US PRESIDENT Donald Trump issued executive orders today to slash regulations on construction of oil and gas pipelines and limit individual states’ right to halt them on environmental grounds.
The White House says it has “problems” with the way states are interpreting their powers under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which has seen Washington state block construction of a coal terminal and New York refuse permission for a natural gas pipeline officials said failed to meet standards to protect streams and wetlands.
One executive order issues new guidelines for interpretation of the Clean Water Act, while the other hands authorisation of international projects to the president personally.
International solidarity can ensure that Trump and his machine cannot prevail without a level of political and economic cost that he will not want to pay, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
The plan is to stigmatise and destabilise South Africa in preparation for breaking it up while creating a confused and highly racialised atmosphere around immigration in the US to aid in denying rights to non-white refugees, explains EMILE SCHEPERS
Building opposition into a political campaign