US President Donald Trump has invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for a visit to the White House, in the first phone call between the two leaders since Trump’s inauguration on January 20. Trump invited Abbas to discuss ways to resume the Palestinian-Israeli political process. The White House said in a statement that this visit will take place in the near future.
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman will start on Thursday his official trip in the US and will meet President Trump and senior US officials to strengthen bilateral relations and discuss of regional issues of mutual interest, such as global energy prices, conflicts in Syria where Saudi Arabia is part of a US-led coalition bombing campaign against the Daesh group, Iraq, Lybia and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition backed by Washington has been bombing Iran-backed Shiite rebels for two years. No information were given about when he will meet Trump but he will be the first Gulf Arab royal to meet the president since his inauguration.
A federal judge in Wisconsin dealt the first legal blow to President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban on Friday, barring enforcement of the policy to deny U.S. entry to the wife and child of a Syrian refugee already granted asylum in the United States. The temporary restraining order, applies only to the family of the Syrian refugee, who brought the case anonymously to protect the identities of his wife and daughter still living in the wartorn Syrian city of Aleppo. But it represents the first of several challenges brought against Trump’s newly amended executive order, issued on march 6 and due to go in effect on march 16.
Donald Trump has blocked several people who opposed him during the campaign from getting jobs in his administration. So why has he reportedly chosen Jon Huntsman to be the U.S. ambassador to Russia? The 56-year-old has earned a reputation as someone who ingratiates himself with his patron of the moment but whose long-term loyalty cannot be counted on. His critics — including some who have worked with him — complain privately that he’s always thinking about how he can climb the next step up the ladder. He was ambssador in China for president Barack Obama and with this engagement, assuming he’s confirmed by the senate, he will become a very high-profile figure. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said overnight that he hopes Huntsman will help Trump improve relations.
Jon Huntsman, a businessman and former Governator of Utah and former ambassador to China during the Obama presidency, was chosen by President Trump as a new Ambassador to Russia. Huntsman’s appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, should not be a problem overlooking the esteem he enjoys even among Democrats, and will have the task of relaunching relations between Washington and Moscow, as in Trump intentions.
The time table drawn up by the Trump’s administration,explained in an interview by the Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, about the change of NAFTA could complicate the scenery of the presidential elections in Mexico, planned for 2018, benefiting the candidate of the populist left wing Manuel López Obrador, precisely in this regard the mexicans Foreign Minister and Minister of Economy are pushing to quickly opening the negotiations, in the hope that these terminate by the end of this year. Even Canada would be ready to sit down now at the negotiating table.
Yesterday morning the President Trump has signed the new travel ban, the drafting of a new executive order on immigration had been announced by the administration after the rejection by the Federal Court S.Francisco the first travel ban. The signing of the “muslim ban 2.0” was often announced as the next but then always delayed, so that this time the President has not signed the order before the cameras as the first time. As for the content, as expected by many experts, it is similar to the travel ban but with important differences: the countries concerned will be 6 (Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen) in fact is no longer present the Iraq, the measure will not apply to citizens of the six countries that are in possession of permanent residence permits, the order will be applicable from 16th of March and in the end the religious minorities of the six countries of the blacklist will not have any derogation from the rules established by the Decree.
Today have taken place several political demonstrations in about 28 states, some were in favor of the President Trump others precisely against the latter. In Berkeley, California, a group of Trump’s supporters came into contact with a group of opponents, this created a clash that has seen 3 injured and the police intervention to stabilize the situation, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, 6 anti-Trump protesters have been arrested for attempting to attack the pro-Trump activists. In the demonstrations in favor of Trump held in: Nashville, Tennessee, San Diego, California, Washington, DC, and New York are not recorded incidents;even in Palm Beach, Florida, where the President stands for the weekend, Trump’s fans have gathered to make their backing to the President that countered greeting some of them.
President Trump would want to open a parliamentary investigation into alleged wiretaps that former President Obama would order against him during the last electoral campaign, Trump accused Obama, on twitter, that he did put under control the Trump Tower to get information that could compromise his election victory, Obama replied that legally a President can not order to put under contronl anybody and stressed that his administration does not spied any American. Former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told to the NBC that he not be aware of any control operation against Donald Trump, according to the minority leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, more was discover the narrow ties between the current administration and Russia plus the President Trump tries to confuse the Americans with conspiracy theories that are not very credible.
Relations between Putin’s Russia and America Trump are at historic lows, in fact, due to continuous and repeated scandals regarding the contacts between his electoral campain managers and members of his administration with Russian agents and diplomats had forced President Trump to dissociate, at least temporarily, from his Russian colleague. In Moscow they did not take well the new American line, especially the appointment of Gen. McMaster, known for his anti-Russian positions, as Advisor for National Security and the American irritation for some military operations carried out by the Russians in Syria have helped to cool relations. According to some european officials, remained anonymous, the current US policy is much closer to European interests than those of Russians, especially the statements made by US Ambassador at the UN about the Russian annexation of the Crimea, that Americans still do not recognize, bode well for the detractors of Trump-Putin axis.