AGENCIES
Washington, Nov 15: US President Barack Obama has cautioned his successor Donald Trump against undoing of international decisions like the Iranian nuclear pact and the Paris climate change agreement, saying a great deal of effort has gone into signing these landmark agreements.
“These international agreements, the tradition has been that you carry them forward across administrations, particularly if, once you actually examine them, it turns out that they are doing good for us and binding other countries into behaviour that will help us,” Obama, 55, told reporters at a White House news conference.
He said the Iranian nuclear deal was good example of the “gap between” some of the rhetoric in this town, not unique to the President-elect, and the reality. “I think there was a really robust debate about the merits of the Iran deal before it was completed. I actually was pretty proud of how our democracy processed that. It was a serious debate. I think people of good will were on both sides of the issue. Ultimately, we were able to persuade members of Congress and the public, at least enough of them, to support it,” he said.
“At the time, the main argument against it was, Iran wouldn’t abide by the deal. That they would cheat. We now have over a year of evidence that they have abided by the agreement. That’s not just my opinion. It’s not just people in my administration. That’s the opinion of Israeli military and intelligence officers who are part of a government that vehemently opposed the deal,” he said.
INSET 1: Trump, Putin agree to mend ties
Washington/Moscow: US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday spoke over phone for the first time and agreed on the need to normalize the “extremely unsatisfactory state” of bilateral ties and combat the threat posed by terrorism. Putin “called to offer his congratulations on winning a historic election,” according to a Trump statement. The two leaders discussed issues including shared threats, strategic economic issues and the historical US-Russia relationship.
INSET 2: Uproar over Michelle ‘ape’ post
Washington: A racist Facebook post about US First Lady Michelle Obama has caused a major controversy involving a town mayor in the US state of West Virginia. Pamela Ramsey Taylor, who runs a local non-profit group in Clay County, referred to President Barack Obama’s wife as an “ape”. “It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels,” Taylor said. Local mayor Beverly Whaling responded with “just made my day Pam”. Whaling is mayor of the town of Clay, which has a population of just 491. It has no African American residents, according to the 2010 census. In Clay County as a whole, more than 98 per cent of its 9,000 residents are white. The controversial Facebook post spread across United States and international media outlets, and a petition calling for both women to be terminated from their positions has collected more than 85,000 signatures.
