- Joined
- Oct 7, 2014
- Messages
- 3,830
- Points
- 113
The union of the year went to POTUS Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, a viciously squabbling pair who finally met for the first time in person at Capella Hotel, Singapore on 12 June 2018. Love at first sight it was apparently, as both struck up a bromantic relationship almost immediately upon setting eyes on each other; if anything it took the world's breath away, even Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's official coupling at St George’s Chapel played second fiddle in the attention department. After all the "I Do"s sworn by Trump and Kim endeared to the geopolitics of forging peaceful boundaries and borderlands, an ongoing international concern of behemoth proportions superseding even the most fairytale-esque of royal nuptials. (Sorry Mukesh Ambani, even with that $100 million splashed on your darling daughter's wedding, you'd still have to take a number - Beyonce ain't got shit on the 38th parallel either). For now Kim has promised to dismantle the collection of dangerous nuclear toys assembled in his backyard thus far in exchange for hitting the reset button on mutual ties, alongside US ceasing joint manoeuvres with South Korea. Still, it remains to be seen whether both fickle-minded leaders with attention spans shorter than goldfish will each keep up his end of the bargain. By the way, @Meghan Markle, did you actually make your sister-in-law bawl because of them overly tedious demands heaped over little Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress?
Trump can also give himself a real big pat on the shoulder knowing for sure he has succeeded in alienating the United States from almost the entire world by forging ahead with a tsunami of trade tariffs imposed against a total of 31 countries (and affecting some 12 billion bucks worth of imports) till date, not to mention a staggering number of investigations concerning anti-dumping/countervailing duties already being initiated by the US Department of Commerce (122 in all at last count, a majority targeting Chinese products). Thank goodness for a temporary ceasefire of sorts arrived at the eleventh hour during Trump's recent G20 dinner date with China's President Xi Jinping, where both countries agreed to halt fresh tit-for-tat sanctions for 90 days in a bid to surmount the ongoing stalemate.
Might the ongoing trade wars be complicit in causing the Republicans to lose the House of Representatives in November's midterm elections? Most likely, the only question is to what extent. So while this loss didn't quite rattle Trump's grasp on power (who by the way remains stuck in denial mode it appears given his self-congratulatory tweet of tremendous success about the election results), nevertheless voters did give him a resounding slap across the face. Make that two, another courtesy of his former longtime legal 'pit bull' cum fixer Michael Cohen who has since bitten back, insisting he was "duty-bound to cover up the President's dirty deeds" after being handed a 3 year jail sentence by a New York federal court. Three actually, if the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis is to be taken into account.
Elsewhere, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was also left licking her wounds, as her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered a walloping in the key mid-term polls and she accepted responsibility for the massive losses (even traditional strongholds such as Kaohsiung and Taichung fell to them China-friendly Kuomintang fellas) racked up by resigning as party chairperson. Looking forward, she is almost surely reduced to a lame duck leader for the remaining part of her term in office; with Taiwan's next presidential elections looming it isn't that difficult to realize she will be facing one helluva fight for her political life.
While some get to live to fight another day, others weren't so fortunate. Just look at how far Malaysia's 'Man of Steal' Najib Razak has fallen in a span of months after his ass was roundly trounced in the country's 14th General Elections......from despotic premier to despised felon slapped with more than two dozen charges of money laundering, power abuse and evidence tampering related to the billion dollar 1MDB scandal. His wife Rosmah Mansor (known to splurge on luxury items, expensive holidays and 1,200 ringgit haircuts) also faces a dozen charges related to tax evasion and corruption. Her cringeworthy comeback refuting every single allegation in court? She could only plead guilty to having stolen Najib's heart.
More at https://www.whitegroupmaths.com/2018/12/final-look-at-2018-school-science-and.html
Trump can also give himself a real big pat on the shoulder knowing for sure he has succeeded in alienating the United States from almost the entire world by forging ahead with a tsunami of trade tariffs imposed against a total of 31 countries (and affecting some 12 billion bucks worth of imports) till date, not to mention a staggering number of investigations concerning anti-dumping/countervailing duties already being initiated by the US Department of Commerce (122 in all at last count, a majority targeting Chinese products). Thank goodness for a temporary ceasefire of sorts arrived at the eleventh hour during Trump's recent G20 dinner date with China's President Xi Jinping, where both countries agreed to halt fresh tit-for-tat sanctions for 90 days in a bid to surmount the ongoing stalemate.
Might the ongoing trade wars be complicit in causing the Republicans to lose the House of Representatives in November's midterm elections? Most likely, the only question is to what extent. So while this loss didn't quite rattle Trump's grasp on power (who by the way remains stuck in denial mode it appears given his self-congratulatory tweet of tremendous success about the election results), nevertheless voters did give him a resounding slap across the face. Make that two, another courtesy of his former longtime legal 'pit bull' cum fixer Michael Cohen who has since bitten back, insisting he was "duty-bound to cover up the President's dirty deeds" after being handed a 3 year jail sentence by a New York federal court. Three actually, if the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis is to be taken into account.
Elsewhere, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was also left licking her wounds, as her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered a walloping in the key mid-term polls and she accepted responsibility for the massive losses (even traditional strongholds such as Kaohsiung and Taichung fell to them China-friendly Kuomintang fellas) racked up by resigning as party chairperson. Looking forward, she is almost surely reduced to a lame duck leader for the remaining part of her term in office; with Taiwan's next presidential elections looming it isn't that difficult to realize she will be facing one helluva fight for her political life.
While some get to live to fight another day, others weren't so fortunate. Just look at how far Malaysia's 'Man of Steal' Najib Razak has fallen in a span of months after his ass was roundly trounced in the country's 14th General Elections......from despotic premier to despised felon slapped with more than two dozen charges of money laundering, power abuse and evidence tampering related to the billion dollar 1MDB scandal. His wife Rosmah Mansor (known to splurge on luxury items, expensive holidays and 1,200 ringgit haircuts) also faces a dozen charges related to tax evasion and corruption. Her cringeworthy comeback refuting every single allegation in court? She could only plead guilty to having stolen Najib's heart.
More at https://www.whitegroupmaths.com/2018/12/final-look-at-2018-school-science-and.html
