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    Trump at the UN: A Failure to Lead

    True to himself, US President Donald Trump completely failed to address any of the issues confronting the global community in his keynote speech to the 74th General Assembly of the United Nations. Instead, he used the platform to criticize China, to excoriate Iran, to boast of how big and dangerous the US military has become, and to urge every nation to close its borders to even the most hungry or persecuted migrants. He did, however, think it appropriate to support the right of all Americans to own as many guns as they want.

    In the same speech, Trump made headlines with his words urging the world to hold China accountable for having “unleashed this plague on to the world,” in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for deliberately encouraging the coronavirus to spread. The White House cut these words from the transcript posted on its website. Perhaps even the administration’s press office did not have the stomach to publish such libel.

    This speech to the UN was a moment when the leader of the free world — as a US president might once have been seen — could actually attempt to lead. The speech was an opportunity to inspire and to set out a roadmap to a better future. Trump chose to do the reverse. The world is facing a triple crisis of an international pandemic, economic collapse and climate emergency. Trump could only reach out for people to blame: the Chinese, Iranians or Venezuelans. He failed to mention that the United States has the biggest coronavirus death toll of any country in the world, with over 200,000 dead and counting. 

    Nor did Trump comment on the millions out of work or that America’s west is burning at the same time that its southeast is inundated by hurricane after hurricane. These are not just America’s problems: Trump did not address the dire straits of billions of non-Americans impacted by these dangers. Why would he? This is the true measure of “America First.”

    The American leadership vacuum is a grave danger to not just Americans but to us all. Trump’s failure to act early to stem coronavirus infections — a deliberate decision he made to fatuously “avoid panic” — will likely cost the lives of tens of thousands more Americans on top of the current staggering death toll. The US withdrawal from the World Health Organization in the middle of the pandemic signaled that Trump wanted no part of the international leadership out of the health crisis. The resultant deaths will be beyond imagination.  

    Trump has employed the same approach to international economics. His regime’s policy has been to withdraw from trade agreements, set up sanctions barriers against competitors and allies, and complain that everyone else’s industrial policies are more successful than his. Trump has also embarked on a determined effort to weaken the international institutions — the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and so on — that have enabled the world economy to prosper for the past 75 years. The world is going to need a great deal of leadership to emerge out of the current economic wasteland, on a scale of what was done to repair the damage of the Second World War. We can rely on Donald Trump to be absent from that role, too.

    As for the climate emergency, Trump has chosen to deny it. More than that, he has proceeded to undo everything previous US governments and the international community had done to try to save the planet from disaster. All of these crises are going to produce millions of refugees across the world. Trump couldn’t care less.

    The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

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    Climate takeover: meet the first-time voters guest editing the Guardian US

    Climate countdown

    Climate takeover: meet the first-time voters guest editing the Guardian US

    ‘We want to highlight environmental justice during this election season.’
    Composite: Courtesy climate editors

    Seven Generation Z climate activists from across the United States come together to curate a special edition of the Guardian US. Read their section here
    by Guardian guest editors

    Main image:
    ‘We want to highlight environmental justice during this election season.’
    Composite: Courtesy climate editors

    Generation Z didn’t cause the climate crisis, but we’re paying for it. The damage caused by global heating is already doing untold damage to the entire planet, disproportionately hurting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color). For our generation, the toll isn’t just physical, but mental: solastalgia, the stress caused by environmental changes to one’s home, is on the rise.
    We are seven first-time voters from diverse backgrounds across the United States who have come together to curate a special climate edition of the Guardian. We want to bring attention to the physical and mental burdens that our generation is saddled with due to the negligence of past generations. We want to highlight environmental justice during this election season. And we will be keeping environmental issues in mind when we all vote. – Alice Shinn
    Alex Perry, 18Atlanta, GeorgiaFreshman at Northwestern University
    [embedded content]
    My Chinese Singaporean and African American heritage inspired me to constantly consider the global implications of local actions. I’m double majoring in journalism and international affairs, with a minor in economics. Post-college, I’m interested in writing about international politics with the goal of motivating others to be aware global citizens.
    Why I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in NovemberI believe the climate crisis is the link that connects all countries. Setting our differences aside, we collectively exist in a bubble with finite resources, meaning that our actions at home have global implications. When I vote in November, I’ll support a candidate who forwards policies that mitigate climate change, making our home a safer and sustainable place to live.
    Twitter: @WhoIsAlexPerry Instagram: @alex.perr.y
    Cora Dow, 18Sitka, AlaskaFreshman at Bowdoin College
    [embedded content]
    I’m never not thinking about the climate crisis. It’s something that guides the decisions I make, from whether I take reusable silverware with me, to which classes I take in college. I discuss it with friends, advocate for its solutions at work, read about it in my free time. I’m interested in environmental studies and history. In the future, I hope to move back to Sitka and continue advocating for the rainforest I grew up in.
    Why I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in NovemberThis November, I want candidates who live this issue as much as so many young people have been forced to. I don’t want the responsibility of fixing the climate crisis after it’s already too late. I don’t want sympathy from older generations, and I don’t want to be told again “I have so much hope for today’s youth.” I just want someone who hasn’t given up yet, who is willing to recognize the problem and take responsibility – and now I finally have a chance to vote.
    Instagram: @ak_c.d
    Jessica Díaz, 21Houston, TexasSenior at Michigan State University
    [embedded content]
    As a descendent of P’urhépecha people, I have seen the strong connections between cultural identity and the environment. I advocate for communities on the frontlines of climate change, such as in Houston, which is in the heart of the petrochemical industry. I’m majoring in fisheries and wildlife, and in the future want to support community initiatives to restore damaged ecosystems and correct environmental injustices.
    Why I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in NovemberOur past leaders failed to be proactive when it came to the climate crisis, instead, they loosened environmental restrictions and allowed for BIPOC communities, like my own, to be unequally burdened with toxic air and water. I am voting with the climate crisis as my top issue because we can no longer afford a president and leaders who don’t believe that all people, regardless of their identities, deserve clean air, clean water, good jobs, healthy food, and a livable future.
    Twitter: @buenoss_diazzInstagram: @buenoss_diazz
    Devin Mullins, 19Boone, North CarolinaJunior at Appalachian State University
    [embedded content]
    I credit my passion for climate advocacy to attending a university with a reputation for sustainability. At school, I study political science and sustainable development, while staying actively involved in politics and advocacy. After college,I will be seeking an MPP or JD program that will prepare me to work on economic and environmental public policy that creates a more just and sustainable society for all.
    Why I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in NovemberI’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in November because I have no other choice. Climate change is the most existential threat to a healthy and prosperous future for myself, my peers
    and the family I’d someday like to have. There are leaders in or running for office who are committed to that future, but they need our votes and our voices to be successful. Our future is on the ballot.
    Instagram: @mullins_dt
    Sofia Romero Campbell, 21Denver, ColoradoSenior at Smith College
    [embedded content]
    I’m a senior at Smith College studying government and Latin American studies with a concentration in sustainable food. After graduation, I plan on pursuing a career in environmental policy.
    Why I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in NovemberMy generation is hungry for change and when I vote for the first time in the 2020 presidential election I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis because it illustrates the structural inequities within our government. This is a pivotal moment in history and by prioritizing environmental issues at the ballot box we can address a plethora of other pressing social, political, and economic struggles. Our future wellbeing depends on it and I can’t think of a better framework to enact the most meaningful and lasting change.
    Instagram: @goodmojo99
    Alice Shinn, 20Claremont, CaliforniaJunior at Pomona College
    [embedded content]
    I was born in Tokyo and raised in New York City. I am double majoring in english and environmental analysis, and have no idea what I want to do after graduating. But I plan to further pursue my interests in writing and reading creative non-fiction, and making sustainability not just a buzzword but something that is accessible to all.
    Why I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in NovemberClimate change is the worst problem facing the world. Not racism and police brutality, the wealth gap or late-stage capitalism (although all exacerbate the effects of climate change). The climate crisis impacts all industries, all lifestyles and has a profound mental impact. Encouragingly, youths have been radicalized after George Floyd’s murder, but now we must ask ourselves: which candidate will respect and comply with climate accords? Who will crack the door open for decades of work by activists and scientists? We must – reluctantly or enthusiastically – vote for the candidate who is willing to even acknowledge the climate crisis.
    Instagram: @aliceshinn
    Allyson Smith, 19Memphis, TennesseeSophomore at Howard University
    [embedded content]
    I am an activist, poet, all-around creative and political science major. I am heavily involved with politics and am a firm believer in youth political participation. I say “no” to the status quo and use my voice as a stepping stone to an equal society that reflects the people’s interest.
    Why I’ll be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in NovemberI will be thinking about the climate crisis when I vote in November because I look at all the people in my hometown who are in proximity to chemical plants and not heard due to the greed of capitalism. I think about how the sole resources of water worldwide are drying up and people are severely dehydrated due to this. This is an intersectional issue, this is racial justice. I have no other option than to think about the climate crisis because my life and wellbeing are at stake.
    Twitter: @senpaiversesInstagram: @allyn.smith

    Photograph by Sabrina Lucas

    Topics

    Climate countdown

    US politics

    US elections 2020

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    Taking American Carnage to the Next Level

    It is a recent tradition among occupants of the White House, as they head out of office, to play a few practical jokes on their successors. The Clinton administration jesters, for instance, removed all the Ws from White House keyboards before handing over the keys to George W. Bush’s transition team. The Obama administration left behind books authored by Barack Obama for Trump’s incoming press team.

    Donald Trump has no sense of humor. His “gift” to the next administration is dead serious. With his recent foreign policy moves, the president is trying to change the facts on the ground so that whoever follows in his footsteps will have a more difficult time restoring the previous status quo. Forget about pranks. This is a big middle-finger salute to the foreign policy establishment and the world at large.

    The Next President Needs to Learn From Past Mistakes

    READ MORE

    Of course, Trump is not preparing to leave office, regardless of the results of the November election. But in his policies in the Middle East and East Asia, the president is attempting to change the very rules of the game just in case he’s not around next year to personally make more mischief. The man is not going to win a Nobel Prize for his efforts — despite the recent nominations coming from a pair of right-wing Scandinavians — but he’ll do whatever he can to achieve the next best thing: putting the Trump brand on geopolitics.

    It cost about $5,000 to replace all those W-less typewriters. The bill for all the damage Trump is doing to international affairs in his attempt to make his Israel, Iran and China policies irreversible will be much, much higher.

    Israel Up, Palestine Down

    For several years, the Trump administration promised a grand plan that would resolve the Israel-Palestine stand-off. According to this “deal of the century,” Palestinians would accept some economic development funds, mostly from Gulf states, in exchange for giving up their aspirations for an authentic state.

    The hoops Palestinians would have to jump through to get even such a shrunken and impotent state — effectively giving up Jerusalem, relinquishing the right to join international organizations without Israel’s permission — are such obvious deal-breakers that Jared Kushner and company must have known from the start that their grand plan was not politically viable.

    But finding a workable solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict was not the purpose of the plan. It was all an elaborate shell game. While the administration dangled its proposal in front of world leaders and international media, it was working with Israel to create “new realities.” Trump withdrew the United States from the UN Human Rights Council for its “chronic bias against Israel.” The administration closed the PLO’s office in Washington, DC, and eliminated US funding for the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees. And in perhaps the most consequent move, Trump broke a global convention by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Until recently, only one country, Guatemala, had followed suit.

    But then came a flurry of diplomatic activity this fall as both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain extended diplomatic recognition to Israel. The Trump administration also pushed Serbia and Kosovo, as part of a new economic deal, to include clauses about Israel: Serbia will move its embassy to Jerusalem and Kosovo will establish one there after establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

    Astonishingly, the Trump administration has promoted this diplomatic activity as restraining Israel. In May, Netanyahu announced that he was moving forward with absorbing sections of the West Bank that already featured large Israeli settlements. He subsequently stepped back from that announcement to conclude the new diplomatic deals with the Gulf states. But it was only reculer pour mieux sauter, as the French say — stepping back to better leap forward. Netanyahu had no intention of taking annexation off the table.

    “There is no change to my plan to extend sovereignty, our sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, in full coordination with the United States,” Netanyahu said in mid-August. Some further to the right of Netanyahu — alas, they do exist — want to annex the entire West Bank. But that’s de jure. As writer Peter Beinart points out, Israel has been annexing the West Bank settlement by settlement for some time.

    Where does this leave Palestinians? Up a creek without a state. The Trump administration has used its much-vaunted “deal of the century” to make any future deal well-nigh impossible. In collaboration with Netanyahu, Trump has strangled the two-state solution in favor of a single Israeli state with a permanent Palestinian underclass. The cost to Palestinians: incalculable.

    Permanent War With Iran

    Strengthening Israel was a major part of Trump’s maneuverings in the Middle East. A second goal was to boost arms sales to Gulf countries, which will only accelerate the arms race in the region. The third ambition has been to weaken Iran. Toward that end, Israel, Bahrain and the UAE now form — along with Saudi Arabia — a more unified anti-Iran bloc.

    But the Trump crowd has never been content to contain Iran. It wants nothing less than regime change. From the get-go, the Trump administration nixed the Iran nuclear deal, tightened sanctions against Tehran and put pressure on all other countries not to engage Iran economically. In January, it assassinated a leading Iranian figure, Major General Qassem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. And this summer it tried, unsuccessfully, to trigger “snap-back” sanctions against Iran that would kill the nuclear deal once and for all.

    Even as the Trump administration was celebrating the diplomatic deal between the UAE and Israel, it was going after several UAE firms for brokering deals with Iran. Trump recently castigated the Iranian government for going through with the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari for allegedly killing a security guard during a 2018 demonstration.

    And US intelligence agencies have just leaked a rather outlandish suggestion that Iran has been thinking about assassinating the US ambassador to South Africa. According to Politico, “News of the plot comes as Iran continues to seek ways to retaliate for President Donald Trump’s decision to kill a powerful Iranian general earlier this year, the officials said. If carried out, it could dramatically ratchet up already serious tensions between the U.S. and Iran and create enormous pressure on Trump to strike back — possibly in the middle of a tense election season.”

    Hmm, sounds mighty suspicious. Sure, Iran might be itching for revenge. But why risk war with a president who might just be voted out of office in a couple of months and replaced with someone who favors returning to some level of cooperation? And why would the unnamed US government officials leak the information right now? Is it a way to discourage Iran from making such a move? Or perhaps it’s to provoke one side or the other to take the fight to the next level — and take off the table any future effort to repair the breach between the two countries?

    Cutting Ties With China

    At a press conference earlier this month, Trump laid out his vision of US relations with China. Gone were the confident predictions of beautiful new trade deals with Beijing. After all, Trump had canceled trade negotiations last month, largely because the Phase 1 agreement hasn’t produced the kind of results the president had predicted (in terms of Chinese purchases of US goods). Nor did Trump talk about what a good idea it was for China to build “reeducation camps” for Uighurs in Xinjiang (he reserves such frank conversation for tête-à-têtes with Xi Jinping, according to John Bolton).

    Rather, Trump talked about severing the economic relationship between the two countries. “Under my administration, we will make America into the manufacturing superpower of the world, and we’ll end our reliance on China once and for all,” he said. “Whether it’s decoupling or putting in massive tariffs like I’ve been doing already, we’re going to end our reliance on China because we can’t rely on China.”

    Embed from Getty Images

    As with virtually all things, Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. China has been largely unaffected by all of Trump’s threats and posturing. As economist Nicholas Lardy explains, “for all the fireworks over tariffs and investment restrictions, China’s integration into global financial markets continues apace. Indeed, that integration appears on most metrics to have accelerated over the past year. And U.S.-based financial institutions are actively participating in this process, making financial decoupling between the United States and China increasingly unlikely.”

    In fact, decoupling is just another way of saying “self-inflicted wound.” On the non-financial side of the ledger, the United States has already paid a steep price for its trade war with China, which is only a small part of what decoupling would ultimately cost. Before the pandemic hit, the United States was already losing 300,000 jobs and $40 billion in lost exports annually. That’s like a Category 3 hurricane. A full decoupling would tear through the US economy like a Category 6 storm.

    Geopolitical Carnage

    American presidents want to leave behind a geopolitical legacy. Bill Clinton was proud of both the Dayton agreement and the Oslo Accords. George W. Bush touted his response to the September 11 attacks. Barack Obama could point to the Iran nuclear deal and the détente with Cuba. Donald Trump, like the aforementioned twisters, has left destruction in his path. He tore up agreements, initiated trade wars, pulled out of international organizations and escalated America’s air wars.

    But perhaps his most pernicious legacy is his scorched-earth policy. Like armies in retreat that destroy the fields and the livestock to rob their advancing adversaries of food sources, Trump is doing whatever he can to make it impossible for his successor to resolve some of the world’s most intractable problems.

    His diplomatic “achievements” in the Middle East are designed to disempower and further disenfranchise Palestinians. His aggressive policy toward China is designed to disrupt an economic relationship that sustains millions of US farmers and manufacturers. His bellicose approach to Iran is designed not only to destroy the current nuclear accord but make future ones impossible as well.

    If he wins a second term, Trump will bring his scorched-earth doctrine to every corner of the globe. What he is doing to Iran, China and the Palestinians, he will do to the whole planet. The nearly 200,000 pandemic deaths and the wildfires destroying the West Coast are just the beginning. Donald Trump can’t wait to take his brand of American carnage to the next level.

    *[This article was originally published by Foreign Policy in Focus.]

    The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

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    'A savagely broken food system': Cory Booker wants radical reform … now

    From a viral pandemic to the movement for racial justice to the worsening climate crisis, Senator Cory Booker says the massive challenges facing the US right now are all tied to a “savagely broken food system”.And last week, his most recent challenge to that system gained new momentum, when a coalition of 300 farm, food, and environmental advocacy organizations sent a letter to Congress urging legislators to pass a bill that would eventually eliminate the country’s largest concentrated animal feeding operations (Cafos).Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, Booker, a New Jersey senator who ran for the democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, says: “Nobody seems to be calling out how multinational, vertically integrated industrial agricultural companies are threatening American wellbeing, and I just think that the more people learn about these practices, the more shocked they are.“I don’t think most Americans realize that the way we raise animals is such a betrayal of the heritage of our grandparents. I don’t think they realize that … these big companies like Smithfield and Cargill and others have our American farmers now living like sharecroppers in constant debt, forced to follow their rules. I’ve watched the suffering in North Carolina of minority communities who live around Cafos and can no longer breathe their air … and I’ve seen workers in the meatpacking plants and how dangerous those plants are.“Everybody is losing in this system – except for the massive corporations that have taken over the American food system.”Booker was elected to the Senate in 2013, after serving as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, from 2006 to 2013. During his time in the Senate he has focused his efforts on progressive issues like criminal justice reform, reducing economic inequality and increasing access to healthcare.More recently, the food system and the way it shapes inequalities in the US has emerged as one of his defining interests. As mayor of Newark, where more than 50% of the city’s residents are people of color, Booker observed a high rate of poverty and food insecurity. “I learned early in my time as mayor, when I was focused on things like criminal justice reform and economic justice, that all of these issues and injustices were intersectional, and you have to deal with them with a holistic view,” he says.“Kids who walk into bodegas can buy a Twinkie product cheaper than they can buy an apple because 90% of our agriculture subsidies go to four major monocrops,” he says. Workers exposed to dangers in meatpacking plants and to poor working conditions and pesticide exposures on farms are also disproportionately people of color, concerns recently amplified by the Black Lives Matter movement.Kids who walk into bodegas can buy a Twinkie product cheaper than they can buy an apple“What’s motivating me is that I think we need to really sound the alarm in America,” he says. “There are so many crises [that relate] to public health, from global warming to economic justice to humane treatment of animals. What should not be surprising is that a senator is taking this on. What should be more surprising is that we as a country have not seen this broken food system, especially after a Covid crisis, which has so exposed the fragility of the American food system. The real question is why isn’t Congress as a whole moving to address this massive threat to public health?” More

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