LyrArc Article Gist
Some Russians see the Helsinki Summit as having the unintended effect of reducing the chances U.S. relations with Russia can be improved. Mr. Bolton, Trump's National Security Adviser wanted to see Mr. Trump bring up the issue of meddling in the election and seek public guarantees that this would not happen again. Trump's deference to Mr. Putin may result these Russians say in the U.S. Congress, media and public opinion limiting any repair of U.S. Russia relations that have fallen to new lows. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Britain's prime minister survives a vote in parliament called by the camp in her part that opposes a hard Brexit that calls for Britain severing connections with the EU. After she caved in to some demands from the camp that supports a hard Brexit on the issue of EU customs union, others with different views in her party called for a vote in parliament through an amendment. Theresa May survived this vote by just 6 votes following a vote a few days before called by the Brexit hard liner camp in her party which she survived. Britain's electoral Commission ruled that the Vote Leave campaign had violated the law by exceeding the spending limit of 7 million pounds by funnelling 675,000 pounds to BeLeave a pro Brexit youth group. There is now no certainty that a Brexit deal can make it through parliament if it is reached with the EU. A fresh election, or a second referendum on Brexit or terms of Brexit are likely if May's government collapses in 2018.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This WSj editorial says the meeting of president Trump and president Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018, projected weakness and was "a personal and national embarrassment." It say Mr Trump could not even support his own intelligence adviser Dan Coats over Mr. Putin. This will bring Democrats and Republicans together and offers ammunition for the president's opponents, says the Journal. 

It also says that on the Nordstream pipeline Mr. Trump was right about Germany having it own favorable dealings with Russia. On NATO the lack of strategy and Mr. Trump's swagger, saying what comes to his head for Mr. Trump, only weakens support for the alliance in the U.S. The NATO alliance with spending above 2% by Germany and France after calls by Mr. Trump for spending 4% strengthens NATO, yet weakens it by weakening the alliance with America's European partners. 

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. president Trump stands by president Putin as he denies Russian involvement in the U.S. presidential election of 2018. This contradicts the conclusions reached by U.S. intelligence agencies. Resulting in criticism from Republicans in his own party.

LyrArc Article Gist
Mark Landler of the NYT points out that president Trump has neglected all the conventions followed by American presidents abroad during his meeting in Helsinki with Russian president Putin. At the meeting both presidents in unison denied the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies and the Justice Department investigation. Nothing resembling this has happened with a U.S. president on foreign soil.

 

LyrArc Article Gist
The Putin Trump meeting in July 2018 creates a storm in the U.S. over denials by the Russian president and the U.S. president about any interference by Russia in the 2018 U.S. presidential election. As the New York Times reports all intelligence groups in the U.S. have confirmed the interference. The images of the two presidents saying this just as the Mueller investigation gathers evidence is one more unusual event in 2017-2018, with what was once seen as improbable taking place.

LyrArc Article Gist
The European Commission decision to fine Google $4.3 billion should help app developers come up with new apps that respect user privacy. Google has built up a huge base of data on users that enables it to dominate the market. The hope is that a new generation of apps will enforce users rights and ensure "privacy by design," create the transparency in functioning that is missing with Android. The Facebook scandal on privacy rights led to a shift in attitudes towards Android and the nature of its lack of transparency.

LyrArc Article Gist
A NATO summit has tension and uncertainty with president Trump pushing forward his idea that Europe should take on a larger share of the burden for its own defense. Some of this goal was achieved with the jawboning style of Mr. Trump- NATO plans to increase military spending and increase EUropean governments share of defense spending. A European Defense Fund with 13 billion euros of funding is being set up to develop military capabilities. This is also what Mr. Trump hopes to accomplish by using this approach where other approaches were resisted by Germany in previous American administrations from Bush to Obama. It is also why Mr. Trump says he thinks NATO is now stronger than before, even though his approach throughout is unorthodox from Korea to NATO. Europeans see a divergence between the U.S. and EU on issues- such as Iran, Middle East and Israel, and Mr. Trump's efforts to maintain good ties with Russia meeting Mr. Putin after the Summit. This leads to a sense that the U.S. cannot be depended on in the face of threats to the EU. Mr. Trump's policy suggests the U.S. has no permanent friends or permanent enemies, will follow its own interests independently of its transatlantic partners, says one expert. At the root of the problem lies Trump's conviction that the European nations benefit economically by spending less on defense and thrusting more of the burden on the U.S. -even after 2 costly wars have diminished American desire to take on responsibility especially as other economies have prospered better than the U.S. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In an earlier interview with the Sun newspaper, Mr. Trump said he disagreed with Theresa May's approach to Brexit and called it "turmoil" that Boris Johnson had resigned as Foreign Secretary. He went on to say that Boris Johnson would make a great prime minister, that May's handling could "kill" a trade deal with the U.S. At the meetings and press conference Trump reversed this and called it "fake news" as it did not tell the whole story and his positive comments. Trump said at the joint press conference with May that he was open to a trade deal and that how May handled Brexit was upto the prime minister- "Whatever you do is OK with me."

Protests took place in London for Trump's visit including a Blimp over London during the rally.

LyrArc Article Gist
Germany's goalie Neuer would stay outside his goal box so much of the time that it has become the norm for goalies to move out of their box to tackle incoming balls. In this World Cup Soccer the winning team goalies have stayed inside their box to make saves. Particularly true for France, Croatia's Subasic and goalies for Belgium and France. Most of the game depended on goalie saves for Croatia and France. Subasic and Lloris stayed inside the goalie's six yard box and made sensational saves. France's coach also wanted his goalie inside the box and to play the game the way it used to be played 20 years ago.

LyrArc Article Gist
Comments in the WSJ on the Trump - Putin meeting in Helsinki, and what the U.S. president should watch for in conversations and negotiations.  It says Mr. Putin's top priority is to shore up his prestige at home, to enhance his political standing. It says Mr. Trump is intent on showing the two countries can get along well but is skeptical of Mr. Putin's intentions on arms control and other issues. The efforts to increase the discord between the European Union and the U.S. are seen by the WSJ as Mr.Putin's effort to erode the will of the West to add to its capabilities. That any American president has to be wary of this effort especially in light of recent events.   From Mr. Putin's point of view the Russian economy is now in much better shape than when the "liberals" were running the country with a collapse of the Russian currency. The need to restore Russian prestige. That the expansion of the EUropean Union and NATO to the borders of Russia, and the situation in first Georgia and then Ukraine, required Russia to respond to protect its defense from foreign threats.This led to wars and intervention in Georgia and then Ukraine as part of Russian policy in response to advances of the West to its borders, and support of proxy governments in the Middle East. The response to economic sanctions was to turn to influence elections in the U.S. and Europe and the U.S. to soften sanctions. On the issue of sanctions this has not happened and the goal of Russia is to mitigate the effect of sanctions. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Women made large gains in the 2018 Mexico elections. WOmen won 49.2% of Mexico's 128 member Senate for a 50% increase. WOmen also won 47.8% of the lower house of Congress. In Mexico City, a city of 8.9 million people, the first female mayor was elected. In a country with macho politics this is a stunning change. A UN study shows only Belgium has a larger representation in the upper legislative chamber, and only Rwanda, Bolivia and Cuba have ahigher representation in the lower house of parliament. Not all the momentum for women comes from the election of Lopez Obrador. In 2014 the constitution of Mexico was changed requiring poltical parties to have male and female candidates in equal numbers at the federal, state and local levels. In fact of the more than 83,000 candidates seeking office nationwide, 50.4% were women. More than 89 million people registered to vote and female voters were 51.9% of the total. Mr. Lopez Obrador's encouragement added to the fervour for women to vote and women to fight for political office. It also helped Claudia Sheinbaum , a 56 year ol environmental engineer win the election for Mayor of Mexico City by a landslide. Sheinbaum was environmental chief under Mr. Obrador when he was Mayor 2000-2005. Her platform was to improve drinking water supplies and transportation services, expand free child care.  Some of Mr. Obrador's supporters say the agenda for reducing inequality by tackkling corruption, reducing government waste, increasing social spending on the poor helped rally women as candidates and voters. Obrador's conviction that women have a greater capacity for hard work also played a part. Sheinbaum was encouraged to run for office in 2015 and won as governor of Tlalpan, one of Mexico City's 16 boroughs. After the 2006 election loss of Obrador for the presidency she had returned to research work at the National Autonomous University. The entry of women is also seen as a way to bring new approaches to tackle the problems of inequality and corruption after the male dominated established parties from the Calderon-Pena era failed to address these problems. ...