Punk in Finland

The Guardian wrote:Armed neo-Nazis prepare for potential clash in small Kentucky town

Hate groups have come to tiny Pikeville in a bid for support, but locals fear a violent standoff between the neo-Nazis and anti-fascist protesters

In a tent deep in the woods of rural Kentucky, an old neo-Nazi spoke bitterly of how he feels “betrayed” by Donald Trump.

“I’m sorry I voted for the son of a bitch, I really am,” said Art Jones, who the Anti-Defamation League identifies as a Holocaust denier who has been dressing in Nazi garb and celebrating Hitler since the 1970s.

“I’m sorry I spent $180 out of my own pocket to buy three big banners that said, ‘President Trump, build the wall’,” the blazer-clad Jones said, to a tent full of about 100 men, some of whom wore paramilitary-style uniforms. “Now he says, ‘Eh, what wall?’ I’m embarrassed that I voted for him.”

Jones blamed Trump’s failures on the “Jewish lobby” and the president’s son-in-law and aide, Jared Kushner, who is Jewish.

On Friday night, on a barren stretch of private property accessible only by a dirt road, black-clad young men with rifles roamed. Others wore a handgun or knife at the hip. Members of at least 10 racist hate groups had met to discuss how they could become more politically relevant. They were also there to prepare for an anticipated battle with self-identified anti-fascist or “antifa” groups on Saturday – the 100th day of the Trump presidency – in the streets of the tiny town of Pikeville.

Pike County is 98% white; about 80% of voters there supported Trump. In choosing Pikeville for their rally, the neo-Nazis sought to attract white working families and build a more mainstream political movement, they said. Local residents and store managers said they were were furious, scared and resentful of the gathering.

Might the bleeding have been stanched far earlier by denying Flynn a security clearance at the outset of the administration, or even far earlier? Only in theory. With so many Trump officials implicated by their Russia dealings, the situation was unprecedented. “Other than the POTUS-elect” says Gomez, “there was no one to brief the investigation to, and Trump didn't want daily intel briefs” from the CIA, which he’d mocked throughout the campaign for its mistaken reports on Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Plus, how could the FBI reveal the progress of an investigation in which the president’s aides could be targeted?

Rolling Stone wrote:Trump's Cruel Silence on Turkey

Why did a deadly attack on America's allies in the war against ISIS go without comment from the White House?

...

Turkey is a member of NATO and supposedly a United States ally, but for more than a year now, Erdogan has been bombing and shelling the Kurdish militias of Syria, even though they are fighting side-by-side with about 1,000 American troops in a campaign to liberate Raqqa, the ISIS capital. At the same time, Kurdish peshmerga forces are supporting the American-managed Mosul offensive in neighboring Iraq. The string of Turkish airstrikes also hit those Kurds, killing at least five peshmerga.

In a giant "sorry I'm not sorry" to the world, Erdogan ordered the strikes on April 24, the date of commemorating the Turkish genocide against the Armenians, another ethnic minority group that Turkey has long persecuted.

In the past, United States officials have been oddly tolerant of Turkish interference in Syria, keeping silent even after a Turkish airstrike in November 2016 killed an American citizen who had volunteered to fight ISIS with the Kurds. This time, however, Erdogan may have gone too far; American diplomats and military officials immediately condemned the airstrikes, sounding genuinely surprised and angry. The phrase of the day at the State Department was "deeply concerned," diplomatic code for "extremely pissed." An official complaint was lodged with the Turkish government. A spokesman for the anti-ISIS coalition based in Iraq said that the Kurds killed in the strikes had been "fighting to rid the world of ISIS," and that the strikes had been conducted "without proper coordination with the Coalition."

The governments in Damascus and Baghdad protested the violation of their airspace. Even Russia spoke up in defense of the Kurds. But it's not clear whether the outrage extends to the White House, which has yet to comment. Like Duterte of the Philippines and Putin of Russia, Erdogan is one of a number of murderous autocrats whom Trump openly admires. After a failed coup attempt in Turkey last summer, candidate Trump praised Erdogan for crushing the rebellion, and said that Turkey would have a greater role in the fight against ISIS if he were elected. Erdogan 51-percent victory in the referendum earlier this month was widely regarded as fraudulent and universally condemned in the West – except by Trump, who called Erdogan to congratulate him.

Even from what little is known of Trump's finances, it's clear that he has business ties with Turkey. There is a Trump Towers Istanbul, and his son Donald Trump, Jr. occasionally goes hunting in Turkey, where he enjoys killing rare desert animals in the company of Turkish businessmen. The trail of suspicious connections eventually circles around to Moscow: The Turkish businessman who paid former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn $600,000 while he was an advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign is partnered with a Russian who has dealings within Putin's circle.

Under Erdogan, the Turkish government has grown increasingly conservative and Islamist, and is widely considered to be giving ISIS covert support. As early as November 2014, a team of Columbia University researchers found that Turkey supplies military equipment, logistical support, training and medical care to ISIS fighters, and provides them with a market for the oil they stole from Syria and Iraq. Turkey's motives are obvious. There are proxy wars upon proxy wars going on in Syria, and aside from their ideological affinities, ISIS is the enemy of Turkey's enemies: the Assad regime, and above all, the Kurds. In the ruthless calculus of the Syrian Civil War, that makes ISIS and Erdogan crypto-allies.

But Team ISIS is losing. Backing the Kurds was the single most successful move the United States has made since first intervening in Syria. In October 2016, with support from the United States Air Force, the Syrian Kurds launched the operation to liberate Raqqa, where ISIS has its global headquarters. Since then, ISIS has lost about half of its territory. The Kurds are now within a few miles of Raqqa and have it surrounded on three sides, reportedly triggering a round of panicked infighting and punitive executions within ISIS ranks.

Elite American commandos have been embedded with the Kurds since November 2015, about 500 of them at the moment. Last month, they were joined by another 400 artillerymen from the Marine Corps – just what the lightly armed Kurds needed most. But that deployment was planned before Trump took office, and so far the president has made no decisive statement about the Kurds. Meanwhile, Erdogan appears to think he can get away with anything; on Wednesday, in the face of criticism from around the world, he had about 1,000 dissidents rounded up and thrown in jail, to add to the 47,000 soldiers, police, judges, lawyers, civil servants and journalists he has already imprisoned for opposing him.

So the question is: Will Trump walk away from the alliance against ISIS that the Obama Administration and the Kurds have forged and instead embrace an autocratic regime in Turkey (as Erdogan has urged him to do), or will he put the rogue Turkish government in its place and fully arm the Kurds so they can finish the job? Thursday evening on social media, Kurdish fighters and journalists were calling for the United States to impose a no-fly-zone over northern Syria, and there were reports that the Raqqa offensive would be halted if the United States failed to take concrete action. The White House remained silent – plans had already been made for Trump to meet with Erdogan in Washington next month. Trump's ties to Turkey and Russia – which is backing the Assad regime – add yet another layer of competing agendas atop the unbelievably complicated and opaque conflict in Syria, which has metastasized into a world war in microcosm. But on the ground, what happened Tuesday morning was simple: Kurds fighting ISIS got killed.

Donald Trump invites Rodrigo Duterte to Washington

US president ‘enjoyed’ phone call with Philippines president, who is accused of overseeing the deaths of 7,000 people as part of his war on drugs
A composite showing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte
Trump and Duterte seem to have a mutual admiration. Composite: STRINGER, Dondi Tawatao/Reuters, Getty Images

Reuters

Sunday 30 April 2017 05.27 BST

US president Donald Trump has invited Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House during a phone call that also addressed concerns over North Korea, the White House said in a statement.

The White House gave no details of when the leaders would meet in Washington to discuss their alliance, but said Trump looked forward to visiting the Philippines in November as part of two summits with other Asian nations.

A readout of the call on Saturday said the discussion between the two was “very friendly” and the US-Philippines alliance was “now heading in a very positive direction”.

The pair talked about “the concerns of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regarding regional security, including the threat posed by North Korea”.

The phone call also touched on Duterte’s war on drugs, in which some 7,000 people have died at the hands of vigilantes and state sanctioned death squads. Trump has previously praised the drug war.

“They also discussed the fact that the Philippine government is fighting very hard to rid its country of drugs, a scourge that affects many countries throughout the world,” the readout said.

“President Trump enjoyed the conversation and said that he is looking forward to visiting the Philippines in November to participate in the east Asia summit and the US-Asean summit. President Trump also invited President Duterte to the White House to discuss the importance of the the United States-Philippines alliance.”

Last week a Filipino lawyer filed a complaint at the international criminal court (ICC) accusing Duterte and 11 other Philippine officials of mass murder and crimes against humanity.

In the 77-page complaint Jude Sabio says the president has “repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously” committed extra-judicial executions or mass murders over three decades, amounting to crimes against humanity.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... washington

Slate wrote:Trump’s 100-Day Speech Mimics His Presidency: Rambling, Lies, and Egomania

President Donald Trump marked his 100th day in office with a speech that sounded more like a campaign address filled with empty promises than one given by someone who has been sitting in the Oval Office for a couple of months. The address was everything we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump at this point, with lots of focus on him, lots of lies, and a parallel reality in which everything in his disastrous administration is just going peachy. There was even some evident lying about attendance, just like on Day One of his presidency. On Saturday, Trump insisted there were lots of people waiting outside to get in and he “broke the all-time record” in the arena, even though there were lots of empty seats in the arena.

But, first, the president began by attacking the press for a long while, patting himself repeatedly on the back for not attending Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation’s capital right now,” he said. “And I could not possibly be more thrilled to be more than 100 miles away from the Washington swamp, spending my evening with all of you and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people.” He, of course, failed to mention how he had been one of those Hollywood types who went to the dinner before he became president.

Trump also specifically called out CNN and MSNBC as “fake news” but still said they’d rather be watching him than be at the dinner. He left the possibility open that he may attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner next year, athough ever the consummate showman he decided to leave it as a cliffhanger. “Next year we’ll make it more exciting for them and show up, but we have a good chance of showing up here next year too,” he said. Trump then went on to cite polls that show how much Americans distrust the media without ever mentioning a single poll on his presidency.

With that introduction, Trump made clear he still sees the media as his number one enemy, although he also reserved a few choice insults for Democrats, particularly Sen. Chuck Schumer. “He’s a poor leader and he’s leading the Democrats to doom,” Trump said.

Trump’s speech was heavy on the nationalism, saying that he won’t “let other countries take advantage of us anymore.” And, of course, he repeated several lies that have been corrected in the public record before—notably, he still doesn’t appear to understand how NATO works. Trump also strongly hinted that he would undo the Paris climate change deal, calling it a “one-sided” accord “where the United States pays billions of dollars while China, Russia, and India have contributed and will contribute nothing.”

The commander in chief also acted as if he hadn’t suffered huge setbacks while in office, promising that the wall along the Mexican border will be built. And he vowed to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, continuing to promise that his new plan will include features that he must now by now are pretty much impossible. But that doesn’t matter of course. “We are all made by the same almighty God,” Trump said near the end of the speech. “We will not fail, we will never fail, we are Americans and the future belongs to us.” Yes, he had used that same line in his speech at CPAC, and yes, it is creepily reminiscent of a song sung by a young Nazi in Cabaret.

The Independent wrote:Donald Trump on if he could start war with North Korea: 'I don't know. I mean, we'll see'

Answering a question about whether another nuclear test by North Korea would mean a military response by the US, Mr Trump appears to be undecided

President Donald Trump has said that he believes China's president has been putting pressure on North Korea as it pursues its missile and nuclear weapons programmes - but when asked about whether another nuclear test would mean a military response from the US, Mr Trump said "I don't know...we'll see".

In an interview with CBS' “Face the Nation,” - to be aired on Sunday - Mr Trump said he won't be happy if North Korea conducts a nuclear test and that he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping won't be happy, either.

Asked if that means military action, Mr Trump responded: “I don't know. I mean, we'll see.”

Asked about the failure of the recent missile tests, Mr Trump said: “Perhaps they're just not very good missiles. But eventually, he'll have good missiles.”

Refusing to elaborate on US military options because “we shouldn't be announcing all our moves”, Mr Trump added: “It is a chess game. I just don't want people to know what my thinking is.”

He called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un “a pretty smart cookie” for being able to hold onto power after taking over the reclusive Asian nation at a young age.

“People are saying, 'Is he sane?' I have no idea,” Mr Trump added.

CBS wrote:FULL TRANSCRIPT: President Donald Trump's interview with "Face the Nation"

On his 100th day in office Saturday, President Trump spoke to CBS News' chief Washington correspondent and host of "Face the Nation," John Dickerson, about his accomplishments at the traditional milestone and beyond, before flying to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to give a speech at a rally.

What follows is a full transcript of the interview, which aired on CBS earlier Sunday. Additional coverage of the interview will air Monday on "CBS This Morning," broadcasting live from the White House.

CBS wrote:JOHN DICKERSON: Mr. President, you and the administration said to North Korea, "Don't test a missile." They have tested a missile. Is the pressure not working?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I didn't say, "Don't test a missile." He's going to have to do what he has to do. But he understands we're not going to be very happy. And I will tell you, a man that I've gotten to like and respect, the president of China, President Xi, I believe, has been putting pressure on him also. But so far, perhaps nothing's happened and perhaps it has. This was a small missile. This was not a big missile. This was not a nuclear test, which he was expected to do three days ago. We'll see what happens.

JOHN DICKERSON: You say, "Not happy." What does that mean?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would not be happy. If he does a nuclear test, I will not be happy. And I can tell you also, I don't believe that the president of China, who is a very respected man, will be happy either.

CBS wrote:JOHN DICKERSON: Not happy mean military action?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, we'll see.

JOHN DICKERSON: The Chinese, our allies, have been allies with North Korea. How are you sure that they're not using this as a way to test you?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You can never be sure of anything, can you? But I developed a very good relationship. I don't think they want to see a destabilized North Korea. I don't think they want to see it. They certainly don't want to see nuclear on -- from their neighbor. They haven't liked it for a long time. But we'll have to see what happens.

The relationship I have with China, it's been already acclaimed as being something very special, something very different than we've ever had. But again, you know, we'll find out whether or not President Xi is able to affect change.

JOHN DICKERSON: Why do--

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I hope he is.