22 MAY

Heat on Huawei

Google has moved to suspend some business with Huawei following the Trump administration's decision to add the Chinese technology company to a trade blacklist, enacting restrictions that will make it extremely difficult for the company to do business with US counterparts. Google will stop providing Huawei with access, technical support and collaboration involving its proprietary apps and services going forward, Reuters reports.

A spokesman for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, Lu Kang, said Beijing would “support Chinese enterprises in defending their legitimate rights through legal methods”.

The US Commerce Department moved to temporarily ease some restrictions in recent days, allowing Huawei to purchase American-made goods in order to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets. Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said Tuesday that the temporary reprieve bore little meaning for the company as it had been making preparations for the US ban.

NEWS WRAP

Remembering Bob Hawke

• Australia’s 23rd prime minister and longest serving Labor PM Bob Hawke, who died last week, changed the face of Australian national politics, but also worked to safeguard Australia's relationship with the United States. USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow and former member of the Hawke government, Stephen Loosley AM, wrote about Hawke's strategic policy achievements and his work on the ANZUS Treaty in his tribute last week. READ MORE HERE.
   

• Has the #MeToo movement brought lasting change to US politics? Director of the North American Studies Program at Germany's University of Bonn, Sabine Sielke, joined the 2020Vision podcast last week to answer this question, as well as to discuss the recent attacks on women's reproductive rights in the United States, and the lessons from Hillary Clinton's loss in 2016. LISTEN HERE.
   
• Several states are competing to pass some of the restrictive abortion laws ever devised in the United States. On social media, opponents of the laws circulated composite images of the all-male coalitions who passed them, underscoring the absence of women legislators. In her column for The Sydney Morning Herald this week, Honorary Associate Nicole Hemmer suggests that the focus on the men behind the bills obscures the role of women like Governor Kay Ivey, who signed Alabama's draconian abortion bill into law just a few days ago. READ MORE HERE.
   
• As belligerent rhetoric between Iran and the United States escalated last week, non-essential US diplomatic staff in neighbouring Iraq flew out following the dispatch of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and a number of B52 bombers to the region. In his interview on the subject with The Australian Financial Review, Senior Fellow Jared Mondschein suggests the escalating talk of war could be attributed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, rather than President Trump. READ MORE HERE.
   
• A US federal judge on Monday upheld a congressional subpoena seeking President Trump’s financial records from an accounting firm, arguing that Congress is well within its rights to investigate potential illegal behaviour by a president — even without launching a formal impeachment inquiry. READ MORE HERE.

[Trump] hopes to achieve what Alexander, Genghis and other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won't end Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
20 May 2019

ANALYSIS

Democrats need to get real on impeachment

Mia Love
Non-Resident Senior Fellow

The conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has done little to change the political topic du jour. As a former member of Congress, this is of little surprise to me. Throughout this process I have maintained support for the investigation and awaited its findings before issuing judgement and determining how we should proceed. However, many others have seen the controversy as an avenue to promote their personal brands.

Despite offering nothing to policy development, some members of Congress have been cast as 'leaders' because they’re willing to appear as pundits on a near-nightly basis. Throughout this process, these legislators have frequently tweeted links to stories based on dubious sources, yet lament the absence of statesmen from the public sphere.

Many ardent progressives turn to their favourite legislator-pundits as a source of therapy for their shock at Hillary Clinton’s loss. By continually questioning the legitimacy of the president’s victory and painting Trump – and his supporters – as fundamentally flawed, they feel as though the past few years can be somehow invalidated.

This is one reason why, though support for Trump’s impeachment has somewhat cooled even among Democrats, many progressive politicians and 2020 candidates continue to call for President Trump’s impeachment. Elizabeth Warren has doubled down on her calls for this approach, warning “Case not closed, buddy”. Several others have stated that he should be impeached, or at least that “a discussion” or “conversation” should take place (as if such a discussion has not been raging for months).

Democrats would be wise to follow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lead and instead focus elsewhere. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that while a majority of Democrats believe Congress should begin impeachment proceedings, only 37 per cent of US adults share that opinion. 

This is certainly not to say that voters believe that President Trump did nothing wrong. In fact, the same poll found that roughly 60 per cent of Americans believe that President Trump lied to the public relating to matters investigated by Robert Mueller. What it does show, however, is that Americans generally don’t like impeachment. Not only does the Constitution establish a relatively high bar for it, but so do voters and elected officials. Americans simply don’t like the uncertainty and heightened partisan rancour that come with impeachment proceedings – particularly if no 'high crimes' have been discovered. Impeachment also signals US instability and vulnerability to the world.

Many Americans now feel that, given the completion and findings of the Mueller report, it’s time to move on and focus on issues that have long been left unaddressed due to partisan bickering. 

Certainly, Americans deserve better from their leaders. They also deserve to have serious issues addressed by Congress. As the 2020 campaign season heats up, voters know that Democratic candidates dislike the president. What they’re uncertain of is how they’ll make life better for the average American. Instead of the unrealistic goal of impeachment, it’s time for Democrats to focus on crafting realistic policies instead.

DIARY

The week ahead

• Wednesday, 22 May: President Trump is scheduled to meet with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to discuss infrastructure funding. 
   

• Wednesday, 22 May: US Senate Appropriations Committee closed hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for the Missile Defense Agency.
   

• Friday, 24 May: President Trump is scheduled to travel to Tokyo for a state visit.
   

• Monday. 27 May: Memorial Day in the United States.

EVENT

Reagan: 'Making America great' the first time

VIDEO

Billionaire pledges to pay off student debt of 2019 class at US commencement ceremony

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

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