Usa Thread

[buffalo_bill]

Mekong, for 275 Million only I would do things you can`t imagine. For example start praising Donald the president.

In the meantime: President Wladimir refuses to sign ceasefire arrangements because it would give the aggressive Ucrainians time to strengthen their army and they would again attack  peaceloving Russia. He, Wladimir, according to his own words wants nothing more than peace but there are the Ucrainians. He is President Donald extremely grateful for his efforts to end this terrible war. Yesterday he told Donald´s special envoy to hit the road.

[Coss]

Dear Bubi,  

Your comments about Putin I can summarise: "Putin say No" Donald say "K"

As to 275 million, my price is 27.5 m.

Donald, on receipt of 27.5 million USD, I will proselytise for you, the best man ever, in the history of ever,  since God gave us free will.  Everyone is saying so. *

 

* sample only full payment must be received in order to activate proselytising.

[bust]

[Mekong]

The European Union has struck back with its own retaliatory tariffs—and they’re aimed directly at red states.

The EU on Wednesday announced tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. imports, including but not limited to steel and aluminum, textiles, home goods, agricultural products, motorcycles, alcohol, and even jeans—with a special focus on Republican states. Tariffs will also be hitting soybeans in Louisiana (Mike Johnson’s home state); beef and poultry in Kansas and Nebraska; and produce in Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia.

Source

[bust]

He's all heart is Donald 😟

What Trump's USAID freeze means for the rest of the world

USAID cuts are set to impact millions of people around the world.

Donald Trump's move to freeze USAID has experts sounding the alarm, with warnings that millions of the world's most vulnerable people could die as medical and other aid is cut. 

The freeze threatens life-saving programs in 50 countries, including projects battling against AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and maternal deaths.

Here's what's happening, and how the cuts will be felt in some of the world's most disadvantaged regions.

In Zimbabawe, health care worker Sibusisiwe Ngalombi is uncertain about the future of USAID.

What is USAID?

USAID is an arm of the US government that responds to humanitarian emergencies and disasters and promotes international development in 177 countries and 29 regions around the world.

The independent government agency was founded in 1961 by President John F Kennedy to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War, and it has been the world's largest single aid donor ever since.

USAID's main mission is to promote education, human rights, environmental sustainability, health initiatives and economic growth in countries affected by conflict and underdevelopment.

Ukraine, Israel, Ethiopia, Jordan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Somalia, Nigeria, Congo and Syria were the top 10 countries that received funding from USAID in 2023.

Some of that was military aid, which accounted for just over 11 per cent of USAID's budget in the 2023 US financial year, according to the Pew Research Center.

How will Trump's USAID freeze be felt around the world?

Experts have warned Trump's move to freeze USAID's funding, which is currently being challenged in the courts  affects more than 50 countries, including 26 of the poorest nations in the world, including Afghanistan, Somalia,  Ethiopia and Uganda.

Affected programs include polio prevention, treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS, and fighting infectious disease such as cholera, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa.

Donald Trump's aid freeze sparked protests in Washington DC.

Trump's freeze has also disrupted USAID's global medical supply chain, as hundreds of millions of dollars of life-saving medical supplies are stranded in warehouses and on ships around the world, at risk of damage, expiry or even theft, according to a lawsuit filed by USAID contractors last week. 

US aid for Turkish earthquake survivors is loaded onto a US Air Force plane.

South Africa: Is AIDS on the rise?

South Africa has the world's largest population of people living with HIV, at more than 8 million. 

A generation has passed since the world saw the peak of the AIDS epidemic, but the United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned the decision to halt US funding could result in millions more deaths from the disease.

An AIDS patient in South Africa at a USAID facility. 

The three-month freeze includes all work under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The program, which was founded in 2003, has saved more than 26 million lives worldwide by investing in HIV prevention and treatment in 55 countries, according to UNAIDS.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the freeze to PEPFAR had triggered an "immediate stop to HIV treatment, testing and prevention services" around the world.

A volunteer gives condoms to a taxi driver as part of efforts to fight HIV in South Africa.

HIV patients in Africa found locked doors at clinics.

UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima fears the world could see more than 6 million AIDS-related deaths in the next five years, as well as millions more HIV infections.

"I need to sound the alarm so that it's very clear that this is a big part [of AIDS relief funding]. If it goes away, people are going to die,"

she said.

Nozuko Majola, 19, is one of millions of patients affected by Donald Trump's global foreign aid freeze.

Nineteen-year-old South African Nozuko Majola, is one of millions of patients affected by Trump's freeze.

Majola is struggling to access her HIV medication, which is usually delivered to her home in Umzimkhulu, a rural village in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

In 2024, Majola's province recorded the second-highest number of HIV cases in the country, with at least 1,300 young people estimated to contract the disease every week.

Trump's war on foreign aid derails HIV prevention

 

The Asia Pacific region has the largest HIV epidemic outside of Africa and advocates fear an end to US aid could make matters worse.

Afghanistan: Cutting aid for pregnant women

Afghanistan has one of the highest death rates in the world for pregnant women, with a mother dying of preventable complications very two hours, says the United Nations Population Fund's (UNPFA) regional director Pio Smith.

More Afghan women could die as aid programs are cut.

"What happens when our work is not funded? Women give birth alone, in unsanitary conditions … Newborns die from preventable causes," he said. 

"These are literally the world's most vulnerable people."

In three years, the absence of US support in Afghanistan "will result in 1,200 additional maternal deaths and 109,000 additional unintended pregnancies," he said.

The funding pause would cut off millions of Afghans from sexual and reproductive services, including family health houses, which provide midwives to mothers living in rural areas. 

Afghan mother of five Bibi Gula, 29, is one of the many women who relied on USAID funding to deliver her baby safely. 

"I was so weak and pale, and my blood pressure was low,” she said. 

After complications with untrained birth attendants at home, she reached out to a family health house where she received medical treatment from a midwife. 

Across the Asia-Pacific region, UNFPA says it receives about $US94 million in USAID funding.  

Brazil: Is the Amazon in danger?  

In Brazil, USAID funds near $US14 million in general environmental protection for the Amazon, including improving livelihoods for Indigenous peoples and other forest communities. 

Brazilian enforcement at illegal gold mining site in the Amazon rainforest. 

The Amazon-based Roraima Indigenous Council, which operates a region larger than Greece, is trying to tackle illegal mining and drug trafficking. 

The council, which is apart of USAID's largest Amazon conservation project, uses funding to support local farmers, generate jobs for women, and help the region adapt to climate change.

Now everything is at risk, says Edinho Macuxi, the tuxaua (leader) of the council.

He said the decision to end funding after a seven-year partnership would shake the organisation.

"Our message to President Trump is that he should maintain the resources not only for Brazil but for other countries as well."

he said.

"In Brazil, Indigenous peoples who access this funding are the ones who effectively keep most of the forest standing, ensuring life not just for people in Brazil, but also the world." 

USAID was also a key player in managing the over-fishing of the pirarucu, also known as the arapaima, a freshwater fish that can grow to up to 200 kilograms.

[Mekong]

And China will step into the breach filing the void left by the USA and replace them as the caring country. 
It’s  as if Donny really wants the rest of the world to hate the USA

[Mekong]

 

 

 

[Coss]

Trump's travel ban to target up to 43 countries

... Now, with that deadline approaching, a draft list of proposed countries banned from traveling to the US is circulating, the New York Times reported.

A White House official told The Independent no decision has been made....

...President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a three-tier ban on citizens from certain countries from entering the US.
The draft list was separated into three sections — red, orange, and yellow — to denote the level of restriction, according to the outlet.....

Citizens from the 11 countries in the "red" category would be entirely barred from entering the US. These countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Countries in the "orange" category would affect immigrant, tourist and student visas, with some exception. The list consists of Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan.

The countries in the "yellow" category would have 60 days to address concerns raised by Washington or risk being moved to one of the two more restrictive groups. The category facing either indefinite travel ban or heavy restrictions list includes Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Vanuatu, Gambia, the Dominican Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Cape Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo, Liberia, Mauritania, Malawi, Mali, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Chad.

The White House has not publicly commented on the reported memo.

The list comes on the back of an executive order Trump signed on 20 January, which says it would protect the country and its citizens from “aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

The order required several cabinet members to provide recommendations on which countries should be included in the travel ban, according to reports.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump was asked which countries might be included in a new list concerning the executive order.

Trump declined to answer, stating, "Wouldn’t that be a stupid thing for me to say?"

Coss "Yes Donald, like everything you say, Stupid". 

MLG was concerned, as Laos was on the list,  Coss say  "You gonna go to 'merica?"........    "no?"    "I thought so..."

a LINK for more...

 

[Mekong]

US added to international watchlist for rapid decline in civic freedoms

Civicus, an international non-profit, puts country alongside Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia

The United States has been added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms.

Civicus, an international non-profit organization dedicated to “strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world”, announced the inclusion of the US on the non-profit’s first watchlist of 2025 on Monday, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia.

The watchlist is part of the Civicus Monitor, which tracks developments in civic freedoms across 198 countries. Other countries that have previously been featured on the watchlist in recent years include Zimbabwe, Argentina, El Salvador and the United Arab Emirates.

Mandeep Tiwana, co-secretary general of Civicus, said that the watchlist “looks at countries where we remain concerned about deteriorating civic space conditions, in relation to freedoms of peaceful assembly, association and expression”

Source

Yes, that is how bad it is seen by the civilised world

[buffalo_bill]

" , espouse hateful ideology "   would put Trump into the red section would he be an alien.