Joe Biden is the president-elect of the United States after being projected to win the battleground state of Pennsylvania. He is also projected to win the state of Nevada.
Read more at:
Live | Joe Biden elected president of the United States after winning Pennsylvania | Euronews
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Showing posts with label Presidential elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Presidential elections. Show all posts
November 7, 2020
November 4, 2020
US Election 2020 - final results will be days off: Tighter than expected vote may take days to resolve
Mr Trump, a Republican, claimed to have won and vowed to launch a Supreme Court challenge, baselessly alleging fraud, while Mr Biden, a Democrat, said he was "on track" to victory.
Read more at: US Election 2020: Tighter than expected vote may take days to resolve - BBC News
Read more at: US Election 2020: Tighter than expected vote may take days to resolve - BBC News
August 28, 2020
US Presidential elections: Foreign observers can flag unethical voting practices - by Markos Kounalakis
Authoritarian nations, semi-legitimated dictatorships and dying democracies are regularly subjected to international observers whom they grudgingly allow into their countries to monitor elections. The United States sends teams of former government officials and private-sector volunteers around the world to certify —and sometimes condemn — electionpractices and results. They bear witness to vote tampering, citizen intimidation, ballot stuffing, polling place irregularities and outright
stolen elections. They also often get to watch inspiring people power and real democracy at work.
It’s now America’s turn.
his year, the global democratic community needs to gear up and step in to oversee, monitor and judge the fairness of November’s U.S. presidential election. Germany, Sweden,Japan, India, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Israel, and other nations all need to up their game. They should immediately train and send new volunteers to conduct sweeping election monitoring across America, mostly in tough battleground states.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) already has a 500-person delegation slated to monitor America’s process. It should crank up those numbers significantly, especially since OSCE recently raised concerns around November’s “most challenging” election.
Read more at:https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article245309125.html?fbclid=IwAR3Nxc7YDGeEPKftVEKi5N4wmm4BvUh-YktK2UEB7LcZR7S0yXpwxJfRF88
stolen elections. They also often get to watch inspiring people power and real democracy at work.
It’s now America’s turn.
his year, the global democratic community needs to gear up and step in to oversee, monitor and judge the fairness of November’s U.S. presidential election. Germany, Sweden,Japan, India, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Israel, and other nations all need to up their game. They should immediately train and send new volunteers to conduct sweeping election monitoring across America, mostly in tough battleground states.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) already has a 500-person delegation slated to monitor America’s process. It should crank up those numbers significantly, especially since OSCE recently raised concerns around November’s “most challenging” election.
Read more at:https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article245309125.html?fbclid=IwAR3Nxc7YDGeEPKftVEKi5N4wmm4BvUh-YktK2UEB7LcZR7S0yXpwxJfRF88
April 8, 2019
Turkey Democracy under corrupt Erdogan is a farce: Erdogan's AKP party which in 2018 Presidential Elections called Erdogan the winnner in just three hours, is now asking for recount after recount in Municipal elections they lost
Corrupt Erdogan's AKP party demands another full vote re-count in Istanbul they lost.
And the AKP calls that democracy? In the world where democracy is practiced it is usually called, being a sore loser, or worse, a lack of Democracy.
And the AKP calls that democracy? In the world where democracy is practiced it is usually called, being a sore loser, or worse, a lack of Democracy.
December 6, 2018
Saudi-US Relations: A Guide to Saudi Arabia’s Influence in Washington - by Emma Ashford
At this point,
the evidence that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman knew about—and
likely ordered—the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is compelling. After
CIA Director Gina Haspel’s presentation to Congress earlier this week, Senator
Bob Corker told reporters that a jury would find the prince guilty “in
thirty minutes.” The only holdout is the president, who continues to stand by
his statement that “we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder
of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi.”
His support for Saudi leadership remains unwavering, even in the face of opposition from media, Congress and his own intelligence agencies.
Indeed, between special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation’s increasing focus on Gulf money, and Trump’s repeated support for the Saudis and Emiratis in regional and international affairs, you’d be forgiven for thinking that perhaps it’s these states—not Russia—who have undue influence over the president. While there is no suggestion so far of quid pro quo between the president and his friends in the Gulf, the shady connections built during and after the 2016 election have combined with a broader network of money, personal ties, and some genuine policy agreements to produce what is perhaps the most pro-Saudi administration in U.S. histor
The United States has long pursued a generally pro-Saudi policy in the Middle East, a legacy of the Cold War when the United States relied heavily on the Saudis to push back against Soviet influence. Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical importance–and its position as the world’s swing producer of oil–has often led U.S. policymakers to minimize criticism of Saudi Arabia. Even as fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were shown to be Saudi citizens, for example, the George W. Bush administration pushed to maintain the close U.S.-Saudi relationship while privately criticizing Saudi support for religious extremism. The Trump administration, however, has taken the United States’ selective vision on Saudi Arabia to new extremes.
In May 2018, The New York Times reported that the Mueller investigation into foreign influence in the 2016 election was looking at not just Russian, but possible Middle Eastern influence: Diplomats from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it appeared, had facilitated meetings between Russian officials, mercenary-for-hire Erik Prince, and members of the Trump transition team. The lens quickly widened to include adviser to the Emirati government George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who helped to set up meetings at Trump Tower with an envoy for Saudi and Emirati leaders, and key officials including Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner.
In addition, the special counsel is apparently interested in Nader’s work on behalf of Saudi and Emirati leaders, funneling at least $2.5 million in Gulf money to Republican donor Elliott Broidy. Some of it appears to have been used for anti-Qatar lobbying following the blockade of that country in June 2017: A separate New York Times report in May 2018 pointed to two Washington, D.C., conferences featuring anti-Qatar views held by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and the Hudson Institute.
The Gulf states have been among the biggest spenders at Trump hotels and resorts since he was elected. In August of this year, the Trump hotel in New York finally reversed a two-year trend of falling revenues when Mohammed bin Salman’s extensive entourage paid premium prices for a last-minute stay. The Saudi government has also been among the biggest spenders at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel, spending $270,000 in 2016 alone.
Though the Trump Organization has promised that all profits received from foreign governments at these properties will be donated to the Treasury, ethics experts dispute the methods used for calculating these profits, suggesting that the president continues to profit from foreign spending. Several of Trump’s most influential backers–such as Broidy or the investor Tom Barrack—also profit handsomely from business ties and interests in the Gulf States.
The secrecy surrounding Trump’s financial affairs makes it difficult to know exactly how extensive these ties are. During the firestorm following Khashoggi’s death, Trump tweeted that he had no financial interests in Saudi Arabia. As various journalists noted, the statement could be technically true—in other words, no investments physically located within the country’s boundaries—while still misleading, given the Trump hotels’ many Saudi customers. And as always, Trump’s family members further complicate the picture. Over the last few years, for example, the Kushner family’s attempts to refinance or sell their disastrous New York real estate holdings included a failed attempt to secure funding from Qatar–a fact that’s hard not to see as relevant when evaluating Kushner’s unusual hostility toward Doha.
Read more: A Guide to Saudi Arabia’s Influence in Washington | The New Republic
His support for Saudi leadership remains unwavering, even in the face of opposition from media, Congress and his own intelligence agencies.
Indeed, between special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation’s increasing focus on Gulf money, and Trump’s repeated support for the Saudis and Emiratis in regional and international affairs, you’d be forgiven for thinking that perhaps it’s these states—not Russia—who have undue influence over the president. While there is no suggestion so far of quid pro quo between the president and his friends in the Gulf, the shady connections built during and after the 2016 election have combined with a broader network of money, personal ties, and some genuine policy agreements to produce what is perhaps the most pro-Saudi administration in U.S. histor
The United States has long pursued a generally pro-Saudi policy in the Middle East, a legacy of the Cold War when the United States relied heavily on the Saudis to push back against Soviet influence. Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical importance–and its position as the world’s swing producer of oil–has often led U.S. policymakers to minimize criticism of Saudi Arabia. Even as fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were shown to be Saudi citizens, for example, the George W. Bush administration pushed to maintain the close U.S.-Saudi relationship while privately criticizing Saudi support for religious extremism. The Trump administration, however, has taken the United States’ selective vision on Saudi Arabia to new extremes.
In May 2018, The New York Times reported that the Mueller investigation into foreign influence in the 2016 election was looking at not just Russian, but possible Middle Eastern influence: Diplomats from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it appeared, had facilitated meetings between Russian officials, mercenary-for-hire Erik Prince, and members of the Trump transition team. The lens quickly widened to include adviser to the Emirati government George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who helped to set up meetings at Trump Tower with an envoy for Saudi and Emirati leaders, and key officials including Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner.
In addition, the special counsel is apparently interested in Nader’s work on behalf of Saudi and Emirati leaders, funneling at least $2.5 million in Gulf money to Republican donor Elliott Broidy. Some of it appears to have been used for anti-Qatar lobbying following the blockade of that country in June 2017: A separate New York Times report in May 2018 pointed to two Washington, D.C., conferences featuring anti-Qatar views held by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and the Hudson Institute.
The Gulf states have been among the biggest spenders at Trump hotels and resorts since he was elected. In August of this year, the Trump hotel in New York finally reversed a two-year trend of falling revenues when Mohammed bin Salman’s extensive entourage paid premium prices for a last-minute stay. The Saudi government has also been among the biggest spenders at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel, spending $270,000 in 2016 alone.
Though the Trump Organization has promised that all profits received from foreign governments at these properties will be donated to the Treasury, ethics experts dispute the methods used for calculating these profits, suggesting that the president continues to profit from foreign spending. Several of Trump’s most influential backers–such as Broidy or the investor Tom Barrack—also profit handsomely from business ties and interests in the Gulf States.
The secrecy surrounding Trump’s financial affairs makes it difficult to know exactly how extensive these ties are. During the firestorm following Khashoggi’s death, Trump tweeted that he had no financial interests in Saudi Arabia. As various journalists noted, the statement could be technically true—in other words, no investments physically located within the country’s boundaries—while still misleading, given the Trump hotels’ many Saudi customers. And as always, Trump’s family members further complicate the picture. Over the last few years, for example, the Kushner family’s attempts to refinance or sell their disastrous New York real estate holdings included a failed attempt to secure funding from Qatar–a fact that’s hard not to see as relevant when evaluating Kushner’s unusual hostility toward Doha.
Read more: A Guide to Saudi Arabia’s Influence in Washington | The New Republic
June 21, 2018
Turkey: The Man: Muharrem Ince - Who Could Topple Erdogan - by Safak Pavey
 |
| Turkish Presidential Candidate Muharrem Ince, rattling Erdogan's base |
After 16 years of electoral dominance by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the secularist opposition Republican People’s Party, known as the C.H.P., has found a leader and presidential candidate who is rattling Mr. Erdogan, invigorating opposition voters and reaching out to Turks beyond the traditional base of his party.
The murmurs are increasingly
audible that Mr. Erdogan may not be invincible when Turkey votes on
June 24. The politician who achieved this transformation in the
national mood is Muharrem Ince, a 54-year-old legislator from the C.H.P.,
who was chosen as the presidential candidate by his party in May. Mr.
Ince has represented Yalova, a province about 50 miles from Istanbul,
in the Turkish parliament since 2002. His father was a small farmer. Mr.
Ince taught physics at a school before entering politics.
I
got to know Mr. Ince while serving as a member of parliament for the
C.H.P. from Istanbul. His speeches in the parliament went viral on
Turkish social media; his humor inspired caricatures and memes,
skewering the opponents. In the past month of campaigning, Mr. Ince’s
witty and pugnacious speeches challenging Mr. Erdogan at public meetings
have inspired the Turks.
I
recently attended a public meeting Mr. Ince was having in Duzce, a
city on the Black Sea coast, which has elected Justice and Development
Party candidates in every parliamentary election since Mr. Erdogan
founded the party in 2002. Politicians from the secularist C.H.P. would
face active hostility — even assault, once — when visiting Duzce. I
was surprised to see about 5,000 people waiting to hear Mr. Ince. It
was a signifier that he was not preaching to the converted.
A
young man I met described himself as a supporter of Mr. Erdogan’s
party, but he was curious about Mr. Ince. He spoke about how the people
of his city were losing their once-ardent faith in Mr. Erdogan’s party.
“Nobody believes them any longer,” he said. “Even at the meetings
where they distribute alms, they seal off their seating area to
separate themselves from the poor.”
Yet
not voting for Mr. Erdogan and his party wasn’t a choice. “Last month,
the imam of our village asked all of us to put our hands on the Quran
and take an oath to vote for our party,” the young man said. He
wouldn’t break his oath but came to agree with the opposition leader’s
message.
Mr.
Ince is asking the people of Turkey to choose between freedom and
fear, between national prestige and national solitude, between
imposition of religious practice and freedom to choose, between
openness and xenophobia.
Mr.
Ince has been challenging President Erdogan for a public debate. “Let
us debate on any television network you choose,” he says. The
loquacious Mr. Erdogan, who is omnipresent on Turkish television,
stayed quiet until Saturday, when he responded with characteristic haughtiness.
“He has no shame, inviting me on television,” Mr. Erdogan said, adding
that Mr. Ince would try to “ get ratings thanks to us.” Mr. Ince
retorted, “He says I want to get ratings, but even the weather forecasts
are watched more than his interviews.”
In
May, in a speech in the parliament, Mr. Erdogan tried to dismiss Mr.
Ince as “a poor person.” The opposition leader responded by asking an
important question: “We got the same salary at the same time. How come
you became so rich and I am poor?” (Mr. Erdogan’s salary as prime
minister between 2003 and 2014 wasn’t a lot more than what members of
parliament received. As president he gets paid three times more, but
Mr. Ince was referring to the corruption charges against his inner circle.)
Under
Mr. Erdogan, polarization between social and ethnic groups has
increased in the past several years. His challenger is offering the
vision of reconciliation and an end to discriminatory hiring practices
by the Turkish state. “The state will have no business if a candidate is
Alevi or Sunni, Turkish or Kurdish,” Mr. Ince said at a public meeting
last week. “There will be no discrimination whether one is wearing head scarf or not, whether one is a woman or a man.”
Mr.
Ince is also changing the misconception that his secularist party’s
base is anti-religious by appearing at public rallies with his sister
who wears a head scarf. He stood up against the relentless propaganda by
the A.K.P. against the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, and visited its leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas in prison.
The recent fall in the value of the lira
exacerbated economic anxieties in the country. Mr. Ince has offered
the vision of strengthening a production-based economy, developing
agriculture and offering better conditions for local and foreign
investors, apart from educating Turkish youth in both their mother
tongue and global languages to compete with the world.
Mr.
Ince provided examples of moral leadership long before he was in the
fray. In the summer of 2016, the Turkish parliament approved a
constitutional amendment stripping its members of immunity from
prosecution. The bill was pushed by the governing A.K.P. and its
ultranationalist allies to target the members from the Peoples’
Democratic Party.
During the parliamentary debates on the regressive changes in education pushed by the A.K.P., Mr. Ince called out the party’s hypocrisy by disclosing that A.K.P. elites were not sending their children to the Imam Hatip (religious) public schools, which they deem appropriate for the rest of society. He also pointed out that although the A.K.P. embroiled the country in wars and whipped up hysteric nationalism, its leaders were not enlisting their sons in military service.
Turks seem to be embracing his slogan of “Making Peace, Growing and Sharing Together.” In late April, the C.H.P. vote share, according to independent polls, was about 20 percent. Within a few weeks of Mr. Ince’s presidential campaign, the C.H.P. vote share has increased to 30 percent.
And with the opposition parties coming together, Mr. Erdogan’s time might finally be running out. But nobody knows which rabbit Mr. Erdogan and his team will pull out of their hats before the polling day.
But the shift in the national mood is evident on the streets, on the usually obsequious television networks, in the tea shops across the country. For the first time in almost two decades, Mr. Erdogan no longer seems invincible. A Turkey where every citizen may live without fear finally seems possible.
Note EU-Digest: A
Turkish American citizen who was asked what he thought about the
possibility of Muharrem Ince toppling Erdogan answered: "well better
the devil you know than the devil you don't.know".
If everyone had that similar opinion about dictators in power, many would never have been toppled.
Hopefully
this fresh wind, which is presently blowing through Turkey in the form
of Muharrem Ince candicacy in the Turkish Presidential elections will
give the Turks the courage to vote in large numbers for the next
President of Turkey: Muharrem Ince
June 17, 2018
Turkey - Presidential Elections: Can Erdogan's economic record help him keep seat amid challenges? - by Umut Uras
Sitting by his small telephone sale and repair shop
in the buzzing Istanbul district of Besiktas, Hasan Kus is pessimistic
about the future of Turkey's economy.
A little over a week before the country's key elections, the 44-year-old believes the financial situation will worsen regardless the outcome of the June 24 polls. "People are merely trying to pick the better scenario, compared to the other ones," says Kus, before trying to sell a phone charger to a customer.
The economy is going to be a decisive factor in the upcoming vote that will transition Turkey from a parliamentary system to an executive one, in line with constitutional changes approved in a referendum last year.
The presidential and parliamentary polls will be held under a state of emergency, in place since July 2016 following a failed deadly coup blamed by the government on the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based self-exiled religious leader.
On the economic front, the polls come against a conflicting backdrop of skyrocketing growth rate - up 7.4 percent last year - and a depreciating currency.
The Turkish lira dropped more than 20 percent against the US dollar this year, prompting the Central Bank to raise interest rates multiple times to shore up one of the world's worst-performing currencies. Meanwhile, both inflation and current account deficit are on the rise.
Under these circumstances, the Turkish electorate appears divided about who is best equipped to deal with the ongoing economic uncertainties.
Voters who blame the uncertainty on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) believe change is needed after 15 years to correct the policies that spawned the current problems.
Note EU-Digest: It is time for a change in Turkey after 15 years of Erdogan. President Erdogan has brought Turkey close to total economic ruin, and based on latest polls can only win the upcoming Presidential elections if he succeeds, once again, to have his associates fiddle with the ballot boxes and votes to change the outcome....?
Read more: Can Erdogan's economic record help him keep seat amid challenges? | Turkey News | Al Jazeera
A little over a week before the country's key elections, the 44-year-old believes the financial situation will worsen regardless the outcome of the June 24 polls. "People are merely trying to pick the better scenario, compared to the other ones," says Kus, before trying to sell a phone charger to a customer.
The economy is going to be a decisive factor in the upcoming vote that will transition Turkey from a parliamentary system to an executive one, in line with constitutional changes approved in a referendum last year.
The presidential and parliamentary polls will be held under a state of emergency, in place since July 2016 following a failed deadly coup blamed by the government on the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based self-exiled religious leader.
On the economic front, the polls come against a conflicting backdrop of skyrocketing growth rate - up 7.4 percent last year - and a depreciating currency.
The Turkish lira dropped more than 20 percent against the US dollar this year, prompting the Central Bank to raise interest rates multiple times to shore up one of the world's worst-performing currencies. Meanwhile, both inflation and current account deficit are on the rise.
Under these circumstances, the Turkish electorate appears divided about who is best equipped to deal with the ongoing economic uncertainties.
Voters who blame the uncertainty on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) believe change is needed after 15 years to correct the policies that spawned the current problems.
Note EU-Digest: It is time for a change in Turkey after 15 years of Erdogan. President Erdogan has brought Turkey close to total economic ruin, and based on latest polls can only win the upcoming Presidential elections if he succeeds, once again, to have his associates fiddle with the ballot boxes and votes to change the outcome....?
Read more: Can Erdogan's economic record help him keep seat amid challenges? | Turkey News | Al Jazeera
March 24, 2017
France Presidential Election: 'We’re not trying to influence events', Putin tells Le Pen
In an unprecedented move, the Russian president has met with a candidate for the French presidency in Moscow.
The meeting between the leader of the far-right eurosceptic FN party Marine Le Pen and Vladimir Putin has reignited fears of Russian support for far-right groups in Europe.
Putin told Le Pen he had no intention of influencing the French elections.
“We are trying to maintain relations with the ruling authorities and opposition representatives too. We don’t want to influence in any way the events underway.”
Le Pen said, if elected, she would consider what she had to do to swiftly lift EU sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
“For a long time I’ve called for France and Russia to resume cultural, economic, and strategic relations, especially now when we are facing a major terrorist threat,” Le Pen told Putin.
With the first round of elections just a month away, opinion polls show Le Pen making it through to the second round of the election on May 7, but then losing to centrist candidate Macron.
Read more: 'We’re not trying to influence events', Putin tells Le Pen | Euronews
The meeting between the leader of the far-right eurosceptic FN party Marine Le Pen and Vladimir Putin has reignited fears of Russian support for far-right groups in Europe.
Putin told Le Pen he had no intention of influencing the French elections.
“We are trying to maintain relations with the ruling authorities and opposition representatives too. We don’t want to influence in any way the events underway.”
Le Pen said, if elected, she would consider what she had to do to swiftly lift EU sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
“For a long time I’ve called for France and Russia to resume cultural, economic, and strategic relations, especially now when we are facing a major terrorist threat,” Le Pen told Putin.
With the first round of elections just a month away, opinion polls show Le Pen making it through to the second round of the election on May 7, but then losing to centrist candidate Macron.
Read more: 'We’re not trying to influence events', Putin tells Le Pen | Euronews
March 2, 2017
France - Presidential Elections: Gabriel warns of devious and dangerous Le Pen winning French presidential election
 |
| Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders - a devious destructive duo |
"It has become a realistic danger," said Gabriel, a center-left Social Democrat.
If Le Pen does win the election, the idea of European unity would not disappear, Gabriel insisted. "But without France's engagement, Europe is certainly unimaginable in the long run," he went on. "First and foremost, the French would be the first to feel the effects of a so-called Frexit.
"Because the results of such uncertainty about Europe's future would be of course capital outflow, absent investments and mass unemployment," Gabriel said.
Macron remains the frontrunner in the election race, with 39 percent of those consulted in the latest survey by pollsters Ipsos giving him a favorable opinion. In the poll, Le Pen is the favorite to win the first round in April with 35 percent of the vote.
In the poll released by the magazine "Le Point" on Wednesday, Macron was followed by Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon, with 38 percent, while former frontrunner Francois Fillon had fallen 18 percentage points to 25 percent, just behind Le Pen, at 26 percent.
Read more: Gabriel warns of Le Pen winning French presidential election | News | DW.COM | 15.02.2017
December 8, 2016
Valls to run for president: 'I want to give everything for France'
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls formally announced Monday evening that he
is running for the presidency in next year's election. Read FRANCE 24's
live blog for all the reactions and analysis.
- Valls said he would "give everything for France" in a speech to supporters at the town hall in Evry, just south of Paris, where his political career began.
- The 54-year-old said he would stand down as prime minister on Tuesday to focus on the campaign.
- His widely expected announcement comes just a few days after unpopular President François Hollande said he would not seek a second term.
- It follows a conservative primary ballot in which François Fillon, a 62-year-old former prime minister, secured a resounding win to become the presidential candidate of the centre-right Les Républicains party.
- France’s presidential election takes place in two rounds next April and May.
December 4, 2016
Austria: Left-leaning 'professor' Van der Bellen to become Austria's new president
Independent candidate and former Green Party leader Alexander Van der
Bellen – affectionately known as "the professor" among his supporters –
won Austria's presidential election on Sunday over right-wing populist
Norbert Hofe.
Note Almere-Digest: This is bad news for Marie Le Pen France and Geert Wilders from the Netherlands
February 5, 2016
US Politics: A European looks at the US political establishment and the upcoming Presidential elections - by RM
 |
| The US 2016 Presidential race has begun |
"Looking at both US political parties, and mainly basing my observations on policy and popular appeal , the Democratic party probably sticks head and shoulders above the Republican party, or at least what has become of this party over the years ."
"Famous Republican politicians like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan would probably turn over in their grave if they could see what has become of their party.".
"On the face of it, the Democratic party seems to be more of a reflection/cross-section of America re: cultural, religious and ethnic mix, rich, poor, intellectual , less gifted, gay, lesbian and socially conscious."
Today's Republican party is mainly white, Judeo Christian, militaristic, reflects a preponderance of "doublespeak, and quite ignorant, as to the realities that are at play in today's world .
Rolling Stone magazine wrote about Republicans : "All you have to do to secure a Republican vote today is to show lots of pictures of gay people kissing, black kids with their pants pulled down, or Mexican babies at an emergency room. Then you push forward some "dingbat" like Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin to reassure everyone that the Republican Party knows who the real Americans are."
"Unfortunately, on the negative side, many politicians from both political parties are quite corrupt and over the years the US corporate establishment has developed a brilliant political strategy to capitalize on this and benefit from this greed."
"Their scheme is quite simple - corporate America donates heavily to both parties, essentially hiring two different sets of politicians to market their needs and goods to the public. The Republicans, as a result, give them everything that they want, while the Democrats give them "almost everything".
Corporate America, however, seems to get more in return for their bribes from the Republicans than from the Democrats, because Democrats and their special interest groups, given their diversity and more liberal leanings, often also happen to ask more questions."
Instead of having short, publicly-funded political campaigns with limited and/or free advertising (as a number of Western European countries do), the US has long political campaigns in which candidates need big bucks for advertising. They are therefore forced to spend much of their time fundraising, which is to say, seeking bribes. Consequently many US politicians are basically on the take. They are forced into it not only by the system but also by their own greed..
Former Republican majority leader John Boehner actually once handed out cash on the floor of the US Congress from the tobacco industry to other representatives.
When French President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated in 2012, soon thereafter French police actually went into his home searching for an alleged € 50,000 in illicit campaign contributions from the ’Oreale heiress.
Seriously? € 50,000 in a presidential campaign? US presidential campaigns cost at least a billion Euro's each! The George W. Bush campaign accepted millions from arms manufacturers and then created a war for them, and the police haven’t been anywhere near his home yet.
American politicians don’t represent “the people.” With a few honorable exceptions, they represent the 1% at the top of the US financial ladder.
Bottom line: Bernie Sanders, one of the most progressive Democratic Presidential candidates noted in one of his stump speeches in the state of Ohio recently: "American democracy is being corrupted out of existence."
Will the American electorate elect Bernie as the first socialist President of America as a result? Probably not, but major changes are coming to the US political system. The "status quo" could be over.
EU-Digest
August 11, 2014
Turkey: Erdogan ‘wins’ Turkey presidential elections
Tayyip
Erdogan has become Turkey's first popularly-elected head of state after
winning a presidential election on Sunday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag
said on his Twitter account.
"The chairman of the AK Party and
the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has become the first
president elected by the people," Bozdag wrote.
His office confirmed the message was published on his official account. Tayyip Erdogan won the election with just over 52 per cent of the vote, Mustafa Sentop, deputy chairman of the ruling AK Party, said.
However, Turkey's electoral authorities are not officially due to announce their first results until today, with final figures due later in the week, but Erdogan, 60, is expected to make a victory address later on Sunday.
For the first time Turkey — a member of Nato and longtime hopeful to join the EU — has directly elected its president, who was previously chosen by parliament, and Erdogan is hoping for a massive show of popular support.
"Our people will make an important decision for Turkish democracy," said Erdogan as he cast his vote in Istanbul alongside his wife Emine and two daughters and two sons.
Erdogan indicated that he planned to revamp the post to give the presidency greater executive powers, which could see Turkey shift towards a system more like that of France if his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is able to change the constitution.
Read more: Times of Oman | News :: Erdogan ‘wins’ Turkey presidential elections
"The chairman of the AK Party and
the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has become the first
president elected by the people," Bozdag wrote. His office confirmed the message was published on his official account. Tayyip Erdogan won the election with just over 52 per cent of the vote, Mustafa Sentop, deputy chairman of the ruling AK Party, said.
However, Turkey's electoral authorities are not officially due to announce their first results until today, with final figures due later in the week, but Erdogan, 60, is expected to make a victory address later on Sunday.
For the first time Turkey — a member of Nato and longtime hopeful to join the EU — has directly elected its president, who was previously chosen by parliament, and Erdogan is hoping for a massive show of popular support.
"Our people will make an important decision for Turkish democracy," said Erdogan as he cast his vote in Istanbul alongside his wife Emine and two daughters and two sons.
Erdogan indicated that he planned to revamp the post to give the presidency greater executive powers, which could see Turkey shift towards a system more like that of France if his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is able to change the constitution.
Read more: Times of Oman | News :: Erdogan ‘wins’ Turkey presidential elections
June 28, 2014
EU Unity: U.K. Loses Big Vote On The Future Of Europe — Now What? - by Marilyn Geewax
The European Union made history Friday by bringing three of Russia's
neighbors — Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova — under its economic tent.
The of trade agreements will push European influence deep into a region that Russia would like to dominate. In light of recent Russian aggression in Ukraine, that's a big deal.
But in Brussels, Belgium, generated a second major headline later in the day.
Leaders of the European Union's 28 member states voted on the next president of the European Commission, which serves as the EU's executive branch.
The president sets the policy agenda, enforces rules and represents Europe abroad — so it's the most powerful position in the EU. Friday's vote ended up 26-2 in favor of Jean-Claude Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg.
But the outcome matters because the losing votes belonged to the United Kingdom and Hungary. And they were deeply, totally, seriously opposed to Juncker — so much so that his victory could trigger an eventual reconfiguring of the EU in ways not favorable to the U.S.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron sees Juncker as a political fixer, a crony-type politician with a reputation for drinking too much and defending the EU bureaucracy too vigorously. And the U.K. and Hungary fear that Juncker wants to take away too many powers from sovereign states.
The 26 leaders who voted for Juncker insist that , they had to nominate the Luxembourger, who will now go on to get rubber-stamp approval from the European Parliament in mid-July.
After the vote, Cameron called the outcome "a serious mistake" and promised to . He said pushing reforms would involve "a long, tough fight."
EU-Digest
The of trade agreements will push European influence deep into a region that Russia would like to dominate. In light of recent Russian aggression in Ukraine, that's a big deal.
But in Brussels, Belgium, generated a second major headline later in the day.
Leaders of the European Union's 28 member states voted on the next president of the European Commission, which serves as the EU's executive branch.
The president sets the policy agenda, enforces rules and represents Europe abroad — so it's the most powerful position in the EU. Friday's vote ended up 26-2 in favor of Jean-Claude Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg.
But the outcome matters because the losing votes belonged to the United Kingdom and Hungary. And they were deeply, totally, seriously opposed to Juncker — so much so that his victory could trigger an eventual reconfiguring of the EU in ways not favorable to the U.S.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron sees Juncker as a political fixer, a crony-type politician with a reputation for drinking too much and defending the EU bureaucracy too vigorously. And the U.K. and Hungary fear that Juncker wants to take away too many powers from sovereign states.
The 26 leaders who voted for Juncker insist that , they had to nominate the Luxembourger, who will now go on to get rubber-stamp approval from the European Parliament in mid-July.
After the vote, Cameron called the outcome "a serious mistake" and promised to . He said pushing reforms would involve "a long, tough fight."
EU-Digest
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