‘Beer tent stop’ is a bit degrading of the Bavarian culture and its beer festival…

    Ms. Merkel, who is balancing the imperatives of preserving the alliance with the United States and
    sustaining her re-election effort, took stock at a beer tent stop in Munich on Sunday.

    “The times in which we could rely fully on others, they are somewhat over,” she said, according to
    German news media. “This is what I experienced in the last few days.”

○ Merkel: Europe can no longer rely on US and Britain | DW |
○ What Angela Merkel meant at the Munich beer hall | Politico EU |
○ Emmanuel Macron: my handshake with Trump was ‘a moment of truth’ | The Guardian |

Versailles, the palace fit for kings, will welcome president Putin today!

French President Macron to host Russia’s Putin at Versailles palace | France24 |

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks at the Versailles palace today, the French presidency announced last week.

 « click for more info »

The meeting coincides with an exhibition to mark Russian Tsar Peter the Great’s visit to France 300 years ago, providing a perfect photo opportunity for the world’s press — and for people-watchers — to capture the two leaders shaking hands with Versailles Palace being used as a symbolic backdrop to demonstrate the historic ties between France and Russia.

The meeting between Macron and Putin is set to be a very closely watched event because the two presidents are expected to touch on an array of critical issues, including both Syria and Ukraine.

Macron has previously said Russia’s bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo could amount to a war crime.  

○ Merkel: G7 climate talks with Trump ‘very unsatisfying’ | DW |
○ Trump tells confidants U.S. will quit Paris climate deal

My analysis after Brexit and before Trump …

○ After Brexit: Transatlantic Opportunity for Europe’s Neutrality
○ Europe’s Founders Call for Unity and Peace After Brexit

How the world reacted to Merkel’s pivot to Europe

Continued below the fold …

[Update-1] How the world reacted to Merkel’s pivot to Europe | DW |

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday prompted a fury of reactions from across the Atlantic and within Europe when she suggested that Europe could no longer rely on two of its traditional allies, the US and the UK.

“The times when we could fully rely on others have passed us by a little bit; that’s what I’ve experienced in recent days,” Merkel said during a rally in Munich. “We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.”

Merkel’s remarks come in the aftermath of a NATO summit and G7 meeting in Italy, which brought US President Donald Trump to Europe on his first official foreign trip. But she described the interaction with Trump, most notably on climate change, as “very unsatisfactory.” Trump instead deemed the trip a “great success for America.”

US divided

In the US, the reaction was mixed, with Trump’s supporters dismissing Merkel’s comments while his opponents appeared to mourn the loss of the US’ special relationship with Germany.

“If the President of the United States calls that a huge success, I’d hate to see failure,” said Adam Schiff, Democratic lawmaker and high-ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, a veteran US diplomat, described Merkel’s comments as a “watershed” in relations between the two allies. “(It’s) what the US has sought to avoid since World War II,” said Haas.

Of course, Trump’s first 9-day trip was called a huge succes by him, the master of fake news and big, big lies!

The U.S. relations with the fanatics in Riyadh and the right-wing fascist regime in Jerusalem were tightened …

Trump’s Saudi Soliloquy | Tikun Olam |

Donald Trump just made one of the most hypocritical speeches in American political history: and that’s saying something. The same person who told the American electorate that Islam was a religion of violence and evil, and that America must close its doors to all Muslims because, as far as he was concerned, they were all likely terrorists–this same guy fawned and curtsied before the Saudi monarch who’s the protector (not a very good one, I might add) of the Muslim holy sites.

This speech and his attendant business deals signed while in the Kingdom, are a triumph of commerce over values. Jobs and lucre and the only things this President cares about. If he can hawk THAAD missile systems to the Devil himself he’ll descend into Hell to do it.

Amidst all of Trump’s fulminations against “Islamist terrorism” (“That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups it inspires”), there was nary a word about western terrorism. We too have our own homegrown terrorists: white supremacists and the alt-right. They have killed almost as many westerners as Islamist militants have. Yet why not a word of denunciation concerning them? Why not admit that we have our own brand of terror to fight, just as Muslims do? You know the answer without my telling you.

Here Trump rhapsodizes about refugees, calling them “human capital” for a “brighter future.” Of course, while ignoring the massive suffering they endure in the god-awful present. In the process he makes one of the most hypocritical statements in the entire address:

    “I also applaud Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon for their role in hosting refugees. The surge of migrants and refugees leaving the Middle East depletes the human capital needed to build stable societies and economies. Instead of depriving this region of so much human potential, Middle Eastern countries can give young people hope for a brighter future in their home nations and regions.”

Well of course they can. If Trump’s own allies hadn’t turned Syria into a killing field and charnel house.

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