Steel and Aluminum

Donald Trump is an agitator. He has been stirring up all kinds of political, economic and military storms everywhere, and then his words and positions are ever changing from one day to another. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trump is not only against China in her so-called unfair trading, but now he is also against Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU). So far it appears that he is good at breaking deals, but not making deals. I am waiting to see what he is going to do with the upcoming summit with Kim Jong-un of North Korea. I still wish him success in bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding Canada and U.S. relations, it just doesn’t make any sense for Trump to say that the U.S. is under threat and security risk of Canada. Why subject Canada to steel and aluminum tariffs? Please don’t give me a stupid answer of why not.

No Trade War

China and the Unites States say that they will not engage in a trade war. This is good for both countries and the world.

U.S. Iran Nuclear Deal (2)

On July 15, 2015, I wrote about the U.S. IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL in much detail. Now, the majority of people are against Donald Trump's withdrawal of this deal . I still think that a peace deal is better than no deal, but a few people like Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the U.S. neo-con war hawks would say that no deal is better than a bad deal. --------------------------------------------------------------------- A deal is a deal; good or bad, a deal has been made, so please think about the meaning and consequence of the U.S. withdrawal by Donald Trump, the current POTUS. I don't have a good feeling about it.

Peace in Korean Peninsula

There is hope for peace in the Korean Peninsula. Moon Jae-in,President of South Korea(ROK) will meet with Kim Jong-un,Supreme Leader of North Korea (DPRK). Kim has gone to China to meet with Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China. Then Donald Trump, President of the United States of America(USA) will meet with Kim Jong-un. This kind of direct meetings is of the highest level between countries. ____________________________________________________________________________ Although I am hopeful for peace, I don't think that we should expect all the problems can be resolved in one go. The Korean war is still technically not yet over. The 1953 agreement was only a truce. It was an armistice agreement, not a peace treaty. Although South Korea was not a signatory to that agreement signed by the U.S., China and North Korea, it should now sign a peace treaty with North Korea, to officially end the Korean War. ____________________________________________________________________________ Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a serious matter. I don't think North Korea is willing to give up its development of nuclear weapons as the U.S. demands, unless its security can be guaranteed. To put it bluntly, Kim Jong-un just doesn't want his country to be invaded and destroyed by the U.S. like what happened to Iraq and Libya. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine that Donald Trump will agree to withdraw all 26,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. One would ask this question: now that both ROC and DPRK want peace, why is the U.S. still here? Shouldn't the U.S. troops go home? It seems clear that the problem is not so much between the two Koreas, but rather between North Korea and the U.S. ____________________________________________________________________________ I think this whole thing of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and working for peace cannot be achieved without the inclusion of the U.S. and China. Donald Trump has been saying that Xi Jinping has helped him a lot in dealing with North Korea. Indeed China has a peaceful foreign policy; there is no reason that President Xi would be against a peaceful Korean Peninsula. ____________________________________________________________________________ As said earlier, we should not expect all the problems can be resolved in one go. If a peace treaty is signed between the two Koreas, backed by the U.S. and China of course, then I'll consider it a success, a first step towards permanent peace. I'm sure that Donald Trump would claim merit, but let him. I would even nominate Trump, Xi, Kim and Moon for a Nobel Peace Prize. If they won, Donald Trump would be able to proudly show Obama that he won due to his competence, while Obama had been undeservedly given the peace prize even before he started to work. Yes, I think there is some kind of personal dislike and vendetta between Trump and Obama. ____________________________________________________________________________ Let's hope for Peace!

Petro Yuan

Today is the launching date of Oil futures trading in Chinese Yuan convertible to Gold. The US Petro Dollar is no longer King.

You Are Tillersoned

Most people know that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been fired by U.S. President Donald Trump. __________________________________________________ Firing people is what Donald Trump good at. Before and after he became the U.S. President, he has been firing many people one after another. When you heard the name Trump, someone would be dumped. __________________________________________________ In this case, Rex’s last name ‘Tillerson’ has become a verb. If someone is dumped or fired, you can say that he or she has been ‘tillersoned’. Rex, I’m sorry that you have been ‘tillersoned’!

Donald Trump's Conflict of Interest

A friend in Facebook posted a news article titled ‘Trump’s Biggest Potential Conflict of Interest’. The headline refers to Donald Trump’s tenant on the 20th floor of the Trump Tower, namely the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), in which the Chinese Government has a majority of ownership. _________________________________________________ These are my thoughts and comments: If my memory is correct, the conflict of interest law in the U.S. does not apply to the U.S. President. In the U.S., much corruption is legalized or made legal. Lobbying is in a sense legalized bribery. There are so many ways to bribe a politician in the U.S., such as making huge political donations, giving ridiculously high speaking fees, and doing inside trading by members of Congress who are immune from prosecution, etc. etc. _________________________________________________ There are people in this world who are above or beyond the law, like the Pope, the kings and queens, the world leaders such as George Bush, the former U.S. President and Tony Blair, the former UK Prime Minister who invaded Iraq and caused the death of tens of thousands if not millions of innocent people. Who has the guts and means to bring these people to justice, if they did break the law? _________________________________________________ But then what would you do if you were Donald Trump? Tell his tenants to move out of the Trump Tower, let the rental space stay vacant and give up all the lucrative rental fees? To close and sell all his businesses? Is it even workable? What would you suggest? _________________________________________________ All said, we should understand that U.S.A. is not a socialist country. Capitalism and Individualism are high American values. In their extreme forms of ideology and selfish practices, Democracy in the U.S. is not so much about the politicians, the elites and the rulers helping the common people but rather helping themselves and supporting the rich and powerful. _________________________________________________ The U.S. is a republic, yes, a democracy in political system, ideology and appearance, but its socio-economic and political reality is rather more like a Plutocracy and Oligarchy. Power to the rich, money to the powerful, and if you are one of the common people, then sorry, you are on your own!