“I hope Russia is thinking carefully about its continued alliance with Bashar al-Assad, because every time one of these horrific attacks occurs, it draws Russia closer into some level of responsibility,” Tillerson said on ABC’s This Week.

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News on Sunday that no congressional authority exists for going against Assad, so there is no authority to use force.

Mr. Tillerson’s comments, made in interviews aired on Sunday, were far more critical of the Russian government than any public statements by President Trump, who has been an increasingly lonely voice for getting along better with Russia. They seemed to reflect Mr. Tillerson’s expectation, which he has expressed privately to aides and members of Congress, that the American relationship with Russia is already reverting to the norm: one of friction, distrust and mutual efforts to undermine each other’s reach.

(3.4.2017) If elected, Moon, 64, is expected to soften South Korea‘s policy toward North Korea, possibly delay deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system that has enraged China and get tough on corporate criminals, including chaebol bosses.

Beim ersten Trump-Xi Treffen gab es weder eine Pressekonferenz, noch eine gemeinsame Stellungnahme.

Jedoch hielt US-Außenminister Rex Tillerson ein Medien-Briefing ab.

„We assess that they were relatively successful talks that laid the groundwork for cooperation between the two leaders and the development of the U.S.-China relationship,“ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, referring to the talks between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

Der US-Fernsehsender NBC berichtete am Freitag, dass Präsident Trump bei der Lösung der nordkoreanischen Atom-Frage auch US-Nuklearwaffen auf südkoreanischen Boden platzieren könnte.

Laut dem Bericht, der mehrere, hochrangige Geheimdienst- und Militärbeamte zitiert, soll der US-Sicherheitsrat dem US-Präsidenten Trump mehrere Optionen präsentiert haben, auf das nordkoreanische Atomprogramm zu reagieren – darunter auch die Tötung von Diktator Kim Jong Un.

Again, on Saturday the chiefs of the Iranian and Russian national security councils, Admiral Ali Shamkhai and Nikolai Patrushev held a phone conversation to discuss Syria. Shamkhani hinted at intelligence available with Tehran that the chemical attack in Idlib on April 4 was executed “by a third party in order to create a pretext for carrying out a (US) military attack on Syria.”

Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard talks with Tucker Carlson on Trump‘s Recent Actions.

Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation had a phone conversation and stressed that United States’ missile attack on Syria is an act of aggression against international regulations and the Charter of the United Nations.

Damascus, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday received a phone call from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who expressed strong condemnation of the outrageous US aggression on the Syrian territories.

President Rouhani said that this aggression constitutes a blatant violation of the Syrian sovereignty and all the international laws and conventions.

Melenchon, backed by France’s Communist Party, has powered ahead, reaching 18 percent support in the Bloomberg composite of voting intention polls, compared with less than 12 percent after the first televised debate on March 20. Emmanuel Macron, the independent who’s the nominal front-runner, turned his sights on Melenchon in the latest campaign sparring.

(…)

French Presidential candidate Francois Fillon wrote in a statement Friday that the use of chemical weapons is a war crime that must not go unpunished.

Macron, 39, interviewed for 2-1/2 hours on France 2 television, took a tough stance on the top foreign policy issue of the day, calling for military intervention against Assad if his government was found to have carried out a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 70 people on Tuesday.

„An international intervention is needed … My preference is that there should be an intervention under the auspices of the United Nations. A military intervention,“ Macron said.

Lawmakers for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in the Senate, Lower House and European Parliament on Friday issued a statement condemning the US missile strikes on a Syrian base. It said the attacks „risk constituting a clear violation of international law“.

I am old enough to remember the last time the United States declared war in accord with Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The date was Dec. 8, 1941, and I was ten-years-old. I remember hearing on the radio all the Yay votes and I was jarred to hear one female vote saying Nay. That was Rep. Jeannette Rankin of Montana.

War, by definition, is state sponsored violence. It kills people and animals and savages the natural environment. It is “development” in full reverse, a dreadfully serious undertaking, a power that kings once wielded arbitrarily on their own impulse and authority. But the Founders would have none of that.

But Ryan, by stopping short of advocating for a new resolution authorizing the use of military force, is certain also to disappoint a number of members who say Congress‘s constitutional power is being trampled by continual military activity in Syria and other terrorist hotbeds.

(7.4.2017) “That’s awful, and that’s untrue,” Hayden said. The retired four-star Air Force general said that the assorted intelligence agencies do not have political motives in their actions.

The notification, which arrived soon after Trump left a golf course in Florida, is required under the War Powers Resolution and must be delivered within 48 hours of the attack.

It was only a three-paragraph letter.

Suddenly, though, it seems that the ins-and-outs of Section 702, and how the „incidental“ information it collects on Americans is used has taken on a much wider interest, following President Trump‘s misleading suggestion that President Obama tapped his phone lines, and some Trump supporters trying to twist typical 702 surveillance to justify those remarks. Either way, if that leads people to actually look at 702, that may be a good result out of a stupid situation. And, thus, we get to this surprising moment, in which Goodlatte has actually sent a similar letter to Coats (along with ranking member John Conyers) asking about the impact of 702 surveillance on Americans. And since (for reasons that are beyond me) Reuters refuses to link to the actual source materials, you can read the full letter here or embedded below.

The letter demands an answer by April 24th. And, yes, it‘s notable that Goodlatte has signed on, because Section 702 is up for reauthorization at the end of the year, and if Goodlatte is not on board with reauthorization, then the NSA is going to have some difficulty in getting it through.