President Donald Trump swept into power with an ultra-nationalist agenda. He vowed to make America great, shun alliances and pursue an America First policy. He wanted to build a wall on the US-Mexican border, stop or minimize immigration, charge allies for upkeep of NATO forces and many more policies of similar vein.
He did in fact begin implementing his election promises. He proposed to charge the Mexican government half the cost of building the boundary wall separating the US from Mexico. But the Mexican government outright rejected the proposal. He imposed a travel ban on a group of Muslim majority countries. However, the Supreme Court shot it down. He vowed to conduct a trade war with China and his election campaign was full of anti-China tirades. Now he has retreated diplomatically from that position and considers the Chinese President a close ally.
On North Korea too he beat a hasty retreat after sending a US aircraft-carrier to the Korean Sea and is now ready to have direct talks with the North Korean regime.
He persistently stood firm only on one issue, viz., that of annulling Obamacare or Health Insurance. After several attempts he did manage to get a narrow win in the US Congress. Yet the Senate approval is not a foregone conclusion. In any case it is doubtful whether he would be able to overturn the benefits of Obamacare. Senate Republicans are mulling a new version of healthcare which would actually deprive millions of health insurance. It is estimated that over 24 million would lose health insurance over the next decade. In 2018 alone 14 million would lose those benefits.
On NATO Trump told his voters that it is obsolete and castigated US allies for not contributing enough for its maintenance. Now he is meeting NATO leaders at a summit and has recognized its necessity.
As soon as he assumed the Presidency Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister and at a meeting with him he expressed his wish to shift the US Embassy in Palestine to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. However, he later postponed the move. He also distanced himself from the two-state solution, from which position too he has now distanced himself.
During his election campaign Trump promised to cancel United States commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement in which 200 nations promised to limit their Green House gases in order to prevent global temperature rising above 1.5 0 C above the pre-industrial level. Yet after meeting Pope Francis the US Foreign Secretary said that no final decision has been made on withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.
In a sense it seems that President Trump has been tamed somewhat. Why? It is because the real rulers in Washington are not the elected leaders but Wall Street and the military-industrial complex controlled by them. Just look at Trump’s trusted advisors and Secretaries. Gary Cohn, top Economic advisor is a former Goldman Sachs President. Steve Munchin, Treasury Secretary is also a long time Goldman Sachs partner and top executive. Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary is a billionaire investor. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a Presidential Advisor is a hedge fund financier.
It is only on the last day that Trump administration unveiled a plan for “asset recycling” – an infrastructure plan under which state assets such as profit-making airports, Roads, etc. would be leased or sold to the private sector and the federal government would pay a bonus to such state organs that oblige. Ultimately Wall Street would run all profit making concerns leaving the public sector with less profit-friendly ones.
Manchester blast: US accused of interfering in investigations
British authorities investigating the terrorist attack in Manchester, in which 22 persons including children died and over 50 persons were injured, have complained that United States intelligence officials have leaked to the media sensitive information that would compromise their investigations.
British authorities who identified the attacker quickly decided to keep it a secret and move quickly to rope- in his network of contact and action. However, the US media broadcasted information about the perpetrators of the Act including visual productions thus making the ISIS and accomplices of the crime privy to sensitive information including possible evidence against them and giving them an opportunity to thwart investigations.
The British media reported: “that Under the Five Eyes agreement, a huge quantity of signals intelligence is automatically shared among the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. on the understanding that the secrecy is respected and maintained by all governments.
Even beyond that, the U.K. and U.S. have perhaps the world’s closest intelligence-sharing relationship—relying on one another for assistance on tracking down bad actors and their accomplices scattered across global terror networks.”
The breach of trust was so heavy that British Home Secretary openly criticized US intelligence officials in public. Even the Counter Terrorism Unit of the British Police issued a statement that such breach of trust “undermines these relationships, and undermines our investigations and the confidence of victims, witnesses and their families."
Citizen’s Revolution consolidates in Ecuador
Lenin Moreno who won at the elections on April 2 was sworn-in as President of Ecuador May 24. A candidate of the Movimento Alianza de PAIS (Movement for the Alliance for Peace), he was the former Vice-President under President Rafael Correa. His victory marks a resurgence of the leftward shift of power in the Continent of America following the victory of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. It is a break in the reverse process that was registered in some other Latin American countries with the active assistance of the United States.
President Correa was able to defeat two attempted conspiracies to topple his regime. Under Correa Ecuador has recorded impressive gains in redistributing national wealth in favour of the have nots. For example, minimum wage has increased from US $ 170 to US$ 375 during the last ten years. During the same period poverty was reduced from 61 percent to 35 percent lifting 2 million out of poverty. Today Ecuador uses almost 90 percent of its energy requirements from renewable sources. 
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