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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
It comes down to what one means by a Hyperpower, the US is the one remaining superpower, but there are now regional powers with enough strength to challenge the US both militarily in their own region and politically in other regions (Russia is a political challenge in the Middle East, China is one in some parts of Africa and South-East Asia while the EU could be one in North Africa if things came to a head).
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyranhttps://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/02/12/day-754/
2/ Trump is "not happy" with the tentative bipartisan border security deal, adding that "it's not doing the trick." Trump did not commit to signing the spending measure if Congress passes it, but he did say: "I don't think you're going to see another shutdown." Trump also didn't rule out declaring a national emergency to secure wall funds. "I'm considering everything." (CNBC / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Bloomberg)
3/ The White House is working on a plan to redirect federal dollars to fund Trump's border wall without invoking a national emergency. The current plan is to take money from two Army Corps of Engineers' flood control projects in Northern California, draw from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico, and tap Department of Defense funds. A former staff director for the House Appropriations Committee said the plan "will create a firestorm." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/11/mick-mulvaney-border-wall-funds-1163996
The Trump administration is still separating families when they cross the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully, despite ending the policy last summer. (The Guardian)
4/ Senate Republicans are "livid" with Trump's refusal to issue a report determining who is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The deadline was Friday for the White House to officially detail the role Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played in the Khashoggi murder. On Friday, the Trump administration said it reserved the right to decline lawmakers' demand under the Magnitsky Act that Trump determine who is responsible for Khashoggi's murder inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Mike Pompeo also denied that the Trump administration is protecting Mohammed, saying "America is not covering up for a murder." The CIA, however, has concluded that the crown prince personally ordered Khashoggi's killing. (Politico / ABC News / CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/politics/khashoggi-pressure-trump-cover-up/index.html
5/ The Senate Intelligence Committee found "no direct evidence" of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. "We were never going find a contract signed in blood saying, 'Hey Vlad, we're going to collude,'" one Democratic aide said. Democratic Senate investigators said that the more than 100 contacts between Trump's associates and various Russians show that the campaign was willing to accept help from a foreign adversary. Senate investigators also said they have uncovered facts yet to be made public. (NBC News)
Trump's former attorney, John Dowd, claimed he knows more than Mueller about the Russia investigation because of the joint-defense agreements with witnesses in the probe. "I know exactly what [Mueller] has," Dowd said. "I know exactly what every witness said, what every document said. I know exactly what he asked. And I know what the conclusion or the result is," he said. (ABC News / Talking Points Memo)
6/ The House Judiciary Committee hired two "special oversight counsels" tasked with reviewing allegations against Trump that could be at the heart of an impeachment case. Norm Eisen and Barry Berke are two elite white collar litigators and prominent legal critics of Trump will consult on matters "related to the Department of Justice, including the Department's review of Special Counsel Mueller's investigation," would include alleged ethics violations, corruption, and possible obstruction of justice. The committee's chairman, Jerrold Nadler, has not committed to opening a formal impeachment inquiry, but the hires signal that he does not intend to wait for Mueller to finish his work to begin reviewing the issues. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
poll/ 56% of Americans say they trust Mueller's version of the facts than Trump's. 57% also believe that Mueller is mainly interested in "finding out the truth" than trying to "hurt Trump politically." (Washington Post)
Michael Cohen postponed his planned appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee because of "post-surgery medical needs" stemming from his recent shoulder surgery. Cohen is is due to begin serving a three-year prison sentence on March 6 for lying to Congress, campaign finance violations and financial crimes. It's the third time Cohen's testimony has been rescheduled. (Politico / CNBC)
Companies are spending the corporate windfall from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on stock buybacks instead of wage increases and employee bonuses. Corporations spent $770 billion on buybacks in 2018, which is expected to increase to around $940 billion this year when after-tax profits are included. Other portions from the tax cut savings went to dividends or debt reduction. (Center for Public Integrity / NBC News)
A small company in Switzerland is being investigated by Robert Mueller's team for its connection to a now-defunct Israeli social media manipulation company called Psy Group, which created a plan to help Trump win in 2016. Former employees of Psy Group were interviewed by Mueller's team in 2017 about the company's business and ownership structure. Psy Group's business structure was very complicated and included offshore entities registered in the Virgin Islands. It also included a chain of entities in Zurich known as Salix Services AG. Financial documents appear to show that Salix is connected to at least one of the companies that owned Psy Group. One question at the heart of Mueller's interest in Salix and Psy Group involves a $2 million payment from international business and influence-peddler George Nader to former Psy Group owner Joel Zamel. Investigators want to know why Nadler paid Zamel after the 2016 election and where the money went after that. (Daily Beast)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/swiss-mystery-company-is-at-the-heart-of-a-mueller-puzzle
A federal agency that acts as a personnel court for federal workers has only one person to hear cases and he leaves at the end of February. Two of the board's three seats have been vacant for the entire Trump administration. Justice Department attorneys said the agency could be operating illegally if the board has no members. (Washington Post)
The acting chief of the Interior Department is weakening environmental protections for a fish in California, which would free up river water for farmers who are his former clients. David Bernhardt disproportionately benefit one of his former clients. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/climate/david-bernhardt-endangered-species.html
A former White House aide is suing Trump after Trump's campaign organization filed an arbitration against Cliff Sims claiming he violated an NDA he signed during the 2016 presidential race by writing the tell-all book, "Team of Vipers." Sims alleges that Trump is using his campaign organization as an "illegitimate cutout" to penalize Sims for writing the book. The suit also claims that Trump has been selective when it comes to enforcing ND As against former staffers by going after people like Omarosa and Sims, but not Sean Spicer or Corey Lewandowski for their tell-all books. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / USA Today)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/11/cliff-sims-sues-trump-1164558
A BBC cameraman was "violently pushed and shoved" by a Trump supporter at Trump's rally in El Paso. A man in a MAGA hat started screaming "Fuck the media! Fuck the media!" after attempting to knock BBC cameraman Ron Skeans off balance while he was filming Trump's speech. The man was restrained and removed by security. Skeans said he is fine. (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/12/media/bbc-camera-man-attack-trump-rally-scli/index.html
Separately from that, I found an article while going through https://currentstatus.io/
How Democrats are handing Donald Trump a viable path to a second term
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/12/politics/trump-green-new-deal-socialism/index.html
To summarize, due to how clickbaity the title is, the article (op-ed?) is an analysis by Chris Cillizza (whose name is familiar but I cannot place) suggesting that, between recent Democratic laws relating to abortion passed in New York and AOC's "Green New Deal", the Democrats are giving Trump issues he can rally his base around, as evidenced by his speeches in El Paso.
Also:
'There's no way he could': Trump's ex-lawyer John Dowd feared the president was incapable of an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller
"There's no way he could," Dowd said. "I mean we'd have to script it."
"Matter of fact," Dowd added, "I told Bob [Mueller]. I said, 'Why don't you just let us script it?'"
Dowd said on the podcast that Trump each day reviews a "staggering" amount of information and is dealing with international issues whose signficance dwarfs the importance of the Mueller probe.
Dowd also apparently was concerned that a sit-down interview with Mueller could end with Trump getting accused of making false statements to federal investigators, just as former Trump advisors have been criminally charged with doing by the special counsel's office.
"What I was worried about is that he really couldn't do it. He couldn't do it," Dowd said Tuesday on "The Investigation" podcast on ABC News Radio when asked why he did not recommend that Trump submit to in-person questions from Mueller.
"There's no way he could," Dowd said. "I mean we'd have to script it."
"Matter of fact," Dowd added, "I told Bob [Mueller]. I said, 'Why don't you just let us script it?'"
Dowd said on the podcast that Trump each day reviews a "staggering" amount of information and is dealing with international issues whose signficance dwarfs the importance of the Mueller probe.
Both of those facts, Dowd argued, would put Trump at a disadvantage at being questioned in detail about items of concern to the special counsel's team.
"In my questioning of him, or talking to him ... first question, easy, second question, easy, third question, he wasn't sure. Dowd said. "And he doesn't like being unsure. So he'll guess. There's your trap right there."
"It's not whether he lies, or not. Everybody wants to get into this you know, this integrity business. It's not a matter of integrity, it's overload."
Edited by sgamer82 on Feb 12th 2019 at 5:31:20 AM
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Arguably with the end of the Cold War, the US isn't actually a superpower any more than Russia and China are. Much of its superpower status came from its alliances with all the nations under a more direct threat from the Soviet Union than the US itself, which needed the US on their side in order to keep that Soviet threat in check.
With the Soviet Union gone and no threatening superpower in its place, most of the US foreign relations no longer run along the line of the US dictating terms and the other country deciding which concessions to make to make up for the terms it can't agree to.
And this has worsened considerably with Trump's Presidency and his penchant for pulling out of treaties with allies while making friendly overtures to their enemies and rivals. US allies are all to aware that any deal made with the US is now as good as pointless, because if the Orange Emperor hears about it and judges it not beneficial enough for his side, it's gone.
Edited by Robrecht on Feb 12th 2019 at 1:47:16 PM
Angry gets shit done.Well in that case the US's force projection has waned significantly if Afghanistan and Iraq are any indication.
In both cases the US 'boots on the ground' were massively (some would say criminally) under-supplied and in many cases heavily reliant on allied logistics to get what they needed when they needed it. Only the fact that in both cases the enemy was mostly using equipment and tactics two generations out of date and didn't have the backing of a larger nation kept those wars from turning into Vietnamesque affairs.
Angry gets shit done.And in both wars the symmetrical portion of the war was over pretty much immediately in an overwhelming victory for American and coalition forces.
Most of the supply chain issues and gaps in our equipment in the early days of Iraq were solved and by all measures the chief problem with our ongoing efforts there are political and not material.
And even given the massive laundry list of issues we had and still do have, and believe me I can list a lot, we're still the prime example of a superpower by any definition.
Edited by LeGarcon on Feb 12th 2019 at 8:21:24 AM
Oh really when?Chris Cillizza must have been living under a rock the past decade if he thinks Republicans don't scream about abortion and socialism every single election to whip up their base.
I will say that the Green New Deal is something that they have been able to work with. If the Democrats stand firm on something shitty, nonsensical, or pie in the sky, they will be handing the Republicans a huge advantage. That said, if they come out with something reasonable that a lot of people support, I think they can stand and fight with it. Part of the problem is that 'New Deal' has very sweeping connotations and I'm not sure enough people want sweeping changes of the sort that have been reported on.
Denial of the US as a superpower is more or less denial of basic reality at this point.
There is no other nation that could realistically claim to be able to compete with us in terms of political influence, cultural spread, economic strength, military might, the list goes on. That such a deeply flawed nation as the US has ascended to this position is concerning, but short of voting in more Trumps there’s not much we’re going to be able to do to change that.
They should have sent a poet.A brief summary? I'll do my best.
Lucas basically outlines what Putin's been up to since he became Boss. He talks about how Putin is using PsyOps, increased intelligence operations worldwide, the rise of denialble operatives in the form of Russian PMCs, out and out bribery, muzzling dissent, slowly but surely expanding Russian influence into the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and in the updated re-release, about the rise of the far-Right and their shady connections to officials within Russia.
Probably the most unusual point he makes is that the Western Powers (NATO and hangers-on) were basically caught napping with their pants down. The way he puts it, had they taken Putin seriously enough as a threat right from the get go, he wouldn't have got as far as he did.
He also stated that there was a growing chance that a rising power like China or a rejuvenated EU might upend the apple-cart, so to speak, but he didn't really lay out how he expected this to happen.
It's fairly convincing, but it does come off as somewhat alarmist at times. Interesting read all the same though.
Edited by TechPriest90 on Feb 12th 2019 at 10:03:53 AM
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Oh FFS, sgamer has already posted an article about how this is horseshit.
That's 1.4 billion for fencing, not a wall. There's a difference.
Fucking hell. Are we really going to go through another round of this "Democratic Party are spineless appeasers!" bullshit?
Edited by M84 on Feb 12th 2019 at 11:53:38 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedNote that the original deal included more.
This was the deal on the table (it passed 26 to 5 in the Senate Appropriations Committee in June) when Trump initially began demanding $5 billion for his wall. He’s now getting slightly less than that $1.6 billion while also making a concession to Democrats on detention beds.
So the Democratic Party managed a better deal. Less money for less fence and they get a concession on detention beds.
And you're disappointed they couldn't work a miracle and get rid of all of it entirely?
At this point it just seems like you're determined to see the Democratic Party in a bad light. At least save it for when they genuinely fail.
Edited by M84 on Feb 12th 2019 at 11:59:29 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedFor the sake of reference, ~Charles Phipps, here's the article I posted that M84 is referring to and partially quoted from:
Analysis | Trump’s failed shutdown strategy produced an even worse deal than he started with – Trump would get some funding for border fencing. It wouldn't even be what he was originally offered.
An excerpt:
That may be because this deal is a pretty bitter pill to swallow. In fact, it’s probably a worse deal than Trump would have gotten if he had never shut down the government in the first place.
The deal as laid out does include some border fencing — $1.375 billion worth, or 55 miles. That’s well shy of the $5.7 billion and 200 miles in wall funding he demanded that led to the shutdown, but it’s not nothing. Trump could argue that he got something out of the 35-day government closure.
But only if you ignore two very important things.
One is that this compromise includes a concession to Democrats, too: a reduction in the number of detention beds. As The Post’s Erica Werner, Damian Paletta and Sean Sullivan report:
The deal omits a strict new cap Democrats had sought on immigrants detained within the United States — as opposed to at the border. At the same time, it limits overall levels of detention beds maintained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, although GOP aides said ICE would have enough money and flexibility to maintain its current detention levels and add more when needed.
But the bigger issue is this: The amount of funding is actually shy of the original deal Republicans and Democrats reached last year that Trump rejected. At that time, the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security included $1.6 billion for 65 miles of fencing, both slightly more than the current tentative deal.
This was the deal on the table (it passed 26 to 5 in the Senate Appropriations Committee in June) when Trump initially began demanding $5 billion for his wall. He’s now getting slightly less than that $1.6 billion while also making a concession to Democrats on detention beds.
In news you, in particular, might find interesting, Charles:
Schumer recruits famed fighter pilot to challenge McConnell in 2020 – The GOP leader is deep into preparations to take on Democrat Amy McGrath.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/12/schumer-amy-mcgrath-1167184
Edited by sgamer82 on Feb 12th 2019 at 9:26:45 AM
https://warontherocks.com/2019/02/coming-to-terms-with-americas-undeniable-failure-in-afghanistan/
A good article on the situation in Afghanistan.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

The thing to remember about book titles is that they, like clickbait news article titles, are designed to draw eyes and generate interest in the product.
And, you know, it'd probably be helpful if you could at least summarize some of the points you found convincing, because it's unlikely that the rest of us currently have said book or are going out to spend money to buy it right now just to tell you that no, we're not in a Cold War.
Anyway, we're not in one, really.