2018-06-05 - Political Anticipation - A GEAB by LEAP Press review

Europe 2018-2022: Environmental Agenda Setback In the West, the environmental agendas are preparing for serious setbacks. Here are some of the reasons leading us to this conclusion: the discrediting of some ecological movements due to their perceived NIMBY (Not in My Back-Yard) attitude; the US withdrawal from the environmental agenda; questions about some fundamental principles such as “is global warming the right fight?”, and “are renewable energies the right solutions; also noteworthy is the questioning of the all-electric future in terms of motor vehicles, as the enormous electricity needs linked to this strategy defy the desired protection effect for the environment... (GEAB by LEAP / No 122) Germany wants answers on US ambassador’s remarks The German Foreign Ministry says it wants clarity about controversial comments made by the new US ambassador, Richard Grenell. In an interview with Breitbart News he said he hopes to “empower” Europe’s conservatives... (Deutsche Welle) France, Britain to sail warships in contested South China Sea to challenge Beijing France and Britain will sail warships through the South China Sea to challenge Beijing’s expanding military presence in the disputed waters, their defence ministers said on Sunday. The two countries, both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, made the remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, echoing the latest US plan to ramp up its freedom of navigation operations to counter Beijing’s militarisation in the region and its stance that territorial disputes should be a matter between China and its Asian neighbours... (SCMP) Turkey slams Macron over Erdogan magazine cover support Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has slammed French President Emmanuel Macron over his support for a French magazine’s cover calling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “dictator”. The Weekly French Magazine Le Point splashed a photo of the Turkish president on the cover of its May 24 edition with words that read: “The dictator. How far will Erdogan go?”... (Aljazeera) United Kingdom 2019: What if Brexit proved to be a success story? So far, the media and political analysts have been unanimous: Brexit represents an uncertain and dangerous future only for the UK. Our readers know that we have always been more circumspect about this. Now that the first phase of negotiations has been completed (at the end of last year) and the second phase is about to start, it is time to admit that this exit from the EU also opens up many opportunities for the UK and that it creates new risks for the EU. Within this second phase of negotiations, which will focus on the transition period and the future relationship between the two parties, the balance of power could indeed reverse... (GEAB by LEAP / No123) French bank SocGen agrees with US to pay $1 billion in penalties over bribery, manipulation France’s second-biggest bank Societe Generale has agreed with the US to pay penalties exceeding $1 billion to settle allegations it bribed officials in Libya, and manipulated the Libor interest rate benchmark. In a statement issued by the US Department of Justice on Monday, French bank Societe Generale (SocGen) and one of its subsidiaries agreed to pay the penalties to settle the cases... (Deutsche Welle) Microsoft Overtakes Google In Market Valuation Software giant Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Tuesday surpassed Google-parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, GOOG) to become the third-most valuable company with a market valuation of $753 billion. MSFT is currently trading at $98.84, up $0.88 or 0.85%, which gives it a market cap of $759.6 billion... (Nasdaq) Mass protests in Jordan push out prime minister Jordanian Prime Minister Hani Mulki resigned from his government position Monday in the wake of several days of mass protests in the capital Amman — the country’s largest demonstrations in more than five years. The resignation, reported by Reuters quoting an official source, was said to have been brokered during a meeting with the country’s King Abdullah II, who called for “national dialogue” in the wake ... (CNBC) Qatar’s Year of Solitude: A Gulf Embargo’s Impact in Six Charts It’s been a year since shocked investors sold off Qatari assets after a Saudi Arabia-led group of nations severed economic and diplomatic ties with the gas-rich country. While the standoff shows no sign of ending, pressure on Qatari assets has eased. Bets against the nation’s long-held dollar peg have subsided and the government managed this year’s largest sovereign bond sale in the Middle East and Africa... (Bloomberg) Petroyuan and Saudi Arabia: From the temptation of the US "Military QE" to the creation of a Middle East 3.0 The end of the year will be rich in surprises and escalation risks, as we have been saying for the last two months. Currently, all eyes are on the Middle East, the world's powder keg, and on the tensions emerging around Lebanon, involving nothing less than protagonists like the United States, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The details of this affair send chills up our spines with the resignation/withdrawal of a prime minister (the pro-Saudi Lebanese Saad Hariri), the Israeli-Saudi rapprochement against Hezbollah, the Houthi missiles (Yemen) fired at Riyadh, the involvement of Iran in the latter event by Saudi Arabia... (GEAB by LEAP / No 119) How a letter by a Catholic archbishop incensed India’s BJP A letter the Catholic Archbishop of Delhi sent to all parish priests working in India’s capital city has created a furore in the country’s already charged political scene. In the letter dated May 8, Archbishop Anil Coutorequested parish priests to start a year-long prayer campaign to save India from the “turbulent political atmosphere”, which “poses a threat to the democratic principles enshrined in our constitution and the secular fabric of our nation”... (Aljazeera) At Western-led summit, Chinese find controversy and a clash of cultures A war of words between China and the United States at a regional security summit over the weekend has again highlighted the difficulty a rising China faces as it tries to navigate the international system and engage in dialogue with the West. Beijing’s low-level delegation found itself at the centre of controversy during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore ... (SCMP)