It is to be hoped that just like the idea of moving the embassy, Friedman’s appointment will be frozen. Better to find him another respectable position, and send a worthy diplomat to Tel Aviv.

Considerable attention has focused on David Friedman‘s links to the West Bank settlement of Beit El. A review of his records submitted to the U.S. State Dept. ahead of his confirmation hearing show the ties go much deeper. Read the full documents here.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a confirmation hearing on David Friedman, Trump‘s designated U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Friedman will need to win the support of at least 11 of its 21 members in order to clinch the confirmation. A bankruptcy lawyer and Trump‘s personal counsel for 15 years, Friedman has no experience in diplomacy. He is a staunch supporter of the settlement movement and rejects the notion of an independent Palestinian state. His attacks on leading Jewish organizations have also caused alarm.

The ultranationalist Jewish Home party in Netanyahu‘s coalition claimed some of the credit for the shift.

„What we did … definitely helped change the picture,“ Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home said on Army Radio, referring to its pressure on Netanyahu ahead of his trip.

6 February 2017: In a briefing to UN Member States, Permanent Representative of Germany Harald Braun outlined the key priorities of its presidency for the Group of 20 (G20) in 2017, including implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, climate and energy policies, and an intensified partnership with Africa. During the informal briefing on preparations for the 2017 Summit, many welcomed the “depth and breadth” of the German presidency’s agenda.

(…)

Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces – First Deputy Defence Minister General of the Army Valery Gerasimov and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of the United States of America General Joseph Dunford had a meeting in Baku.

General of the Army Valery Gerasimov and General Joseph Dunford exchanged their views on condition of the Russia-America relationship, assessments of situations in the field of international security in Europe, Middle East, North Africa and other key regions of the world.

The parties defined directions of joint work aimed to raise the safety level of military activities, decrease tensions and risks of incidents.

The sides agreed to continue contacts.

Das war das erste Treffen eines russischen mit einem amerikanischen Generalstabschef, seit die USA mitten in der Ukraine-Krise 2014 die militärische Zusammenarbeit mit Russland auf Eis gelegt haben.

Die nukleare Abschreckung der Nato ist seit Donald Trump nicht mehr glaubwürdig. Nun wird die EU-Bombe diskutiert.

„Tatsächlich war beim Besuch französischer Parlamentarier unter ihnen auch ein Geheimdienstagent. Deshalb existieren solche Kontakte“, ergänzte er.

„Frankreichs Behörden sagten natürlich, dass es eine Parlamentarierdelegation sei. Aber das stimmt nicht, natürlich existieren viele Kommunikationskanäle“, sagte Assad.

„It‘s possible that you may see conventional forces hit the ground in Syria for some period of time,“ one defense official told CNN.

But the official emphasized that any decision is ultimately up to President Donald Trump, who has ordered his defense secretary to come up with a proposal to combat ISIS before the end of the month.

Donald Trump hatte im vergangenen Monat von seinem Verteidigungsminister Jim Mattis per Dekret gefordert, einen Plan in 30 Tagen vorzubereiten, um den Kampf gegen die Terrororganisation DAESH zu beschleunigen.

Die besagten Informationen seien angeblich ein Teil des Plans sein, die vom Pentagon Trump vorgelegt werden sollen.

Syria‘s President Assad said that U.S. President Donald Trump‘s efforts to ban Syrian nationals from entering the United States were „not against the Syrian people“, in an interview with French broadcasters that aired on Thursday.

(10.2.2017) President Bashar al-Assad of Syria suggested in an interview published Friday that he could foresee cooperation with the Trump administration and might even countenance the deployment of American soldiers in the country one day.

Following the joint press conference held by President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday afternoon, veteran Middle East watcher Aaron David Miller resorted to a Star Trek metaphor to explain what he had just seen. Appearing on CNN, the former American diplomat described the presser as „nothing short of a Vulcan mind meld.“

“I expect for the FBI to tell me what is going on, and they better have a good answer,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which is conducting a review of Russian activities to influence the election. “The big problem I see here is that you have an American citizen who had his phone calls recorded.”

We‘ve written a few times about Rep. Devin Nunes, who heads the House Intelligence Committee. He‘s been a long-time vocal supporter of NSA surveillance. He insisted that there was no need for reform after the Snowden leaks and he actively misled the public and other members of Congress to shoot down an amendment that would have stopped so-called backdoor searches of „incidentally collected“ information on Americans. Nunes falsely claimed that by blocking backdoor searches of the 702 database, it would have blocked things such as tracking whether or not the Orlando nightclub shooter had overseas contacts (it would not have done that at all).

So it‘s fairly hilarious to see that Nunes‘ first reaction to the news of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn‘s resignation was to demand answers on why Flynn‘s calls with Russian officials were recorded.