| | | | The allegations contained in special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort "are enough to frighten any friend of America," The Financial Times argues.
"If they are true, Donald Trump's campaign manager from March to August 2016 -- a period encompassing his nomination by the Republican party -- was a criminal. Not a criminal in some abstract or technical sense: Mr Manafort is accused of laundering millions of dollars, evading taxes, and concealing his role as a lobbyist for a foreign government," the FT editorializes.
"The latter point is the most alarming. It raises the possibility that a foreign power, without knowledge of the electorate, influenced the policy of the party that ultimately won the presidency. During last year's Republican convention in Cleveland, Mr Trump's aides pushed to scrub the party platform of language supporting arming Ukraine against Russian-backed separatists. Whether or not this would have been sound policy, it would certainly have pleased former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich and his pro-Russian Party of Regions -- Mr Manafort's alleged clients." - The Papadopolous angle. The indictment of Manafort will get the headlines, but former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleading guilty to lying to the FBI could be a bigger problem for the president, argues Chris Cillizza for CNN.
"[W]hat Papadopolous has already admitted to doing -- lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian operatives regarding 'dirt' on Trump's general election opponent -- is a very big deal. A bigger deal -- in terms of the investigation into Russia's attempted meddling in the election and allegations of collusion -- than the dozen counts laid out in the Manafort indictment." - Collateral damage for Dems? Prominent Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta is stepping down, CNN reports, after his firm appeared in the Manafort indictment as "Company B."
"This year, it came to light that Podesta Group had not fully disclosed the extent of its work lobbying for a Ukrainian group also tied to Manafort, CNN reported. It subsequently amended its required filings…When asked about Monday's developments, the company referred to an earlier statement saying it 'fully disclosed' its work with the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine and met its disclosure filing requirements."
| | Why Xi Might Regret Having All That Power | | With his "Thought" officially enshrined in the Communist Party constitution, Chinese President Xi Jinping is widely seen as his country's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. But he may come to regret acquiring all that power, suggests Kerry Brown in the South China Morning Post.
"In the Maoist era, Mao Zedong Thought was, at least briefly, a living faith, that swept up millions upon millions of people across China. It was something people literally lived and died for," Brown writes.
"The party [remains] powerful and coherent in itself. But in ways in which this was not true in the Maoist era, it serves at the people's pleasure. It has to deliver growth, a good environment, and a better lifestyle, and deliver these things quickly, to one of the toughest audiences in the world. And there are plenty of things in the next few years during this complex era of transition that could go wrong, and make this very powerful group of people with Xi at their heart looking very unpowerful indeed." | | The Danger of Making It Easier to Kill Terrorists | | | Plans to loosen the rules for killing suspected terrorists are being "branded as getting decisions out of the White House and into the hands of commanders in the field," writes Daniel R. Mahanty in USA Today. But rather than making things easier for U.S. forces, it could ultimately make things much more complicated.
"Any policy that increases the likelihood of expanding American military operations in the absence of debate and proper authorization from America's highest legislative body, risks undermining American democracy by obscuring the truth of U.S. involvement in war and its deadly costs," Mahanty writes.
"The proposed changes also risk further legitimating acts proscribed by international law, and thus weakening international norms in which the U.S. government has invested much to preserve an order which overwhelmingly serves its interests. Lowering the bar for taking the life of a person outside of (and sometimes within) a situation of armed conflict without due process should not be taken lightly. This trend could at some point cost America's relationship with allies who support American counterterrorism operations on the basis of at least some pretense to lawfulness." | | About Those Calls for Big Tax Cuts… | | As Congress grapples with tax reform, supporters of big tax cuts suggest that "nothing is more important than lowering taxes on our nation's wealthiest 'job creators.'" But the evidence at the state level suggests something quite different, argues Carl Davis in Fortune. Indeed, the economies of states with the highest income taxes outperform those with no income tax at all.
"Over the last decade, states with the highest top tax rates saw their economies grow by 25.8% on a per-person basis, while those states without income taxes saw growth of just 17.4%. This growth isn't just about numbers in a spreadsheet or bragging rights. It has translated into an improved quality of life for the residents of states with higher income tax rates," Davis writes.
"To be clear, these types of cross-state comparisons don't prove that higher income taxes are causing faster growth in the states that have embraced them. But they do cast serious doubt on claims that lowering income taxes is a surefire way to grow the economy." | | Negotiators for the 11 countries remaining in the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the U.S. withdrew began talks Monday aimed at securing a "broad accord on the new deal" before a ministerial meeting next month, the Japan Times reports.
Executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter are scheduled to testify Wednesday in front of U.S. House and Senate intelligence committees about Russian use of social media in last year's election. Heather Timmons notes for Quartz: "Already, Senators have written a bill that would require companies to provide more information about political ads, and companies are eager to prove there's no need for even more regulation."
President Trump departs for a 12-day trip to Asia beginning this week that will take in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Michael Green writes for Foreign Policy that U.S. partners in the region are increasingly alarmed that Trump's anti-trade campaign rhetoric wasn't just talk. "Previous populist presidents, from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama, developed their real Asia strategy only after seeing how their campaign rhetoric looked to leaders in the region," Green says. "As a general rule, Trump does not get high marks for listening, but that will be the most important part of his visit to the region." | | | | | | |
