These offers have been on the table for years. Jimmy Dore, and Steve Oh discuss on the latest episode of Aggressive Progressives.

UAE envoy Yousef al-Otaiba is an influential figure in Washington DC, and is in “almost constant phone and email contact” with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.

The emails reveal what appears to be a close relationship between Otaiba and members of the pro-Israel think tank, Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which is funded by businessman Sheldon Adelson, an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a major donor to US conservative and Republican Party Causes.

The think tank at the center of the latest news story, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, does not receive any funding from foreign governments. It is considered strongly pro-Israel and it has received contributions from Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson (The FDD’s CEO Mark Dubowitz said this weekend that Adelson has not donated to the organization since 2013.) One issue the think tank has focused on in recent years is Qatar’s support for terror organizations such as Hamas, and that’s probably the main reason it has become embroiled in the Qatar-UAE feud.

Zwischen ihm und Trump bestünde keine persönliche Beziehung, obwohl Trump als Geschäftsmann auch nach Russland gereist war. Derzeit seien etwa Vertreter von 100 US-Firmen in Russland. «Gehen sie davon aus, dass wir über alle kompromittierendes Material sammeln?«, sagte Putin im Interview mit NBC News. «Habt ihr alle den Verstand verloren?»

On the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin answered questions from NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly.

„In order to facilitate a swift and thorough examination of the facts sought by the Senate Intelligence Committee, President Trump will not assert executive privilege regarding James Comey‘s scheduled testimony,“ White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

It‘s no secret that Theresa May is no fan of the internet and will use basically any excuse at all to push for greater censorship on the internet. Going back to the time when she was Home Secretary, she was already slamming the internet as being responsible for ISIS and promising to censor it. Since she‘s become Prime Minister it‘s only gotten worse. As part of her manifesto for the general election coming up later this week, a key part of her party‘s promise was to censor the internet. And May and her friends seem to leave no tragedy unexploited. With the attack in Manchester a couple weeks back, she used it as an excuse to push the plan to kill end-to-end encryption. And with this weekend‘s London Bridget attack, she immediately blamed the internet and promised more censorship:

The Labour leader accused May of covering up a report on foreign support for extremism, and was joined in his criticism by the leaders of other opposition parties. Corbyn said her proposal to respond to the terror threat by having “difficult conversations” must start with tackling Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that “have funded and fueled extremist ideology.”

The cutting of 20,000 police officers on the Prime Minister‘s watch has become a millstone around her neck – and one that the Labour leader is using to his advantage

Jeremy Corbyn, Spitzenkandidat der Labour-Partei, hat die britische Premierministerin May nach dem Anschlag in London zum Rücktritt aufgefordert. May sei in ihrer Zeit als Innenministerin mitverantwortlich für die landesweite Entlassung von Tausenden Polizisten gewesen, so Corbyn vor den Parlamentswahlen am Donnerstag. Nun aber stelle die Premierministerin die geringe Stärke der Sicherheitskräfte als Problem dar.

Meanwhile, if reports of the Kislyak meeting are accurate (the White House has not denied them), the fact is Mr. Kushner, while still a private citizen, met secretly with officials from a hostile power that had just orchestrated a campaign aimed at damaging American democracy and swinging the election to Mr. Trump. He discussed setting up a direct line with that power that would be hidden entirely from American intelligence.

In a declaration filed in discovery in the case in U.S. district court in Utah, Drake asserted the NSA, in coordination with the FBI, scooped up and stored the content of emails and text messages sent and received by anyone in the city and Olympic venues — including American citizens.

“The mantra was ‘just take it all,’ ” said Drake, 60, in a Thursday evening phone interview.

Palestinian sources have confirmed Monday that a number of top Hamas officials have left Qatar at the country‘s request, splitting up and moving to a number of countries, including Lebanon, Malaysia and Turkey.

The fabrication of reasons for taking action against a sister country in the GCC is clear evidence that there is no legitimate justification for these measures, which were taken in coordination with Egypt, and the purpose is clear : the imposition of guardianship over the State. This in itself is a violation of its sovereignty as a state which is categorically rejected.

The statement pointed out that the allegations contained in the statements of severing the relations issued by the three countries represent an undisclosed attempt which further confirms the premeditated planning of media campaigns, which contained many fabrications.

(…)

A source in Saudi Arabia said, “Riyadh had taken the decision as part of exercising its rights governed by international laws and its national security in order to thwart the dangers of terrorism and extremism.”

Saudi Arabia has also decided to close all land, sea and airports and to ban crossing its land, air and regional waters.

(3.6.2017) In Washington, a US law enforcement official confirmed that an FBI team was in Doha „working with Qatari authorities to investigate the alleged hacking incident into its state news agency“.

The officials gave no details on the number of people on the US team or progress in the investigation.

(2.6.2017) Nun zeigen sich Risse im Anti-Iran-Bündnis der Golfstaaten, die Äußerungen von Gates und Ross sind Spitzen in einer größeren Front gegen Katar. Die beiden Hauptkontrahenten im Streit sind Saudi-Arabien und Katar. Gestritten wird über das Verhältnis zu Iran, zu den Muslimbrüdern und zur Hamas, Katar schert hier aus, es unterstützt die Muslimbrüder wie auch die Hamas schon länger. Trump nannte „ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hizbollah, Hamas“ als Extremisten, die den Guten gegenüberstehen, und Iran als eine Macht, die den Terrorismus unterstützt.

(30.5.2017) The letter is from the heart of the clerical establishment in Saudi Arabia and amounts to an indictment of the legitimacy of the Qatari ruling family. It is unprecedented in GCC politics for one state to dispute the legitimacy of another‘s royal family. It‘s also a quarrel within Wahhabism.

The Saudi media has also accused the Qatari foreign minister of meeting secretly with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq to cooperate against American and Saudi interests in Iraq. There is no independent verification of this information.

(1.6.2017) Qatar continues cooperation and keeps dialogue with Russian leadership on Syrian issues to achieve settlement of the conflict as soon as possible, Qatari Ambassador to Russia Fahad Attiyah told Sputnik on Thursday.

(25.5.2017) The hackers also purportedly took over the news agency’s Twitter feed and posted alleged quotes from Qatar’s foreign minister accusing Arab nations of fomenting a plot against his country. A series of tweets said Qatar had ordered its ambassadors to withdraw from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates over the plot. The tweets were later deleted.

Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed Al Thani, the director of the Qatari government’s communications office, issued a statement saying authorities had launched an investigation.

(24.5.2017) On Tuesday, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) quoted Sheikh Tamim Al Thani as telling a military ceremony that Iran was an „Islamic power that cannot be ignored“.

The government said the agency had been hacked by an „unknown entity“ and that the story had „no basis whatsoever“.

(17.5.2017) „The success of the Taliban in the north is due to Russian support. In Kunduz province, 30 miles from the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, Taliban has control,“ Kabul-based analyst Silab Mangal told Fox News. „That‘s where they get Russian finance and logistics and their wounded fighters can get treatment.“

According to Mangal, who cites personal engagement with Taliban in those areas, the Russians have given them weapons over time, including the Dragnov sniper rifle and the PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle.

Unless the confusion about the Taliban being brothers who need to be spoken to or the enemies and terrorists is wiped out, it will be hard to fight various groups in Afghanistan despite US desire to send more troops, says military analyst Kamal Alam.

A new president confronts an old war, one that bedeviled his predecessor. He is caught between seasoned military commanders, who tell him that the road to victory is to pour in more American troops, and skeptical political advisers, who argue that a major deployment is a futile exercise that will leave him politically vulnerable.

Barack Obama in 2009. But also Donald J. Trump in 2017.

China teilte demnach mit, vom 18. Februar bis Jahresende die Kohle-Importe aus Nordkorea einzustellen. Nordkorea ist davon offenbar hart betroffen. Nordkorea ist beim Außenhandel zu mehr als 90 Prozent auf China angewiesen.