Tuesday, May 30

Sen. John McCain ~ Putin the 'most important threat, more so than ISIS'








Putin the 'most important threat, more so than ISIS'





While overseas in Australia for security talks, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is “the premier and most important threat, more so than ISIS.”

“I think ISIS can do terrible things, and I worry a lot about what is happening with the Muslim faith, and I worry about a whole lot of things about it,” McCain told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview today.

“But it is the Russians who are trying, who tried to destroy the very fundamental of democracy, and that is to change the outcome of an American election,” he said, referring to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

“So I view Vladimir Putin ... I view the Russians as the far greatest challenge that we have,” said McCain, who serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Kushner asked Russian ambassador for back channel on Syria and other policy matters
Trump praises Australian universal health care system at meeting with prime minister
When asked about the reports that Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner sought to set up back-channel communications with Russia about Syria and other policy matters, McCain said, “I don’t like it. I just don’t.”

“I know that some administration officials are saying, ‘Well, that’s standard procedure,’” he elaborated. “I don’t think it is standard procedure prior to the inauguration of a president of the United States by someone who is not in an appointed position.”

McCain’s comments come after Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly’s interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, in which Kelly said it would be “both normal ... and acceptable” to have back-channel communications.

McCain was one of the few senators to reach out to Australia after President Donald Trump’s January phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in which Trump got upset over an Obama-era deal between the countries for the U.S. to accept refugees from Australia.

In a statement on Feb. 2, McCain said he called Australia’s ambassador to the U.S., Joe Hockey, to “express my unwavering support for the U.S.-Australia alliance.”

McCain was warmly welcomed to the Parliament of Australia today in Canberra, and he laid a wreath at the Australian War Memorial.



http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/as-it-happens/segment/12793697

http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/as-it-happens/segment/12793697

PBS NewsHour full episode May 29, 2017

Trump and Merkel - 2017-05-30




OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau was tugged between dual loyalties spanning the Atlantic Ocean as he committed Tuesday to working with the United States and Europe for the economic good of all Canadia
In the end, he sided subtly with Europe, in the stormy transatlantic rift that emerged between the continent and the U.S. following President Donald Trump's debut at the G7 and NATO summits.
"We will always work together and highlight the shared values that are equally important on both sides of the Atlantic, including in the United States," Trudeau told reporters as he wrapped his trip to Italy, following his appearance at the two summits.
He also pledged his ongoing support for the Canada-EU free trade deal and a commitment to fight climate change as ways to create jobs.
Though Trump is no fan of liberalized trade or climate change accords, Trudeau made clear he would defend the merits of both by continuing to argue — as he has tried to constructively with Trump — that both are good for economic growth.
"The way we can work on that together where we have discussions, where we agree, is going to continue to be based in openness, in frankness, in robust exchanges," said Trudeau.
But it was in a speech to Italy's Chamber of Deputies that Trudeau unleashed his most severe public criticism of Trump to date, said Stephen Saideman, a foreign relations expert at the Norman Paterson School of International Relations at Carleton University.
Trudeau noted the anxiety created by "the twin forces of technology and globalization," and said those forces can be harnessed to help deal with problems like climate change.
"Leaders who think we can hide from these changes, or turn back the clock, are wrong," Trudeau declared.
Saideman called that a clear criticism of Trump, one that aligns Trudeau with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's post-summit disappointment with the president.
"It's sort of putting Trump into the dinosaur category," said Saideman.
"He's been resistant to being pushed by the NDP or by members of his own party to speak out strongly against Trump. Now we see him taking a cautious stance, but still a pretty clear stance."
Merkel suggested there has been a disappointing shift in relations between Europe and the U.S. after the continent couldn't reach a climate change deal with Trump at the G7. Merkel said the time had come to for Europeans to "take our destiny into our own hands.
Unlike Merkel, who faces an election later this year and won't win votes if she sides with Trump, Trudeau must build bridges with the mercurial U.S. president because Canada is economically intertwined with its No. 1 trading partner.
Canada will join the U.S. and Mexico at the bargaining table later this summer to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Saideman said the Trudeau government can still tend to its all-encompassing economic relationship with the U.S. by continuing its full-court political press on all levels of government, including the two houses of Congress.
"The reality is most of the damage that Trump can do, in terms of trade, can only be done with the consent of Congress, so Canada's in good shape because they've got allies in Congress."
Trudeau also found himself offside with Trump at the NATO summit in Brussels, prior to his arrival in Italy. Trump blasted 23 of NATO's 28 members for not spending enough on the military alliance to meet its two-per-cent of GDP target, a group that includes Canada.
The government presents its long-awaited defence policy review next week, but few are expecting it to contain a major spending boost.
Dave Perry, senior analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said he doesn't think Canada will be making any changes to the document after the NATO summit.
He predicted strained relations between NATO and the U.S. going forward, but suggested that Trudeau is still well placed to act as an "interlocutor" between the two groups because he still has a more constructive relationship with Trump than most other leaders.

Merkel warns Trump he risks isolating the U.S.