1UA TV

In his newly unveiled National Security Strategy, U.S. President Donald Trump vows to “ensure the balance of power remains in America’s favor in key regions of the world.” 

The Indo-Pacific led the list of “key regions” identified by the White House, followed by Europe and the Middle East. How Washington will accomplish this strategic goal is being closely watched, as China, identified as a rival, shows no sign of lessening its interest in a region that is witnessing dramatic power shifts.

“The Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy is remarkably critical of China,” but “they have yet to explain how this approach will apply to and be implemented in the South China Sea,” two American scholars recently wrote, referring to a contentious issue considered reflective of American and Chinese strategic intentions.

While power politics unfolds, at least one country in the region appears willing to downplay territorial disputes, for now, in favor of strengthening its economic muscle.

​‘No new construction’ in South China Sea

In a year-end speech, Jose Manuel G. Romualdez, the Philippines’ ambassador to the U.S., focused the audience’s attention on his country’s economic growth, citing “a massive redevelopment of the country’s physical infrastructure” as a top priority for the Filipino government, led by Rodrigo Duterte.

Asked if the urgency concerning the South China Sea has receded, Romualdez gave a qualified yes: The situation has “calmed down in the sense that we’re now working with China on how to resolve the issues,” he told VOA. “There’s no new construction going on; if that’s how you describe ‘calm down,’ that’s what it is.”

His government, he says, is talking with China both bilaterally and through the regional platform facilitated by ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with 10 member states.

Earlier, China’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea, where several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, contest sovereignty, was widely criticized as acts that deliberately changed the status quo.

China insists that the vast majority of the waters comprising the South China Sea has belonged to China since time immemorial.

​Worries of China’s global investments

Since Duterte became president of the Philippines in June 2016, bilateral discussions between Manila and Beijing appear to be leaning toward trade and investments, and away from competing sovereignty claims.

China is now seen as bankrolling much of the Philippines’ ambitious infrastructure projects, and Washington has taken notice.

“China is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure across the globe,” the newly unveiled National Security Strategy pointed out.

To Washington, this could be worrisome. 

“China and Russia target their investments in the developing world to expand influence and gain competitive advantages against the United States,” the security strategy asserted.

Romualdez, the Philippines envoy, defended his country’s broadening approach: “With a view in diversifying our markets, we have strengthened our economic development and relationships with other major trading partners,” he said.

​China and Japan ‘competing with each other’

Romualdez singled out agreements signed between his country and Japan, another regional power, to illustrate this multipronged approach, part and parcel of the Philippines’ “independent foreign policy” put forth by President Duterte.

Tokyo has agreed to fund a subway system in Manila as well as flood mitigation projects, he added.

Japan and China are “competing with each other” to be the No. 1 investor in the Philippines, Romualdez later told VOA.

“We would like to see more from the United States; they’re our allies and our friends,” he added.

While Manila’s chief diplomat in Washington spoke of multilateral ties through the lens of economics and investments, scholars are less hesitant to point out the inherent strategic factor.

In a paper published on the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) website dedicated to issues surrounding the South China Sea, a researcher at the Philippines’ National Defense College describes the current Filipino government’s approach as “less ground-breaking” but “more of a return to the hedging strategy habitually employed by many countries in Southeast Asia.”

Manila’s strategic partnership with Tokyo, in Mico A. Galang’s opinion, “forms a crucial component to the hedging approach.”

US must compete for positive relationships

Manila’s overtures to Beijing and Tokyo aside, U.S.-Philippines relations remain important to both, said Hank Hendrickson, a former U.S. diplomat and current executive director of the US-Philippines Society.

“A strategic partnership with the Philippines has been integral to America’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific region,” Hendrickson told VOA. “From a Southeast Asian perspective, the United States continues to play a stabilizing role as the balancer of choice.’”

The former diplomat says he is also encouraged by continued high-level engagement between Washington and Manila under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and Bilateral Strategic Dialogue (BSD). In addition, he points to both sides’ willingness to explore a potential free trade agreement following the Trump-Duterte meeting in Manila as among “concrete and positive measures” which, in his opinion, should encourage greater trade and investment between the U.S. and the Philippines.

The newly unveiled National Security Strategy indicates that Washington is waking up to an increasingly complex and competitive global environment.

“Today, the United States must compete for positive relationships around the world,” the document said.
…

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the focus of criticism over the past year from President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, plans to retire in 2018, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

McCabe, 49, is the No. 2 official in the FBI and had been acting director after Trump fired the former director, James Comey, in May. According to the Post, McCabe plans to retire once he becomes eligible for a full pension in March.

Shortly after the newspaper report was published, Trump retweeted his earlier contention that McCabe’s wife, Jill, who ran unsuccessfully for the Virginia Senate in 2015, had been given nearly $700,000 by allies of Hillary Clinton at a time when Andrew McCabe was involved in the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.

The FBI has said McCabe did not start overseeing the Clinton investigation until his wife’s state Senate campaign was over. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the two major donations that Jill McCabe received, totaling nearly $700,000, came from a political action committee of Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat and Clinton friend, and from the Virginia Democratic Party.

Trump, who is spending the holidays at his Florida resort, said in a second tweet Saturday, “FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!” 

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment.

Under pressure

McCabe has come under fire from Republicans over the past year because of the bureau’s investigation into the Clinton email issue as well as the probe into possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. intelligence community released a report that stated Russia had meddled in the 2016 election, showing a preference for Trump over Clinton, his opponent. Russia denies meddling in the election, and Trump has denied any collusion.

Shortly after Comey’s firing, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel of an investigation into whether any members of Trump’s campaign conspired with Russian agents during the campaign. 

McCabe faced questions about that probe as well as the email issue when he testified earlier this week before three congressional committees.

“Andy’s in a difficult position now … because of the hyperpartisan political environment,” John Pistole, who held the FBI’s No. 2 job for six years under Mueller, told the Post. He said McCabe was “weathering the storm.”

Republicans have said they want answers to why Comey publicly discussed the Clinton investigation and then announced that the bureau would not seek to bring charges. Critics say the Republicans’ focus on Clinton is merely a tactic to distract from Mueller’s investigation.
…

The new U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands apologized Saturday after denying he once said the country was in “chaos” because of Muslims and accusing an interviewer of peddling “fake news,” only to be caught out by Dutch television in a bizarre exchange.

Pete Hoekstra, who starts as ambassador to The Hague next month, made the blunder while being questioned by a journalist from Dutch broadcaster NOS over remarks made at a 2015 conference.

When the reporter challenged him about referring at that event to Muslim-inspired “chaos” and to dangerous “no-go zones” in the Netherlands, Hoekstra responded: “That is actually an incorrect statement — we would call it fake news.

“I never said that.”

But in a clip played from the event, Hoekstra can be heard saying: “The Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they have put Europe into chaos. Chaos in the Netherlands — there are cars being burned, there are politicians that are being burned. …

“And yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands.”

When pressed further during the interview, the Dutch-born ambassador denied having accused his interviewer of disseminating “fake news.”

“I didn’t call that fake news,” said Hoekstra, a former representative from Michigan. “I didn’t use the words today. I don’t think I did.”

Mocked on social media

The exchange, which appeared on Dutch current affairs program Nieuwsuur, has circulated on social media, drawing widespread mockery. One tweeter quipped that Hoekstra was “even giving fake news a bad name.”

In a Twitter message Saturday, Hoekstra said: “I made certain remarks in 2015 and regret the exchange during the Nieuwsuur interview. Please accept my apology.” 

He vowed to “move on in the spirit of peace and friendship with the people and the leaders of the Netherlands.”

NOS interviewer Wouter Zwart later told CNN that Hoekstra said the “no-go zones” comment was intended to refer to “a broader context of European problems with ‘those areas.’ ”

The “no-go” reference was reminiscent of remarks by Donald Trump during his campaign for the U.S. presidency.

Blaming Muslims, he said parts of Paris were so radicalized “that the police refuse to go there,” that London police in some districts were “afraid for their own lives” and that parts of Brussels were a “hellhole.” 
…

Americans are traveling in record numbers this season, according to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) annual estimate, which forecasts more than 107 million will travel by road, rail or air between now and the start of 2018.

Despite higher gas prices, travel volume is expected to be 3.1 percent higher than last year’s holiday season, the association said.

AAA said this season marks the ninth consecutive year of rising year-end holiday travel in the United States. Since 2005, it said, holiday travel has grown by 21.6 million, an increase of 25 percent.

The majority of travelers, 97.4 million, will make their way to their destinations by road, while 6.4 million people are expected to fly to see family and friends or to take holiday vacations. Only 3.6 million are expected to take to trains, buses or cruise ships for the holiday.

Apparently, not all holiday travelers are making family visits.

AAA said, for the second year in a row, the top destinations for holiday travel are Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California – the homes of theme parks Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

Sunny destinations also make up the next seven entries on the top 10 destinations: Cancun, Mexico; Hawaii, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and several locations in Florida. The only non-beach destination on the list? No. 10, New York City.

 
…

Louisiana officials have chosen a sugar cane farm as the next home for residents of a tiny, shrinking island, a move funded with a 2016 federal grant awarded to help relocate communities fleeing the effects of climate change.

Dozens of Isle de Jean Charles residents are to be relocated about 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the northwest, in Terrebonne Parish, Nola.com|The Times-Picayune and The New Orleans Advocate report.

The state is negotiating to purchase the 515-acre (208-hectare) tract, which is closer to stores, schools and health care — and which is less flood-prone than the island, which has been battered by hurricanes and tropical storms.

Louisiana’s Office of Community Development expects to finalize the purchase in the coming weeks.

“Everybody seems to think it’ll be a pretty quick property negotiation,” said Mathew Sanders, the community development office’s resilience program manager.

Construction on the new settlement could begin in late 2018 or early 2019, meaning island residents most likely will have to endure at least one more hurricane season before moving.

Last year, Isle de Jean Charles became the first community in the U.S. to receive federal assistance for a large-scale retreat from the effects of climate change. About $48 million was allotted to purchase land, build homes and move the island’s approximately 80 full-time residents.

Tribe’s area mostly gone

Isle de Jean Charles is home to members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe. It has lost 98 percent of its area since 1955. Causes include erosion, sinking of coastal land, and Mississippi River levees that block replenishing river sediment.

Climate change-triggered sea-level rise is expected eventually to drown the island.

Owned by Acadia Agricultural Holdings, the sugar farm is valued at $19.1 million, but the actual purchase price may be about half that, Sanders said.

Albert Naquin, the tribe’s chief, said he looked at the site two years ago and it was immediately his favorite.

“It’s in the best part of the parish; it’s the highest area,” he said. “I pushed for that one.”

A master plan for the new development being created by the consulting firm CSRS will include not just houses but also community spaces and maybe even features such as crawfish ponds.

“We want to move the people on the island in such a way that the community can sustain itself,” Sanders said. To that end, officials may try to attract some businesses, including retail.
…

The sounds of the holidays have a familiar ring in cities across the United States, and in cities in South Korea, Japan, Chile and many European countries. In November and December, bell ringers stand next to Red Kettles belonging to the Protestant Salvation Army organization. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington, where bell ringers were collecting donations that will be put into local communities to help the needy.
…

A U.S. federal appeals court says President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries exceeds his authority.

However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals placed its decision on hold Friday, pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. That means the ban remains in effect for now.

Earlier this month, Trump’s restrictive travel ban went into effect for the first time since the original order was signed in January.

The travel order has been mired in the courts for almost a year.

At issue is the Trump administration’s stated desire to ensure national security. Pro-immigration groups that have sued to stop the order say it is discriminatory and amounts to a ban on Muslims.

The travel ban targets people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen who want to enter the U.S.
…

Dick Clark Productions says it has cut ties with the Miss America Organization over internal emails by pageant senior leadership that ridiculed past winners’ appearance, intelligence and sex lives.

The Huffington Post reported Thursday that the Miss America Organization’s CEO, Sam Haskell, exchanged emails with a writer for the televised pageant and others that included harsh and sometimes vulgar comments about past winners.

Dick Clark Productions, which produces the nationally televised pageant broadcasts, tells The Associated Press that it has cut ties with the pageant over the emails, calling them “appalling.”

Among the comments included in the report was a reference to former Miss Americas using a vulgar term for female genitalia that Haskell indicated he found to be amusing. Others speculated about how many men one particular former Miss America had had sex with. That same former title holder, Mallory Hagan, also was ridiculed over a bathing suit photo in which she appeared to have gained weight from when she competed in and won the pageant.

The emails have cost the pageant its television production partner, and raised questions about the future of the nationally televised broadcast from Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall the week after Labor Day each year.

Dick Clark Productions told The Associated Press Thursday night that it was made aware of the emails several months ago.

“We were appalled by their unacceptable content and insisted, in the strongest possible terms, that the Miss America Organization board of directors conduct a comprehensive investigation and take appropriate action to address the situation,” the company said in a statement. “Shortly thereafter, we resigned our board positions and notified MAO that we were terminating our relationship with them.”

In its own statement Thursday night, the Miss America Organization said that Haskell, who earns $500,000 a year as CEO, had apologized to the board for his comments. The statement did not say if he had apologized to the women mentioned by name in the emails, or whether such an apology was conveyed to them.

The organization said the emails “contain inappropriate language that is unbecoming at best and is not, in any way, indicative of the character and integrity of MAO or its representatives. Please note that MAO does not condone the use of inappropriate language and apologizes for this situation. The Board of Directors took the allegations very seriously, investigated them, and considers the matter closed.”

Haskell said he would address the matter on Friday; he did not respond to a follow-up inquiry as to whether he had apologized directly to the women named in the emails.

The comments are in stark contrast to the glowing, supportive statements Haskell repeatedly made in public about past title winners.

The Huffington Post article shows that Haskell and others directed considerable attention to Hagan, who won the 2013 pageant. He forwarded an email he had been sent regarding Hagan to a writer for the pageant, who has since been terminated.

The writer responded by questioning whether he and Haskell were part of a tiny group of people who had not had sex with Hagan.

“It appears we are the only ones!” Haskell replied, according to the Huffington Post.

Hagan did not respond to a message from the AP seeking comment Thursday night. She declined comment to the Huffington Post.
…

Three top U.S. officials visited U.S. troops Thursday to express appreciation for their service and sacrifice ahead of the upcoming holidays. U.S. President Donald Trump visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed hospital just outside Washington, while Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Kabul to greet U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis paid a visit to the troops in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has this story.
…

The Trump administration has given the green light to what some say is the largest U.S. commercial sale of defensive weapons to Ukraine since 2014. The State Department said this week it has approved a commercial license authorizing the export of small arms weapons valued at roughly $41.5 million. VOA recently visited one U.S. company in Texas that has been selling lethal weapons to Ukraine since last year.
…