USA and Canada

Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) listens to Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He (L) during a meeting to discuss trade issues in the Oval Office of the White House in in Washington, Jan 31, 2019. Credit: IC

Trump's Trade Deal Poses New Dangers to Southeast Asia

Viewpoint by Calvin Cheng*

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) — After two years of alternating between tense escalation and fleeting periods of calm, the United States and China reached a preliminary phase one trade deal in December 2019. Government spokespersons in both countries promptly cheered the signing of the agreement — but observers around the world remain a little more circumspect.The primary achievement of the phase one deal seemed to be tempering the uncertainty of further tariff escalation, with both sides agreeing to cancel their upcoming tariff hikes.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 27 February 2020

Photo Credit: Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast

America's Christian Right, Republicans and Donald Trump – 6

Viewpoint by John Newsinger*

This is the sixth of a six-part article originally published in International Socialism under the title The Christian right, the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Click here for part five of the series. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – As for President Clinton, who many evangelicals came to regard as the Antichrist, with him in office the secular humanists were in power and Christian America was in greater danger than ever before.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 26 February 2020

Photo: President George H.W. Bush with Jerry Falwell. Credit: Liberty University

America's Christian Right, Republicans and Donald Trump – 5

Viewpoint by John Newsinger*

This is the fifth of a six-part article originally published in International Socialism under the title The Christian right, the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Click here for part four of the series. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – Pat Robertson, whose Christian Broadcasting Network in many ways led the field and who was to establish the Christian Coalition, found faith healing an extremely useful way to generate donations (all tax free). He regularly cured disabilities, both health and financial, on the TV, as noted by James Randi in ‘The Faith Healers’:

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 24 February 2020

Photo: Evangelical prayer rally in Washington, D.C., in 2008. Credit: Creative Commons

America's Christian Right, Republicans and Donald Trump – 4

Viewpoint by John Newsinger*

This is the fourth of a six-part article originally published in International Socialism under the title The Christian right, the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Click here for part three of the series. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – According to Craig Unger, the evangelical churches fill the "real or perceived needs of tens of millions of Americans". They lived in "an elaborate, fully developed evangelical counterculture that utilised all the marketing tools of the modern world".

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 23 February 2020

Photo: Evangelical preacher Billy Graham, one of the key figures in the religious revival of the 1950s and beyond. Credit: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

America's Christian Right, Republicans and Donald Trump – 2

Viewpoint by John Newsinger*

This is the second of a six-part article originally published in International Socialism under the title The Christian right, the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Click here for part one of the series. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – And this was just one campaign. The American Legion, the veterans’ organisation which in 1952 claimed more than 2.7 million members, launched its own "Back to God" campaign, helping equip the country to combat the threat of atheistic communism.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 20 February 2020

Photo credit: Illustration by Marco Ventura for Rolling Stone

America's Christian Right, Republicans and Donald Trump – 1

Viewpoint by John Newsinger*

This is the first of a six-part article originally published in International Socialism under the title The Christian right, the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – Donald Trump was elected to the United States presidency in 2016 by the votes of the Christian right. Some 81 percent of evangelical Christians, who made up a third of the total electorate, voted for him.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 19 February 2020

Photo: People march against pipelines in Smithers, British Columbia, in May 2014. Credit: Office of the Wet'suwet'en/Francois Depey. Source: indianz.com

Canada's Colonial Settler Policies Alive and Well

Viewpoint by Jim Miles*

MONTREAL (IDN) – There is a lot of obfuscation and sloganeering about the Canada wide protests in support of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation of British Columbia and their resistance to corporate and governmental greed in pushing a natural gas pipeline through their traditional territory. On February 17, 2020 a CBC reporter cited – and probably paraphrased closely – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as saying his "most important relationship is with indigenous people".

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 19 February 2020

Photo: U.S. President Nixon shakes hands with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Incredible Obsession With China's Supposed Malevolence

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – In Munich at the Security Conference from February 14-16 the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, nailed her anti-Chinese colours to the mast. Despite being a liberal on many issues and the leader of the fight to impeach President Donald Trump, she has joined forces with Trump in preaching that the West must not allow itself to be penetrated by Huawei’s 5G phone technology (which is cheaper than any Western counterpart).

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 18 February 2020

Photo: Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir, Founder and President of Morocco's High Atlas Foundation. Credit: High Atlas Foundation.

Making Democratic Socialism Relatable

Viewpoint by Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is an American sociologist who resides in Marrakech, Morocco.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The phrase "Democratic Socialism" continues to find its way into current national and political discourse of the United States. Vermont Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders embraces the term, while his opponents, both from within his own party as well as on the Republican aisle, are using the label as a bit of an albatross.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 February 2020

U.S. Abrogation of Iran Deal Leaves a Puzzling Legacy

By Bernhard Schell

ISTANBUL (IDN) – Iran has been bashed for its January 5 announcement that it would no longer abide by certain "operational restrictions" on uranium enrichment in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The declaration has also prompted doubts about the regime's activities and intentions and the fate of the nuclear deal.