John Kerry « Dr Alf's Blog



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The left-leaning Guardian reports that the US State department voiced surprise after UK PM’s spokesman says US secretary of state’s comments on settlements were ‘inappropriate’.

Source: Theresa May’s criticism of John Kerry Israel speech sparks blunt US reply | Politics | The Guardian

The Guardian cites the state department: “We are grateful for the strongly supportive statements in response to Secretary Kerry’s speech from across the world, including Germany, France, Canada, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and others.”

Well done Theresa May for highlighting the weakness in the Kerry statement and standing proud. She is also offering a friendly olive branch to the the incoming US administration of Donald Trump.

Historians should note that for eight years Obama has undermined the historical special relationship between the UK and the US. Obama knew best – pivot US foreign policy towards Asia and bring the US troops home, never mind the geopolitical consequences. The evidence is clear – Obama’s foreign policy, with ineffective foreign secretaries in Clinton and Kerry, has been a series of disasters. Is it surprising that terrorism has proliferated on Obama’s watch?



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I agree with Dr Alf that this Japan Times article is an excellent read but I disagree with its author that Merkel’s migrant deal with President Erdogan “really works”.

The deal carries with it the seeds of its own destruction in that people smugglers have simply switched their attentions to Italy and getting people to come to Europe via Lampedusa bypassing Turkey altogether. Secondly, returned migrants simply have to give Turkish border guards small bribes of less than £50 GBP to let them go again, which means that with easy access to bogus documentation they can, like water, find new ways to re-enter the European continent.

Turkey, under the deal gets £3 billion GBP a year and if it wants more all it has to do is release more migrants who can then enter Europe from Libya, via rubber boat to Lampedusa or via a Greek island.

Merkel has increased the rate of housebuilding in Germany far beyond what is required for the indigenous population and is building reception hostels at a faster rate to accommodate more refugees and migrants. What conclusion is one expected to draw from all of this?

This is not lost on Erdogan who can then make further incursions into Iraq and Syria and create more refugees which in turn give him leverage in his EU membership negotiations and his future discussions about money for migrants. Vladimir Putin, now facing another year of sanctions and increased American pressure via the missile shield going in to Romania plus oil prices at $37 USD a barrel also has an incentive to create more refugees and thus trouble for Europe by bearing down harder in Syria.

The Austrians in the middle of this have a right to be concerned and so do the German people who were once properly led by Merkel but now need a change for the better.

John Gelmini