Amazing ... largest trade deficit an EU-27 nation with China is The Netherlands ... $75.4 billion.

China-EU - international trade in goods statistics

The AUKUS deal seems to have been a big mistake. Someone seems to have forgotten that France is central to NATO and the Pacific.

— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) September 18, 2021

According to the exit polls (>400000 people) United Russia will get 45.4%, Communist Party of Russian Federation 21%, Liberal Democrats 8.7% and Just Russia 7.9%

After counting 18.5% of the votes, United Russia has 42.5%, Communists 23.24%, Liberal Democrats 8.83%, Just Russia 7.09% and a newcomer New People seems to passing the 5% treshold with 6.22%.

For comparison, in 2016 election United Russia got 54.2%, Communist Party 13.3%, Liberal Democrats 13.1% and Just Russia 6.22%.

So far it looks like United Russia has bled votes to the left (Communists and Just Russia) while Liberal Democrats have lost votes to New People.

Boris Johnson joined Morrison and Joe Biden for a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall in June, where the leaders discussed the defence cooperation plans and Australia's request to share sensitive submarine technology .. [_link]

— Phil Jones (@Phil_Jones01) September 18, 2021

'Engaging the systems': The secret only a handful of people were trusted to keep | SMH |

Secretaries Pompeo and Esper Remarks on U.S.-Australia Relations | July 28. 2020 |

The Biden Administration and the Future of Multilateralism | CFR - April 21, 2021 |

Biden has wisely framed the United States return to multilateralism as a foreign policy for the American middle class, linked to the concrete interests of US citizens. Whether such a course is sustainable remains to be seen. The Trump years unleashed powerful national and global forces that will test the domestic foundations of U.S. internationalism and other countries' appetite to follow America's lead.

Biden must also reconcile his multilateral ambitions with his administration's hard-line on China, a rare element of continuity with his predecessor's foreign policy. Washington must figure out how to compartmentalize its relations with Beijing, so that the two countries can cooperate in global forums where their interests align, notwithstanding their intense geopolitical rivalry and mutual strategic mistrust.

Putting the 'Blue' Back in Blue Collar | US News |

Even as Republicans touted tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, it was the Democrats who became tagged with the moniker of the party of elites. It didn't help that former President Barack Obama talked about working-class Americans who "cling to guns and religion," or 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton referring to a "basket of deplorables" backing Donald Trump.

"Democrats were felt (by working class voters) to be condescending and pro-free trade and worried about the end of the world. People who are worried about the end of the month are incredibly offended" that Democrats were paying more attention to things like climate change than jobs, says Joan Williams, author of the book "White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America" and a law professor at the University of California, Hastings School of Law.

President Joe Biden is trying to win back that vote - or at least, enough of it to give the party a more stable majority.

Universal dilemma: a conservative agenda or lose key votes in your constituency. Green policy will be hardest on the lower class due to rising cost of energy bills. Past housing policy will come home to hunt to reach sustainability.

Red Wall Tory revolt over Boris's green drive: Northern MPs blast PM's climate plans  

America First, Biden-Style

Does US President Joe Biden want a dynamic America, open to the world, or Donald Trump's anxious America, suspicious and contemptuous of others? Until Biden offers a bold gesture to exorcise the spirit of Trump from US foreign policy, his hopes of restoring American global leadership are likely to be disappointed.

If America's allies were concerned by President Joe Biden's remarks on foreign policy in his address to Congress on April 28, they had every right to be. Although Biden's domestic economic agenda could not have been less Trumpian - higher taxes on the wealthy and a substantial expansion of the social safety net - the foreign policy he outlined was not all that different from his rococo predecessor's "America First" credo.

As Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, recently noted, "there is more foreign-policy continuity between Biden and Trump than first meets the eye ... Trumpism still looms large." So, Biden's speech was a strange brew: Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal mixed with powerful hints of Trumpian nationalism.

When Biden turned to foreign policy, his emphasis was on China and the United States, as if Europe did not exist, and the US could win this competition without the active participation of Europeans. To European ears, of course, that sounds a little bit too close to Trumpian contempt. The US could not have won the Cold War without its European allies, and it will not outcompete China without European cooperation. In her softly, softly way, German Chancellor Angela Merkel drove that message home just before Biden took office by pushing the European Union into fast-tracking the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment.

Biden has been following a form of "America First" policy even in response to the coronavirus pandemic. His refusal to send COVID-19 vaccines to important European countries in dire need and facing important elections has made his claim that "America is back" sound very doubtful in many European capitals.

Americans before allies: Biden's limited multilateralism | ECFR |

UK-France defence summit cancelled in Aukus row [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) September 19, 2021

Australia could initially lease submarines from UK or US but nuclear weapons remain off limits

Right NOW: RT reporting Communist Party gaining 2x ballots of United Party.

< wipes tears >

AWKWARD

Monsters and Double Standards, 2008
"Samantha Power, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who in recent years has played a key role in the fight to make ending genocide a major goal of American foreign policy, has been forced to resign from Barack Obama's presidential campaign for calling Hillary Clinton a 'monster.'"

IMDB (2001)
"After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard re-examines his attitudes while falling in love with the African-American wife of the last prisoner he executed."

Border killings trigger mass deportation of Haitians from Dominican Republic, 2013 Trujillo-country

The number of Haitians and people of Haitian descent who've been expelled has reached 354, said Josue Michel, a spokesman for the Group for Repatriates and Refugees. Authorities had reported at least 244 people expelled as of Sunday.
[...]
The Dominican Republic was among the first countries to respond after the devastating 2010 earthquake in the Haitian capital, and has helped with reconstruction by securing contracts on major infrastructure projects since then. But relations between the two have soured since September when a Dominican court threatened to revoke citizenship for residents of the Dominican Republic of Haitian descent, which could affect 200,000 people.

Congresswoman Wilson urges Biden to suspend deportations to Haiti, 13 Feb 2021

Florida Democratic Congressman Frederica S. Wilson, who represents one of the largest Haitian-American communities in the United States, sent a letter to the Biden administration in response to the recent deportations to Haiti that took place under a federal public health law (rarely used in the past), known as "Title 42", used to restrict asylum seekers due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter urges the Biden administration to reverse this practice and suspend all deportations throughout the duration of the Covid pandemic.

Frederica S. Wilson recalls "[...] Haiti has faced severe economic and political struggles for years three centuries, but the COVID-19 pandemic and developing constitutional and security crises have compounded the island-nation's ["]exiting problems["]. Haiti is in no state to be accepting deportation [?] flights and many, if not all, of the migrants who are being sent there pose no national security risk [to USA]," adding "I was heartbroken to hear about the numbers of families and children being sent into these increasingly unstable conditions. While I am grateful for President Biden's leadership in seeking to end this pandemic and encouraged by his vision on immigration reform, we can and must do better."

archived VOA | Pelosi Discusses Haiti Crisis with Diaspora, 4 Oct 2019, The push to get Haitians to 'Hexit' from Democrats, 31 Oct 2019

USAID Administrator Samantha Power's Call with Prime Minister of Haiti

The Administrator received Prime Minister Henry's assessment of developments on the ground and made clear that the United States and USAID are committed to supporting his government by quickly addressing Haiti's urgent humanitarian needs. They discussed ways the United States can be most effective in providing the Haitian people with the help they need, including support for ongoing search and rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.

August 26, Administrator Samantha Power traveled to Haiti

Administrator Power, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele S. Sison, [et al.] conducted an aerial tour of affected areas in southwestern Haiti. The group then visited the commune of Maniche, in Les Cayes Depart, where they surveyed damage and discussed priority needs with community members and local first responders.

root causes, SOUTHCOM Commander Admiral Rev. Mr Faller

Administrator Power held a press conference in Port-au-Prince where she began by expressing her profound condolences to the families of the US service members and Afghans who were killed in Kabul today. She then described how USAID's $32 million < cue Dr Evil pinkie > in just-announced humanitarian assistance would support earthquake response efforts, including by supporting humanitarian partners delivering urgently needed health care services, emergency shelter and food, safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation assistance, gender-based violence prevention and response, child protection, and psychosocial support services.

White House seeks over $30B for disaster aid, Afghan refugees, 7 Sep 2021
"The administration is seeking roughly $24 billion for [domestic] disaster relief and $6.4 billion to support the relocation of tens of thousands of Afghans"

Iran permanent in membership in SCO diplomatic achievement: President Raeisi [_link]

— Press TV (@PressTV) September 18, 2021

Iran Gets Full Membership in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation | Caspian News |

USAID lol | January 2010 HAITI EARTHQUAKE
USAID lol | August 2021 HAITI EARTHQUAKE

NEW: From our @FoxNews drone, a look at the migrant camp under the international bridge in Del Rio this morning, where thousands migrants remain after they crossed into the US illegally. pic.twitter.com/06sUY2XCi5

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 19, 2021

1/ The making of the @gbdeclaration stars 4 doctors #JayBhattacharya@sunetragupta @MartinKulldorff @sdbaral
+ 1 journalist @davidzweig (whose questions are so incoherent & meandering they draw visible eye-rolls from others in the room)https://t.co/Ghy4h5KCg0 pic.twitter.com/jLW1IyYjmb

— Maya Chavez (@maya_chavez_) May 12, 2021

Most of the people Reuters spoke with had not come direct from Haiti

"most"? Did the others come on direct flights from Haiti to the middle of this bridge?

s/b their fathers' surnames

::

Mental disorder is a communicable disease.

Hush, Hush (Venezuela is Winning!)

So, the game-changing news that there are peace talks being held in México City between the Venezuelan government and opposition parties is ignored.  México is acting as host and facilitator with the kingdoms of Norway and Netherlands, and the Russian Federation as mediators. This seminal event has been scarcely reported by the North American media or commented on by politicians. Not a peep. Perhaps it is because neither the USA nor Canada have been permitted to be part of these negotiations, although certainly the USA has tried, and failed, to worm itself in.
[...]
The significance of this MOU is that

    + The extremist opposition parties at long last recognize the Venezuelan State, political institutions, and the legitimacy of President Nicolás Maduro. Previously, they had refused any dialogue alleging that Nicolás Maduro was not a legitimate president and demanding his resignation or new elections (which would have been against the Constitution) before they would even sit down to talk.

    + It spells the end of the US attempt to create a bogus alternative government with the fantasy that Juan Guaidó was any sort of president.

    + It indicates the end of the vicious Canadian absurdity of the Lima Group created solely to overthrow the Venezuelan government. Shockingly, at present, during an election campaign, not one Canadian media or party leader has reported the utter failure of this Liberal Party strategy of aggression towards Venezuela.

More signs of Taliban restricting women's rights

According to the AP news agency, staff of the World Bank's Women's Economic Empowerment and Rural Development Program, which was run out of the [Women's Affairs] ministry, were escorted off the grounds on Saturday.

Chorus of concerns

The United Nation's children's fund (UNICEF) said it was "deeply worried" for the future of girls' schooling in Afghanistan.

"It is critical that all girls, including older girls, are able to resume their education without any further delays. For that, we need female teachers to resume teaching," UNICEF said in a statement.

UNESCO's Director General Audrey Azoulay on Saturday added her voice to growing fears over the Taliban's limitations on girls' education.

"Should this ban be maintained, it would constitute an important violation of the fundamental right to education for girls and women," Azoulay said in a statement upon her arrival in New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly.

The Afghan Women's Network chief Mahbouba Seraj said she was astounded by the flurry of orders released by the Taliban-run government restricting women and girls.

"It is becoming really, really troublesome. ... Is this the stage where the girls are going to be forgotten?" Seraj said. "I know they don't believe in giving explanations, but explanations are very important."

Bad for business: World Bank China rigging scandal rattles investors

Incoherent, like Biden.

General election begins Monday, 20 Sep 2021, because UK governor governor agreed with Trudeau to dissolve parliament in August

primary poll today to elect Election Committee members who will select 40/90 city legislators in December 2021 and chief executive March 2022.

AP | head of Russia's Communist Party, the country's second-largest political party, is alleging widespread violations in the election

Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov said Saturday -- the second of three days of voting in the election -- that police and the national elections commission must respond to reports of "a number of absolutely egregious facts" including ballot-stuffing in several regions.
[...]
Central Elections Commission head Ella Pamfilova said later Saturday that more than 6,200 ballots have been annulled in five regions for procedural violations and ballot-stuffing.
[...]
some projections suggest the party could lose its current two-thirds majority, which is enough to change the constitution. The Communists are expected to pick up the biggest share of any seats lost by United Russia.

RU translation of Gina's "tactical vote" PR to social media "platforms"

The Communists are seen as potentially benefiting from the "Smart Voting" program promoted by Navalny and his team, which aims to weaken United Russia by advising voters on which candidates are in the strongest position to defeat United Russia's candidates.
[...]
In St. Petersburg, voter Pavel Ivanov said he had access to Smart Voting and followed its advice to vote for a small party that "does not meet my preferences to the full extent but (will) present a certain opposition to the ruling party."

Zyuganov said the party has tallied at least 44 incidents of voting violations and the Communists have applied for permits to hold protests next week after the voting ends Sunday.

Third and final day of parliamentary election --in-person, by mail, and innerboob

APsplainin Haitians on Texas border undeterred by US plan to expel them

Junior Jean, a 32-year-old man from Haiti, watched as people cautiously carried cases of water or bags of food through the knee-high river water. Jean said he lived on the streets in Chile the past four years, resigned to searching for food in garbage cans.

"We are all looking for a better life," he said.
[...]
A U.S. official told The Associated Press on Friday that the U.S would likely fly the migrants out of the country on five to eight flights a day, starting Sunday, while another official expected no more than two a day and said everyone would be tested for COVID-19. The first official said operational capacity and Haiti's willingness to accept flights would determine how many flights there would be. Both officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
[...]
"In Haiti, there is no security," said Fabricio Jean, a 38-year-old Haitian who arrived with his wife and two daughters. "The country is in a political crisis."

Haitians have been migrating to the U.S. in large numbers from South America for several years, many having left their Caribbean nation after a devastating 2010 earthquake. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus and car to the U.S. border, including through the infamous Darien Gap, a Panamanian jungle.
[...]
Crowd estimates varied, but Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano said Saturday evening there were 14,534 immigrants at the camp under the bridge. Migrants pitched tents and built makeshif t shelters from giant reeds known as carrizo cane. Many bathed and washed clothing in the river.

It is unclear how such a large number amassed so quickly, though many Haitians have been assembling in camps on the Mexican side of the border to wait while deciding whether to attempt entry into the U.S.

Over 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants sleeping under Texas bridge, more expected

The Haitians were joined by Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans under the Del Rio International Bridge across the Rio Grande connecting Ciudad Acuña in Mexico to Del Rio, Texas. They slept under light blankets, while a few pitched small tents.

Officials on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border said the majority of the migrants were Haitians and more are expected to arrive. Most of the people Reuters spoke with had not come direct from Haiti but had made long and harrowing journeys through Mexico and Central and South America.
[...]
In Ciudad Acuña, two workers at the main bus terminal said at least two dozen buses full of Haitians had arrived on Friday, with one putting the estimate of individual arrivals at around 1,100. A Mexican official said the number of migrants was around 12,000 on Friday afternoon.
[...]
Ali Sajous, 29, a Haitian migrant, said U.S. officials were handing out numbers for immigration processing and she, her husband and two-year-old daughter who arrived Monday were No. 910 in the families line. Authorities were processing No. 685 at the time, she said.

The U.S. authorities plan to put the Haitians in Del Rio on flights back to Haiti under a public health law known as Title 42, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Lewis G. Owens, a judge in Val Verde County, and an anonymous Biden administration official.
[...]
U.S. authorities arrested more than 195,000 migrants at the southwest border in August, according to government data released on Wednesday, a slight dip from the previous month but still around 20-year-highs.

Biden sends hundreds of border agents, steps up flights to remove Haitian migrants from south Texas

Expelling Haitian migrants from the United States - which is set to begin Sunday - is part of the Biden administration's six-point strategy for dealing with the increase in border crossings in Del Rio,  the Department of Homeland Security said Saturday.

The plan also calls for additional U.S. personnel at the border, relocating migrants to other processing locations and improving conditions for migrants in the U.S.

something blah something root causes blah Lithuania

Volgens Rutte zijn de verhoudingen tussen hemzelf en Sigrid Kaag de afgelopen dagen 'een stuk beter geworden'#WopkeHoekstra #JohanRemkes #MarkRutte [_link]

— H24 News Nederland (@h24news_nl) September 18, 2021

Estate De Zwaluwenberg - owner Prins Bernard

Spending to day in leisure "working" on a breakthrough to form a new coalition cabinet ... the result has just been announced ... black smoke and we need a week for recovery ... to be continued over a week 😡

Informer Remkes wants to talk about content: 'Otherwise I'm done with it' | Sept.  8, 2021 |

Maybe in the sense that if USA keeps pissing on EU, there may finally be room for discussion about the insanity if atlanticism. EU will tear itself apart when somebody presents the apostasy that any true security arrangement for Europe depends much more on relations to Russia than to USA.

Especially so since Biden seems to be oblivious to the reality of degenerating status of US as a superpower. If "Biden years" means more and more stick and less and less "allies", eventually even the European political elite, which is much more atlaticist than the population, will have to define European security in a new way.

At which point the multipolar, rules-based world order pushed by China and Russia may suddenly seem more alluring than fighting USA's wars and enforcing USA's sanctions.