Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 21 May 2018
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
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​Global
- Asia markets advance as investors digest weekend US-China trade developments (CNBC) Asian markets closed moderately higher on Monday, with weekend developments in U.S.-China talks, regarded as positive by analysts on the whole, in the spotlight. The dollar index was up strongly at 94.021. Brent crude futures were at $78.87 per barrel at 0045 GMT, up $0.36 (0.5%) from their last close. Brent broke through $80 for the first time since November 2014 last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $71.68 a barrel, $0.40 cents, or 0.6%. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,289 per ounce at 0325 GMT.
U.S.
- After Trump Announces Demand, DOJ Asks IG To Review Counterintelligence Work (Talking Points Memo) See also next article and Russiagate – The Nature Of The Beast. The Justice Department on Sunday confirmed that its inspector general would investigate whether “there was any impropriety or political motivation” in the FBI’s work during the 2016 campaign.
- The FBI Informant Who Monitored the Trump Campaign, Stefan Halper, Oversaw a CIA Spying Operation in the 1980 Presidential Election (The Intercept) Glenn Greenwald says that the “informant” embedded in the Trump campaign by the FBI was a Cambridge professor who has been a long-time, highly sketchy CIA operative, Stefan Halper. It turns out he was also embedded in the Carter campaign in 1980. Here is Greenwald’s concluding paragraph:
Whatever else is true, the CIA operative and FBI informant used to gather information on the Trump campaign in the 2016 campaign has, for weeks, been falsely depicted as a sensitive intelligence asset rather than what he actually is: a long-time CIA operative with extensive links to the Bush family who was responsible for a dirty and likely illegal spying operation in the 1980 presidential election. For that reason, it’s easy to understand why many people in Washington were so desperate to conceal his identity, but that desperation had nothing to do with the lofty and noble concerns for national security they claimed were motivating them.
- Trump’s infrastructure plan hits a dead end (The Hill) President Trump’s legislative framework for a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s infrastructure appears all but dead in Congress. Lawmakers are focused on other legislative matters, and Democrats say the latest “infrastructure week” that started Sunday has done little to reinvigorate the president’s plan.
Senate Democrats appeared to throw in the towel last week, posting an “in memoriam” video tribute to infrastructure week that shows White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders casting doubt on the potential for a bill this year.
- A Former CIA Employee is Suspected In Wikileaks ‘Vault 7’ Disclosure (Zero Hedge, MintPressNews) Hat tip to Roger Erickson. U.S. authorities have identified a suspect in last year’s “Vault 7” leaks of CIA hacking and electronic surveillance tools used in foreign espionage operations, reports The Washington Post. The Vault 7 release – a series of 24 documents which began to publish on March 7, 2017 – reveal that the CIA had a wide variety of tools to use against adversaries, including the ability to “spoof” its malware to appear as though it was created by a foreign intelligence agency, as well as the ability to take control of Samsung Smart TV’s and surveil a target using a “Fake Off” mode in which they appear to be powered down while eavesdropping.
Joshua Adam Schulte, 29, a former employee in the CIA’s Engineering Development Group, is believed to have provided the agency’s top-secret cyber warfare tools to WikiLeaks – according to a disclosure by federal prosecutors at a January hearing in a Manhattan court on unrelated charges of possessing, receiving and transporting child pornography. Schulte, who has been in jail for months, has pleaded not guilty on the child porn charges.
- Cypress Creek cancels 1.5 GW as solar tariffs take toll (Utility Dive) See also Cypress Creek Halts 1.5GW of Solar Development Due to Tariffs, Seeks Module Exemption (gtm).
- Cypress Creek, one of the largest solar developers in the country, has canceled 1.5 GW of planned capacity as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to impose 30% tariffs on imported crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and cells.
- The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the tariffs will increase the cost of installing residential and non-residential systems this year by 4% and 6%, respectively. But the agency expects longer-term cost impacts to be moderate.
- A group of Republican Senators has petitioned the president for an exemption from the tariffs for larger 72-cell, 1,500-volt panels used in utility-scale developments. That exemption for larger panels would likely drive up costs for residential customers, Bloomberg reports.
- Trump Admin Poised To Give Rural Whites A Carve-Out On Medicaid Work Rules (Talking Points Memo) As the Trump administration moves aggressively to allow more states to impose mandatory work requirements on their Medicaid programs, several states have come under fire for crafting policies that would in practice shield many rural, white residents from the impact of the new rules. In the GOP-controlled states of Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio, waiver proposals would subject hundreds of thousands of Medicaid enrollees to work requirements, threatening to cut off their health insurance if they can’t meet an hours-per-week threshold.
Those waivers include exemptions for the counties with the highest unemployment, which tend to be majority-white, GOP-leaning, and rural. But many low-income people of color who live in high-unemployment urban centers would not qualify, because the wealthier suburbs surrounding those cities pull the overall county unemployment rate below the threshold.
- Bred to Suffer (The Intercept) Glenn Greenwald and Leighton Akio Woodhouse report on the inside story of the barbaric U.S. industry of dog experimentation. They say that this is a largely hidden, poorly regulated, and highly profitable industry in the United States that has a gruesome function: breeding dogs for the sole purpose of often torturous experimentation, after which the dogs are killed because they are no longer of use. Corporations and academic institutions exploit dogs (as well as cats and rabbits) for excruciating experiments that are completely trivial, even useless.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s aptly named the Animal Usage report, 60,979 dogs were used in the U.S. for experimentation in 2016 alone. The reported number of all animals used for experimentation, whose reporting was required, was 820,812.
- The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy (The Atlantic) The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem. The meritocratic class has mastered the old trick of consolidating wealth and passing privilege along at the expense of other people’s children.
- Trump Admin Halts Investigation of For-Profit Colleges (The Real News Network) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s decision to stop investigating for-profit educational institutions for fraudulent practices is yet another reason to believe that the Trump presidency is most corrupt in US history, says former financial regulator Bill Black.
Germany​
- Germany Acts to Tame Facebook, Learning From Its Own History of Hate (The New York Times) Germany, home to a tough new online hate speech law, has become a laboratory for one of the most pressing issues for governments today: how and whether to regulate the world’s biggest social network.
North Korea
- Kim Jong Un surprises with savvy power plays (The Hill) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s maneuvers on the international stage over the last few months have shocked some for their savviness. Kim sent his sister on a charm offensive during the Winter Olympics, cracked jokes when meeting with South Korea’s president and knocked President Trump off balance this week by throwing a kink into their planned nuclear summit. Robert Manning, a senior fellow the Atlantic Council, said:
“It’s quite remarkable. He’s been there for, what, five years, and the only person he’s hung out with is Dennis Rodman, and suddenly he’s this great statesman.”
China
- Mnuchin On China: ‘We’re Putting The Trade War On Hold’ (Talking Points Memo) Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Sunday that the United States was “putting the trade war [with China] on hold” in light of recent trade talks between the two nations, even though those talks produced no firm public commitments from China on reducing the two nations’ trade deficit, a priority for the Trump administration. Mnuchin told Fox News’ Chris Wallace in an interview Sunday:
“We’re putting the trade war on hold. So right now, we have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute the framework.”
- Be careful if China cuts you a check, says former US trade official (CNBC) President Donald Trump’s administration should focus on pushing for structural changes in China, rather than on the massive trade imbalance between the world’s two largest economies, a former U.S. government official said Monday. Frank Lavin, who was formerly U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for international trade, said:
“I’d say focus more on structural changes, getting market opening, fair treatment, level playing field, IP (intellectual property) issues, investment protection. Focus on those kind of issues that will allow you to sell on market terms.”
Australia
- South Australia’s grid service costs slashed 90% by Tesla battery (Utility Dive) See also The stunning numbers behind success of Tesla big battery (RenewEconomy)
A report by McKinsey and Co presented at the recent Australian Energy Week conference claims that Tesla’s 100 MW / 129 MWh battery has now reduced grid service costs by 90%, taking over a 55% share of state’s Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS).
McKinsey partner Godart van Gendt presented the report, saying the high success of Tesla’s Horsndale Power Reserve Battery Energy Storage System (HPR) makes the business case for a second battery on the same grid “a bit less attractive,” according to RenewEconomy.
- The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) praised the Tesla project’s grid performance in an April report of the first four months of the system’s operation. The country has more large battery projects in the pipeline to help manage the grid and utilize more renewable energy.
Mexico
- Code Name Jaguar: How a Top Police Official Carried Out a Reign of Terror in Mexico (The Intercept) In Mexico, at least 33,000 people are believed to have disappeared at the hands of cartels or corrupt state forces since the war on drugs was declared in 2006. Tthere are 53 municipalities across the state of Veracruz where there has been at least one report of state security forces likely participating in a forced disappearance. This is part of a broader genbral corruption situation:
Javier Duarte became the governor of Veracruz in December 2010 and immediately began to syphon public funds, taking money destined for social programs and laundering it through phantom companies, among other strategies. By the end of his governorship, it’s alleged that he and his associates stole approximately $3.2 billion. Although Duarte’s term didn’t finish until December 2016, he stepped down two months early and quickly disappeared. The Mexican government charged the governor, along with Bermúdez and other officials, with illegal enrichment and other corruption charges. The disgraced Duarte remained on the lam for six months before finally being arrested in Guatemala and extradited back to Mexico, where he is incarcerated and awaiting trial.
