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President Trump To Use Huawei CFO As a Bargaining Chip (politico.com)
hackingbear shares a report from Politico, adding: "This fuels the suspicion that the Chinese executive is held as a hostage for the ongoing trade negotiation with China." From the report: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he reserved the right to weigh in on the Justice Department's case against the CFO of Huawei, if it would help him close a trade deal with Beijing or would serve other American national security interests. "If I think it's good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made -- which is a very important thing -- what's good for national security -- I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary," Trump told Reuters. Trump added that President Xi Jinping of China had not called him about the case, but that the White House had been in touch with both the Justice Department and Chinese officials. Huawei's CFO, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada earlier this month at the request of American authorities, who allege that she violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. Yesterday, a Vancouver judge ruled that Meng would be released on a $7.5 million bail if she remains in British Columbia.
That seems like a pretty unhealthy precedent to set.
This seems like a dangerous/crazy step to take. How does this type of negotiation tactic end? (ie - has someone thought out the likely reactions and steps the Other Side is likely to take?) What's to stop other countries from following suit?
Traditional diplomacy rested on a sort of 'gentleman's agreement'. While some of that diplomacy took forever and yielded less than we wished, at least (on the surface) it was civilized and seemed to prevent harm. Our current course could get unpleasant quickly.
Or am I just overthinking this?
they do not use people as bargaining chips, which is hilarious since Trump as chief Executive is the head of the Justice Dept (yeah, yeah, I know it's "non-partisan", tell me another one and say hi to the Attorney General he fired for not playing ball). The real damage Trump has done was to the rule of law in America.
Thing is, his poll numbers haven't budge an inch (according to 538, which is usually right). He's a true Demagogue. Nothing he does or says makes his base second guess him. The GOP is even trying to get him to go after Social Security and Medicare, with the assumption being that he could do it without taking any damage politically. And you know what? I think they're right. Fortunately he's said no (so far).
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Couldn't we all see this coming from..you know, space? Of course Trump will use this Exec as a bargining chip. My concern is that it'll just blow up in his face, but he won't be the one who feels the brunt of the pain from the events that unfold.
This is Slashdot, right?
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
After US president said she will not have a fair trial, perhaps Meng Wanzhou's lawyers have a good point for arguing against extradition in Canadian courts.
No Shit Sherlock, Trump is looking for leverage. He doesn't care how much damage he causes, as long as he gets what he wants and someone else has to pay for the damage.
Mandatory clarification.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
... I hope China takes hostages in retaliation. The new term this presidential cycle is, "Chickenshit Politics."
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
All modern corporations are criminal. There is no one that is "more criminal" than any other.
is their downfall. What a good scheme... until u mention it. ROFL.... post it in a tweet... lol
[($)]
He's been mixing trade, military, law, and personal business ever since he got into office. And you wonder why the turnover is so high.
Table-ized A.I.
Wow, how long before we have US executives traveling abroad being held in foreign prisons for similar ransom?
their poll numbers say otherwise. Can you just imagine the shit storm if Obama pulled this crap? Take everything Trump's done for the last 2 years, put it down on paper, CTL-R / Trump / Obama and run a poll and see what kind of numbers you get.
My point is his base has stopped thinking and they're just feeling. Trump feels _good_. He tells them what they want to hear. He gives them simple answers to complex problems. It's classic demagoguery just like Stalin, Hitler, Mao and Mussolini did. Trump's not violent like them, he just like attention. So he'll fade into the background when his time's up.
Trump's paving the way for a real dictator. We, and most definately Trump's base (who've been crying about FEMA death camps since Obama got elected) should be freaking the heck out about that. Trouble is they mostly get their media from propaganda outfits (Fox News, Alex Jones, and now even NRA TV, go watch it, it's creepy as hell). So they can't see the very thing they fear most creeping up on them...
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What he is doing is stepping off moral boxes while making targets of all Americans. W did this with his invasion of Iraq. Trump is really a total jackass.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
We're exchanging like for like and both sides are (debatably) in the wrong. What makes this screwed up is we're not longer exchanging like for like. We're trading a persons life for money. It's mob tactics. Which, well, isn't really a surprise. Trump's had mob ties forever.
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Consider this: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/1.... If he is using a high-level figurehead as a bargaining chip to force China to let those folks out, more power to him.
Canada should absolutely determine that the US extradition request was made in bad faith. Except... Now the Chinese have gone and disappeared a couple of Canadian citizens, which means we'll look like chumps if we give in to China. Thanks for involving us in your stupid pissing match, US and China.
Huh? Who let the crazy Italian guy in here?
To a Chinese colleague telling me a few days ago that this whole thing must of course be instructed/manipulated by US executive power, I answered I did not believe so because unlike China and other authoritarian regimes, the ground of our western democracies is that justice is not a tool of the executive power but independent.
As an example a meaningful symbolic action in the beginning of the French revolution was to free the prisoners from the King's prison La Bastille.
Apparently I was wrong. Is America going to let Trump undermine democracy until there is nothing left of it?
Well if he was actually pissed about this he could simply issue a pardon for the alleged crimes. Case over, "Deep State" thoroughly thwarted, tensions eased and good karma points earned with China. The use of Presidential pardons to counter over-zealous prosecution is emphatically one of the use cases in mind when the pardon power was written.
But, no, he publicly muses about using the arrest of Ms. Meng as a bargaining chip to extract a better deal from the Chinese government. That dramatically increases the chance that extradition will be denied, since political overtones were just dropped all over the case, while burning any good will there may have been from the trade truce.
It really isn't normal to forewarn the President about individual arrests in ordinary cases. If this had simply been left to career staff to make a legitimate case the Chinese government would have scowled some and then filed it as precedent for later use when the shoe is on the other foot. But it was very much the President's choice to make Iran related issues a priority for the Justice Department, as is his rightful prerogative, and also his choice to make this case a political football. So if he is in fact pissed about this, some of that ire needs to land on the man in the mirror.
"President Trump To Use Huawei CFO As a Bargaining Chip"
What could possibly go wrong?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
So the deal is that apparently the arrest of the executive was actually a Deep State action meant to *hurt* Trump as he negotiated with China, it was done without his knowledge and he was pissed.
How can you say it's a Deep State Action when John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, acknowledged that he knew about that arrest and that he (Bolton) told the Chinese delegation about it.
Don't you think Bolton would have told Trump about the arrest, before he passed that info to the Chinese, back when they (Trump, Bolton, the Chinese) were in Argentina?
Or are you implying that John R. Bolton is part of the Deep State ?
A fundamental underpinning of extradition proceedings is the âoedouble criminalityâ principle. If Canada is to extradite, there must be an offence charged in the U.S. that corresponds to one in Canadian law. While Canada has followed the UN with sanctions on Iran as regards nuclear and missile technology, I'm not aware that UN sanctions ever covered the trade in telecoms. Since in Canada sanctions like this emanate from the UN, I doubt there is a matching crime here. There is also the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act that spells out that American sanctions cannot operate in Canada -- otherwise 10,000s of Canadians who have visited Cuba could be rounded up.
When it was first announced, I immediately wondered if it was related to the trade war. You don't hear about these types of prosecutions often, so it seemed like there had to be some greater political machination going on.
That is a long time to keep someone on spec.
It should be something like 7 days. If there is not enough evidence to extradite then the arrest warrant should never have been issued.
Within civilized countries there are definite limits on how long Police can hold someone without charge, and they are nothing like 45 days!
He's playing right into China's talking points about it being a political arrest.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
at least he's honest about it, sure we knew all along but that doesn't mean they will admit to it.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
That is a nasty slash to the throat of America's credibility, and the blood sprays onto Canada.
How long until Trump starts calling himself the Generalissimo and wearing ridiculous outfits?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
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The trouble is that by saying things like this, Trump hands her defense team a legitimate argument that this extradition request is, at least in part, politically motivated. Judges do not like this kind of thing and it just increases the chances that she may not be extradited to the USA regardless of the case against her there.
In the bigger picture, countries that form treaties (like the one that Canada arrested this lady under on behalf of the USA), are generally like-minded. If one side starts abusing these treaties then they're apt to fall apart. This makes things harder for everyone.
Finally, this kind of shoot-from-the-hip, talk has real consequences in lives. In retaliation for this arrest Canada has already had two of its citizens detained in China for the thinly veiled purpose of putting pressure on the Canadian government. Regardless of the truth of Trumps statements, the simple fact that he's making them is making life difficult not just for Americans but for her allies as well.
Textbook narcissism, every problem of his is one someone else created
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
That's good, more power too him. What else can we do to show that the US is no different than the 3rd world shitholes they spend so much time criticising?
What are you proposing?
Let's invade Britain and arrest the Queen for driving on the wrong side of the road.
How do you know they were lawfully detained? Why are you suggesting that protections available under US citizenship according to US Code should not be offered to US citizens detained in China? This IS rule of law.