Australian PM describes frank call with Trump after Washington Post reports angry exchange

[nuakmuaynina]

Well Trump is making it easy for the Terrorists, they don't have to do anything, they can just sit back and watch Trump destroy the USA on his own...

[harrry]

Just close down the Information sharing for one day....Trump may not notice as it seems he does not listen but the US military and security system will....and he will not get far without their support.

[elgordo38]

24 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Agreed, the insane clown president deserves NO respect. Electing him was a horrible mistake. Have patience ... there will be hope to legally remove the mistake. 

I would not be surprised if plans were on the drawing board as we speak. 

[zorro1]

Agreed, the insane clown president deserves NO respect. Electing him was a horrible mistake. Have patience ... there will be hope to legally remove the mistake. 

No hope at all. You can't impeach the guy just because he is a dick head. He needs to break some laws and hanging up on a guy doesn't qualify. I lost a lot of respect for the DT today though.

[optad]

13 minutes ago, Tawan Dok Krating Daeng said:

Would closing down Pine Gap be a proportionate response. No. But looking at the way 45 is acting, it may be difficult for the Australian Government to resist calls to take such action and more.

I would have liked turnbull to at least saved the political ground, such that he could have issued the  reprisal stick. He did not sand sucked it up for political deference. 

 

International speak/ Good friends do not suffer insobrietious ridicule in such small context without discreet ramification. 

 

Trump has no handle on our geo pol area and could not care less. A true gold fish memory of teh past. Opportunity to get out of the USA way. 

[Andaman Al]

2 minutes ago, optad said:

I would have liked turnbull to at least saved the political ground, such that he could have issued the  reprisal stick. He did not sand sucked it up for political deference. 

 

International speak/ Good friends do not suffer insobrietious ridicule in such small context without discreet ramification. 

 

Trump has no handle on our geo pol area and could not care less. A true gold fish memory of teh past. Opportunity to get out of the USA way. 

I just wish that as Trump was terminating the call Turnbull would have given Trump that well known Australian parting salutation to people that pi** you off of  - "Go f*** yourself Bruce".

 

Turnbull was far more diplomatic than Trump deserved which actually just makes Trump look even worse. I am sure once the House has thrown this around in Australia and public opinion gets whipped up then hopefully Australia will give a calculated and measured response. If nothing else but for the recent deaths and casualties Australia suffered in support of US foreign policy in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[snoop1130]

'Dumb deal' drags Australia-U.S. ties to new low after tense Trump call

By Jane Wardell and Colin Packham

 

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump labelled a refugee swap deal with Australia "dumb" on Thursday after a Washington Post report of an acrimonious telephone call with Australia's prime minister threatened a rare rift in ties between the two staunch allies.

 

The Post reported that Trump described the resettlement plan as "the worst deal ever" and accused Australia of trying to export the "next Boston bombers". It said the call had been scheduled to last an hour but Trump cut it short after 25 minutes when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tried to turn to subjects such as Syria.

 

Turnbull told reporters the call with Trump at the weekend had been frank and candid but refused to give further details.

 

"I do stand up for Australia. My job is to defend Australian interests," Turnbull said in Melbourne.

 

Turnbull refused to confirm the Post report that Trump, who had earlier spoken to world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, had angrily told him that the call was "the worst so far".

 

Political analysts said such acrimony was unprecedented, surpassing even the difficult relations between former U.S. President Richard Nixon and then Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who pulled Australian troops out of the Vietnam War.

 

"Even that was always done in the language of foreign policy niceties," said Harry Phillips, a political analyst of 40 years experience at Edith Cowan and Curtin universities in Perth.

 

As reports of the conversation hit headlines on both sides of the world, Trump tweeted shortly before midnight in Washington: "Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal."

 

That threw more confusion over the status of the controversial deal Australia agreed with former President Barack Obama late last year for the United States to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held in offshore processing camps on Pacific islands in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

 

In return, Australia would resettle refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

 

REPERCUSSIONS

 

The swap deal is at odds with Trump's executive order last week that suspended the U.S. refugee programme and restricted entry to the United States for travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

 

Many of those being held in the Australian detention centres, which have drawn harsh criticism from the United Nations and rights groups, have fled violence in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.

 

White House spokesman Sean Spicer and the U.S. Embassy in Australia have both said Trump would honour the deal. In several media appearances after Trump's tweet, Turnbull reiterated that he believed the deal stood.

 

"He is saying that this is not a deal he would have made, but the question is will he honour that commitment? He has already given it," Turnbull said. "I make Australia’s case frankly, powerfully, forthrightly and hopefully persuasively when I deal with other leaders."

 

The apparent breakdown between Washington and Canberra that has developed over the resettlement deal could have serious repercussions.

 

Australia and the United States are among the five nations that make up the Five Eyes group, the world's leading intelligence-sharing network.

 

The United States also plans to send extra military aircraft to Australia's tropical north this year as part of a U.S. Marines deployment that will bolster its military presence close to the disputed South China Sea.

 

Australia is also one of 10 U.S. allies purchasing Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet programme.

 

The Post quoted unidentified senior U.S. officials briefed on the conversation between Trump and Turnbull. It also quoted the official read-out from the call, which emphasised "the enduring strength and closeness of the U.S.-Australia relationship that is critical for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and globally".

 

It also said Trump had boasted to Turnbull about the size of his election victory.

 

(Reporting by Jane Wardell and Colin Packham; Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook; Writing by Jane Wardell; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-2-2

[Andaman Al]

[optad]

Quote

I am sure once the House has thrown this around in Australia and public opinion gets whipped up then hopefully Australia will give a calculated and measured response

Andaman Al, we are in a post ethics age. 

 

Trump lived obliviously through those decades. Untouched in an aspergers way. Removed and unscathed emotionally. Neutered yet intact.  

 

We are the infected persons with a tint of right and wrong when foul things happen,  a moral here or there and a sense of something beyond ourselves, the  commonweal. But today this is just a sign of money misspent on education.  

[mtls2005]

Trump will "accept" all refugees from Australia...

 

provided they are "10's", female and can begin modelling on Monday.

[Andaman Al]

21 minutes ago, optad said:

Andaman Al, we are in a post ethics age. 

 

Trump lived obliviously through those decades. Untouched in an aspergers way. Removed and unscathed emotionally. Neutered yet intact.  

 

We are the infected persons with a tint of right and wrong when foul things happen,  a moral here or there and a sense of something beyond ourselves, the  commonweal. But today this is just a sign of money misspent on education.  

I like it.

 

Well we had BCE and AD in our calendars, perhaps we ought to restart our calendars now as being at Year 1 PEA  (Post Ethics Age  though there is additional humour in the acronym)

Edited February 2, 2017 by Andaman Al

[optad]

 

Quote

The Post quoted unidentified senior U.S. officials briefed on the conversation between Trump and Turnbull

Secure whitehouse week two

 

Quote

It also said Trump had boasted to Turnbull about the size of his election victory.

 

Secure in mind forever

 

 

Edited February 2, 2017 by optad

[Opl]

"Even in conversations marred by hostile exchanges, Trump manages to work in references to his election accomplishments. U.S. officials said that he used his calls with Turnbull and Peña Nieto to mention his election win or the size of the crowd at his inauguration to depict his victory as an achievement of historic proportions... Trump’s position appears to reflect the transactional view he takes of relationships, even when it comes to diplomatic ties with long-standing allies. "

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpaustralia-815pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.72efb7737649

Edited February 2, 2017 by Opl

[Jingthing]

trump loves trump. To get anywhere with that madman you need to flatter him and/or have Putin style kompromat on him.

[Andaman Al]

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

trump loves trump. To get anywhere with that madman you need to flatter him and/or have Putin style kompromat on him.

I think Banner has a lot of 'Kompromat' on him.

[jayboy]

18 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

trump loves trump. To get anywhere with that madman you need to flatter him and/or have Putin style kompromat on him.

Yes yes we get it.Trump is a spectacularly naughty boy.Nevertheless I can't help feeling he has a point here.Isn't the real issue Australia's rotten immigration policies and its hellish off shore processing camps? Why exactly is the US or any other country expected to take in refugees that might normally be expected to be accommodated by the major power in the area, ie Australia.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28189608

Edited February 2, 2017 by jayboy

[mfd101]

5 minutes ago, jayboy said:

Yes yes we get it.Trump is a spectacularly naughty boy.Nevertheless I can't help feeling he has a point here.Isn't the real issue Australia's rotten immigration policies and its hellish off shore processing camps? Why exactly is the US or any other country expected to take in refugees that might normally be expected to be accommodated by the major power in the area, ie Australia.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28189608

The answer to that is fairly clear: (1) under the previous Labor Party government, the effect of large numbers of boat people arriving from Sri Lanka & Iran, Iraq & Afghanistan was that a couple of thousand refugees drowned at sea. Since the Liberal government cracked down on boat people arrivals & made it clear that NONE would ever be allowed to enter Australia, there have been no drownings at sea & the networks of people smugglers including in Indonesia have been largely dismantled. So the argument is that Australia's refusal to accept refugees & would-be migrants who arrive by boat is that many lives are saved; (2) the effect however was that some people are now stuck in the various offshore island camps. The deal with Obama said: You take our boat people, all properly vetted as they now are (to the extent possible with people who were encouraged by people smugglers to destroy their ID papers before arrival), and we'll take an equal number of your illegal but vetted Latinos. From Australia's point of view this was a good deal because it maintains the line that no boat people will be admitted EVER to Australia.

[evadgib]

4 hours ago, tx22cb said:

Pity that the British PM could not be as direct.

She's far too shrewd to allow her Govt to be drawn into this damaging social media circus.

Edited February 2, 2017 by evadgib

[Andaman Al]

34 minutes ago, jayboy said:

Yes yes we get it.Trump is a spectacularly naughty boy.Nevertheless I can't help feeling he has a point here.Isn't the real issue Australia's rotten immigration policies and its hellish off shore processing camps? Why exactly is the US or any other country expected to take in refugees that might normally be expected to be accommodated by the major power in the area, ie Australia.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28189608

mfd101 explains the situation nicely. Funny though that you expect other nations to take refugees from all these areas, when they are actually fleeing due to US Foreign policy actions in their native homelands. So USA starts the crap and lakes the booty and lets everyone else clean up the mess. The real issue is actually Trumps inability to hold any form of Diplomatic discussion with another head of state and behave like a mature educated adult. Had he done so we would not have heard of this today.

 

Bye the way what other info was released yesterday or today by the Trump gang that this will be a media smokescreen for?

[taichiplanet]

interesting theories starting to come out, particularly one by Yonatan Zunger which was followed up by Michael Moore

https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/trial-balloon-for-a-coup-e024990891d5#.61v90bjfa

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-michael-moore-coup-us-steve-bannon-sally-yates-rule-of-law-a7554556.html?cmpid=facebook-post

 

maybe far fetched but Donald Duck could be setting things up to take feathering one's own bed  to a new level.

 

If at all possible it would be great if Australia could close down Pine Gap for a few days, then we might see Donald with cap in hand apologising. But it will never happen, there isn't any Australian politician with the guts to do what NZ did.

[elgordo38]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Agreed, the insane clown president deserves NO respect. Electing him was a horrible mistake. Have patience ... there will be hope to legally remove the mistake. 

A lot of damage can be done in the mean time sadly. 

[elgordo38]

9 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

mfd101 explains the situation nicely. Funny though that you expect other nations to take refugees from all these areas, when they are actually fleeing due to US Foreign policy actions in their native homelands. So USA starts the crap and lakes the booty and lets everyone else clean up the mess. The real issue is actually Trumps inability to hold any form of Diplomatic discussion with another head of state and behave like a mature educated adult. Had he done so we would not have heard of this today.

 

Bye the way what other info was released yesterday or today by the Trump gang that this will be a media smokescreen for?

Is this a game of musical refugees??

[Jingthing]

A lot of damage can be done in the mean time sadly. 

Yes obviously and he might be in for 8 years or more but have others noticed he's gaining weight?

[elgordo38]

Just now, Jingthing said:

Yes obviously and he might be in for 8 years or more but have others noticed he's gaining weight?

Yes he is doing such a great job maybe somebody shoved a tire pump up his patootee to inflate his ego. I think his ego has a marking "Danger do not inflate over 200lbs pressure as there is a chance of a explosion."

[dunroaming]

38 minutes ago, evadgib said:

She's far too shrewd to allow her Govt to be drawn into this damaging social media circus.

May....shrewd?  I guess time will tell but at the moment.....

[Andaman Al]

17 minutes ago, taichiplanet said:

interesting theories starting to come out, particularly one by Yonatan Zunger which was followed up by Michael Moore

https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/trial-balloon-for-a-coup-e024990891d5#.61v90bjfa

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-michael-moore-coup-us-steve-bannon-sally-yates-rule-of-law-a7554556.html?cmpid=facebook-post

 

maybe far fetched but Donald Duck could be setting things up to take feathering one's own bed  to a new level.

 

If at all possible it would be great if Australia could close down Pine Gap for a few days, then we might see Donald with cap in hand apologising. But it will never happen, there isn't any Australian politician with the guts to do what NZ did.

The article by Jonatan Zunger is very thought provoking. Well worth an objective, considered read. Thanks for posting.

[Becker]

7 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Yes obviously and he might be in for 8 years or more but have others noticed he's gaining weight?

I can see him morphing into something resembling Jabba The Hut during the next few months. He (and the rest of the democratic world) would benefit greatly from him serving a few years in a federal prison.

 

Just to recap:

He has had a long and friendly conversation with the dictator and murderer Putin and has just hung up on the PM of one of the US' closest allies after what was according to several sources a very confrontational phone call.

Great work you narcissistic man-child and thumbs up to those who voted for you!

 

 

[dunroaming]

Where is Boon Mee?  Surely he should here defending his boy 

[james1995]

5 hours ago, Redline said:

DT thinks he can talk however he wants to anyone.  He basically told the Australian PM that Putin is a better man than him.  I'm American and disgusted with his childish win/lose mentality.  By by USA.  It will be sad to see, but, the Republicans made the deal.  I blame the Democrats for not letting Bernie win...I see lose, lose, lose....

Putin IS a better man.  Got that one right.  Our country doesn't want these refugees.  Trump did well to tell him to p*ss off.

[sugarcane24]

6 hours ago, optad said:

I hope it is true and it appears to be so from all form reports in Aust. Not positive re US.

 

I hope we take these asylum seekers into Australia directly, now given this bump, as we always should have. It was a political solution in any event and it solved then, that problem but the political cost has moved, shifted values. A Trump factor.

 

It gives us some aspect back on that morality question in this regard. I hope in the doing,, ie accepting domestically the refugees,  Turnbull has the balls to say flcuk you Donald and scrap the base in darwin and scrap the 72 J35s.

 

Australia, history tells, has been a loyal and serving friend to allies and upheld international agreements. This rubbish should be quickly and publicly dispensed with. 

"Australia, history tells, has been a loyal and serving friend to allies and upheld international agreements." 

Australia's and New Zealand's governments are both proficient at licking Yankee arse.