Our (ex-?) allies

 Google 'Germany British Greenland':

America is a global pariah now.

Fascism is a global threat

 

Big deal

They grew desperate to stop all those posts showing the "90 deals in 90" days bit had garnered zero deals to date.

President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the United Kingdom in the Oval Office on Thursday, claiming it is the “first of many” to come as his 90-day tariff pause deadline creeps ever closer. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined the announcement over the phone and Trump took questions from reporters following their remarks.

[...]

“I’d like to ask, why Britain, and why now? And you describe this deal as a full and comprehensive deal, and yet we’ve just heard from Mr. Malmer, saying it’s the end of the beginning. Clearly, there’s much more work still to do. With respect, are you overstating the reach and significance of this deal because you’re a president who needs a result at a difficult time?” [Sky News’s James] Matthews asked.

  Mediaite

OMG. Who failed to vet this reporter?

“I think that it’s a great deal for both parties. It’s for us. We’re opened up. I didn’t know how closed it was. Quite closed, the market, as you know, the U.K. And it opens up a tremendous market for us, and it works out very well, very well,” Trump began. Notably, the U.S. reported a near 12 billion dollar trade surplus with the U.K. – Trump has long held his tariffs were meant to force countries away from historic trade deficits with the U.S..

“And a lot of assets, you see the chart, and those are tremendous assets. But we’ve been trying, and when you say why us, meaning your country. We’ve been trying for years, and they’ve been trying for years to make a deal, including when I was in the, you know, first term. It would always be people talking, but they weren’t getting it done. But for 25 years before that, they were trying always to make a deal. A very significant deal,” [...]

"I actually, until I looked at the numbers, I didn’t realize this is a very comprehensive deal. But we think we can grow it even from that. But this is the maxed out deal, not like you said it. You said it really incorrectly. This is a maxed out deal that we’re going to make bigger and we make it bigger through growth.

But we have tremendous assets involved. I was surprised to see how big your country is in trade. Actually, one of the biggest in technology and so many other things. It’s agriculture. I really didn’t know. Depending on your definition it’s from four to five to six. That’s pretty big in the world.

So I was very impressed by that, but we’re going to take it to new levels. It’s a very big deal right now, but I think it is going to grow. Just of its own volition, it’s going to go. Over time, there will be changes made, there’ll be adjustments made because we’re flexible. We’ll see things that we can do even better. But it’s very conclusive, and we think everyone’s going to be happy.

And the people of your country are going to be very impressed with the result and they’ll be able to buy from more people, they’ll be able to price things differently, they’ll be able to get some products that aren’t available to them now that we make better than anybody in the world."

Blather, blather, blather. And on that last ridiculous point, there's nothing we make that isn't available to them now. FFS.

The blathering incoherence continues...

"And it’s just something that it’s a great thing that it came together, it’s so nice because we have many countries want to make a deal and many countries are very unhappy that we happen to choose this one to be honest with you, but it’s long time our oldest ally, or just about. I guess a couple of people claim that too, but let’s put it right at the top. I think it’s gonna be something very special for UK and special for the United States."

So special.

Indeed.

Does he really?  Or does he just not care.  He's lining his pockets on shitcoin and bribes.

Trump 2.0 - Tariffs are beautiful, trade wars are easy

Poder Aereo reports: “Portugal’s Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo, announced that the country will not acquire F-35 fighters from the United States, considering the current geopolitical context and the unpredictability of US policy.”

“The minister emphasized that … allied predictability is a crucial factor in deciding on the replacement of combat aircraft.”

[...]

In an interview with Publico, Melo also commented: “And this ally of ours, which for decades has always been predictable, may bring limitations in use, maintenance, components, everything that has to do with ensuring that aircraft will be operational and will be used in all kinds of scenarios.”

[...]

About a month ago, CBC reported: “The government’s facing calls to reconsider or cancel major Canadian contracts with the U.S. including a more than $19-billion deal to buy 88 F-35 fighter jets with U.S. defence company Lockheed-Martin.”

[...]

[New Liberal leader Mark] Carney has not commented specifically on the planned F-35 purchase yet, but in early-February, CBC reported that: “Carney said 80 per cent of defence purchases made by this country involve the U.S. and that has to change.”

  PBI

Who will win the war between Trump and American "defense" contractors?

Trump's idiotic trade war is not going to bring back manufacturing to the US - we don't have any fucking factories! - he's destroying the only industry we have.

Welcome Barbados to the league of sovereign nations

With a female president, no less.

Barbados has elected its first president with just weeks to go until the Caribbean island becomes a republic and ceases to recognise Queen Elizabeth as its head of state.

The island’s governor-general, Dame Sandra Mason, was elected almost unanimously by the former British colony’s parliament on Wednesday, with only one member declining to vote.

Mason, a 72-year-old judge and former ambassador, will be sworn in on 30 November, the 55th anniversary of her country’s independence from Britain in 1966.

[...]

Barbados announced its decision to part company with the monarchy in September 2020 amid an intensifying global debate on the malign legacy of colonialism and racial injustice.

Speaking at the time, Mason argued that the time had come for Barbados “to fully leave our colonial past behind”.

[...]

Barbados is not the first Caribbean country to forsake the Queen. Guyana did so in 1970, four years after gaining independence from Britain, and was followed by Trinidad and Tobago in 1976 and, two years later, Dominica. Barbados may also not be the last. Its decision to become a republic has amplified a long-running debate in Jamaica over whether it should also turn away from the monarchy.

  Guardian

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Dropping sanctions should be a priority

Iran, Venezuela, Cuba - they need to have all possible resources to fight covid-19.  And if the US doesn't drop or seriously reduce sanctions, other countries and international companies should defy them and take it to the international courts.

The UK is privately pressing the US to ease sanctions on Iran to help it fight the growing coronavirus outbreak.

Official figures published by the Iranian health ministry on Wednesday said 1,135 have so far died in Iran and 17,361 have been infected. A total of 147 were recorded as dying in the past 24 hours, a new daily record.

The Iranian embassy in London appealed for sanctions to be lifted and warned the country’s hospitals were badly overstretched.

[...]

A World Health Organization official said he believed the Iranian health ministry figures underestimated the true numbers by a fifth – which would mean more than 5,600 people have died.

[...]

The US insists it has offered to provide Iran with practical help through the World Health Organization, but the Iranians have rejected any help if it does not involve lifting US sanctions.

[...]

The Trump administration has said medical supplies are available to Iran through a new Swiss humanitarian vehicle, but UK officials fear this involves so many conditions as to be ineffective.

[...]

Anyone seeking to trade via the recently established Swiss channel is required to receive a written undertaking from the US that they will not be sanctioned for sending medical supplies to Iran.

[...]

The US Department of State imposed sanctions on 12 new entities on Tuesday.

  Guardian

The cruelty is the point with this administration and its GOP minions.

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said last week that “any nation considering humanitarian assistance to Iran should seek the release of all dual and foreign nationals” from Iranian prisons.

The UK has taken a less stringent approach not making the release of all its dual nationals a precondition for aid.

After lengthy talks Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual national, was released on a two-week furlough on Tuesday, partly because of the coronavirus outbreak in Iranian jails. The Iranian government has released 85,000 prisoners so far, including half the political prisoners. In theory those sentenced to more than five years are not being released, but lists of released prisoners show some with longer sentences are being pardoned.

[...]

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, urged the UK government to try to build on her release to form an improved bilateral relationship. He said in London after speaking to his wife twice since her release: “This is a global crisis that affects everyone.

America First!

The Trump administration believes the Iranians are using sanctions as an excuse to hide their own incompetence, including a reluctance to take the necessary tough measures to restrict population movements. It is also furious at what it regards as continued Iranian-inspired missile attacks on foreign military bases in Iraq.

[...]

Iran has published a list of the supplies that it lacks, and last Thursday formally asked the IMF for a $5bn (£4.6bn) loan. European sources said it looked as if the US may use its veto on the IMF board to block the loan, saying the request did not meet the fund’s criteria. It is the first time Iran has made such a request to the IMF.

The cruelty is the point.

UPDATE:

Wouldn't surprise me

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Irish Need Not Apply

Britain is to close its borders to unskilled workers and those who can’t speak English as part of a fundamental overhaul of immigration laws that will end the era of cheap EU labour in factories, warehouses, hotels and restaurants.

Unveiling its Australian-style points system on Wednesday, the government will say it is grasping a unique opportunity to take “full control” of British borders “for the first time in decades” and eliminate the “distortion” caused by EU freedom of movement.

  The Guardian

There will be no route for self-employed people coming into the UK, spelling the end to, for example, Polish plumbers or Romanian builders arriving without a job.

Border control will no longer accept ID cards from countries such as France and Italy. This, it is understood, is an attempt to clamp down on non-EU workers beating the system with forged or stolen ID cards.

[...]

The cap on the numbers of skilled workers is being scrapped – and a small number of highly skilled workers will be allowed to come in without a job.

[...]

The government intends to launch a “comprehensive” campaign to prepare employers for the transformation in January next year when EU citizens will be treated the same as other nationals.

However, the new policy drew immediate criticism from employers, particularly over the addition of waiters, waitresses and “elementary” agriculture and fishery workers to the list of low-skilled workers.

Making England great again.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.