Monday, March 10

Author: Patti Mohr

Patti Mohr is a U.S.-based journalist. She writes about global diplomacy, economics, and infringements on individual freedom. Patti is the founder of the Global Economic Report. Her goal is to elevate journalistic principles and share the pursuit of truth in concert with others.
21Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Currency, Debt, National Budgets & Interest Rates, Types of News: Brief

Global Debt Rises to $188 Trillion

In case you missed it... (We did!) Jan. 21, 2020-Global debt rose by $3 trillion in 2018 to reach $188 trillion, according to data released late last month by the International Monetary Fund. The data suggests many countries will be "ill-prepared" for the next economic downtown, an IMF blog post asserted. Referencing the data in an interview today with CNBC, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said the low interest rates fueled higher risk investments, such as stocks. She added that loose monetary policies are responsible for a significant amount of global growth.
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Iran Reacts with Defiance to New U.S. Deterrence Strategy
17Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Middle East, Sanctions, Types of News: Analysis

Iran Reacts with Defiance to New U.S. Deterrence Strategy

Jan. 17, 2020-Immediate tensions between the United States and Iran subsided since the two country's attacks and counter-attacks in Iraq earlier this month. While war between the two countries appears less imminent, the path forward points to either inevitable conflict or backdoor diplomacy. Today, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei conducted a rare Friday speech in which he condemned the United States and defended his country's missile attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq. The strikes inadvertently downed a Ukrainian passenger plane. The United States, meanwhile, intensified its sanctions against Iran, adding Iranian military and political officials and companies trading in Iran's metals industry to its already-large list of sanctioned individuals and entities. ...
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As Impeachment Trial Begins, Government Agency Says Withholding of Foreign Aid Was Illegal
16Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Foreign Aid, International Development, Types of News: Brief

As Impeachment Trial Begins, Government Agency Says Withholding of Foreign Aid Was Illegal

Jan. 16, 2020-As the impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump got underway with the swearing in of Chief Justice John Roberts and most of the 100 U.S. senators, a government agency issued a report today saying it was illegal for the Executive Branch to withold to Ukraine in 2019. "Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law," the legal decision by the Government Accountability Office said. The specific law in question is the Impoundment Control Act. The timing of the GAO decision is relevant because it gets to the heart of the impeachment trial now underway in the U.S. Senate. According to the GAO, Congress had appropriated $250 million in U.S. funds for Ukraine. The i...
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16Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief, United States

Congress Clears US-Mexico-Canada Trade Deal

January 16, 2020-It's a big week for trade. A day after the United States and China agreed to a phase one of a trade deal, the U.S. Senate approved a trade agreement that replaces NAFTA. Only nine senators voted against it while 89 voted for it. Since the House has previously passed it with a bipartisan 385-41 vote, the agreement is cleared for the White House. The deal, the USMCA, is a massive three-way agreement that covers goods worth about $1.3 trillion. Leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States signed the deal in late 2018. Mexico's Senate voted for the agreement on June 20, 2019 and a revised treaty on Dec. 12, 2019. It's up to the Mexican president to ratify it. Canada is expected to consider implementing legislation when the new Parliament begins its session. For...
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8Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade

Senate Panel OKs North American Trade Deal

January 8, 2020-The Senate Finance Committee gave its mark of approval yesterday to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which the three countries' leaders agreed to a year ago. If ratified by legislatures in all three countries, the USMCA would replace NAFTA. "USMCA will bring much needed certainty, and real benefits to America’s farmers, workers, and businesses," Senator Charles Grassley said. Senator Wyden praised the new enforcement mechanisms. Democrats worked with President Trump to include financial assistance through the Labor Department to help improve labor standards in Mexico and strengthen U.S. capacity to identify when Mexican factories violate labor standards. "So when you combine this all-in approach on enforcement with new commitments on labor rights and ...
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8Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Energy Policy, Oil & Gas, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

‘We Do Not Need Middle East Oil,’ Trump Says

January 8, 2020-As he addressed the nation and the world at the height of an escalating crisis between Iran and the United States, President Donald Trump emphasized American strength in military capabilities, economic growth and natural resources in a sign he is not backing down from the possibility of war with archrival Iran. Trump called on signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran to abandon the agreement, asked the NATO alliance to take a stronger role in the Middle East, and announced new economic sanctions on Iran. Trump showed no sign of de-escalating the conflict with Iran. He said Iranians chanted "death to America" even as the United States signed onto the 2015 nuclear deal and fomented conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Furthermore, he reinforced his decisio...
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New Year Starts With Middle East Meltdown
7Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Middle East, Types of News: Analysis

New Year Starts With Middle East Meltdown

January 7, 2020-A week into the new year, mounting tension in the Middle East is giving way to major political changes. Lying between Iran and Syria and Lebanon, Iraq is at the center of a battle for influence and control between a U.S.-led coalition and Iran. As pressure mounts, leaders from both countries have been high on rhetoric and low on strategy. Their primary goals appear to be to push the presence of the other out of Iraq. Killing Soleimani In a dramatic escalation of the geopolitical conflict between the United States and Iran, a U.S. military drone strike on January 2 near Bagdad killed top Iranian militia commander Qasem Soleimani. "We got him," U.S. President Donald Trump said at a political rally days later. He justified the strike by saying Soleimani was pla...
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NAFTA Replacement to Move Forward in U.S. Congress
10Dec By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief, United States

NAFTA Replacement to Move Forward in U.S. Congress

December 10, 2019-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow House Democrats announced support for the U.S. -Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement today. Pelosi said the trade agreement is better than NAFTA and "infinitely better" than what President Donald Trump had initially proposed. "It's a victory for America's workers and one we take great pride in advancing." It's been a year since the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico signed the trade agreement. The deal covers agriculture, intellectual property, digital trade and financial services. The legislatures in all three countries need to ratify the deal before it takes effect. Democrats said the key to winning their support was working out enforcement mechanisms, particularly in the areas of labor and environment.
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Former Amb. in Impeachment Proceedings Warns of ‘Hollowing Out’ of U.S. Diplomacy
15Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions

Former Amb. in Impeachment Proceedings Warns of ‘Hollowing Out’ of U.S. Diplomacy

November 15, 2019--In the second day of impeachment live televised hearings in the U.S. House of Representative, Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, warned of a "hollowing out of the State Department" that weakens U.S. diplomats abroad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvPeE-rSQZ4 Ms. Yovanovitch said she lost her position as the ambassador to Ukraine after foreign and private interests used "unofficial back channels" to convince President Trump to remove her. Ukraine: Caught Between Russia and the West Yovanovitch also said Ukraine is "a battleground for great power competition, with a hot war for the control of the territory and a hybrid war to control Ukraine's leadership."
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Senate Panel Focuses on Crime-Related Migration at US-Mexico Border
13Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Corruption, Bribes, Illicit Finance & Money Laundering, Human rights, Migration, Immigration, Borders, Types of News: Brief

Senate Panel Focuses on Crime-Related Migration at US-Mexico Border

October 13, 2019--A Senate committee examining migration at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday focused largely on crimes, such as child exploitation, drug trafficking and human smuggling. With just under a million cases of immigrants entering the U.S. border in the fiscal year 2019, the U.S. justice system of processing and detaining immigrants is overwhelmed, U.S. officials reported. Child Pawns Of primary concern are children who are used as human pawns for individuals seeking to enter the United States illegally. According to Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, human smugglers use children as a "money-making commodity" by selling or renting them to migrants. "We know children are being rented and recycled and presented as fake fa...
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