Today's News at A Glance

"Gates Shatters Image of Calmness in Faulting Obama War Approach"
Bloomberg News By Terry Atlas January 09, 2014

"In his book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” scheduled for release on Jan. 14 and obtained by Bloomberg News, Robert Gates, former U.S. secretary of defense, describes President Barack Obama as feeling boxed into the surge by leaks, which the president suspected came from senior military officials. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg

The public Robert Gates was the picture of calm bipartisanship and steady professionalism as President Barack Obama’s Republican-holdover defense secretary. In private, Gates was seething about White House micromanagement, congressional grandstanding, and a president who seemed to lack confidence in his military commanders and was “all about getting out” of Afghanistan. That contrast may be the biggest surprise in his memoir.

In the book, Gates criticizes Obama’s national security team, including Vice President Joe Biden, for “operational meddling” and fueling the president’s doubts about the war in Afghanistan. Yet he also says Obama made the right calls on the war and in overruling advisers -- and Gates himself -- in ordering the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Former White House officials criticized the book, saying it may have a chilling effect on presidents seeking advice. “Every White House hates this,” said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush’s press secretary. “The first impact is on trust and morale.” Presidents “need people they can talk frankly to.” “It’s really damaging,” said Paul Begala, a strategist who worked for President Bill Clinton. “When people start to take notes in a meeting, you start to think, ‘Are these notes for some future book? And maybe I should not say anything.’”

For Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who also served in the Clinton White House, the disclosures “will be a political Rorschach Test.” “For those that have a positive view there will be aspects of this book that reinforce that; for those that have a negative view, there will be aspects that reinforce that,” he said.

Lacking Commitment

Much of that debate may turn on Gates’s criticism of what he says was Obama’s lack of commitment in Afghanistan even as the president was sending more troops in a surge intended to thwart the Taliban and facilitate a withdrawal of forces. Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops there in December 2009 to boost the total to about 100,000. The president agreed to the additional forces only on condition the military accept a deadline for their withdrawal.

In his book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” scheduled for release on Jan. 14 and obtained by Bloomberg News, Gates describes Obama as feeling boxed into the surge by leaks, which the president suspected came from senior military officials. “I was never able to persuade the president and others that it was not a plot,” he writes.

Justified War

As a candidate, Obama backed the Afghanistan effort as a justified response to the Sept. 11 attacks, while opposing the Iraq war. As a result, Gates says, “our commanders and our troops had expected more commitment to the cause and more passion for it from him.”

By 2011, Obama was questioning his own strategy for the conflict in Afghanistan, which had been resisted by some of his advisers, Gates writes. At a March 2011 meeting of top national security advisers, Obama implicitly criticized his commander there, General David Petraeus, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “As I sat there, I thought: The president doesn’t trust his commander, can’t stand Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy, and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out,” writes Gates, 70.

U.S. Representative Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who served almost five years of active duty in the Army, including two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, said those observations are “troubling.”

Not Invested

“They also confirmed a lot of what I believed about the president already, from his public actions and words, that he wasn’t fully invested in the war,” Cotton said. In contrast, Begala said Obama’s deliberations over the wars will probably enhance his reputation. “I want a president who, when he puts troops in harm’s way, worries endlessly that he might be wrong,” he said.

Obama’s ambivalence about the fighting reflected the public mood. Both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are deeply unpopular. Americans by 66 percent to 30 percent say the Afghanistan war wasn’t “worth fighting,” according to an ABC/Washington Post poll taken Dec. 12-15. The public by 62 percent to 37 percent says it was a “mistake” to send troops to Iraq, according to a CNN/ORC poll taken Sept. 6-8.

Although differences between the Pentagon and White House are typical on national security issues, Gates’s memoir raises them to a new level, said Peter Feaver, a professor of political science at Duke University."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-01-09/gates-shatters-image-of-calmness-in-faulting-obama-war-approach

"China, world's leading tobacco user, moves to ban indoor public smoking"

By Madison Park, CNN: updated 1:58 AM EST, Thu January 9, 2014

Hong Kong (CNN) -- China, the world's largest tobacco consumer, is aiming to ban indoor smoking in public areas by the end of the year. About one in three cigarettes smoked in the world is in China, according to the World Health Organization. And more than half of Chinese men smoke, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in 2010. Although the nation's health ministry issued guidelines in 2011 to ban smoking in places like hotels and restaurants, they haven't been "strictly enforced," according to Xinhua, China's state-run news agency. The China's National Health and Family Commission is now working on a tobacco control law with clear punishments, according to Xinhua.

China's smoking habit

The country's health authorities estimate over a million deaths from tobacco-related diseases every year. The WHO warns that if tobacco use is not decreased in China, these deaths will increase to 3 million by 2050. last month, Chinese government officials were told not to smoke in public places such as hospitals, public transport or schools to set a good example for the public. The latest moves by the Chinese government on tobacco are "hopeful," said Dr. Judith MacKay, the senior adviser at the World Lung Foundation, who examines tobacco issues in China.

About 32 Chinese cities have passed their own rules to restrict public smoking, she added. "China stands on its own in the magnitude of the problem," said MacKay. "Unless there is change in China, we won't proceed further in reducing the tobacco epidemic in the world." Tobacco use in China has far-reaching consequences, she said. "This isn't a health problem. It's a huge economic problem. There's all these things ranging from medical and health care costs, the costs to the families and there's the cost of secondhand smoke."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/world/asia/china-smoking-ban/

"Asia: China Becomes the World’s Leading Trader"
Imports and exports breach the $4 trillion mark for the first time in 2013. By Per Liljas Jan. 10, 2014

"China became the biggest trader of goods in the world for the first time last year, overtaking the U.S.

According to figures released by Beijing on Friday, the value of China’s imports and exports in 2013 reached $4.16 trillion. This will almost certainly surpass the American figure, which won’t be released until February — but seeing as U.S. goods traded from January to November 2013 amounted to $3.57 trillion, there is little likelihood it will be higher than China’s.

Historians quibble over whether Qing dynasty China (1644-1912) might have been the world’s leading trader too — meaning that China could be enjoying this status for the second not first time — but regardless, the news is hailed as a great success by Beijing.

“This is a landmark milestone for our nation’s foreign trade development,” said Zheng Yuesheng, chief statistician of the Customs Administration."

Read more: China Trade Largest in the World | TIME.com

http://business.time.com/2014/01/10/china-becomes-the-worlds-leading-trader/#ixzz2pzLyQD78

Note: Won't this unfavorable comparison have considerable impact on US Currency as well as Partisan Politics?

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby


[b]Note: Won't this unfavorable comparison have considerable impact on US Currency as well as Partisan Politics?[/b]

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Why would it? It's rather inevitable considering China's vastly greater population.

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
"Won't this unfavorable comparison have considerable impact on US Currency as well as Partisan Politics?"

"..... It's rather inevitable considering China's vastly greater population."

Granted; the question focuses less on the cause than on the probable effect.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
I don't see why it would matter significantly whether or not China is a slightly bigger or slightly smaller trader than the US. As for the political ramifications, for policymakers this is no news and most of the electorate can't pinpoint China on a map, let alone consider global trading patterns and their implications.

Originally posted by normbenign
"I don't see why it would matter significantly whether or not China is a slightly bigger or slightly smaller trader than the US."

Agreed. Given the population difference, and the tremendous untapped natural resources of a nation as large as China, GDP and trade per capita would be a more appropriate comparison.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
The economical prowess of China is often overstated. In terms of GDP per capita (IMF 2012), China ranks 87th in the world, in between Turkmenistan and Namibia. Its sheer size in terms of population makes it an important global economic power.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
I don't see why it would matter significantly whether or not China is a slightly bigger or slightly smaller trader than the US. As for the political ramifications, for policymakers this is no news and most of the electorate can't pinpoint China on a map, let alone consider global trading patterns and their implications.

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
[b]Today's News at A Glance

"Obama didn't believe his own war strategy: Robert Gates
The News International-37 minutes ago. January 08, 2014 From Web Edition

WASHINGTON: Former defense secretary Robert Gates has delivered a scathing critique of President Barack Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan in a revealing new memoir, US media re ...[text shortened]... tagon for two years after Obama entered office." (AFP) http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn[/b]

"Poor jobs stats underscore prolonged unemployment benefits fight"

By Stephanie Condon CBS NEWS January 10, 2014, 11: 57 AM
"Poor jobs stats underscore prolonged unemployment benefits fight

"The Labor Department’s surprisingly weak December jobs report prompted the White House, labor unions and others to scold Congress on Friday for failing to renew emergency benefits for the long-term unemployed. Jason Furman, chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement that the new figures are “a reminder of the work that remains, especially on one of our nation’s most immediate and pressing challenges: long-term unemployment.”

The latest jobs report shows that employers added only 74,000 jobs in December, well below what was expected. The unemployment rate declined to 6.7 percent, from 7 percent, because many people stopped looking for work. Nearly 38 percent of unemployed workers have been without a job for six months or more, proving that long-term unemployment is “far from solved,” Furman said in his statement.

Economy ended 2013 with a whimper. Reid: Paying for jobless benefits only way forward in the longer-term. Congress allowed the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program to expire at the end of 2013, and since then, nearly 1.5 million unemployed workers have lost benefits. About 72,000 more are losing benefits each week.

Lawmakers, Furman said, cut off a “critical lifeline to those who lost a job through no fault of their own and are still searching for work.” Thea Lee, chief of staff of the labor union federation the AFL-CIO, said in a statement that it’s a “disgrace” that so many Americans have lost benefits, charging that Republicans “remain fixated on irrelevant and counter-productive austerity measures.”

“It is more critical than ever for Congress to quit dawdling and pass an extension of Unemployment Insurance immediately,” she said. Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said that Congress ended 2013 by “turning its back” on unemployed workers.

“Any other man-made or natural disaster that inflicted this much damage—walloping an average of 10,000 people every day—would be a state of emergency, and we’d marshal all our resources in response,” she said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., noted Friday that there’s a proposal on the table to extend the program for one year while meeting the Republicans’ demand to pay for the benefits, as well as a bipartisan three-month extension of the program (not paid for) that would give Congress more time to negotiate the longer-term deal. “Republicans should join Democrats to pass one of these two measures to help those struggling to make ends meet,” Reid said. “This is just simple common-sense, and I hope my Republican colleagues will agree.”

Republicans, meanwhile, responded to Friday’s jobs report by arguing that the government should be facilitating more job creation -- not more government assistance.

“Every American has a right to ask the question ‘Where are the jobs?’” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement. “Instead of making it easier to find a good-paying job, Washington has been more focused on making it less difficult to live without one. The top priority of middle-class families who are struggling in this economy, and the top priority of the people’s House, is creating new jobs.”

Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus similarly acknowledged that Democrats have been focused lately on reducing poverty. “A job is the best anti-poverty program. So it’s sad that job creation hasn’t been the focus of this White House,” he said. “Today’s jobs report reminds us that Obama’s policies simply aren’t creating nearly enough jobs and people are leaving the workforce because of it.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poor-jobs-stats-underscore-prolonged-unemployment-benefits-fight/

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Do you think perspectives differ between Citizens of Finland negligibly impacted and Citizens of the United States?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
What do you mean?

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
"China’s imports and exports in 2013 reached $4.16 trillion as U.S. goods traded from January to November 2013 amounted to $3.57 trillion", additionally the US is heavily in debt to China: seems this imbalance wouldn't bode well for US Citizens, while Citizens of Finland would be far less impacted [your RHP Forum Location displays "Finland"]. Thanks for contributing.