By eProf2, a Trail Mix Contributor
The quick answer is they both have Communist governments. And on Friday last Donald Trump decided there isn’t a common United States policy for Communist governments like China and Cuba.
The Trump administration wants to engage in more contacts and trade with China, even though during the presidential campaign he said China was at the root of U.S. economic problems, which were catastrophic. The president and his family have been courting Xi Jinping for more trade and trade mark recognition for Trump products and properties. Trump himself seems to be indebted to Chinese banks while his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was, and could still be, in negotiations for a New York City billion dollar property with China.
There is an appearance that if the Trump family is economically involved with a nation-state U.S. policy will tilt in that direction. There are many examples of this in the first five months of the Trump administration (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, et cetera).
Cuba: No Pay No Play
Cuba, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have a Trump connection. It was reported that Trump once sought hotel rights in Cuba even though the embargo for U.S. businesses was in effect. Trump was turned down by the Castro government. The Friday announcement will severely cut back on business connections and restrict individual travel to the island nation with some exceptions.
The rationale for re-imposing major parts of the fifty year old embargo was that the president didn’t want U.S. dollars flowing to the Cuban military and government. Where does he think U.S. dollars go in China?
Two other rationales have been written about extensively. The first is that all things Obama must be repudiated; thus, Obama’s overture to open relations with Cuba must be overturned. Second, Trump needed to appease older, conservative Republican Cubans in south Florida, who through their hatred of Castro voted for Trump; a single interest group of voters who Trump courted in order to win the electoral college votes from Florida.
Both rationales are not valid arguments when formulating foreign policy. Internationalists must be scouring the world to see what the next foreign policy decision will be made on the basis of Trump investments, loans, and close personal relationships.
This is not the way to implement national interest policy. Both China and Cuba can take away some lessons from Trump’s decision last Friday: U.S. policy can be changed quickly when Trump’s interests “trump” those of the United States.
More Posts by eProf2
“There is an appearance that if the Trump family is economically involved with a nation-state U.S. policy will tilt in that direction.”
eprof, right on. your thread today is worthy of a repost thru-out the internet galaxy. maybe fearless leader can quote it in one of his huffpo articles if not repost in toto there.
the old looks like a duck adage pales in this instance of self-interest conflicts…. more like looks walks talks and is actually an elephantsize pig. to be sure of future twit blessings/curses, throw in the variable whether Obama frowned or smiled at the nation-state.
To Understand James Comey, Talk To Benjamin Wittes
Benjamin Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare and friend of former FBI chief James Comey, sat down for an interview on NewsFeed With @BuzzFeedBen.
“I had known that Jim had been asked for loyalty and said he could only give honesty. But without the framing of this dramatic dinner, and the sort of grotesque impropriety of that taking place in that scene, it hadn’t all clicked. The moment I read that story I said, ‘My God, I understand a whole lot of things that he had said to me in a way that I hadn’t understood them before.'” He said. “And the next day, I called [New York Times reporter] Mike Schmidt, and I told him I had additional information for him.”
Wittes was also critical of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s role in Comey’s firing. “I believe that the proper thing for Rod Rosenstein to do is not to continue in office. I have said that and I continue to believe it. I think once you’ve been party to the sort of charade that he was party to in the removal of the F.B.I. director, your proper role in public life is extremely limited.”
[….]
Is there something that you think Mueller is or ought to be doing to build an investigation that could at any moment have its head cut off it? Does that affect the shape of the investigation?
WITTES: Oh, I think it does, I think it has to. If you’re Mueller, you are very keenly aware that you may not be there tomorrow. I think that may change the way you interact with the subject matter.
So let me give you two examples. The first is, in a normal investigation, you start with the small fish, right? And you investigate the small fish, you try to bring pressure against them, you flip them, and then you work your way up the chain. But here the president can pardon a small fish at any moment, and once the president does that, the investigation is over. And so this may be part of the explanation for why this investigation is focused on Trump from the beginning. So you’ve front-loaded the stuff that doesn’t require — you go directly to the president’s obstruction issues.
Now I don’t know the answer to this question, but it’s worth asking if Mueller did not know that he could be removed at any moment, would he be doing that? That’s one interesting question. The second interesting question is if you are Mueller and you know that you can be removed at any moment, do you put any systems in place for what happens the day that that happens? So that the information that you’ve collected does not go away, right?
So that the institutional function of the office has—there’s some failsafe. And I don’t know the answer to that question either but I would think that that would be something that a person as smart as Mueller dealing with this situation would give some serious thought to.
The Man Who Argued With Dictators – POLITICO
https://apple.news/ABLjgYUt0RqG4RFuQZKNvEw
“It just confirms one of the favorite arguments of America’s critics: that our advocacy for freedom and democracy is just a weapon we use to beat up our enemies, not a principled policy we apply to everyone…”
XR, I’m not bragging. The AL Central isn’t very impressive. In CLE you take it when you can get it.
I would not be concerned about Mueller’s work going missing if he’s fired. He has assembled an experienced team and I am certain that their work is distributed widely among the team.
Published on Jun 18, 2017
We’ve heard a lot of talk about coal miners in the last year, but what are the real issues surrounding coal? John Oliver and a giant squirrel look into it.
eProf2, glad you dug into this, needs more attention. Just noticed this crazy story, I missed the first time around: “Two days after the State Department called for the release of three activists detained while investigating working conditions at factories that make shoes for Ivanka Trump, Chinese authorities appear not to be backing off the case.” (Wapo, 6/7)
Trump must have giving some backroom winks and nods to the Chinese during the campaign when he was attacking them so.
Weird feelings. I have not reviewed my Facebook friends list before today, something came up and I decided to do look through it. So many real friends, so many people I have no idea who they are are but they were friended because I was running for office and that was the thing to do.
What was very odd and caused the most strange feelings were the people who I know are dead, but their pages are still there. Disturbing in a way, and in another way very nice feeling. But, remembering our good times brings a smile over the pain of their deaths. Also, I realize I am now on the downward slope of the great bell curve and can accept that death is the fate of all, whether it comes early or once one has given all to this world.
craig, there was also a Bloomberg piece on that last week: The Chinese Labor Activist Who Wants Ivanka Trump to ‘Take Responsibility’
What do China and Cuba have in common…
I got it! I got it! They both begin with “C”… as in con man…
renee, how ’bout chipped and cracked? hey, that could apply also to our wh occupant as well
remember this story in newsweek from last fall?
How Donald Trump’s Company Violated the United States Embargo Against Cuba
By Kurt Eichenwald On 9/29/16 at 5:42 AM
Rachel even covered it
Published on Sep 28, 2016
Rachel Maddow shares an exclusive sneak peek at a new Kurt Eichenwald article in Newsweek that will examine Donald Trump’s business ties to Cuba when the U.S. embargo was still in place.
Centrally controlled trade policies i.e., no free markets, put us at a competitive disadvantage with both countries.
ivanka and china while making tons of moola on mar-a-lago
The regression on cuba in nothing more than stifling the competition for trump. Until he is out-of-office, his pile of money will only grow as he continues to stack the geopolitical deck.
Pogo, XR
The Indians have been my team since they won the their last World Series in 1948. Win or lose, they’ll be my team so long as I’m around. I was pleased, still am, with their achievement of the past few days. But, I don’t think I took my pleasure to the level of gloating over XR’s team’s loss.
I did watch Kelly’s NBC program at 7pm Eastern yesterday evening. No way did she give that evil person any slack or comfort for any of the manipulations of either the common people or Trump that he has wrought.
BW, there’s probably a lot to what you’re saying. 3 1/2 years from now the trump Empire wil announce the groundbreaking for the Trump golf course and resort, Havana. If the groundwork for it is not being laid by his criminal spawn, I’ll eat my hat (which in my case is a baseball cap). I am not worried that baseball caps don’t come in flavors.
My take on the current idiotic approach to trade with Cuba is (based on ignorance to a large extent I admit) that from trump’s perspective it differs from China in the respect that it has not let its population begin to earn money sufficient to buy US products, so the trade balance will be stunningly one sided until economic controls are relaxed. Americans will visit when the restrictions on tourism are eased and the money will flow to Cuban and other countries’ developers offering tourism services. If trade is opened up our sugar cane and beet producers will be slammed – unable to compete with Cuban cane-based sugar. Want to get rid of the Castro (or hand-picked successor) influence? Open trade and tourism. Otherwise, live with the knowledge that what we could have done to improve conditions on the ground in Cuba was wasted on 50s thinking.
“his pile of money will only grow…”
bw, yes, but the upside of that is if the trump corp gets charged and convicted of money laundering, the rico act penalties will kick in and all the corp assets… all those trashy hotels, resorts, condos, squirrelled away money, gold-plated pee pots…. will be subject to forfeiture.
that happy tho’t kinda reminds me of monty python’s guys on the crosses singing:
Always look on the bright side of life
If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten!
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing,
When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle — that’s the thing!
And always look on the bright side of life
The U.S, China, & Cuba: all 3 Nations are controlled by a single party and led by a dictatorial regime! The difference between us & them, in this context, is that we elected ours despite(in spite of?) being afforded a viable alternative.
Forget the nose, it’s like cutting off your own —- and shoving it up your — to spite your face.
Bink, we must realize that Trump’s impossible dream is to rise to the rank of Gnome of Zurich. What a fool.
Flatus,
I was just razzing you, and sure didn’t mean to seem like a scold. The Twins have only two stumbling blocks right now. The Indians and home games. One of my grandmothers-in-law listened to or watched EVERY Indians game going back to the early 1920s. I have no animosity toward Cleveland or their beloved team, I assure you : Go, Spiders !
XR, didn’t take it any way but in good humor. Spiders, LOL (You do know that I am a U of Richmond grad?)
XR, our home record is nothing to be proud of, just ask the Cubs. Neither is our home attendance. I know we’ve talked about it before–we need an impresario like Bill Veeck to work the magnetism that brought fans to the old lakefront stadium in droves. We embraced Larry Doby and Satchel Paige and the wonderful pitchers and fielders who had just returned from war. We thanked our lucky stars
I wake every morning and thank God that she made trumppence and their mobsters incompetent. Were they competent, everything in the US would be gone, and deposited in trumpco’s Deutsche Bank account.
Mike Veeck, Bill Murray, and a couple of others put together the latest manifestation of the St Paul Saints. The games aren’t slick, packaged, plasticized, advertising and sales events like the major league games. They are just good old fashioned town ball fun, with crazy contests between innings, and a trained pig thrown in for good measure. The team owners built themselves a new stadium a few years ago. That in itself endears the team to us.
Flatus, the Twins are only one Ken Griffey and one Randy Johnson away from another World Series.
CNNs Jim Acosta totally nails White House stonewalling
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_59481ddbe4b0f7875b83e4d2
Ossoff/handel campaign costs top $50,000,000.00 ! ! !
William Proxmire spent less than $200 in each of his last two (1976, 1982) re-election campaigns for the US Senate.
He won by a landslide both times.
A friend, whose first campaign experience was in 1950, thinks that we will soon see our first B!LL!ON $$$ $enate race.
I disagree with Mr Acosta. The WH press secretary show has been a complete waste of time, energy, and hot air since the first episode : Season 1, Ep 1 Little Man, Big Suit
Certainly Trump is being generous to a fault in his disclosures to the Press. I find no Constitutional requirement that he chat them up. Indeed, Article II, Section 3, only requires that the President meet with the Congress at the start of the legislative session each year to bring them up to date. So long as a President doesn’t lock the doors to WaPo, the Times, or the Journal, he’s cool.
“Ossoff/handel campaign costs top $50,000,000.00 ! ! !” XR
Damn, that’s some Water Music!
xrepub: “The WH press secretary show has been a complete waste of time, energy, and hot air since the first episode”
did you read Acosta’s comments? That’s what he’s saying
Flatus: “generous to a fault in his disclosures to the Press”
huh? Tweeting crap without taking questions hardly generous
Courageous reporting, CC. Stay strong.
What in the sweet —- is the frontman for an organized crime syndicate going to say in a press conference? Not much.
hey, no one remember or read their history on the little get togethers presidents Roosevelt & kennedy used to have with the press? mostly an old boys club type atmosphere. no cameras no recorders allowed.
Mr Crawford, Esq.,
I did read the piece and came away with the impression that Mr Acosta only viewed the last month or so of the sean spicer show as a complete waste of time. Therefore, we now agree, in case we had not agreed before. I would gain as much political insight from a minute of test pattern as I can from a week of the sean spicer show.
If the WH serves canapes or crackers, it isn’t a complete waste for the journalists who are posted to trump Siberia, but for those of us who are stuck with providing our own snacks it’s as educational as the blank slate.
The tv networks and legit news orgs could just send in intern high schoolers to take notes. Anyway, all the real news comes from the leakers in the West Wing and Departments. And, the Leaker-in-Chief in his bedroom, of course.
Craig–I’m being facetious. The Press need not convince the 8-pct of us who are committed to functional, honest government, but at least 43-pct of the remaining poll-goers in each and every precinct that our goal is righteous–a currently informed electorate by a leadership capable of withstanding probing, articulate questioning by a brilliant Free Press.
See ya, Bill…..save me a table……..
It doesn’t seem to me that anyone in the WH has any control over Trump. I can only imagine the frustration of his advisors trying to steer him in a sane direction only to be knee-capped by his latest tweet.
This is a ship with a captain that has never been on the open water and has no experience with navigation. Running a private business as CEO is in no way comparable to running an organization as a CEO with a board of directors. If it wasn’t so dangerous to our country and our welfare it would be an amazing event.
In the meantime, while Trump is steering our ship of state into an iceberg, we’re about to be hit with an absolutely mean-spirited self-self involved disaster of a health care bill from Senate Republicans. This is scary. Whenever there’s a lack of leadership it opens up an vacuum. I don’t think Pence has the soul to step up. We’ll see!
I am quite remiss in my calendar updates and notifications, today is #NationalMartiniDay. Please accept my apologies for being so late. Although numerous recipes profess to be real there be few real. Some use dry vermouth, although sweet vermouth has been acceptable from the beginning. That be matched with some gin. The original Old Tom Gin no longer available so we are left to our own devices on the taste of gin we want. My personal favorite is dry vermouth, one half measure of Noilly Dry Vermouth and three measures of Bombay Sapphire Gin. Stir well with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Toss in one olive. Enjoy.
Although I haven’t had a martini in decades, there was a Panamanian gin made from citrus. I’d skip the vermouth, have it on the rocks with a twist. Perfect for the tropics.
Refugee Population Hits Record High in 2016: UN Report
excerpt from wapo editorial board last night:
Now comes the Supreme Court with a strong statement in favor of free speech, to include speech that many find offensive. With the support of all eight justices who participated in the case (new Justice Neil M. Gorsuch being the exception), the court struck down a 71-year-old law requiring the Patent and Trademark Office to deny registration to brands that may “disparage” people or bring them “into contemp[t] or disrepute.” The ruling means that a dance-rock band may henceforth call itself “the Slants” on the same legal basis that, say, Mick Jagger’s bunch uses “the Rolling Stones” — even though many Asian Americans find the term derogatory and demeaning.
The justices were obviously, and properly, influenced by the fact that the Asian American members of the Slants took the name in a bid to “reclaim” that slur as something more positive and prideful. To apply the existing disparagement proviso in the statute despite the band’s expressive intent would not merely have exercised government control over government expression, implicit in trademark registration, as the Obama administration argued when the court heard the case shortly before Inauguration Day this year. It would, as the justices ruled, have put the government in the business of picking and choosing among points of view, a role that the court has repeatedly forbidden it to perform.
[….]
…what was striking about all the opinions Monday was the strength with which every member of the court embraced the First Amendment, strongly enough to protect even speech that many people legitimately find hateful or offensive. “The proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express ‘the thought that we hate,’ ” Mr. Alito wrote. The concurring opinion followed with the rationale underlying that jurisprudence: “A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all.”