G20: Angela Merkel sketches vision of France-German led Europe

Germany and France will take a greater role in leading the European Union, and Europe must take a greater role in leading the world. That would be one way of summarizing Angela Merkel's speech to the German parliament on Thursday.

Merkel began her 30-minute address by reporting on the EU summit last weekend and discussing the bloc's prospects as it negotiates the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the union.

Significantly, Merkel spoke of "France and our other partners in the EU." She said that she had specifically talked with French President Emmanuel Macron about a "medium-term plan for deepening the EU and the euro zone." She also added that German and French interests were "connected in the closest possible way."

The German chancellor argued that the EU was recovering from its economic crisis, with all 27 remaining members recording growth and lower unemployment. The UK, Merkel suggested, was no longer at the center of European plans.

"Our priority is to prepare for our own future within the European Union, regardless of the Brexit," Merkel said.

Read more: G20: Angela Merkel sketches vision of France-German led Europe | News | DW | 29.06.2017

The Netherlands: Srebrenica - Dutch UN peacekeepers at fault

Via euronews: Dutch peacekeepers ‘acted illegally’ over Srebrenica massacre http://www.euronews.com/2017/06/27/a-hague-court-rules-dutch-soldiers-acted-illegally-ahead-of-1995-srebrenica/

German Economy: Only the World Can Stop Germany as Business Climate Hits Record - by Carolynn Look

tt seems the sky is the limit for Germany’s economy.

Business confidence -- logging its fifth consecutive increase -- jumped to the highest since 1991 this month, underpinning optimism by the Bundesbank that the upswing in Europe’s largest economy is set to continue.

With domestic demand supported by a buoyant labor market, risks to growth stem almost exclusively from global forces.

“Sentiment among German businesses is jubilant,” Ifo President Clemens Fuest said in a statement. “Germany’s economy is performing very strongly.”

Read more: Only the World Can Stop Germany as Business Climate Hits Record - Bloomberg

The Netherlands: Going Dutch; Netherlands Pains To Find New Government And Might Embrace Christian Traditionalists - by Marcel Michelson

 More than three months after indecisive parliamentary elections, Dutch political parties are still at loggerheads to find a government with majority backing in parliament.

Following several permutations, and excluding the ultra-right PVV party of populist Geert Wilders, the next government looks set to become a centre-right coalition with the CHU Christian traditionalists. Perhaps it is wise to name a neutral cabinet instead.

While some people in Britain and France would like to see a more proportional electoral system like in the Netherlands, the Dutch elections resulted in a myriad of 13 elected parties splitting 150 seats out of 28 parties that participated.

The VVD liberals of Prime Minister Mark Rutte lost five percent points of the votes but remained the biggest party with 33 seats, ahead of the PVV that obtained 20 seats, Christian CDA at 19, centrist D66 also at 19 and Green Left at 14 seats, a gain of 10. SP also had 14 seats.

Read more: Going Dutch; Netherlands Pains To Find New Government And Might Embrace Christian Traditionalists

EU-Brexit talks 'will not consume EU', Angela Merkel warns Britain - by Jennifer Rankin

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has warned Theresa May that the EU will not allow itself to be consumed by the Brexit negotiations, as the British prime minister’s offer on citizens’ rights was dismissed by Europe’s leaders as vague and inadequate.

Emerging from a two-day summit in Brussels, where the issues discussed ranged from tackling the spread of terrorist propaganda on the internet to plans for cooperation on defence, Merkel insisted that her priority was not the Brexit talks, but steering the EU to a better future.

In response to May’s offer on citizens’ rights after Brexit, she also warned that the UK and the EU had a “long way to go” if they were going to reach agreement on the issue.

In a symbolic joint press conference with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Merkel said: “That was a good beginning, but – and I’m trying to word this very carefully – it was not a breakthrough.

Read more: Brexit talks 'will not consume EU', Angela Merkel warns Britain | Politics | The Guardian

EU: It′s cool to be pro-EU with popular French President Emmanuel Macron

A year ago, the European Union was in a world of woe. The UK wanted out, populists were rising in the polls and Donald Trump predicted more countries would follow in the footsteps of Brexit - and that they'd be better off for it. EU public relations staffers were continuing their desperate search for that elusive "narrative" that would make Europeans feel like they were part of a winning team.

All eyes were on the Dutch elections in March,the first domino in the lineup. If far-right nationalist Geert Wilders made significant gains on Prime Minister Mark Rutte, it would be the harbinger of a bigger disaster to come: French voters choosing the National Front's Marine Le Pen as their next president.

Rutte's win, if not particularly inspiring, provided the EU with some space to breathe. And by then it was obvious that newcomer Emmanuel Macron and his just-created "En Marche" movement were encroaching on France's old guard from both the left and the right with an undeniable energy, derived in part from being pro-EU and proud of it. By the time Macron made the long dramatic walk to give his acceptance speech accompanied by the EU - not the French - anthem, the tide of public sentiment had already turned in the EU's favor, with Macron sitting atop the crest of the wave.

Last week that feeling was quantified and described as a dramatic rebound by the Pew Research Center in a survey on public approval. It found that people in nine of the 10 member states surveyed - all but Greece - now view the EU favorably, "including 74 percent in Poland, 68 percent in Germany, 67 percent in Hungary and 65 percent in Sweden." That's true even in the UK, according to Pew.

Read more: It′s cool to be pro-EU with popular French President Emmanuel Macron | Europe | DW | 22.06.2017

German Bundestag Election 2017: Angela Merkel v Martin Schulz – latest poll tracker puts Merkel 11% ahead - by Reiss Smithl

Angela Merkel

The latest INSA poll gives Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) an 11.5 per cent lead over Mr Schulz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The survey puts the CDU and it sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) on 36.5 per cent, ahead of the SPD on 25 per cent.

Read more: German election 2017 polls: Angela Merkel v Martin Schulz – latest poll tracker | World |News | Express.co.uk

Global Economy: Back to the Global Vertical -a politically dangerous development - by Andres Ortega

There are horizontal periods – indeed some people, Thomas Friedman among them, believed some years ago that the world was definitively flat. And then there are periods in which verticality imposes itself again.

In many ways, we are once again moving from the horizontal to the vertical dimension of global affairs.

This “verticality” is making itself especially felt in social terms. Social classes are back on the agenda, although not in the traditional Marxist sense of class struggle.

Rather, we are now coping with the decline of the middle classes and the emergence of a broader “precariat.”

The social escalator is not working as in previous eras, despite renewed growth in many economies following the crisis. Benefits that were taken for granted, such as full-time jobs with social security protections, are disappearing in significant numbers.

Perhaps we are witnessing what Dennis J. Snower calls the “great decoupling,” which he labels “dangerous,” unlike its predecessor, which was “convenient.”

When economic progress is not mirrored or is not linked to social progress, discontent is generated in those left behind. This decoupling ends up manifesting itself in politics.

This is what may be going on in many countries amid the prospect of recovery, an uneven emergence from the crisis and, before that, globalization, which is now generally acknowledged to have produced winners and losers.

The decoupling phenomenon is arising when the advanced economies, both industrial and post-industrial, are recovering from the crisis.

As Marc Fleurbaey of Princeton University argues, we must “prepare people for life and support them in life.”

Central to that is the commitment to education, particularly amid the challenge of technology and its controversial impact on employment and the concept of work.

A smart policy approach in that regard, as Ylva Johansson, the Swedish Employment Minister, points out, is not protecting specific jobs (which may be dying) as protecting workers (which need to be actively equipped and/or a guided toward a new one).

Somehow or other, although no one knows how, remedying the great decoupling will induce the vertical to become more horizontal again. Or so one hopes.

Failing to achieve this will only accentuate more verticality. And vertical moments, as we know, tend to be the more dangerous ones.

Editors note EU-Digest: but the situation is not hopeless. Change is possible. People can and will make the difference. All that is required is for responsible, well educated, socially conscious people, with new ideologies to start speaking out. The outdated, corrupt, political systems in many places of the world must be replaced before it leads to a catasthrophy

If it was possible in France, for a new party to be created within a one year time span prior to their Presidential and parliamentary elections, and for that party to win decisively, in both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, it can also be done elsewhere. 

The old and established parties have failed the people. The political establishment on both the left and the right have become corrupted by corporate influence and greed. It is high time for change, because the status quo is not acceptable anymore.

Read more: Back to the Global Vertical

Sweden: Apple is working with Ikea to bring virtual furniture to your home

Jim Cook gave a brief mention of plans for a collaboration with Ikea, with the furniture chain bringing 3D models of its various wares into Apple’s nascent augmented-reality platform,

Now, an interview in a Swedish publication has shone a little more light on what shape this partnership will take. As reported by 9to5Mac, Ikea’s digital transformation manager Michael Valdsgaard told Digital.di that the company plans for all of its beds, chairs, cabinets and so on to come in both physical and AR versions.

“This will be the first augmented-reality app that allows you to make reliable buying decision […] When we launch new products, they will come first in the AR app.”

According to Valdsgaard, users will be able to use an Apple device to look around their home, plonking virtual items of furniture on their actual carpet with “millimetre-precise” positioning. Not only with the scale of the virtual object keep in line with its real surroundings, but so will the lighting.

The idea is that you’ll be able to see an augmented-reality layout of your home, to get a better sense of, say, what shade of leather chair looks good beside your enormous stuffed moose.

9to5Mac believes the tool might initially be used in-store, although this seems to defeat the point of the AR app, which is presumably centred on bringing Ikea items (in virtual form) into your own living room. Of course, the heart of all of this is ecommerce, and Ikea is sure to have very obvious links between its 3D models and ways to buy the actual products. What? Did you think Apple and Ikea wanted to make an AR Sims game? Not that that’s completely unheard of...

Valdsgaard said that Ikea is working on a “tight deadline”, so whether or not this tool appears in times for iOS 11 remains to be seen. We wouldn’t be surprised if Apple does a showcase of the tech during its iPhone 8 launch in September

Read more: Apple is working with Ikea to bring virtual furniture to your home |

Brexit Talks Brussels: Davis and Barnier hold press conference after first day of Brexit talks - by Andrew Sparrow

Brexit Negotiations get underway

The British newspaper The Guardian reports EU negotiator Michel Barnier said it will be up to the European council, led by Donald Tusk, to decide later if sufficient progress has been made on these issues to allow talks to move on to trade.

He said, in leaving the EU, Britain will no longer have the same rights and opportunities as EU members.

But the EU can build a new partnership with the UK, and that will contribute to stability on the continent.

He says “a fair deal is possible, and far better than no deal”.

The British negotiator David Davis said the talks were “very constructive”. He says a deal is “eminently achievable”.

Note EU-Digest: Britain is about to go down on its knees before Trump to beg for post Brexit trade access to the USA,  and is in no position to stand up to him and all his nonsensical "make America great again" ideology, as France, Germany and Italy have done, when they issued a powerful joint public statement against Trump policies. Bottom line, the best thing for Britain is to get back into the EU fold and face the global storm winds as a member of the EU. After all  - United we stand -Divided we fall.     

Read more: Davis and Barnier hold press conference after first day of Brexit talks - Politics live | Politics | The Guardian

The Netherlands: Green party's strong stance on migration praised by Radboud Univ. professor - by Janene Pieters

While GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver's firm stance on not making deals with north African countries on asylum seekers may have annoyed many of the other party leaders, his commitment to his his ideals impressed local GroenLinks factions and gained praise from a number of migration experts, including a professor at Radboud university.

The Dutch government formation talks between the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks collapsed again earlier this week. And again the problem was the asylum policy. The VVD and CDA want to make deals with North African countries - like Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea - on shelter for asylum seekers in the region. Jesse Klaver and GroenLinks are firmly opposed to this.

Klaver fears that the local authorities will not be able to adequately protect the asylum seekers under their care, and that any agreements made with the North African regimes will be very difficult to enforce. Instead he wants the Netherlands to take in more asylum seekers. "We will not send anyone back to countries where it is unsafe", Klaver said in the Tweede Kamer on Tuesday.

Henk van Houtum, expert in European border policy and professor at Radboud University, thinks that Klaver definitely has the right idea about asylum deals with North Africa. "Deals with shady, North African regimes are legally untenable and extremely unwise", he said to Financieele Dagblad. "It is known that regimes in Libya, Sudan and Eritrea do not take human rights very seriously. Nevertheless the Netherlands want North African countries to be responsible for the asylum seekers that the Netherlands is apparently to full for."

Read more: Green party's strong stance on migration praised by Radboud Univ. professor, local parties | NL Times

U.S. Administration Strategy in the Middle East Is Deeply Problematic and EU Should Not Be Involved

In his "landmark speech" last month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, President Trump called on all “responsible nations” to “work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS and restore stability to the region.” While all three are desirable goals, the strategy for achieving them that Mr. Trump outlined in that same speech will achieve precisely the opposite. “Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace,” Mr. Trump said, “all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran.” The president then called for a U.S.-backed pan-Arab coalition aligned against Iran, which, he says, is stoking “the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.” While that is certainly true, the same could be said of several other states in the region, including the one in which the president delivered his speech.

The president’s proposal is deeply flawed. What is happening in the Middle East today is largely a regional power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The conflict in Syria is a proxy war, not between the United States and Russia, as some American commentators have suggested, but between the two major powers vying for regional hegemony. By taking sides in the struggle, the administration will only prolong the agony. What is required instead is a kind of détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, one that would rob their proxies of their reasons to keep fighting. The timing may be right for such an effort. Jean-François Seznec, a Middle Eastern expert at the Atlantic Council, told Voice of America late last year: “Having low oil prices is making life much more difficult for Saudi Arabia and Iran…. If there were a major military conflagration, it would ruin both of them, and I think they realize that.”

The president’s proposal is deeply flawed. What is happening in the Middle East today is largely a regional power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The conflict in Syria is a proxy war, not between the United States and Russia, as some American commentators have suggested, but between the two major powers vying for regional hegemony. By taking sides in the struggle, the administration will only prolong the agony. What is required instead is a kind of détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, one that would rob their proxies of their reasons to keep fighting. The timing may be right for such an effort. Jean-François Seznec, a Middle Eastern expert at the Atlantic Council, told Voice of America late last year: “Having low oil prices is making life much more difficult for Saudi Arabia and Iran…. If there were a major military conflagration, it would ruin both of them, and I think they realize that.”

Note EU-Digest: According to a New York Times report, President Donald Trump’s strange allyship with Saudi Arabia over Qatar is cause for suspicion about whether his allegiances are informed by business interests.

The report noted that Trump has been in business with the Saudis for 20 years, since he sold ownership of the Plaza Hotel to a Saudi prince and has one golf course in the United Arab Emirates with another on the way. He hasn’t, however, been able to enter into the market in Qatar.

Also please note : Trump, is the first US president in 40 years who’s failed to divest from all his personal businesses upon taking office, has fallen under criticism for doing so.

“Critics say his singular decision to hold on to his global business empire inevitably casts a doubt on his motives, especially when his public actions dovetail with his business interests,” the Times reported.

Another weird development is that just one week after President Donald Trump accused Qatar of funding terrorism, the United States has agreed to sell Qatar $12 billion worth of F-15s. 

Hopefully EU member states will have the "guts" to totally distance themselves from this bizarre Trump Administration foreign policy, in any form or shape, be it in the Middle East, or any other part of the world .  

EU-Digest

Financial Fraud: EU nations back plans for prosecutors office to fight financial fraud

Europe’s justice ministers have set their sights on tackling financial fraud across the bloc.

After meeting in Luxembourg, twenty EU members have decided to create the European prosecutor’s office.

The new body will focus initially on cross border VAT fraud and EU budget corruption but hopes to expand to other areas.

Announcing the measure Europe’s Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said after its’ adoption there will be a 2-3 year period to establish the office: “This really a big step in our fight against corruption and fraud.”

Read more: EU nations back plans for prosecutors office to fight financial fraud | Euronews

Brexit: Britain is preparing to jump off a cliff

Theresa May's plan seemed so simple: we're way ahead in the polls, so let's call an election, grab a great majority and start building a strong and stable Britain.

Instead, she found out that the British people are tired of empty slogans and that they don't believe she is the right person to lead the UK through the complex Brexit negotiations.

Theresa May remains the British prime minister so far, and is willing to do anything it might take to get life support from the Northern Irish extremists, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Nobody else is willing to touch the Conservatives, and thus May could soon be pushed out of 10 Downing Street.

So far, her survival strategy was to ritually sacrifice her closest advisers – but it is not only foreign secretary Boris Johnson (despite the loud public denials) that is sharpening his knives.

If May had learned her lesson from former UK prime minister David Cameron's EU referendum disaster and did not call the unnecessary election, London would be fully focused on finalising the preparations for Brexit negotiations right now.

Europe is heading into the talks next week with a clear, detailed and published mandate, unanimously approved by all 27 member states.

However, on the British side of the table, there will be representatives of a very weak government with an unknown mandate, since the unrealistic phrases from the Tory election manifesto are exactly that – unrealistic.

Moreover, the European negotiators will have to keep asking: will our British partners even be at the table a few months down the road? Or will we have to go through every single issue again if there is another snap election and a new British government?

Europe hoped a stronger majority would liberate May from the choke-hold of the Tory Brextremist MPs, and enable her to agree to a deal that makes sense for both sides.

Instead, we will negotiate with a weak government that must rely on extreme partners and where basically every government MP holds a veto, thus reducing the trustworthiness of the British negotiators to almost zero.

Whatever the British negotiators claim, there is simply no guarantee that any agreement will be passed by the current UK parliament.

Read more: Britain is preparing to jump off a cliff

Brexit: "the prodigal son" - EU tells UK its door still 'open'

France and Germany have said the UK could still stay in the EU, as Britain confirmed that Brexit talks would start on Monday (19 June).

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, made the comment after meeting British prime minister Theresa May in Paris on Tuesday.

Of course, the [EU] door remains open, always open, until the Brexit negotiations come to an end”, he said.

The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, told the Bloomberg news agency in Berlin the same day that “if they [the British government] wanted to change their decision, of course, they would find open doors”.

Macron and Schaeuble said they “respect” Britain’s decision to leave.

The French leader said: “I would like the negotiation and then the discussions on the future relationship with the United Kingdom to be launched as soon as possible.”

But he added: “Let us be clear … once negotiations have started we should be well aware that it will be more and more difficult to move backwards.”

Schaeuble added that Germany did not want to punish the UK for leaving. “We will minimise the potential damage and maximise the mutual benefit [of Brexit]”, he said.

May’s Brexit manifesto said Britain would quit the single market and impose curbs on EU freedom of movement.

But she said on Tuesday June 13 “we want to maintain a close relationship and a close partnership with the EU and individual member states into the future”.

Read more: EU tells UK its door still 'open'

France election: Macron party set for big parliamentary win

The centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron looks on course to win a landslide victory following the first round of parliamentary elections.

Projections show La Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move) and its MoDem ally set to win up to 445 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly.

The final outcome will be decided at a run-off next Sunday.

Mr Macron's party was established just over a year ago and many candidates have little or no political experience.

Read more: France election: Macron party set for big parliamentary win - BBC News

Shariah Law: Marches against archiac Islamic law to be held in many US cities - by A. Selsky and J.Karoub

Must Sharia Law become integrated in Western Societies?

The group organizing the rallies, ACT for America, claims Shariah "is incompatible with Western democracy and the freedoms it affords."

But most Muslims don't want to replace U.S. law with Islamic law, known as Shariah, and only "radical extremist groups" would call for that, said Liyakat Takim, a professor of Islamic studies at McMaster University in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario.

Shariah, Takim said, refers to guidelines or principles — how Muslims should live. "Fiqh" refers to jurisprudence, or specific laws. The values embedded in Shariah do not change and are shared among Muslims, he said, while fiqh is open to interpretation and change, and in fact differs among Islamic sects and communities.

"In the public domain, Muslims are not required or expected to impose their laws on the country in which they live as the minority," Takim said, adding there has never been an understanding "that the same laws would be applicable at all times in all places."

"The Quran allows slavery, so does the Old Testament. That doesn't mean we allow it today, too," he said. "Laws are amenable to change."

The marches come amid a rise in reports of anti-Muslim incidents in the U.S., including arson attacks and vandalism at mosques, harassment of women wearing Muslim head coverings and bullying of Muslim schoolchildren.

But while there is little likelihood that Shariah would ever supplant U.S. law, some states have already moved to insulate themselves against the possibility.

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee have enacted laws prohibiting the use of foreign law in state courts, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The group organizing the rallies, ACT for America, claims Shariah "is incompatible with Western democracy and the freedoms it affords."

ACT for America has chapters around the country and says it is focused on fighting terrorism and promoting national security. It says it condemns bias against religious groups and is "proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with peaceful Western Muslims as well as peaceful Muslims worldwide."

Note EU-Digest: Even though scholars and others say the USA protesters are stoking unfounded fears and promoting a distorted and prejudiced view of Islam, it must be said that if it goes unchecked, like it did in Britain, this discriminatory archiac Muslim law can become part of national laws, which should not be allowed in democratic Western Societies respecting human right laws.
 
Read more: Marches against Islamic law to be held in many US cities

British elections and Brexit: EU leaders closing in on May - by Eric Maurice

In the wake of her failure to get a parliamentary majority at Thursday's (8 June) election, EU political leaders are putting pressure on UK prime minister Theresa May over a possible derailing of Brexit talks.

"We don't know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end. Do your best to avoid a 'no deal' as result of 'no negotiations'," warned European Council president Donald Tusk, in a post on Twitter on Friday morning.

May's Conservative government won 318 seats in the House of Commons, falling short of a majority by 8 seats.

May has asked Queen Elizabeth for permission to form a minority government with the support of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which won 10 seats.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party's leader, said however that May should resign and let another party form a government.

"There isn’t a parliamentary majority for anybody at the present time, the party that has lost in this election is the Conservative Party," he said.

Read more: EU leaders closing in on May

France Wants Row Between Arab States, Qatar Settled Through Talks

The French government said on Tuesday it wanted a diplomatic row between Arab states and Qatar to be resolved through dialogue and that it would talk with key regional powers to try to help diffuse the crisis.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on Monday cut ties with Qatar, which denounced the move as based on lies about it supporting Islamist militants.

"France wishes that the current tensions are resolved through dialogue," the foreign ministry said in a daily online briefing.

Read more: France Wants Row Between Arab States, Qatar Settled Through Talks | World News | US News

London mayor calls for cancellation of Trump visit to UK

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is calling on the British government to cancel a state visit from President Trump after Trump criticized his response to this weekend’s terror attacks in London.

“I don’t think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for,” Khan said in an interview with Britain’s Channel 4 News.

“When you have a special relationship it is no different from when you have got a close mate. You stand with them in times of adversity but you call them out when they are wrong. There are many things about which Donald Trump is wrong.”

Read more: London mayor calls for cancellation of Trump visit to UK | TheHill

Britain-Theresa May is a disaster Could Labour’s Corbyn Actually Win the British Elections? - by  Maria Margaronis

 This may be the strangest election of my lifetime. Called by Prime Minister Theresa May after she vowed repeatedly that she’d do no such thing, it seemed at first like an assured triumph for the Tories—and possibly the coup de grâce for Jeremy Corbyn’s divided and floundering Labour Party. But six days before the vote, the poll gap has shrunk from 22 points to an astonishing four, with some projections even predicting a hung Parliament.

Corbyn, seems to have found his voice. Always happier on the campaign trail than in Parliament, he comes across as direct, relaxed, and confident. The sanctimonious tinge has gone; so has the nervous pretense of being above the game. He’s being allowed to go for broke and campaign (for the most part) on what he believes. For the first time since the Blair era, the Labour manifesto makes a wholehearted argument against austerity. It promises to restore the welfare state through public investment in the health service, energy, and transport; universal childcare; and free university tuition—to be financed by reversing cuts to corporation taxes and raising taxes for those earning £80,000 or more. Zero-hours contracts will be banned. The minimum wage will go up to £10 an hour. Borrowing will fund a national investment bank for infrastructure development.

Note EU-Digest: Vote for Corbyn and make Britain really great again by rejoining the EU  

Read  more: Could Labour’s Corbyn Actually Win the British Elections? | The Nation

Terrorism Britain: London Bridge: Police declare two terror incidents

Police in London were dealing with what appeared to be a coordinated terror attack on at least two locations late Saturday night, after a van mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge and a knife attack was reported in a cafe nearby.

Eyewitnesses reported panic in the vicinity of the attacks, close to a major transport hub and in an area packed with restaurants and bars.  British Prime Minister Theresa May said authorities were dealing with a "terrible incident" and London's Metropolitan Police Service said incidents at London Bridge and nearby Borough Market were being treated as terrorism. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was "deliberate and cowardly attack" on Londoners enjoying Saturday night out.

Read more: London Bridge: Police declare two terror incidents - CNN.com

Paris Agreement: Leaving Could Hurt American Businesses-by Jeff McDermott

Adopted in 2015, the historic Paris Agreement brought together 195 nations to ambitiously address the impacts and causes of climate change. Donald Trump is now considering withdrawing from it, which would not only have ramifications on new energy technology efforts, but on American economic progress.

Pulling out of the Paris Agreement means the country won’t have to reduce its carbon emissions, which means it won’t have to invest in new wind, solar, or energy-efficiency technologies. But those technologies are where the job growth is. Solar jobs—which require lots of people to put panels on roofs—grew 25% last year, while wind jobs grew 32%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report. Those two industries now employ nearly a half million Americans. Coal mining is mostly done by machine, and now employs just 74,000 people, a decline of 39% from 2009. Because coal mining is largely mechanized, those jobs are not coming back even if we burn more coal. Wind and solar are where the jobs are, and if we don’t have to reduce emissions, they won’t grow as fast.

In communications, defense, and other industries, America has created jobs and enormous wealth by leading in technology advancement. It makes no sense for the Trump administration to throttle new energy technology—wind and solar, batteries for electricity storage, smart grids, and electric vehicles, among others.

Note EU-Digest: President Trumps arguments for pulling out of the Paris Agreement were a number of nebulous financial fake figures that he pulled out of his hat. They made no sense at all and already some of the major signatory members of the Paris Agreement have decided to continue with the agreement.

Read more: The Paris Agreement: Leaving Could Hurt American Businesses | Fortune.com

Paris Agreement on Global Warming: Donald Trump Dumps agreement as US Conservatives and Evangelicals applaud move

Noah Could Be Back In Business

Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of the US from the global Paris agreement on climate change - in a huge blow to efforts to curb the effects of global warming. The president said he wants to "renegotiate" a "more fair" deal for the US with Democrats and other countries.

He added: "if we can get a deal, that's great. If not, that's fine."

Mr Trump, who had made pulling out of the pact - which has been signed by almost 200 nations - a central plank of his run for the presidency, said that in withdrawing he was "keeping his campaign promise to put American workers first".

He said he wants to talk to citizens of "Pittsburgh, not Paris" to cheers in the crowd of the Rose Garden at the White House.

The President had been put under extreme pressure by allies around the world to stay in the agreement, and though administration said his views on the subject were "evolving" - having previously claimed climate change was a "hoax" - Mr Trump refused to be backed into a corner.

He has said that the deal would hit the US coal industry hard and that it would prove "too costly" for US to stick to the Paris accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But Mr Trump ignores the fact that new money in renewable energy outpaced new investments in fossil fuels for the first time in 2015 to the tune of $350bn.

Pulling out of the agreement outright would take four years under the standard cooling-off period for new international treaties - the route Mr Trump is likely to take, but he said that the US is out "as of today."

Note EU-Digest: Of the world's countries, the climate change denial industry is most powerful in the United States. 

The Koch brothers, industry advocates and libertarian think tanks, often in the United States. More than 90% of papers sceptical on climate change originate from right-wing think tanks.The total annual income of these climate change counter-movement-organizations is roughly $900 million.

Between 2002 and 2010, nearly $120 million (euro 136 million) was anonymously donated via the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund to more than 100 organizations seeking to undermine the public perception of the science on climate change.. In 2013 the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the State Policy Network (SPN), an umbrella group of 64 U.S. think tanks, had been lobbying on behalf of major corporations and conservative donors to oppose climate change regulation.

Since the late 1970s, oil companies have published research broadly in line with the standard views on global warming. Despite this, oil companies organized a climate change denial campaign to disseminate public disinformation for several decades, a strategy that has been compared to the organized denial of the hazards of tobacco smoking by tobacco companies.

Also for millions of Americans evangelical Christians belief in the science of global warming is well below the national average.

Recent data from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication suggests that while 64 percent of Americans think global warming is real and caused by human beings, only 44 percent of evangelicals do. 

Evangelicals in general, tend to be more politically conservative, and can be quite distrusting of scientists (believing, incorrectly, that they’re all a bunch of atheists). Plus, since some evangelicals really do go in for that whole “the world is ending” thing—not an outlook likely to inspire much care for the environment. 

EU-Digest 

The Global Order Shuffling The Cards: China and Europe are moving forward without Trump

The EU looks ahead at the future without TRUMPLAND

Beijing is in prime position to capitalize on major policy fissures that have emerged between Europe and the Trump administration on climate, trade and defense.

The new dynamic will be on full display on Thursday (June 1)  in Brussels, when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with EU counterparts at the annual EU-China Summit. 

Hours later, President Trump is expected to announce the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.

"If peace and prosperity are the object of the global economic order, the Trump administration offers neither to Europeans," wrote analysts at High Frequency Economics, a research firm. "A new axis of power, based on economic power, will form between Europe and China if the U.S. continues to shirk its role as global leader."

Beijing appears to be chomping at the bit, having asked for the summit to be moved forward to June.

A closer relationship between the two giant economies is easier said than done, however. There are major questions over the compatibility of the economic systems promoted by Europe and China, as well as differences over flashpoint issues including human rights.

"If peace and prosperity are the object of the global economic order, the Trump administration offers neither to Europeans," wrote analysts at High Frequency Economics, a research firm. "A new axis of power, based on economic power, will form between Europe and China if the U.S. continues to shirk its role as global leader." 

Note EU=Digest: "The United States and Europe appear to be hurtling toward a messy breakup. China, meanwhile, is ready to pounce. The EU, however, better not jump in bed with China immediately, before making certain all bases are covered", said an EU Commissioner

EU-Digest