America

Over the weekend we noted that the Trump administration was considering changing the U.S. trade deficit calculation to exclude re-exports from the US trade balance, a shift that would make America's trade gap appear even greater than it has been in recent years, potentially making future trade skirmishes and wars with America's export-heavy trade partners far more likely (see "White House May Change Calculation Of US Trade Deficit, Boosting Trade War Odds").

In the latest distancing by Trump administration advisors from recent statements by the President, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit on Monday to discuss the war effort against ISIS, and said that the US military is not in Iraq "to seize anybody’s oil."

Secretary of Defence, James Mattis, arrives in Baghdad, February 20, 2017

Via The Daily Bell

 

John McCain Becomes Critic in Chief of the Trump Administration ... Senator John McCain has long had a reputation as a political maverick. But with the rise of a president who has vowed to shatter the old order, Mr. McCain has emerged as an outspoken defender of longstanding Republican verities on foreign policy and as one of his party’s most biting critics of the new commander in chief. - New York Times

The always 'fair and balanced' New York Times' Nicholas Kristof (author of such 'real news' as "Donald Trump: Kremlin Employee of the Month?", "What Did Trump Know, and When Did He Know It?" and "Donald Trump: The Russian Poodle") has outdone himself with this week's 'opinion' piece, asking "We’re just a month into the Trump presidency, and already so many are wondering: How can we end it?"

Via The National Interest,

Victory by the 'Russia scare' coalition will limit America’s ability to fight ISIL, complicate efforts to win UNSC support for tough enforcement of the Iran nuclear deal and give China more leverage over both Moscow and Washington.