Economics and Politics: Playing with Fire

(Baonghean) - Economics and politics are always closely related - as is the relationship between security - politics or security - economy. However, in some cases, that relationship can become a game with fire and the source of many storms.

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US President-elect Donald Trump at his first official press conference on January 11. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump "confronts" the American media

The first official press conference of US President-elect Donald Trump on January 11th certainly left most of the US media dissatisfied. The New York Times even assessed the press conference as a shocking “show” and not at all befitting the position of the head of the United States.

The leading American magazine commented: “Mr. Trump appeared with the same image that he has used to appear on the entertainment screen for many years. If anyone had hoped that the responsibility of the President would make Donald Trump more restrained, perhaps this first press conference was quite a shock.”

At this media appearance, Mr. Trump was expected to provide answers to many hot issues such as: US-Russia relations, allegations of internal conflicts of interest or the not-so-positive reports published by CNN and BuzzFeed on the same day right before the press conference. However, according to the majority of the media, Mr. Trump did not really give a proper answer.

The US President-elect announced that he would not sell his “money printing machine” but would hand it over to his two eldest sons to run, saying, “They will run the corporation very professionally and will not tell me anything about it.” He even used his personal lawyer to announce the solutions that would be implemented to eliminate any conflicts of interest. This person affirmed that before his inauguration on January 20, Mr. Trump would no longer have anything to do with his corporation.

These claims have not convinced many experts and the media. Slate’s chief political officer Jamelle Bouie commented: “There is no doubt that Donald Trump will have a presidency riddled with business relationships and conflicts of interest. By retaining the Trump Organization, he will be able to receive benefits from foreign governments. It is a way to get around a constitutional law that prohibits the president from accepting gifts or money from foreign leaders.”

Mr. Bouie even “boldly” said that Mr. Trump would be “a representative of unprecedented corruption in the White House.” Politico’s reporter also shared the above opinion: “Donald Trump promised that he and his children would not discuss business or politics, but we can only take that word for it. The truth is, it is almost impossible to verify that they will follow through on that promise without any independent monitoring measures.”

However, historian Timothy Stanley praised Trump’s first press conference, saying that he “completely dominated” the event. Trump even refused to answer a question from a CNN reporter because the TV channel had published a statement opposing him just hours before the press conference took place.

“He was weird, outrageous, and sometimes a little dishonest. But he dominated them,” Stanley said. “Unpresidential? Yes. Untrustworthy? I’m not sure. There are a lot of conservative voters who don’t believe the reports that are condemning Trump, simply because they don’t trust the sources anymore.”

Vice President of Samsung Electronics at the investigation agency on January 12. Photo: AFP

Samsung Group named in political scandal in South Korea

The scandal involving South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Chol Soon-sil has heated up again this week with the introduction of a new figure. The latest to be embroiled in the scandal is Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics. He is also the son of the group’s chairman and grandson of Samsung’s founder.

Present at the investigation agency on January 12, Mr. Lee declared: “I am very sorry about this.” Waiting for Mr. Lee at the investigation agency door were dozens of reporters and many protesters. The crowd kept shouting “Arrest Mr. Lee immediately” and claiming that he was an “accomplice” in the unprecedented scandal in recent years in Korean history.

According to Yonhap, the possibility of Mr. Lee being asked by the investigating agency to issue an arrest warrant is very high. The scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, known as a close friend of Ms. Park Geun-hye, shows no sign of abating as more and more people involved in the case are revealed.

It is known that Ms. Choi took advantage of her relationship with Ms. Park to collect huge sums of money from leading Korean corporations. Among them are names such as Samsung, Hyundai, SK, LG and Lotte. Samsung is said to be the most "generous" when pouring Ms. Choi up to 20 billion won, equivalent to 17 million USD. This group is also suspected of spending several million euros for Ms. Choi's daughter to study abroad in Germany.

The investigation agency is still continuing to clarify Samsung's connection to the above scandal. Among them is the possibility that Samsung relied on Ms. Choi to receive the government's nod for the merger of two subsidiaries of this group in 2015.

Hai Trieu

(According to Le Monde)