PJ: Not all Republicans label Trump a nightmare: Rev. Franklin Graham has publicly praised him (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/franklin-graham-trump-candidate-choice/story?id=13437543) as has Sarah Palin (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/10/sarah-palin-donald-trump_n_847220.html) who seems to delight in anything said by anyone against the President or, for that matter, anyone at all who she sees as a foe (see her latest snarky remarks about Katie Couric here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53774.html).
The sad thing about many in the Republican Party (at least those who seem to have the loudest voices) is that they celebrate anyone who attacks the President for whatever baseless reason. Their hatred seems to know no bounds.
The Guardian
Opinion
Donald Trump and the Republican nightmare of 2012
Donald Trump's vainglorious idiocy is creating a noxious environment for Republicans aiming to win the White House
By Richard Adams
Is Donald Trump a double agent working on behalf of the Democratic party? Because that would at least explain why Trump is doing his utmost to turn the Republican party into a burned-out wreck.
Whatever it is that is driving Trump – and it can't be a desire to run for the White House, since he can't be so deluded not to know that he doesn't stand a chance – his crude antics have moved from hilarious sideshow to centre-stage of American politics.
Trump's latest trick, after donning the putrid mantle of "birtherism", has been to change the subject. When Trump was challenged by CNN's Anderson Cooper over his repeated, unsubstantiated claims to have investigators in Hawaii working to uncover the facts of Barack Obama's birthplace, Trump has literally trumped himself with a fresh, equally unsubstantiated claim, that he was now interested in uncovering Obama's educational records.
In an interview today Trump expanded:
"I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?" Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records."
(For the record, Barack Obama graduated magna cum laude from the fiercely competitive Harvard Law School.)
The problem for Republicans is not just that the Trump circus threatens to taint the rest of the party with such nonsense. It's that Trump's act is taking up valuable time and space, crowding out serious presidential contenders and doing nothing to help the Republicans overcoming their talent deficit – the same talent deficit that gave Trump the inch that he is furiously turning into a mile.
That's why some of the most vociferous attacks on Trump are coming from Republican activists. At the conservative community site RedState, Trump is regarded with contempt, with one poster commenting:
Birtherism is a symptom of something worse in the candidate. A person who actively spreads Birtherism as a serious plank in the 2012 GOP is a racist, an idiot or a dishonest hack.
Others fear that Trump could even run as an independent in the 2012 presidential election, skimming off potential Republican votes.
Republicans must dread looking at the opinion polls. Name recognition and bombast has put Trump way ahead of the rest of the putative field: one in four Americans in a Pew poll said he was the Republican candidate they had heard the most about. A serious Gallup poll actually put him tied for the top spot for support among likely Republican voters.
On the other hand, the American public at large has no illusions about the soi-disant billionaire. In a USA Today poll, 50% of Americans say he would be a "poor" or "terrible" president, while 64% say that they "definitely" would not vote for him. (Trump's polling figures are in fact statistically identical to Sarah Palin.)
Sensible Republicans argue that the whole nightmare will be over as soon as Trump admits that he is not standing. And they are probably right. But he could insist on hanging around like a bad smell, popping up on whatever desperate cable news channel will have him.
In the meantime, expect more of the same. In his latest interview, Trump insists: "The last guy [Obama] wants to run against is Donald Trump." That's probably the biggest joke of them all.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2011/apr/26/donald-trump-obama-republicans-2012
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
UK: US economic report from Fed. Chair
The Independent
Bernanke to confront his critics as US economic recovery stutters once again
By Stephen Foley in New York
Weakening economic growth and sliding house prices in the world's largest economy form the backdrop to the first-ever press conference by a Federal Reserve chairman, to be held after the US central bank makes its latest interest rate decision today.
Ben Bernanke, stung by public criticism of the Fed's programme of quantitative easing, will spend 45 minutes fielding questions from journalists on the outlook for monetary policy, with financial markets sure to be hanging on his every word.
A slew of disappointing data has led economists to lower their forecasts for US GDP growth since the Fed last met in March, but traders still expect Mr Bernanke to stick to the current policy of wrapping up quantitative easing by the end of June. Last November, the bank said it would pump $600bn of newly created money into financial markets, buying US government debt in the hope of bringing down interest rates for home buyers and businesses.
The Fed's federal open market committee began a two-day meeting yesterday to discuss the bank's latest internal economic forecasts and the questions of whether, when and how to begin tightening monetary policy.
The gathering came as the latest US housing market data showed prices fell by an average of 3.3 per cent across the country in February from the same month in 2010. That fall, as measured by the Case-Shiller index, was the biggest since November 2009. All but one of the 20 metropolitan areas covered by the index are now showing year-on-year price declines, because of a glut of foreclosed homes on the market.
There was some positive economic data yesterday, though, in the Conference Board's consumer confidence survey. That index rose to 65.4 from a revised 63.8 in March, better than the 65.0 expected by Wall Street, and consumers reported improved impressions of current economic conditions for the seventh straight month.
US GDP figures for the first quarter are due out tomorrow morning and are expected to show economic growth having slowed to an annualised rate of 2.0 per cent, according to a consensus of forecasts that has been drifting lower in recent weeks. Disappointing housing market activity, exports and retail sales in the final month of the quarter have led to the expectation of a gloomier GDP outlook.
"The Fed will be pleased to see that the further rise in gasoline prices towards $3.90 a gallon does not appear to have put another dent in US consumer confidence or added to households' inflation expectations," said Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics. But he said the still-low confidence means consumption growth will "not be anywhere near enough to shift the economy into a higher gear".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bernanke-to-confront-his-critics-as-us-economic-recovery-stutters-once-again-2275276.html
Bernanke to confront his critics as US economic recovery stutters once again
By Stephen Foley in New York
Weakening economic growth and sliding house prices in the world's largest economy form the backdrop to the first-ever press conference by a Federal Reserve chairman, to be held after the US central bank makes its latest interest rate decision today.
Ben Bernanke, stung by public criticism of the Fed's programme of quantitative easing, will spend 45 minutes fielding questions from journalists on the outlook for monetary policy, with financial markets sure to be hanging on his every word.
A slew of disappointing data has led economists to lower their forecasts for US GDP growth since the Fed last met in March, but traders still expect Mr Bernanke to stick to the current policy of wrapping up quantitative easing by the end of June. Last November, the bank said it would pump $600bn of newly created money into financial markets, buying US government debt in the hope of bringing down interest rates for home buyers and businesses.
The Fed's federal open market committee began a two-day meeting yesterday to discuss the bank's latest internal economic forecasts and the questions of whether, when and how to begin tightening monetary policy.
The gathering came as the latest US housing market data showed prices fell by an average of 3.3 per cent across the country in February from the same month in 2010. That fall, as measured by the Case-Shiller index, was the biggest since November 2009. All but one of the 20 metropolitan areas covered by the index are now showing year-on-year price declines, because of a glut of foreclosed homes on the market.
There was some positive economic data yesterday, though, in the Conference Board's consumer confidence survey. That index rose to 65.4 from a revised 63.8 in March, better than the 65.0 expected by Wall Street, and consumers reported improved impressions of current economic conditions for the seventh straight month.
US GDP figures for the first quarter are due out tomorrow morning and are expected to show economic growth having slowed to an annualised rate of 2.0 per cent, according to a consensus of forecasts that has been drifting lower in recent weeks. Disappointing housing market activity, exports and retail sales in the final month of the quarter have led to the expectation of a gloomier GDP outlook.
"The Fed will be pleased to see that the further rise in gasoline prices towards $3.90 a gallon does not appear to have put another dent in US consumer confidence or added to households' inflation expectations," said Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics. But he said the still-low confidence means consumption growth will "not be anywhere near enough to shift the economy into a higher gear".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bernanke-to-confront-his-critics-as-us-economic-recovery-stutters-once-again-2275276.html
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Australia: Obama works to win second term
The Sydney Morning Herald
Back to basics: How Obama aims to win a second term
Think insurgent, not incumbent for Barack Obama in 2012.
That is shaping up to be the early strategy for the Democratic U.S. president's re-election campaign.
"We ought not to act like an incumbent. We have to act like an insurgent campaign that wakes up every single day trying to get every single vote we can," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video posted on Monday on www.barackobama.com.
The president made the case himself last week when he said in a series of political fundraisers that the next presidential election may well be harder to win than in 2008.
"This is going to be just as hard, if not harder, than 2008," Obama said on Thursday. "Our work is not finished."
Messina warned against complacency when he outlined the campaign's re-election strategy. He said the 2008 campaign was "special" - Obama rode a youth-driven movement to become the first black U.S. president - but Obama's supporters needed to step up their game to win in 2012.
"If we just run that same campaign we stand a good chance of losing," he said. "We have to assume every single day that we need to build something new, better, faster, and sleeker."
Even as many indicators show an improving U.S. economy, Obama faces pessimism -- recent polls show a majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
The president launched his re-election this month and faces a still-unformed Republican field with no clear front-runner.
"Republicans are going to be fired up to take on President Obama and so we all, and all of you out there. have to take the reins of this thing and really build it together," Messina said.
He referred to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that removed restrictions on corporate and union campaign spending, which Obama and Democrats have said opened the floodgates for special interest money in politics.
"What this has done is fundamentally change the way campaigns are funded," Messina said. "We have to compete with that."
Obama raised $750 million in 2008, helped significantly by small donations from grassroots supporters.
The 2012 election is expected to be the most expensive in U.S. history.
Last week Obama attended events in San Francisco and Los Angeles that were expected to bring in between $4 million and $5 million, according to a Democratic official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the party's fundraising. The price of individual admission ranged from $25 for parties for younger voters to $35,800 for exclusive dinners.
The president and his wife, Michelle, will travel to Chicago tomorrow to tape The Oprah Winfrey Show. Later in the day they will attend fundraisers in New York City.
Analysts say they expect the 2012 presidential election to cost $3 billion, about 50 percent more than the $2 billion the Federal Election Commission said was spent in 2008 by candidates, the political parties and outside groups.
Obama raised a record $745 million in 2007-08, and he was the first major-party nominee to reject public financing for the general election.
So far no clear Republican frontrunner has emerged. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said yesterday that he will not seek the White House in 2012. Former Governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts have established presidential exploratory committees, taking the first official step toward bids for the White House.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia on March 3 announced the establishment of a website to enable him to raise money and possibly run for president. Other prospective 2012 Republican candidates include former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee; former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee; Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget; and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who is stepping down as U.S. ambassador to China this month.
with www.bloomberg.com
http://www.smh.com.au/world/back-to-basics-how-obama-aims-to-win-a-second-term-20110426-1dus5.html
Back to basics: How Obama aims to win a second term
Think insurgent, not incumbent for Barack Obama in 2012.
That is shaping up to be the early strategy for the Democratic U.S. president's re-election campaign.
"We ought not to act like an incumbent. We have to act like an insurgent campaign that wakes up every single day trying to get every single vote we can," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video posted on Monday on www.barackobama.com.
The president made the case himself last week when he said in a series of political fundraisers that the next presidential election may well be harder to win than in 2008.
"This is going to be just as hard, if not harder, than 2008," Obama said on Thursday. "Our work is not finished."
Messina warned against complacency when he outlined the campaign's re-election strategy. He said the 2008 campaign was "special" - Obama rode a youth-driven movement to become the first black U.S. president - but Obama's supporters needed to step up their game to win in 2012.
"If we just run that same campaign we stand a good chance of losing," he said. "We have to assume every single day that we need to build something new, better, faster, and sleeker."
Even as many indicators show an improving U.S. economy, Obama faces pessimism -- recent polls show a majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
The president launched his re-election this month and faces a still-unformed Republican field with no clear front-runner.
"Republicans are going to be fired up to take on President Obama and so we all, and all of you out there. have to take the reins of this thing and really build it together," Messina said.
He referred to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that removed restrictions on corporate and union campaign spending, which Obama and Democrats have said opened the floodgates for special interest money in politics.
"What this has done is fundamentally change the way campaigns are funded," Messina said. "We have to compete with that."
Obama raised $750 million in 2008, helped significantly by small donations from grassroots supporters.
The 2012 election is expected to be the most expensive in U.S. history.
Last week Obama attended events in San Francisco and Los Angeles that were expected to bring in between $4 million and $5 million, according to a Democratic official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the party's fundraising. The price of individual admission ranged from $25 for parties for younger voters to $35,800 for exclusive dinners.
The president and his wife, Michelle, will travel to Chicago tomorrow to tape The Oprah Winfrey Show. Later in the day they will attend fundraisers in New York City.
Analysts say they expect the 2012 presidential election to cost $3 billion, about 50 percent more than the $2 billion the Federal Election Commission said was spent in 2008 by candidates, the political parties and outside groups.
Obama raised a record $745 million in 2007-08, and he was the first major-party nominee to reject public financing for the general election.
So far no clear Republican frontrunner has emerged. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said yesterday that he will not seek the White House in 2012. Former Governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts have established presidential exploratory committees, taking the first official step toward bids for the White House.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia on March 3 announced the establishment of a website to enable him to raise money and possibly run for president. Other prospective 2012 Republican candidates include former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee; former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee; Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget; and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who is stepping down as U.S. ambassador to China this month.
with www.bloomberg.com
http://www.smh.com.au/world/back-to-basics-how-obama-aims-to-win-a-second-term-20110426-1dus5.html
UK: Trump's new attack on Obama--grades
PJ: Not only has Donald Trump reinvented himself as an ulta-conservative (he was for years a liberalish Democrat and at times relatively non-political) he is now trying to rewrite President Obama's history by attacking his educational qualifications. He suggests that the country knows nothing about the President's background, totally dismissing well publicized educational accomplishments such as graduating from Harvard Law magna cum laude in 1991, where he had been elected to head the Harvard Law Review: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/first-black-elected-to-head-harvard-s-law-review.html I must note here that the Harvard Law Review makes its selection based on grades as well as competition scores: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_Review#Academics
The Independent
Trump trashes Obama's academic record
AP
Property mogul Donald Trump has suggested that US president Barack Obama had been a poor student who did not deserve to be admitted to the Ivy League universities he attended.
Mr Trump, who is considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, offered no proof for his claim but said he would continue to press the matter as he had the legitimacy of the president's birth certificate.
"I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?" Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records."
Mr Obama graduated from Columbia University in New York in 1983 with a degree in political science after transferring from Occidental College in California. He went on to Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude - with great honour - in 1991 and was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
His 2008 campaign did not release his college transcripts and in his best-selling autobiography Dreams From My Father, Mr Obama indicated he had not always been an academic star.
Mr Trump said Mr Obama's refusal to release his college grades were part of a pattern of concealing information about himself.
"I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can't get into Harvard," he said. "We don't know a thing about this guy. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about our president."
Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for Mr Obama's re-election campaign, declined to comment.
Mr Trump has shaped himself as an ultra-conservative candidate, reversing some positions he once held. He now would make abortion illegal and opposes gay marriage and gun control.
He advocates repeal of Mr Obama's health care overhaul that became law last year, wants to cut foreign aid, is highly critical of China's trade and monetary policies and wants to end the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But he has got the most political traction by latching on to the "birther" movement: those who believe claims initiated by the far-right that Mr Obama was born outside the US - despite the release of official birth records in Hawaii and other evidence. The US Constitution requires that presidential candidates be "natural-born" US citizens.
Of late, Mr Trump has appeared in interviews on all the major American cable television networks, pushing relentlessly his message that Mr Obama needs to prove he was born in the US.
"I have more people that are excited about the fact that I reinvigorated this whole issue," he said, adding "the last guy (Mr Obama) wants to run against is Donald Trump".
Mr Trump will travel to the early primary states of New Hampshire and Nevada this week and says he will make a final decision about a presidential bid by June.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-trashes-obamas-academic-record-2274873.html
The Independent
Trump trashes Obama's academic record
AP
Property mogul Donald Trump has suggested that US president Barack Obama had been a poor student who did not deserve to be admitted to the Ivy League universities he attended.
Mr Trump, who is considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, offered no proof for his claim but said he would continue to press the matter as he had the legitimacy of the president's birth certificate.
"I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?" Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records."
Mr Obama graduated from Columbia University in New York in 1983 with a degree in political science after transferring from Occidental College in California. He went on to Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude - with great honour - in 1991 and was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
His 2008 campaign did not release his college transcripts and in his best-selling autobiography Dreams From My Father, Mr Obama indicated he had not always been an academic star.
Mr Trump said Mr Obama's refusal to release his college grades were part of a pattern of concealing information about himself.
"I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can't get into Harvard," he said. "We don't know a thing about this guy. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about our president."
Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for Mr Obama's re-election campaign, declined to comment.
Mr Trump has shaped himself as an ultra-conservative candidate, reversing some positions he once held. He now would make abortion illegal and opposes gay marriage and gun control.
He advocates repeal of Mr Obama's health care overhaul that became law last year, wants to cut foreign aid, is highly critical of China's trade and monetary policies and wants to end the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But he has got the most political traction by latching on to the "birther" movement: those who believe claims initiated by the far-right that Mr Obama was born outside the US - despite the release of official birth records in Hawaii and other evidence. The US Constitution requires that presidential candidates be "natural-born" US citizens.
Of late, Mr Trump has appeared in interviews on all the major American cable television networks, pushing relentlessly his message that Mr Obama needs to prove he was born in the US.
"I have more people that are excited about the fact that I reinvigorated this whole issue," he said, adding "the last guy (Mr Obama) wants to run against is Donald Trump".
Mr Trump will travel to the early primary states of New Hampshire and Nevada this week and says he will make a final decision about a presidential bid by June.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-trashes-obamas-academic-record-2274873.html
China: Former President Carter in North Korea
Xinhua
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Pyongyang
Editor: Xiong Tong
PYONGYANG, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, accompanied by three other former state leaders, arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday morning aboard a private jet for a three-day visit at easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
At the airport, Carter was greeted by Ri Yong Ho, vice foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Carter, along with former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson, received flowers from four young DPRK girls and boys.
The quartet of former leaders smiled and waved hands to the reporters from the DPRK, China and Russia present at the airport, but delivered no speech.
The reporters were only allowed to stand within a designated area and couldn't get close to Carter.
Five minutes later, the motorcade of the delegation left the airport.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2002, said on Monday that the visit will concentrate on Pyongyang's nuclear program and food-aid needs.
Carter, who served as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981, made a historic trip to the DPRK for the first time in 1994 to help defuse a crisis over the country's nuclear program.
He paid a three-day private visit to Pyongyang last August to secure the release of an American citizen, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who had been detained by the DPRK for entering the country illegally.
WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department confirmed on Tuesday that an American citizen has been detained by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"There is an individual who is in North Korea. This individual has been detained," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at the daily briefing, adding the incident occurred " recently".
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/26/c_13846224.htm
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Pyongyang
Editor: Xiong Tong
PYONGYANG, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, accompanied by three other former state leaders, arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday morning aboard a private jet for a three-day visit at easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
At the airport, Carter was greeted by Ri Yong Ho, vice foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Carter, along with former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson, received flowers from four young DPRK girls and boys.
The quartet of former leaders smiled and waved hands to the reporters from the DPRK, China and Russia present at the airport, but delivered no speech.
The reporters were only allowed to stand within a designated area and couldn't get close to Carter.
Five minutes later, the motorcade of the delegation left the airport.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2002, said on Monday that the visit will concentrate on Pyongyang's nuclear program and food-aid needs.
Carter, who served as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981, made a historic trip to the DPRK for the first time in 1994 to help defuse a crisis over the country's nuclear program.
He paid a three-day private visit to Pyongyang last August to secure the release of an American citizen, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who had been detained by the DPRK for entering the country illegally.
WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department confirmed on Tuesday that an American citizen has been detained by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"There is an individual who is in North Korea. This individual has been detained," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at the daily briefing, adding the incident occurred " recently".
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/26/c_13846224.htm
Middle East: US mulls Syrian sanctions
PJ: In the US, President Obama has come under increased criticism for the intervention in Libya since he did not consult Congress (although briefings had taken place) and since the Libyan unrest was not considered a direct threat to the US. Now, as violence against the protesters in Syria intensifies the President is facing condemnation from some of these same people for his inaction in that country.
Al Jazeera
Obama administration mulls Syria sanctions
Assets of senior officials could be frozen and their businesses banned in US in order to ratchet up pressure on Assad.
The Obama administration is considering sanctions against senior officials in the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to ratchet up pressure for an end to a violent crackdown against protesters, a US official said on Monday.
The measures, which could freeze those officials' assets and ban them from doing business in the United States, would likely come in the form of an executive order signed by Barack Obama, the US president, the official said.
But a final decision has yet to be made on the exact timing of such a move and there was no immediate word on whether Assad might be among those targeted for sanctions.
Sanctions would mark an escalation of the US response to Assad's efforts to crush a month-long uprising against his autocratic 11-year rule.
Obama's response so far has been limited to tough words but little concrete action against the Syrian government, in contrast to Washington's role in a NATO-led air campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Washington is mindful of its limited ability to influence Damascus, which is closely allied with US foe Iran, and has had chilly relations with the United States.
It is cautious about further military entanglement in the Muslim world where it is already involved in long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama, in a statement on Friday, told Syria that its bloody crackdown on protesters "must come to an end now" and accused Damascus of seeking Iranian help to repress its people.
"The brutal violence used by the government of Syria against its people is completely deplorable," Tommy Vietor, White House spokesman, said on Monday.
UN condemnation planned
Meanwhile, four European nations are urging the UN Security Council to strongly condemn the violence against peaceful demonstrators in Syria.
A council diplomat said France, Britain, Germany and Portugal circulated a draft media statement to the other council members.
It will be discussed at a council meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the consultations have been private.
The draft statement supports secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's call for an independent and transparent investigation into the killings in Syria, where more than 300 people have died in five weeks of unrest, the diplomat said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011425194315350324.html
Al Jazeera
Obama administration mulls Syria sanctions
Assets of senior officials could be frozen and their businesses banned in US in order to ratchet up pressure on Assad.
The Obama administration is considering sanctions against senior officials in the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to ratchet up pressure for an end to a violent crackdown against protesters, a US official said on Monday.
The measures, which could freeze those officials' assets and ban them from doing business in the United States, would likely come in the form of an executive order signed by Barack Obama, the US president, the official said.
But a final decision has yet to be made on the exact timing of such a move and there was no immediate word on whether Assad might be among those targeted for sanctions.
Sanctions would mark an escalation of the US response to Assad's efforts to crush a month-long uprising against his autocratic 11-year rule.
Obama's response so far has been limited to tough words but little concrete action against the Syrian government, in contrast to Washington's role in a NATO-led air campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Washington is mindful of its limited ability to influence Damascus, which is closely allied with US foe Iran, and has had chilly relations with the United States.
It is cautious about further military entanglement in the Muslim world where it is already involved in long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama, in a statement on Friday, told Syria that its bloody crackdown on protesters "must come to an end now" and accused Damascus of seeking Iranian help to repress its people.
"The brutal violence used by the government of Syria against its people is completely deplorable," Tommy Vietor, White House spokesman, said on Monday.
UN condemnation planned
Meanwhile, four European nations are urging the UN Security Council to strongly condemn the violence against peaceful demonstrators in Syria.
A council diplomat said France, Britain, Germany and Portugal circulated a draft media statement to the other council members.
It will be discussed at a council meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the consultations have been private.
The draft statement supports secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's call for an independent and transparent investigation into the killings in Syria, where more than 300 people have died in five weeks of unrest, the diplomat said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011425194315350324.html
Monday, April 25, 2011
Turkey: US and Turkey agree on Iran
Hurriyet Daily News
Turkey, US see eye-to-eye on Iran, envoy says
Turkey and the United States share the same vision on Iran’s nuclear future, a source of much tension between Ankara and the West, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey said in remarks published Monday.
Neither country wants Iran to have nuclear weapons but both believe it has the right to develop nuclear power “as long as it fulfills its international responsibilities,” Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone told the Anatolia news agency.
“We widely agree on how to convince Iran to adopt its international responsibilities. Our basic consensus is that diplomacy is the best instrument to cope with the problem, even if it is not the only one,” the envoy said.
Speaking to the news agency on the sidelines of American Business Forum in Turkey, or ABFT, event, Ricciardone largely addressed economic issues, saying investor interest in Turkey is on the rise in the United States and across the world.
“The challenge is transforming this interest into real trade and investments,” he told Anatolia.
Compared to when he first visited the country during a vacation in 1977 and a diplomatic mission in 1979, Turkey is now much more open to the world, Ricciardone said: “How well you compete on the global stage. Turkish goods and brands have a very new meaning in the world today.”
Commenting on the mutual trade relations, Ricciardone noted the establishment of the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation, an initiative by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Barack Obama. “The Turkish side has determined the names [of the companies to participate in the effort] and we hope to meet soon, maybe in June,” he said.
Turkey had postponed determining names for the initiative within the U.S.-Turkey Business Council until recently, a hesitation that was criticized by Michael Camunez, a U.S. deputy commerce secretary, and Jose Fernandez, a U.S. deputy secretary of state, during a visit to Ankara in January.
The Turkish media then claimed that the delay was the result of indecision on whether to send representatives from the Turkish Industry & Business Association, or TÜSİAD, the country’s leading employer’s organization; from the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges, or TOBB; from the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, or MÜSİAD, a group with a close relationship to the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP; or from the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey, or TUSKON, a foreign trade organization.
The parties will work to lift obstacles hindering mutual trade and investments, Ricciardone said, naming the basic problems facing U.S. investments in Turkey as copyright disputes, a lack of transparency and failures in implementing agreements.
Surveys conducted by the ABFT since 2004 show that the basis of the Turkish business environment is sound, but problems in particular fields, such as copyrights, trade limitations and red tape, needed to be resolved, said Murat Aşık, a board member of the organization.
“We are competing with the prominent countries in the world in drawing investments and increasing the country’s potential. Being aware of this competition, we should take steps forward in moving the business environment into a better position and reducing bureaucracy,” Aşık said. “We also think that the level of predictability should improve in Turkey. We have the political and macro-economic stability, but we also need stability in changing laws and regulations. According to our annual surveys, companies are telling us that rules are changing overnight and this hampers investments.”
Dialogue is the best method to overcome these problems, according to Aşık, who said the Turkish government’s openness to such communication is appreciated, but that open dialogue needs to become a structural and sustainable part of doing business in Turkey.
According to data by the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat, Turkey’s exports to the United States reached $3.768 billion in 2010 while imports hit $12.31 billion.
Officials to discuss freezing Libyan assets
Freezing the assets of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his family and implementing U.N. sanctions on Libya and Iran will be discussed Tuesday in Ankara by Turkish and U.S. officials.
David Cohen, the acting U.S. undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, will pay a visit to the Turkish capital to discuss “international efforts on how to apply pressure on Libya,” the State Department said Friday. Cohen’s trip to Turkey follows his meetings in France, which allegedly balked at implementing sanctions on Libya.
The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1973 in March to prevent the travel of Libyan authorities such as Gadhafi and freeze their foreign assets so as to halt the regime’s attacks against the opposition. The resolution has created a Security Council committee to monitor the enforcement of the sanctions, determine other individuals who could become subject to the ban and report on its implementation.
Following his meetings with officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Treasury, Cohen will hold talks in Istanbul with banking associations and other business groups.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-us-square-on-iran-envoy-says-2011-04-25
Turkey, US see eye-to-eye on Iran, envoy says
Turkey and the United States share the same vision on Iran’s nuclear future, a source of much tension between Ankara and the West, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey said in remarks published Monday.
Neither country wants Iran to have nuclear weapons but both believe it has the right to develop nuclear power “as long as it fulfills its international responsibilities,” Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone told the Anatolia news agency.
“We widely agree on how to convince Iran to adopt its international responsibilities. Our basic consensus is that diplomacy is the best instrument to cope with the problem, even if it is not the only one,” the envoy said.
Speaking to the news agency on the sidelines of American Business Forum in Turkey, or ABFT, event, Ricciardone largely addressed economic issues, saying investor interest in Turkey is on the rise in the United States and across the world.
“The challenge is transforming this interest into real trade and investments,” he told Anatolia.
Compared to when he first visited the country during a vacation in 1977 and a diplomatic mission in 1979, Turkey is now much more open to the world, Ricciardone said: “How well you compete on the global stage. Turkish goods and brands have a very new meaning in the world today.”
Commenting on the mutual trade relations, Ricciardone noted the establishment of the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation, an initiative by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Barack Obama. “The Turkish side has determined the names [of the companies to participate in the effort] and we hope to meet soon, maybe in June,” he said.
Turkey had postponed determining names for the initiative within the U.S.-Turkey Business Council until recently, a hesitation that was criticized by Michael Camunez, a U.S. deputy commerce secretary, and Jose Fernandez, a U.S. deputy secretary of state, during a visit to Ankara in January.
The Turkish media then claimed that the delay was the result of indecision on whether to send representatives from the Turkish Industry & Business Association, or TÜSİAD, the country’s leading employer’s organization; from the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges, or TOBB; from the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, or MÜSİAD, a group with a close relationship to the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP; or from the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey, or TUSKON, a foreign trade organization.
The parties will work to lift obstacles hindering mutual trade and investments, Ricciardone said, naming the basic problems facing U.S. investments in Turkey as copyright disputes, a lack of transparency and failures in implementing agreements.
Surveys conducted by the ABFT since 2004 show that the basis of the Turkish business environment is sound, but problems in particular fields, such as copyrights, trade limitations and red tape, needed to be resolved, said Murat Aşık, a board member of the organization.
“We are competing with the prominent countries in the world in drawing investments and increasing the country’s potential. Being aware of this competition, we should take steps forward in moving the business environment into a better position and reducing bureaucracy,” Aşık said. “We also think that the level of predictability should improve in Turkey. We have the political and macro-economic stability, but we also need stability in changing laws and regulations. According to our annual surveys, companies are telling us that rules are changing overnight and this hampers investments.”
Dialogue is the best method to overcome these problems, according to Aşık, who said the Turkish government’s openness to such communication is appreciated, but that open dialogue needs to become a structural and sustainable part of doing business in Turkey.
According to data by the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat, Turkey’s exports to the United States reached $3.768 billion in 2010 while imports hit $12.31 billion.
Officials to discuss freezing Libyan assets
Freezing the assets of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his family and implementing U.N. sanctions on Libya and Iran will be discussed Tuesday in Ankara by Turkish and U.S. officials.
David Cohen, the acting U.S. undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, will pay a visit to the Turkish capital to discuss “international efforts on how to apply pressure on Libya,” the State Department said Friday. Cohen’s trip to Turkey follows his meetings in France, which allegedly balked at implementing sanctions on Libya.
The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1973 in March to prevent the travel of Libyan authorities such as Gadhafi and freeze their foreign assets so as to halt the regime’s attacks against the opposition. The resolution has created a Security Council committee to monitor the enforcement of the sanctions, determine other individuals who could become subject to the ban and report on its implementation.
Following his meetings with officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Treasury, Cohen will hold talks in Istanbul with banking associations and other business groups.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-us-square-on-iran-envoy-says-2011-04-25
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