Nachrichtenagentur Radio Utopie
Nachrichten direkt von der Quelle. Im Kontext sehen. News directly from the source. There is context in life. Deutsch, English. 24 h. – Democracy First!
(Sep 25, 2022)
The most serious accusation by Ya’alon was that Netanyahu had concealed from him and the army brass the fact that he had given former German Chancellor Angela Merkel a green light to sell advanced submarines to Egypt. “This could reach the level of treason,” the former defense minister said. In his statement, details of which became known to Haaretz, Netanyahu reversed his opposition to the sale of the submarines in a one-to-one conversation with Merkel, but refused to say why.
(26 Sep 2022)
Recent moves by the Israeli government to undermine the power of the courts could undermine investment and spark an exodus of educated Israelis, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron warned on Wednesday. He further declared that it was “imperative” to maintain the independence of the judiciary.
(09.03.2023)
Saudi Arabia is reportedly asking for US help to develop its civilian nuclear programme, raising fears that the kingdom may seek to develop a nuclear weapon and accelerate an arms race with Iran.
Saudi officials want US support to enrich uranium and develop their own fuel production system, while Washington is in return seeking a normalisation with another Middle East ally, Israel, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal.
(13.12.2022)
President Biden has urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production of oil and criticized the cartel harshly when it declines to do so—most recently on Dec. 4. But actions speak louder than words. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has been acting as shadow member of the cartel.
Diese Codes werden genutzt, um Geld zwischen verschiedenen Banken zu überweisen – sie kommen zumeist bei internationalen Überweisungen zum Einsatz. Banken verwenden diesen Code außerdem, um untereinander Nachrichten auszutauschen.
Der SWIFT-Code – mitunter auch SWIFT-Nummer genannt – ist ein einheitliches Format für Business Identifier Codes (BIC). Banken und Finanzinstitute nutzen diesen Code, um sich weltweit identifizieren zu können. Der Code gibt an, um welche Institution es sich handelt und wo sich diese befindet – sozusagen eine internationale Bankleitzahl oder ein internationaler Ausweis.
Vladimir Putin also told the Federal Assembly that there was information that the United States was considering the possibility of full-scale tests of their nuclear weapons, adding that the Russian Ministry of Defense and Rosatom must be ready to test Russian nuclear weapons if Washington really does conduct the test first.
Speaking in his state-of-the-nation address, Putin also said that Russia should stand ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if the U.S. does so, a move that would end a global ban on nuclear weapons tests in place since the end of the Cold War.
Launch new projects, earn money, work hard for Russia, invest in enterprises and jobs, and help schools and universities, science and healthcare, culture and sports. In this way, you will increase your wealth and will also win the respect and gratitude of the people for a generation ahead. The state and society will certainly support you.
Let us consider this as a message for your business: get moving in the right direction.
To be continued.
(today)
As a rule, Israel’s military does not comment on specific strikes in Syria, but has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country over the last decade.
(29. Dec 2022)
The talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which are backed by the U.S., were held before the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Working Group gathering in Riyadh, which was focused on defense and security, Bloomberg reported several anonymous sources involved in the meetings as saying.
More meetings between the two countries are expected to occur this weekend in Prague, during the Munich Security Conference, according to several of the sources.
(13.12.2022)
President Biden has urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production of oil and criticized the cartel harshly when it declines to do so—most recently on Dec. 4. But actions speak louder than words. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has been acting as shadow member of the cartel.
(03.02.2023)
Now almost a month into the new session of Congress, lawmakers have yet to hear from administration officials about launching a coordinated review of the US-Saudi relationship, despite repeated statements over the past few months by the White House that congressional input would be key to such an assessment
(03.02.2023)
One official said that the U.S. will commit to sending between 30 to 50 tanks to Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which means the U.S. will arrange for the contracting of the tanks with their manufacturer. That could mean the new tanks will not be able to be fielded for quite some time — possibly more than a year.
(27.12.2022)
Despite threats of „consequences“ made by the Biden administration during the run-up to US midterm elections in early November, no concrete actions have materialized.
One of the top potential measures, passage of the „Nopec“ antitrust legislation, has not advanced, after quietly failing to be included in a targeted bill this month.
(13.12.2022)
President Biden has urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production of oil and criticized the cartel harshly when it declines to do so—most recently on Dec. 4. But actions speak louder than words. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has been acting as shadow member of the cartel.
(30.11.2022)
The idea was first put forth back in 2000, when antitrust lawyer Seth Bloom wrote the NOPEC Act. It stands for No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels. The law would explicitly permit the US government to pursue price-fixing claims against oil-producing countries.
(October 21, 2022)
Schneider is a co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus, as well as a lead sponsor of the DEFEND Act, which seeks to promote the creation of an integrated Middle East air-defense infrastructure, potentially including both Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), also an Abraham Accords Caucus co-chair and lead DEFEND Act sponsor, raised concerns that the White House was “disrupting… momentum” toward integrated air defense by postponing a United States-Gulf Coordination Council meeting focused on the issue following the oil production cut announcement.
(30.11.2022)
The idea was first put forth back in 2000, when antitrust lawyer Seth Bloom wrote the NOPEC Act. It stands for No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels. The law would explicitly permit the US government to pursue price-fixing claims against oil-producing countries.
(today)
– China sees widespread protests against Covid curbs
– Public anger focuses on deadly fire in Xinjiang
– Censors scrub social media of mentions of unrest
– Chinese stocks and yuan slump amid investor concern
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
(October 27, 2015)
In Russia, Eisenkot met with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov – the first time chiefs of staff from Russia and Israel held a direct meeting in Moscow. Eisenkot also participated in part of the meeting held between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Afterward, the two sides agreed to set up a joint working group led by the deputy chiefs of staff from each country.
(17.10.2022)
(05.10.2022)
But several attempts to pass NOPEC over more than two decades have long worried OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, leading Riyadh to lobby hard every time a version of the bill has come up.
With the Senate Judiciary Committee passing the bill in May, it needs to pass the full Senate and House and be signed by the president to become law.
(18.11.2022)
Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata on Sunday addressed the ongoing protests in Iran during a security conference in Bahrain’s capital Manama.
Speaking directly to Iranian women in Farsi, he said that „women’s lives are important.“
(05.10.2022)
But several attempts to pass NOPEC over more than two decades have long worried OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, leading Riyadh to lobby hard every time a version of the bill has come up.
With the Senate Judiciary Committee passing the bill in May, it needs to pass the full Senate and House and be signed by the president to become law.
(05.10.2022)
But several attempts to pass NOPEC over more than two decades have long worried OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, leading Riyadh to lobby hard every time a version of the bill has come up.
With the Senate Judiciary Committee passing the bill in May, it needs to pass the full Senate and House and be signed by the president to become law.
(06.01.2007)
There is no other way to find logic or sense in the grotesque mountain of insignificant details, trivial conclusions, simplistic lessons, and bombastic nonsense that fills the working papers, investigation summaries, media reports, and officer discussions.
Some of those „conclusions and lessons“ looked and sounded like a cruel parody produced by an uninhibited satirist: „The elimination of the Katyusha rocket threat was not defined as an objective,“ „the activity was not defined as war,“ „the objectives were not defined using clear military language…“
(19.10.2022)
The legislation could be debated by lawmakers after the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Noting that he is traveling at the invitation of “my friend” Biden, Herzog says his visit will focus on regional developments, chief among them “the Iranian threat, which is destabilizing not only the Middle East, but the entire world, requiring a firm and united stand against it.”
He will also discuss the Abraham Accords, the imminent maritime border deal with Lebanon, and “our desire and hope to have more nations join the circle of regional peace.”
(October 27, 2015)
In Russia, Eisenkot met with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov – the first time chiefs of staff from Russia and Israel held a direct meeting in Moscow. Eisenkot also participated in part of the meeting held between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Afterward, the two sides agreed to set up a joint working group led by the deputy chiefs of staff from each country.
Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface to surface missiles, in addition to more drones, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters, a move that is likely to infuriate the United States and other Western powers.
A deal was agreed on Oct. 6 when Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, two senior officials from Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council visited Moscow for talks with Russia about the delivery of the weapons.
He called for the UN Secretary-General to elaborate an international plan….
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
(Jul. 9, 2018)
A group of more than 40 human rights activists have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice, demanding the cessation of Israeli arms exports to Ukraine.
They argue that these weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the right-wing Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine’s armed forces, and are supported by the country’s ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons.
„The gas here goes to Bonny and Europe to power homes and industries but we have no benefits from it,“ one local community development activist from the Niger Delta told Bloomberg recently. „Nothing comes to us.“
The comment was part of an in-depth analysis by Bloomberg on Europe’s mad dash for gas that has seen Nigeria, for example, send millions of tons of LNG abroad while local communities use illegally made fuels and wood to stay warm. Nigeria is far from the only one.
The issue of climate finance will likely dominate this year’s COP27 talks in Egypt, which is set to focus heavily on solutions for Africa. The future of gas will also be a key topic given the host nation and many developing countries see it as a way to move away from coal, according to Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary of the UK, which hosted last year’s summit. “For them, gas is part of the transition.“
The International Energy Agency, which last year called for an end to new fossil fuel developments, in a recent report argued that Africa should be allowed to exploit its gas resources.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
(OCTOBER 27, 2015)
In Russia, Eisenkot met with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov – the first time chiefs of staff from Russia and Israel held a direct meeting in Moscow. Eisenkot also participated in part of the meeting held between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Afterward, the two sides agreed to set up a joint working group led by the deputy chiefs of staff from each country.
The eleven-year persecution of Julian Assange was extended and escalated on Friday morning. The British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, approved the U.S.’s extradition request to send Julian Assange to Virginia to stand trial on eighteen felony charges under the 1917 Espionage Act and other statutes in connection with the 2010 publication by WikiLeaks of thousands of documents showing widespread corruption, deceit, and war crimes by American and British authorities along with their close dictatorial allies in the Middle East.
This decision is unsurprising — it has been obvious for years that the U.S. and UK are determined to destroy Assange as punishment for his journalism exposing their crimes — yet it nonetheless further highlights the utter sham of American and British sermons about freedom, democracy and a free press.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
(Jul. 9, 2018)
A group of more than 40 human rights activists have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice, demanding the cessation of Israeli arms exports to Ukraine.
They argue that these weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the right-wing Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine’s armed forces, and are supported by the country’s ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
Also, „there is a consensus among the relevant Israeli officials that, at least at this stage, the Ukrainian army will not receive anti-aircraft systems, modern weapons, offensive weapons.“ Instead, for the time being, it is about the supply of „defensive systems that will protect troops on the ground, personal combat equipment and warning systems that could be sent without causing a crisis with Russia,“ Haaretz writes.
Speaking with Russian state television, Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov noted Defense Ministry Benny Gantz’s announcement a day earlier that Israel will provide Ukraine with helmets and flak jackets.
Gantz’s office stressed the equipment will go to Ukrainian civilian rescue and medical forces, not the military.
(26 February ,2022)
Russia sees its military coordination with Israel over Syria continuing, the Russian embassy said on Saturday, after Moscow signaled displeasure with Israeli statements about the Ukraine crisis.
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a “deconfliction mechanism” with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighboring Arab state.
(Jul. 9, 2018)
A group of more than 40 human rights activists have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice, demanding the cessation of Israeli arms exports to Ukraine.
They argue that these weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the right-wing Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine’s armed forces, and are supported by the country’s ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons.
This bank helped Russian Defense Ministry buy unmanned aerial vehicles & electronic reconnaissance equipment.
GAZPRUMM swift code is the unique bank identifier for GAZPROMBANK (JOINT – STOCK COMPANY)’s head office branch located in MOSCOW – RUSSIAN FEDERATION and it’s used to verify financial transactions such as a bank wire transfers (international wire transfers). Check the GAZPRUMMXXX SWIFT / BIC code details below.
EU officials had earlier indicated the focus would be on enforcing existing measures.
(MARCH 29, 2022)
A month after Russia invaded, Moscow has yes to achieve its goals.
“We condemn this terrorist attack launched against several sectors of Erbil, we call on the inhabitants to remain calm,” Kurdistan prime minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement.
The attack comes several days after an Israeli strike near Damascus, Syria killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
(26 February ,2022)
Russia sees its military coordination with Israel over Syria continuing, the Russian embassy said on Saturday, after Moscow signaled displeasure with Israeli statements about the Ukraine crisis.
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a “deconfliction mechanism” with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighboring Arab state.
(Jul. 9, 2018)
A group of more than 40 human rights activists have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice, demanding the cessation of Israeli arms exports to Ukraine.
They argue that these weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the right-wing Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine’s armed forces, and are supported by the country’s ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons.
(17 March 2011)
Adopting resolution 1973 (2011) by a vote of 10 in favour to none against, with 5 abstentions (Brazil, China, Germany, India, Russian Federation), the Council authorized Member States, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, to take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory — requesting them to immediately inform the Secretary-General of such measures.
A few months later, the Ukrainian government asked the U.S. government to purchase the Iron Dome anti-missile system. Because the Iron Dome is a joint U.S.-Israeli project, the sale also required permission from the Israeli government, which Israel reportedly refused to grant.
That refusal was not based on any concern with whether the sale was a good idea for Eastern Europe, but on Israel’s desire to maintain a good relationship with Russia, according to the Times of Israel. Russia, which has forces stationed in Syria, gives Israel tacit permission to intervene in the Syrian civil war.
(Feb 23, 2022)
„We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are now sufficient to keep people safe.“
The Governor General signed off on the revocation on Wednesday afternoon, which formally ended the state of emergency.
MPs in the House of Commons voted to affirm use of the act on Monday. The Senate was in the midst of debating the act on Wednesday but withdrew the motion shortly after Trudeau made his announcement.
That the use of these repressive tactics render these countries and their populations subject to autocratic regimes is considered undebatable.
But when these weapons are wielded by Western governments, the precise opposite framework is imposed: describing them as despotic is no longer obligatory but virtually prohibited. That tyranny exists only in Western adversaries but never in the West itself is treated as a permanent axiom of international affairs, as if Western democracies are divinely shielded from the temptations of genuine repression. Indeed, to suggest that a Western democracy has descended to the same level of authoritarian repression as the West’s official enemies is to assert a proposition deemed intrinsically absurd or even vaguely treasonous.
Boris Johnson will not resign, a minister insisted on Tuesday, as pressure continued to grow over an email inviting more than 100 people to drinks at Downing Street at the height of the first lockdown.
The email was sent by Martin Reynolds, Mr Johnson’s Principal Private Secretary, and emerged on Monday night.
Critics argue that it is dangerous to give the court such immense power over public speech.
“Bennett and Sa’ar… bring a law that will censor social networks and deprive citizens of freedom of expression,” Israel’s Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu said.
On Tuesday, a group of physicians from around the nation traveled to Washington, D.C., intending to demand that the Health and Human Services Department immediately stop the Medicare experiment, which is known as direct contracting.
The doctors were denied the right to present HHS with a petition signed by more than 1,500 physicians who believe the direct contracting pilot threatens “the future of Medicare as we know it.”
Advocates have been publicly sounding the alarm about the program for months, warning that it could fully hand traditional Medicare over to Wall Street investors and other profit-seekers, resulting in higher costs for patients and lower-quality care.
(30.09.2021)
Launched by president Joe Biden, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council president Charles Michel at the U.S.-EU Summit in June 2021, the Council held its first meeting yesterday.
At the meeting, the United States and European Union decided to closely coordinate on an expansive set of critical economic and technology issues over the coming months and achieve concrete outcomes by the next meeting. These include joint work on the semi-conductor supply chain and Artificial Intelligence, as well as data governance, the joint statement said.
(30.09.2021)
In addition, although the final statement doesn’t mention China, some of the pledges certainly seemed to be targeted at Beijing.
“We intend to work closely together to address non-market, trade-distortive policies and practices, improve the effectiveness of our respective domestic measures,” the U.S. and the EU said.
Officials have on numerous occasions criticized Beijing for not giving the same level of access to foreign business as to what is granted to Chinese companies abroad.
It is unclear, however, what oversight was done on the actual usage and in what context the program was used, if at all.
The report, which is likely to cause a stir in Germany, adds that lawmakers are expected to be briefed about it later this week.
The German government admitted on Tuesday (Sept 7) that its federal police service used controversial Israeli spyware known as Pegasus, parliamentary sources told AFP, drawing immediate criticism from rights groups.
Saudi ambassador Rayed Krimly, head of policy planning at the Kingdom’s foreign ministry, confirmed Riyadh was in talks with Tehran in comments made to Reuters in May.
He said the talks were aimed at exploring ways to reduce the tensions in the region and that Saudi Arabia wanted to see actions rather than words.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in comments reported widely in Iranian state-owned media, said: „The other side understands that it will take two or three months for the new government in Iran to be established and be able to plan.“
Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi has said that his government would support any initiative that works towards the ending of US sanctions, but …
(07.08.2021)
Because they want to.
The current US administration has not yet fulfilled the promises Joe Biden made during his presidential elections campaigns to undo Trump’s actions and return to the deal. In the meantime, Tehran has also stressed that the Biden administration’s return to the agreement without lifting the sanctions is not important at all.
(21.01.2021)
In a letter Thursday to Biden, five House Democrats called on the new president to quickly work with Congress to kill the 2002 authorization for the Iraq War and hone the 2001 powers for the war on terrorism. The letter — signed by chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Rules committees — says any replacement authority must name mission objectives, adversaries and targeted countries, as well as include a sunset clause to ensure Congress regularly revisits the war powers debate.
“Congress has been missing in action, and President Joe Biden knows that,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who is spearheading the effort, in an interview.
Because they want to.
His remarks came in response to his Russian counterpart Mikhail Ulyanov’s tweet that hoped after the removal of the sanctions, „Iran will join efforts of OPEC+ to maintain the oil market stability“.
„This would be merely a national decision rather than a decision to be taken through joint efforts,“ Gharibabadi responded.
The World Trade Organization member countries have failed to reach a consensus on a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said on Tuesday following the General Council session. According to Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO member countries will make a decision by the 12th WTO ministerial conference, which will take place in late November-early December.
The Prime Minister has urged Brits to self-isolate if contacted by Test and Trace – hours after trying to wangle his way out of a period of quarantine himself.
The pair were both pinged by the Test and Trace app telling them to self-isolate after Health Secretary Sajid Javid tested positive for coronavirus.
They were to use a little-known pilot scheme which allows people out of self-isolation every day they pass a lateral flow test.
However after just two-and-a-half hours of severe backlash from across the country, the pair have now performed a hasty U-turn and announced they will be isolating.
The U.S. currently has roughly 600 troops in Afghanistan, most of whom are Marine Corps and Army personnel providing security at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the person said. The rest of the 600 will be based at the Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, said another U.S. official with direct knowledge of the discussions. All of those troops are expected to remain after the pullout is officially complete,
Heiko Maas, the foreign minister, on Tuesday became the latest high-profile figure to join calls for restrictions to end as soon as all Germans have been offered the jab.
“If everyone in Germany has been offered the vaccine, there is no longer any legal or political justification for any restrictions,” said Mr Maas. “This can be expected by August.”
But after 80 Tory MPs told No 10 he had to go after they were deluged with complaints, Mr Hancock gave a video statement on Saturday afternoon that he had quit after he breached social distancing guidance by kissing Gina Coladangelo against his office door.
In response Mr Johnson said he was ’sorry to receive‘ Hancock’s resignation.
It is never clear whether the government is following public opinion or leading it. In trying to do both, they get the worst of both worlds.
His resignation comes amid multiple Tory MPs breaking ranks and calling for the Cabinet minister to step down.
Conservative MP Duncan Baker was the first on Saturday to confirm he was calling for Mr Hancock to go, while former Cabinet minister Esther McVey said she would resign if in the same position.
Mr Hancock apologised for breaching social distancing guidance and Downing Street the matter was „closed“ on Friday.
Sitting across a table from his U.S. counterpart at the Pentagon, Gantz said, “Our dialogue is so important to ensuring that any deal effectively meets its goal of keeping Iran away from nuclear weapons.”
“Of course, given the scope of the threat, Israel must always make sure that it has the ability to protect itself,” Gantz added.
AIPAC also reiterated its dedication to strengthen ties with the new prospective government and the United States, to „advance our shared interests and values.“
President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night, their second phone call since Saturday. The president is expressing support for a ceasefire, which comes as fellow Democrats are urging him to do more to stop the violence.
According to the readout of the call, Mr. Biden „reiterated his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks.“ Mr. Biden also „encouraged Israel to make every effort to ensure the protection of innocent civilians.“
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “anarchy” must stop, and border police reservists were called to reinforce police in mixed Arab-Jewish towns. President Reuven Rivlin described the worst communal violence in years as “civil war”.
Israel has rejected Hamas messages seeking an end to the ongoing Gaza flare-up at least three times, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
According to Channel 12, while international negotiators relayed the appropriate message to Jerusalem, it showed no appetite for a deal.
A Kan public broadcaster reporter cited Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as saying that Cairo did not receive a „positive answer“ from Israel after contacts on a truce.
But in a timid statement released on Friday night, the State Department urged „both sides to exercise decisive leadership“ to quell the violence.
Washington also expressed „concern“ about Israeli efforts to displace Palestinians without condemning the move or warning the Israeli government against it
(April 24, 2021)
The European Space Agency last year signed a deal worth 129 million euros ($156 million) to build a spacecraft for a joint project with NASA examining how to deflect an asteroid heading for Earth.
(01.05.2021)
The experts fell short. The group determined that none of Earth’s existing technologies could stop the asteroid from striking given the six-month time frame of the simulation. In this alternate reality, the asteroid crashed into eastern Europe.
(Oct 12, 2012)
(03.04.2021)
Jake Hurfurt, head of research and investigations at Big Brother Watch, said:
“Netcompany’s chilling endorsement of segregated events and biosurveillance of our family members is a warning of the road Covid passes would lead us down.
“This contract shows that ministers misled Parliament and the public, claiming for months there were no plans for Covid passes and still claiming today that no decision has been made. This contract exposes the reality that work began on Covid certificates a long time ago.“
ChristenUnie leader Gert-Jan Segers said in an interview with the Nederlands Dagblad …
The president’s comments came only hours after the C.D.C. director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, appeared to fight back tears as she pleaded with Americans to “hold on a little while longer” and continue following public health advice, like wearing masks and social distancing, to curb the virus’s spread.
(23.03.2021)
China brought in 3.42 million tonnes of U.S. oil in the two-month period, versus zero from a year earlier.
The Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers on Saturday signed a 25-year cooperation agreement between the two allies in a ceremony carried live on state television.
– Matt Hancock under fire for raising hopes of huge ramp up in vaccines only for supplies setback to emerge
– Serum Institute of India has been told it must hand jabs to its own citizens before exporting vaccine stocks
– One batch of five million doses of the AstraZeneca jab bound for the UK has been delayed by a month
. Confusingly Boris Johnson insisted Indian government has not blocked any exports, as he prepares to visit
(02.03.2021)
Like NATO, Afghan officials stated that it is critical for U.S. troops to remain so that Taliban and Afghan leaders can reach peace agreements. According to the Washington Post, Afghan officials announced that the maintenance of a small U.S. counter-terrorism force in Afghanistan would provide the country’s government with more leverage during peace talks than the country would have without military aid. These negotiations could bring a decades-long, violent war to a peaceful end.
Negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban began in September as part of a February 2020 agreement between the militants and the United States. But the talks have faltered over issues like a prisoner exchange and reductions in violence.
Mr. Blinken wrote that the United States had not decided whether to withdraw the remaining 2,500 American troops from Afghanistan by May 1, as outlined in its agreement with the Taliban.
In the wake of President Biden’s bombing of eastern Syria, some members of Congress are speaking out and questioning the legality of the move,including Bidens Fellow Democrats
(21.01.2021)
In a letter Thursday to Biden, five House Democrats called on the new president to quickly work with Congress to kill the 2002 authorization for the Iraq War and hone the 2001 powers for the war on terrorism. The letter — signed by chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Rules committees — says any replacement authority must name mission objectives, adversaries and targeted countries, as well as include a sunset clause to ensure Congress regularly revisits the war powers debate.
“Congress has been missing in action, and President Joe Biden knows that,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who is spearheading the effort, in an interview.
(11.02.2021)
The 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) is older than many of the Americans now sent to Afghanistan. Its corollary, the 2002 AUMF against Iraq, has also lived well beyond the Bush era. And despite four years of lambasting the “forever wars,” President Trump failed to bring an end to the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. President Biden has a chance to correct that by scrapping and narrowing these military authorizations.
But some Democrats said that Congress has not passed an authorization for the use of military force specifically in Syria, and previous resolutions passed in 2001 and 2002 were designed for attacking those responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks and to go into war with Iraq. Congress has not declared war since 1942.
„This makes President Biden the seventh consecutive US president to order strikes in the Middle East,“ said California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna.
After President Biden ordered airstrikes in eastern Syria against an Iraqi militia on Thursday, comments from Vice President Kamala Harris and Press Secretary Jen Psaki on the Trump administration’s Syria airstrikes surfaced on Twitter.
Laschet is committed to Chancellor Merkel’s famous sentence, which she uttered when addressing the Knesset in Jerusalem in 2008, that Israel’s security is part of Germany’s raison d’être. According to Speich, “it is Laschet’s fundamental foreign policy conviction that Germany must commit itself to the security of Israel. It is a political obligation.”
Neuberger notably said the attack, which compromised „9 federal agencies and about 100 private companies,“ was launched from inside the United States.
SolarWinds shares are down 1.4%. Two security names closely tied to the hack, FireEye (FEYE -3.2%) and CrowdStrike (CRWD -2.5%), are also in the red.
The US government’s probe into the devastating SolarWinds breach is likely to take „several months“ at least, according to the top White House cybersecurity official, speaking to reporters Wednesday in the Biden administration’s first public assessment of the gravity of the suspected Russian spying campaign.
“The personalization of the relationship to Netanyahu – and the exhaustion with him – after 10 years in this current go-around has reached its peak,” says one senior analyst in a Washington think tank. “Whether it’s his fault or not, his hugging of [former President Donald] Trump and inability to criticize anything he did really put a damper on his ability to restore any relationships with the Democrats.”
Psaki said the National Security Council is undertaking an inter-agency review to „assess the state of play that the Biden administration has, that we’ve inherited from the previous administration.“
Former President Barack Obama made a campaign promise in 2008 to close the facility by the end of his administration, which was never realized.
Pfizer and Moderna, which produce the vaccines used in Israel, have said their shots appear to be slightly less effective in preventing the so-called South African strain of the virus, though the companies say they remain quite potent.
(07.02.2021)
Staff and outside experts attribute the health of these people in the face of their COVID-19 infections primarily to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Nearly 80% of the people who live and work in the facility have received at least one of the shots in the two-shot series.
(today)
Boris Johnson has ordered ministers to ramp up preparations for reopening schools after being told the UK is now past the peak of the current wave of coronavirus.
The Prime Minister has made it clear that the Government’s immediate focus must be on education and is expected to announce further measures to help children catch up after almost a year of disruption.
If the infection, severe illness and fatality rates do not decline significantly before May, the pandemic could serve as another excuse to postpone the elections – especially if Fatah were to discover, on the eve of the election, that it stood to take a big hit again because the accusations of corruption and nepotism have not disappeared.
That, plus the failing grades both Fatah and Abbas receive for their performance. In that December opinion poll, which was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 66 percent of respondents said Abbas should resign.
There was strong opposition to the Iran nuclear deal in the U.S., from both Republicans and Democrats, when it was negotiated back in 2015, which prevented it from being ratified by the Senate. That opposition remains.
As we discussed previously, Biden has often boasted of being the original author of the Patriot Act years before it was rapidly rolled out amid the fear and blind obsequiousness of the aftermath of 9/11. Now in the aftermath of the Capitol riot we are seeing a push to roll out new authoritarian laws around terrorism, this time taking aim at “domestic terror”, which were also in preparation prior to the event used to manufacture support for them.
In a new article for Washington Monthly titled “It’s Time for a Domestic Terrorism Law“, Bill Scher argues against left-wing critics of the coming laws like Glenn Greenwald and Jacobin‘s Luke Savage saying such “knee-jerk reactions” against potential authoritarian abuses fail to address the growing problem. He opens with the acknowledgement that “Joe Biden’s transition team was already working on a domestic terrorism law before the insurrection,” and then he just keeps on writing as though that’s not weird or suspicious in any way.
Kahol Lavan chairman Benny Gantz called on leaders of center-left parties to unite ahead of Israel’s March 23 election in order to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – his coalition partner over the past year.
Though every country has some form of a CERT, the Israeli model, the directorate claims, is unique because not only does it offer help to private firms facing cyberattacks, it has units for different sectors – finance, energy, public security and government.
It also operates what it calls a “proactive” research center that seeks out vulnerabilities before they’re exploited and even has a hotline where anyone can call in to report a cyberattack.
In recent months, however, he appears to have formed a quiet alliance with the Joint List’s MK Mansour Abbas, to the chagrin of Abbas’s colleagues.
On Thursday during an unprecedented visit to the Arab town of Tirah to encourage vaccination, Netanyahu said he did not rule out placing an Arab lawmaker on his right-wing list.
Not clear if moves are “defensive” because expect US attack, or are signals Iran preparing for operations in the Gulf against the US, official said. #Iran
Amit knows very well that the principle of equality wasn’t omitted from the law by accident, nor is it just a coincidence that it’s impossible to find a Knesset majority for passing a Basic Law on Equality. He knows that discrimination against Arabs in Israel isn’t just a by-product of the nation-state law but its main purpose – that discrimination is the essence of the law: enshrining Jewish superiority and Arab inferiority.
So why did Amit fake intimacy with Jabareen and inquire about his feelings as if he were a guidance counselor rather than a Supreme Court justice, and as if the only change that had occurred was in the lawyer’s emotions rather than Israel’s Basic Laws?
Imagine if I really was claiming that the Chinese government is arming Antifa ninja warriors to kill patriotic Americans in the coming Biden Wars. How crazy would you have to be to believe what I was saying without my providing hard, verifiable evidence for my claims?
Now imagine further that this is something I’ve made false claims about many times in the past. If every few years I make a new claim about some naughty government arming Antifa super soldiers in a great communist uprising, which turns out later to have been bogus.
President Trump derided the recently-passed coronavirus relief bill as a “disgrace” on Tuesday night, calling on Congress to increase stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 and get rid of “wasteful and unnecessary items.” The move stunned Congress which has been deadlocked for months over the long-awaited stimulus package to address people’s increasingly desperate situations in the midst of a pandemic-fueled economic downturn.
The US Congress’ $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill was packaged with $1.4 trillion in omnibus spending that includes tens of billions for war, weapons, and regime change abroad, from anti-Russia and anti-China initiatives to $3.3 billion for Israel’s military.
„The bottom line is that we can’t allow Iran to get nuclear weapons,“ he said. Trump „has pulled out to get something tougher, and what have they done? They’ve increased the ability for them to have nuclear material,“ Biden argued. „They’re moving closer to the ability to be able to have enough material for a nuclear weapon.“
Speaking with NBC News‘ Lester Holt in his first interview since the Nov. 3 election, Biden said the two progressive senators – who ran their own unsuccessful campaigns for president – were key to helping pass his „very ambitious, very progressive agenda.“
America is circling the political toilet in part because Obama had the chance to fix many longstanding problems and did not rise to the occasion, a fact the former president is still stubbornly unwilling or unable to see.
CONFIRMED – A Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 UAV/drone by the Azerbaijan armed forces captured the moments when the Armenian S-300 Air Defense System was destroyed.
(08.10.2020)
Multiple officials told the Associated Press they had not been informed of any such deadline and military experts said it would be impossible to withdraw all 5,000 US troops in Afghanistan and dismantle the US military headquarters by the end of the year.
They suggested the president’s claim was aimed at shifting the news cycle away from coronavirus coverage and that the Pentagon would not act on the order before the 3 November US election.
(22.09.2020)
“I’d like to make it clear that [Defense Secretary Mark Esper] has not issued orders to reduce military personnel below this 4,000 to 5,000 level in Afghanistan, although we are conducting prudent planning to withdraw to zero service members by May 2021 if conditions warrant, per the U.S.-Taliban agreement,” David Helvey, the official performing the duties of assistant secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security at a hearing.
Gantz called on Public Security Minister Amir Ohana of Likud and acting police commissioner Motti Cohen to bolster police forces at the demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slated for Saturday evening.
The defense minister told Ohana and Cohen that „the violence toward protesters is evident and there’s a genuine fear for human life.“
Conte said the government would consult with parliament over extending the emergency until January 31.
(09.03.2020)
Russia accounted for almost all of Armenia’s arms imports over the past five years. A total of 60 per cent of Azerbaijan’s arms imports came from Israel and 31 per cent from Russia.
(09.04.2016)
Russia will continue its arms sales to both Azerbaijan and Armenia despite the latest flare-up of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview broadcast on Saturday.
(28.03.2018)
Russia has long been Azerbaijan’s main arms supplier. Between 2013 and 2017, its share was 65 percent of Azerbaijan’s total foreign weapons imports (Sipri.org, March 2018). Although Russia is the main arms seller to Azerbaijan, it also provides military equipment to Armenia.
(14.09.2020)
“This is an astonishing and ‘out of the blue’ finding,” said Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author of the papers (one published in Nature Astronomy and another submitted to the journal Astrobiology). “It will definitely fuel more research into the possibilities for life in Venus’s atmosphere.”
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, the leading television channel in the UAE, Netanyahu was asked how the normalization deal between the UAE and Israel will serve regional peace. He answered: „Vastly. The deal connects the UAE with Israel; both of them are advanced democracies and their societies are advanced.“ Netanyahu uploaded a video of the interview to his Twitter account, and deleted it shortly after.
(21.03.2020)
Both Congress and the Supreme Court have stopped meeting out of fear of physical contact, even though the technology exists to allow officials to continue working in virtual spaces. Legal barriers could be removed to allow such a shift to a type of virtual democracy, but the main barrier seems to be conceptual and cultural.
We must not allow a constitutional system to wither like a starving man staring at an apple tree but incapable of imagining a stick.
(11.05.2020)
Sullivan went on to argue that a future Democratic administration “should immediately reengage nuclear diplomacy with Iran and look to establish something along the lines of the [deal], but immediately begin the process of negotiating a follow-on agreement.”
(10.10.2019)
One of those questions came from Kat Wellman, a woman affiliated with the organization Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI). Wellman asked if Harris would reenter or renegotiate the Iran Deal if elected president. While Harris condemned the Trump administration for violating the deal, she also made it clear that she would take a more aggressive stance than the Obama administration originally did. “We will reenter the agreement,” she said, “but also I will want to strengthen it. And that will mean extending the sunset provisions, including ballistic missile testing, and also increasing oversight.”
The Israeli premier reportedly wants immediate elections in case the High Court of Justice disqualifies him from serving as alternate prime minister, after his rotation with Gantz commences in November 2021, due to the indictments filed against him.
His second demand is to dissolve a public committee slated to appoint the state prosecutor and police commissioner and transfer the procedure to the government instead.
The report suggested that Gantz’s Blue and White party will find it „difficult“ to approve Netanyahu’s first request.
The bill, brought forward by Kahol Lavan’s former political allies Yesh Atid, is aimed at preventing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from running for office in the next election. Netanyahu currently stands trial for suspected bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
A last-minute attempt by Britain, France and Germany to broker a compromise with Russia and China on an arms embargo extension appeared unsuccessful so far, diplomats said. Russia and China, allies of Iran, have long-signalled opposition to the US measure.
ISRAEL Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has branded a Last Supper-style art exhibition of him as a „shameful threat of crucifixion“.
The mock statue of him in Tel Aviv shows a chubby Netanyahu enjoying a huge meal all to himself in the style of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper painting.
(14.07.2020)
Most of the sentiments Pompeo expresses would be anodyne coming from any other administration but are risible from this one. Does he know who he works for? He acts as though someone else is president — Barack Obama perhaps? That makes U.S. diplomacy nearly worthless, because the whole world can see the Grand Canyon-size gap between Pompeo’s rhetoric and Trump’s actions and beliefs. U.S. credibility has become a joke, and Pompeo keeps producing more punchlines.
The legislation, titled “Special Powers for Dealing with the Novel Coronavirus,” would essentially give the government the power to decide whether to let people living in restricted areas attend mass demonstrations, such as those that took place this week in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square and outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem.
“Under the proposed wording, the government won’t have an obligation to let people leave a restricted area to attend demonstrations,” a source familiar with the bill explained.
Relations are in free fall. Lines are being drawn. As the two superpowers clash over technology, territory and clout, a new geopolitical era is dawning.
Palestinian Authority to lock down all areas with confirmed cases
This isn’t how a political leader talks, and certainly not one who is interested in being an alternative to the inciter in the Prime Minister’s Office. Gantz’s contempt for the Palestinians demonstrates arrogance, pettiness and lack of understanding of the national conflict between the two peoples. If there’s any “deep shit” in which the Palestinians are drowning, it’s the 53-year-old occupation, a messianic project of oppression that has been perpetuated by successive Israeli governments and maintained by the army, formerly headed by Gantz himself.
A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah, unnamed in the report, said that the message was sent through Jordan following the reported meeting between Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and King Abdullah II.
Engel was one of blue America’s most enthusiastic supporters of the war in Iraq. He was an opponent of Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran. After the Obama administration allowed the passage of a United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, Engel introduced a House resolution condemning the U.N. In 2016, as Saudi Arabia was starving and bombing Yemeni civilians, Engel joined Republicans in defeating a measure that would have restricted Riyadh’s access to cluster munitions, weapons that leave behind mine-like explosives that can kill civilians for decades after a conflict has ended.
Gantz, who in the past publicly backed dialogue with the Palestinians toward an agreement leading to a two-state solution, said the Israeli government should “not only to manage the conflict but shape it as well.” And if the Palestinians choose not to hold talks with Israel about the annexation, “then we will have to move forward without them,” he said.
As a resident of the Bronx for more than thirty years, a proud member of the Jewish community and a strong supporter of Israel, I feel compelled to express outrage at some of the tactics that a self-identified “pro-Israel” group has used in recent days to attack NY-16 congressional candidate Jamaal Bowman.
Representative Eliot Engel, the incumbent in my district for over three decades, is endorsed by a group called “Democratic Majority for Israel” (DMFI)…
But that won’t stop the initiatives, a Palestinian official says.
“The current plan is to keep appealing to UN institutions in order to be recognized, even if the proposals are vetoed over and over. Many countries support this move, so the leadership supports it as well.”
He adds: “There are already 12 or 13 European states that are willing to recognize a Palestinian state under occupation in the event of an Israeli annexation, and that’s the price Israel will have to pay.”
Danon appealed to his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin, and the matter went up to the Netanyahu-Putin level. The Russians did not agree to veto Resolution 2334 condemning settlements, but they were opposed to the second one, and generally did not approve of the Obama administration making these last-minute moves right before Trump took office.
The Israeli source posited that the Obama administration did not want to be seen as less pro-Israel than Russia, so they backed down from the second initiative.
In late 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin prevented former US President Barack Obama’s attempt to pass a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution demanding Israel relinquish the West Bank territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and accept a two-state resolution based on 1948 borders, freshly declassified documents appear to show.
(08.06.2020)
An NFL spokesman told ABC News on Sunday that Goodell’s statement was a direct response to a plea from a group of NFL players who directly addressed the league in a message posted on Friday and called on the NFL to „listen to your players.“
(08.06.2020)
The ICC asked the Palestinian Authority to declare whether the Oslo Accords are still legally binding. The request came after PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared on May 19 that the PA no longer viewed itself as bound by the Oslo Accords due to Israel’s intention to annex parts of the West Bank.
Responding to this question, the PA said that Abbas’s May 19 declaration was not part of the legal record of the war crimes case regarding Israel.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has asked for the budget increase amid ongoing local and national reports of police violence against protesters.
The budget that you put out last month, in fact, calls for increasing funding for the police … Are you reconsidering your position in any way?
Not at all.
Krystal Ball examines Joe Biden’s policy proposals to address racial inequality if elected president.
As the force of the defund police movement has taken some by surprise, Biden has hardly been the only politician to seek to defend the status quo. Even his one-time rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, indicated in a recent interview that he objected calls to defund the police. “I think we want to redefine what police departments do, give them the support they need to make their jobs better defined,” said Sanders. “So I do believe that we need well-trained, well-educated, and well-paid professionals in police departments.”
That’s what officials have promised for years. P
During an interview Tuesday night, Biden said there is „absolutely“ systemic racism in law enforcement, arguing that he believes the problem exists „across the board.“
Yet, in an op-ed published Wednesday morning in The USA Today, Biden declared definitively, „I do not support defunding police.“
„No, I don’t support defunding the police. I support conditioning federal aid to police based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness,“ he said.
Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill were adopting a similar position.
(05.06.2020)
If you’ve marched in any recent protests, you may want to consider getting tested for the coronavirus.
That’s the recommendation of the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who said during a House Appropriations hearing on Thursday that anyone who participated should „highly consider“ getting tested.
(14.08.2019)
Ed Mullins, president of New York City’s second-largest cop union the Sergeants Benevolent Association, shared a 15-minute video made by right-wing author Colin Flaherty that refers to black people as “welfare queens,” “scam artists,” and “monsters.”
“Pay close attention to every word,” Mullins wrote in the email according to the New York Post. “You will hear what goes through the mind of real policemen every single day on the job. This is the best video I’ve ever seen telling the public the absolute truth.”
– Urge Arab states to move beyond quiet talks and take bolder steps toward normalization with Israel.
– Firmly reject the BDS movement, which singles out Israel — home to millions of Jews — and too often veers into anti-Semitism, while letting Palestinians off the hook for their choices.
– Hold Iran accountable and rejoin a diplomatic agreement to prevent a nuclear armed Iran, if Iran returns to compliance with the JCPOA, using renewed commitment to diplomacy to work with our allies to strengthen and extend the Iran deal, and push back against Iran’s other destabilizing actions.
Iran has now restarted some of the dangerous aspects of its nuclear program that the nuclear deal stopped dead in their tracks. And unfortunately, it’s taken a series of provocative actions endangering our own forces in the Middle East, in Iraq and Syria, as well as our citizens. And all of that has happened at the same time that we managed to alienate ourselves from our closest allies. We disagree fundamentally with the approach the administration took on Iran. So this is just not working on its own terms. If Iran comes back into compliance with the deal, then yes, Joe Biden said we would do the same thing, but we would use that as a platform to try to build a stronger and longer deal working with our partners.
And I think we’d have a decent chance of doing that because our partners would be with us, not alienated from us. And at the same time, much more likely to join us in trying to curb other actions by Iran that we find objectionable.
It comes as Mr Biden’s presidential campaign considers how he can appeal to progressives on the left of the Democratic party, and younger voters in particular, who criticise Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Mr Biden, who was asked about antisemitism among sections of the left in the US and UK, said that whilst antisemitism was “the mother of all conspiracy theories”, Americans had not heard enough about the dangers of the Holocaust happening again.
(14.05.2020)
Many senators wanted to forbid the government from secretly collecting information about your internet habits, but an amendment failed by just one vote.
The measure needed 60 votes to pass. It got 59.
The outcome is especially frustrating since four senators didn’t vote on the amendment at all, and at least one would have voted yes. Lamar Alexander couldn’t vote because he’s quarantined. Two others — Ben Sasse and Bernie Sanders — didn’t respond to request for comment on where they were during the vote. An aide told Politico that Patty Murray would have voted yes had she been there, but the senator was not in Washington, DC, when the vote occurred.
The list includes then-Vice President Joe Biden and former CIA Director John Brennan; the requests came after Russian interference in U.S. election.
The numbers reflect how frequently national security and intelligence officials use this tool in their work. Unmasking occurs after U.S. citizens‘ conversations are incidentally picked up in conversations with foreign officials who are being monitored by the intelligence community. The U.S. citizens‘ identities are supposed to be protected if their participation is incidental and no wrongdoing is suspected. However, officials can determine the U.S. citizens‘ names through a process that is supposed to safeguard their rights. In the typical process, when officials are requesting the unmasking of an American, they do not necessarily know the identity of the person in advance.
(Apr 20, 2020)
Brian McKeon, Jeffrey Prescott and Julianne Smith, three of the vice president’s former deputy national security advisers under Blinken, are also advising the campaign. Notably, Prescott went on to serve as Obama’s senior adviser for Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Gulf states after working for Biden.