Japan confronts the increased price of US friendship

https://www.ft.com/content/678dae36-003f-4df8-ad3f-cff7eeb598d6

The awkward on-camera to-and-fro between the men followed months of negotiations which began with Japan, as America’s best friend in Asia, hoping it could secure zero tariffs before being made to feel grateful it was only hit with a 15 per cent levy. The glint of gaslight was in Lutnick’s eye when he described this unprecedented handicapping of free trade as “tremendously beneficial to Japan”.
...
The MOU sets out an arrangement which, on one reading, reeks of coercion: a sovereign nation forced to funnel private and public-sector investment to a much richer one under a structure unashamedly directed by the US president.

Once Japan recoups its investment, it then reaps only 10 per cent of the cash flows from the project, to America’s 90 per cent. Yes, Japan has nominal input via a consultative committee into which projects are chosen, but there are no Japanese on the more powerful investment committee and it’s Trump who makes the ultimate call. Yes, Japan can elect not to fund an investment, but if it does so the US may impose new tariffs on Japan “at the rate determined by the President”.

Japan, tenuously, has ways to spin this as a win. It knows that Japanese companies want to invest in the US and that these investments will be compounded and guaranteed by its government-backed lenders. If that was the price of lower tariffs, it may as well be something that might have happened anyway. But a gloating Lutnick, appearing separately on CNBC, denied Japan even the right to make that case at home. Japan, he said, had sought to “buy down” its tariff rate with a deal that he described as “off the rails” and the most fun he had working for this president. Trump, he said, had “complete discretion” over Japan’s investments and would decide where and how he wanted Japanese capital spent in America.

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Japan, thinking that the old rules of friendship applied and that it had handled Trump astutely in the past, entered negotiations imagining that the underlying deal was the intended destination. What it found was a counterpart using the language of dealmaking as cover for the complete retooling of amity in the service of individual aggrandisement.

World's first AI minister will eliminate corruption, says...

Named Diella, the new minister will help Albania "leapfrog" bigger, more advanced countries, says Edi Rama.

I Ekvador svoj Rio Tinto za trku ima.

Danas je protestovalo blizu 100.000 ljudi u Kuenki protiv rudnika zlata Dundee Precious Metal (Kanadjani) kojima je predsednika Noboa dao ambijentalnu dozvolu.

Planirani rudnik se nalazi na 35 km od grada na prostoru nadmorske visine izmedju 3.000 i 4.000 metara.

Problem je sto se rudnik gradi u blizini nacionalnog parka Cajas gde su izvorista vode za Kuenku, grad od 500.000 ljudi (pisao sam na drugim topicima o gradu na cetiri reke, jednom od najlepsih u Juznoj Americi, gde cu da se penzionisem).

Protest, najveci u istoriji grada i jedan od najvecih u istoriji Ekvadora, je bio sav u pristojnity i karneval modu: muzika, transparenti, od 5 do 80 godina, samo bez kucica. Protest kakav Ekvadoru treba da vrati veru u solidardnost i dostojanstvo gradjanima i zemlji koja je danas druga na svetu po stopi ubistava sa besramnom autoritarnom i lazljivom vlascu.

Kimsakocha:

Protest:

@Emerald @dragance

U cetvrtak i petak argentinska centralna banka je potrosila milijardu dolara da bi odrbanili kurs pesa.

Trose se devizne rezerve iz zajma MMFa.

Milei ide kod Trampara da kuka za finansijsku pomoc.

Dan mrmota. Bice haos kao kod Menema i Makrija.

E jebi ga. Mada, svi takvi populisti najebu jednog dana, ali narod nikada da shvati o kakvim bitangama se to radi. Uvek se nadje neki drugi krivac.

4 hours ago, Budja said:

@Emerald @dragance

U cetvrtak i petak argentinska centralna banka je potrosila milijardu dolara da bi odrbanili kurs pesa.

Trose se devizne rezerve iz zajma MMFa.

Milei ide kod Trampara da kuka za finansijsku pomoc.

Dan mrmota. Bice haos kao kod Menema i Makrija.

Nije glavni problem trosenja novca, dao im je dovoljno MMF. Problem je sto stvorena ogromna nesigurnost od privrede do politike.

On je sam kriv za to jer je njegova sestra postala simbol njegove korupcije, "Peronisti" to puno koriste proitv njega.

12 hours ago, dragance said:

E jebi ga. Mada, svi takvi populisti najebu jednog dana, ali narod nikada da shvati o kakvim bitangama se to radi. Uvek se nadje neki drugi krivac.

NIje da su imali neki izbor te 2023.

Juce je stotine hiljada ljudi protestovalo protiv amnestije za Bolsonara koju promovisu desnicarske parlamentarne grupe y protiv "banditskog" zakona usvojenom u donjem domu brazilskog parlamenta kojim se zabranjuju istrage protiv clanova parlamente bez eksplicitnog odobrenja same skupstine.

Svi su bili tu: Chico Buarque, Djavan, Gilberto GIl, Caetano Veloso...

MAGA - Make Argentina Great Again

Trampara bailoutuje Mileija. Danas detalji.

Putem Treasurija. Americki poreski obveznik kreditira Argentinu, do jaja za lokalnu MAGA publiku.

Nationbailouting mi izgleda skuplje od nationbuildinga, ali to sam samo ja...

Kakav je ovo komunizam, nevidljiva ruka trzista ne sme biti nicim sputavana, neka propadne Argentina ako je propasti sklona, survival of the fittest

I od uobicajeno dosadnog eventa, Trump pravi reality show u kome mu ovi debili asistiraju.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/23/emmanuel-macron-walk-donald-trump-motorcade-blocks-car

https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2025/09/23/Front_loop__Macron_phones_Trump--a885067d-9f7c-43a3-a641-1e6ee032e135-3.0.mp4#t=0.001

On 23. 9. 2025. at 10:16, Budja said:

MAGA - Make Argentina Great Again

Trampara bailoutuje Mileija. Danas detalji.

Putem Treasurija. Americki poreski obveznik kreditira Argentinu, do jaja za lokalnu MAGA publiku.

zadrti libertarijanci dok ne zatreba državna sisa.

dal' je u pitanju intervencija kojom se spasavaju nekakvi američki majmuni koji su investirali tamo?

Edited September 26, 2025Sep 26 by Gandalf

27 minutes ago, Gandalf said:

zadrti libertarijanci dok ne zatreba državna sisa.

dal' je u pitanju intervencija kojom se spasavaju nekakvi američki majmuni koji su investirali tamo?

Ne.

Moldavija - vladajuća proevropska Stranka akcije i solidarnosti po preliminarnim rezultatima tamošnjeg RIK-a na preko 99% prebrojanih biračkih mesta zadržala većinu u parlamentu sa duplo više glasova od proruske opozicione koalicije Patriotski blok sa logotipom sa petokrakom, srcem i srpom i čekićem u njemu.

https://pv.cec.md/ru/preliminare

Procena raspodele mandata i promene u odnosu na prošle izbore sa Wikipedije:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Moldovan_parliamentary_election

Pritom je vladajuća stranka čak povećala broj glasova - sa 778 hiljada, koliko je osvojila 2021, na verovatno preko 790 hiljada, koliko će otprilike osvojiti sada kad se prebroji i ovih preostalih pola posto biračkih mesta (sva su u inostranstvu, gde vladajuća stranka dosad ima 78% glasova).

Edited September 29, 2025Sep 29 by vememah