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North Dakota sends measles team to Washington - Duration: 1:34.
For more infomation >> North Dakota sends measles team to Washington - Duration: 1:34. -------------------------------------------
Why a Hillary Clinton 2020 campaign is unlikely - Duration: 3:11.
For more infomation >> Why a Hillary Clinton 2020 campaign is unlikely - Duration: 3:11. -------------------------------------------
The collective madness behind Britains latest Brexit plan The Washington Post - Duration: 2:37.
The collective madness behind Britains latest Brexit plan The Washington Post
Perspective Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa Mayá that her party reject her own Brexit plan so she could go back to negotiations with the European Union and dismantle aná with the continent, on an impossiblyáfast timeline, during talks thatá. On every level, it is an insane way to behave. The British government is actively sabotaging the work it has spent the past two years completing and then doing a victory dance.
áThe problems all lie with something called the Irish backstop. You wouldnt know it, given how deranged the party has become about it, but it is a Conservative idea. Their problem was simple: They wanted two contradictory things. On the one hand, the Brexit campaign during the referendum promised to take back control from Brussels. That meant returning regulatory decision making to London. But on the other, it promised that everything would continue as before, with no effect on trade. That is impossible, because as soon as you take back regulatory powers, you have delays on the border with Europe.
The whole issue with the border is based on the concept of trust. In the European Union, member states share laws, courts and enforcement procedures. They know that the rules on the slaughter of cattle, the electronic components of cars or the chemical compounds in childrens toys are all the same. They can take someone to court if something goes wrong, even if theyre in another country, because they have the same institutions. This creates trust. And thats why goods cross over national borders freely, with no checks.á
That has been particularly crucial in Ireland. After years of conflict,á áin the 90s on the basis of continued cooperation between the north and south of the island. And that meant, more than anything, an open border between the Republic of Ireland in the south and British Northern Ireland in the north.
But then Brexit came and blew it all to pieces. Instead of grappling with the hard choicesáthe vote required, May pretended that Brexiteers could have everything they wanted. London wouldáof regulatory decisions. And the border with Irelandá. The fact that these two promises were incompatible was never addressed. She just kept on pretending that it was all possible and that people should have greater faith.á
There was a weird, and very un British, quasi religious undercurrent to all this Ś a sense that things would work if you just believed in them hard enough, a hatred of practical judgment and a bubbling tide of chest beating jingoistic nationalism. Brexit was a political project based on the idea that identity politics could answer technocratic questions. If the technocratic question keeps proving problematic, you just need to have more faith in your identity. It was like trying to unlock a door with a slice of bread.á
That culture has not changed since the 2016 referendum. In the past week alone, three interviews exhibited the kind of fevered puritanism that Brexit has triggered. Conservative Member of Parliament Mark Francois responded to a letter from the German CEO of Airbus, warning that the company might move its factories out of Britain, byá and saying: My father, Reginald Francois, was a D Day veteran. He never submitted to bullying by any German; neither will his son. A former trade minister, Digby Jones,á that negotiations are facing difficulties because the Remainers and especially the establishment elite have set about sabotaging Brexit. One Brexit supporteráby the BBC about warnings from retailers over supply chains insisted that it would do the country good to go without food.
For her first two years in power, May kept pace with this new political culture. She acted like everyones Brexit dreams would come true and no trade offs would ever have to be made. And then, last summer, her Brexit strategy finally acknowledged reality.
This involved the backstop. It was an insurance policy. It said that sure, Britain could look for ways to maintain an open border with Ireland while taking control of regulatory decision making. But if that failed, which it would, Northern Ireland, at least,áwould have to lock into the E.U.s regulatory infrastructure so that the E.U. would know that the rules on things like cattle slaughter, the electronic components of cars and the chemicals in childrens toys were all the same. This would allow the border to stay open, without the need for checks. In essence, it promised that if the fairy tales failed, reality would take over, on a strict timetable.
The plan was Mays baby. She negotiated it. She even demanded it be extended from Northern Ireland toáthe whole áUnited Kingdom. But it was just too much bleak practical reality for the Brexiteers. So when she brought it to the House of Commons almost three weeks ago, lawmakers smashed it into a million pieces, withá.
After sheáreeled for a couple of weeks, Tuesdayánight saw May finally regain some sort of initiative: She grabbed hold of an amendment floating around by Conservative lawmaker Graham Brady and tried to use it to her advantage.á
It was a very strange and pointless amendment. It said,áin a not legally binding manner,áthat Parliamentáwould back the Brexit deal if alternative arrangements were found for the backstop. What were these alternative arrangements? How do you promise to keep a border open while simultaneously not promising to keep a border open? Brady couldnt say. Neither could the prime minister or any other member of her government. They had no idea what they were doing. They just needed someáwords, any words, that could win majority support in the Commons. The fact that the specific words they choseámade no sense was an advantage. If the amendment had made sense, someone would have taken offense at its implications. This is the logic of fairy tale politics. The most common idea among Brexiteers is that they will use high tech solutions to remove the need for checks at the border. But the technology they are wishing for does not exist anywhere on Earth. It is science fiction.
Not only did Bradys proposition have no meaning, it was common knowledge before it was voted on that itácould not be delivered. The E.U. has closed the talks on the withdrawal agreement. It has made it quite clear that they cannot be reopened. And even if they could, the backstop átook nearly two years to negotiate. There are only two months left before Britain leaves the E.U. Thats not enough time to do whatever it was lawmakers voted for Tuesday night.
Thats what made the debate soátruly pitiful. It was a return to the world of fairy tales and hallucinations, of the kind of quasi religious nationalist politics that have fueled the Brexit project from the start. British politicians were confronted with reality and given a chance to fix the problems with Brexit instead of pretending there werent any,áand they once again fled back into mythmaking.
The country is now on the verge of disaster. On March 29, unless something is done, Britaináwill fall out the European Union without a deal.áThatáwill affect every aspect of theáeconomy. Its likely to block haulageácargoá at the border; pulverize agricultural exports; trigger shortages of food, medicine and radioactive isotopes; spark employment chaos by suddenly canceling the mutual recognition of qualifications between British and European institutions; halt the legal basis for data transfer overnight; and lead to massive and sudden flows of immigration in both directions. The list goes on and on. There is no part of society that is unaffected. And yet not only does the British political class not seem to understand the consequences of what it is doing, it is lost in populist fantasies instead of addressing the cold reality.
Britain is one of the richest and most advanced democracies in the world. It is currently locked in a room, babbling away to itself hysterically while threatening to blow its own kneecaps off. This is what nationalist populism does to a country.á
Twitter: @IanDunt
Read more fromá:
Follow our updates oná andá.á
-------------------------------------------
The collective madness behind Britains latest Brexit plan The Washington Post - Duration: 2:37.
The collective madness behind Britains latest Brexit plan The Washington Post
Perspective Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa Mayá that her party reject her own Brexit plan so she could go back to negotiations with the European Union and dismantle aná with the continent, on an impossiblyáfast timeline, during talks thatá. On every level, it is an insane way to behave. The British government is actively sabotaging the work it has spent the past two years completing and then doing a victory dance.
áThe problems all lie with something called the Irish backstop. You wouldnt know it, given how deranged the party has become about it, but it is a Conservative idea. Their problem was simple: They wanted two contradictory things. On the one hand, the Brexit campaign during the referendum promised to take back control from Brussels. That meant returning regulatory decision making to London. But on the other, it promised that everything would continue as before, with no effect on trade. That is impossible, because as soon as you take back regulatory powers, you have delays on the border with Europe.
The whole issue with the border is based on the concept of trust. In the European Union, member states share laws, courts and enforcement procedures. They know that the rules on the slaughter of cattle, the electronic components of cars or the chemical compounds in childrens toys are all the same. They can take someone to court if something goes wrong, even if theyre in another country, because they have the same institutions. This creates trust. And thats why goods cross over national borders freely, with no checks.á
That has been particularly crucial in Ireland. After years of conflict,á áin the 90s on the basis of continued cooperation between the north and south of the island. And that meant, more than anything, an open border between the Republic of Ireland in the south and British Northern Ireland in the north.
But then Brexit came and blew it all to pieces. Instead of grappling with the hard choicesáthe vote required, May pretended that Brexiteers could have everything they wanted. London wouldáof regulatory decisions. And the border with Irelandá. The fact that these two promises were incompatible was never addressed. She just kept on pretending that it was all possible and that people should have greater faith.á
There was a weird, and very un British, quasi religious undercurrent to all this Ś a sense that things would work if you just believed in them hard enough, a hatred of practical judgment and a bubbling tide of chest beating jingoistic nationalism. Brexit was a political project based on the idea that identity politics could answer technocratic questions. If the technocratic question keeps proving problematic, you just need to have more faith in your identity. It was like trying to unlock a door with a slice of bread.á
That culture has not changed since the 2016 referendum. In the past week alone, three interviews exhibited the kind of fevered puritanism that Brexit has triggered. Conservative Member of Parliament Mark Francois responded to a letter from the German CEO of Airbus, warning that the company might move its factories out of Britain, byá and saying: My father, Reginald Francois, was a D Day veteran. He never submitted to bullying by any German; neither will his son. A former trade minister, Digby Jones,á that negotiations are facing difficulties because the Remainers and especially the establishment elite have set about sabotaging Brexit. One Brexit supporteráby the BBC about warnings from retailers over supply chains insisted that it would do the country good to go without food.
For her first two years in power, May kept pace with this new political culture. She acted like everyones Brexit dreams would come true and no trade offs would ever have to be made. And then, last summer, her Brexit strategy finally acknowledged reality.
This involved the backstop. It was an insurance policy. It said that sure, Britain could look for ways to maintain an open border with Ireland while taking control of regulatory decision making. But if that failed, which it would, Northern Ireland, at least,áwould have to lock into the E.U.s regulatory infrastructure so that the E.U. would know that the rules on things like cattle slaughter, the electronic components of cars and the chemicals in childrens toys were all the same. This would allow the border to stay open, without the need for checks. In essence, it promised that if the fairy tales failed, reality would take over, on a strict timetable.
The plan was Mays baby. She negotiated it. She even demanded it be extended from Northern Ireland toáthe whole áUnited Kingdom. But it was just too much bleak practical reality for the Brexiteers. So when she brought it to the House of Commons almost three weeks ago, lawmakers smashed it into a million pieces, withá.
After sheáreeled for a couple of weeks, Tuesdayánight saw May finally regain some sort of initiative: She grabbed hold of an amendment floating around by Conservative lawmaker Graham Brady and tried to use it to her advantage.á
It was a very strange and pointless amendment. It said,áin a not legally binding manner,áthat Parliamentáwould back the Brexit deal if alternative arrangements were found for the backstop. What were these alternative arrangements? How do you promise to keep a border open while simultaneously not promising to keep a border open? Brady couldnt say. Neither could the prime minister or any other member of her government. They had no idea what they were doing. They just needed someáwords, any words, that could win majority support in the Commons. The fact that the specific words they choseámade no sense was an advantage. If the amendment had made sense, someone would have taken offense at its implications. This is the logic of fairy tale politics. The most common idea among Brexiteers is that they will use high tech solutions to remove the need for checks at the border. But the technology they are wishing for does not exist anywhere on Earth. It is science fiction.
Not only did Bradys proposition have no meaning, it was common knowledge before it was voted on that itácould not be delivered. The E.U. has closed the talks on the withdrawal agreement. It has made it quite clear that they cannot be reopened. And even if they could, the backstop átook nearly two years to negotiate. There are only two months left before Britain leaves the E.U. Thats not enough time to do whatever it was lawmakers voted for Tuesday night.
Thats what made the debate soátruly pitiful. It was a return to the world of fairy tales and hallucinations, of the kind of quasi religious nationalist politics that have fueled the Brexit project from the start. British politicians were confronted with reality and given a chance to fix the problems with Brexit instead of pretending there werent any,áand they once again fled back into mythmaking.
The country is now on the verge of disaster. On March 29, unless something is done, Britaináwill fall out the European Union without a deal.áThatáwill affect every aspect of theáeconomy. Its likely to block haulageácargoá at the border; pulverize agricultural exports; trigger shortages of food, medicine and radioactive isotopes; spark employment chaos by suddenly canceling the mutual recognition of qualifications between British and European institutions; halt the legal basis for data transfer overnight; and lead to massive and sudden flows of immigration in both directions. The list goes on and on. There is no part of society that is unaffected. And yet not only does the British political class not seem to understand the consequences of what it is doing, it is lost in populist fantasies instead of addressing the cold reality.
Britain is one of the richest and most advanced democracies in the world. It is currently locked in a room, babbling away to itself hysterically while threatening to blow its own kneecaps off. This is what nationalist populism does to a country.á
Twitter: @IanDunt
Read more fromá:
Follow our updates oná andá.á
-------------------------------------------
North Dakota sends measles team to Washington - Duration: 1:42.
For more infomation >> North Dakota sends measles team to Washington - Duration: 1:42. -------------------------------------------
HOT | A look at how transportation can transform a city The Washington Post - Duration: 8:24.
HOT | A look at how transportation can transform a city The Washington Post
SEATTLE — Years after the highway teardown movement helped reshape places like Boston and Seoul, this Pacific Northwest city is in the midst of a similar transformation.
On Monday, the nations first double decker traffic tunnel will open here, reaching more than 200 feet at its lowest point below the citys congested streets.
The two mile deep bore tunnel is replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an unsightly, earthquake damaged elevated highway that runs along the citys picturesque waterfront.
Leaders and planners had long derided the hulking concrete eyesore that separates popular waterfront attractions such as the Seattle Aquarium and Washington State Ferries from iconic landmarks, including Pike Place Market and the Seattle Art Museum.
Now the viaducts celebrated replacement, 18 years after the Nisqually earthquake nearly brought it down, is expected not only to reorient the citys expanding skyline but finally merge its downtown with its tourist heavy waterfront.
Eight acres of new public parks, with a landscaped promenade and space for cycling and recreation, will emerge along 26 blocks from what is now the highways shadows.
When we started studying options for the viaduct replacement … we looked at the Embarcadero in San Francisco and understood what a great benefit opening up the waterfront to the public and having better access was going to be, said Paula J. Hammond, senior vice president at WSP USA, a multinational engineering and design firm.
Hammond spent 35 years with the Washington State Department of Transportation WSDOT and was transportation secretary during the early years of planning for the viaduct replacement. I think in the end, it will be just like in Boston, where visitors and residents walk along the Greenway and no one remembers all the haggling that went on, Hammond said. They love that corridor, and they love the parks and the open space, and think it was smartest thing Boston ever did.
The new Highway 99 tunnel stretches from the industrial tangle south of downtown, near one of the West Coasts biggest seaports and two major stadiums, north to where the late Microsoft co founder and philanthropist Paul Allen over the past decade transformed a sleepy neighborhood into a vibrant commercial and residential corridor, now anchored by Amazon. It is the longest road tunnel in the contiguous United States, it will carry traffic along two lanes in each direction on two levels, with a posted speed limit of 45 mph.
The dollar 3.3 billion viaduct replacement is among a number of big ticket transportation projects that will shift the way people and freight move around the region. Among them is an extension of the regions light rail system running north of Seattle and another east across the Interstate 90 floating bridge to connect high tech suburbs across Lake Washington.
The project is similar to how Marylands light rail Purple Line and phase two of the Metro Silver Line extension into Loudoun County will fill gaps in the Washington regions transportation network
Washington state permanently closed the viaduct Jan. 11, sending 90,000 vehicles a day scrambling for alternative routes. Demolition will begin shortly after the tunnel opens.
Built during the freeway construction frenzy of the 1950s as one of two north south corridors through Seattle, the viaduct is part of State Route 99, a patchwork of surface streets, freeway segments and the 3,000 foot Battery Street tunnel.
Homeless residents in tents and sleeping bags find shelter in its gritty underbelly, between the six story concrete columns and parking lots.
Mehran Sepehr, a business consultant who used to take the viaduct to his downtown offices multiple days a week, said he will miss the view it afforded from the top — the downtown skyline to the east and the expanse of Puget Sound to the west and the Olympic Mountains beyond.
I think for Seattle to be a truly great city, the viaduct had to come down, said Sepehr, who moved to Seattle in 2001, the year the Nisqually earthquake hit. This citys relationship with the water is one of its defining characteristics, and removing that artificial barrier between downtown and the waterfront will open up a whole new avenue for this city.
Among those like him who used to drive nervously across the viaducts weathered frame, residents living within earshot of its unrelenting din and confused visitors negotiating its Gotham City like underside, there are few tears being shed over the viaducts demise.
Yet deciding how to replace the downtown highway embroiled this city in more than a decade of political drama, myriad citizen forums and stakeholder groups, three advisory ballot measures and an embarrassing two year stall by a storied tunnel drilling machine called Bertha. Throughout the process, every mayor and mayoral candidate in Seattle staked out a position on replacing the viaduct and about 90 replacement proposals were put forth before then Gov. Christine Gregoire D put an end to it in 2009, announcing that the tunnel would be her pick. By then, the state had spent more than dollar 325 million.
This is not just about replacing a road, Gregoire said at a January 2009 news conference. This is about building a 21st century city.
Her motivation was safety, Gregoire said recently. I knew it was just a matter of time before Mother Nature took down both the viaduct and the 520 bridge, she said, referring to one of two floating bridges across Lake Washington.
Initially, Gregoire and state transportation planners were against a deep bore tunnel option as irresponsible and too expensive. But as the political debate raged, pressure from interest groups mounted and technology brought the cost of a tunnel within a budget officials thought was manageable.
Gregoire recalls sitting down for dinner with former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell, who, looking out toward Elliott Bay, spotted the viaduct and inquired, What is that monstrosity?
In replacing it, she said, Well create an iconic waterfront, and everyone will look back and wonder what was wrong with us. Why didnt we do this a long time ago?
Former Seattle mayor Michael McGinn D , who won office in 2009 campaigning against the tunnel, continues to believe the state made the wrong choice.
McGinn was among a group of environmentalists who favored what he said was the more climate conscious option of expanding transit and improving surrounding streets and nearby Interstate 5 to handle spillover traffic.
McGinn points to San Franciscos Embarcadero Freeway and the New Yorks West Side Highway as successful examples of deteriorating highways that were demolished and not replaced — and not missed.
This is the new face of climate change denialism … and it runs deep in both political parties, McGinn said.
Increasingly, states and the federal government will be forced to make these kinds of transportation decisions, the former mayor said. Do we continue doubling down and expanding the highway infrastructure, or do we, when the time comes, transition to transit, biking and walking as well as walkable communities?
So Im not sure what we are celebrating here, McGinn said.
The viaduct replacement has frequently invited comparisons to Bostons infamous Big Dig, the rerouting of that citys elevated downtown highway into an underground tunnel that was plagued by design flaws, enormous cost overruns and delays.
The comparisons dogged Washington transportation officials, who early on had visited Boston and other cities to learn what went well and what did not.
The state chose a design build contract for the viaduct project, meaning the contractor, Seattle Tunnel Partners, was given creative freedom but would share in the risk of the project, which is three years behind schedule, including the two years Bertha was idle. The states dollar 3.3 billion budget, almost two thirds of it from state gas tax revenue, includes the demolition of the viaduct; rebuilding streets at the tunnels portal and a portion of the major rebuild; and expansion of Alaskan Way, the street along the waterfront and beneath the viaduct. Meanwhile, contractors have sued for up to dollar 600 million to cover delays and repairs associated with Berthas breakdown.
Beginning midyear, the tunnel will have variable rate tolls — meaning they will fluctuate depending on the time of day — ranging from dollar 1 to dollar 2.25.
Designed with fire suppression and air monitoring and ventilation to measure and reduce the levels of vehicle emissions, the Highway 99 tunnel was built to withstand a 9.0 magnitude earthquake which occur every 2,500 years, on average . A 24 hour tunnel control center will have direct lines to emergency responders.
From the window of his antique store, which he has run for the past 40 years, Ken Eubank can see beyond the columns of the viaduct to a waterfront park, the Seattle Great Wheel and out toward Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.
His Seattle Antiques Market, wedged between a storage business and Seattles only dedicated blues club, which closed on New Years Day, is among the warehouses and small businesses operating in the shadow of the viaduct.
And while, like most, he is not sorry to see the viaduct go, its removal leaves him and other nearby business owners with something of a quandary. Eubank said he will probably mothball his store during the months of demolition this spring, and he has not decided whether he will reopen.
My business plan is really good, Eubank jokes. My exit plan is terrible.
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Roger Stone Will Be Back In A Washington DC Court Friday - Duration: 0:27.
For more infomation >> Roger Stone Will Be Back In A Washington DC Court Friday - Duration: 0:27. -------------------------------------------
You cant have it all � even with Medicare for all The Washington Post - Duration: 1:49.
You cant have it all — even with Medicare for all The Washington Post
Opinion Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events
SEN. KAMALA D. HARRIS D Calif. , a freshly minted presidential candidate, an appealing picture of Medicare for all at a CNN town hall on Monday. Yes, she said, the plan would require doing away with insurance companies. But, she argued, who would miss them? Who of us has not had that situation where youve got to wait for approval and the doctor says, Well, I dont know if your insurance company is going to cover this? Lets eliminate all of that, lets move on.
Actually, no one can really eliminate all of that — not Ms. Harris and not possible 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders I Vt. . Even if the United States adopted Medicare for all or some other version of national health insurance, Americans would not get everything they want whenever they want it. No one, in any country, does.
Ms. Harris and other Medicare for all advocates expect that the country would save money and hassle if the government, not insurance companies, paid for Americans health care. Insurance company profits and marketing costs could be redirected to health care. Whether the savings would be as large as expected; whether the government could manage things more efficiently; whether Americans really want to disrupt the existing system — all of those are legitimate questions for debate.
But what Medicare for all could not do — and what Ms. Harris and others who may tout the idea during the coming campaign cannot claim honestly — is end health care rationing. Doctors, or somebody, would still have to tell patients that some procedures or prescription drugs are covered and some are not. The government would have to decide what does get covered. Some people would still be upset, convinced that federal bureaucrats denied them life changing or life saving treatment.
A spokesman for Ms. Harris argued to us that at least those federal bureaucrats would not be motivated to restrain costs in order to maximize profits, as insurance companies are, which might lead to different choices about what gets paid for. Perhaps, but the fact remains that the government would have to manage costs, which would require hard nosed rationing, or else the already daunting challenge of paying for single payer would become even more so. Government health care systems in the European social democracies, the models that supposedly prove that Medicare for all can work as described, are in fact far less generous than the proposed Sanders Harris .
If the nation were building a health care system from scratch, single payer might be the rational choice. Even now, with many Americans reasonably satisfied with their employer sponsored coverage, politicians can make an argument that theyd be better off in a different system. But they should not make that argument by exaggerating the benefits or lowballing the costs of single payer, as Medicare for all advocates so often do. Any system will demand tradeoffs and constraints.
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Washington Beats Lincoln - Duration: 0:30.
For more infomation >> Washington Beats Lincoln - Duration: 0:30. -------------------------------------------
Bernie Sanders is D3ad wrong about whats happening in Venezuela The Washington Post - Duration: 2:39.
Bernie Sanders is D3ad wrong about whats happening in Venezuela The Washington Post
Poorly informed leftists are peddling the notion that the political crisis in Venezuela is the product of yet another heavy handed U.S. intervention in Latin America. Sen. Bernie Sanders I Vt. to the U.S. support for coups in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil and the Dominican Republic.
For the record, those regime changes happened in , , and — and whats happening in Venezuela half a century later bears no resemblance to them. On the contrary, the movement to oust the disastrous populist regime founded by Hugo Chávez is being driven by Venezuelas own neighbors, who until very recently had more help from Ottawa than from Washington. What were seeing, in an era of U.S. retreat and dysfunction, is a 21st century model for diplomacy in the Western Hemisphere.
The story of Venezuela since 1998 is partly about the fading of U.S. will to topple toxic regimes. The last time that American troops overthrew a ruler of a Latin American country was , in Panama. Four consecutive U.S. presidents — including, until this month, President Trump — avoided full scale confrontation with Venezuela, even as the Chavistas destroyed its economy and democratic political system.
Latin American nations, unaccustomed to managing crises without U.S. leadership and influenced by their tradition of noninterventionism, also declined to challenge Chávez and his follower, Nicolás Maduro. Some, eager for the petrodollars Chávez freely handed out to allies, joined or supported what he grandly called .
Then came a humanitarian catastrophe without precedent in the regions modern history: shortages of food, medicine, power and even water that have driven 10 percent of Venezuelans — — to flee the country. Suddenly, chavismo did not look so benign in Bogota and Brasilia. Swamped by refugees, Colombia and Brazil, along with Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Panama, concluded that something had to be done to stem the implosion.
Fortunately, they had a vehicle. In August 2017, formed the Lima Group to press for the return of democracy in Venezuela. Reflecting the long standing U.S. approach, the Trump administration encouraged the alliance but did not join it. After Maduro staged a blatantly fraudulent last May, the group at the United Nations last September to consider its options. Panama, backed by Canada, pushed the idea that Maduros scheduled inauguration to a new term should become a rallying point.
The regional response was not driven only by the refugee crisis. Following the excesses of their own left wing governments, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Peru, among others, elected right of center presidents with no sympathy for chavismo. Brazils long time support for Venezuela reversed: Right wing nationalist , who was sworn in on Jan. 1, has hinted he would support a military intervention.
The turning point for the Venezuela crisis came on Jan. 4, when issued a blistering statement saying members would not recognize Maduros new term as legitimate. Sources told me the State Department was taken aback, believing Canada and its partners had gone too far. The Latin America team at the National Security Council, preoccupied with plans to challenge Cuba, dismissed Venezuela as a sideshow.
But the long fractured Venezuelan opposition was galvanized. Realizing they had the chance to win decisive international support, members of the National Assembly rallied the next day behind a new leader, Juan Guaidó, and a new strategy: to declare the post of president vacant once Maduros previous term expired. Under the constitution promulgated by Chávez himself, that would make Guaidó interim president.
It wasnt until Jan. 23, more than two weeks later, that the Trump administration jumped onto the regional bandwagon by recognizing Guaidó. It did so clumsily, getting ahead of the announcements by the Lima Group, which gave Maduro and anti imperialists everywhere cause to claim this was just another yanqui coup. The White House jumped the gun, which made it look like this was organized by the U.S., a Venezuelan involved in the process told me. In reality, the U.S. was behind the curve.
In the past 10 days, to be sure, the administration has acted aggressively, freezing Venezuelan assets and effectively blocking the regimes critical U.S. oil revenues. It refused to withdraw U.S. diplomats when Maduro tried to expel them, and national security adviser John Bolton mysteriously appeared publicly with a referring to 5,000 troops to Colombia. But for now it remains unlikely that the United States would send in Marines, as it once might have.
Theres a decent chance Maduro will be forced out by sanctions and diplomacy. If there is an intervention, it will be multilateral and come at the impetus of Guaidó and his Latin American allies. That wont fulfill the Sanders style stereotypes of U.S. interventionism. But its a good way for the hemisphere to operate in the 21st century.
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Pékin et Washington annoncent des progrès dans les négociations commerciales - Duration: 9:25.
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HOT | A look at how transportation can transform a city The Washington Post - Duration: 8:24.
HOT | A look at how transportation can transform a city The Washington Post
SEATTLE — Years after the highway teardown movement helped reshape places like Boston and Seoul, this Pacific Northwest city is in the midst of a similar transformation.
On Monday, the nations first double decker traffic tunnel will open here, reaching more than 200 feet at its lowest point below the citys congested streets.
The two mile deep bore tunnel is replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an unsightly, earthquake damaged elevated highway that runs along the citys picturesque waterfront.
Leaders and planners had long derided the hulking concrete eyesore that separates popular waterfront attractions such as the Seattle Aquarium and Washington State Ferries from iconic landmarks, including Pike Place Market and the Seattle Art Museum.
Now the viaducts celebrated replacement, 18 years after the Nisqually earthquake nearly brought it down, is expected not only to reorient the citys expanding skyline but finally merge its downtown with its tourist heavy waterfront.
Eight acres of new public parks, with a landscaped promenade and space for cycling and recreation, will emerge along 26 blocks from what is now the highways shadows.
When we started studying options for the viaduct replacement … we looked at the Embarcadero in San Francisco and understood what a great benefit opening up the waterfront to the public and having better access was going to be, said Paula J. Hammond, senior vice president at WSP USA, a multinational engineering and design firm.
Hammond spent 35 years with the Washington State Department of Transportation WSDOT and was transportation secretary during the early years of planning for the viaduct replacement. I think in the end, it will be just like in Boston, where visitors and residents walk along the Greenway and no one remembers all the haggling that went on, Hammond said. They love that corridor, and they love the parks and the open space, and think it was smartest thing Boston ever did.
The new Highway 99 tunnel stretches from the industrial tangle south of downtown, near one of the West Coasts biggest seaports and two major stadiums, north to where the late Microsoft co founder and philanthropist Paul Allen over the past decade transformed a sleepy neighborhood into a vibrant commercial and residential corridor, now anchored by Amazon. It is the longest road tunnel in the contiguous United States, it will carry traffic along two lanes in each direction on two levels, with a posted speed limit of 45 mph.
The dollar 3.3 billion viaduct replacement is among a number of big ticket transportation projects that will shift the way people and freight move around the region. Among them is an extension of the regions light rail system running north of Seattle and another east across the Interstate 90 floating bridge to connect high tech suburbs across Lake Washington.
The project is similar to how Marylands light rail Purple Line and phase two of the Metro Silver Line extension into Loudoun County will fill gaps in the Washington regions transportation network
Washington state permanently closed the viaduct Jan. 11, sending 90,000 vehicles a day scrambling for alternative routes. Demolition will begin shortly after the tunnel opens.
Built during the freeway construction frenzy of the 1950s as one of two north south corridors through Seattle, the viaduct is part of State Route 99, a patchwork of surface streets, freeway segments and the 3,000 foot Battery Street tunnel.
Homeless residents in tents and sleeping bags find shelter in its gritty underbelly, between the six story concrete columns and parking lots.
Mehran Sepehr, a business consultant who used to take the viaduct to his downtown offices multiple days a week, said he will miss the view it afforded from the top — the downtown skyline to the east and the expanse of Puget Sound to the west and the Olympic Mountains beyond.
I think for Seattle to be a truly great city, the viaduct had to come down, said Sepehr, who moved to Seattle in 2001, the year the Nisqually earthquake hit. This citys relationship with the water is one of its defining characteristics, and removing that artificial barrier between downtown and the waterfront will open up a whole new avenue for this city.
Among those like him who used to drive nervously across the viaducts weathered frame, residents living within earshot of its unrelenting din and confused visitors negotiating its Gotham City like underside, there are few tears being shed over the viaducts demise.
Yet deciding how to replace the downtown highway embroiled this city in more than a decade of political drama, myriad citizen forums and stakeholder groups, three advisory ballot measures and an embarrassing two year stall by a storied tunnel drilling machine called Bertha. Throughout the process, every mayor and mayoral candidate in Seattle staked out a position on replacing the viaduct and about 90 replacement proposals were put forth before then Gov. Christine Gregoire D put an end to it in 2009, announcing that the tunnel would be her pick. By then, the state had spent more than dollar 325 million.
This is not just about replacing a road, Gregoire said at a January 2009 news conference. This is about building a 21st century city.
Her motivation was safety, Gregoire said recently. I knew it was just a matter of time before Mother Nature took down both the viaduct and the 520 bridge, she said, referring to one of two floating bridges across Lake Washington.
Initially, Gregoire and state transportation planners were against a deep bore tunnel option as irresponsible and too expensive. But as the political debate raged, pressure from interest groups mounted and technology brought the cost of a tunnel within a budget officials thought was manageable.
Gregoire recalls sitting down for dinner with former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell, who, looking out toward Elliott Bay, spotted the viaduct and inquired, What is that monstrosity?
In replacing it, she said, Well create an iconic waterfront, and everyone will look back and wonder what was wrong with us. Why didnt we do this a long time ago?
Former Seattle mayor Michael McGinn D , who won office in 2009 campaigning against the tunnel, continues to believe the state made the wrong choice.
McGinn was among a group of environmentalists who favored what he said was the more climate conscious option of expanding transit and improving surrounding streets and nearby Interstate 5 to handle spillover traffic.
McGinn points to San Franciscos Embarcadero Freeway and the New Yorks West Side Highway as successful examples of deteriorating highways that were demolished and not replaced — and not missed.
This is the new face of climate change denialism … and it runs deep in both political parties, McGinn said.
Increasingly, states and the federal government will be forced to make these kinds of transportation decisions, the former mayor said. Do we continue doubling down and expanding the highway infrastructure, or do we, when the time comes, transition to transit, biking and walking as well as walkable communities?
So Im not sure what we are celebrating here, McGinn said.
The viaduct replacement has frequently invited comparisons to Bostons infamous Big Dig, the rerouting of that citys elevated downtown highway into an underground tunnel that was plagued by design flaws, enormous cost overruns and delays.
The comparisons dogged Washington transportation officials, who early on had visited Boston and other cities to learn what went well and what did not.
The state chose a design build contract for the viaduct project, meaning the contractor, Seattle Tunnel Partners, was given creative freedom but would share in the risk of the project, which is three years behind schedule, including the two years Bertha was idle. The states dollar 3.3 billion budget, almost two thirds of it from state gas tax revenue, includes the demolition of the viaduct; rebuilding streets at the tunnels portal and a portion of the major rebuild; and expansion of Alaskan Way, the street along the waterfront and beneath the viaduct. Meanwhile, contractors have sued for up to dollar 600 million to cover delays and repairs associated with Berthas breakdown.
Beginning midyear, the tunnel will have variable rate tolls — meaning they will fluctuate depending on the time of day — ranging from dollar 1 to dollar 2.25.
Designed with fire suppression and air monitoring and ventilation to measure and reduce the levels of vehicle emissions, the Highway 99 tunnel was built to withstand a 9.0 magnitude earthquake which occur every 2,500 years, on average . A 24 hour tunnel control center will have direct lines to emergency responders.
From the window of his antique store, which he has run for the past 40 years, Ken Eubank can see beyond the columns of the viaduct to a waterfront park, the Seattle Great Wheel and out toward Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.
His Seattle Antiques Market, wedged between a storage business and Seattles only dedicated blues club, which closed on New Years Day, is among the warehouses and small businesses operating in the shadow of the viaduct.
And while, like most, he is not sorry to see the viaduct go, its removal leaves him and other nearby business owners with something of a quandary. Eubank said he will probably mothball his store during the months of demolition this spring, and he has not decided whether he will reopen.
My business plan is really good, Eubank jokes. My exit plan is terrible.
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