Britain - Brexit: Labour prepared to back new Brexit referendum

Jeremy Corbyn has told Labour MPs the party will move to back another vote if their own proposed Brexit deal is rejected on Wednesday.

Labour's Emily Thornberry said if the parliamentary process ended with a choice of no deal or the PM's deal, the public should decide.

Theresa May is under growing pressure to delay the 29 March Brexit date.

Labour have not yet made clear what their proposed referendum would be on, but a party briefing paper to MPs says that any referendum would need to have "a credible Leave option and Remain".

The prime minister, who will update MPs on the negotiations on Tuesday, has insisted the UK can still leave next month as planned.

The UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June 2016, but the withdrawal deal Mrs May negotiated with the EU has to be agreed by MPs - and it suffered a huge defeat by them last month.

Mrs May has ruled out a "meaningful vote" on her Brexit deal this week - saying one would be held by 12 March - but she will give MPs the chance to have their say on how the next steps for Brexit.

MPs will be able to table amendments to a government motion, putting forward their proposals on what they think should happen next.

Read more: Labour prepared to back new Brexit referendum - BBC News

British EU Relations: More Brexit talks early next week after no breakthrough in Brussels - by Irene Kostaki

The EU’s 27 ambassadors met on February 21 to assess the Brexit talks that took place in Brussels earlier in the week and are awaiting any progress in the discussions that are planned to take place in the week, EU sources confirm.

The European Union’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, debriefed the bloc’s ambassadors about the talks between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and UK Prime Minister Theresa May on February 20, as well as a discussion Juncker had with his team on the EU side with the UK’ Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Stephen Barclay and Britain’s Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.

After assessing the meetings, the UK side has pushed forward the ‘guarantees’ that were agreed upon during the February 20 talks between Juncker and May.

“Yesterday, the Prime Minister reiterated that the simplest way to get legally binding changes to the (Irish) backstop is to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. That remains the (UK) government’s position,” said the spokesman from the Department for Exiting the European Union, adding that the focus of the two will now be on “guarantees relating to the backstop that underline, once again, its temporary nature and give an appropriate legal assurance to both sides, as well as alternative arrangements and a political declaration, to reach a mutually acceptable agreement”.

The issue of the Irish backstop has been one of the most contentious issues that have plagued the still-unresolved negotiations between Brussels and London. The backstop is designed as an insurance policy, that, in the event that the two sides cannot reach an agreement before the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU, Northern Ireland will remain within the European Union’s regulatory and customs arrangements indefinitely to prevent the emergence of a hard border.

Barclay and Cox “held productive talks with Barnier and his team” to discuss both sides’ current talking points and to reposition their focus on what can be done to conclude a “successful” deal as soon as possible.

“There was an agreement that the talks should now continue urgently at a technical level until the teams of the chief negotiators meet again early next week. Meanwhile, the Attorney General (Cox) will explore further legal options with Barnier’s team.

The EU’s position, at this point, is clear in that the bloc’s approach to the backstop remains unchanged and the leaders of the European Union are determined not to hold a special ‘Brexit Summit’ unless it is clear that a deal has the needed support in the House of Commons to pass. Thus far, however, the sort of consensus that Brussels is looking for from their British counterparts remains elusive.

Juncker has been very vocal in expressing the sentiment of many others all of whom have grown tired of the stalled negotiations, saying, “I have something like Brexit fatigue.” Juncker still believes that a no-deal scenario for the UK is the most likely given the narrow five week timeframe that London has to pass the deal.

“This Brexit thing is deconstruction, it’s not construction. Brexit is the past, it’s not the future” Juncker said. Focusing on his efforts in the coming days, Juncker said, “we are trying to deliver our best efforts in order to have Brexit be organised in a proper and civilised way that is well-thought-out.” He later went on to lay the blame on the British parliament for its inability to pass legislation needed to complete the Brexit process.

“Every time they are voting, there is a majority against something. There is never a majority in favour of something,” said Juncker “If a no-deal happens, and I can’t exclude this, this will have terrible economic and social consequences both in Britain and on the Continent…my efforts are oriented in a way that the worst can be avoided, but I’m not very optimistic when it comes to this issue.”

Read full report here: More Brexit talks early next week after no breakthrough in Brussels

G7-Trump creates Chaos at G7 - as he calls for total barrier-free trade within the G7 and a return of Russia to the group

G7 Chaos: Merkel and Trump staring each other down

Despite imposing tariffs on major US allies, the anti-globalist president has called for free trade within the G7. He also insisted US allies would be forced to concede to US trade terms because the US "can't lose."

Trump, who railed against globalization in his election campaign, said he wanted all G7 nations to remove any tariffs, subsidies and other trade barriers.\

"You go tariff-free, you go barrier-free, you go subsidy-free," Trump opined, calling it "the ultimate thing." He said other world leaders reacted positively to the idea.

His economic adviser Larry Kudlow backed up the call, saying, "We’re going to clean up the international trade system."

But Trump's claims that he is in favor of global free trade would appear contradictory to his recent imposition of tariffs on US allies, much to their collective discontent.

Trump insisted US allies would yield to his demands of a trade rebalance, warning that the US would crush any opposition in a potential trade war.

"If they retaliate they're making a mistake …We win that war 1,000 times out of 1,000."

"They do so much more business with us than we do with them that we can't lose … When you’re down $375 billion you can't lose," he said, likely referring to the trade imbalance with China.

He said he could tell from the smiles of European leaders at the G7 that they knew that "the gig is up" and that they would negotiate terms with Washington.

Trump repeated his call for Russia to be allowed back into the alliance of world powers. It was kicked out of the G8 in 2014 for annexing Crimea from Ukraine.

"We're looking for peace in the world. We're not looking to play games."

"I think it would be good for Russia, I think it would be good for the US, I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7."

But when asked about returning to the G7 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that Moscow "never asked anyone to return" to the G7 and that Russia was happy working with the G20.
 
EU-Digest

Global disorder: Trump's Dangerous Neo-Isolationism - by Richard North Patterson

A leader ignorant of history misapprehends its tragedies. A president steeped in grandiosity risks repeating them. Such is Donald Trump. In modern history’s cardinal disaster, virulent nationalism combined with failed diplomacy and great power competition to ignite two catastrophic world wars within 25 years, in turn precipitating a nuclear arms race between America and the Soviet Union. In response, we encouraged democratic partners in Europe and Asia to join us in alliances like NATO, and global institutions like the United Nations and WTO.

This model promoted democracy, free trade and shared strategic and economic interests rather than unconstrained nationalism – and, while imperfect, gave us seven decades of relative stability.

Now the global order is under attack
.

Authoritarians squelch democracy. Populists scorn free trade. Resurgent nationalism and tribalism hamstring international cooperation. These threats come from all sides – including America’s president.

Read more: Trump's Dangerous Neo-Isolationism | HuffPost

Turkey coup: Chaos continues in Turkey Live updates - by Lauren Said-Moorhouse

After a night of explosions, gunfire and tanks rolling along the streets, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Turkey Saturday that an attempted military coup was over and the government was in charge.

However, the sounds of fighting were still being reported in Ankara and Istanbul after the chaotic attempt by members of the military to wrest control from Erdogan.

At least 90 people died and 1,000 people were injured and hundreds arrested across the country.

Read more: Turkey coup: Live updates - CNN.com

Ukraine: Dutch investigators say remains of bodies from Aircraft downed and held by pro-Russian rebels not refrigerated

Dutch investigators inspected bodies recovered from downed passenger airliner MH17 which had been loaded onto a train under rebel control not far from the crash site, an AFP reporter said. Each of the train wagons carrying the corpses was opened and examined by two men wearing masks and headlights.

The stench from the wagon was overpowering and, contrary to claims that the carriages were refrigerated, there was little sign that the remains in black body bags were being chilled.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Monday that the Netherlands should head up the investigation into downed flight MH17 and that Kiev was ready to "send all bodies to Amsterdam". "We are ready for the Netherlands to take upon itself the coordination of the international investigation as the country that suffered the most," Yatsenyuk said.

Another 21 bodies have been found in the east Ukraine village where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 17 crashed last week. All 298 people aboard were killed. Local rescue workers had piled 21 black body bags by the side of the road in Hrabove early on Monday, adds the Associated Press report. It was unclear how quickly they would be transported to refrigerated railcars in the nearby town of Torez, where the other bodies are being held.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to consider a resolution demanding that pro-Russian separatists provide "full and unrestricted access" to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that was

The document, proposed by Australia and co-sponsored by countries like France, also calls on all actors in the region to fully cooperate in an international probe of the incident. It demands that all military activities, including by armed groups, be "immediately ceased in the immediate area surrounding the crash site to allow for security and safety of the international investigation."

US Secretary of State John Kerry laid out "extraordinary circumstantial evidence" on Sunday that Ukrainian pro-Russian rebels were behind the downing of a Malaysian jet hit by weapons obtained from Russia. US intelligence suggests that a sophisticated SA11 missile system was used to bring down flight MH17 on Thursday as it flew at some 33,000 feet over Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur,

Kerry said. A total of 298 people on board were killed in the disaster that has shocked the world. "It's pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia in the hands of separatists," Kerry told CNN as he blitzed the Sunday television talk shows. "We know with confidence, with confidence, that the Ukrainians did not have such a system anywhere near the vicinity at that point in time.

So it obviously points a very clear finger at the separatists." The top US diplomat also slammed "grotesque" scenes at the crash site where he said rebels were hampering the investigation and the proper removal of the bodies.

Overall situation so far is chaotic with no real coordinated efforts by the West to take charge of the recovery activities and accident investigation or defensive measures to eliminate the possibility of future missile attacks from the separatist and their Russian allies.

 EU-Digest

Middle East Chaos: Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Israel - back to square one

Middle East Chaos

It has not been a pretty picture in the Middle East for some time now after the euphoria of the Arab Spring - better still it is a total mess and certainly not a feather on the cap of any EU, Russian or Chinese diplomat, especially not for the cap of the US's Mr.Kerry. 

In Libya when one might have thought the mess there could not have gotten worse, it has. The latest round in the multidimensional chaos that has prevailed since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi was initiated by an ex-general named Khalifa Hiftar, who was trained in the Soviet Union, participated as a junior officer in the coup that brought Gaddafi to power in 1969, later broke with the Libyan dictator, and lived for years in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, where he apparently also became a U.S. citizen.

Hiftar returned to Libya after Gaddafi was ousted. Now he has put together a force he calls the “Libyan National Army” and aims at removing the interim parliament in Tripoli.

So probably also for Libya there is a new dictatorship in the making?

Israel and the Palestinians were back to square one in the peace process last Friday after the Jewish state torpedoed US-sponsored talks in response to a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set the tone, telling the BBC that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas could "have peace with Israel or a pact with Hamas (but) he can't have both".

"As long as I'm prime minister of Israel, I will never negotiate with a Palestinian government that is backed by Hamas terrorists that are calling for our liquidation," he added.

In Syria tyrant Bashar Assad may have to stay temporarily as Syrian president despite the death toll in the country’s civil war heading higher than the number killed in Iraq, Tony Blair said recently.

The former Prime Minister branded the situation in Syria an “unmitigated disaster” and insisted the West should intervene in such conflicts.

“We are now in a position where both Assad staying and the Opposition taking over seem bad options,” he said in a speech at Bloomberg HQ in central London.

“Repugnant though it may seem, the only way forward is to conclude the best agreement possible even if it means in the interim President Assad stays for a period.” 

Egypt : In a statement dripping with cynicism, the White House said that Obama was “deeply troubled” by the recent  mass death sentences in Egypt.

“While judicial independence is a vital part of democracy, this verdict cannot be reconciled with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law,” the White House statement read. It appealed to Sisi and his fellow military rulers to “take a stand against this illogical action.”

Whom do they think they’re kidding? The niceties of “judicial independence” are hardly an issue in Egypt.

The hanging judge Youssef—popularly known as “the butcher”—was installed in a special court created by the junta to do precisely what he is doing. Moreover, the draconian sentences have a very clear logic: they are an act of state terror designed to intimidate the Egyptian masses.

The statement continued: “Since the January 25 Revolution, the Egyptian people have aspired to be represented by a government that rules justly, respects their dignity, and provides economic opportunities. The United States supports these aspirations and wants Egypt’s transition to succeed.”

It seems hardly a coincidence that these mass death sentence came only days after Washington approved the provision of 10 Apache attack helicopters on top of some $650 million in military aid already approved for the Egyptian junta this fiscal year.

This is half of what the administration wanted to supply to the country’s repressive forces, the other half being held up by laws restricting aid to regimes brought to power through military coups.

Obviously the helicopter deal was correctly interpreted by the Egyptian junta as a green light to escalate its brutal crackdown.

All this disaster unfortunately is only the top of the Iceberg when one looks at the total Middle East picture. Maybe only one word to describe this is: total chaos .

EU-Digest