“To its credit, Clinton’s memoir is serious, sober and substantive…. No fair-minded reader could finish this book and doubt Clinton’s essential command of the issues, whatever one might think of her solutions for them. She roams widely and delves into war and peace, terrorism and Russia, economic development and women’s rights. She knows the players and the history.” (Peter Baker, New York Times Book Review)
Mrs. Clinton was asked on PBS’s NewsHour whether the trade deal is “something you could support?”No profile in courage.
Her reply: “What I know about it, as of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it. And there is one other element I want to make, because I think it’s important. Trade agreements don’t happen in a vacuum, and in order for us to have a competitive economy in the global marketplace, there are things we need to do here at home that help raise wages. And the Republicans have blocked everything President Obama tried to do on that front. So for the larger issues, and then what I know, and again, I don’t have the text, we don’t yet have all the details, I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set.”
So she hasn’t seen the agreement’s text, and can’t speak to the details, but she’s against the deal because Republicans who haven’t held the White House in seven years haven’t raised wages.
The media has largely given Trump a pass for his suggestion that he was the lone voice of dissent about the war, long after the U.S. invasion. Several journalists noted during real-time debate coverage online and on Twitter that the Iraq War started over a year before he said he was against it. But similar fact-checking has been absent from recent TV news interviews, in which Trump has seized upon his summer 2004 position to trumpet his foreign policy foresight as he campaigns to be the next commander-in-chief.
There's some evidence Trump wasn't happy with the war effort early on. About a week after the March 19, 2003 invasion, he described the war as a “mess” when The Washington Post approached him at an Oscar after-party.
But recently, Trump has primarily cited an article published by Reuters in July 2004 -- entitled "Donald Trump Would ‘Fire’ Bush Over Iraq Invasion" -- to illustrate his farsightedness about the war.
The oft-cited Reuters story doesn't provide a comprehensive look at Trump’s foreign policy worldview. It’s a brief article that references his comments in an Esquire cover story published the same week. The , and other outlets, also ran stories quoting Trump’s provocative comments to Esquire.
In the Esquire interview, Trump called the Iraq War a “mess," while also harshly criticizing how the Bush administration handled it. He dismissed the idea of Iraq becoming truly democratic, and predicted the U.S. withdrawal would lead to “a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over.”
The Cuban and American governments have agreed to work hand in hand to protect marine life in the seas that join their countries, a move that represents the first environmental dividend of a thaw between the two Cold War foes.
Under an agreement announced Monday at an oceans conference in Valparaíso, Chile, government agencies from Cuba and the United States are to map marine life in protected areas in the Florida Straits and Gulf of Mexico and compile an inventory of shared species.
South American countries, which enjoyed an economic fiesta in recent years thanks to record high world prices for their commodity exports, are suddenly finding themselves simultaneously hurt by China’s slowdown, lower commodity prices, a flight away from developing countries by international investors, and a stronger dollar that makes their imports of manufactured products more expensive.
Complicating matters further, Brazil, the giant economic engine that pulls several of its neighbors, is suffering one of its worse economic and political crises in recent years. Its economy is expected to have a negative growth rate of about 2 percent this year.
For the first time in 25 years, with one exception in 2009, Latin America’s overall economic growth may be negative this year.
