Make a deal, face the wheel.
I’m starting off with NAFTA. According to U.S. President Donald Trump Canada and Mexico are being “difficult” and have been “spoiled.” Nice. I feel sorry for the negotiators for Canada and Mexico. Trump needs a win and he’ll crow from the rooftops if he imposes an “America first” trade deal on his partners and allies. Maybe taking a Brexit approach to negotiations might help. I’m never one to sign up for a bad/one sided deal. I’ll walk away. And, rather than suck it up, I think Canada and Mexico should consider walking away and waiting until the time is right.
North Korea has blown up some tunnels used for nuclear testing. Hoorah. However, I’ve read that the tunnels were badly damaged anyway and probably couldn’t have been reused. Nothing is at face value when it comes to North Korea. The summit with Trump and Kim Jong-Un has been cancelled by Trump. Trump made a lot of political capital and I think thought he’d already won. I think he’s got a political pie in the face on this one. Pundits please notice I called this right. I’m ready for my highly paid analytic, predictive role.
Venezuela has held elections and looks to have emerged with a dictator. How often are we seeing that now? People are leaving, including U.S. diplomats. The, cough, new government, will likely find sympathetic ears in China and Russia.
On the same theme the destruction of the media means that free and fair elections in Turkey are virtually impossible. Oh look, another guy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is looking for a job for life. Turkey has had issues with Russia before but may be warming to Russia, which would certainly like to see a Turkey/ U.S. spat.
I read that the U.S. government has warned staff in China about unusual sounds in China. This seems to hark back to diplomats in Cuba being affected by suspected sonic attacks. Sounds like something out of a Bond movie plot but something is going on. No firm finger pointing, yet.
At the time of writing there have been 27 deaths associated with the Ebola outbreak in DM Congo. The disease has reached a sizable city, Mbandaka where three people under quarantine escaped. Two have died the other is back in quarantine. Has the horse bolted out of the stable? I truly hope not. If this thing went global there’s no telling how things would work out.
As the UK prepares to quit the EU under Brexit, ties are re-establishing between the Old Country, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. I don’t think they should ever have been severed in order to join the then European Economic Community in 1973. There is even serious consideration being given by governments and opposition parties to the free movement of people between Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. I voted for Brexit but only because I did not want to see the UK become part of a French/German dream of a super state and all that it entailed, which I saw as an inevitable consequence of ever closer union and government from Brussels. Sadly, I think that dream remains in some of the corridors of power. If that premise was ditched I think an EU based on trade and cooperation would be much more workable.