Thursday, August 23, 2018

Is Trump an authoritarian, or a crook? The answer is shaping up. Trump must be an authoritarian precisely because he is a crook.

David Frum
Said David Frum, a senior editor at the Atlantic, in his post titled "The President Is a Crook" today.

Frum indicated that the chances of Trump shutting down Robert Mueller’s Russia inquiry now have increased. "Trump has apparently calculated that the cost of closing down Robert Mueller’s inquiry is greater than the cost of enduring it. That always looked a gamble against the odds. Now it looks a proven bad bet, and a bet that will only worsen over time," he wrote.

Donald Trump has expressed his frustration (Listen here) many times saying "The saddest thing is that because I'm the President of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. I am not supposed to be involved with the FBI."

Frum concludes writing this: "Trump’s whole philosophy of life is of a kill-or-be-killed competition. It’s an old question: Is Trump an authoritarian, or a crook? The answer is shaping up. Trump must be an authoritarian precisely because he is a crook. The country can have the rule of law, or it can keep the Trump presidency. Facing that choice, who doubts what Trump’s answer, or the answer of his supporters, will be?"


Read the full post here.


Thursday, August 16, 2018

‘They have dollars, we have God’

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish 

politician serving as President of Turkey 

since 2014. He previously served as 
Prime Minister from 2003 to 2014 
and as Mayor of Istanbul 
from 1994 to 1998. Wikipedia
Said: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling on his people to trust God during a rallying call to supporters in the Black Sea province of Rize on August 10. He said, "Today we are better than yesterday, tomorrow we will be better than today. You do not need to worry at all. Various manipulations were running. You shouldn't pay attention to those manipulations. Don't forget that, if they have their dollars we do have our people, we do have our God." 

Erdogan was pointing in Washington’s direction when he said “they have dollars, we have God.”

The exchange rate is around 6.6 liras for one dollar, and 7.5 liras for a euro, compared to 3.5 liras for one dollar and 4.1 liras for one euro in August last year.

Politico, in its July 14 post titled "Europe watches as Turkey burns" has indicated that Turkey's current crisis is the result of years of loose fiscal and monetary policies and is almost entirely of Erdoğan’s own making. 

Another observation made in this article points out that "a big part of what makes the situation so dangerous for Turkey is that Erdoğan is the only one with the power to fix things. He is unlikely to do so in the near term."
Instead of pursuing a compromise in his standoff with the Trump administration over Turkey’s imprisonment of an American pastor, Erdoğan is digging in his heels, signalling this week that he’s prepared for “war.” On Tuesday he said Turks would boycott iPhones and other American electronics. He also lashed out at domestic critics of Turkey, calling them “traitors” and “economic terrorists.” (Politico)

Erdoğan has already announced ‘boycott’ of American electronics, according to the latest reports.

Read the full article of Politico here.