Stephan: History is going to show that Donald Trump was the worst president in American history. Through stupidity, incompetence, pettiness, and criminality he changed the geopolitics of the world to America's detriment while facilitating the mass death of the people he was sworn to serve.
The largest free trade area in the world came into existence over the weekend — and the U.S. was not even invited.
Why it matters: For the first time in living memory, the hegemon at the center of a major global free trade agreement is not the U.S.
China has stepped into Uncle Sam’s shoes, and now anchors the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, an area covering 2.2 billion people and 1/3 of all the economic activity on the planet.
The big picture: President-elect Joe Biden is expected to seek a broad multilateral alliance to pressure China on everything from trade to human rights once he becomes president. But China is making broad multilateral alliances of its own.
RCEP includes rich democracies such as South Korea, Japan, and Australia. Their position in this major free trade area will make it that much harder for Biden to unite them against China.
Flashback: The Obama administration was explicit that the U.S. should be the anchor of a Pacific Rim trade agreement, the TPP, that pointedly excluded China.
Stephan: Our democracy is in tatters, and I agree with what this article (note in a British paper) proposes. I also think it is time to call a spade a spade. The Republican Party is actively trying to sabotage American democracy.
Both Biden and Trump supporters gathered outside the convention center in Philadelphia where ballots were being counted on 6 November after the presidential election. Credit: RMV/Rex/Shutterstock
On 7 November the United States pulled back from the brink of re-electing a president who has repeatedly shown disdain for democratic norms and institutions. Donald Trump has fused his own business interests with the White House, dubbed the media “enemies of the people”, embraced foreign strongmen, sidelined science and politicized the justice department, falsely cast doubt on the electoral process and is currently distinguishing himself as the first sitting president since 1800 to frustrate a peaceful transition of power.
But as great escapes go, this one came bone-rattlingly close to collapsing. More people voted for Trump in the 2020 election – some 71 million Americans – than for any other presidential candidate in US history, other than Joe Biden himself. It took gargantuan determination to unseat him, with historically high turnout and black voters leading the way. And it happened in spite of, not because of, the unique features of US democracy.
The election exposed deep flaws in how Americans choose their […]
Stephan: Lindsey Graham was recently re-elected by the morons of South Carolina, a state which should be ashamed of itself. And one of his first acts, which if it isn't criminal should be, was to pressure the Secretary of State of Georgia to rig the election. The Republican Party has become a criminal cult. I think that is undeniable.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday that he has come under increasing pressure in recent days from fellow Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who he said questioned the validity of legally cast absentee ballots, in an effort to reverse President Trump’s narrow loss in the state.Follow the latest on Election 2020
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Credit: AP
In a wide-ranging interview about the election, Raffensperger expressed exasperation over a string of baseless allegations coming from Trump and his allies about the integrity of the Georgia results, including claims that Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based manufacturer of Georgia’s voting machines, is a “leftist” company with ties to Venezuela that engineered thousands of Trump votes to be left out of the count.
The atmosphere has grown so contentious, Raffensperger said, that he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read: “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”
“Other than getting you angry, it’s also very disillusioning,” Raffensperger said of the threats, “particularly when […]
Stephan: Mitch McConnell has made it clear that what he and his party care about is power. Ordinary Americans, American democracy, not of any interest. Thanks, Kentucky for voting back into office a grifter fascist, who is going to screw you over in every way he can if that is what it takes for him to stay in power.
Mitch McConnell
Unless something truly extraordinary intervenes, we are on the cusp of what could become the bleakest winter in living memory. There are 166 days standing between us and a time when most of the country will be back into something akin to warm weather. The remainder of November, followed by December, January, February, March and April, almost 24 weeks of the long, cold dark and the menace of COVID-19, will be the collective fate of much of the country.
“In earlier surges, infections were concentrated in cities such as New York and Chicago, or populous states like Florida and Texas,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Many of the outbreaks then were linked to travelers returning from overseas or so-called superspreading events such as conferences, weddings and rallies. Now, it is everywhere. People are becoming infected not just at big gatherings, but when they let their guard down, such as by not wearing a mask, while going about their daily routines or in smaller social settings that they thought of as safe — often among their own […]
Stephan: At a time when the American media seems to be filled only with the hurtful, petty, criminality of Trump and the Republican Party, I thought my readers would appreciate some excellent good news about the world moving out of the carbon era, in spite of all the Trumpian madness.
Solar in Portugal Credit: ACCIONA Energy
The world’s best solar power schemes now offer the “cheapest…electricity in history” with the technology cheaper than coal and gas in most major countries.
That is according to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2020. The 464-page outlook, published today by the IEA, also outlines the “extraordinarily turbulent” impact of coronavirus and the “highly uncertain” future of global energy use over the next two decades.
Reflecting this uncertainty, this year’s version of the highly influential annual outlook offers four “pathways” to 2040, all of which see a major rise in renewables. The IEA’s main scenario has 43% more solar output by 2040 than it expected in 2018, partly due to detailed new analysis showing that solar power is 20-50% cheaper than thought.
Despite a more rapid rise for renewables and a “structural” decline for coal, the IEA says it is too soon to declare a peak in global oil use, unless there is stronger climate action. Similarly, it says demand for gas could rise 30% by 2040, unless the policy response […]
