GOP Punishes Steve King, Anti-Semitic Dem Gets Choice Committee

WASHINGTON—House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) cancelled all of Rep. Steve King’s committee assignments after the New York Times published a comment by the Iowa Republican that seemed to defend white nationalism. McCarthy’s action provides a stark contrast with that of House Democratic leaders who awarded newly elected Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota with a seat on the prestigious foreign affairs panel despite her history of anti-Semitic remarks and activities.

King, a lightning-rod conservative Republican from Iowa since first being elected to the House in 2002, is fighting McCarthy’s action, calling it “an unprecedented assault on my freedom of speech” and claiming the newspaper “mischaracterized” his comments. Former Vice-President Dick Cheney condemned King’s alleged comments as “abhorrent” and suggested he should “find another line of work.” Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said if King “doesn’t understand why ‘white supremacy’ is offensive, he should find another line of work.” King may be thinking of taking Cheney and McConnell up on their suggestion, noting at the end of a long statement defending himself last week that he plans to continue in office “for at least the next two years.” A spokesman for King could not be reached for comment.

Some Democrats sought to have King formally censured but the effort was stymied when House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) detoured the action to the House Ethics Committee, a panel that is notorious for being a graveyard for ethics actions regardless of which party controls the chamber.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/gop-punishes-steve-king-anti-semitic-dem-gets-choice-committee_2774145.html

US Demands Russia Destroy Noncompliant Missile Systems

The United States called on Russia on Jan. 21 to destroy all missile systems that violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty and accused Moscow of destabilizing global security. Ambassador Robert Wood, permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament and U.S. special representative for Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) Issues, said that the SSC-8 missile system is a “potent and direct threat to Europe and Asia.” Washington has accused Moscow of deploying the system in violation of the treaty since the mid-2000s.

“Unfortunately, the United States increasingly finds that Russia cannot be trusted to comply with its arms control obligations and that its coercive and malign actions around the globe have increased tensions,” Wood said at the United Nations-sponsored Conference on Disarmament. “Russia must verifiably destroy all SSC-8 missiles, launchers, and associated equipment in order to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty.” The Russian delegation at the conference didn’t immediately issue a response. President Vladimir Putin previously said that Russia would build more of the banned missile systems if the United States withdraws from the treaty. The demand by Wood is a sign that efforts by U.S. allies in Europe to persuade Russia to return to compliance haven’t borne fruit. On Dec. 4, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave Russia 60 days to destroy the missile systems, setting the stage to serve Moscow with an official withdrawal notice in early February. Pompeo said at the time that European allies lobbied for the 60-day window in order to mount a diplomatic campaign to attempt to resolve the impasse with the Kremlin.

President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the INF treaty in October last year. Under the treaty, signed in 1987, the two nations agreed to ban the production, possession, and testing of short- and mid-range ground-launched missile systems and related equipment. The United States and Russia are the only two nations bound by the treaty. Both have concerns about China, which has developed a formidable arsenal of mid-range missile systems that neither Moscow nor Washington can deploy under the INF treaty. Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of violating the treaty. Russian officials ignored the accusations for years until 2017 when the United States revealed the internal Russian codename for the missile system: SSC-8/9M729. Moscow has changed its tune since then, saying that the system is compliant with the treaty and that Washington hasn’t provided enough proof.

Washington’s withdrawal notice, if delivered in February, will be effective in six months from the date of service. Wood also decried Russia for supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and providing Iran with “advanced weaponry such as the S-300 missile defense system.” The nerve agent used in an attempt to assassinate former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Britain, last March showed Russia’s “reckless behavior” and failure to meet its obligations under a treaty banning the use of chemical weapons, he said. Britain said Russian GRU military intelligence agents poisoned the Skripals with Novichok. Moscow denies involvement in the poisoning, which the pair survived.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-demands-russia-destroy-noncompliant-missile-systems_2773430.html

As outlook darkens, central banks think hard about their language

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - As central banks stock up on policy ammunition in the face of a worsening global economic outlook, they are having to reassess one of their most delicate weapons - the ‘forward guidance’ they use to flag their intentions to the markets. Forced to slash borrowing costs, in some cases below zero, to fight the global financial crisis, the big central banks relied heavily on verbal hints and signals to set expectations about the future path of rates. By promising to keep monetary conditions ultra-loose, they hoped to push down longer-term rates and spur growth.

A decade on, they are again grappling for the right language as they wind down crisis-era measures while still facing an array of daunting risks, from the U.S.-China trade war to Brexit and slowing global growth. Conditions have not deteriorated to the point where central banks need to ponder reverting to extreme measures. The Fed can pause its rate hike cycle, the European Central Bank can go slow in raising rates and the Bank of Japan feels maintaining its current stimulus will be enough. But policymakers gathering in Davos for the World Economic Forum this week - including central bank chiefs Haruhiko Kuroda of Japan and Mark Carney of Britain - will be taking a hard look at what ammunition they have left to battle the next economic downturn.

While shrugging off fears of an imminent global recession, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned policymakers on Monday to brace for a “serious slowdown” as trade protectionism, higher tariffs and financial market turbulence darken the outlook. “After two years of solid expansion, the world economy is growing more slowly than expected and risks are rising,” Lagarde told reporters in Davos after the global lender cut its estimates for global economic growth this year and next.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has been weaning itself off forward guidance as it dials back crisis-mode policies, removing last year a phrase that policy will stay “accommodative” for some time. But other central banks, notably the BOJ, have been forced to maintain or even strengthen forward guidance to make up for a lack of alternative tools. Compared with other options, this has the advantage that it only requires tweaking language. While central banks may eventually turn to radical means like quantitative easing (QE), depending on the severity of the situation, they could prepare such steps or complement them with forward guidance to buy time or maximize the stimulus effect. “Policymakers at both the Fed and the ECB will want to keep forward guidance as a tool of monetary stimulus in future,” said Mansoor Mohi-uddin, Macro Strategist at NatWest Markets.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-davos-meeting-centralbanks-analysis/as-outlook-darkens-central-banks-think-hard-about-their-language-idUSKCN1PF1ME

China's Huawei in unprecedented media blitz as it battles heightened scrutiny

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China’s Huawei has launched an unprecedented public relations blitz, thrusting its low-key founder in front of international media as the telecoms firm seeks to ease concern among Western nations bent on shutting it out of their markets. The move, along with significant personnel change in its 300-strong corporate affairs department, comes as the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker battles fear of Chinese authorities accessing its infrastructure for espionage.

In a 25-minute interview aired late on Sunday - his first with state-controlled China Central Television (CCTV) - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei shrugged off the global push against his company, which has repeatedly denied any state links. “If you do (your product) well, there is no need to worry about sales… It would be stupid on their part if they don’t buy,” the 74-year-old said in a one-on-one, adding to three group interviews last week with English, Chinese and Japanese media outlets. “It would be their loss,” Ren said, referring to the United States and other Western countries which have restricted Huawei in their markets. Before last week, Ren had had no more than 10 interviews across media since founding Huawei in 1987, CCTV said. He last met international media at Davos in 2015. “My public relations department forced me,” a smiling Ren told CCTV when asked why he had opened up to the media. “I must make our clients understand us, make our 180,000 employees understand us, come together and get through this tough time.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-huawei-media/chinas-huawei-in-unprecedented-media-blitz-as-it-battles-heightened-scrutiny-idUSKCN1PF16R

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