Tag: Warini

A day after Mr. Trump met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Obama delivered his highest-profile speech since leaving office, at an event in South Africa marking the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. “Strongman politics are ascendant suddenly, whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained, the form of it, but those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.” Mr. Obama opened his nearly 90-minute speech with a nod to current events, saying that times were “strange and uncertain” and that “each day’s news cycle is bringing more head-spinning and disturbing headlines.” He said that leaders embracing the “politics of fear, resentment and retrenchment” were undermining the international system established after World War II. “It’s on a move at a pace that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. I’m not being alarmist; I’m simply stating the facts.” Just the day before, Mr. Trump had stood next to Mr. Putin in Helsinki, Finland, and disputed his own intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Moscow, at the behest of Mr. Putin, interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “Look, let me say: Politicians have always lied, but it used to be that if you caught them lying, they’d be like, ‘Ah, man.’” He also addressed growing anti-immigration policies in the United States and Europe. In the United States, Mr. Trump ordered a ban on travel to the country from several predominantly Muslim countries. His administration also enforced the former policy of separating immigrant children from parents who cross illegally into the United States. The ideals promoted by Mandela are now at risk, he added. Two different stories, two different narratives, about who we are and who we should be.” Countries like Russia and China are trying to take advantage of the moment of uncertainty, he said. “Within the United States and within the European Union, challenges to globalization first came from the left but then came more forcibly from the right,” Mr. Obama said.

A former senior U.S. official from the Obama administration is warning that Russian efforts to influence U.S. politics have been so successful that other U.S. adversaries like China are beginning to emulate them. Nuland had a front-row seat to the Russian effort to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, serving as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2013 until the end of the Obama administration. Michael Daniel, cybersecurity coordinator at the National Security Council during the Obama administration including the time period of the 2016 campaign, joined Nuland before the Senate panel. Last month, for example, Australia news outlets reported on a classified government report that revealed efforts by the Chinese government to influence politics in their country. The Senate intelligence committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, held a hearing to examine how the Obama administration reacted as the Kremlin-linked operation was underway. They did not anticipate that Russia would actively try to interfere in the election process by trying to influence and disrupt the presidential campaign, Daniel said. The Obama administration warned the Kremlin and the Russian government on multiple occasions to stop interfering with the campaign while it was ongoing, but this proved to be of little to no use. Then-CIA Director John Brennan warned his Russian intelligence counterpart in August 2016; the United States contacted Russia using a 'cyber-hotline' that was set up to defuse tensions; and President Obama himself gave a warning to President Putin in the fall of 2016. Daniel said that the Obama administration came up with a whole range of public and covert options to respond, but the White House decided that it would not actively take measures to deter the Russians while the campaign was underway. Nuland herself is believed to have been the target of Russian political interference in in the West in 2014, when a phone call in which she spoke disparagingly about European allies was leaked in the middle of the political crisis in Ukraine between the former Moscow-backed government and the pro-Western opposition.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The National Rifle Association’s decision to ban guns during Mike Pence’s speech at its annual meeting in Dallas this week “leaves him totally vulnerable to a bear attack,” the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, warned on Monday. Speaking to reporters at the Education Department, DeVos said that she was “deeply concerned” that the N.R.A. was underestimating the danger posed to Pence by “the savagery of one rogue bear.” “All it would take is one angry bear to ruin what otherwise promises to be a really nice gun event,” she said. She added that, after contacting the N.R.A. leadership, she was alarmed to discover that there would be no bear detectors at the entrance to the Dallas venue. “A bear can simply waltz in there,” she said, shaking her head. “This is madness.” DeVos urged the gun organization to rethink its plan and insure that every member of the audience for Pence’s speech is fully armed. “If there are no guns, that is sending a very dangerous message to bears,” she said.

Significant risk for dead-lock after Swedish election: Ohman Sees lowest expected market return since turn of millennium Investors typically ignore Swedish politics. But this year’s general election could be different, according to Swedish asset manager Ohman Funds. All polls indicate that none of the two major blocs will emerge with a majority and there’s little appetite to reach across the aisle among the biggest political parties. “It seems impossible to form a new Swedish majority government as things stand currently,” said Pablo Bernengo, chief executive officer at Ohman Funds in Stockholm “The risk for a dead-lock is significant.” And political turmoil at this late stage of a stock rally and economic upswing could have dire consequences, according to Bernengo. The stakes are high with the potential for a continued downturn in the Swedish housing market and slowing growth. The central bank could at the same time be forced into tightening as inflation, which lags growth, finally picks up. But his main scenario for now is that a compromise will be reached on a minority government. Investors should therefore adjust their expectations, said Jamal Abida Norling, Ohman’s chief investment officer, whose Sweden Micro Cap fund was awarded awarded best small-cap fund by Morningstar based on its result over the past 5 years. “It’s significantly lower compared to three-four years ago.” Ohman went to neutral in emerging market stocks during the fall after holding an overweight for almost 18 months. The asset manager is overweight credits within fixed income and also prefers a lower duration.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump issued a stark warning to the nation on Monday that, if elected President, Oprah Winfrey would force Americans to read. “This is a woman who, every chance she got, told people to join her book club,” Trump told reporters. “If she were President, you better believe that she would make every single American join that book club.” Claiming that Winfrey “never met a book she didn’t like,” Trump accused her of planning to institute an “individual book mandate,” which would require non-reading Americans to pay as much as two thousand dollars a year for refusing to read a book. “People were worried about Obama coming to their homes and taking away their guns,” Trump said. “Oprah will come to your homes and leave books there, which is far, far worse.” Joining Trump in his remarks was the Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, who warned about the dangers of Winfrey’s pro-book agenda. “I am a firm believer in school choice,” DeVos said. “And central to that is the choice not to read.”