Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): Out & About in Our World ((With an Update From Africa))

As our team went to press, President Trump had left Scotland after a 2-Day non working getaway at his resort to meet with the President of Russia in Finland.    Before he left, though, he gave an interview to CBS News which was reported out by the Team at the Washington Examiner in this manner--and an apparent suggestion that The UK should sue the EU--which the UK Prime Minister noted she decided not to take:   

Trump calls EU 'a foe' ahead of Putin meeting President Trump described the European Union as "a foe" in an interview aired Sunday, ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. "I think we have a lot of foes," Trump told CBS News. "I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn't think of the European Union, but they are a foe." Read the full story here. As the President called for a massive increase in spending, the team at the National Priorities project provided a snapshot of what that would entail with profound implications for the World: The world is becoming a more dangerous place. This week at the NATO summit, President Trump not only campaigned, as he has been, for every NATO country to spend at least two percent of its GDP (gross domestic product, a measure of economic productivity) on its military – but for every NATO country to double that goal and spend four percent. The two percent goal is already nonsensical, and just serves to underscore how European countries that spend less on their militaries also spend more on bread and butter programs that actually make peoples’ lives better, as Lindsay Koshgarian writes in Fortune. The massive military spending spree Trump demanded at NATO serves no actual security purpose. Trump’s four percent goal comes out of the same playbook as his military parade. It would make a big point, at a big cost, with no real benefits. If every NATO country met the four percent goal, it would be akin to adding a U.S.-sized superpower to the world. Conversely, if every NATO country – including the U.S. – spent two percent of its GDP on its military, total NATO spending would actually decrease – and that could allow the U.S. to meet any number of other domestic and international goals, according to this thought-provoking Washington Post analysis. We also were assessing what was the latest out of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.   As the Syria War seems to be winding down, there is a "clamour" for Iran to leave and Iran's Supreme Leader Advisor for International Affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati, said that Iran is willing to leave Syria as Israel continues its' attacks.     The more crucial flashpoint, right now, is Iraq though especially as protests continue and now there is a nationwide internet shutdown-as the protests began in Basra and have continued onward.  As for Afghanistan, Civilian deaths continue to climb at an alarming rate.   There was also the on-going siege of Gaza and the latest flareup as Israel pounded Gaza yet again as two teen-agers were killed after Hamas rocket attacks.   As we look to a new week, though, we wanted to note that the Final Game of the World Cup is being played right now as we went to press.   France was up 2-1 against Croatia.   This is also as the formal handoff between Russia and Qatar occurred: Onward to the New week as we conclude with this #Africa Watch as the World celebrates Mandela Day on July 18:  More than 1.8m social grants beneficiaries migrated to new Sassa card More than 1.8-million social grants beneficiaries have been migrated to the new gold South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) card, the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Comprehensive Social... → Saudi Arabia pledges to invest R133bn in South African energy sector President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambitious plan to attract $100-billion to kick start the country’s struggling economy got a major boost on Thursday, when Saudi Arabia committed to invest $10-billion... → Western Cape edges closer to an end to the drought as dam levels continue to rise Duduzane Zuma culpable homicide case postponed Ramaphosa embarks on Eskom overhaul Tshwane mayor defends 'bodybuilder' executive director appointment 'You are a land thief' – BLF tells AfriForum's Kallie Kriel at Duduzane court appearance Nkwinti off to see Lesotho Highlands Water Project progress Fatality-free Pan African sparkles on lower-cost, longer-life prospects South Sudan parliament votes to extend president's term until 2021

Notations From the Grid (Special Edition): On #Iran Watch

As We Went to press, We wanted to begin by paying tribute to the longest Political Prisoner in Iran, Abbas Amir Entezam, who passed away earlier this week.  Tributes have been coming from around the World and our team created a grid to share:










We also are pleased to feature this with the exiled Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, As part of our periodic series on Iran Watch, we wanted to report on a comprehensive interview done by the Editor in Chief of Kayhan Life with the Exiled Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi that is hereby noted here--





We understand from the reporting by Kayhan Life that the caption will be available in English--here is the original interview in Farsi: 

COMING SOON ON https://t.co/WUVmDLLoAq (@KayhanLife) - WITH AUDIO AND TEXT TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH.

Nazenin Ansari (@NazeninA) Managing Editor of @KayhanLife & @KayhanLondon speaks to (@PahlaviReza) Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran.

Video in Persian now at: @KayhanLondon pic.twitter.com/aYMReq0D6h

— Kayhan Life (@KayhanLife) July 10, 2018

Notations From the Grid (Special Friday Edition): On @POTUS Watch

It has been quite a 24 hours again as President Trump continues his travels with his stop in the UK.   The Economist captured it earlier today as we present this "Snapshot" on our World courtesy of the Economist for this edition of "Notations From the Grid":

Donald Trump in BritainA brief but eventful visit   Protesters were out across Britain today to express their displeasure at Donald Trump’s first official visit. But the demonstrations, while large, were at least expected. Rather more shocking was the behaviour of Mr Trump himself, who gave an explosive interview to the Sun newspaper in which he criticised Theresa May’s handling of Brexit and heaped praise on Boris Johnson. That will have damaged the special relationship more than any demonstration

The World Cup Croatia’s long road to Moscow   In few other countries are politics and football as closely entwined as in Croatia. Its footballers and fans have long chanted a slogan linked with the genocidal regime that ruled the country during the second world war. The chant has brought Croatia myriad problems with international football bodies. A victory in the World Cup final on Sunday could be worth more in terms of positive publicity for Croatia than years of global PR campaigns

Middle East economiesSticky situation   Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates enjoy many advantages, such as wealth and good infrastructure, that generally lead to innovation. But they perform badly in a new ranking of innovation in 126 countries. Arab petro-states may enjoy Western levels of consumption but they lack Western levels of productivity. Their poor showing in the index is one indication of the mountain they have to climb to find non-oil sources of growth

Automating cookeryRobotatouille   Until recently, catering robots have been gimmicks. But new robot chefs can prepare entire meals. They are working, or soon will be, in kitchens in America (making burgers and pizza) and China (making Hunan cuisine). One British firm aspires to emulate a real chef—not only in the quality of the meals, but also by being able to learn to cook almost any recipe. This is a complicated proposition. For now,sous-chefs everywhere can breathe easy

Open FutureTrans rights and feminist rights have been falsely cast in opposition   What is a woman? Who can be a feminist? These questions have been central to feminist theory since the 1970s, but in recent years have returned to haunt feminism. “While anti-transgender viewpoints are a minority position, many [high-profile writers] reinforce the extremely offensive trope of the trans woman as a man in drag who is a danger to women,” writes Sally Hines, a professor at the University of Leeds, for our transgender identities essay series As President Trump gears up for his summit with President Putin of Russia, The Special Counsel indicted 12 Russian Nationals and the White House said that it is "Consistent with what it has been saying all along as the Republicans in the House continued their attempts to somehow discredit the investigation.  This from the Washington Examiner was just reported out : The White House on Friday said the latest round of indictments against 12 Russian nationals as part of the special counsel investigation is "consistent" with President Trump's claim that his campaign did not collude with the Kremlin during the 2016 election. "Today's charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result," White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said in a statement. "This is consistent with what we have been saying all along." Read the full story here. In our view, the full story is yet to be told no doubt as the Public Relations Campaign by the President continues.