America Frozen Out of World Trade

 

Yet another trade agreement excludes the U.S.

A new trade agreement that covers more than 13 percent of the world economy, accounting for 15 percent of global trade, was ratified by its first six countries on December 30. The Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (cptpp) will cover 500 million people.

Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore will be joined by another four countries that have already signed but not yet ratified the agreement. Vietnam joins on January 14, while Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru will join the deal 60 days after completing the ratification process.

Germany’s Identity Crisis Leading to the Rise of the Far Right

Caption: (iStock.com/franckreporter )

 

In a world of uncertainty and crisis, Germany needs a lot of things: A strong leader. A stronger military. Stronger borders. A stable eurozone economy. But there is something else German’s are crying out for: an identity.

In “Germany’s Taboos, Once a Bulwark Against the Far Right, May Now Be Enabling It,” the New York Times wrote:

Since World War II, trying to define the German national identity, much less celebrate it, has been taboo. Doing so was seen as a possible step toward the kind of nationalism that once enabled the Nazi regime. Flags were frowned upon, as was standing for the national anthem.

But spurred by a sense of lost control over the country’s borders, economy and politics, many Germans are reaching for a shared identity but finding only an empty space.

The Global War on Jerusalem

 

From the United Nations to the White House, people and institutions all over the planet are hostile to Israel, to Jerusalem, and to the Jews historic connection to Jerusalem. The war on the Jewishness of Jerusalem is intensifying and the UN and others are trying to sever Israel’s ties to the holy city. Meanwhile, since 2005 much evidence has emerged dramatically proving the Jews’ historic connection to Jerusalem. Is this coincidence? In today’s program, guest presenter Brad Macdonald explores the global war on Jerusalem.

Europe Demands ‘a Greater Role for Nuclear Weapons’

NATO members attend a meeting at their headquarters in Brussels. (JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Russian mind games with nuclear weapons mean that NATO has to step it up, write top German think tanks.

Europe wants to improve its use of nuclear power in response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia and Ukraine. Russia has paired its increased aggression and buildup of conventional forces with an expanded nuclear program, and Europe—especially Eastern Europe—is getting scared.

“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and Moscow’s associated nuclear threats, have triggered a new discussion in nato about enhancing its nuclear deterrent,” wrote the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (swp), a think tank responsible for advising the German Parliament, this month.

The Refugee Crisis, Merkel’s Downfall, and the Political Hurricane Heading for Europe

 

The surge of crises in Europe is about to dramatically change the Continent’s political landscape.

Putin: Nothing Was Wrong With the Soviet Union’s Pact With Nazi Germany

Did he make this statement because Russia has entered, or will soon enter, another secret pact with Germany?

Russian President Vladimir Putin said November 4 that he sees nothing wrong with the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact that the Soviet Union made with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany just days before World War ii broke out.

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a promise of non-belligerence by either party toward the other. Just a week after it was signed, Germany invaded Poland, officially igniting World War II.

“Serious research must show that those were the foreign policy methods then,” Putin said to a group of young historians in Moscow. “The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty with Germany. People say: ‘Ach, that’s bad.’ But what’s bad about that if the Soviet Union didn’t want to fight; what’s bad about it?”