TURKEY - The tit-for-tat aggression resumed its escalation between Turkey and the Netherlands, with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus exclaiming from Ankara that "Europe's politicians are under fascist, neo-nazi influence" and in response, Turkey will suspend all high-level diplomatic meetings and cancel all flight permissions for Dutch politicians.
UK - It looks set to be a week packed with big financial milestones. In the US, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, putting the country on a path towards getting back to a normal price for money. In the Netherlands, a tense election may deal the fragile eurozone another blow. In this country, Theresa May could finally trigger Article 50, starting the process of taking the UK out of the European Union.
USA - Michael Crowley writes in Politico Magazine about the fear among Europe’s elites that President Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon pose an existential threat to the future of the European Union. Trump and Bannon’s championing of Brexit and their distrust of globalist bureaucracies have set off alarm bells among the elites in Brussels.
USA - As far as Big Brother is concerned, nothing that you do on your cell phone is ever private. And if the government really wants to see what is on your cell phone, they are going to get that information one way or another, even if that means resorting to physical violence.
USA - The internet will soon be a “safe space”, free from “hatred”, free from “Fake News”, free from “hurtful rhetoric” and of course, free from any views or opinions that do not fit the “progressive narrative”. Google and Facebook are looking to become public facilities (State operated), and with that will be the end of the World Wide Web as an open forum. That is not to say that the basic services will be any better or any worse, but as a place to challenge orthodoxy and “narrative”, it will be effectively dead.
USA - The CIA created and accumulated from other sources a huge array of malware and cyberattack capability capable of stealing information from any individual, any government, any corporation, any intelligence agency and either leaving no trace or leaving a “fingerprint” of an innocent party.
NORTH KOREA - One day after South Korea press reported that US special forces, including a Delta Force team and the infamous SEAL Team 6 are participating in local drills, practicing the removal of Kim Jong-un as well as the infiltration and destruction of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction, North Korea threatened the US with "merciless" attacks if an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson, which is currently taking part in joint South Korean drills "infringes on its sovereignty or dignity", Reuters reported on Tuesday.
USA - Feeding knowledge directly into your brain, just like in sci-fi classic The Matrix, could soon take as much effort as falling asleep, scientists believe. Researchers claim to have developed a simulator which can feed information directly into a person’s brain and teach them new skills in a shorter amount of time, comparing it to “life imitating art”. They believe it could be the first steps in developing advanced software that will make Matrix-style instant learning a reality.
USA - A rogue robot has been blamed for the death of a woman killed in an accident at an auto-parts factory in Michigan. Wanda Holbrook, who worked as a maintenance technician at the Ventra Ionia Mains plant for 12 years, was “trapped by robotic machinery and pronounced dead at the scene” in July 2015.
VATICAN - Ideology has given way to reality as Pope Francis donated tons of cost-effective “fuel briquettes” to heat the homes of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine this winter. As part of the “Pope for Ukraine” initiative, Francis donated more than 2.5 tons of fuel per displaced family cared for by the parish of the Holy Theotokos in the village of Vilcha. The combustible fuel briquettes reportedly will be sufficient to heat the homes and apartments of more than a hundred resettled families until the end of this heating season and throughout next winter as well. The politically incorrect gift highlights the cost-effectiveness and ready availability of fossil fuels, which were responsible for bringing about the industrial revolution throughout the developed world.
ISRAEL - With Obama gone, Israeli liberals have lost their Defensive Shield. You don’t have to love Donald Trump to enjoy him sometimes. Over the weekend, Trump spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and upset - and if he didn’t, he should have upset - the entire Israeli right. A US president who states his commitment to a “comprehensive agreement that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and who emphasizes “his personal belief that peace is possible and that the time has come to make a deal” is one who spells trouble for Jewish settlers and their champions.
UK - British MPs on Monday approved a bill that will allow Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Brexit and rejected two amendments put forward by the House of Lords, including one that would have protected EU citizens residing in Britain. The upper house tried unsuccessfully to include amendents to protect the rights of EU citizens living in Britain and to give parliament a larger say on the final outcome of EU exit negotiations. Members of the lower house voted by 335 to 287 to reject the condition on EU nationals and by 331 to 286 to reject giving parliament a greater say on the final deal. The bill now passes for final approval to the House of Lords.
HOLLAND - Dealing with riots in Rotterdam and being compared to the Nazis by the Turkish president was probably not how Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte expected to spend the final weekend before the Netherlands' general election. But Dutch politics are rarely predictable. The firm - rather hard, in fact - response from the Dutch government might reassure voters thinking of drifting from Mr Rutte's centre-right VVD to the further right. Most Dutch mainstream parties agreed that Turkish politicians should not be allowed to bring their soapbox to Dutch cities. This leaves little space for Mr Wilders to exploit. But it does create another layer of uncertainty in an election that already has a fair bit.
JAPAN - Japan is planning to dispatch its largest warship to the disputed South China Sea for a three-month tour, multiple sources told Reuters. The move would be Tokyo's biggest show of naval force since World War II. The helicopter carrier ‘Izumo’ will set off in May, making stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and US naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July, according to three sources. “The aim is to test the capability of the ‘Izumo’ by sending it out on an extended mission,” one of the sources told Reuters. “It will train with the US Navy in the South China Sea." The ‘Izumo’, which measures 249 meters (816 feet) long, is as large as Japan's World War II-era carriers and can operate up to nine helicopters. Its primary mission is anti-submarine warfare.
RUSSIA - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, revealed that not only did Donald Trump’s team meet with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, but so too did Hillary Clinton’s staff hold meetings with the Russian diplomat. There is nothing wrong with presidential candidates and their staff members meeting with Ambassadors, this is common practice, and part of the preparation for the job… but the hypocrisy emanating from the liberal left and mainstream media in their ongoing witch hunt to delegitimize President Trump over staff meetings with Russian officials, while their “chosen candidate” was also doing the same is very telling. Peskov noted that Moscow was perplexed about the unfounded cloud of suspicion around the Trump administration and his imaginary ties to the Kremlin…