Really hope this ends very soon… but honestly, it feels like the world’s gone mad.
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I have a friend from India, and just a couple of days before the missile strikes from Pakistan, I asked him if things could actually escalate. He reassured me, saying it’s usually just minor tensions that come and go. But now, after everything that’s happened, even he’s not so sure this will end quickly.
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The last thing the world needs right now is a nuclear conflict or the possibility of one; as I write this, there is a cease-fire.
No drop to food standards
US beef exports to the UK had been subject to a 20% tariff within a quota of 1,000 metric tons. The UK has scrapped this tariff and raised the quota to 13,000 metric tonnes, according to the White House document.
In return, the UK has been given the same quota at a lower rate in line with other countries.
Crucially, there will be no weakening of UK food standards on imports as part of this deal, the UK government statement said, insisting that American hormone-treated meat will not seep onto the UK market.
Many American farmers use growth hormones as a standard part of their beef production, something that was banned in the UK and the European Union in the 1980s.
The US has previously pushed for a relaxation of rules for its agricultural products, including beef from cattle that have been given growth hormones.
This is an area where the UK has chosen alignment with EU - and the forthcoming “Brexit reset” with the EU - over the US.
The tariff on ethanol coming into the UK from the US has also been scrapped.
The National Farmers Union said the inclusion of “a significant volume of bioethanol [a renewable fuel made from crops] in the deal raises concerns for British arable farmers”.
Has the United States experienced an increase in corruption at its highest levels?
Trump gifted luxury plane ahead of Middle East trip to use as Air Force One.
President Trump poised to accept $400 million jet from Qatar in unprecedented move
The plane would be donated to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation, which would allow President Trump to continue using it after leaving office.
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Great one=)
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Trump’s sons pushing family business deals in Qatar amid country’s rumored gift of $400m Air Force One replacement
The furor over Qatar possibly giving the U.S. a $400 million Boeing jet for Donald Trump to use as a replacement for Air Force One has highlighted administration figures’ thicket of concerning business connections to the country, as Trump prepares to visit the U.S. ally during a Middle East tour this week.
Last month, the Trump Organization, run by Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr, announced a deal with developers Dar Global and Qatari Diar to build a Trump International Golf Club featuring 18 holes and a series of Trump-branded luxury villas within a larger government development.
Elsewhere, state-backed funds from Qatar were part of a $6 billion funding round for Trump adviser Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, and a fund from Qatar is also invested in the private equity firm of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, meanwhile, once earned up to $115,000 per month lobbying for Qatar.
Amid mounting scrutiny of other Middle East-linked Trump deals, such as a United Arab Emirates state and royal family fund using $2 billion of crypto from Trump’s World Liberty Financial to invest in a crypto exchange.
MAGA activist Laura Loomer called the transfer a “stain” on the administration, while conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said such a deal did not fit with Trump’s promises to “drain the swamp” of Washington corruption.
The purported Air Force One replacement deal, which Qatar has insisted is still only under consideration, has attracted storms of criticism from Democrats as well as some conservatives. Many have pointed out Qatar’s funding of Hamas – estimated at some $1.8 billion since 2007 – while Trump attacks university protesters supporting Gaza.
MAGA activist Laura Loomer called the transfer a “stain” on the administration, while conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said such a deal did not fit with Trump’s promises to “drain the swamp” of Washington corruption.
A rising concern is Qatar’s influence on Trump and conflicts of interest as his sons negotiate deals with Qatar that will directly enrich the Trump family fortunes.
To guard against influence and bribery the Constitution’s emoluments clause prohibits any government official from accepting gifts from “any King, Prince or foreign State.
Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor who specializes in government ethics, told NPR that the plane “is not really a gift to the United States at all” if it’s going to end up at Trump’s presidential library.
Trump’s acceptance of the plane would constitute a personal gift and it would be a "pretty textbook case of a violation of the Emoluments Clause,” said Briffaut.
He also noted that the point of a gift like the plane is to make the U.S. president feel beholden.
Gifts are “designed to create good feelings for the recipient and to get some kind of reciprocity," Briffault said. “The thing that [Trump] can give [to Qatar], of course, is public policy — weapons deals or whatever. And then, of course, it’s an incentive to other countries to give similar gifts as another way of influencing presidential decision-making."
In addition, Trump’s company and sons are already trying to increase their fortunes in the region. “Is America’s best interest being served, or is it the best interests of the Trump Organization?” Jordan Libowitz of the nonprofit watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked NPR.
Trump, for his part, has defended the reported aircraft gift that has been described as a “flying palace“ for its opulence.
corruption?
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