was signed at COP21 in December 2015. The Agreement aims to reduce emissions enough to keep global temperature rises 'well below' two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and ideally 1.5 degrees. The world has already warmed by about one degree Celsius from that baseline, leaving nations with even less leeway.

Each country has promised to set a national goal for lowering emissions along with a plan for how that might be achieved.

Comment: Nice try by the author to 'take the middle ground', but he doesn't understand that the entire premise is wrong. You can't reason with this ultra-revolutionary movement. It is determined to destroy civilization and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

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Pistol

New Zealand shutters gun buyback website - fears massive leak of law-abiding firearm owners' data


RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 18:29 UTC
gun shop
© Reuters / Jorge Silva / File
A view of gunshop in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 19, 2019
New Zealand's online notification platform for the firearm buy-back program has been shut down after a local gun owners association found a vulnerability that allegedly exposed the data of some 37,000 law-abiding citizens.

"We have advised the office of the Privacy Commissioner of the potential issue," police said in a statement, sharing little additional detail and admitting they were informed of the problem by a "member of the public."

Comment: Once again, a government hysterically reacting to a perceived problem has only made matters worse.

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Eagle

Power-mad NATO's deep and pervading crisis is foisted upon the world

Jan Oberg
The Transnational
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
NATO HQ
Political

NATO's London Summit on December 3 and 4, 2019 displays the deep political crisis of the 70-year-old alliance: Only a dinner and a short meeting, no statement to be issued, quarrels among the leading military members, accusations, substantial differences on Syria and many other issues, the deepest-ever Transatlantic conflict and the usual issues of burden-sharing.

Legal

But the political dimension of NATO's crisis is only one. There is also a legal crisis. You'll recognize it if you care to read the NATO Treaty text - something academic and media people don't generally seem to have done. They would then have noticed that the Alliance of 2019 consistently operates outside - indeed in violation of - its own goals, purposes and values. For instance, the UN Charter which should be NATO's guideline has been violated on a permanent basis for decades - such as in its out-of-area bombings of Yugoslavia with no UN mandate.

The contempt shown for international law in general and the UN Charter in particular is an integral part of NATO's existential crisis.

Moral

And, third, there is a moral dimension to NATO's crisis. Of course, no one talks about it.

It's the simple fact that no war that individual NATO members states or NATO as NATO have engaged in can be termed anything but predictable fiascos when judged by the alliance's own stated goals and criteria - just think of Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria... all crystal clear moral catastrophes causing unspeakable suffering, death and destruction to millions upon millions while achieving none of the stated goals that were set to explain and legitimize these wars such as creating democracy, respecting human rights, liberating women or stopping alleged genocides.

Comment: See also:

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Wall Street

Icons of financial industry warn: "We will kill each other" if our broken economic system isn't fixed

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 05:55 UTC
Ray Dalio and Paul Tudor Jones

Ray Dalio and Paul Tudor Jones
Two hedge fund icons - Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio and Paul Tudor Jones - joined Yahoo Finance for the 2nd annual Greenwich Investment Forum earlier this month. Speaking directly after Connecticut Gov. New Lamont, with whom Dalio is working to bolster Connecticut's schools via a $100 million gift - the largest charitable gift the state has ever received, PTJ and Dalio focused their "Fireside Chat" on the flaws of Fed policy, the dangers of America's ballooning budget deficit, and the steps that must be take to "stop us from killing each other" in a violent revolution, as Dalio warned.

PTJ spoke first, starting with a few words about President Trump, praising him as "the greatest salesman" to ever enter the American political arena. After all, didn't Trump convince the Republican Party - once the party of fiscal piety - that 5% budget deficits 10 years into an economic rebound are necessary to protect the economy. Similarly, didn't he also convince the Fed - "through great moral suasion" - that returning to real negative rates with unemployment at 50-year lows was a necessity?

Both Dalio and PTJ agree that, while clearly stimulative in the short-term (obviously just take a look at the S&P 500), these decisions will set up the US economy for one of the most punishing downturns in history, which is why PTJ always laughs when Jerome Powell is quizzed about financial conditions and whether he sees bubbles anywhere. Because at this point, the whole market is a bubble.
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Stock Up

World-changing event: Russia opens taps on new mega gas 'Power of Siberia' pipeline to China


RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 10:49 UTC

Comment: This is the game-changer Putin and Xi signed off in this memorable photo amidst mass freak-outs in Western capitals in early 2014...
Xi Jinping y Putin

Power of Siberia
© Reuters / Maxim Shemetov
Power of Siberia
In a move to cement energy cooperation with the fast-growing economies in Asia, Russia officially launched delivery of natural gas supplies to China, via the Power of Siberia pipeline, on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping gave the green light at an official ceremony via teleconference.

Russia, the world's biggest gas exporter, is looking to one of the globe's top consumers, China, as Moscow's relations with the West deteriorate. The move gives Russia an enormous new market outside of Europe which has targeted Moscow with sanctions, over the conflict in Ukraine, since 2014.

The mega pipeline was built in record time. Initially, the launch was planned for December 20 but the construction was completed ahead of schedule.

The 3,000km-long (1864 miles) pipeline will ship gas from Russia's huge gas reserves in its eastern regions to the Chinese border. It will then link up with China's own network to deliver gas as far as the eastern seaboard and help satisfy the nation's vast and growing energy needs.

Comment: The economic and strategic powerhouse relationship between China and Russia just grows by the day and is motivated by at least two factors: 1.) good business sense, and 2.) the need to escape the yoke of egregious and short-sighted policies inflicted on these countries by the West, and the US in particular.

See also:

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Light Sabers

Indispensable or obsolete? Reheated Cold War rhetoric can't patch fractured NATO that lacks sense of purpose & vision for future

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 15:39 UTC
νατο
© Sputnik / Alexey Vitvitsky
A war of words between prominent NATO members over its continued existence has revealed cracks in the 70-year-old alliance, which seems to be returning to its Cold War roots in desperate search for a new sense of purpose.

"The transatlantic relationship is in a very, very healthy place," insisted US officials briefing reporters on the eve of the NATO summit in London. Meanwhile, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has been repeating that NATO is the "most successful alliance in history."

Behind this brave facade, however, the septuagenarian alliance is tearing itself apart. US President Donald Trump's insistence on everyone dedicating two percent of their GDP to military spending is a target only seven members have met so far. Most NATO countries are nothing but hangers-on to the US military, and can't conduct independent operations. Only a few, like Turkey, can - and the fact that Ankara just did, without bothering to consult the rest of the alliance, is the cause for the latest display of discord.

French President Emmanuel Macron set things off by complaining about Ankara's operation in Syria last month, pointing to "no coordination whatsoever" between either the US or Turkey with the rest of NATO and calling the alliance "brain dead."

That, ironically, brought otherwise feuding NATO members together - in condemnation of the French leader. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tore into Macron on Friday, suggesting he should have "his own brain death checked."

Comment: Marc Champion and Jonathan Stearns write for Bloomberg:
Were Johnson to lose to Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, that would give NATO yet another individual to worry about at its next summit, due in 2021.

Over his career the socialist firebrand has called NATO "a danger to world peace and a danger to world security". He has more recently fallen into line with party policy, which is for the U.K. to stay in the alliance, but he'd likely prove another awkward partner.

The last time Britain hosted NATO leaders, in 2014, he told an anti-NATO rally the end of the Cold War "should have been the time for NATO to shut up shop, give up, go home and go away."


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