USA: Covid-19 - another Biden heritage from Donald Trump: : US tops 25 million coronavirus cases

More than 25 million cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed across the United States. Experts say the true number is likely to be higher. More than 417,500 in the US have died with the virus.

The daily number of deaths has exceeded 4,000 in recent weeks - including on Wednesday when Joe Biden was sworn into office.

President Biden signed a raft of new measures last week, including boosting vaccinations and testing.

Read more at: Covid-19: US tops 25 million coronavirus cases - BBC News

USA: What saved American democracy? – By Bo Rothstein

Democracy is a fragile form of government. History has shown democracies can be undermined in several ways. It can happen quickly, as in a coup, but democracies can also erode more slowly, as is now taking place in Poland and Hungary.

Based on research on how democracies have collapsed, political science has highlighted what to be especially wary about. If political leaders do not unequivocally take a stand against political violence, do not respect the democratic rights of their opponents and refrain from promising to respect an election result that goes against them, then democracy is in danger.

During his election campaign and even more during his time as president, Donald Trump undoubtedly violated these three principles. His many false claims that the election was rigged, and that he actually won, his support for his Republican party colleagues’ efforts to impede minority turnout and his incitement to the mob that forcibly broke into Congress on January 6th were clear examples.

Read more at: What saved American democracy? – Bo Rothstein

USA: Totale chaos in Amerika: 'Dit is een aanval op de democratie'

Na de verkiezingsuitslag in Georgia, voor de Senaat, zijn extreme rellen ontstaan bij het Capitool in Washington. Trump-demonstranten zijn het gebouw binnengedrongen, er zijn schoten gelost en de Nationale Garde van Virginia is onderweg.

Read more at: Totale chaos in Amerika: 'Dit is een aanval op de democratie'

A US Coup d'etat ?: Trump Is Trying to Overturn the Election, but I’m Not Panicking—Yet - by Elie Mystal

Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. He will be inaugurated on January 20 and take power at noon that day. There is nothing, legally, that Trump can do to stop that.

What Trump and his feckless Republican Party might do illegally to try to overturn the results of the election and prevent Biden from taking power is a different matter. Trump has evidently intimidated the administrator of the General Services Administration into refusing to acknowledge Biden’s victory and thus prevent his team from starting the transition process. Only a smattering of Republicans have acknowledged that Biden won, and most of those who have, like George W. Bush, no longer hold any political power. Trump has already filed a raft of baseless lawsuits. His people are drumming up talk of some kind of Electoral College devilry to overthrow the popular will. And Trump fired the Secretary of Defense, Mike Esper, yesterday, which seems like the kind of thing one does before one launches a coup d’état.

Read more at: Trump Is Trying to Overturn the Election, but I’m Not Panicking—Yet | The Nation

EU-US Relations: EU ‘troublemakers’ back Trump over Biden in US election

ivergences on the managing of the rise of China or Europe’s need to do more for its own security are likely to remain, whoever is the next man in the White House. What would change is the tone as Biden, a convinced transatlanticist, believes the US can only play this role in dialogue with its partners.

Under Trump, Washington and Europe clashed on a number of issues, ranging from foreign policy or trade to environment, digital, and agriculture. Washington and Brussels even disagreed over how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU is waiting for the results of the elections to impose $4 billion in compensatory tariffs on US exports, in response to Washington subsidies to Boeing. Brussels wants to try to find a negotiated solution and cancel US tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of European products, an option that could be on the cards if Biden is the winner.

Tensions, however, are expected to continue if Trump remains in the White House. The new EU Trade commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, expressed his willingness to find a fresh start with his administration when he took over in October. But he also warned that there is no room for more piecemeal agreements like the lobster deal to facilitate the bilateral trade.

Read more at: EU ‘troublemakers’ back Trump over Biden in US election – EURACTIV.com

Germany: Only one in ten Germans would vote for Trump

If the Germans were allowed to take part in the presidential election in the United States, their vote would be clear: only 10% would vote for incumbent President Donald Trump, a clear majority of 56% his challenger Joe Biden.

Read more at: Only one in ten Germans would vote for Trump | – re:Jerusalem

USA: Trump’s Turn From Immigration to the Enemy Within - by Ryan Devereaux

Trump’s shift from demonizing immigrants to targeting leftists is straight out of the fascist playbook.

Read more at: Trump’s Turn From Immigration to the Enemy Within

Trump won't leave office peacefully, his former lawyer Cohen claims in upcoming book

Michael Cohen's memoir about U.S. President Donald Trump will be released Sept. 8 by Skyhorse Publishing, which confirmed the news Thursday to The Associated Press.

Read more at:
Trump won't leave office peacefully, his former lawyer Cohen claims in upcoming book | CBC News

The Netherlands: Dutch Dr. Fauci Thinks Masks Won't Work. Here's Why: by Hannah Osborne

Dutch PM Mark Rutte

The Netherlands' decision to not introduce a mandatory mask policy came after mayors in cities across the country said they should be put  in place for some busy areas, following a slight uptick in cases in some regions. Since then, cities have been given autonomy to introduce their own mask orders. Following a meeting with mayors last week,

Following a meeting with mayors last week, Minister for Medical Care Tamara van Ark reaffirmed the national standpoint.

"From a medical point of view, there is no evidence of a medical effect of wearing face masks, so we decided not to impose a national obligation," Politico quotes her as saying.

At  present, the only places where people in the Netherlands need to wear masks are on public transport and at airports. City mayors have also introduced orders about mask use in busy shopping centers.

Note Almere Digest: These are very unorthodox suggestions on masks wearing by the Dutch  Rutte Government . A Dutch saying goes : "Baat het niet, schaden doet het ook niet."- Even if it doesn't help, It does not do any harm.Yes indeed, wearing masks has shown to help slow the spread of the Coronavirus, and more important Mr. Rutte, it saves lives in the process . 

Mr. Rutte, also, please  don't follow President's Trump's conflicting advice on masks, or anything else,  for that matter. But I am sure you are aware of his mental shortcomings.

Read more at:
Dutch Dr. Fauci Thinks Masks Won't Work. Here's Why

USA: At Mount Rushmore rally, Trump says anti-racism protesters working to 'wipe out our history'

 Speaking to a largely maskless crowd at Mount Rushmore, U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that protesters have waged "a b merciless campaign to wipe out our history" amid demonstrations against  racial injustice and police brutality.

Read more at:
At Mount Rushmore rally, Trump says anti-racism protesters working to 'wipe out our history' | CBC News

NATO: France and Turkey fracture Nato on Libya - "as Erdogan plays a dangerous game he could lose"- by Andrew Rettman

"Who cares about the EU or NATO ? Trump  agrees with me"

Nato is to investigate French allegations that Turkish warships targeted a French one in a confrontation over the Libya conflict, which has divided allies.

"The incident in the Mediterranean [Sea] was addressed in the meeting by several allies", Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said after Nato defence ministers held video-talks on Thursday (18 June).

"We have made sure that Nato military authorities are investigating the incident to bring full clarity to what happened," he said.

Turkish warships locked their weapons systems on to a French frigate called the Courbet, which was part of a Nato monitoring mission called Sea Guardian, on 10 June, according to France.

And they did it in order to slip through yet another illegal shipment of arms to Turkey's ally in the Libya civil war, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), France said.

Note EU-Digest:  Curious - Whenever, or each time we put the President of Turkey's name ,Erdogan into the "Labels" column of our blog (EU-Digest), we were posting, the blog reported an error, and we had to go back and re-post the entire content of the blog, and rewrite the "labels"  removing Erdogan's name for it to work. Does this mean censorship by either some internal or external "source", or is it a real technical error? This is not the first time it happened when other sensitive issues were published.

Read more at:
France and Turkey fracture Nato on Libya

International Travel - President Trump: Europeans Can Soon Travel to US

Europeans from countries with low rates of Coronavirus infections maysoon be eligible to travel to the United States, President Donald Trump hinted at a press conference.

While presenting the fifth proclamation barring entry into the US for foreign
nationals who were physically present in Brazil within 14 dayspreceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States, Trumptold journalists that entry to the country would soon be possible for some travellers from Europe.

Read more at:
President Trump: Europeans Can Soon Travel to US - SchengenVisaInfo.com

NATO's Jens Stoltenberg has a wet dream : "NATO must become more political and global", says alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg

NATO needs to become politically stronger in order to face the challenges of the next decade, the head of the alliance said on Monday, highlighting that the rise of China is "fundamentally shifting the global balance of power".

Note EU-Digest: Yes indeed this is a wet dream, specially given the derogatory comments  President Trump of the US has made about European members of the NATO

Read more at:
NATO must become more political and global, says alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg | Euronews

Europeans don’t trust the US or Trump, poll says - by Annabelle Timsit

Donald Trump has damaged America’s standing in the world in his three years as president, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Europe.

A new report (pdf), published by the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR),  found that Europeans “no longer believe that the US can serve as the guarantor of their security.” They also overwhelmingly favor neutrality rather than siding with the US on global issues. The survey covered more than  60,000 people across 14 European Union member states, including France, Slovakia, Poland, and Spain.

Read more at: Europeans don’t trust the US or Trump, poll says — Quartz

USA: Trump's Nazification of the GOP is why there's serious discussion of killing off the 'unfit'

Under Donald Trump, the Republican Party is racing toward a  transformation that mimics the greatest evil of the 20th century. Long  before the Nazis fully engaged with genocidal murder against the Jews, there were persecutions of people deemed "unfit."

These were people whom Adolf Hitler’s extremists arbitrarily deemed  insufficiently able to contribute to the greater German society. They included the infirm, people with learning disabilities, the mentally  ill, those suffering from epilepsy, the physically disabled, and those sruggling with alcohol issues.

According to the Nazis' white supremacist ideology, those  people were not only impediments to their quest in perfecting their  master race, but were also economic burdens to society. The Nazis  started a campaign of propaganda to mock them. They were called  "unworthy of life” and labeled as "useless eaters." The propaganda even  expanded to math textbooks, which were revised to include arithmetic problems on how much it costs to care for these undesirables. This was the first stage.

Read more at: Trump's Nazification of the GOP is why there's serious discussion of killing off the 'unfit'

USA: Trump halts World Health Organization funding amid coronavirus pandemic: byJeff Mason

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would halt funding to the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic while his administration reviews its response to the global crisis.

Trump told a White House news conference the WHO had “failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable.” He said the group had promoted China’s “disinformation” about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak of the virus than otherwise would have occurred.

The United States is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based WHO, contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.

The hold on funding was expected. Trump has been increasingly critical of the organization as the global health crisis has continued, and he has reacted angrily to criticism of his administration’s response.

Note EU-Digest: In February Trump praised the WHO for the great work they were doing with China on fighting the Coronavirus, while at the same time he did nothing to prepare America for the onslaught of the virus. Trump now blames everyone else, including the WHO for his total mismanagement of the fight against the coronavirus in America. The WHO in Geneva.is a dedicated and professional organization, in service of humanity, to improving health and sanitation around the globe. 

Trump's rambling accusations and lies constantly contradict his earlier TV recorded statements. Trump is a disgrace to America.

Read more at: Trump halts World Health Organization funding amid coronavirus pandemic - Reuters

EU - Germany confirms that Trump tried to buy firm working on coronavirus vaccine

Read more at
Germany confirms that Trump tried to buy firm working on coronavirus vaccine – POLITICO

EU-US Relations: Trump claims EU was formed so member states could treat U.S. 'badly'

While addressing the nation's governors at the White House on Monday, President Trump took a shot at the European Union and NATO.

NATO, he said, was "going down like a rocket ship" before he came in and saved the day by convincing other member states to contribute more money.

But he seemed generally pleased with the direction things are going. That's not the case for the EU, which Trump claimed is treating the United States "very badly."

Trump even argued one of the "primary reasons" the EU was formed was so its member states could pick on the U.S, which is a claim that doesn't really have much going for it historically. The EU is the final stage of a progression of a continent-wide economic community that was first implemented in the aftermath of World War II. Seeking to avoid a third conflict on such a scale, European leaders at the time sought to create a cooperative system in which countries could trade with little hindrance.

Eventually, that morphed into the current EU, which has expanded beyond just economic unity.

Trump with this statement is talking out of his lower body part. The supranational organization obviously hasn't always seen eye to eye with the U.S. on all matters, but it's a reach to say those disagreements were the reason it was formed in the first place.

EU-Digest

USA - Visas: US imposes visa rules for pregnant women on 'birth tourism'

The Trump administration is imposing new visa rules aimed at restricting “birth tourism," in which women travel to the United States to give birth so their children can have U.S....

Read more at:
news.com/d4c42c5311ba8a6661855cadd12f0fed

Switzerland-Davos 2020: American politics is the biggest risk facing the world right now, say experts

American politics is the biggest threat facing the world in 2020 and the looming presidential election will stress the country's institutions, influence economic and foreign policy and further divide an already polarized electorate, with potentially huge consequences for the climate, business and investors.

That's the view of experts at consultancies Eurasia Group and Control Risks.

The World Economic Forum, which is preparing to hold its annual meeting of political leaders and CEOs next week in Davos, is also warning of increased turbulence this year from trade conflicts and political polarization that makes it harder to tackle global challenges.

Read more: Davos 2020: American politics is the biggest risk facing the world right now, say experts