August, 2021

• 8 August

  Trump’s lawyers can be inconsistent. Liberals can’t

  

  Lawyers are accustomed to dismissing the various arguments that Donald Trump has made in court over the years, or even laughing at them. His claim that he should be immune from lawsuits for his actions on Janaury 6 because he was exercising his official duties is a little different. It needs to be considered seriously in the context of his ...

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• 8 August

  O Delta, Delta, wherefore art thou Delta?

  

  In the early days of the pandemic, a Sinophobic American president delighted in melodramatically calling the bug “the China virus.” After all, it was nasty — another word he relishes — just like, in his opinion, that rival power. In terms purely of nomenclature, Donald Trump was actually in excellent historic company. As long as anybody can remember, people have ...

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• 8 August

  Buffett’s cash trap can snare Big Tech, too

  Jeff Bezos, since stepping away from Amazon.com Inc, has become the latest billionaire to head to space. Meanwhile, Facebook Inc’s Mark Zuckerberg is eyeing life in the metaverse. But don’t expect to see Warren Buffett riding on the next rocket ship for his 91st birthday this month or talking up virtual dimensions in Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s earnings report. Unlike some ...

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• 8 August

  Belarus strongman is pushing his luck now

  Once a regime has plucked a commercial airliner out of the sky to snatch a single journalist, its capacity to shock the rest of the world should theoretically diminish. And yet, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has managed. At home, he has brutally suppressed civil society and critics, with one would-be adversary from 2020’s presidential race sentenced to 14 years in ...

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• 8 August

  US needs to build more, faster to reach net zero

  

  Bloomberg After years of waiting, Infrastructure Week finally happened. US senators reached a bipartisan agreement on a $550 billion infrastructure bill, working through the weekend to finalise the text. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill could be voted on “in a matter of days.” While Congress was debating the size of the check, researchers at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center ...

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• 8 August

  Biden’s Putin policy tested as jailed Marines bid to go home

  

  Bloomberg Two former US Marines imprisoned in Russia are likely to seek transfers to the US to serve their sentences, an early test of whether the Kremlin is ready to respond to President Joe Biden’s policy of re-engagement. Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years for spying last year, is expected to submit the request this month, according to ...

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• 8 August

  US calls in airstrikes to defend Afghan allies amid exit

  

  Bloomberg US military aircraft have been hitting ground targets in Afghanistan in an effort to protect allies, according to US Central Command, as the Taliban makes rapid advances in the void left by withdrawing American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops. “US forces have conducted several airstrikes in defense of our Afghan partners in recent days,” US Air Force Maj. ...

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• 8 August

  Angela Merkel’s bloc retreats in new poll

  

  Bloomberg Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party bloc declined in a poll that suggested momentum for the Social Democrats and their candidate, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz. The weekly Insa poll hints at the challenge faced by Armin Laschet, the leader of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, who’s running to replace her after the September 26 federal election. Scholz is the ...

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• 8 August

  China calls on US to stop meddling in HK affairs

  Bloomberg China called on the US to respect Chinese sovereignty and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs, in a response to President Joe Biden’s move to offer some Hong Kong residents temporary safe haven. A memo signed by the US president August 5 showed gross interference in Hong Kong and China’s internal affairs, Hua Chunying, spokesperson for Chinese Foreign Ministry, ...

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• 8 August

  S Africa’s ANC raises alarm over deputy president’s health: FT

  Bloomberg Leaders of the ruling African National Congress are debating whether South African Deputy President David Mabuza is medically fit to remain in office, the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times reported. The party’s National Working Committee discussed Mabuza’s prolonged absence once he returned to South Africa following treatment in Russia for an unspecified ailment, the newspaper reported.

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