Trump on Israel
On February 15, the Washington Post editorial board said that by President Trump saying he could live with a single state for the Israelis and Palestinians, he had made the "already slim prospects for an accord even more remote -- and increased the chances that one of the relatively few peaceful corners of the region will return to conflict." Palestinians say a single state would have to grant them equal rights, including full voting rights.
Most Israelis who favor a single state imagine an apartheid-like system in which Palestinians would live in areas with local autonomy, but without either sovereignty or the same democratic rights as Jews.
President Trump has embraced a diplomatic approach in which Israel would develop closer ties with Arab Sunni states who would help broker a settlement with the Palestinians. But Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan will never support a deal in which Palestinians do not have full political rights. In 2002, Saudi Arabia proposed relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied territories; it was adopted by the Arab League but didn't go anywhere.
Trump's plea to Israel to stop settlement building for a "little bit" of time will not move the peace process along unless and until he imposes a penalty on Israel, such as cutting off funding.
Trump Stealing From Obama
Trump has taken credit for the placement of a THAAD missile defense battery in South Korea. Obama reached a deal with South Korea last July. Similarly, Trump has taken credit for a reduction in the cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The announcement of the cost reductions took place on December 19, 2016, well before Trump took office. Richard Aboulafia, analyst with the aerospace consulting firm, Teal Group, said there is no evidence of any additional cost savings as a result of Trump's actions.
Trump has also taken credit for a $12 billion decline in the national debt. The debt normally fluctuates; furthermore, Trump had made no changes in spending policy nor tax cuts. Trump's planned large tax cuts and proposed spending increases, if enacted, will drive up the debt a lot.
Trump's credit theft seems to have no bounds. He has taken credit for $20 billion of investments in the Gulf Coast and the Gulf Coast region. ExxonMobil says the investments actually started in 2013 and are continuing.
Sessions' Crime Reduction Plan
Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to reduce crime by federalizing prosecutors who deal with violent crime at the state and local level. Jeffrey Fagan, professor of law at Columbia University and senior research scholar at Yale Law School, says that "What offenders respond to is the treat of being caught and punished, not the severity of the punishment." He cites a deterrence effort between federal and local authorities launched in 1997 in Richmond, Virginia, called Project Exile. "It was not terribly effective," he says.
ADDENDUMS:
*Conservatives are upset with EPA head, Scott Pruitt, because he hasn't acted to overturn the 2009 Endangerment finding that greenhouse gases are a threat and can be regulated. They want to remove the legal obligation under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide, removing a key tool that environmentalists are counting on to keep Obama's policies like the Clean Power Plan in place. Pruitt apparently believes that to try to remove it would be a significant lift and he might also be labeled as anti-science.
*Trump has said that Hillary Clinton shouldn't have run for the presidency because she was under FBI investigation. Since President Trump is under FBI investigation, we await his resignation.
No comments:
Post a Comment