Putin To Call Trump, May Schedule Meeting
By Tyler Durden
While the rest of the developed world woke up in a cold sweat on the first official morning of the Trump presidency, the Kremlin said that Russia’s Vladimir Putin was ready to meet President Trump but preparations for the possible meeting may take months, not weeks, according to Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“This will not be in coming weeks, let’s hope for the best – that the meeting will happen in the coming months,” Peskov told BBC, according to TASS. It was unclear if the previously reported plans on behalf of the Trump administration to meet with Putin in Iceland have been scrapped.
Peskov added that no negotiations between Moscow and Washington on the matter were underway, but this may change once Trump and Putin have a phone conversation in the near future.“President Putin will call President Trump after the inauguration to congratulate him. It’s a protocol thing that has to be done,” he said. “We expect that they may discuss their positions on a possible meeting.”
Peskov said that it would be “a big mistake” to think that Russia-U.S. relations will be “free of contradictions and disputes,” during a Trump presidency. “We indeed are the two biggest countries in the world. And we can’t live without frictions, conflict of interests,” Peskov was quoted by Interfax was saying on Saturday. Critics of Trump worry about a possible departure from former President Barack Obama’s guarded policy towards Russia, with some even accusing him of being in cahoots with the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, in a scathing farewell letter by Russia’s PM to Barack Obama, former president Dmitry Medvedev accused the US of warmongering, and steamrolling US-Russian relations in a blind attempt to promote its own interests while ignore the rest of the world:
“Everyone is aware that the United States has always tried to” steer” almost all global processes, brazenly interfering in the internal affairs of various countries and waging multiple wars on foreign soil. Iraq, the Arab Spring, Ukraine, and Syria are just a few examples of such reckless policies in recent years. We can still see their consequences, which range from the complete collapse of the political systems in these countries to wars which claimed tens of thousands of lives.”
There is only one explanation for such actions: the interests of the United States. An explanation which is entirely defensible in America itself, though much less so in other countries.
But the real issue lies elsewhere– the failure to understand one’s own true interests.
Medvedev conclude that “we do not know yet how the new US administration will approach relations with our country. But we are hoping that reason will prevail. And we are ready to do our share of the work in order to improve the relationship. America’s neoconservatives are hopeful that behind his pro-Russian bluster, Trump will settle in the same mold as his predecessor, keeping Europe on edge courtesy of constant NATO encroachment, and the revenue for US military and defense companies rolling.
500,000 Women Swamp Washington For Anti-Trump Protest March – Live Feed
By Tyler Durden
Hundreds of thousands crowds of women, many wearing bright pink knit hats and carrying Starbucks lattes, swamped into downtown Washington, arriving by bus, train and car on Saturday for a march in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump one day after the Republican took office.
Cited by AP, a city official in Washington said the turnout estimate for the Women’s March on the National Mall now stands at 500,000 people, more than double the initial predictions. Kevin Donahue is Washington’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice. He says on Twitter that organizers of the march are increasing the turnout estimate to half a million.
Per @womensmarch organizers, they’re increasing today’s turnout estimates to 500,000 participants. Be patient & kind! #WomensMarch
— Deputy Mayor Donahue (@SafeDC) January 21, 2017
The Washington event is expected to be the largest of a series of marches planned across the world in cities including Sydney, London, Tokyo and New York to criticize Trump’s “often angry, populist rhetoric.”
Over 1000 buses at RFK Stadium -1.5 mile from #WomensMarch DC
NYers hitting the streets @WomensMarchNYC #NYWIFT pic.twitter.com/9jaiZN7LZX— Maura Kelly (@MauraKellyMedia) January 21, 2017
Streets are packed! Metro subway jammed!!! Amazing. #WomensMarch
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 21, 2017
A hundred thousand people marching for equality – amazing to speak at @womensmarchlon in Trafalgar Square this afternoon #WomensMarch pic.twitter.com/EQclgnsnXO
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) January 21, 2017
Taking over DC Metro #WomensMarch! pic.twitter.com/6lUhSpGZyu
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) January 21, 2017
It's not normal to see a massive protest outside the Capitol the day after somebody takes office. pic.twitter.com/na491qB3Xy
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) January 21, 2017
Today’s Women’s March on Washington, which will feature speakers, celebrity appearances and a protest walk along the National Mall, is the brainchild of Hawaiian grandmother Teresa Shook and is intended as an outlet for women and their male supporters to vent their frustration and anxiety over Trump’s victory. According to organizers, several hundred thousand people are expected to attend.
Let’s March Nasty Women. Shady Grove metro stop. We are not even near the city yet! #WomensMarch #nastywomen pic.twitter.com/3yJjWGEJNO
— Frankie (@livetowonder) January 21, 2017
It’s finally here! Check out our March Map and remember to print it out and save it to your phone. #WomensMarch pic.twitter.com/LwMNx674ss
— Women’s March (@womensmarch) January 20, 2017
Many participants wore knitted pink cat-eared “pussy” hats, a reference to Trump’s claim in the 2005 video that was made public weeks before the election that he grabbed women by the genitals. The march spotlights the fierce opposition Trump faces as he takes office, a period that is typically more of a honeymoon for a new president. The women said they hoped to send a unity message to Trump.
Among the prominent democrats praising the rally were Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of state thanked attendees on Twitter for “standing, …read more
Source: 500,000 Women Swamp Washington For Anti-Trump Protest March – Live Feed
German Press: "That Was No Presidential Speech; That Was A Declaration Of War"
By Tyler Durden
Following yesterday’s openly confrontational, deliberately protectionist presidential address, which in various circles has been dubbed the “American carnage” speech, some of Obama’s closest foreign friends are scrambling to find a role in a world that has drastically changed in less than 24 hours. One of them is the foreign leader whom Obama spoke to last before vacating the White House, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who vowed on Saturday to seek compromises on issues like trade and military spending with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding she would work on preserving the important relationship between Europe and the United States.
“He made his convictions clear in his inauguration speech,” Merkel said in remarks broadcast live, a day after Trump vowed to put ‘America first’.
Speaking at a news conference in the south-western town of Schoental, Merkel – finding herself in a world where many of her legacy friends have been swept away by the tide of “populist anger” – suddenly struck a more conciliatory tone toward Trump than Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who on Friday said Germany should prepare for a rough ride under the new U.S. president.
“I say two things with regards to this (speech): first, I believe firmly that it is best for all of us if we work together based on rules, common values and joint action in the international economic system, in the international trade system, and make our contributions to the military alliances,” Merkel said. The conservative German leader, who is seeking a fourth term and enjoyed a close relationship with former president Barack Obama, is seen by liberals across the Atlantic as a voice of reason that counterbalances rising populist parties in Europe.
“And second, the trans-Atlantic relationship will not be less important in the coming years than it was in past years. And I will work on that. Even when there are different opinions, compromises and solutions can be best found when we exchange ideas with respect,” added Merkel.
As Reuters notes, relations with the United States, Germany’s biggest trading partner, are likely to be a hot topic in electioneering in coming months leading to a general election in September. And in the aftermath of the Trump speech, which defined Trump’s “negotiating baseline”, Merkel will have no choice but admit weakness in accepting compromises with a man who has criticized her decision in 2015 to throw open Germany’s borders to asylum seekers fleeing wars and conflicts, and has said he believes other countries will leave the EU after Britain and that the NATO military alliance was obsolete.
* * *
Yet while Merkel hopes for a fresh start with the new US president, her domestic institutions and media will be far less forgiving to any indication of weakness from the chancellor. For the best example so far, an article penned this morning by Gabor Steingart, chief in chief of Handelsblatt, Germany’s leading economic newspaper, burned all compromise bridges when he said that “that was no presidential speech; that was a veritable declaration of war.”
The savage …read more
Source: German Press: "That Was No Presidential Speech; That Was A Declaration Of War"
Chinese, Germans Bidding To Turn Abandoned Nuclear Wasteland Of Chernobyl Into Solar Farm
By Tyler Durden
For 30 years the 1,000 square miles surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia have lay largely inhabited and remains one of the most radioactively contaminated areas in the world. But that’s all about to change if a group of German and Chinese investors have their way about it. According to Ukraine’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Ostap Semerak, 39 separate entities have applied for permission to install 2 gigawatts worth solar panels on the land that would otherwise lie unutilized for centuries to come. Per Bloomberg:
Chinese and Germans are among dozens of investors taking Ukraine up on its offer to turn the grounds of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters into a massive solar park.
Thirteen international investors are among the 39 groups seeking Ukraine permission to install about 2 gigawatts of solar panels inside the radioactive exclusion zone surrounding the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant, according to Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Ostap Semerak. Two gigawatts is almost the capacity of two modern nuclear reactors, although atomic power unlike solar works day and night.
“We have received requests from businesses that are interested in renting land for building solar power stations,” Semerak said in a phone interview from Kiev. “We are not looking to profit from land use, we are looking to profit from investment.”
Of course, the effort to attract the new investors required a modest 85% rent reduction and guaranteed rates through 2030 to subsidize the solar farms which are otherwise not cost competive.
Chinese companies GCL System Integration Technology Co Ltd. and China National Complete Engineering Corp said in November that they plan to build a 1 gigawatt solar project on the site in several stages. A German renewables developer has applied to install 500 megawatts, Semerak said, declining to name the firm. The remaining project proposals are for plants that are about 20 megawatts in size.
Companies “have requested between 20 hectares and 1,000 hectares for projects,” Semerak said. In a push for foreign investment, Ukraine has lowered the rent charged for state property by 85 percent, he said.
The country set up a feed-in-tariff system running through 2030 that offers a fixed price which is reduced annually. Projects that sign on in 2017 will receive 17 euro cents (18 U.S. cents) a kilowatt.
That said, there is one minor issue which could disrupt the otherwise genius plan, if we understand it correctly, which is that the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has waffled on providing financing and said loans will be contingent on “environmental due diligence.” Seriously?
The lingering radiation at Chernobyl is a concern of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which is considering whether to finance the solar projects. Loans will be contingent on environmental due diligence, according to spokesman Anton Usov. The projects would have to be safe to install and operate and also be commercially viable to receive funding, he said.
“For any project above 10 megawatts in …read more
Source: Chinese, Germans Bidding To Turn Abandoned Nuclear Wasteland Of Chernobyl Into Solar Farm
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Trump Takes Over ‘Riskiest’ America Since World War II
By Tyler Durden
While most are well aware that President Obama is leaving office having almost doubled the national debt during his 'reign', the more concerning fact is that this debt-splosion came with the weakest economic recovery in US history. What this means simply is that Obama is handing Trump the 'riskiest' America since World War II as debt-to-GDP is the highest since Truman.
Combine this…Worst Recovery Ever…
Source: JPMorgan
With this…Biggest increase in debt ever…
And you get this… the highest debt-to-gdp since Truman…
h/t @Schuldensuehner
Trump is taking over America in its most perilous economic state since World War II.
Source: Trump Takes Over ‘Riskiest’ America Since World War II
These Are The 3 Main Issues For Europe In 2017
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by George Shapiro and Jacob Shapiro via MauldinEconomics.com,
What will the year ahead look like for Europe? 2017 will be another chapter in the European Union’s slow unraveling… a process that has been underway for over a decade.
The EU is a union in name only. The transfer of sovereignty to Brussels was never total, and member states are independent countries… each with their own interests at stake.
Here are the major forces at work.
1. The Italian Crisis
Italy’s banking crisis has played a key role in the destabilization of its domestic politics. The main problem is the Italian banking sector’s high rate of non-performing loans (NPLs). Approximately 17% of all loans from Italian banks are NPLs, according to the European Banking Authority. The bank currently making headlines, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, had 45 billion euros ($47.4 billion) worth of NPLs and other doubtful loans when its problems came to light in 2016.
But the issue here is not simply money. The balance sheets of Italian banks don’t exist in a vacuum. If the European Central Bank were to bail out Italy, it would mean, in effect, that all of Europe would be paying for the bailout.
Greece, which had austerity forced upon it, would cry foul. The German public would object, and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s position would be severely weakened.
2. Declining German Exports
The major economic issue we expect to see in 2017 is a decline in German exports. The latest World Bank data shows that Germany’s exports-to-GDP ratio is 46.8%.
Neither China nor Russia will be increasing demand for German goods due to their own economic woes. And while Germany has managed to survive thus far by increasing exports to the UK and the US, this is not sustainable. This affects not just Germany, but all of Europe.
The EU is built around a massive exporter: Germany. That makes the EU vulnerable to drops in demand for German exports. It also creates a particular kind of political relationship between Germany and the rest of the EU. This is especially true for countries that are markets for German goods and those that are in the German supply chain.
This dependency and economic architecture has worked in the past. But now, it faces two key challenges. The first is how to increase demand for the products in question (which is not in any single country’s control). The second is that many of Europe’s economies are still struggling due to the 2008 financial crisis.
The EU’s growing socio-economic problems, in turn, are leading to increased nationalism. We saw this manifest in Brexit in 2016. In 2017, this dynamic already is affecting elections in France and Germany. The conversation has shifted from an internationalist position to a nationalist one—even for those who historically have been most committed to the EU (like Merkel).
3. The Security Question
Security will be an issue for the EU… and here, too, member states’ interests diverge. Some countries are more concerned with refugees than others, …read more
Source: These Are The 3 Main Issues For Europe In 2017
25 Years Of Neocon-Neoliberalism: Great For The Top 5%, A Disaster For Everyone Else
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
It cannot be merely coincidental that the incomes and wealth of the top 5% have pulled away from the stagnating 95% in the 25 years dominated by neocon-neoliberalism.
One unexamined narrative I keep hearing is: “OK, so neocon-neoliberalism was less than ideal, but Trump could be much worse.” Let's start by asking: would Syrian civilians agree with this assessment? The basic idea in the “OK, so neocon-neoliberalism was less than ideal, but Trump could be much worse” narrative is that the modest problems created by neocon-neoliberalism will pale next to what Trump will do, implying jackbooted Waffen SS troops will soon be marching through America on Trump's orders.
This narrative is yet another example of American parochialism: since neocon-neoliberalism didn't cause American cities to be bombed and its institutions demolished, it's really not that bad.
Try telling that to the Iraqis, Libyans and Syrians who have been on the receiving end of neocon-neoliberalism policies. The reality is very unpleasant: for those targeted by America's neocon-neoliberalism, nothing worse is imaginable, because the worst has already happened.
The cold reality is America's 25 years of neocon-neoliberalism has been great for the top 5% and an unmitigated disaster for everyone else in the U.S. and the nations it has targeted for intervention.
Those defending the Democratic Party's 16 years of neocon-neoliberalism (Clinton and Obama) and the Republican Party's 8 years of neocon-neoliberalism (Bush) are defending a system that benefited the few at the expense of the many.
Rather than admit the past 25 years have been catastrophic for the bottom 95%, the apologists speak darkly of fantastical visions of a Nazi America as a diversion to the grim truth that they have blindly supported an evil Empire that has stripmined the bottom 95% in America and laid waste to entire nations abroad.
Neoconservatism's malignant spores hatched in the Reagan years, and spread quickly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stripped to its essence, Neoconservatism is American Exceptionalism turned into a global entitlement: it's our right to intervene anywhere in the world we choose to defend what we perceive as our interests, and it's our right to impose our version of democracy and a market economy on other peoples.
Self-interest melds seamlessly with moral superiority in neocon-neoliberalism. The moral justification is: since ours is the best possible system, we're doing you a favor by tearing down your institutions and imposing our system on you. The self-interest is: garsh, the “market” we imposed extracts your resources and benefits our banks and corporations. Amazing, isn't it, how “free markets” benefit everyone?
But not equally. The claim of neoliberalism is: everything is transformed for the better when it is turned into a market. Once buyers and sellers can meet in a transparent marketplace, everybody prospers and everything becomes more efficient.
Stripped to its essence, neoliberalism is: the markets we set up are rigged to favor those at the top. All that talk about free markets is just public-relations cover to mask an intrinsically rigged quasi-market that has features of …read more
Source: 25 Years Of Neocon-Neoliberalism: Great For The Top 5%, A Disaster For Everyone Else
Trump administration suspends mortgage premium rate cut
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has suspended the reduction of annual mortgage insurance premiums that was supposed to go into effect January 27. …read more
Source: Trump administration suspends mortgage premium rate cut
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