"Trump’s hostility to the #EPA and his devotion to wealthy fossil fuel interests have been so intense that it would be shocking if he borrowed a page from Reagan’s successful playbook."
The US State Department on Friday announced it would cut $200m in aid for the occupied West Bank and Gaza, apparently at the direction of US President Donald Trump.
On Saturday, the Israel Television News Company reported that Trump intends to demand the number of Palestinians recognised as refugees by 90 percent.
It’s obvious that Bibi is now dictating US foreign policy..unfortunately, it’s neither good for the US, nor Israel..also highlights the problem with intertwining politics and natsec!!!
Earlier this month it was reported that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, had put pressure on Jordan to strip the refugee status of more than two million registered Palestinians residing there.
Following that report, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee, said Kushner's move was part of a broader effort by him and the Trump administration to render UNRWA irrelevant and halt its work.
In January, the US announced it would withhold $65m of $125m that it had planned to send to UNRWA, which is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN states, including those from the United States.
That is the problem with personalizing the war against groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State: We inflate our enemies into larger-than-life villains who reflect our fears rather than their own capabilities.
We did it with Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, and now we are doing it with Ibrahim al-Asiri.
By talking about them as masterminds with irreplaceable skillsets, the United States projects the mistaken impression that if they could only be killed, the terrorist threat would be greatly reduced.
The US provides aerial targeting assistance to the coalition, for Pete’s sake, along with intelligence sharing and mid-flight aerial refueling for coalition aircraft.
And of course, the US supplies (with the UK) the bulk of the coalition’s weapons. Lots of them. Hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth.
“You’re going to see some increase in prices. The supply chain is going to become more costly and you’ll pay more in the short term, but here’s the way I look at China: Pay now or pay later.”
The problem for Brussels is that no one can tell for sure whether the U.S. president will stick to that plan described by Senator Graham.
Brussels reckons that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer supports the approach, but one diplomat conceded “no one knows” whether Trump will stick to the plan.