A6
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Trump in Japan: Pomp
and tense circumstance
By JILL COLVIN
AND DARLENE
SUPERVILLE
Associated Press
TOKYO — All the
pomp and pageantry in
the world couldn’t paper
over the tensions between
President Donald Trump
and Japan’s Shinzo Abe on
two of their most pressing
issues: North Korea and
trade.
The president and prime
minister tried mightily to
minimize their differences
during Trump’s four-day
state visit to Tokyo, while
playing up their close per-
sonal friendship and their
countries’ long-held ties.
But tension abounded, with
Trump on Monday brush-
ing off the signifi cance of
North Korean short-range
missile tests that have rat-
tled Japan and reasserting
his threats to hit Abe with
potentially
devastating
auto import tariffs.
Asked if he was both-
ered by the missile tests,
Trump said: “No, I’m not.
I am personally not.” Abe,
in contrast, said the missile
tests were “of great regret.”
The confl ict demon-
strates the limits of Abe’s
long-term strategy of show-
ering Trump with affec-
tion in hopes of extracting
benefi ts. Trump appeared
uninterested in conces-
sions despite a program
tailor-made for the presi-
dent that included a showy
visit with the new Japanese
emperor, a round of golf
and prime seats at a sumo
tournament where Trump
got to present a “Presi-
dent’s Cup” to the winner.
Trump also demon-
strated again that he is
willing to turn his back
on long-held norms as he
assailed Joe Biden, the
2020 Democratic hopeful
whom North Korean leader
Kim Jon Un recently crit-
icized as having a low IQ.
“I don’t take sides as
to who I’m in favor or
who I’m not,” Trump said
when asked whether he
was favoring a violent dic-
tator over the former vice
president. “But I can tell
you that Joe Biden was a
disaster.”
Indeed, Trump also
sided with Kim on the
question of whether the
short-term missile launches
violated U.N. Security
Council resolutions, as
both Abe and Trump’s own
national security adviser,
John Bolton, had stated.
“My people think it
could have been a viola-
tion,” said Trump. “I view
it differently. I view it as a
man — perhaps he wants
to get attention and perhaps
not. Who knows?”
Japan has long voiced
concern about short-range
missiles because of the
threat they pose to its secu-
rity. Kim’s decision to lift
the pause in ballistic mis-
sile launches that began in
late 2017 alarmed North
Korea’s neighbors.
Most analysts believe
the missiles were ballis-
tic missiles, which are
not allowed under U.N.
resolutions.
Trump’s visit to Japan
was designed to highlight
the U.S.-Japan alliance and
showcase the warm rela-
tions between the two lead-
ers. Trump said he and Abe
deliberated over trade, Iran
and more during hours of
talks at Akasaka Palace.
Trump was invited to
Japan to be the fi rst world
leader to meet the coun-
try’s new emperor. But
despite being far from
Washington, Trump didn’t
hold back in his criticism
of Biden, telling the world
he agreed with the North
Korean leader’s assessment
and declaring himself “not
a fan.”
“Kim Jong Un made a
statement that Joe Biden
is a low-IQ individual,”
Trump said. “He probably
is, based on his record. I
think I agree with him on
that.”
Pressed on whether he
was supporting a dicta-
tor over a former U.S. vice
Flood buyout costs rise as
storms intensify, seas surge
By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
MOSBY,
Missouri
— The residents of this
small riverside town have
become accustomed to
watching fl oods swamp
their streets, transform
their homes into islands
and ruin their fl oors and
furniture.
Elmer Sullivan has
replaced his couch, bed
and television. He’s torn
up water-buckled fl oor-
boards. And he put a picket
fence against the front of
his house to cover up a gap
left when waters washed
out part of the stone
foundation.
“I just don’t want to
mess with it anymore. I’m
83 years old and I’m tired
of it, and I just want to get
out of it,” Sullivan said.
Finally fed up, Sulli-
van and nearly half of the
homeowners in Mosby
signed up in 2016 for a pro-
gram in which the gov-
ernment would buy and
then demolish their prop-
erties rather than paying
to rebuild them over and
over. They’re still waiting
for offers, joining thou-
sands of others across the
country in a slow-moving
line to escape from fl ood-
prone homes.
Patience is wearing thin
in Mosby, a town of fewer
than 200 people with a core
of lifelong residents and
some younger newcomers
drawn by the cheap prices
of its modest wood-frame
homes. Residents watched
nervously this past week as
high waters again threat-
ened the town.
“It really is frustrating,
because here we are, we’re
coming through a wet sea-
son. There’s a chance that
we could possibly fl ood,
and we’re still waiting,”
said Jason Stooksbury, an
alderman who oversees
the town’s efforts to curb
fl ooding. “It’s not a good
situation, but what are you
going to do — it’s the gov-
ernment process.”
Over the past three
decades, federal and local
governments have poured
more than $5 billion into
buying tens of thousands
of vulnerable properties
across the country, accord-
ing to an Associated Press
analysis of data from the
Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency and the
Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
The AP analysis shows
those buyouts have been
getting more expensive,
with many of the cost-
liest coming in the last
decade after strong storms
pounded heavily popu-
lated coastal states such as
Texas, New York and New
Jersey. This year’s record
fl ooding in the Midwest
could add even more buy-
outs to the queue.
The purchases are hap-
pening as the climate
changes. Along rivers and
sea coasts, some homes
that were once considered
at little risk are now endan-
gered due to water that is
climbing higher and surg-
ing farther inland than his-
toric patterns predicted.
Regardless of the risks,
the buyouts are volun-
tary. Homeowners can
renew taxpayer-subsidized
fl ood insurance policies
indefi nitely.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
NATION & WORLD IN BRIEF
Macron and
Salvini face off
over EU’s future
BRUSSELS — France’s
pro-EU president and the
leader of Italy’s euroskeptic,
far-right movement jockeyed
for the role of chief powerbro-
ker on the continent Monday
after elections to the Euro-
pean Parliament hollowed
out the traditional political
middle.
The four days of balloting
that drew to a close Sunday
across the European Union’s
28 countries ended the domi-
nation of the main center-right
and center-left parties in Par-
liament and established the
anti-EU forces on the right
and the environmentalists on
the left as forces to be reck-
oned with.
Voters delivered the high-
est turnout in 20 years, reject-
ing mainstream politics in
France, Germany, Britain and
Italy.
The results could make the
business of governing Europe
even trickier, leaving the Par-
liament deadlocked over key
issues to come, including
immigration, a major trade
agreement with the United
States, global warming, reg-
ulation of the tech industry
and, of course, Brexit.
The outcome of the elec-
tion is already setting off a
power struggle.
Ex-Scouts open up
about abuse
NEW YORK — Sharing
their stories doesn’t come
easily for these middle-aged
men. At times, their eyes
well up or their voices crack
as they describe being sex-
ually abused in the Boy
Scouts and suffering from
emotional damage long
afterward.
Looking back, they all
remember vividly how
excited they were to become
Scouts.
“I was real gung-ho about
getting my badges — fi sh-
ing and campfi res and all
JD Ward, DO. OB/GYN
is now accepting
new patients.
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Education: Boise State University,
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Board Certifi cation: Board Certifi ed
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into crisis in recent days
by former Defense Minis-
ter Avigdor Lieberman, an
ally and sometimes rival of
Netanyahu’s.
Netanyahu delivered a
primetime statement on
Monday calling on his
potential partners to put
“the good of the nation
above every other interest”
in order to avoid sending
the country once again to
“expensive, wasteful” elec-
tions. He placed the blame
on Lieberman for creat-
ing the crisis, but said he
was hopeful his efforts to
salvage a compromise in
the next 48 hours would
succeed.
Israel faces
possible second
election
BERLIN — Green par-
ties’ surprisingly strong
showing in elections for the
751-seat European Parlia-
ment raised hopes — partic-
ularly among young voters
— that global warming and
other environmental issues
will get more serious con-
sideration on the continent.
Provisional results Mon-
day showed the left-leaning
Greens coming in fourth in
the balloting with 69 seats,
an increase of 17 from the
last election, fi ve years ago.
Perhaps more signifi cantly,
the results showed how
environmental
concerns
can transcend the political
issues that dominate most
European Union elections.
“The European election
was a climate election,”
declared Anna Kretzsch-
mar, a German in her 20s
who was out in a Berlin
park with her young child.
Kretzschmar welcomed
the lift the Greens received
in Sunday’s vote, saying it
would give them a stron-
ger voice to raise the alarm
about global warming.
“I think we are more
affected by climate change
than we realize,” she added.
— The Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Isra-
el’s parliament on Monday
passed a preliminary motion
to dissolve itself. The move
further pushed the country
toward an unprecedented
political impasse, less than
two months after elections
seemed to promise Prime
Minister Benjamin Net-
anyahu a new mandate.
If the bill receives fi nal
passage in a vote scheduled
Wednesday, Israel would be
forced to hold new elections
— sending the political sys-
tem into disarray.
Netanyahu appeared to
have a clear path to vic-
tory, and a fourth consecu-
tive term, after the April 9
elections. His Likud party
emerged tied as the largest
party in the 120-seat par-
liament, and with his tra-
ditional allies, he appeared
to control a solid 65-55
majority.
But he has struggled to
form a government ahead
of a looming deadline to
do so. His prospective coa-
lition has been thrown
Green parties’ gains
could boost climate
action in Europe
P E N D L E T O N
th
of
july
HOSTED BY THE PENDLETON VFW “LET’ ER BUCK” POST 922
10 AM Thursday, July 4, 2019
THEME:
St. Anthony Provider Spotligh t
of that,” said Darrell Jack-
son, now a 57-year-old New
Yorker. “It was good at the
beginning.”
Jackson, whose unit
leader was convicted of sod-
omy and imprisoned for
about 18 months, is among
hundreds of men across the
U.S. who have recently con-
tacted lawyers for help suing
the Boy Scouts of Amer-
ica for sex abuse they say
they suffered at the hands of
scout leaders.
Many of the men are
from New York, which this
year adjusted its restrictive
statute-of-limitations law.
The changes allow victims
of long-ago abuse to sue for
damages during a one-year
window starting in August.
New Jersey enacted a simi-
lar law this month. Califor-
nia is on track to follow suit.
“Only in America”
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3001 St. Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR 97801
Call for your appointment today
541.966.0535
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.SAHPENDLETON.ORG
May be picked up at the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce,
Dean’s Athletic, DG Gifts, Elite Guns &
Tactical and the Pendleton Downtown Association
You may also mail requests to VFW Post 922 • PO Box 787 • Pendleton,
OR 97801 or email requests to: fbradbury@yahoo.com
Questions? Call Fred Bradbury at 541-377-7474
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