The EU and National Sovereignty

Posted on 21 October 2018 by eehines

Poland enacted a law at the start of the year that lowered the mandatory retirement age of all of its judges from 70 to 65. This resulted, among other things, in the required retirement for 27 of the nation’s 72 Supreme Court judges (a too-big Court, anyway IMNSHO, and they ought not be replaced, but that’s a separate story).

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS [Prawo i Sprawiedliwość]) party says the changes are necessary to a justice system they say is controlled by an untouchable “caste” of judges steeped in communist-era mentality.

The European Union has demurred.

This is a preview of The EU and National Sovereignty. Read the full post (283 words, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)

Drift

Posted on 20 October 2018 by eehines

Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, had some thoughts on how the US should interact with today’s People’s Republic of China. Among other things, he wants three key areas of disagreement to be accepted and…managed. (I’ll leave aside his blithe, and erroneous, assertion that the “trade war” between the PRC and us is our doing and not the PRC’s.)

The most realistic option for the future is to focus on managing the two countries’ major disagreements. This approach has worked for four decades when it comes to Taiwan.

This is a preview of Drift. Read the full post (420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Decisions

Posted on 19 October 2018 by eehines

In a Wall Street Journal article Monday, Google’s MFWIC, Sundar Pichai, defended his decision to support the People’s Republic of China with a Google “search” engine that’s carefully compliant with PRC censorship requirements.

What interests me this time, though, is this bit:

Mr Pichai…played down the idea that the Project Maven decision was made only based on employee feedback. He said Google has also listened to experts in ethics and artificial intelligence.

Project Maven is a DoD program intended to develop artificial intelligence for American national defense purposes—including, yes, an improved ability to kill our enemies when they attack us.

This is a preview of Decisions. Read the full post (249 words, estimated 1:0 mins reading time)

Doing Business with the PRC

Posted on 8 October 2018 by eehines

The People’s Republic of China is stepping up their corporate espionage.

Starting November 1, police officers will have the authority to physically inspect businesses and remotely access corporate networks to check for potential security loopholes, according to the regulations released Sunday by the Public Security Ministry. Police will also be authorized to copy information and inspect records that “may endanger national security, public safety, and social order,” the rules said.

And

The new regulations also reinforce requirements on censorship and surveillance laid out in the cybersecurity law.

And to steal company secrets and classified information, and to plant malware for future use.

This is a preview of Doing Business with the PRC. Read the full post (208 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

Free Trade in North America

Posted on 2 October 2018 by eehines

With a Mexico-US trade agreement in nominally in hand (our two nations’ legislatures have ratify it, and our own Progressive-Democrats in the Senate are already saying #NO, #RESIST, and too many Republicans are acquiescing, though), Mexico wants Canada to join the agreement. Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, after speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

There is still time to achieve a trilateral agreement[.]

And

We hope they reach that understanding so that it will be a trilateral agreement.

This is a preview of Free Trade in North America. Read the full post (186 words, estimated 45 secs reading time)

It’s a Start

Posted on 28 September 2018 by eehines

The Trump administration has agreed to sell $330 million worth of spare parts to the Republic of China. The spares will support the RoC’s F-16s, C-130s, and other of the island nation’s military aircraft.

It’s a start. However, we need to do more. We should be selling uprated F1-16s, F-15s, and A-10s to them. We should be selling missile defense systems to them and brokering deals between the RoC and Israel for the latter’s Iron Dome and Arrow missile and rocket defense systems. We should be selling the RoC anti-ship and anti-aircraft weapons systems. We should be selling them land-attack cruise missile systems.

This is a preview of It’s a Start. Read the full post (170 words, estimated 41 secs reading time)

Talks and Conflicts

Posted on 19 September 2018 by eehines

The Saturday Wall Street Journal had a piece that worried about President Donald Trump’s decision to add more tariffs to People’s Republic of China’s goods just prior to another round of trade talks with the PRC.

[T]he decision’s timing risks deepening the already bitter trade fight by starting another tit-for-tat round of tariffs.

And

The tariffs are bound to complicate—if not derail—talks with top Chinese officials, which are currently scheduled in Washington for Sept 27 and Sept 28, say people familiar with the plans.

This is a preview of Talks and Conflicts. Read the full post (161 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

Mao and Xi

Posted on 17 September 2018 by eehines

Deutsche Welle reported on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s visit last Friday with People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in the PRC. A couple of things jumped out at me that are separate from the emphasis the article put on the visit and the aid the PRC has promised Maduro. Maduro tweeted

We began our state visit to the People’s Republic of China, paying tribute to its founder, the Great Helmsman, Mao Tse Tung. His example and revolutionary struggle marked the twentieth century.

That was in connection with this:

This is a preview of Mao and Xi. Read the full post (161 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

“Some Feel It’s About Time for a US Retreat”

Posted on 17 September 2018 by eehines

That’s the title of Friday’s Wall Street Journal Letters column. One letter argues that point in particular. The letter writer is mostly wrong, but his is right on one matter.

Who does he think will fill in behind us if we retreat? It won’t be our friends; that should be clear.

On the other hand, he argued

The USSR no longer exists and China has emerged as our chief rival. The only thing that has remained constant is America’s footing the greater part of the bill for military defense, while nations we protect continue to grow rich at our expense.
The nations of the world that we are supposed to protect are going their own way, while we continue to spend and spend in the name of preserving an alliance that is no longer even necessary.

This is a preview of “Some Feel It’s About Time for a US Retreat”. Read the full post (341 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

The PLO and Peace

Posted on 13 September 2018 by eehines

The US is cutting off funding for the PLO, and we’re closing the PLO’s delegation office in DC. Various apologists for the terrorist organization are up in arms over the Trump administration’s sterner stand.

…the administration that appear to be moving away from the 1993-95 Oslo accords before the administration has explained what it thinks should come next.

Walking away from the Oslo peace framework? That framework doesn’t exist; the PLO walked away from it long ago. See, for instance, PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s intifada after walking away from the historic and generous Israeli peace offer brokered by Bill Clinton in 2000.

This is a preview of The PLO and Peace. Read the full post (287 words, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

A Plebe's Site

Quam bene vivas referre, non quam diu.

Tag Archives: foreign policy