President vs. President
| PNUT GALLERY |
Millennials are so lazy they even move at lower rates than any generation in 50 years. But it might not just be age that determines our housing options. Technology (of course) could play a role as well. Why move when you can work from anywhere? |
| IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ |
President Trump Accuses Former President Obama of Wiretapping: If you were hoping for a slow news weekend in the US, you were rudely awakened when President Trump tweeted at 6:35 am on Saturday that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the election. Trump’s accusations against the former president invoked history, with Trump stating in one tweet “This is McCarthyism!” and in another “This is Nixon/Watergate.” Neither President Trump nor any of his aides provided evidence of such a possible abuse of power by the Obama administration, and his claims inspired swift responses. The FBI asked the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump’s allegations because the accusations falsely insinuate that the FBI broke the law by wiretapping a US citizen at the behest of a president. (The Justice Department has thus far made no comment on the matter.) James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence at the time of the election, denied that such a wiretap existed, telling NBC that he would have known about a “Fisa court order on something like this.” (Fisa stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Obama issued a statementsaying that neither he “nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.” On Sunday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer asked Congress, in conjunction with current investigations into alleged Russian hacking during the US election, to inquire into Trump’s wiretapping claims. Spicer concluded by stating that“the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted.” The New York Times traced Trump’s Twitter allegations to claims made by conservative talk radio host Mark Levin on Thursday evening about how Obamaused the “instrumentalities of the federal government” to wiretap Trump. The story was then picked up by Breitbart News on Friday morning. Turkish President Takes Off the Gloves: In a further deterioration of Turkish-German relations, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared the current German government of Angela Merkel to that of Nazi Germany. German officialsblocked two political rallies aimed at encouraging the Turkish population in Germany to vote in a Turkish constitutional referendum in April. The referendum would dramatically expand the powers of the president, allowing Erdogan to stay in power until 2029. Germany hosts the largest Turkish population in the world outside of Turkey, with about half of the three million German Turks still eligible to vote in their country of origin. Erdogan’s comments are further indication that relations between the two countries are on the decline. Just last week saw the imprisonment of a German-Turkish Die Welt journalist Deniz Yucel in Turkey, with Germany condemning the “unjust” form of punishment. Since the summer of 2016, the German ambassador to Turkey has been formally reprimanded on four separate occasions. More and more German politicians are calling for an open confrontation with Erdogan, with threats ranging from the cessation of talks for Turkey to join the EU (a former prestige project of the Erdogan administration) or straight-out sanctions against Ankara. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel heading into an election later this year, it remains to be seen if she can keep a steady hand or will bow down to public pressure and confront President Erdogan. |
| NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ |
North Korea Goes Ballistic Again: Early Monday morning, North Korea launchedfour ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan. After flying approximately 1000 km, three of the missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area that extends 200 nautical miles from Japan’s coastline. Experts say the tests are almost surely a response to last Wednesday’s start of Foal Eagle, US-South Korea military exercises that take place each year. Pyongyang views these operations as preparation for an invasion and denounced this year’s exercises through state media service KCNA: “Now that the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces again kicked off the dangerous nuclear war drills against the DPRK at its doorstep, our army will counter them with the toughest counteractions.” The Implosion of a Frenchman’s Candidacy: French presidential hopeful and conservative candidate Francois Fillon is facing major pressure from the electorate and his own party over a financial scandal that implicates him in illegal payments to his wife using taxpayer money. Such a scandal hits close to home for the justice-oriented Fillon, who once said he would fire anyone in his cabinet if they were involved in scandal. After various polls showed Fillon falling behind liberal candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen (who is ironically under investigation for her own spending scandal in European Parliament), Fillon faces intense pressure from within his party. Calls for his resignation are starting to surface and many hoped that current mayor of Bordeaux Alain Juppé and Fillon’s challenger in last year’s primary elections, might take over Fillon’s candidacy. Juppé whisked away those dreams today, announcing that he would not replace his former rival. With less than two months to go until the first round of polling, Fillon must recover quickly or risk being haunted by his own words. |
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