Ah, good day everyone, did you have a fine Saturday? Something finer planned for Sunday? All of Thailand is on a four-day weekend. Buddhists and Hindus celebrating. This here's the very-early edition of all the news the people need to start Sunday.
THREE WEEKS from TODAY
Trump orders 35 percent tariff on all goods Canadian, effective August 1 Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own Tariffs. Rookie PM Mark Carney, who is on vacation, immediately sloganeered on the U.S. X.com We are building Canada strong.
Time (Canada) and Google (Canada) and General Motors (Canada) had no comment Johnny Canuck is pouty, promises a boycott of everything American including the computer he was typing a serious letter on GMail. But seriously, will Johnny Canuck watch Stanley Cup hockey games produced by U.S. companies.
Toronto Sun daily newspaper Mark Carney is starting to sound like a Conservative (VIDEO)
He does the work of 3 men.... Larry Moe and Curly.
I have invited former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to help on key negotiation approaches with the United States.-- Pichai Chunhavajira, finance minister, on (finally) assembling a Team Thailand.
THAILAND TRADE Dozey government forms Team Thailand for U.S. tariff talks. It's the finance minister plus the weird selection of Thaksin minus any Thai prime minister. Pichai is super-confident that he will reach a full tariff agreement with Trump within two weeks. This "team" met at Government House on Saturday to decide how to approach the issue. They told the Thai press they want Trump to give Thailand a maximum 10 export tariff, like Vietnam. Oops!
Trump re-announces new, higher tariffs on goods and services from Vietnam. This is one week after he and Vietnam Communist Party boss To Lam fixed a deal. Which now is in tatters, leaving Vietnamese communist and government authorities fuming. The unilateral announcement by the U.S. Chancellor is a 20 percent minimum tariff. As of last evening, Lam and Vietnam didn't even reply. Diplomacy and trade are broken.
JUST SAYIN' In 2012, U.S. President Obama told a sceptical Saigon high school class:
We're the United States. You can absolutely depend on us.
ASEAN USA
KUALA LUMPUR American State Secretary Rubio brought some comfort to a meeting of the group's foreign ministers. The United States is always willing to talk tariffs -- now or after our August 1'deadline'.
PHOTO: Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sengampong greets Rubio
ASEAN BURMA Foreign ministers from some of the Southeast Asian bloc went straight up against Myanmar's policy: No. An election craved by Nay Pyi Taw is not a priority for us at all. Myanmar's dictator believes that a nationwide election next year will honour the country everywhere in the world. ASEAN handed Senior General Min Aung Hlaing a 5-step 'peace process plan' four years ago, and now:
We advised Myanmar that an election is not a priority for now, the priority is to cease all violence.
THAILAND CAMBODIA Thaksin finally speaks about now ex-brofriend and Phnom Penh chief Hun Sen. He disclosed explosive details about the leaked phone conversation between Hun Sen and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, his daughter. Hun Sen's actions were a calculated betrayal of our relations -- and a deliberate orchestration. Extremely detailed. Read it all (in English)
THAILAND WEATHER PHOTO Top: The Northeast especially, the lower North and Central including Bangkok are getting rain and lightning storms. Bottom: Yesterday, tens of thousands evacuated homes and businesses in Uttaradit and other provinces.
WEATHER SPACE Meanwhile in the mesosphere
A photographer in Sweden just captured noctilucent clouds doing something many experts have never seen before. A dramatic time-lapse video shows multiple layers of frosted meteor smoke moving in opposite directions, interfering to create mesmerising patterns in the night sky.
PANDEMIC LIES The woke, corrupt "medical reporter" of CNN, Sanjay Gupta pushed masking and social distancing and shutdowns. Now he pretends he was sceptical of these measures all along. VIDEO here
Donald Trump is the first mythic hero of the twenty-first century. A hero isn't created by one act of mercy, strength, or sacrifice. Rather, a hero is made over time, despite failures, and through real and symbolic victories. Three phases in the formation of a mythic hero: departure, initiation, and return.
