Archiv: Obama Administration 2009-2017


30.05.2026 - 17:50 [ American Prospect ]

The Miller Doctrine

(May 27, 2026)

Yet proposals that skirt the edges of international law didn’t come out of nowhere. The U.S. under George W. Bush created legal mechanisms following the September 11th attacks to torture hundreds of people in CIA black sites and then at Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration’s targeted drone strikes were assassinations by another name. The Biden administration further eroded international norms and subverted its own policies by financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, in violation of the Leahy Law, which prohibits foreign military assistance to nations that violate human rights.

“Seems like Miller is sort of taking what he was already willing to do during the first term and then combining that with what Israel has been doing in the way it has just been completely ignoring any kind of international law, Geneva Conventions, any of it in its conduct in Gaza and Lebanon, to then influence U.S. foreign policy,” Annelle Sheline, a research fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said in an interview.

In other words, Miller and the Trump administration have been able to steamroll what was left of international law; they just had to figure out how to do it.

29.05.2026 - 10:33 [ Politico.com ]

‘Why are we talking about this?’: Democrats are furious that the Bidens won’t go away

Democrats want to move on from 2024. The Bidens won’t let them.

28.04.2026 - 18:49 [ Daily Mail ]

Arms dealer says Clinton and Obama accidentally gave guns to ISIS, Al Qaeda and Benghazi attackers – then tried to scapegoat him for their screw-up with failed $10m felony case

(October 12, 2016)

– Marc Turi ‚had plan to get arms to Libyan rebels in 2011 despite UN ban‘
– But he says Clinton stole the idea and she and CIA did it without him
– However the guns ‚then went to Al Qaeda, ISIS and Benghazi attackers‘
– They tried to scapegoat him by saying he sold the arms illegally, he says
– But he claims that he never sold anything in Libya
– The five-year, $10m case was dropped last week by prosecutors
– He says they didn‘t want to press on because it would compromise Clinton
– The trial would have started on November 8 – which is Election Day
– Turi also hinted at information on weapons that disappeared in Benghazi

28.04.2026 - 18:35 [ New York Times ]

U.S.-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell Into Jihadis’ Hands

Dec. 5, 2012

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.

No evidence has emerged linking the weapons provided by the Qataris during the uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to the attack that killed four Americans at the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in September.

But in the months before, the Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported.

28.04.2026 - 16:09 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Jihadists appear caught offguard by release of Steven Sotloff video

(September 2, 2014)

The video of Steven Sotloff‘s apparent murder appears to have been found by a private US intelligence firm before it could be released by the Islamic State.

News of Mr Sotloff‘s death was broken by the SITE Intelligence group, a private company that monitors jihadist activity and has close ties to the American intelligence community.

The group‘s analysts found the video on what a spokesman described as „a file-sharing site“ and send it out to its subscriber list. SITE‘s subscribers include government officials, journalists and academics involved in analysing terrorism.

23.04.2026 - 04:21 [ NPR.org ]

Cuba confirms meeting with US officials on island, wants energy blockade lifted

(April 21, 2026)

The exchange was conducted „respectfully and professionally,“ he said, adding that the U.S. delegation did not issue any threats or deadlines as has been reported in some U.S. media.

„The elimination of the energy embargo against the country was a top priority for our delegation,“ García del Toro said. „This act of economic coercion is an unjustified punishment of the entire Cuban population.“

23.04.2026 - 04:18 [ Los Angeles Times ]

Cuba’s collapse: From Obama’s historic opening to Trump’s crippling embargo

(April 20, 2026)

When President Trump took office in 2017, he reinstated the travel ban, upped sanctions and closed the U.S. Embassy in Havana that Obama had opened.

President Biden left most of Trump’s restrictions in place. When Trump returned to office last year, he began what the White House has described as a “maximum pressure campaign” to force political and economic change in Cuba, including a near-total blockade on oil shipments that has sparked fuel shortages, price increases and prolonged blackouts on the island.

18.04.2026 - 21:03 [ Jacobin ]

The Imperial Presidency Is Bigger Than Donald Trump

A future Democratic-controlled Congress should take up the job that Obama and the party’s old guard abandoned: put strict limits on the use of drones that won’t simply be alternately loosened and tightened by whichever president comes to power, explicitly outlawing “targeted killing” and any other attempt at finding a loophole for the already existing ban on assassinations; finally repeal the 2001 Authorization of the Use of Military Force that has been serially abused by presidents to fight often secret wars all over the world; end mass surveillance, whether in the form of the National Security Agency’s warrantless backdoor searches that Democrats actually expanded under Joe Biden, or in the warrantless spying that the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies now do through private data brokers; close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp that Trump is now trying to send migrants to; and embark on a twenty-first-century version of the Church Committee to investigate and lay bare national security abuses.

29.03.2026 - 12:18 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(26.4.2018)

As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.

After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.

29.03.2026 - 11:46 [ Al Jazeera ]

How many countries has the US bombed since 2001, and how much has it cost?

(March 3, 2026)

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, President George W Bush launched what he called a “war on terror”, a global military campaign that reshaped US foreign policy and triggered wars, invasions and air strikes across numerous countries.

According to an analysis by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs, US-led wars since 2001 have directly caused the deaths of about 940,000 people across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other conflict zones

12.03.2026 - 12:59 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Libyen-Krieg: Neue Sitzung der Schwachmächte im UNO-Sicherheitsrat

(22. März 2011)

Am 19.März, dem Tag des Angriffs von Frankreich, Großbritannien, Kanada, Italien und den USA auf Libyen, wurde in Moskau eine der erbärmlichsten Erklärungen in der russischen Geschichte veröffentlicht (Angriffskrieg gegen Libyen beginnt: Ticker). Das russische Außenministerium von Sergei Lawrow:

“In Moskau bedauern wir diese bewaffnete Intervention im Rahmen der UN Resolution 1973, die hastig beschlossen wurde.”

Die Weltöffentlichkeit konstatiert: Russlands Staatsführung ist ein Haufen Tölpel, dem – wenn er schon nicht lesen kann und deshalb nicht weiss was vor sich geht – selbst das Wort „Veto“ mit einem einfachen Armhochhalten schon zu viel ist. Das Gleiche gilt für die Atomschwachmacht China, deren leseunkundige kommunistische Staatspartei immerhin 1.3 Milliarden Menschen herumkommandiert. In der Parteizeitung „People´s Daily“ redete man sich heute nun selbst in ein Gewissen, was man nicht hat (1):

„Die blutgetränkten Gewitter, denen Irak seit acht Jahren unterzogen wurde und das unaussprechliche Leiden seines Volkes sind ein Spiegel und eine Warnung. Die militärischen Attacken auf Libyen, folgend den Kriegen in Afghanisten und Irak, sind das das dritte Mal, dass einige Länder bewaffnete Aktionen gegen souveräne Staaten gestartet haben. Es sollte augenscheinlich sein, dass jedes Mal, wenn militärische Mittel benutzt werden um Krisen zu begegnen, dies ein Schlag gegen die Charta der Vereinten Nationen und die Regeln der internationalen Beziehungen sind.“

Die Weltöffentlichkeit versteht: früher hiess es in China „Bombardiert das Hauptquartier“, letzten Freitag hiess es „Bombardiert Libyen“ und heute wieder anders herum. Mal sehen, zu was sich Chinas Staatsführung am Donnerstag entscheidet. Vielleicht der Einfachheit halber zu „Bombardiert irgendwas“.

25.02.2026 - 20:37 [ Los Angeles Times ]

Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard during review of Epstein ties, university says

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard University amid a campus review of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the university announced Wednesday.

Summers, who has been on leave since November and whose name appeared hundreds of times in newly released Epstein files, will leave at the end of the school year, according to a statement from Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton.

22.02.2026 - 12:37 [ U,S. Department of Justice ]

From: Jide Zeitlin To: jeffrey E. (…) Subject: Re: Nigeria Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2018

Who do you not know!

On Jun 8, 2018, at 17:39, jeffrey E. wrote:

you do know that kathy ruemmler is my close buddy

22.02.2026 - 12:19 [ Drop Site News ]

Epstein Flipped Israel’s Gaza-Tested Biometric Scanners Into Nigeria Ports Deal for UAE

(February 16, 2026)

Epstein was keen to profit from armed conflicts on the African continent. While negotiating DP World’s access to Nigeria, he was also helping Zeitlin navigate around U.S. sanctions on Ivan Glasenberg, the Israeli-South African CEO of mining giant Glencore, and Oleg Deripaska, then-chairman of the Russian aluminum titan Rusal. Glencore’s operations had been disrupted by a fraud probe into their dealings with Israeli mining kingpin Dan Gertler in Congo-Kinshasa. “Do you know Oleg Deripaska or Ivan Glasenberg?” Zeitlin asked Epstein. “Easy,” Epstein replied.

The American financier had deep ties to Israeli mining and military outfits in Africa, which he helped support alongside former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak—a close associate with whom Epstein corresponded almost daily. “With civil unrest exploding in ukraine syria, somolia, libya, and the desperation of those in power,” Epstein wrote in a 2014 email to Barak, “isn’t this perfect for you.” Barak replied, “You’re right [in] a way. But not simple to transform it into a cash flow.”

22.02.2026 - 10:56 [ Zeenews.india.com ]

Shocking: Epstein was offered chance to buy US Pentagon and FBI buildings

(February 20, 2026)

In a separate email from 2015, Stern presented Epstein with another opportunity – a potential investment in two FBI field offices located in Richmond, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland, along with associated courthouses. The documents described these federal properties as attractive assets and outlined a structure requiring an initial $25 million contribution followed by an additional $80 million. Ownership would have been routed through an offshore entity registered in the Cayman Islands.

Both real estate proposals originated with investor Jonathan D. Fascitelli, a noted person in commercial property development.

22.02.2026 - 10:53 [ Yahoo.com ]

Epstein offered chance to buy Pentagon and FBI buildings

(February 18, 2026)

The three documents – an email describing the offer, an investor deck, and a deal summary – were released as part of the millions of Epstein Files.

The offer was forwarded to Epstein by David Stern, a businessman who called himself Epstein’s “soldier” and who was also a close aide to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

In the same year Stern sent the proposal to Epstein, he was made director of the St George‘s House Trust at Windsor Castle and was invited to an event at St James’ Palace, where he sat directly next to Queen Elizabeth II.

14.02.2026 - 04:33 [ New York Times ]

Goldman’s Top Lawyer Departs Amid Revelations About Her Ties to Epstein

Mr. Epstein, in turn, provided career advice on her move to Goldman, introduced her to well-known businesspeople and showered her with gifts of spa treatments, high-end travel and Hermès luxury items. In total, Ms. Ruemmler was mentioned in more than 10,000 of the documents released by the Justice Department.

Ms. Ruemmler, in addition to being Goldman’s general counsel since 2021, was a partner and vice chair of its reputational risk committee. She earlier served as White House counsel under President Obama and was a white-collar defense lawyer at Latham & Watkins.

29.01.2026 - 21:27 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Das Iran-Abkommen: Wende oder Hebel

(April 4, 2015)

Am 23. März meldete der britische „Telegraph“, dass sich in der iranischen Zeitung Kayhan Abgeordnete des iranischen Majlis über die Verhandlungsstrategie von Außenminister Zarif beschwerten und bezüglich einer von Zarif angestrebten Resolution nach Kapitel VII der U.N.-Charta als einer „Falle“ sprachen. Auch der eine oder andere Generalissimus, wie überall Repräsentant der örtlichen Hochkultur, befand – gerade noch rechtzeitig – es sei vielleicht doch keine so gute Idee sich mit der Zustimmung zu einer Kapitel VII-Resolution auch noch selbst als Gefährdung des Weltfriedens zu bezeichnen, nur weil man Atomkraftwerke und medizinische Anlagen samt Forschung dazu betreibt.

Im nun vorgestern am 2. April in Lausanne von den Regierungen der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, des Vereinigten Königreichs, der Russischen Föderation, von China, Frankreich und Deutschland gemeinsam mit Iran beschlossenen und veröffentlichten Abkommen ist von einer „neuen Resolution des Sicherheitsrates“ die Rede, die das Abkommen bzw dessen „Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action“ (JCPOA) „unterstützen“ und auf dessen vollständige Umsetzung „drängen“ soll.

Frage: Nach Kapitel VII U.N.-Charta? Bei „ernsthaften Konsequenzen“ für den Iran, wegen erklärter Gefährdung von „internationalen Frieden und Sicherheit,“ wegen behaupteter oder tatsächlicher Vertragsverletzungen?

24.12.2025 - 09:23 [ Business Insider ]

Jeffrey Epstein‘s wills listed former bank CEOs and other Wall Street figures as possible estate executors

As he planned for his death, Jeffrey Epstein listed powerful friends and associates from Wall Street as the people who would take care of his affairs.

Versions of Epstein‘s will released Tuesday by the Justice Department featured former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, former Barclays CEO Jes Staley, and former Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne as potential executors of his estate.

20.11.2025 - 17:20 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(26.4.2018)

As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.

After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.

11.09.2025 - 20:41 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(26.4.2018)

As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.

After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.

24.07.2025 - 18:43 [ Office of the Director of National Intelligence ]

New Evidence of Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert President Trump’s 2016 Victory and Presidency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ODNI News Release No. 15-25
July 18, 2025

New Evidence of Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert President Trump’s 2016 Victory and Presidency

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard revealed overwhelming evidence that demonstrates how, after President Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, President Obama and his national security cabinet members manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.

– In the months leading up to the November 2016 election, the Intelligence Community (IC) consistently assessed that Russia is “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means.”

– On December 7, 2016, after the election, talking points were prepared for DNI James Clapper stating, “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome.”

-On December 9, 2016, President Obama’s White House gathered top National Security Council Principals for a meeting that included James Clapper, John Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe and others, to discuss Russia.

– After the meeting, DNI Clapper’s Executive Assistant sent an email to IC leaders tasking them with creating a new IC assessment “per the President’s request” that details the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.” It went on to say, “ODNI will lead this effort with participation from CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS.”

– Obama officials leaked false statements to media outlets, including The Washington Post, claiming, “Russia has attempted through cyber means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election.”

– On January 6, 2017, a new Intelligence Community Assessment was released that directly contradicted the IC assessments that were made throughout the previous six months.

24.07.2025 - 18:29 [ DNI Tulsi Gabbard / X ]

LIE: The Obama Administration’s January ICA was an independent Intelligence Community product, produced with apolitical analysis. TRUTH: Obama ordered the Intelligence Community to create an Intelligence Community Assessment they knew was false, promoting a contrived narrative, with the intent of undermining the legitimacy and power of a duly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump.

(July 23, 2025)

24.07.2025 - 18:27 [ CBS News ]

Trump‘s intel chief Tulsi Gabbard reignites political battles with 2016 election documents on Russia

(July 22, 2025)

The release of more than 100 pages of declassified files and a memorandum by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has reignited political battles over Russia‘s actions during the 2016 presidential election, a topic that has long incensed President Trump and put the actions of the U.S. intelligence community in partisan crosshairs.

19.04.2025 - 01:43 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(26.4.2018)

As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.

After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.

15.02.2025 - 19:17 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(26.4.2018)

As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.

After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.

15.02.2025 - 06:45 [ CNN ]

Hegseth rules out NATO membership for Ukraine and says Europe must be responsible for country’s security

(February 12, 2025)

Later on Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he agrees with Hegseth and does not “think it’s practical” to have Ukraine join NATO.

“I don’t think it’s practical to have it. Personally, I know that our new secretary of defense is excellent. Pete made a statement today saying that he thinks it’s unlikely or impractical. I think probably that’s true. I think long before President Putin, they said there’s no way they’d allow that. This has been going on for many, many years. They’ve been saying that for a long time that Ukraine did not go into NATO, and I’m okay with that,” Trump said from the Oval Office.