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Contents contributed and discussions participated by ethanmoser

ethanmoser

That 3 a.m. Call and the Nuclear Trigger - WSJ - 0 views

  • Sam Nunn’s assertion that only Hillary Clinton has the “experience, judgment and skills” to take on nuclear weapons policy is overblown.
  • He says that Donald Trump is an apprentice in the nuclear world. Strange that the senator had no reservations in supporting then-Sen. Barack Obama over Mrs. Clinton in 2008. Mr. Obama in 2008 had almost no experience in foreign or nuclear policy and had no experience at all in managing much of anything. At least Donald Trump has managed large projects and a good-sized business empire.
  • Mrs. Clinton’s direct experience on nuclear policy—facilitation of the Iran agreement—was misguided in that she had a very strong hand because of the sanctions program and should have insisted on the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program. Instead she endorsed simply postponing it.
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  • Presumably Mr. Trump would have experts to assist him. Despite her record of poor judgment, Secretary Clinton may believe Sen. Nunn and a fawning media’s assessment of her capabilities and rely on herself to make these critical judgments.
  • Nuclear proliferation has increased, not decreased, on Mrs. Clinton’s watch. She’s done nothing to stop a nuclear buildup by North Korea or aggression by China. Equally important, Hillary’s untrustworthiness is far more likely to lead to nuclear war. Her duplicity will frustrate our allies and embolden our enemies. All will know where they stand with Mr. Trump.
ethanmoser

China's Xi Jinping Tightens His Hold on Communist Party - WSJ - 0 views

  • China’s Xi Jinping Tightens His Hold on Communist Party
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping emerged from a top-level Communist Party conclave with a new leadership title, signifying his unrivaled authority as he prepares to extend his dominance for years to come.
  • The term was used in the past for Mao Zedong and two of his successors but not Mr. Xi’s immediate predecessor.
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  • Being named the “core” cements his pre-eminent status, as the party prepares for a pivotal congress a year from now that is expected to give Mr. Xi a second five-year term. Some political observers say Mr. Xi is trying to command that process to surround himself with allies, sideline rivals and ensure his rule is less fettered.
ethanmoser

In Russia's 'Frozen Zone,' a Creeping Border With Georgia - The New York Times - 0 views

  • In Russia’s ‘Frozen Zone,’ a Creeping Border With Georgia
  • Georgia — Marked in places with barbed wire laid at night, in others by the sudden appearance of green signs declaring the start of a “state border” and elsewhere by the arrival of bulldozers, the reach of Russia keeps inching forward into Georgia with ever more ingenious markings of a frontier that only Russia and three other states recognize as real.
  • it sits on land now patrolled by Russian border guards.
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  • There is no improvement. I would say the opposite,” Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said in an interview. “Unfortunately, Russia never appreciates when you concede or make a step forward or compromise. They always take it for granted.”All the same, he insisted that even though his government had no intention of repeating Mr. Saakashvili’s disastrous 2008 attempt to confront Russia militarily, the border will not last.“It has no prospect,” he said. “They are trying to build this border, these fences, inside our country. We think it is temporary.”
ethanmoser

As Europe and Asia Hoard Cash, Economists See Echoes of Crisis - The New York Times - 0 views

  • As Europe and Asia Hoard Cash, Economists See Echoes of Crisis
  • European and Asian investors have been rushing into the United States bond market, spurred by a global glut of savings that has reached record levels.
  • A growing number of economists are concerned that this flood of money may inflate the value of these securities well beyond what they are worth, potentially leading to a market bubble that eventually bursts.
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  • More broadly, however, these economists fear that an excess of ready cash in Europe and Asia is on the rise, which could keep a damper on global growth prospects.
  • And again, economists say, the burden is placed on the United States, with its still fragile economy, to be the growth engine for the world.
ethanmoser

What Do Trump and Marx Have in Common? - The New York Times - 0 views

  • What Do Trump and Marx Have in Common?
  • We have a word in German, “Wutbürger,” which means “angry citizen”
  • Perhaps the most powerful Wutbürger of them all is Donald J. Trump.
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  • Karl Marx was a Wutbürger. So were Montesquieu, William Wilberforce, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the tens of thousands of Eastern German protesters who brought down the Berlin Wall in 1989.
  • Mr. Trump vs. Dr. King. Sadly, the leaders of today’s Wutbürger movements never grasped the difference between anger driven by righteousness and anger driven by hate.
  • In Germany a recent poll showed that only 14 percent of the citizens trusted the politicians.
  • Amid their mutual finger-pointing, neither populist nor established parties acknowledge that both are squandering people’s anger, either by turning this anger into counterproductive hatred or by denouncing and dismissing it. Mrs. Clinton has the chance to change, by leading a political establishment that examines and processes anger instead of merely producing and dismissing it. If she does, let’s hope Europe once again looks to America as a model for democracy.
ethanmoser

How Do You Explain Trump in Russia? - The New York Times - 0 views

  • How Do You Explain Trump in Russia?
  • I told him that Mr. Trump seemed like a fool to me, that I doubted he could lead a country.
  • He finally said what was most important to him about the candidate: “Trump likes Russia.”
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  • Since the United States and the European Union imposed economic sanctions in 2014 for Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Russians have been hurting.
  • When Mr. Trump said during one of the Republican presidential debates that he would get along well with Mr. Putin, the message was spread through the state-controlled media. Some Russians, the prickly-haired man included, saw Mr. Trump as an American presidential candidate who could help. They believe they need a pro-Russian president of the United States. Maybe this outsider would make life easier for them, since change on the domestic level seems so unlikely. For them, Mr. Trump represents hope for de-escalation.
ethanmoser

Bitter Rift Deepens as Russia Rejects Findings on Syria's Use of Chlorine Bombs - The N... - 0 views

  • Bitter Rift Deepens as Russia Rejects Findings on Syria’s Use of Chlorine Bombs
  • Russia on Thursday rejected the findings of a chemical weapons investigation led by the United Nations that found Syrian forces had used chlorine bombs at least three times in the past two years.
  • The response intensified the bitter rift between Western nations and Russia over the Syria war.
ethanmoser

Brexit Puts Britain in Need of Trade Expertise - WSJ - 0 views

  • Brexit Puts Britain in Need of Trade Expertise
  • Now the U.K. faces an unparalleled trade challenge: It must rapidly agree to new trade terms with the bloc and seek new accords with old allies and fast-growing markets. The last time the U.K. formally negotiated a trade agreement was in the early 1970s—meaning that the country has little expertise in navigating the ultracomplex world of modern deals on its own.
ethanmoser

Allies Set Sights on Raqqa in Battle Against Islamic State - WSJ - 0 views

  • Allies Set Sights on Raqqa in Battle Against Islamic State
  • The U.S. and its allies are preparing to launch the invasion of Islamic State’s Raqqa stronghold before the recapture of Mosul in Iraq is complete
  • U.S. officials hope to start the invasion of Raqqa as soon as the coming weeks, provided the Mosul campaign proceeds as planned, though the push for the militant group’s de facto capital in Syria remains complicated by regional political sensitivities that haven’t appeared in the fight for Mosul.
ethanmoser

ISIS Hotbed Looms as Risk in Mosul Fight - WSJ - 0 views

  • ISIS Hotbed Looms as Risk in Mosul Fight
  • Iraqi forces closing in on Islamic State-held Mosul are bypassing pockets controlled by militants such as the strategic town of Hawija, leaving the extremists free to launch counterattacks elsewhere in Iraq.
  • But just days into the Mosul offensive, Islamic State mounted a massive coordinated attack on oil-rich Kirkuk,
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  • the fighters were all originally from the Kirkuk area and Hawija.
  • Islamic State has been pushed in recent months out of places closer to Baghdad, such as Ramadi, Fallujah and Beiji.
  • Instead, Iraqi forces went straight for the high-profile prize of Mosul.
  • Hawija is now one of Islamic State’s last remaining hubs for assembling car bombs and roadside explosive devices that have devastated cities and towns throughout Iraq and proved to be the militants’ deadliest weapon against allied Iraqi forces pushing into Mosul, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials.
  • Sunni Arabs are the majority in Hawija, as well, though it is unclear whether the local population will back the Sunni extremists of Islamic State, who failed to rally residents of Kirkuk to their side in the recent attack.
  • There is tension between Baghdad and the Kurdistan regional government over the future of the province and whether it will become part of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region.
  • “It’s like a knife sticking in the side of northern Iraq,”
  • “We believe the government hurried up to liberate Mosul before Hawija for political reasons,”
  • “Military plans are being made now about how to liberate Hawija and where the operation will start.”
  • Gen. Qadr shared photos he said were taken from a dead militant’s tablet computer after the recent Kirkuk assault that showed a GPS-marked trail he took to get to Kirkuk from Mosul. It included a stop in Hawija.
ethanmoser

October surprises: How Wikileaks and ObamaCare hikes are shaking up the race | Fox News - 0 views

  • October surprises: How Wikileaks and ObamaCare hikes are shaking up the race
  • This roller-coaster campaign has a couple of twists and turns left, and that’s not good news for the woman who many in the media are ready to inaugurate.
  • The spike in ObamaCare premiums and dwindling insurance options gives Donald Trump a much-needed issue against Hillary Clinton, a longtime champion of universal health care.
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  • The latest Wikileaks dump shows that Clinton’s own inner circle was worried about her dissembling and reluctance to apologize over the email mess, even as the campaign ripped the press for raising those questions. --The media are a bit bored with the story line that she’s clobbering him and want the race to tighten.
  • But now we have Podesta himself and former Clinton aide Neera Tanden writing frankly about Hillary’s penchant for secrecy and terrible political judgment.
  • Podesta ripped two longtime loyalists, lawyer Cheryl Mills and spokesman Philippe Reines, along with Clinton attorney David Kendall, for not being “forthcoming on the facts.”
  • “A lot has to do with her instincts.” Tanden concurred again: “Her instincts can be terrible.”
  • When the press was harping on the fact that Clinton would not apologize for having a private server, and campaign officials were pushing back hard, it turns out that some privately agreed with the critics.
  • “Everyone wants her to apologize. And she should. Apologies are like her Achilles heel.”
  • The disclosure that ObamaCare premiums are rising an average of 25 percent—more in some states, less in others—has provided a measure of vindication for the program’s conservative detractors. It has also given Trump, who wants to repeal ObamaCare, new ammunition against Clinton, who wants to reform it—in part by increasing government subsidies.
  • The steep premium hikes, and dwindling insurance options in some areas, make clear that President Obama oversold the program.
  • Now Trump clearly bobbled a statement about his own employees being affected by ObamaCare—only a small percentage are, his company pays the rest—but that doesn’t neutralize the larger issue.
  • he press has been hungry for a new story line so people don’t check out in the final two weeks. The Wikileaks dump, ObamaCare news and some tightening polls in Florida are all it takes. Perhaps the media will shelve the speculation about Clinton’s Cabinet and treat this once again as a horse race.
ethanmoser

Millions buying insurance outside exchanges amid ObamaCare woes | Fox News - 0 views

  • Millions buying insurance outside exchanges amid ObamaCare woes
  • While premiums are set to rise by double digits on the ObamaCare exchanges, millions of Americans already have made the decision to abandon the markets altogether and shop for health care on their own
  • “If it is a bad year in the exchanges and the ship is sinking, people will figure out a way to find a life raft,” said Tom Miller, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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  • I do not see them fleeing in large numbers.”
  • premiums are set to rise an average of 25 percent next year. The selection of health plans on the exchanges is also shrinking.
  • Customers bolting the exchanges won’t necessarily avoid the rising premiums by shopping “off-marketplace.”
  • The big downside to shopping off the exchanges is that customers would not receive insurance subsidies. But for customers who wouldn’t qualify for subsidies anyway, shopping off the exchanges potentially gives them more options – including, in some cases, cheaper plans.
  • a total of 6.9 million people are getting insurance in the individual market outside the exchanges.
  • about 11.1 million people are enrolled in ObamaCare exchange plans, with 9.4 million of them getting premium subsidies.
  • HHS report seemed to be nudging people back toward the exchanges, noting that roughly a third of those avoiding the exchanges potentially could qualify for subsidies.
  • “millions of them may qualify for financial assistance that would let them purchase coverage and health care at lower cost” if they returned to the ObamaCare fold.
  • millions of them may qualify for financial assistance that would let them purchase coverage and health care at lower cost” if they returned to the ObamaCare fold.
  • Both marketplaces, for example, require covering individuals with pre-existing conditions.
  • The estimated number of insurance providers available on the exchanges for next year is 167, a net decrease of 68.
  • The decline in choice alone could result in more consumers leaving, even if they have to pay higher costs outside the market, in order to keep their doctor.
  • The HHS study noted that some of the 6.9 million shopping off-market also could qualify for Medicaid programs, which were expanded in many states.
  • Just for 2016, we know rates are going up in exchange plans,
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