Brits were freaking out this weekend over an old, first-released statement by mass-murder and Trump Commerce Secretary-designate, Wilbur Ross to a much of shady Cypriot banksters. He told them that “I recommend that Cyprus should adopt and immediately announce even more liberal financial service policies than it already has so that it can try to take advantage of the inevitable relocations that will occur during the period of confusion.”The British press is interpreting Ross’ comments as a call to steal marketshare from the U.K., still trying to figure out a way forward after the Brexit vote. And guess who Britain will be negotiating a future trade deal with.
Wilbur Ross, the billionaire incoming commerce secretary, has the task of striking a free trade deal with Britain. His comments will increase fears that the US will seek to take advantage of British isolation after its departure from the European Union.Brexiteers such as Iain Duncan Smith and Jacob Rees-Mogg have asserted that Britain is well placed to secure a free trade agreement with the US, our largest single trading partner.However, the remarks from Mr Ross suggest that US negotiators will seek to exploit Brexit uncertainty to tempt financial companies away from London. Days after the referendum, he urged an audience of Cypriot financiers to strike during the “period of confusion” to draw businesses away from the City.…Britain’s departure from the EU was a “God-given opportunity” for the City’s financial rivals, he added [when speaking to the Cypriots], naming Frankfurt and Dublin in particular. This month a Lords committee warned that tens of thousands of City jobs could be lost from next year if banks feared that the UK would lose access to the single market.Last night Labour said that Mr Ross’s comments, made before his appointment by the president-elect, were a “salutary warning” that other economies were seeking to take advantage of Britain’s break with Europe.Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, said: “Wilbur Ross’s comments are a stark reminder that the trade deals Britain will agree in future will not depend on goodwill from our partners, but on their own shrewd political and economic calculations.“Theresa May’s government has failed to articulate a coherent vision of what kind of economy Brexit Britain will be. This makes us weak and vulnerable in the eyes of others.”Theresa May and Boris Johnson are split on how best to handle Mr Trump, with the foreign secretary frustrated at the prime minister’s cautious approach. Mr Johnson has been lobbying No 10 for permission to make contact with the Trump transition team but has been told that he must wait until Mrs May’s first meeting.In the past British prime ministers have tended to be among the first visitors to a newly occupied White House, often in late February about a month after the inauguration of the president. So far, however, Downing Street has been given no indication of when — or indeed if — Mr Trump wants to receive Mrs May, and Mr Johnson fears that chances are being lost.“Boris doesn’t think it’s smart to wait on the formalities,” a Foreign Office source said. A senior government figure admitted that the question of whether Mr Johnson would be allowed to visit the US before Mrs May was “unresolved.” Since his appointment as commerce secretary with responsibility for trade agreements, Mr Ross has spoken warmly of the special relationship, saying in a recent interview that a trade deal with a post-Brexit Britain would be an important and “very interesting development.”However, the 79-year-old private equity baron has also referred to Brexit as the “most expensive divorce proceeding in the history of the world.”He has endorsed the “Trump trade doctrine,” which stipulates that any new trade deal must reduce the US trade deficit, strengthen manufacturing and boost growth. Britain has a trade surplus with the US.Trade experts in the US believe that the Trump administration will give priority to a deal with Britain once the campaign pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) has been fulfilled and after the UK has extricated itself from the EU.Susan Schwab, George W Bush’s US trade representative between 2006 and 2009, told The Times that the Trump administration would be “ready, willing and able” to negotiate a free trade deal with Britain using enhanced powers that he will inherit from President Obama to push through trade policy.There have also been suggestions that Mr Trump’s pledge to renegotiate Nafta with Mexico and Canada may provide an opening for the UK.
Meanwhile, Putin’s thus-far successful program of undermining the post-War security and financial pacts is moving along like a freight train. With the installation of his buffoon-like puppet Trump, Putin is now turning his attention to whittle down both NATO and the EU by installing right-wing extremists in France and the Netherlands, respectively Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders. Le Pen has been telling the press that closer ties to Russia and Frexit are integral to her plans for France.
Speaking to Greek newspaper Dimokratia, the 48-year-old said: “Frexit will be a part of my policy.“The people must have the opportunity to vote for the liberation from slavery and blackmail imposed by technocrats in Brussels to return sovereignty to the country.”“I am against the policy which would promote the entry of immigrants into Europe, which cannot accept them,” Ms Le Pen said.“This tsunami of migrants should be limited.“Europe does not have the power to ensure they all find work and opportunities to enrich themselves.“Immigrants are illegal since once they set foot on European soil they have violated the law.“They must be sent back to their homeland.”The 2017 presidential candidate also claimed Nato had become an outdated organisation which was no longer needed in the post-Cold War world.“It [Nato] was established when there was a risk from the Warsaw Pact and the expansionism of the communist Soviet Union.“The Soviet Union no longer exists, and neither does the Warsaw Pact.“Washington maintains the Nato presence to service its objectives in Europe.”Many of Ms Le Pen’s comments echoed the sentiment of President-elect Donald Trump, who wants to reverse the Obama administration’s frosty relations with Russia.
Her probable May run-off opponent, a less flamboyan, less extreme right-wing lunatic, the Republican Party’s Francois Fillon, agrees that France needs to forge closer ties with Putin’s Russia. One-upping him, Le Pen is now urging Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus to join France in leaving the EU. For most of us, 2016 has been a real annus horribilis that can’t end soon enough. Moldova's new president, Igor Dodon, an undisguised puppet of Putin, took down the EU flag hanging at his official residence in Chisinau, just one day after his inauguration. I’m not sure how Putin feels about the death of George Michael on Christmas Day but over all, 2016 has been a grand old year for the former KGB agent, clearly now the most important man on earth.
