Monthly Archives: June 2017

Will the government fall off the fiscal cliff? – CBS News

Posted: June 6, 2017 at 6:39 am

Congress' next few month are likely to be filled with drama, as lawmakers face tackling the debt ceiling, negotiating a new budget deal to lift limits on government spending and trying to head off a government shutdown this fall.

Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week from their Memorial Day recess facing two solid months of legislative hurdles before their scheduled five-week recess in August.

"There is so much to do, and there's so much uncertainty out there, that we are heading into a very intense two-month work period, and if we're going to do anything this year, we have to do it now," warned Jim Dyer, principal at the Podesta Group who previously served as the House Appropriations Committee's staff director.

Budget experts, including Dyer, and lawmakers are expecting a negotiation for a major fiscal deal with the timing for that likely to be determined by the deadline to address the debt ceiling. That is, lawmakers might have to reach a deal before Congress moves on to approving government funding for 2018.

If Congress fails to complete these tasks, the U.S. could default on its debt; all discretionary spending -- including both defense and non-defense -- would be slashed with cuts; and the government would shut down.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has called on Congress to raise the debt limit before lawmakers leave for the summer and has specified that it should be a "clean" increase -- a demand that the conservative Freedom Caucus quickly rejected. The group said in a statement that any debt ceiling increase should be coupled with spending cuts in exchange. For context, Democrats have only ever agreed to a "clean" lifting of the debt limit.

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The House speaker discusses how Congress and the Trump administration plan to deal with the debt ceiling

For the last debt ceiling deadline in 2015, Congress was able to wait until October to address it. As it usually does, the Treasury Department has been relying on so-called "extraordinary measures" since mid-March of this year to buy more time but time may be running out sooner than previous years. When the threat of a default becomes more pronounced, that could spur a much larger fiscal deal.

"If there is to be a budget deal, and I believe there has to be a budget deal, I think the action-enforcing event will be the debt ceiling," Dyer said. "It's like the bitter medicine that no one wants to take, but they know they have to take it anyway if they're going to survive."

Since 2013, Congress has twice passed two-year bipartisan budget agreements to lift spending limits that were put in place by a 2011 law.

The first was negotiated by then-House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and his Senate counterpart, Patty Murray, D-Washington. The last one, in 2015, was reached by then-Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky and his Democratic counterpart, Harry Reid of Nevada. The 2015 deal will expire at the end of September, and if Congress doesn't pass a new one, spending limits from the 2011 law will take effect.

In his budget blueprint for 2018, President Trump proposed raising defense spending levels by $54 billion and cutting the same amount, $54 billion, for non-defense domestic programs, which cover the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Health and Human Services, among others. If his plan were to become law, domestic programs not related to defense would face $57 billion in cuts below their current level of funding.

While Congress, including Republicans, declared the president's budget "dead on arrival," most Republicans agree the military needs more funding. Many also agree that non-defense domestic programs don't require spending hikes. Under President Obama, Democrats only accepted equal increases between both sides of the budget. But now with a unified Republican government, this debate over what to increase, and by how much, is expected to be the biggest sticking point in these negotiations.

"I don't believe all dollars are the same. I think defense dollars are the absolute priority right now," said Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, following a closed-door GOP conference meeting about the budget agenda. Granger chairs a subcommittee that oversees Pentagon funding.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, signaled that he'd support a bipartisan budget deal that also raises the debt ceiling, saying he would be "agreeable to anything that increases defense spending." But asked if he'd also be in favor of domestic spending increases, he wasn't as adamant.

"No, no, no, no," McCain said. "Although there are some that I would increase: the CIA, the FBI, Homeland Security and those, but I don't think that some of our domestic programs are in the same level of urgency as defense is. This is the same strategy that gave us sequestration: treat them all the same. That's crazy."

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Kentucky, ranking member on the House Budget Committee, said that a budget deal that only raises spending limits on defense is out of the question.

"Absolutely not," he told CBS News. "That would be a non-starter. I don't think there would be any Democratic votes for that."

A leader of the moderate Tuesday Group, Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, is urging his colleagues to craft a bipartisan budget deal that raises the debt limit and lifts both spending levels for defense and non-defense, satisfying Democratic demands.

"It's unrealistic to think that we're going to be able to increase defense entirely at the expense of non-defense," Dent said.

Neither Ryan's office nor McConnell's office responded to requests for comment.

While a budget deal would increase spending caps, Congress would still need to pass an appropriations package that complies with those new limits. And despite GOP control of the White House and Congress, Democratic votes will be needed to advance a budget agreement that in turn would determine spending levels for an appropriations package. Both pieces of legislation require 60 votes in the Senate in order to reach a final vote.

"If you're going to prevent a government shutdown in September, you have got to have renegotiated budget caps," Dyer said.

Experts suspect Congress will, as they've done each year in recent memory, pass a continuing resolution (CR) by Sept. 30 to prevent a government shutdown to buy more time for the larger negotiation that would eventually determine the substance of a 2018 government spending package in December.

A budget deal that raises spending limits and debt ceiling won't be a "grand bargain," said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, who spent 25 years on Capitol Hill working on budget issues and appropriations. But he said it might encompass "modest modifications to the tax code," rather than a comprehensive tax reform package.

"The debt limit, the funding of the government, health care and maybe a little bit on the tax side will all be front and center come this fall and this is the opportunity for some tradeoffs," he said. "[As for] the man who wrote the book "The Art of the Deal," this is when we'll have to see whether or not he can really pull off a deal and pull all these pieces together."

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Will the government fall off the fiscal cliff? - CBS News

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Governor blocking tax reform – Salina Journal (subscription)

Posted: at 6:39 am

Its possible that President Donald Trump will appoint Gov. Sam Brownback to be his ambassador for international religious freedom. In a May 12 article in The Atlantic, Emma Green writes, The latest rumor, shared with me by roughly half a dozen policymakers, is that Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will get the post. Tom Farr is president of the Religious Freedom Institute, and he said something similar a week later: Ive had people say, I hear its going to be Gov. Brownback.

If these rumors are true and Brownback accepts the position, it has the potential to dramatically alter the political dynamics in the Statehouse. Brownback has been the largest obstacle to comprehensive tax reform because he wants to retain as much of his 2012 cuts as possible. When House Bill 2178 was passed in February, his veto forced the Legislature to attempt an override something the House was able to accomplish, but not the Senate. Although the Legislature hasnt sent another tax bill to Brownbacks desk since then, the threat of his veto has made it much more difficult for lawmakers to develop a viable solution to our enormous revenue shortfall.

The Supreme Courts school-finance ruling which may require the state to invest hundreds of millions of additional dollars in education has made the political terrain even more difficult to navigate. Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, explains that Brownback has been a decisive factor in preventing progress on the two largest issues that Kansas faces: A big hindrance this entire session is trying to rectify bad tax policy and implement good education policy at the same time, because hes been standing in the way. Like many of his colleagues, Holland says the prospect of Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer taking over could really help break up a logjam.

Rep. Russell Jennings, R-Lakin, points out that Colyer would have strong political incentives to stop carrying the weight of Brownbacks negative legacy into the next election cycle. Holland said the same thing, arguing that Colyer could minimize blowback to the Republican brand heading into the 2018 gubernatorial race. But there are more fundamental reasons why the next governor whether its Colyer or someone else should refuse to perpetuate the mistakes that Brownback has made over the past six years. Republicans are right to be worried about Brownbacks negative legacy hes consistently ranked one of the least popular governors in the country, and his approval rating is 27 percent.

From the maintenance of his destructive tax cuts year after year to his rejection of Medicaid expansion in our state, Brownback has repeatedly proven that his conservative ideology takes precedence over the needs and wishes of Kansans. Most representatives and senators recognize this they know voters elected them to clean up the fiscal wreckage of Brownbacks policies and move the state back toward the political center. And they can see the numbers for themselves the billions of dollars our state has forfeited in tax revenue; the tens of thousands of Kansans who dont have health insurance; the underfunded agencies.

Our next governor needs to have a trait that isnt often associated with politicians: humility. While any good leader should be confident and assertive, Kansans have learned that the governor simply has to be someone willing to say, I was wrong. Brownback still refuses to say anything of the sort, which is one of the main reasons this is one of the longest legislative sessions in history.

The Topeka Capital-Journal

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Malawi govt over paid farm input suppliers by K61billion – Nyasa Times

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Government paid out a whooping K72 billion to four firms that were identified to supply fertiliser in the K11.1 billion Farm input Loan Programme (Filp) which was instituted by the government of Peoples Party (PP) of former president Joyce Banda.

One of the senior managers in the four firms that include Export Trading Company, Sealand Investments Limited, Midima Produce Limited and Bosveld Phosphates confirmed of the payment.

The treasury had indicated that they will pay us K72billion with an accumulation of profit but through promissory notes, said the manager who was equally in bewilderment that they were getting so much.

Managing Director Sealand Investments Limited Dipak Jevant also confirmed of the agreement Government has struck with the two firms.

They [Government] are going to pay us through promissory notes but up to now we have not received it, said Jevant in an interview when the payment agreements were being made.

Operations Manager for Export Trading Company Paresh Kiri could not come out clearly on their agreement with Government in an interview on Wednesday.

A highly placed source in the treasury has said officials and some company officials cannot justify the additional payment.

At the time of the transactions, spokesperson for the Reserve Bank of Malawi Mbane Ngwira was noncommittal when asked if the central bank had issued the promissory notes.

He said he could not shed light on the matter as this was amongst many items on his desk.

I have to follow the queue, insisted Ngwira when he was pressed for the central banks comment.

Ben Botolo, who replaced Ronald Mangani as Secretary to the treasury in February this year conceded that the transaction was a total confusion but dismissed information that Government overpaid the suppliers.

It was a total mess, said Botolo through a phone interview .

He explained that after taking over office from Mangani who struck the deals, it took him two months just to understand what was going on.

He said the complication came in because there were companies which were underwritten by African Trade Insurance (ATI) and one of them was ETG, said Botolo who explained further that there were other companies that were underwritten by another insurance firm Lloyds in London.

In his recollections, they had to pay US$6m to ATI and the there were other amounts they owed to the Lloyds.

We have been battling with these payments but we eventually had to find a formula to pay because then our credit ratings would have gone down and it would have affected our international market standing, he said.

At the time that the transactions had been made the treasury could not explicitly state when Government was going to issue the promissory notes. The then treasury spokesperson Nations Msowoya could also not state whether or not treasury consulted the Attorney General on the payment arrangement that has included the interest.

The matter of FILP is still under discussion with suppliers therefore the issue of interest rates is not concluded yet, said Msowoya in a written response at the time.

In an interview with Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale he said since he had not been consulted, he was not willing to make any comments at all on the correctness of facts.

I know no law which says every time treasury has to settle a liability the AG has to be consulted? stated the learned Senior Counsel. On another note, I have not been consulted and would only be consulted if there are legal issues to advice on.

He said in the event that the firms had sued Government thenthat would have brought it within my province, as per the provisions of the Civil Procedure (suits by or against the Government or Public Officer).

The four suppliers provided 75,000 Metric Tonnes that government secured and according communication from the then OPC Principal Secretary for Administration Clement Chinthu-Phiri to the then Secretary to the treasury Ronald Mangani on supply and delivery of the 2013-2014 Filp which is indicate that the companies were yet to be paid.

The communication indicates that on November 6, 2014 the treasury called for a meeting that was attended by the Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale, Chinthu-Phiri, the then secretary to the Vice President Luckie Sikwese, budget director where Mangani asked Sikwese and Chinthu Phiri to confirm if the fertilisers were procedurally procured.

The two principal secretaries confirmed that the transaction followed procurement guidelines, said Chinthu-Phiri.

The process started when former President Banda said in her May 17, 2013 State of the Nation address that Government had introduced a special loan scheme called Filp to run side by side with the farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp).

The facility was a public private partnership programme where the private sector would offer loan facilities for inputs to deserving and qualifying farmers, explains Chinthu-Phiri.

Five months later, on October 1, 2013 the Centre for Investigative Journalism Malawi (CIJM)understands that the then minister of agriculture and food security presented to cabinet a brief on status of Filp where it directed the minister to implement the Filp activity plan.

Between August 2013 and September 2013 Chinthu-Phiri communicates in the letter that procurement processes began following Government determination to use the restricted tender method of procurement.

He says seven companies were identified to provide bids and these included Export Trading Company, Sealand Investments Limited, Compestre, Lyambai DMCC, Afri Ventures FZE, Midima Produce Limited and Bosveld Phosphates. Out of the seven only four were picked.

The principal secretary of the public sector reforms management unit of OPC, at that time now Secretary to the Vice President, was tasked to set up a team which had to negotiate with the identified companies, the terms of contracts, writes Chinthu-Phiri.

Among the terms, the companies were to use their resources to import the fertiliser and that payment would be made in the 2014/2015 financial year in four instalments in the months of July, August, September and October in 2014.

The International Procurement Committee of the OPC chaired by Chinthu-Phiri was assigned to process the procurement as required by law after negotiations with various possible suppliers were done one volumes of fertiliser requires and terms of supply.

Although the treasury wrote Sikwese that Government had agreed that payments to fertilizer suppliers would be completed by end of October 2014 the situation on the ground is contrary to what was stipulated in the contract agreement.

Chinthu-Phiri also explains that governments finance company, Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (Medf) formerly Mardef was engaged to ensure that the suppliers deliver the fertilisers and that suitable warehousing facilities and transport were available.

Mardef was further tasked to create a loan facility for farmers to access the fertilizers, he says.

Chinthu-Phiri also concedes in his communication reference number 16/07/4 dated November 7, 2014 that Government had at this time not paid any supplier for the fertilisers that were supplied and delivered.

Almost all of them had to get bank loans to finance the import of the fertilizers, which are now accumulating interests, he said.

Another communication that CIJM has seen from the Office of the Director of Public Procurement (ODPP), signed by its Director of Public Procurement Manuel Mphinga, gives approval to Mardef to use single sourcing for procurement of fertiliser distribution services to four companies.

The letter dated October 23, 2013 further advised Mardef to negotiate with the firms on all contract terms and conditions including price.

The then treasury Spokesperson Nations Msowoya said in an earlier interview that Government had made part payment to the suppliers and government will be finalising these payments in the 2015/2016 financial year.

According to a presentation former Mardef CEO Joseph Mononga made at a media workshop in Blantyre on October 31, 2014 the firms were supposed to submit monthly invoices for payment.

Mardef was supposed to claim operational funding from Government which was to be used to pay distributors but at that time government was not availing any funds.

As of October 2014 when the distributors were paid, they nevertheless still continued charging for warehousing.

Delays in payment of distributors resulted in escalation of the distribution costs due to continued charges on warehousing which resulted in a total bill of K2.3 billion, according to the presentation that CIJM has seen.

Since the program was not included in the 2013/2014 budget, Mardef says this made it difficult to have funding for major activities including payment of distributors.

Newly hired MEDF CEO Mervis Mangukenje insisted that the contract for supply of fertilizer was between Government of Malawi and the four fertilizer suppliers and not MARDEF and the fertilizer suppliers when called to explain the payment.

OPC and Treasury is in a better position to give you updates on the matter, she insisted before adding in a response to a questionnaire:

However be advised that Government instituted a special audit through the National Audit Office on MEDF Ltd to verify if the 75,000Mt fertilizer was indeed delivered.

She also stressed the fact that MEDFs only involvement was to manage the distribution to the beneficiaries since it was a fertilizer loan.

Mangulenje also said all fertilizer distributors were paid in full using loan recovery funds as directed by the Treasury.

MEDF paid a total of K2.4 billion to the fertilizer distributors and the said amount was audited by external auditors KPMG, she said maintaining that they do not have any information regarding the Promissory Notes as the Contracts were between Government of Malawi and the Suppliers.

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And get unlimited access on all your devices – The Globe and Mail

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To this day, Frank Lloyd Wright endures as maybe the most iconic architect of the 20th century a starchitect, before such a term existed.

All this year, fans of the prolific and contradictory figure, who gave the world Fallingwater (and by extension, the Fallingwater LEGO model), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the School of Architecture at Taliesin, the Broadacre City model for suburban living (and gave Ayn Rand the inspiration for The Fountainhead protagonist Howard Roark), can celebrate the architects sesquicentennial with events, symposia, exhibitions and public viewings of his buildings some of which have been newlyrestored.

In on the hoopla, but honouring the architects legacy in its own way, New Yorks Museum of Modern Art has mounted an ambitious exhibition of materials, ephemera and interpretations from Wrights extensive archive. Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive opened June 8, Wrights 150th birthday, and positions the architect as a consummate innovator not outside of history, but very much of his time, with ideas that resonatestill.

Fallingwater

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives, the Museum of ModernArt

Structured as an anthology rather than a monographic presentation, the show is divided into 12 sections that interrogate select objects from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives, recently consolidated and transferred to MoMA and the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. MoMA curator and exhibition organizer Barry Bergdoll says the exhibition points to a new direction in showcasingWright.

If you look at the scores of books that come out about Wright every year, theyre almost always just about Wright. Theyre not about him in relationship to other practitioners, larger movements or questions of the day, be they architectural, political, economic or social, despite the fact that he had very trenchant views on all of these, Bergdollsays.

The exhibition invites people with interesting perspectives to begin to use the archive, says Bergdoll, and tackles themes that are pressing within a contemporary context, including ecology, race relations, urban density, DIY-building systems and the celebrity status of architects (Frank Lloyd Wright was famously famous in his day, appearing on game shows and the cover of Time magazine in1938).

Among the approximately 450 architectural drawings, models, building fragments, films, television broadcasts and photos that make up the exhibition, visitors can delight at pencil-crayon-on-trace renders of iconic, obscure and international projects, painstakingly annotated planting plans, remarkable ornamental pattern details and a carefully restored presentation model of St. Marks towers, stocked with tiny mint-coloured pianos, decorative screens and furniture designed by Wright for the glass skyscraper residence that was commissioned in 1927 but neverbuilt.

Visitors will miss the monumentally scaled Broadacre City model, but happily, it will be on view in September as part of a sibling exhibition at the new Renzo Piano-designed Lenfest Center for the Arts at Columbia Universitys new West Harlem campus setting Wrights decentralized utopia against contemporaneous public housingprojects.

Exhibiting and experiencing architecture in a museum environment can be a challenge, but the MoMA exhibition and the themes explored therein are a worthwhile companion to experiencing Wrights spaces. You could call it an owners manual for a future visit, says Bergdoll. And of course, visitors who come here to the see the exhibition can see a major Wright building very rapidly. The Guggenheim Museum is only about a 20-minute walkaway.

The MoMA exhibition and nearby Guggenheim are just two of many must-sees for Wright enthusiasts this year. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is organizing festivities at properties across the United States, including tours of the newly restored Unity Temple in Chicago, Buffalos Darwin Martin House Complex and Taliesin and Taliesin West, the original homes and sites of Wrights educational institute, in Spring Green, Wis. and Scottsdale,Ariz.

Solomon R. GuggenheimMuseum

Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, ColumbiaUniversity

Aaron Betsky, dean of the School of Architecture at Taliesin, the apprenticeship-based experiment in architectural education and communal living that Wright established in 1932, says that to experience Wright is to understand how architecture can frame your relationship to other human beings and the world around you. In his proposals to deal with sprawl, engage with landscape and create organic architecture he was certainly the most important and most experimental architect in America, he adds. [Wright] set forth models and created types that reverberate through American and world architecture to an astonishingdegree.

Even in his personal bathroom at Taliesin West, which Betsky invites visitors to have a look at the architect redesigned it before his death in 1959 to resemble an air-stream trailer, aluminum panelling, slick detailing and all. That was Frank Lloyd Wright, says Betsky. He was innovating all the way until hedied.

Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City until Oct. 1, 2017. Living in America: Frank Lloyd Wright, Harlem, and Modern Housing will be on view at the The Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia Universitys Manhattanville campus from Sept. 8 to Dec. 17, 2017. Other Frank Lloyd Wright sesquicentennial events can be found at http://www.FLW150.com.

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Asia encounters America’s new sheriff – The Straits Times

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Mr James Mattis didn't wear a badge or uniform in Singapore over the weekend. There was zero doubt, though, that his role at the Shangri-La security forum was to play the good lieutenant to President Donald Trump's bad cop.

Mr Trump's abandonment of the Paris climate accord reminded world leaders there's a new sheriff in Washington, one who puts testosterone before evidence, bluster before reality.

The IISS Shangri-La Dialogue - named after its venue at the Singapore hotel, not the fictional utopia - trades in both hard security and soft reassurances. On Saturday in Singapore, US Defence Secretary Mattis sought to reassure a region reeling from "America first" policy moves.

"The United States," Mr Mattis said, "will continue to adapt and continue to expand its ability to work with others to secure a peaceful, prosperous and free Asia, with respect for all nations upholding international law."

What about when bad-cop Trump doesn't respect the international community? Before scrapping the Paris agreement, Mr Trump spent a week in Europe shooting from the hip and alienating Germany, France and even tiny Montenegro. Nato partners are aghast at Mr Trump seeming to divide an alliance that has safeguarded peace for generations.

But here's the question Asia should be asking: What happens when the gunslinger/sheriff starts shooting in this direction?

And the shots could be both figurative and literal. On the campaign trail, remember, one of Mr Trump's biggest applause lines was threatening a trade war. For now, he talks less about China "raping" America or creating a climate-change "hoax", and more about cooperating on North Korea. But markets are never more than one early-morning @realDonaldTrump rant away from chaos. Mr Trump could easily tank currencies with a couple of foul-mood tweets on currency manipulation, 45 per cent tariffs or broader US travel bans.

Policymakers from Singapore to Seoul should brace themselves for the moment economic data starts to disappoint and an embattled president plays the blame game.

The US' trade surplus with Singapore may keep the latter out of the direct line of fire. Yet any actions against China and Japan would send shockwaves South-east Asia's way. And on a more basic trust level, Singapore is wise to be cagey with a president who arbitrarily scrapped a Trans-Pacific Partnership that the US initiated.

Actual shooting cannot be ruled out. Asia is awash with potential flashpoints: Beijing building military outposts on disputed islands; South Korea's Terminal High Altitude Area Defence missile defence system; the increasingly frequent North Korean missile tests; a drug war in the Philippines trying neighbours' patience; and confusion about Taiwan and the "one China" policy, among other issues.

And then there's Mr Trump.

Mr Mattis' speech was carefully parsed for hints of what a Trump doctrine might look like. Good-cop Mattis walked his beat with caution. The US welcomes Beijing's cooperation on North Korea, he said, but "friction" is a possibility. "While competition between the US and China, the world's two largest economies, is bound to occur," Mr Mattis said, "conflict is not inevitable."

Mr Mattis didn't say Mr Trump could just as easily be the aggressor, though it was written between the lines in bold font. The high point of Mr Trump's presidency so far was April 6, when he fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria. It won him widespread applause and knocked the intensifying domestic probes into links between his campaign and Russia from the headlines.

Might Mr Trump wag the proverbial dog at Pyongyang to divert attention anew? Or perhaps face off with Chinese naval vessels in the South China Sea?

Sound fanciful? Last year, chief Trump strategist Steve Bannon said "there's no doubt" the US and China will go to war over the South China Sea within five to 10 years. Mr Bannon was removed from his National Security Council post in April but remains influential. Is it so far-fetched that a far-rightwinger with the ear of a thin-skinned president might accelerate the timetable?

Consider, too, that adviser Peter Navarro, author of the paranoid tome, Death By China, has Mr Trump's other ear.

Mr Trump's first budget proposal, meanwhile, requests US$54 billion (S$74.5 billion) of new defence spending, much of which will add US vessels and aircraft to Asia's increasingly crowded seas. That's on top of an already booming Asian arms race in China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and beyond. So much military hardware in such close proximity is inherently dangerous. Chinese and Japanese fighter pilots are facing off in the North Asian seas with bewildering frequency, while North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Mr Trump seek to out-troll each other. What could go wrong?

So much for the utopian ideal of Shangri-La, eh?

William Pesek, a Tokyo-based journalist, is a former columnist for Bloomberg and author of Japanization: What The World Can Learn From Japan's Lost Decades.

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Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four – Wikipedia

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Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia are the three fictional superstates in George Orwell's satirical dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The history of how the world evolved into these three states is vague. They appear to have emerged from nuclear warfare and civil dissolution over 20 years between 1945 (the end of World War II) and 1965. Eurasia was likely formed first, followed closely afterwards by Oceania, with Eastasia emerging a decade later, possibly in the 1960s.

Oceania is the superstate where protagonist Winston Smith dwells. It is believed to be composed of the Americas, the British Isles (called "Airstrip One" in the novel), Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa below the River Congo. It also controlsto different degrees and at various times during the course of its perpetual war with either Eurasia or Eastasiathe polar regions, India, Indonesia and the islands of the Pacific. Oceania lacks a single capital city, although London and apparently New York may be regional capitals. In the novel, Emmanuel Goldstein, Oceania's declared public enemy number one, describes it in the fictional book The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism as a result of the United States having absorbed the British Empire. Goldstein's book also states that Oceania's primary natural defence is the sea surrounding it.

The ruling doctrine of Oceania is Ingsoc, the Newspeak neologism for English Socialism. Its nominal leader is Big Brother, believed by the masses to have been the leader of the revolution and still used as an icon by the Party. The personality cult is maintained through Big Brother's function as a focal point for love, fear, and reverence, more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organization.

The unofficial language of Oceania is English (officially called Oldspeak), and the official language is Newspeak. The restructuring of the language is intended to eliminate unorthodox political and social thought, by eliminating the words needed to express it.

The society of Oceania is sharply stratified into three groups: the small ruling Inner Party, the more numerous and highly indoctrinated Outer Party, and the large body of politically meaningless Proles. Except for exceptions such as Hate Week, the proles remain essentially outside Oceania's political control and are placated by trivial sports and other entertainment; the Thought Police manage any Proles socially aware enough to be a problem.

Oceania's national anthem is Oceania, Tis For Thee which, in one of the three film versions of the book, takes the form of a crescendo of organ music along with operatic lyrics. The lyrics are sung in English, and the song is reminiscent of God Save the Queen and My Country 'Tis of Thee.

Even the names of countries, and their shapes on the map, had been different. Airstrip One, for instance, had not been so called in those days: it had been called England, or Britain, though London, he felt fairly certain, had always been called London.[1]

Like Europe as a whole, Britain was hit by atomic weapons in the conflicts before the revolutions in Oceania and then elsewhere. One British town, Colchester, is referenced specifically as having been destroyed; flashbacks to Smith's childhood also include scenes of Londoners taking refuge in the city's underground transit tunnels in the midst of the bombing.

It is stated that Eurasia was formed when the Soviet Union annexed the rest of continental Europe, creating a single polity stretching from Portugal to the Bering Strait. Orwell frequently describes the face of the standard Eurasian as "mongolic" in the novel. The only soldiers other than Oceanians that appear in the novel are the Eurasians. When a large number of captured soldiers are executed in Victory Square, some Slavs are mentioned, but the stereotype of the Eurasian maintained by the Party is Mongoloid, like O'Brien's servant, Martin. This implies that the Party uses racism to avert sympathy toward an enemy.

According to Goldstein's book, Eurasia's main natural defence is its vast territorial extent, while the ruling ideology of Eurasia is identified as "Neo-Bolshevism", a variation of the Oceanian "Ingsoc".

Eastasia's borders are not as clearly defined as those of the other two superstates, but it is known that they encompass most of modern-day China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. Eastasia repeatedly captures and loses Indonesia, New Guinea, and the various Pacific archipelagos. Its political ideology is, according to the novel, "called by a Chinese name usually translated as Death-worship, but perhaps better rendered as "Obliteration of the Self". Orwell does not appear to have based this on any existing Chinese word or phrase.[2]

Not much information about Eastasia is given in the book. It is known that it is the newest and smallest of the three superstates. According to Goldstein's book, it emerged a decade after the establishment of the other two superstates, placing it somewhere in the 1960s, after years of "confused fighting" among its predecessor nations. (At the time of writing, the victory of Mao Zedong's Communists in the Chinese Civil War was not yet taken as a foregone conclusion. The Korean War had also not yet occurred, but Korea was already being administered by two competing governments. Japan was still under military occupation and, at least until shortly before Orwell completed the book, by several different powers. Power in the real life nations that make up the fictional Eastasia was, therefore, very much in flux). It is also said in the book that the industriousness and fecundity of the people of Eastasia allows them to overcome their territorial inadequacy in comparison to the other two powers. At the time Orwell wrote the book, East Asians, including the Japanese, all had birth rates higher than those of Europeans.[citation needed]

The "disputed area", which lies "between the frontiers of the super-states", is "a rough quadrilateral with its corners at Tangier, Brazzaville, Darwin, and Hong Kong".[3] This area is fought over during the perpetual war among the three great powers, with one power sometimes exerting control over vast swaths of the disputed territory, only to lose it again. The reason three super-countries seek to control this area is to harness the large population and vast resources within the region. Control of the islands in the Pacific and the polar regions is also constantly shifting, though none of the three superpowers ever gains a lasting hold on these regions. The inhabitants of the area, having no allegiance to any nation, live in constant slavery under whichever power controls them at that time.

Eastasia and Eurasia fight over "a large but fluctuating portion of Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet".

At one point during the novel, Julia procures tea to share with Winston, and remarks that she thinks Oceania recently captured India (or perhaps parts of India) but such "control" is usually transient.

The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four exists in a state of perpetual war among the three major powers. At any given time, two of the three states are aligned against the third; for example Oceania and Eurasia against Eastasia or Eurasia and Eastasia against Oceania. However, as Goldstein's book points out, each Superstate is so powerful that even an alliance of the other two cannot destroy it, resulting in a continuing stalemate. From time to time, one of the states betrays its ally and sides with its former enemy. In Oceania, when this occurs, the Ministry of Truth rewrites history to make it appear that the current state of affairs is the way it has always been, and documents with contradictory information are destroyed in the memory hole.

Goldstein's book states that the war is not a war in the traditional sense, but simply exists to use up resources and keep the population in line. Victory for any side is not attainable or even desirable, but the Inner Party, through an act of doublethink, believes that such victory is in fact possible. Although the war began with the limited use of atomic weapons in a limited atomic war in the 1950s, none of the combatants use them any longer for fear of upsetting the balance of power. Relatively few technological advances have been made (the only two mentioned are the replacement of bombers with "rocket bombs" and of traditional capital ships with the immense "floating fortresses"). Examples of both of these technologies had been developed in the closing stages of World War IIthe V2, the ice aircraft carrier and the floating harbour.

Almost all of the information about the world beyond London is given to the reader through government or Party sources, which by the very premise of the novel are unreliable narrators. Specifically, in one page Julia brings up the idea that the war is fictional and that the rocket bombs falling from time to time on London are fired by the government of Oceania itself, in order to maintain the war atmosphere among the population. The protagonists have no means of proving or disproving this theory. However, during preparations for Hate Week, rocket bombs fell at an increasing rate, hitting places such as playgrounds and crowded theatres, causing mass casualties and increased hysteria and hatred for the Party's enemies. War is also a convenient pretext for maintaining a huge militaryindustrial complex in which the state is committed to developing and acquiring large and expensive weapons systems which almost immediately become obsolete and require replacement. Finally, according to Goldstein's book, war makes handing over power to a small caste easier, and gives pretext to do so.

Because of this ambiguity, it is entirely possible that the geopolitical situation described in Goldstein's book is entirely fictitious; perhaps the Party controls the whole world, or possibly its power is limited to just Great Britain as a lone and desperate rogue nation using fanaticism and hatred of the outside world to compensate for political impotence. It is also possible that a genuine and large-scale resistance movement exists, or that Oceania is indeed under a large-scale attack by outside forces.

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South Korean novelist, Young Ok Baek, joins Friends of Seychelles-Press circle – eTurboNews

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The Seychelles Tourism Board Office in South Korea has appointed a well-known novelist in the Asian nation, Yeong Ok Baek, as one of the Friends of Seychelles-Press.

The appointment was revealed during a press conference held at Gwanghwamun, Seoul city, on May 25, 2017. Some 30 members of South Koreas most important press were in attendance.

Seychelles is more and more being highlighted as a popular destination in South Korea, thanks to its well-established reputation as the preferred choice of many celebrities, honeymooners and other visitors seeking luxurious holiday sites.

Julie Kim, regional manager of the Seychelles tourist office in Korea says theres been a rapid increase in awareness of the destination, and Mrs. Baeks appointment is therefore aimed at boosting this momentum, while increasing the island nations visibility among South Korean visitors.

I hope that appointing Mrs. Baek as one of the Friends of Seychelles-Press will broaden the way for people to get to know Seychelles and eventually visit the islands in the near future, said Kim.

The Seychelles Tourism Board Office in South Korea chose Yeong Ok Baek in recognition of her active contribution towards promoting the destination. After visiting the archipelago, Mrs. Baek has been proactive in sharing her fascination of the natural beauty of the Seychelles through her recent book What Anne of Green Gables tells you, as well as through her lectures and travel news articles.

Baek describes Seychelles as a place perfect for detoxing and a place where Everything there is absolutely beautiful and makes you want to come back.

I was quite surprised to see local people raising the giant tortoise in their front yard and as a person who loves the nature, coco de mer was definitely my favorite, she adds, when questioned about her most memorable experience in Seychelles.

Baek who has already published several books, made her debut as a writer in 2006. She is also a travel writer and currently the host of a radio show Radio Detox Baek, Yeong Ok on MBC, one of the major broadcasters in South Korea.

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Making the most of new opportunities: Seychelles attends inaugural … – eTurboNews

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Seychelles was among tourism destinations that availed of the opportunity to be showcased at a new travel trade show focusing exclusively on the Chinese market.

The Seychelles Tourism Board and trade partners participated in the first-ever ITB China, held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition Convention Center from 10th to 12th May 2017.

The event provided three days of perfect networking opportunities for handpicked Chinese buyers and international travel industry partners. Around 600 companies from some 70 countries and regions conducted business-to-business (B2B) meetings at the exhibition space, which had been booked well in advance.

The Seychelles delegation was led by the Chief Executive of the island nations Tourism Board Mrs. Sherin Francis, who foresees potential business opportunities between the Seychelles and Chinese trade, following the various meetings conducted.

I am hopeful that this will bring more of the experienced Chinese travelers from China to our shores, said Mrs Francis.

The Seychelles Tourism Board was also represented by the Director for China, Mr Jean-Luc Lai-Lam, Senior Marketing Executive for China, Ms Stephanie Lablache, as well as the Senior Marketing Executive for South and North China, Mr Sen Yu and Mr Li Huanhuan, respectively. Travel trade partners at the ITB China included Masons Travel, Creole Travel Services, 7South and Constance Hotels & Resorts.

The Seychelles participation at the first-ever ITB China, followed the launch of the destinations 2017 strategy for the Asian nation, with emphasis being placed on the high end segment of the Chinese tourism market.

China has been described as the main driving force for growth in international tourism. According to the World Tourism Organization, UNWTO, the number of outbound travelers from China recorded a 6 percent increase in 2016, as it rose to 135 million. This helped consolidate Chinas position as the number one source market in the world since 2012.

ITB China is in fact an offshoot of ITB Berlin, one of the worlds largest international tourism trade fair and its the second such travel show which Messe Berlin organizes on the Asian continent after ITB Asia, held in Singapore over the last 8 years.

Commenting on the decision to target the worlds largest travel market, the Chief Executive of Messe Berlin, Dr Christian Goke said: At Messe Berlin we are proud that, for some of our exhibitors, this is their first travel exposure in China.Like Messe Berlin, they too are highly optimistic about the new partnership that can be made during ITB China, an event dedicated to establishing new travel trade business relations between China and the world. At the same time, we aim to bring the best of our expertise and contacts from ITB Berlin & ITB Asia to serve the Chinese travel market.

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Seychelles: IMF approves $2.3 Million disbursement | News Ghana – News Ghana

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WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, June 5, 2017/APO/

On June 2, 2017, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the sixth and final review of Seychelles economic program supported by an arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). [1]The completion of the review enables the disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 1.635 million (about US$2.3 million) bringing the total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 11.445 million (about US$15.8 million).

Seychelles three-year, SDR 11.445 million arrangement (about US$17.6 million at the time of approval, the equivalent of 50 percent of Seychelles current quota in the IMF) was approved by the IMF Executive Board on June 4, 2014 (see Press Release No. 14/262) to support authorities efforts to reduce high debt levels, improve external buffers and sustainability in the face of balance of payments pressures, and to strengthen the economy through sustained and inclusive growth.

Seychelles has made noticeable progress toward economic stability and external sustainability through bold reforms since the crisis in 2008

Following the Executive Boards discussion, Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said:

Seychelles has made noticeable progress toward economic stability and external sustainability through bold reforms since the crisis in 2008. While the growth outlook is positive, the economy remains vulnerable to external shocks, and over the long term, climate change.

The authorities should give priority to achieving their medium-term debt target to preserve the hard-won economic stability and external sustainability. Without additional measures in the 2018 budget, the authorities target of bringing public debt-to-GDP ratio below 50 percent would be significantly delayed while the countrys external position could come under pressure. The authorities should also take steps to create further fiscal space over the medium term to accommodate investments aimed at reducing vulnerability to climate change.

The flexible exchange rate regime has served the country well and should be maintained with minimal intervention to preserve the international reserve buffers at around the current level. Meanwhile, the authorities should continue efforts to avoid further loss of correspondent banking relationships. Further strengthening the AML/CFT framework will be helpful in this regard.

To support sustained and inclusive growth, structural reforms should aim at diversifying the economy through improvements in the business environment. Reducing cross-subsidization in electricity prices, efficient use of public-private-partnerships, and further accelerating investment in education would help improve the business environment, raise productivity, and go a long way toward promoting shared prosperity.

[1] TheEFFwas established to provide assistance to countries: (i) experiencing serious payments imbalances because of structural impediments; or (ii) characterized by slow growth and an inherently weak balance of payments position.

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Popular Caribbean sandwich gives a taste of Jamaica – WatertownDailyTimes.com

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Call it a taco, wrap or roti, these sandwiches are very popular. I loved the roti made by chef Eric Do from the Intercontinental Hotel at Doral in Miami. His Caribbean Roti is filled with curried chicken, potatoes and chickpeas.

He says this Indian-style dish has become a staple part of the Jamaican diet. Ive adapted his recipe for a quick taste of Jamaica.

Roti is a flatbread made from stoneground whole meal flour. In the Caribbean roti may refer to both the flat-bread and the filled wrap served as street food. For this quick version, I used a thin whole wheat wrap found in most supermarkets.

Open a bag of washed, ready-to-eat salad to complete the meal.

Helpful hint: Curry powder sold in supermarkets is a blend of about 15 herbs, spices and seeds. It loses its flavor quickly. If older than six months, buy a new one.

CARIBBEAN ROTI

pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs

pound red or yellow potatoes (about 1-cup cubes)

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 cup diced onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 tablespoon paprika

cup canned, rinsed and drained low-sodium chickpeas

1 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Salt

2 whole wheat thin wraps

Remove visible fat from the chicken and cut into - to -inch cubes. Wash potatoes, do not peel and cut into pieces about the same size as the chicken. Set aside. Heat oil a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the chicken, onion and garlic. Saute 3 minutes, stirring to help chicken brown on all sides. Add the curry powder and paprika. Stir to make sure all ingredients are coated with the spices. Add the chickpeas, potatoes and chicken broth. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover with a lid and simmer 15 minutes. Add a little water if the skillet becomes dry. Add salt to taste. Place the two wraps on a counter and fill with the chicken mixture. Roll up and serve with the salad. Or, serve the filling and wraps separately and each person can fill his own.

Yield 2 servings.

Per serving: 583 calories (26 percent from fat), 17.1 g fat (2.6 g saturated, 7 g monounsaturated), 138 mg cholesterol, 53.8 g protein, 60.5 g carbohydrates, 19.3 g fiber, 560 mg sodium.

(Linda Gassenheimer is the author, most recently, of Delicious One-Pot Dishes, featuring 60 recipes designed to be stewed, braised, slow-cooked or steamed, each in a single pot.)

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