The German Bernie Sanders Breaks a Record
| PNUT GALLERY |
Have you ever engaged in a nerdy war of words with your office buddies over the Oxford comma? Well, whether or not you use that little squiggle of punctuation in a series or list may be more than just a question of stylistic preference. It may be a matter of livelihoods. Truckers for Oakhurst Dairy in Maine have been granted back overtime pay (potentially to the tune of $10 million) after their lawyers successfully argued that their work contracts were not clear due to a missing Oxford comma. |
| IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ |
Trump Tweets Diplomatic Barbs Aimed at Germany and NATO: Foreign policy with President Trump happens not only over angry phone calls and with (or without) awkward handshakes, but also of course via Twitter. This past weekend while at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump dropped yet another Saturday morning bombshell tweet, stating that “Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!” If it was any other president, Trump’s tweet would have been talked about for weeks. But unpredictability is Trump’s style, and many people are now only surprised when Trump acts precedential. The German defense minister was not pleased with Trump’s twitter diplomacy and countered that Germany did not have a NATO debt. At the heart of this debate is how much of each NATO member’s gross domestic product (GDP) is spent on its military. Currently only five of twenty eight countries spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. The 2 percent military spending threshold was the target number established in 2014 by NATO members. Currently, Germany spends roughly 1.2 percent of its GDP on defense while the US spends roughly 3.3 percent of its GDP on its military. And this number is likely to rise significantly during Trump’s presidency; his recently proposed budget outline calls for a large increase in military spending. But the Trump-Merkel era might not last very long if Germany’s Martin Schulz has his way. Schulz, former European Parliament president, won all 605 of his Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) votes as the candidate to run against Merkel for the German chancellery. At times referred to as the ‘Bernie Sanders of Germany,’ he has vowed to support the German working class and is running on a platform of social justice. If Schulz were to win the German parliamentary elections scheduled for September 24, the SPD would have the chance to build a left-leaning coalition that could oust Merkel from 12 years in power. |
| NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ |
Heavy Fighting in Damascus Between Rebel Groups and Syrian Government Forces: A surprise attack of car and suicide bombs was launched yesterday by rebel forces in Damascus. State media said the government was able to push the rebels back, with planes issuing over 30 strikes on rebel positions. Only a few areas of Damascus are under opposition control, and control of this area, currently split between rebels and jihadists on one side and government forces on the other, has been battled over for more than two years.The Syrian government continues to hold onto most of Damascus and western portions of the country that border Lebanon. Tillerson Wraps Up Asia Tour: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday, the final day of his Asia tour. While few details of their conversation have been released, it appears Tillerson used a much more conciliatory approach with Xi than would have been predicted, given his boss’ consistent railing of the world’s second largest economy during his presidential campaign. Tillerson’s Beijing visit followed statements he made in South Korea on Friday that pre-emptive military action against North Korea might be necessary if the threat from its weapons programs reaches a level “that we believe requires action.” China, North Korea’s only international ally, has repeatedly called for all parties to take steps to reduce tensions. Beijing has reluctantly agreed to UN sanctions against North Korea, but is adamantly opposed to measures that might bring about a total collapse of Kim Jong-Un’s regime. However, Beijing’s patience with Pyongyang seems to be growing thin. Last month, China deprived Kim’s regime of a vital source of foreign currency by banning imports of North Korean coal for the rest of the year. |
| KEEPING OUR EYE ON |
Should Australia Ponder a Tilt Towards China?: President Trump’s ‘America First’ rhetoric and his disastrous phone call with Australia’s Prime Minister Turnbull (though according to Sean Spicer, it’s actually pronounced “Trumbull”) has some Australians considering whether or not they should foster closer ties to China at the expense of the United States. Stephen FitzGerald, Australia’s first Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (1973-1976) delivered a speech last week at Western Sydney University, stating in hard terms that Australia needs to deepen ties to China because Australia is “living in a Chinese world.” He also stated that “Trump’s ascension has laid bare the danger of our dependence, our unquestioning involvement with America’s foreign contests and wars, and the delusion that our interests and America’s are the same, or that the US cares about [Australia].” While these remarks have not (yet) been echoed by current Australian officials, they do reflect a growing schism between Australia and the US. In many ways, the post-World War II era, forged by America’s liberation of Europe and Asia, is each day crumbling apart. Examples of this collapsing structure include Brexit, the election of Trump, European populism, the rise of autocracies, and heavily reduced funding to the US State Department. |
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