North Korea / USA: Trump, Kim meet in Hanoi for summit.

Breitbart:

Thousands flocked to see President Donald Trump arrive in Vietnam on Tuesday for the diplomatic summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.

Trump landed at the Hanoi airport early evening and was welcomed by over a dozen Vietnamese officials and American diplomats.

He traveled about 30 minutes to his hotel, as thousands of people lined the streets to welcome the president, according to reporters. Many of the locals waved U.S. and Vietnamese flags. ...

Austin Bay at StrategyPage on DJT and US/NK diplomacy:

This “first brush” narrative in this section describes ongoing history. It collects illustrative, connected events and actions that occurred from March 2017 to March 2018. When examined in concert, theysketch a concerted effort to wage twenty-first-century “cocktail” warfare by employing and coordinating American power in pursuit of a geo-strategic goal: denuclearizing North Korea. Subsequent events will determine the effectiveness of this particular multi-dimensional operation.

The Coercive Diplomacy narrative actually begins with Donald Trump’s October 24, 1999 Meet the Press interview with Tim Russert.

The interview is a historically illuminating flash forward to his administration’s 2017–2018 “de-nuclearizing” North Korea coercivediplomatic effort. It also adds convincing depth to the US narrativethat “North Korea has gone too far.” ...

Portland: Antifa at town hall meeting.

Via Andy Ngo at YouTube. Andy's account of the incident follows:

'On Feb. 22, 2019 at a "listening session" at Maranatha Church organized by the Portland Police chief on policing issues, the public raged at her, the mayor, and conservatives who showed up. The previous week, a slanted report from Willamette Week portrayed Portland Police Lt. Niiya as a "collaborator" with Patriot Prayer, a right-wing protest group. The public and city council expressed outcry, despite the fact that it was the responsibility of Niiya to build rapport with a variety of protesters to gather intel. The intel he gathered was fed directly to the Mayor's office to track protest plans. Niiya has been removed from his position and Mayor Wheeler demanded an investigation into him following the report's release. At the town hall meeting, citizens called police chief Danielle Outlaw a "traitor" to black and brown people, and demanded that Portland Police be disbanded. At one point, Haley Adams, a Jewish right-wing activist, yelled at the panel for allowing the public to mistreat the few conservative speakers (an elderly woman was told to sit down; an elderly man was called 'racist'). Adams was surrounded and called "Nazi Scum." She was kicked out for disorderly behavior.'

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Israel opens Rwanda embassy.

Arutz Sheva:

Israel opened its first embassy in Rwanda on Friday, offering support to the East Africa nation from health to education and agriculture, as well as communication technology including cyber-security, AFP reported.

"This country shares a lot of similarities with state of Israel and offers a lot of ground for mutual cooperation," new Israeli ambassador Ron Adam said after meeting with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame.

Rwanda, a largely Christian nation, has said it is keen to encourage tourists to the country, especially to see its famous mountain gorillas.

Rwandair, the national airline, has said it will begin direct flights to Israel in 2019. ...

Leaving the hipster ghetto.

Long story short, I moved out of Portland at the end of 2017 for a live/work situation near Scappoose. That didn't work out, and I went back to work last summer (2018) in Beaverton. I'm now living and working in Hillsboro.

I like the Portland area, but it's unlikely that I will move back to Portland proper. When I first moved to the city, I found it walkable, liveable, affordable, and generally nice. Things are different now.

I no longer find Portland endearingly quirky. Between the rent, the crowding, the traffic, and Antifa apparently being given free rein in the streets, I'm content with my nostalgic memories of living downtown.

Follow Andy Ngo on Twitter and on YouTube to keep up with the latest from Portland and the culture wars generally.

Nigeria: Voters to elect president.

The main contenders are the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari of APC, and challenger Atiku Abubakar of PDP.
AllAfrica:

The decision of who becomes Nigeria's next president will be taken tomorrow by about 72 million persons who have so far collected their permanent voter's cards (PVCs).

According to data released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a total of 72,775,502 million Nigerians have collected their PCVs and now qualify to cast their votes in tomorrow's polls to elect Nigeria's president for the next four years.

They will also be voting in their constituencies to elect legislators in the federal parliament, that is, the Senate and House of Representatives of the National Assembly.

Atiku exhorts voters to "remove Buhari".

Buhari emerged Nigeria's president in 2015 after defeating Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election. Buhari polled 15,424,921, while the incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan polled 12,853,162.

Atiku, who was Nigeria's vice president from 1999 till 2007, has appealed to Nigerians to express their powers by voting out Buhari and elect him president.

"On March 28, 2015, we the people of Nigeria went to our polling units and only with our PVCs and yet we were able to remove an incumbent President from office. That made me very proud to be a Nigerian and very proud to be a Democrat," Atiku said in a video on his twitter handle.

"This Saturday, we will have the opportunity of doing so again. My message to you is simple: Please come out and vote as this election is about your future and the future of our great nation. On election day, we are all equal as no single vote is more important than the other."

Buhari's message to Nigerians.

Here are the key points of the President's broadcast:

1. Democracy is far from the easiest thing to achieve and maintain.

2. Democracy requires "a combination of patience, tolerance, compassion, diligence, wisdom and hope", the traits which exist in Nigerians.

3. No "worldly hand" can deter Nigeria from continuing its democracy.

4. Nigerians were commended for their patience and peaceful conduct so far during this electoral season and especially during this intervening week following the postponement of the February 16 elections.

5. INEC must realise the profound and weighty duty that rests upon it to conduct free, fair and transparent elections. ...

Read the rest at the link.