Taliban-US Deal IS A Fake Deal: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm

The agreement, warned Rep. Barbara Lee, "leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society."

A Fake Deal ? USA-Taliban-Afghanistan

The Taliban have agreed to sever ties with al-Qaida and other international terror groups and sit down for peace talks with other Afghans, including a government they have always denounced as a US puppet. In return, Washington will start a phased withdrawal of troops.

Troop levels will be cut to 8,600 over the next 135 days and five bases will be closed. If both sides keep to their commitments, all U.S. military forces could leave Afghanistan by spring 2021, although Washington is thought to want to keep intelligence operatives on the ground fighting Isis and al-Qaida.

According to Lee, nobody should be fooled into thinking that this is a "peace" agreement.

"It leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society," the Congresswoman said.

As peace advocates have been saying since even before the U.S. invasion took place in 2001, following the attacks of September 11, there was never a military solution to the situation in Afghanistan. That remains true today.

"Two decades of trying to bomb our way to peace have made clear: there is no U.S. military solution in Afghanistan," said Stephen Miles, executive director of Win Without War, in a statement.

While the reduction in U.S. military presence "is a welcome step," Stephens said, the agreement "utterly fails to confront the underlying logic of military occupation, lacks any strategy for long-term peace, and falls far short of accountability and justice. It is no 'peace deal.'"

Like Lee, Stephens said a deal that leaves nearly two-thirds of current U.S. forces in Afghanistan for 'counterterrorism' purposes—"bringing levels down to about where they were when Trump entered office"—cannot be considered a peace deal. While the drawdown can be considered a positive development, he said, the agreement "is far from an end to endless war—and further still from anything that would ensure stability, peace, and justice after decades of violence."

Read more at: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm | Common Dreams News

India-US Relations - Love fest in India between Authocrat Trump and Nationalist Modi - by Shant Shahrigian

Love Fest in India: Nationalist 
Modi and Authocrat Trump

The pomp and circumstance is scheduled to start from the moment Trump lands in the western state of Gujarat. Carefully selected supporters of India’s prime minister were to cheer and hold signs along all 14 miles of the presidential motorcade’s route to a stadium rally.

Following the lovefest, the president and First Lady Melania Trump are scheduled to make an evening visit to the Taj Mahal — the model for one of Trump’s infamous failed Atlantic City casinos.

In the capital New Delhi on Tuesday, Trump and Modi are expected to talk trade, though the president tried to keep expectations low.

Trump’s form of belligerent patriotism jibes with the hosting leader’s own desire to turn India, the world’s biggest democracy, into a Hindu nationalist state.

Read more at: Trump heads to India for meet with Prime Minister Modi - New York Daily News

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

The Netherlands: 2,500 children 'disappear' from Dutch refugee centres

More than 2,500 children have disappeared from refugee centres in the Netherlands over the past decade, the NRC newspaper reported on Monday. Most of those came from Afghanistan, Morocco, Algeria, Albania, Eritrea, Syria and Vietnam. According to the refugee agency COA, a proportion of these children may end up in the hands of human traffickers or in prostitution.

If you live in the EU and suspect any human trafficking or unauthorized prostitution going on in your area please contact the Human Trafficking hotline in your area (see telephone number for your EU country at https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/citizens-corner-national-hotlines/national-hotlines_en  

If you live in the US  call  the National Human Trafficking Hotline  1 (888) 373-7888  Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week Languages: English, Spanish and 200 more languages  Website: www.humantraffickinghotline.org

Read more at: 2,500 children 'disappear' from Dutch refugee centres

China - EU - Iran - Russia -Turkey -- a new Dawn? : Donald Trump′s risky short-sightedness - by Frank Sieren

New World  Order? China,-EU Russia

Like the rest of the world, Beijing was forced to look on idly as US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last Friday. Even the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which considers Iran an enemy, called on the US to withdraw. On Tuesday night, Iran responded by launching missile attacks on US bases in Iraq.

For now, the situation seems to be, if not de-escalated, at least not re-escalated. But the stakes in the Middle East are also high for China now. As the country with the second-highest oil consumption in the world, it sources a good 50% of its imports from the region. Although Iran is ranked only seventh in the list of oil exporters to China, it has become a close economic and diplomatic partner of Beijing's in recent years.

China is also Iran's largest trading partner. China's investments in Iran are also rising steadily, amounting to over $27 billion (€24.3 billion) between 2005 and 2018. Last summer, the two governments agreed that China would invest $280 billion in Iran's energy sector and $120 billion in its infrastructure and manufacturing sector over the next 25 years. In return, Beijing would receive cheaper oil as well as other benefits. The idea is also that the transactions be conducted in Chinese yuan or Russian rubles, as Russian companies will also be involved.

Iran is playing an increasingly important role for China's "New Silk Road." One of the most important axes of the geostrategic project of the century leads from China to Turkey, via Pakistan and Iran, and then from Istanbul to the Greek port of Piraeus.

Not far from the Pakistan-Iranian border and the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40% of the world's oil transports pass, lies the deep-sea port of Gwadar. In future, the idea is that this be used to transport oil and goods directly to China via an economic corridor in Pakistan. Pakistan shares a common border with both Iran and China, while goods still have to cross three Central Asian countries to get to China via the northern route.

Note EU-Digest: China, the EU and Russia for some time now are starting to cooperate on trade and technology much closer and in the process are by-passing the US at an ever increasing rate, specially following the election of Donald Trump.

Read more: Sieren’s China: Donald Trump′s risky short-sightedness | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 09.01.2020

IRAN-US relations: In menacing Iran’s cultural sites, Trump threatens to commit ‘a war crime’

 The Trump administration has yet to offer any evidence backing its claim that last week’s killing of a senior Iranian official was legal under international law. Now the US president has also threate…

Read more at:
https://www.france24.com/en/20200106-in-menacing-iran-s-cultural-sites-trump-threatens-to-commit-a-war-crime

Internet: Pompeo warns that the U.S. will NOT share intelligence with countries using Huawei 5G infrastructure

* Mike Pompeo said any country that did so would be cut off from intelligence

Germany has so far joined UK, France and Netherlands in defying U.S. calls

Washington warns Huawei is a vassal of Beijing and poses an espionage threat 

Read more at: Pompeo warns that the U.S. will NOT share intelligence with countries using Huawei 5G infrastructure | Daily Mail Online

China en Rusland eensgezind: liquidatie Iraanse generaal lost niets op

De ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken spraken met elkaar én met hun Iraanse ambtgenoot over de Amerikaanse moordaanslag op generaal Soleimani.

Read more at:
https://nos.nl/artikel/2317306-china-en-rusland-eensgezind-liquidatie-iraanse-generaal-lost-niets-op.html

Iran-US Relations: Is the US On the Verge of a War with Iran?

Trump: we will help Saudi Arabia
in their struggle against Iran

"The main question is not whether Soleimani is responsible for carnage in the region (he is) or whether he has blood on his hands (he does), but whether Soleimani’s assassination increases or decreases the risk of a wider conflict between Washington and Tehran. Does this strike put American soldiers, diplomats, and citizens in the region at risk?"

The answers are as obvious as the day is long. The strike on Soleimani is a gigantic leap forward on the escalation ladder, a move so dramatic that Iran will be forced to respond. And it will do so at a time and place of its choosing. The 60,000-70,000 U.S. military forces in the Middle East are now all potential targets of Iranian retaliation, the extent to which Washington can’t fully estimate. The State Department’s travel advisory urging all U.S. citizens to leave Iraq immediately is an indication that the Trump administration recognizes that Americans on Iraqi soil could very well be sitting ducks for some kind of violent response.

Note EU-Digest: The Washington Post  reported that several European diplomats said Friday that they were not aware of any warning from Washington ahead of the strike on Soleimani in Baghdad, though the mission was almost certain to increase the security risk for hundreds of European troops and for other European citizens in the region.The Netherlands government advised all its citizens in Iraq to leave the country. Once again as he did with pulling troops out of Syria it shows he does not have any respect for his Allies and the lives of their troops, who have always supported the US, and put their lives at risk. it is high time the EU tells the US Trump Administration that " the party is over", and that they should start fighting their own ridiculous wars around the world.

Read more at: Are We On the Verge of a War with
ran? | The National Interest

EU in Defense mode on Trade: In Trade War, EU Is Force to Be Reckoned With-Netherlands Warns

The European Union will act as one if the U.S hits France with tariffs and must stop being naive with powers like China, the Dutch Finance Minister warned.

Adding to growing calls for the bloc to do more to boost its economic sovereignty, Wopke Hoekstra said in an interview that the EU shouldn’t sit idly as countries like China subsidize their companies, or Donald Trump’s administration turns against its member states.

Faced with a global stage that’s increasingly dominated by the U.S. and China, the EU has come under pressure from some members to ensure a level playing field for its companies so that they can better compete with rivals that receive a helping hand from their governments.

“It is simply unacceptable that we are playing by the rules and some others just do whatever they like and by state support have the ability to outcompete some of our companies,” Hoekstra said recently.

“If we lookat the airline industry it’s bizarre that a great company like Air France-KLM is competing in a completely unlevel playing field with some of the carriers from outside the EU.”

His comments follow a recent initiative by the Netherlands calling on the EU to overhaul its competition framework by granting the European Commission powers to perform checks on companies that could potentially distort markets.

The Dutch push comes as a new executive has just taken the EU’s helm in Brussels and as the issue of protecting the region’s industry is gaining more prominence amid the rise of economic nationalism across the world, including with Trump’s America first policies in the U.S.

Read more at: In Trade War, EU Is Force to Be Reckoned With, Netherlands Warns - Bloomberg

NATO: European Security in Crisis: What to Expect if the United States Withdraws from NATO - by Liana Fix and Bastian Giegerich

t is February 2021. A few months after his re-election as president of the United States, Donald Trump declares that NATO has become obsolete and the United States withdraws from the alliance. All U.S. forces — military personnel and equipment — including nuclear and missile defense assets will be withdrawn from Europe as soon as possible.

This nightmare scenario has been on the mind of many security policy officials, and experts, ever since the New York Times reported in January 2019 that Trump discussed several times over the course of 2018 wanting to withdraw from the alliance. Congress has acted and passed the NATO Support Act, which prohibits the use of funds to withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Yet the possibility of such a move cannot entirely be excluded.

A policy game prepared by Körber-Stiftung and the International Institute for Strategic Studies sought to answer these questions this summer in Berlin. Five country teams with experts from France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States addressed a fictional scenario that involved a U.S. withdrawal from NATO, followed by crises in a NATO member state in the western Balkans and across Eastern Europe. How would Europeans react to such a scenario? What are the red lines, interests, and priorities of the respective actors? How might Europeans organize their defense if the United States withdraws from NATO, and what role could the United States play in European security after the withdrawal?

European Security in Crisis: What to Expect if the United States Withdraws from NATO - War on the Rocks

USA: Major Christian Publication Says Trump Should Be Removed from Office

"It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was".

Note EU-Digest: The well known US Christian Magazine "Christianity Today", finally spoke out on behalf of many Pastors and millions of Christian's around the world, including the US, who don't support Donald Trump, and said he should resign.

Read the complete report at:
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html

The Americas - Cuban and Suriname relations: Cuba and Suriname reaffirm cooperation ties (+ Photo)

Cuba and Suriname reaffirmed today the common interest of deepening
cooperation ties, in the context of the celebrations to mark the 40th
anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.



Read more at: The Americas - Cuban and Suriname relations: Cuba and Suriname reaffirm cooperation ties (+ Photo)

Soccer: U.S. Men’s National Team to Begin Two-Match European Tour on March 26 against the Netherlands

USMNT Preparing for Nations League Semifinal and Start of 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying; Second March Opponent to be Announced Soon.

Read more at:
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/12/usmnt-to-begin-two-match-european-tour-on-march-26-against-the-netherlands

Populism on the rise: Beyond Boris: Donald Trump(ism) Wins in British Election

What are the hard lessons for Europe and wider geopolitics from Boris Johnson’s victory in the 2019 British general election?

Read more at:
https://www.theglobalist.com/uk-election-2019-boris-johnson-conservatives-brexit-populism/

NATO: Macron spars with US and Turkey over Nato - by Nikolaj Nielsen

EU Defense Force: Europe needs to control it's own destiny

The presidents of France, Turkey and the United States sparred over Nato as the 29 leaders of the 70-year old alliance gathered in London.

In a late night tweet on Tuesday (3 December), French president Emmanuel Macron entrenched his views on the future of the fraying alliance.

"We can't put money and pay the cost of our soldiers' lives without being clear on the fundamentals of what Nato should be," he said.

The position follows his earlier comments describing Nato as "brain dead", given Turkey's October invasion into north-east Syria, displacing tens of thousands of people.

After US president Donald Trump abandoned the Kurdish militias, who had fought alongside US and French troops in the struggle against the Islamic State, Turkey moved in.

Note EU-Digest: Macron is right on this one. US President Trump pulled out of Syria without consulting any of his NATO partners, except possibly Turkey, and created a chaos at the border between Syria and Turkey. It is high time the EU gets off the lap of the US and creates its own military defense force, which focuses on the interests of Europe.

Read more at: Macron spars with US and Turkey over Nato

USA: Why is tourism to the United States on the decline? - Gun violence

The decrease isn't steep, but any decline is seen as alarming, given the overall rise in global tourism.

One of the major reasons for this decline in tourism to the US is the fear of gun violence in America, which is widely publicized around the world.

Read more at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/09/06/more-people-are-traveling-world-than-ever-number-coming-america-is-dropping/

The Netherlands-USA Relations - Global Warming - Tampa Teams Up With Netherlands to Deal With Climate Change - by Dalia Dangerfield

The Bay Area and the Netherlands are teaming up to raise awareness on climate change. 

• Tampa working with Netherlands on climate change
• Tampa Chief of Staff John Bennett toured Netherlands to get ideas
• Tampa to develop action plan with ideas

Tampa Chief of Staff John Bennett was invited to the Netherlands by Dutch Leaders to learn how their country deals with climate change.

"When you're riding around the country, it looks like any other country, but when you know what you're looking at, you're like 'wow that's a neat project," Bennett said.

The Netherlands is very vulnerable to floods and storm surge.  Their answer includes using natural resources as a defense. Something Bennett agrees with.

"Lets use nature as much as possible instead of putting more infrastructure in place," Bennett said.

 Read more at: Tampa Teams Up With Netherlands to Deal With Climate Change