Week in Review: China’s Troubled Economy, A Call for EU Army, Iran Laughs At U.S. Threats, Obama’s Clean-Energy Dream, and More

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Week in Review: China’s Troubled Economy, A Call for EU Army, Iran Laughs At U.S. Threats, Obama’s Clean-Energy Dream, and More

All you need to know about everything in the news this week

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Top Stories:

China’s Economic Slowdown

  • “Forget Greece: China’s Economic Slowdown is the Biggest Story of the Year,” wrote the Spectator.
  • China is panicking. It devalued its currency by 3.6 percent in an effort to encourage exports.
  • Is East Ukraine about to blow?

  • Russia’s aggression in East Ukraine rages on.
  • “It seems the mask of a cease fire has come off in East Ukraine, wrote the Washington Times. “The violence is flaring as the Minsk peace process stalls with each side looking to exploit the lull in the fighting to reinforce positions and prepare for the next phase of the conflict. … [T]he situation … appears to be heading back to full-scale war.”
  • A Call for EU Army

  • A new paper by the European Council on Foreign Relations essentially concluded that America is useless, so Europe needs to get its act together and look after itself.
  • “Too often in recent decades, Europeans have been content to tag along behind the US in international affairs,” said the paper. “A new, more realistic, transatlantic bargain will require a stronger European sense of Europe’s own interests and identity. In a world of many problems, America needs partners not followers.”
  • Iran Laughs At U.S. Threats

  • “We should thank Obama for refreshing us by referring to his ‘options on the table,’ including the military one; we just relax and laugh at such ridiculous words,” said Iran’s Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Asoudi.
  • “Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s pride and might has made the world’s biggest materialistic and military powers kneel down before the Islamic Republic’s might,” said Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari.
  • Obama Recognized Iran’s Right to Nuclear Program in 2011

  • The United States began secret nuclear talks with Iran in 2011—under the presidency of the radical Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
  • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a June 23 speech: “At the time, a respected regional figure came to me as a mediator and explicitly said that U.S. President [Barack Obama] had asked him to come to Tehran and present an American request for negotiations. The Americans told this mediator: ‘We want to solve the nuclear issue and lift sanctions within six months, while recognizing Iran as a nuclear power.’ I told that mediator that I did not trust the Americans and their words, but after he insisted, I agreed to reexamine this topic, and negotiations began.”
  • Clean-Energy Dream or Nightmare?

  • Environmental Protection Agency releases new carbon dioxide regulations
  • “There will be critics of what we’re trying to do. … They will claim that this plan will cost you money—even though this plan, the analysis shows, will ultimately save the average American nearly $85 a year on their energy bills,” said President Obama.
  • People will only start saving money by 2030.
  • “Under my plan, … electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. … Because I am capping greenhouse gasses, coal plants, natural gas… whatever the industry is, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money; they will pass that … on to consumers,” said Obama.
  • Other News:

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia and China are reading his emails. Secretary Kerry thinks hacking and cyber espionage have become entirely commonplace.

    Europe is in crisis, and everyone from Putin to ordinary savers is stockpiling gold.

    According to the Associated Press, U.S. food banks are expected to give away about 4 billion pounds of food this year, more than double the amount provided a decade ago.

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