We need to talk about Donald – the Nightmare continues

[Brian Peacock]

Yeah, under the plan the state will subsidise private infrastructure developments by 70-80% of the cost, and the private firms will own the infrastructure and keep all the profits. This is old news.

[pErvinalia]

Truth and falsehoods have no meaning with Trump. There's just a bunch of shit he rambled incoherently. Accusing Trump of lying is like complaining about a broken clock telling the wrong time.

And Trump has now offered to testify under oath that what Comey said was lies. Lol, why would testifying under oath mean anything when it is coming from a serial liar?

[Tero]

Foreign policy:
“Oh, it was like a total shitshow,” said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to discuss the closed-door dinner.

“The dinner was far worse than the speech,” said a former senior U.S. government official briefed on dinner. “It was a train wreck. It was awful.”
https://news.google.com/news/amp?caurl= ... pt0-140150

[DRSB]

When I started the first Donald-thread, I had no idea several months later we would be on our 5th thread of cursing and swearing.

[pErvinalia]

So Donald is all your fault?

[DRSB]

No, but I really hoped we would be done with him and forget all about him, but no, no such mercy.
I wonder how many curse-threads we are going to have before he gets impeached.

[pErvinalia]

The world is going to be a boring place when he is gone (either by impeachment or losing the next election).

[Scot Dutchy]

The world is going to be a boring place when he is gone (either by impeachment or losing the next election).

He will have to be impeached. His Russian friends will make sure he wins the next election.

[Brian Peacock]

His Russian 'friends' might also drop him as soon as the sanctions are lifted and the gas and oil deals ate signed.

Anyone for Pee-pee Tapes?

[Alan B]

For the comedy shows Trump is Manna from Heaven.

They'll have to work a lot harder if he get impeached or otherwise removed...

[Animavore]

For the comedy shows Trump is Manna from Heaven.

They'll have to work a lot harder if he get impeached or otherwise removed...

I don't agree with that. Trump is doing their job for them. He's pretty much made comedians obsolete. When I look at Seth Meyers; The Daily Show, SNL, or Last Week Tonight now, they all just come across as a watered down version of the hilarity that actually ensued.

[Brian Peacock]

Pity the World Bank. Challenged by other lenders in its key role of providing finance to developing countries, it is battling for legitimacy as it tries to reflect the rising influence of emerging markets and grappling with discontent among its staff. On top of this comes hostility from the administration of Donald Trump, who has threatened to cut the US funding contribution.

The response of Jim Yong Kim, the bank’s president, appears to be to put bank services at Mr Trump’s disposal. He has offered to set up and administer a fund for women’s entrepreneurship championed by Ivanka Trump, the US president’s daughter, and offered to provide expertise for Mr Trump’s planned infrastructure plan.

Looked at narrowly, neither of these actions is outside the bank’s remit, and pursuing them may be politically astute. But such an obvious trading of favours for funding falls well short of required standards of probity, particularly for an agency that insists its borrower countries improve governance.

Half the initial $200m in capital for the fund will come from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which justifiably raised some eyebrows, given the Saudis’ record on women’s rights and the bank’s commitment to gender equality. And although the bank already administers a number of standalone funds, making a deal with a president’s daughter presents a conflict of interest. The bank will have political difficulty pulling out if the fund underperforms.

Mr Trump’s fondness for mixing public policy with personal considerations is not the least of his many flaws. But for the bank, securing continuing funding from the US is not worth the blow to its credibility that such a quid pro quo would deliver.

The bank’s legitimacy is already compromised by the time-honoured stitch-up whereby an American always holds the presidency, purely in order to persuade Congress to sign off continued US funding for the institution. This attempt to curry favour with the US administration strengthens the argument for a truly merit-based appointment. Mr Kim was not the best candidate when he was appointed in 2012, but the unspoken US lock on the presidency carried the day.

One suggestion to deal with the current problems, admittedly an ambitious one, does present itself. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said over the weekend Europe should take a stronger role in global governance. Filling a funding gap at the bank created by a US withdrawal would be an excellent way to show that Europe is serious...

https://www.ft.com/content/5c9f7f16-45f ... b4dd6296b8

[DRSB]

Is it only about the sanctions, I wonder, these friendships have been going on for decades? What exactly was Russia's plan all along?

This song is emblematic, the last couplet says "Sergeant Galicin, may be we turn back? What do we need a foreign land for?"

[Tero]

He's not bad, just an idiot!
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/opinion/tru ... -1.4152589

[Brian Peacock]

He's not bad. It's just that his personality isn't very nice.