Tag: looking

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo deserves the highest praise for his appropriate pursuit of resource nationalism. These detractors deliberately ignore the legal fact that under Indonesian law, mines operating under a contract of work (CoW) serve as both contractor and investor. Hence, the government cannot “simply take over” mining operations in the event that the FI contract is not extended beyond 2021, because FCX has the legal right to take home all mining equipment and other fixed assets of its Indonesian subsidiary. Taking over the FI mine after the CoW ends without paying due compensation to Freeport as mutually agreed would land the government at the international arbitration court and isolate Indonesia as a pariah of the international community. The FI divestment was a normal business transaction between the government, through state-owned mining holding company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), and FCX, as required by the law. Judging from the step-by-step process and the comprehensive due diligence the state financial comptroller (internal audit) and the Attorney General’s Office conducted on the deal, we can rest assured that the acquisition was clean and free of any malfeasance. Most important for FCX is that the deal secures a 20-year extension of FI’s operations through 2041, and guarantees fiscal and legal certainty under a special mining license protected by the 2009 Mining Law. Yet more important is the copper smelter, which will be built in Indonesia as one of the key requirements of the new mining license, and which will in turn allow the government to ascertain the gold content of the mine’s copper concentrates. The fact that Inalum was able to purchase the acquisition with the proceeds of $4 billion global bonds is another proof that the transaction was clearly commercially viable. A word of caution, however: FI’s production output — and consequently its profit — will most likely decline in the first two years following the divestment.

In his book Sideshow, he wrote that two rules directed Australian politics: “(1) look like you’re doing something; and (2) don’t offend anyone who matters”. Despite 26 years of economic growth, increasing inequalities of income, wealth and power are separating and segmenting Australians. For those of us who think that politics matters, and that changing the government can change the country for the better, this presents a profound challenge. His most recent book How Good We Can Be proposes an approach to politics in which “the aim is to create an economy, society and democracy in which the mass of citizens flourish”. If we face up to them and we are clear about the problems we would like government to get on with solving. Morrison is a leader in a hurry – but not to end the disgrace of Nauru | Katharine Murphy Read more Repudiating this type of approach to leadership matters. This is a challenge for political journalism as well as for politicians. Just as the way our society and economy isn’t set in stone, nor is our politics. I’m equally confident that we can turn this around: by recognising the problems we have to be focused on solving are those which confront the lives of all Australians, not those of the interests which shout loudest – much less, those of our own creation; by working to change the rules that direct Australian politics. Any politician who continues to treat politics as a sideshow should expect to be regarded by Australians in just that light.

Lawfare's Ben Wittes joins Chuck to talk about Trump's next steps if he were to meet with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines, insightful political…