Report: Trump, Australian PM Turnbull have tense phone call over Muslim refugees

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-australian-pm-turnbull-have-tense-phone-call-over-muslim-refugees/


CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia’s prime minister said his country’s relationship with the United States remained “very strong” but refused to comment on a newspaper report on Thursday that an angry President Donald Trump cut short their first telephone call as national leaders.

At the heart of the weekend conversation between Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was a deal struck with the Obama administration that would allow mostly Muslim refugees rejected by Australia to be resettled in the United States.

Late Wednesday evening, Mr. Trump tweeted a complaint about the deal, referring to the 1,250 refugees that were agreed upon in the deal as “thousands.”


Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
7:55 PM - 1 Feb 2017

Turnbull declined to comment on reports in The Washington Post that the president had described the agreement as “the worst deal ever” and accused Turnbull of seeking to export the “next Boston bombers.”

Turnbull initially would not say whether Mr. Trump had abruptly ended the expected hour-long conversation after 25 minutes as the Australian attempted to steer the conversation to other topics.

“It’s better that these things - these conversations - are conducted candidly, frankly, privately,” Turnbull told reporters.

Turnbull did, however, tell reporters about what Mr. Trump said about the refugee agreement.

“The President assured me that he would continue with, honor the agreement we entered into with the Obama administration with respect to refugee resettlement,” Turnbull said.

In another interview, with Sydney radio station 2GB, Turnbull denied Mr. Trump had hung up on him, saying the conversation had ended “courteously.”

Under the agreement, refugees from among around 1,600 asylum seekers, most of whom are on island camps on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, would be resettled in the U.S. Australia has refused to accept them and instead pays for them to be housed on the impoverished islands.

“I can assure you the relationship is very strong,” Turnbull said. “The fact we received the assurance that we did, the fact that it was confirmed, the very extensive engagement we have with the new administration underlines the closeness of the alliance. But as Australians know me very well: I stand up for Australia in every forum - public or private.”

The Washington Post story immediately shot to the top of trending topics on Twitter in Australia. It was plastered across the top of Australia’s major news sites, and the nation’s news networks launched into lengthy, running commentaries on it.

President Trump, who a day before the conversation had signed an executive order suspending the admission of refugees, had complained that he was “going to get killed” politically by the deal, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous officials.

“I don’t want these people,” Mr. Trump reportedly said. He also told Turnbull that he had spoken to four world leaders that day and “This is the worst call by far.” Among the other world leaders Mr. Trump spoke with that day was Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The president told Turnbull that it was “my intention” to honor the agreement, a phrase designed to leave the president wriggle room to back out of the deal, the newspaper reported.

There were some mixed-messages from Washington this week on the state of the agreement.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed on Wednesday that Mr. Trump had agreed to honor the deal.

But a White House statement sent to Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday said: “The president is still considering whether or not he will move forward with this deal at this time.”

The U.S. State Department said in a statement later Thursday that the United States would honor the agreement “out of respect for close ties to our Australian ally and friend.”

“President Trump’s decision to honor the refugee agreement has not changed and Spokesman Spicer’s comments stand,” the State Department said.

The ABC spoke to senior Australian government sources who said The Washington Post report was “substantially accurate.”

Australian officials said the conversation was “robust” and “shorter than expected,” while one minister has told the ABC that “Trump hates this deal.”

[CPUd]

LOL at least he let the guy know his inauguration crowd photos were fake and there were really millions of people there.

[CaptainAmerica]

refugees from australia?wait im confused....what the fuq

[Zippyjuan]

refugees from australia?wait im confused....what the fuq

They have been stuck on some islands in the South Pacific.


Under the agreement, refugees from among around 1,600 asylum seekers, most of whom are on island camps on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, would be resettled in the U.S. Australia has refused to accept them and instead pays for them to be housed on the impoverished islands.

[TheCount]

refugees from australia?wait im confused....what the fuqThey're refugees from elsewhere that got to Australia and they don't want them.

FWIW, I asked my single Australian friend and she thinks it's bullshit that they're trying to pawn them off on US. There's my anecdata.

[CaptainAmerica]

They're refugees from elsewhere that got to Australia and they don't want them.

FWIW, I asked my single Australian friend and she thinks it's bull$#@! that they're trying to pawn them off on US. There's my anecdata.

oh I get it.....Australia doesn't want them so they ship them here?

[TheCount]

oh I get it.....Australia doesn't want them so they ship them here?As Zippy mentioned, they built some refugee camps on islands and sticks them all there indefinitely. I'm not really sure about the why's of any of that, but assumed that it might be some Guantanamo-esque shit where they can treat them differently if they're not on Australia proper. Apparently Obama agreed to take half. I don't really know all the details.

[goldenequity]

Don't worry... McCain's got this. Thank heavens.

[Schifference]

Put them on an old ready for the bone orchard Navy ship and then park it off the coast of Iran. US abandon ship and leave refugees. Tell Iran not to touch the ship.

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/10/a-short-history-of-nauru-australias-dumping-ground-for-refugees


A short history of Nauru, Australia’s dumping ground for refugees


Australia has twice used Nauru – and its beholden and broke government – as a remote site for the “offshore processing” of people who seek asylum and protection. What began as a hurried political response to the arrival of one boat, the MV Tampa, on Australia’s northern horizon has metamorphosed over a decade and a half into a standing permanent policy, with the support of both the country’s major political parties.

It is current government policy that no person who arrives in the country by boat seeking asylum (plane arrivals are not subject to “mandatory detention”) is ever settled in Australia. Instead, they are sent to Nauru, or to Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, for “offshore processing”, a bleak dysphemism because no genuine resettlement ever takes place.

In effect, people accused of no crime are warehoused in appalling conditions in arbitrary and indefinite detention. Dozens of countries, the United Nations, and rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have documented and condemned the illegal detention.

In comparison with the size of the world’s forced migration challenge, the numbers are tiny. The latest statistics, for the end of June, show there are 442 asylum seekers and refugees living in the Nauru “regional processing centre”, including 49 children. Several hundred more live “in the community” of Nauru. They fall outside the scope of the government’s statistics but remain stuck on the tiny island. The “travel documents” some have been issued are not travel documents at all. They do not allow their holders to travel anywhere.

More than three-quarters (77%) of those forcibly sent by Australia to Nauru whose asylum claims have been assessed have been found to be refugees. They have a “well-founded fear of persecution” and are legally owed protection. But no refugees will be resettled permanently on Nauru. The island’s government has avowedly refused to let anyone stay longer than five years. Other places will need to be found. So far the Australian government has found only one other country willing to take part in this state-sponsored “country shopping”: Cambodia. At a cost of more than $40m, it has managed to resettle one person. A single Rohingyan man.

The first Nauru experiment began in 2001, after the Tampa crisis, when a Norwegian freighter that had rescued more than 400 mainly Afghan Hazara refugees from their sinking vessel in international waters 140km north of Christmas Island was refused entry into Australian waters, in defiance of international law. With boats carrying asylum seekers arriving consistently – as they have on and off since the mid-1970s – and with immigration proving a divisive, possibly critical issue in a federal election campaign, the MV Tampa provided the conservative Coalition government with a catalyst for action. That was the establishment of “offshore detention” camps on Nauru and on Papua New Guinea, the so-called Pacific solution.


More at link.

[ifthenwouldi]

Most Australians don't want the refugees, but also don't want them locked away on a remote island. Ditching refugees on the U.S. was some creative problem solving, to say the least. Some Aussie politicians must be freaking out right now...

[Superfluous Man]

Like Trump or not (and if you do like him, you're dumb), why in the world does he keep tweeting like this?

Seriously.

[Zippyjuan]

He can't help himself.

[69360]

Like Trump or not (and if you do like him, you're dumb), why in the world does he keep tweeting like this?

Seriously.

Attention whore, mentally unbalanced, no self control, no brain to mouth filter. Some combination of that I'm sure.

If Trump starts a war with Australia...

[Ender]

Like Trump or not (and if you do like him, you're dumb), why in the world does he keep tweeting like this?

Seriously.


EGO.

Seriously.

[juleswin]

It is a 90 day review not a real ban. My guess is that the policies the courts did not over turn will be rescinded at the end of the review. People do not understand that priority refugee visas go to the interpreters, local coordinators, fighters and their families that help the US carry out their imperialist wars. If they take it away, the lose some leverage over them and even the neocon Trump would understand that when the time comes.

[specsaregood]

Like Trump or not (and if you do like him, you're dumb), why in the world does he keep tweeting like this?

Seriously.

wtf would we want these refugees either? he is right on this, bad deal.

[William Tell]

FWIW, I asked my single Australian friend and she thinks it's bull$#@! that they're trying to pawn them off on US.

Is she cute?

[RJB]

Attention whore, mentally unbalanced, no self control, no brain to mouth filter. Some combination of that I'm sure.

If Trump starts a war with Australia...

That's some strong language you used against Super E, even if he called many of the forum membership "dumb."

[UWDude]

Like Trump or not (and if you do like him, you're dumb), why in the world does he keep tweeting like this?

Seriously.

To bypass the Mainstream media filter. To control the narrative. Seriously. If you read more than your MSM crap, you would read point blank many non-MSM people talking about why he tweets.

[Jamesiv1]

Like Trump or not (and if you do like him, you're dumb), why in the world does he keep tweeting like this?

Seriously.
Because he's awesome!

lol

[LibertyEagle]

Good for Trump. It *was* a horrible deal. Why on earth would we want to bring people over here that Australia decided that they didn't want?

[Cdn_for_liberty]

Turnbull is just another globalist shill. I don't recall what Turnbull said about Trump during the campaign but I am sure it's not good. Hopefully Trump is actually working behind the scenes to get Abbott back as PM.

[timosman]

As Zippy mentioned, they built some refugee camps on islands and sticks them all there indefinitely. I'm not really sure about the why's of any of that, but assumed that it might be some Guantanamo-esque shit where they can treat them differently if they're not on Australia proper. Apparently Obama agreed to take half. I don't really know all the details.

He could not close Gitmo. :rolleyes:

[timosman]

He can't help himself.

Can you?

[timosman]

Good for Trump. It *was* a horrible deal. Why on earth would we want to bring people over here that Australia decided that they didn't want?

Who are these people anyway? Can we just give two F-15 with extra ammo and a free tech support to the kiwis and call it even?

[TheCount]

He could not close Gitmo. :rolleyes:Let's not pass the buck; Congress passed a law preventing its closure.

[timosman]

Let's not pass the buck; Congress passed a law preventing its closure.

He had the majority for the first two years in both houses. He could do anything.

[TheCount]

He had the majority for the first two years in both houses. He could do anything.Did Congress pass such a law or did they not? Whose signatures do you suppose were on it?

[timosman]

Did Congress pass such a law or did they not? Whose signatures do you suppose were on it?

Please provide a link.

[TheCount]

Please provide a link.
2009: https://www.congress.gov/amendment/111th-congress/senate-amendment/1133?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=8
https://www.congress.gov/amendment/111th-congress/senate-amendment/1133?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=7
https://www.congress.gov/amendment/111th-congress/senate-amendment/1136?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=8

2010: https://www.congress.gov/amendment/111th-congress/house-amendment/737?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=6

2011: https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/1473?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=2

2012: https://www.congress.gov/amendment/112th-congress/senate-amendment/3245?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=11

2013: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/3304?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=3

2014: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/3979?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=5

2015: https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/house-amendment/129?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=13

2016: https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/house-amendment/1201?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=16
https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/house-amendment/1202?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=17
https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/house-amendment/1207?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=18
https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/senate-amendment/4119?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Guantanamo%22%5D%7D&r=12

[CPUd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--gPnRliBuE

[enhanced_deficit]

Neocons, media owners employees, McCain, DGP etc have legit compliant here.

Aust was one of the first and strongest enabler of US drive to spread democracy and racial equality in Iraq... is this the payback Trump has for such closest freedom spreader ally?

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56bd03d007eaa0ef9e571100/577af3b259cc68071c0195bf/577ca428b8a79b1a3e59bb40/1467856846386/download.jpg?format=1000w


This on the heels of bad treatment of Iraq war translators is mind boggling.

[nikcers]

The Stock Market Down Under Is Decoupling From the World (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-05/the-stock-market-down-under-is-decoupling-from-the-world)

Alibaba ventures Down Under to help local businesses go global (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/05/alibaba-opens-australia-office.html)

Any armchair market experts here know what this means in laymans terms?

[CPUd]

Pence: U.S. to honor refugee deal with Australia

By REBECCA MORIN 04/22/17 08:47 AM EDT


The United States will honor an Obama-era agreement with Australia to help resettle Syrian refugees, despite the Trump administration not favoring the arrangement, Vice President Mike Pence announced Saturday.

"President Trump has made it clear that we'll honor the agreement — that doesn't mean we admire the agreement," Pence said during a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney, according to the Associated Press.

Up to 1,250 refugees housed in Australian detention camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea would come to the U.S. under the agreement made with President Barack Obama.

Within the first 10 days as president, Trump had a tense phone call with Turnbull about the agreement. He followed up the phone call with a tweet several days later where he called the deal "dumb."

Turnbull, however, said during Saturday's press conference that "whatever the reservations of the president are," the decision "speaks volumes for the commitment, the integrity of President Trump, and your administration, sir, to honor that commitment."

The disagreement with the deal has strained Australia's and the United State's comfortable relationship, with the majority of Australians having a negative view of Trump. In addition, Australia has been pressured to favor stronger ties with China over the U.S., to which Turnbull has resisted.

During Saturday's press conference, Pence and Turnbull also both shared the opinion that China was key in helping de-escalated the nuclear threat from North Korea. Following meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month, Trump has repeatedly touted the relationship with China to help rein in North Korea.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/22/mike-pence-australia-refugee-deal-237476

[Brian4Liberty]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/22/mike-pence-australia-refugee-deal-237476

Just as an aside, when Hannity was in Israel last week, they were saying that their big problem with Trump was that he was too much of an unknown. On the other hand, they were very happy with Pence, whom they "knew well".