Distracted Media Fails To Catch Trump
Policy Decisions
By Moon Of
Alabama
January 24,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Moon
Of Alabama"
- For two days the media have been busy counting people
gathering in Washington DC. 90.3% of the voters in
Washington DC
had chosen Clinton.
A recent DC
gathering of a Republican aligned crowd on a rainy
work-day attracted many people. A following gathering of
a Democratic aligned crowd on a work-free day without
rain attracted more people.
The media
watched, counted and was "astonished". Thousands of
lines of "political analyses" were written to explain
the difference of the crowd size without mentioning the
significance of where it happened, what day of the week
it happened and the environmental circumstances. The
result of such analysis was a lot of bullshit.
The new Trump
administration was quite happy about this diversion of
attention. It additionally lampooned the media when its
new spokesperson condemned the press for not being able
to count at all. More lines of bullshit analysis were
written about that insult.
Just like
during the election campaign the media fell for the
cheap stunt and thereby missed the serious processes and
the decisions that were taking place behind the
curtains.
Today the Trump
administration
announced the end of the Trans Pacific Partnership
agreement:
The
president’s withdrawal from the Asian-Pacific trade
pact amounted to a drastic reversal of decades of
economic policy in which presidents of both parties
have lowered trade barriers and expanded ties around
the world. Although
candidates have often criticized trade deals on the
campaign trail, those who made it to the White
House, including President Barack Obama, ended up
extending their reach.
The NYT seems
astonished that, unlike Obama, Trump stood by his words.
The media had expected different and was distracted. It
failed to report the issue until the decision was taken.
The TPP would
have imposed "free trade" on more countries and
products. The "free" in those trades would have meant
that private companies would have been "free" to
overrule national governments and their jurisdiction.
They could have sued for "compensation" if a country,
for public health or environmental reasons, rejected or
hindered one of their businesses. Everyone should be
happy that this monster died.
In another
policy surprise a new coordination between Russian and
U.S. intelligence circles in Syria is
bearing fruits:
Russia has
received coordinates of Daesh targets in Al-Bab,
Aleppo Province, from the US via the 'direct line,'
the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.
The United
States has provided coordinates of the terrorists'
targets in the city of Al-Bab in Aleppo province for
Russian airstrikes. After the reconnaissance check,
Russia and two coalition jets have conducted joint
airstrikes on the Daesh targets in the region.
The U.S.
military seems to
deny:
Any
involvement or participation of American assets on
the ground in country, in support of a series of
Russian airstrikes against the northern Syrian town
of al-Bab was “100 percent false,” said Pentagon
spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway.
The U.S.
coalition spokesperson also
said it is:
"not
coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in
Syria"
Before jumping
up and down and claiming that the Russians are lying the
media should take a fine comb and reread the statements.
The DoD only
denied it coordinated airstrikes or helped with "assets
on the ground". It does not deny the transfer of
coordinates. The Russians do not claim U.S. airplanes
took part in the mission - only "coalition jets". Turkey
is part of the U.S. coalition and coordinates airstrikes
with the Russian forces in Syria:
Earlier,
Russian and Turkish combat planes have carried out a
new series of joint airstrikes against Daesh targets
in war-torn Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said
on Monday.
"The
Russian and Turkish planes carried out joint
airstrikes against Islamic State terrorists in the
outskirts of the town of al-Bab in Aleppo province
on January 21," the ministry said in a statement.
The Russian
statement is likely as correct as the DoD statement.
The political
significance here is the transfer of ISIS targeting
coordinates from some U.S. agency directly to the
Russian forces in Syria. That is something Russia has
asked for for over a year and it now suddenly seems to
happen.
This is next to
the TTP decision a second significant change under Trump
the media missed to report on as it developed.
While the
blustering against Trump in U.S. media as well as in
some countries abroad goes on and on, serious decisions
are taken and implemented by the new administration. The
media fail in some systematic way. Minor diversions from
"political correctness" are blown up into big headlines
while big policy decisions pass unnoticed. It is simple:
The task with reporting on the Trump administration is
the same as with any politician. Do not listen to what
they say, watch what they do. It is high time for the
media to get back to that basic rule.
Digression:
As a German I
am embarrassed on how much my government failed to
anticipate Trump and, since he is elected, fails to
prepare for the coming onslaught on its export
orientated economic model. Wages in Germany were held
down by all means (including by importing additional
workforce from Syria and elsewhere) and a huge export
surplus was created that benefited only a few moneyed
pockets. The scheme created a huge imbalance in Europe
and the credit crisis in Spain, Greece and elsewhere.
Trump's policies will finally blow this model apart.
But neither of
the ruling parties in Germany has yet developed an
alternative or prepared a way towards one. Germany needs
to re-orientate its industry from export to local
consumption. That requires higher buying power for the
general public via higher wages and lower taxes. A lower
degressive VAT compensated by higher progressive taxes
on non-work income would be a way to go. If such steps
are delayed the economic damage will be serious and
further open the way for a demagogic right.
The views
expressed in this article are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Information Clearing House. |
