Month: July 2017

Isolated Qatar Hires Firm Founded by Trump Aides Amid Crisis

Posted on by SeeEA

Qatar has hired a Washington influence firm founded by former top campaign aides to President Donald Trump and another specialized in digging up dirt on U.S. politicians, signaling it wants to challenge Saudi Arabia’s massive lobbying efforts in America’s capital amid a diplomatic dispute among Arab nations.

Hiring a firm once associated with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who left it in May over a dispute with his partners, shows Qatar wants access to a White House with close ties to Saudi Arabia. The firm retains Barry Bennett, a Trump campaign adviser, as well as others with ties to the president.

But matching Saudi Arabia, which scored a diplomatic coup by hosting Trump’s first overseas trip, could be a tough battle for Qatar, even if it does boast the world’s highest per-capita income due to its natural gas deposits.

“The Qataris are belatedly working up to the scale of the challenge they face,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University who lives in Seattle. “This whole crisis, now that it’s kind of settled down into a prolonged confrontation or standoff, it’s become almost a struggle to win the hearts and minds in D.C.”

The Gulf rift already has seen slogan-plastered taxicabs in London, television attack ads in the United States and competing messages flooding the internet and state-linked media on both sides since the crisis began on June 5.

Qatar, in the midst of building stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, isn’t afraid to spend its money. Since the crisis began, Qatar paid $2.5 million to the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to audit its efforts at stopping terrorism funding – one of the allegations levied by the Saudi-led quartet of nations.

According to documents newly filed to the U.S. Justice Department, Qatar has hired Avenue Strategies Global for $150,000 a month to “provide research, government relations and strategic consulting services.” The contract also says that activity “may include communications with members of Congress and Congressional staff, executive branch officials, the media and other individuals.”

Lewandowski founded Avenue Strategies just after the November election that put Trump in the White House. Lewandowski resigned from the firm only months later, saying he was troubled by a firm-related project he hadn’t sanctioned. Others tied to Avenue Strategies had started a firm of their own, pitching Eastern European clients with promises of access to Trump and high-ranking White House officials.

The firm, which includes a former chief of staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Qatar also signed a three-month, $1.1 million renewable contract with the opposition research firm Information Management Services, according to a Justice Department filing .

The firm, run by Jeff Klueter, a former researcher for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, did not respond to requests for comment. It advertises itself as doing so-called “oppo,” which includes digging into political opponents’ past and comments for incriminating or simply embarrassing material.

Qatar did not respond to a request for comment about the lobbying contracts. But it may serve as recognition that while Qatar has had success in speaking with the State Department and the Pentagon, it needs to make inroads to the Trump White House, Ulrichsen said.

Despite hosting a major U.S. military base, Qatar has been a target of Trump over its alleged funding of extremists, something Doha denies. Saudi Arabia enjoys close relations to Trump, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

In Washington, Saudi Arabia spends millions of dollars on lobbying, including a most-recent push to oppose a law allowing Sept. 11 victims’ families to sue the ultraconservative Muslim nation in U.S. courts . Its lobbying firms have been putting out memos on Qatar.

Meanwhile, an organization called the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee launched an online campaign called the Qatar Insider highlighting material critical of Doha. The committee also paid $138,000 to air an anti-Qatar attack ad on a local Washington television station, according to the Qatar-funded satellite news network Al-Jazeera.

“Our aim is to show the American people that Qatar has been employing a foreign policy that harms its neighbors and contributes to regional instability,” said Reem Daffa, the executive director of the committee, known by the acronym SAPRAC.

But while Daffa said SAPRAC does no lobbying, it has registered as a lobbying firm with Congress and tweeted a Qatar attack ad at Trump . It also has not filed paperwork with the Justice Department despite the committee being listed as entirely owned by a Saudi national .

The Foreign Agents Registration Act, first put in place over concerns about Nazi propagandists operating in the U.S. ahead of World War II, requires those working on behalf of other countries or their citizens to file regular reports to the Justice Department.

There are no similar rules in Britain, though the crisis recently could be seen on the streets of London. Pro-Qatar ads appeared on the city’s famous black taxis, bearing the message: “Lift the Blockade Against the People of Qatar.” Al-Jazeera Arabic even did a story about them.

But whether any of it will sway policy makers remains unclear.

“The prevailing view is that there are no perfect allies,” recently wrote Steven A. Cook, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. “So whatever money the Gulf countries are spending in Washington, they should know it is not very well spent.”
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Rights Group Alleges US-Trained Iraqi Troops Executed Dozens of Prisoners in Mosul

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An Iraqi army division trained by the U.S. military allegedly assassinated several dozen prisoners in the final days of battle to recapture Mosul’s Old City from Islamic State, according to Human Rights Watch.

The rights group, in a report issued Thursday, is urging the U.S. to end support for the Iraqi army’s 16th Division pending a probe into what it believes are war crimes.

“The U.S. military should find out why a force that it trained and supported is committing ghastly war crimes,” said Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson. “U.S. taxpayer dollars should be helping to curtail abuses, not enable them.”

The watchdog said the alleged executions were witnessed by two international observers. The observers said they saw a group of Iraqi soldiers who identified themselves as members of the 16th Division take four naked men down an alley and then heard gunshots. The observers said the soldiers informed them the prisoners were IS fighters.

As the observers were leaving the area, one of them told Human Rights bodies of a number of naked men were seen lying in a doorway.

IS lost control of the Old City after nine months of fighting with Iraqi forces who are supported by a U.S.-led coalition. Fighting in the area continued for several days after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over IS on July 10. Videos were distributed showing Iraqi troops beating unarmed men and killing one by pushing him off a cliff.

Iraq has vowed to investigate earlier allegations of abuses and to take appropriate action against those responsible.

Iraqi government spokespeople have not responded to these latest allegations.
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Wife of Zimbabwe Leader Says Mugabe Should Name Successor

Posted on by SeeAF

Zimbabwe’s first lady has urged 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe to name his choice for a successor.

Grace Mugabe, who is widely thought to harbor presidential ambitions, made her comments Thursday while addressing the ZANU-PF party’s women’s league in Harare.

According a report from the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the first lady, 52, said “there is nothing wrong with Comrade Mugabe naming his successor,” adding the move would enable all party members to rally behind one candidate.

ZBC reported that the first lady also said “the president has the right to be involved in naming his successor,” and that “the president’s word is final.”

President Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, has so far refused to say who should replace him, despite increasing divisions in his party.  

On his birthday in February, he told ZBC, “If I feel that I can’t do it anymore, I’ll say so to my party so that they relieve me. But for now, I think, I can’t say so. The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, actually — no successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am.”

Factionalism

Last year, ZANU-PF confirmed Mugabe would be its presidential candidate for the 2018 elections. But given his age, factions are jostling for the top spot within the party.

There are two camps openly vying for the presidency: Generation 40 and Team Lacoste. Generation 40 — which refers to the party’s young Turks — is allied with Grace Mugabe. Team Lacoste backs Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, who is widely known as “the Crocodile.”  

President Mugabe has acknowledged the existence of the two rival camps and their feuding and has ordered them to “stop it.” But the infighting has only worsened with reports of his deteriorating health and age. Mugabe has traveled to Singapore three times this year for what his office says are “routine medical checkups.”

Last month, Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo endorsed Defense Minister Sydney Sekeramayi to succeed the president. The endorsement drew a strong rebuke from the army chief, General Constantino Guveya Chiwenga, who labeled Moyo “an enemy of the state.”

Dumisani Muleya, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, told VOA Zimbabwe the first lady might be paving the way for Sekeramayi.

“I think what she is trying to do now, realizing that Mugabe is increasingly getting frail, largely because of old age and health complications, she wants to be a catalyst to the process to resolve the succession conundrum. … Our understanding is that she wants Mugabe to put in a process that will support Defense Minister Sydney Sekeramayi to take over,” Muleya said.

That move would be opposed by many veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war, who say Mnangagwa is the natural successor to Mugabe because he is a veteran of the war and is the second most senior ZANU-PF leader, after the longtime president.

Party constitution

ZANU-PF deputy legal affairs secretary Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said the party’s constitution is clear on the issue of succession, and it does not give the president the power to anoint a successor.

“Ordinarily, we hold our congress every five years and the last congress was held in 2014, so the next one will be held in 2019,” he told VOA. “In the event if a vacancy arises in between those congresses, a special congress will be called within three months of the event, and then those who are interested in succeeding will have to file nominations, and then they will be elected in the special congress.”

Mangwana said the president has no veto powers in the matter.

“No, he has no say whatsoever,” he said. “Anyone who wants to become president must submit his or her nomination. They stand up and say, ‘I want to lead this party.’ And anyone who wants to contest them can contest them.  So, the president has one vote, like any other member of the party.” he said.
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AP Sources: US Seeks to Test Iran Deal With More Inspections

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The Trump administration is pushing for inspections of suspicious Iranian military sites in a bid to test the strength of the nuclear deal that President Donald Trump desperately wants to cancel, senior U.S. officials said.

The inspections are one element of what is designed to be a more aggressive approach to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While the Trump administration seeks to police the existing deal more strictly, it is also working to fix what Trump’s aides have called “serious flaws” in the landmark deal that — if not resolved quickly — will likely lead Trump to pull out.

 

That effort also includes discussions with European countries to negotiate a follow-up agreement to prevent Iran from resuming nuclear development after the deal’s restrictions expire in about a decade, the officials said. The officials weren’t authorized to discuss the efforts publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

The inspections requests, which Iran would likely resist, could play heavily into Trump’s much-anticipated decision about whether to stick with the deal he’s long derided.

 

If Iran refuses inspections, the argument goes, Trump finally will have a solid basis to say Iran is breaching the deal, setting up Tehran to take most of the blame if the agreement collapses. If Iran agrees to inspections, those in Trump’s administration who want to preserve the deal will be emboldened to argue it’s advancing U.S. national security effectively.

 

The campaign gained fresh urgency this month following a dramatic clash within the administration about whether to certify Iran’s compliance, as is required every 90 days.

 

Trump was eager to declare Tehran in violation, even though the International Atomic Energy Agency that monitors compliance says its infractions are minor. At the urging of top Cabinet members, Trump begrudgingly agreed at the last minute to avoid a showdown for another three months — but only with assurances the U.S. would increase pressure on Iran to test whether the deal is truly capable of addressing its nuclear ambitions and other troublesome activities.

 

Trump faces another certification deadline in three months, and it’s far from clear that either new inspections or any “fixes” to address whether his concerns will be in place by then. Trump told The Wall Street Journal this week he expects to say Iran isn’t complying, setting a high bar for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other aides to persuade him otherwise.

 

“If it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago,” Trump said.

 

To that end, the administration is seeking to force Iran to let in IAEA inspectors to military sites where the U.S. intelligence community believes the Islamic Republic may be cheating on the deal, several officials said. Access to Iran’s military sites was one of the most contentious issues in the 2015 deal, in which Tehran agreed to roll back its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

 

Last week in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency is based, Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon floated the proposal to the European members of the Joint Commission that oversees the deal, one official said. Britain, France and Germany joined the U.S., Russia, China and the European Union two years ago in brokering the deal with Iran.

 

To force inspections of new sites in Iran, the U.S. would need to enlist the support of the IAEA and a majority of the countries in the deal. But the U.S. has run into early resistance over concerns it has yet to produce a “smoking gun” — compelling evidence of illicit activity at a military site that the IAEA could use to justify inspections, officials said.

 

Among the concerns about a rush toward inspections is that if they fail to uncover evidence of violations, it would undermine the IAEA’s credibility and its ability to demand future inspections. So the U.S. is working to produce foolproof intelligence about illicit activity, officials said. The officials declined to describe the intelligence activities or the Iranian sites the U.S. believes are involved.

 

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, alluded to the strategy during an event hosted Wednesday by The Washington Post. Corker said the U.S. was trying to “radically enforce” the deal by asking for access to “various facilities” in Iran.

 

“If they don’t let us in, boom,” Corker said. “You want the breakup of this deal to be about Iran. You don’t want it to be about the U.S., because we want our allies with us.”

 

As a candidate, Trump threatened to rip up the deal that President Barack Obama brokered. As president, Trump has yet to take that step, as his administration finishes a broader Iran policy review expected to conclude in August.

 

The other major step to try to address what Trump has deemed flaws in the deal involves ensuring that Iran can’t revert to old behavior once the limitations on its program “sunset” over the next decade-plus. The State Department said Trump has directed his administration to “work with allies to explore options” for dealing with that and other shortcomings. Talks are underway with the European countries about a supplemental deal, though it’s unclear how Iran could be persuaded to sign on.

 

The deal’s provisions for inspections of military facilities, or “undeclared sites,” involve a complex process with plenty of opportunities for Iran to stall. Tehran can propose alternatives to on-site inspections, or reject the request, which would trigger a 24-day process for the Joint Commission countries to override the rejection.

 

That could drag on for months. And under ambiguities built into the deal, it’s unclear whether Iran must allow IAEA inspectors into military sites, or whether the Iranians can take their own environmental samples and send them to the IAEA for testing, as was allowed under a 2015 side agreement that let Iran use its own experts to inspect the Parchin military site.

 

Even if Trump declares Iran in violation of the deal _ a move that would invigorate his conservative base _ he could still leave Iran’s sanctions relief in place.

 

American businesses are eager for the deal to survive so they can pursue lucrative opportunities in Iran. The aviation industry recently signed billions of dollars of contracts to sell passenger plans to Iranian airlines, including a $16.6 billion deal for Boeing.

 

___

 

Associated Press writer George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.

 

___

 

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Matthew Lee at http://twitter.com/APDiploWriter

AP-WF-07-27-17 1253GMT

 
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Ukraine Strips Former Georgian President Saakashvili of Citizenship 

Posted on by SeeEU

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stripped former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship Wednesday, leaving him effectively stateless.

Saakashvili became a citizen of Ukraine and was appointed governor of Odessa by Poroshenko on May 30, 2015.

Ukraine’s State Migration Services posted a statement July 26 mentioning Saakashvili by name and citing laws under which citizenship could be revoked, such as by submitting false documents with a citizenship application. The statement also mentioned unspecified documents recently sent by Georgian authorities.

The immigration service stated that Saakashvili’s case, including the newly obtained documents, had been sent to the citizenship commission. According to Ukraine’s constitution, the president makes “decisions on losses of Ukrainian citizenship based on the conclusions of the citizenship commission,” the statement said.

Citizenship application

Anton Garashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said in a post on Facebook that Saakashvili’s citizenship application had not indicated any legal proceedings were outstanding against him, in Ukraine or elsewhere. However, at the time he was applying, a Georgian court had issued a warrant for his arrest in absentia; Saakashvili is still wanted in Georgia.

Neither Poroshenko nor Saakashvili responded to media requests for comment.

Saakashvili resigned as governor of Odessa last November after a dispute about the government’s alleged failure to take action against corruption. He then established a new party, the Movement of New Forces.

The party said Wednesday on Facebook that it had no information about the revocation of Saakashvili’s citizenship.

“If this information is confirmed, it will mean that Petro Poroshenko, in the spirit of his predecessor, has irrevocably gone down the path of unconstitutional action for usurpation and holding on to power at all costs,” the party said.

Georgia’s ambassador to Ukraine, Gela Dumbadze, confirmed to Rustavi2 television that Poroshenko signed the order to suspend Saakashvili’s citizenship.

Political leadership

Saakashvili was president of Georgia from 2004 until 2013. He left Georgia after his term expired and after his National Movement Party lost its parliamentary majority in the 2012 elections, amid accusations of criminal activity, all of which he denied, declaring such charges were politically motivated.

Authorities in Tbilisi revoked Saakashvili’s Georgian citizenship in December 2015, an automatic action when a Georgian citizen obtains a passport from a different country.

Georgia is seeking to extradite Saakashvili to face criminal charges arising from his time as president; he has been accused of calling for the use of force against protesters and of ordering a raid on the private television station Imedi. He has denied the charges and accused the current government of political persecution.

During a state visit to Georgia July 18, Poroshenko said he was unaware of any request for Saakashvili’s extradition. However, he later clarified his statement, saying instead that the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office had refused to extradite Saakashvili because of a lack of documentation.

The Ukrainian leader said Saakashvili’s extradition was not discussed during his meeting with the Georgian officials. He added that extradition was “purely a legal issue,” and if Saakashvili’s alleged criminal activities were confirmed, Ukraine would “act appropriately.”

Last week, before Poroshenko revoked Saakashvili’s Ukraine citizenship, Georgia’s prosecutor general noted that the former Georgian president’s new nationality would be “an obstacle” to his extradition.
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Israel’s Netanyahu Threatens to Shut Al-Jazeera Jerusalem Office

Posted on by SeeEA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he would work to close the Jerusalem offices of Qatar-based al-Jazeera, accusing the

television news network of inciting recent violence in the city.

Jerusalem is experiencing one of its most tense periods in  years as Palestinians protest heightened Israeli security measures near the Temple Mount-Noble Sanctuary compound, one of the city’s holiest sites, and the events have been widely reported, including by al-Jazeera.

“The al-Jazeera network continues to stir violence around the Temple Mount,” Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page in Hebrew.

The Qatar-based network was not immediately available for comment.

The spike in tensions and the deaths of three Israelis and four Palestinians in violence on Friday and Saturday raised international alarm.

“I have spoken several times to law-enforcement authorities demanding to close al-Jazeera’s offices in Jerusalem. If this does not happen because of legal interpretation, I will work to enact the required legislation to expel al-Jazeera from Israel,” the Israeli leader added in his post.

Al-Jazeera has also faced government censure in neighboring Egypt when in 2014, the Arab state jailed three al-Jazeera staffers for seven years and closed the network’s offices. Two staffers have been released but a third remains imprisoned.

 
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Transgender Soldiers, Veterans Shaken by Trump’s Ban on Their Service

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After 13 years of military service that included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Indiana National Guard reservist Cameron St. Andrew felt crushed Wednesday by President Donald Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from the U.S. military.

The sergeant first class, who transitioned to living as a man while on active duty, said getting kicked out of the military two years before his planned retirement could mean losing many of his pension and health care benefits, and even harm his chances of being hired again.

“Why serve a country that doesn’t want me? It breaks my heart, to be honest,” said St. Andrew, 37, of Indianapolis.

Despite the devastating effect Trump’s move could have on him, he said he was more concerned about younger soldiers who were earlier in their careers and transition.

“You pull that rug out from under them after they have this false sense of security, that could really throw them into a downward spiral,” he said.

Twitter announcements

The Republican president’s announcement, made through a series of Twitter posts, upended years of efforts to eliminate barriers to military service on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Just last year, the Pentagon ended a prohibition keeping transgender people from serving openly.

Trump, who cited “tremendous medical costs and disruption” for the ban, did not specify how it would be implemented. It remained unclear whether the policy would apply to existing transgender service members or new transgender recruits.

The president’s action was condemned by rights groups and some lawmakers in both parties, who called it discrimination with purely political motives. The move was praised by conservative activists and some Republicans.

“I have a lot of service members that are scared that their careers are over with,” said Navy Lieutenant Commander Blake Dremann, who leads a support organization working with actively serving transgender military members. “Right now, they still have their jobs and we will continue to work to make sure that policy doesn’t change.”

The Pentagon said only that it was working on developing guidance following Trump’s tweets.

‘Breaks your spirit’

St. Andrew said he did not know he was transgender when he enlisted, eager to serve his country after the attacks of September 11, 2001. After an impoverished childhood in a small town in Michigan, he wanted to give back to the nation whose welfare system had kept him clothed and fed.

Several years into his military service, he began reflecting on his gender identity. He said he struggled with the anxiety that accompanied the fear of being outed and losing his job.

“They pound into you this thing of selfless service,” he said. “So you do that for a few years, and then you come out socially or to a few close people and that gives you some relief, but you still have to hide what you are.”

He said he received support from his commanders and peers through his transition and found that few accommodations were needed. He already was discreet in changing facilities and had trained for the male physical fitness requirements.

Still, anticipating changes like Trump’s ban coming, St. Andrew resigned from full-time service after the November election. He now wonders whether his part-time reservist status in the National Guard is in jeopardy.

“I try to be tough about it,” he said, but added: “It breaks your spirit down.”

No trust

“Transgender people are serving today knowing that their leader frankly doesn’t trust them,” said retired Colonel Sheri Swokowski, 67, of Windsor, Wisconsin, the highest-ranking openly transgender veteran. “The bottom line is that this does great harm to people who simply want to serve their country.”

Sergeant Sam Hunt, an electrician serving in the Nevada Army National Guard, said people had long referred to him as a man.

He thought he could serve openly as such after former Democratic President Barack Obama lifted the transgender ban.

Earlier this month, he learned that the Department of Defense had approved his transition to male from female.

“Until told otherwise, I will continue serving this nation and state, as I have since 2009,” he said in a statement.
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More Health Care Headaches for US Senate Republicans

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One day after getting a green light to debate health care in America, Senate Republicans struggled Wednesday to put forth a politically viable plan to repeal former U.S. president Barack Obama’s health care law, despite continuing pressure from the White House.

Nine Republicans joined a unified Democratic caucus late Tuesday to vote down a plan Republican leaders crafted behind closed doors to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a system that pares back the federal government’s role in health care.

On Wednesday, the chamber voted 55-45 to defeat a bill that would terminate Obamacare but leave its replacement for a future date.

“It seems the Republican majority is no clearer on what the endgame is, because there’s no good way out of this,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.

Health care blueprint

The Senate’s Republican leaders have conceded they do not know what, if any, health care blueprint might get majority backing, and have set aside floor time for members to propose legislation that would get swift consideration, in what is called a “vote-a-rama” (rapid voting cycle).

“I know members of both parties have health care ideas they’d like to offer,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. “If you’ve got one, bring it to the floor. We’ll consider many different proposals throughout this process from senators on both sides of the aisle.”

Should the chamber fail to coalesce around any health care formula, McConnell is widely expected to force a vote on a partial Obamacare repeal that strips the law of some of its least popular elements: a tax on medical devices and a requirement that Americans either purchase health care insurance or pay a fine.

“Ultimately, we want to get legislation to finally end the failed Obamacare status quo through Congress to the president’s desk for his signature,” McConnell said. “We have to keep up the work now so we can get this done.”

Passage of a partial repeal, called the “skinny” option, would set up negotiations between members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to hammer out a final bill. Democrats noted the Republican-led House already passed a full repeal measure, and that bicameral negotiations would likely yield a product similar to legislation the Senate already rejected  or stall entirely.

“It’s likely that a conference would produce no agreement at all, keeping the incredibly toxic and unpopular Trumpcare bill the topic of conversation for another three months, stalling the legislative agenda for another three months, and in the end getting nothing done,” Schumer said.

Bipartisan legislation suggested

Rather than a haphazard Senate vote-a-rama on health care, a sector that accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy, Democrats suggested crafting legislation on a bipartisan basis in committee, with public hearings to vet ideas.

“If we stop this effort with Trumpcare, with repeal or repeal and replace, we can go back in committee and improve the present health care system,” Schumer said. “Get premiums lower, get health care better.”

In response, some Republicans complained that, so far, Democrats are spending more time shooting down Republican proposals than putting forth ideas of their own.

“We’d have a lot more confidence in getting a solution if there were a single positive suggestion from the other side for a change,” Republican Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming said. “Until that happens, there isn’t much confidence on our side that the promise of bipartisanship is going to happen.”

Amid the squabbling on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump has made clear he wants results.

Trump took to Twitter to blast Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of two Republican senators who voted against Tuesday’s motion to begin debate on health care. The president wrote that Murkowski had “really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!”

 
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UN Warns Peace at Risk in Central African Republic

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A new bout of violence in the Central African Republic, where two Moroccan peacekeepers were killed Tuesday, risks derailing years of efforts to restore a fragile stability, the United Nations warned Wednesday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killing of the peacekeepers, who were ambushed in the southeast town of Bangassou on Tuesday.

The U.N. chief called on all parties to stop the violence and “take action to avoid a further deterioration of the fragile security situation in the country.”

The country is struggling to emerge from a civil war that erupted in 2013 following the overthrow of former President Francois Bozize, a Christian, by Muslim rebels from the Seleka coalition.

The coup led to the formation of “anti-balaka” (anti-machete) vigilante units of Christians who began to target Muslims. Both sides committed widespread atrocities.

Tuesday’s raid, which injured a third soldier, followed similar attacks by suspected anti-balaka fighters in the diamond-mining town in recent days, including one on Sunday that killed a Moroccan peacekeeper and left three others wounded.

The latest incidents prompted 14 humanitarian workers from six organizations to suspend activities in the town, east of Bangui on the Congolese border.

Violence has escalated since former colonial power France ended its peacekeeping mission in the country last year. It continues despite a peace deal signed in Rome last month between the government and rival factions.
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Rebel Leader Excluded From South Sudan Peace Process

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Civil society activists say a move to exclude South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar from a regional peace process will ensure that South Sudan remains engulfed in war.

 

Ministers of the East African bloc IGAD said Monday that Machar will not be invited to the next meeting for the peace process, which is aimed at revitalizing a 2015 peace agreement between the rebels and South Sudanese government.

 

“We already agreed that the process, all opposition groups including Riek Machar’s ideas, the representatives of Riek Machar, can be involved in this process. For the time being, physically we are not inviting Riek Machar,” Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu said at the end of the ministers’ meeting in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

Machar, a former South Sudanese vice president, currently lives in exile in South Africa, where he fled after an outbreak of violence in Juba in July 2016 killed nearly 300 people.

Talks could fail

 

South Sudanese activists said the IGAD decision not to invite Machar is wrong-headed, and throws into question whether the regional bloc is operating as a neutral entity.

 

Rajab Muhandis, executive director of the South Sudanese Network for Democracy and Elections, or SSuNDE, said any revitalization process that excludes certain parties to the agreement risks failure.

 

“It will be very challenging if the peace agreement that is going to be revitalized does not adequately include all the parties to the conflict. If half of the parties are included (and) others are not, there’s likelihood that those not involved may not have other options but violence as an option to find their way to the political process,” Muhandis told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.

Top leaders need to be included

 

Activist Jame David Kolok, executive director for the Foundation for Democracy and Accountable Governance, said excluding key leaders is not wise.

 

“If there are any avenues through which people like Dr. Machar are part of this process then this is a sign that this country is moving towards the path of stability,” Kolok told South Sudan in Focus.  Those “people” would include former Sudanese foreign minister Lam Akol and renegade General Thomas Cirillo, he said.

 

More than four million South Sudanese have been displaced from their homes during a war triggered by violence between supporters of Machar and backers of President Salva Kiir in December 2013. 

Key problems still to be addressed

 

Kolok said it is high time IGAD leaders renew efforts to restore calm in South Sudan and called IGAD resolutions passed on Monday nothing new.

 

“We have seen emphasis being made in regards to this country stopping the war, emphasis being made in terms of question of inclusivity, emphasis being made in terms of ensuring that there is respect for cease-fire.  Unfortunately, time is going and these things are not being realized,” he said.

 

Muhandis said the resolutions from the IGAD Council of Ministers do not outline the key problems that need to be fixed.

 

“There are clear challenges to the implementation. There are clear causes which South Sudan is in crisis and we would love to see IGAD and its council of ministers coming out very clear to outline the issues,” Muhandis said.
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Sessions, Under Fire From Trump, Reportedly Readies Intel Leak Probes

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made clear that he has no plans to resign in the face of harsh criticism from President Donald Trump, but he is said to be considering action that could ease the president’s displeasure.

Trump kept up pressure Wednesday on Sessions. In a two-part Twitter post, he asked why the attorney general had not replaced acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, whose wife received a large campaign donation from Democrats last year when she ran for political office in Virginia.

Trump had expressed disappointment in Sessions earlier this week, though White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants the attorney general to resign. “You can be disappointed in someone but still want them to continue to do their job,” she told the daily White House briefing.

WATCH: Trump Speaks Out Against Sessions

However, when asked whether the president has confidence in Sessions, Sanders was noncommittal. “The president wants the attorney general to focus on his duties as attorney general,” she replied.

Trump’s Twitter blast at McCabe this week is seen as part of his attempt to thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, which has been expanded to include possible White House involvement with Kremlin agents in attempting to influence last year’s presidential election. As acting FBI director, McCabe effectively oversees the Mueller investigation.

White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said Wednesday that Sessions soon would launch a Justice Department investigation into the government leaks of sensitive information that have annoyed and distracted Trump throughout his presidency.

“I think he [Sessions] has got a plan that he’s put together, and at some point, I don’t know if it will be today, tomorrow or next week, he will announce that plan,” Scaramucci told Fox News. “We have to crack down on leaks on a number of different fronts.”

The Washington Post first reported that the leak investigations are in the works.

Such investigations undoubtedly would be good news to Trump, answering one of his longstanding concerns about leaks that have appeared in major U.S. newspapers, sometimes contradicting the official version of events offered by administration officials.

News of the pending investigations came hours after the president tweeted his displeasure with Sessions’ lack of action on the probes.

A senior Republican senator, Bob Corker of Tennessee, said Wednesday the president appears not to want to fire Sessions, a loyalist who was the first senator to back Trump’s candidacy. “I think they [Trump’s advisers] understand that [firing Sessions is] problematic, highly problematic,” Corker said. “But I do think it’s evident that the president is making it difficult for secretary — um, Attorney General Sessions. I think it’s something Jeff has got to decide.”

Another prominent Republican, Senator Lindsay Graham, told CNN on Wednesday that Trump’s attacks on Sessions amount to a show of weakness. “The weakness is that the president is trying not to use his powers. He’s trying to get Sessions to quit,” Graham said. “And I hope Sessions doesn’t quit, and if the president wants to fire him, fire him.”

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who has maintained a steady stream of withering criticisms of Trump, said Wednesday the president’s tweets against Sessions had gone “far beyond the dangers of a chilling effect” at the Department of Justice. He said Americans should wonder why Trump is “publicly, demeaning and humiliating such a close friend, supporter and member of his Cabinet.”

“They should wonder if the president is trying to pry open the Office of Attorney General to appoint someone during the August recess who will fire Special Counsel Mueller and shut down the Republican investigation,” Schumer said. “Let me say, if such a situation arises, Democrats will use every tool in our toolbox to stymie such a recess appointment.”

Trump has told aides for months — and in the last week, reporters — that he is angered that Sessions removed himself from oversight of the Justice Department’s Russia investigation. Sessions said Justice Department rules required him to step aside from the probe because of ethical conflicts created by his own involvement in the Trump campaign and contacts with Russia’s ambassador to Washington.

Trump has said that he would not have named Sessions as attorney general if he had known that Sessions was going to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

With Sessions removed from the probe, his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, appointed special counsel Robert Mueller, another former FBI chief, to lead the criminal investigation of the Russian interference.
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Trump Rallies Supporters Amid Chaotic Week in Washington

Posted on by SeeUS

There have been many chaotic weeks during the short presidency of Donald Trump, but this one may rank as one of the most tumultuous yet.

The Senate scrambled to keep alive hopes of an Obamacare replacement bill, a key Trump campaign promise, while the president waged a Twitter barrage against his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, over his decision months ago to recuse himself from the Russia investigation looking into possible meddling between the Trump campaign and Russia during last year’s election.

Stoking the base

In the midst of it all, Trump held a campaign-style rally Tuesday in Ohio before thousands of enthusiastic supporters and a smattering of protesters who were booed by the pro-Trump crowd.

For Trump, a health care victory in the Senate — far from certain — might turn around his low poll numbers and get his agenda back on track. With that in mind, the president was in campaign mode during his rally in Youngstown, Ohio. “No president has done anywhere near what we have done in his first six months. Not even close,” Trump told the crowd.

Trump seems to enjoy the energy of supporters who so far have remained loyal no matter how low he dips in national polls. 

Unique but controversial style

Trump’s unique presidential style was clearly on display in Youngstown. “He is trying to gin up the crowd at rallies to be more boisterous. He sees it as a popularity and a media presence,” said Dan Mahaffee, the Director of Policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress in Washington.

Trump’s Youngstown visit came at a moment when his agenda has largely stalled. The outcome of the Senate debate on health care is uncertain, and so is the timetable for when Congress might tackle tax reform or infrastructure spending.

Trump also generated plenty of interest this week with his tweets targeting Sessions, as well as his announcement via Twitter on Wednesday that he wants transgender Americans barred from serving in the U.S. military.

‘Good numbers’ with Republicans

Critics have slammed the president’s Twitter habit as a distraction and, in some cases, not presidential.  But Trump had a ready comeback during his speech in Ohio. “Sometimes they say, ‘He doesn’t act presidential,'” Trump told supporters. “With the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that has ever held this office. That I can tell you.”

WATCH: Only Lincoln Is More Presidential, Trump Says

Youngstown was also a reminder that, while Trump has historically low approval ratings for a new president, he remains popular with his core supporters. “He retains pretty good numbers with Republican voters, usually 80 percent approval or better,” noted University of Virginia political analyst Kyle Kondik.

Democrats warn on Russia

Democrats remain unified in opposing Trump’s agenda in Congress. They also fear that Trump’s tweets targeting Sessions signal his desire to end the investigation into possible collusion with Russia in last year’s election.  

“Many Americans must be wondering if the president is trying to pry open the Office of Attorney General to appoint someone during the August recess who will fire Special Counsel Mueller and shut down the Russian investigation,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Several Republicans have also expressed dismay with Trump’s Twitter campaign against Sessions.

Trump’s base has shown little concern about the Russia investigation. But Mahaffee warned that Trump’s focus on pleasing his base could limit his success down the road. “He has made no attempts, really, to push beyond his base of support and he has actually doubled-down on media like Fox News or Breitbart, outlets that speak directly to people who are conservative or want conservative-leaning news.”

Staying the course

The Youngstown rally was further proof that despite his critics, Trump seems determined to stay the course and stick with his unique style of governing.

“Mr. Trump is a unique president. We’ve never had anybody quite like him in the Oval Office before,” said Brookings Institution scholar William Galston. But Galston added that “If you want to have a 40 percent approval rating, then just imitate Mr. Trump. If you would like a governing majority, then you may want to choose a different course.”
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Fed Holds Key Rate Steady, Will Reduce Holdings ‘Relatively Soon’

Posted on by SeeUS

Leaders of the U.S. central bank said Wednesday that they were holding their benchmark lending rate at a low level — in a range between 1 and 1.25 percent — for the time being.  

Federal Reserve officials said in a report issued after their two-day policy meeting that the world’s largest economy was growing at a “moderate” pace and the job market was improving, but that inflation remained a bit low.

The chief economist of Stifel Fixed Income, Lindsey Piegza, said the Fed appeared eager to raise interest rates back to a more “normal” level and might well approve an increase at its next meeting in September. Sara Johnson of IHS Markit said the next rate hike likely would be in December.

Fed officials cut short-term interest rates to nearly zero during the 2007-09 financial crisis to boost investment and growth. They said the recovering economy no longer needed so much help, so they have been gradually raising interest rates and are expected to boost them further in the future.

In a VOA interview, Piegza said keeping rates too low for too long might prompt investors to seek better returns by putting money into excessively risky areas.

During the recession, the Fed also tried to boost growth by cutting long-term interest rates, with a complex program that involved purchasing huge amounts of securities.  

Fed officials said they would keep these assets for the time being but indicated they would begin selling them off “relatively soon.” Fed officials have said they will take care to reduce these assets in a gradual way that will not disrupt markets.
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East African Refugees Make Indefinite Home for Themselves in Indonesia

Posted on by SeeAF

Ranna, 24, an Oromo Ethiopian woman, is not only a third-generation refugee, but also a two-time refugee. Indonesia, which is home now, is the second place to which she has been displaced in her young life.

She was born in Saudi Arabia because her mother, the daughter of a prominent dissident, fled Ethiopia before her birth. But that country did not recognize asylum-seekers and she was officially stateless. After a brief interlude in Ethiopia, where she was deported to at age 16 and where she earned a bachelor’s degree, she was again forced to flee during a government crackdown on Oromo activists in 2015.

After a harrowing interlude in Djibouti, where she says Oromo asylum-seekers were being rounded up and deported because of an agreement with the Ethiopian government, Ranna’s smuggler booked her, her mother and her brother on a flight to Indonesia. It was a country where they knew no one and did not speak the language.

They were granted refugee status within a year and able to make a home in Pasar Minggu Baru, a South Jakarta neighborhood that abuts a commuter train line and station. Over the last three years, the neighborhood has come to house an enclave of East African refugees and asylum-seekers, some of whom arrived, like Ranna, through unscrupulous smugglers. Others got stuck in transit when Australia blocked maritime refugee arrivals in 2014.

Due to the seemingly intractable nature of many African conflicts and the lower levels of global awareness about marginalized groups like the Oromo, East African refugees tend to have some of the longest wait times for resettlement out of Indonesia, if they are resettled at all, according to Trish Cameron, an independent refugee lawyer based in Jakarta.

Pasar Minggu Baru community

There are about 200 East African families in the neighborhood, according to Cameron. Ranna said she finds it quite safe.

“They don’t make you feel like a stranger, maybe because refugees have been hosted here for a long time,” said Ranna. There also is a small Arab market nearby, a happy coincidence because her family speaks Arabic from their time in Saudi Arabia.

Although Ranna has been a Muslim her whole life, she began wearing a headscarf only when she moved to Jakarta, out of respect, she said, for her neighbors.

About 16 percent of the 14,093 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR Indonesia are from East Africa, said Mitra Salima Suryono, a spokesperson for the agency. Most are from Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, plus a handful from Eritrea, Uganda and Mozambique.

Today, Ranna volunteers intensively as a translator — she is fluent in Oromo, Arabic, Amharic and English, and is now conversational in Bahasa Indonesia — to help asylum-seekers in her community prepare for their interviews.

Oromo unrest

The Oromo people are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, split about evenly between Muslims and Christians [Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant], and account for about one-third of the country’s population.

The protests that began in 2015 grew out of a grass-roots movement led by students in the Oromia region. There also is a history of armed struggle for self-determination, however, led by the Oromo Liberation Front, an opposition group formed in 1973 after a military coup. The government has outlawed the OLF as a terrorist organization and blames anti-government protests on OLF and other groups that it labels “anti-peace elements.”

Ranna’s grandfather was a member of OLF and was the earliest family member to flee Ethiopia as a refugee. Although Ranna came to her homeland only as a young adult, she quickly picked up the nationalist energy that ran through her family. She became a prominent student activist and public health official, and was in her first year of medical school when she had to leave for Indonesia.

“There is grief inside me whenever I think about our people,” said Ranna. “Even in my short time there I could see how wrong it was.”

She spent a night in jail (“it felt like a year”) for her activism, but her middle brother suffered a worse fate before he could flee: He simply disappeared.

Human Rights Watch says more than 800 protesters have been killed since the unrest began in November 2015 and thousands more people have been arrested. 

In December 2016, the Ethiopian government announced it would release nearly 10,000 people detained for “rehabilitation.” 

Ranna’s youngest brother had just finished 10th grade when they fled, and in him, she sees signs of the aimless boredom that is now typical of the refugee experience in Indonesia, where refugees cannot legally work or attend school. Her mother has diabetes, and is in and out of hospitals.

She still manages to make spongy injera bread in their makeshift house. Ranna herself has acute anxiety and trouble sleeping at night, bearing, as she does, the weight of her family and community, and extant fears about the Ethiopian state.

Ranna doesn’t regret her activism, even as she and her family prepare for an indefinite stay in Indonesia. “I couldn’t see people dying in front of me and do nothing,” she said. “I could not.”
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Wanted Congo Warlord Surrenders to UN Forces

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One of Democratic Republic of Congo’s most notorious warlords, Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, wanted for alleged crimes against humanity, surrendered to U.N. peacekeepers on Wednesday, the U.N. mission in Congo (MONUSCO) said.

Sheka’s militia, Mai-Mai Sheka, is one of a patchwork of armed groups in eastern Congo regularly accused by the United Nations and rights groups of using rape as a weapon of war.

After six years on the run, Sheka surrendered to U.N. forces in the town of Mutongo in Walikale territory and was transferred to the eastern city of Goma, said MONUSCO spokeswoman Fabienne Pompey.

It was not immediately clear why he had turned himself in.

“He will be handed over to DRC authorities after the regular procedure and checking is done by MONUSCO,” Pompey told Reuters.

Despite the 2003 end to years of war in eastern Congo that killed millions, mostly from hunger and disease, dozens of armed groups continue to operate there, exploiting vast mineral reserves and preying on the local population.

According to the United Nations, Sheka’s forces and two other armed groups raped at least 387 civilians between July 30 and Aug. 2, 2010 to punish them for allegedly collaborating with Congolese government forces.

Congolese authorities issued a warrant for Sheka’s arrest in January 2011 but despite joint operations by the Congolese army and U.N. forces against his group, he remained at large in Walikale’s remote forests.

In 2015, Human Rights Watch said Sheka’s forces had killed at least 70 civilians since the arrest warrant was issued, many of whom were hacked to death by machete and whose body parts were paraded around town as the fighters chanted slurs against rival ethnic groups.

 
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Turkey Hoping for Easing of Russian Sanctions With Missile Deal

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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara has agreed to purchase Russia’s S-400 missile systems, despite NATO concerns.

The controversial purchase comes as Ankara tries to court Moscow, after a Turkish jet downed a Russian bomber operating from Syria in 2015.

“We have now taken steps with Russia about this issue [buying S-400 systems]. Deals have been inked,” Erdogan announced Tuesday to his parliamentary deputies. “In God’s will, we will see S-400 missiles in our country and precede the process with joint production.”

The Turkish president did not miss an opportunity to dismiss concerns of his NATO partners. “Why will it cause tension? A country should be in search for the ideal ways for its own security,” he said.

Turkey’s allegiances questioned

Ankara is at loggerheads with its Western allies over their support for Syrian Kurdish groups fighting Islamic State militants, the former considered to be terrorists by Turkey, along with growing criticism over human rights.

Ankara’s NATO partners have voiced concern about the compatibility of the Russian system with its technology, along with fears that Moscow could use the S-400 as a Trojan horse to compromise NATO systems. The controversy will only add to growing questions over Ankara’s allegiances.

“NATO and EU member Greece purchased the S-300 [an earlier version of the Russian missile system] a couple of years ago,” said Zaur Gasimov, an Istanbul-based research fellow at the Max Weber Foundation working in the field of Russian-Turkish relations.  “However, it is an expensive measure of the Turkish side to demonstrate its sovereignty. It is a signal to the U.S., EU and Germany … by buying the S-400, Ankara demonstrates it’s willing to get closer to Moscow.”

The Pentagon weighed in, telling VOA that the United States has “an open dialog” with Turkey on the issue. Spokesman Johnny Michael told VOA on Wednesday: “We have concerns about the purchasing of the S-400 systems, which we have relayed to the government of Turkey.”

Michael said the United States emphasizes the importance of remaining compatible with the NATO system on any major defense system procurements. But he noted that “the United States and Turkey have a robust and significant defense trade and military sales relationship” and said the U.S. “is committed to expediting the delivery of equipment purchased by Turkey, when possible.”

Ankara insists the missile system, which is acknowledged as being one of most effective on the market, offers the best value for its money. The deal, worth $2.4 billion, is bolstered by Russia’s commitment to transfer technology, which also is a Turkish government priority.

Sanctions factor

There may be more than defense considerations, though, behind the missile purchase.  Ankara is trying to persuade Moscow to end all of the economic sanctions imposed after the Turkish jet downed the Russian bomber.

Some of those sanctions have been scaled back following a succession of meetings between Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.  Russia has lifted an embargo pertaining to the import of some Turkish goods and has ended a ban on Russian tourists visiting Turkey, which had devastated Turkey’s lucrative tourism industry.

But Moscow is extracting a heavy price from Ankara.

“All the rest of the concessions are actually demands, which are advantageous to the Russian side. These are the sale of the S-400 air defense systems to Turkey [and] the completion of Akkuyu, the nuclear plant by Rosatom [a Russian company],” pointed out former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who is now an analyst. “Export of [Turkish] tomatoes is not solved yet. The issue of visas for Turkish citizens is not solved yet.”

Russia was once Turkey’s biggest export market for tomatoes, with the trade valued at $250 million annually.

During Erdogan’s March meeting with Putin, the Turkish president reportedly lobbied hard for an end to the tomato ban, to no avail.  But a breakthrough may be in the offing.  On the same day Erdogan announced the decision to buy the S-400, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich announced negotiations on the tomato ban would resume August 18.

But Moscow’s reluctance to make speedy concessions offers an insight into the wider nature of bilateral relations.

With multiple outstanding differences between Moscow and Ankara — in particular over Syria, with the two nations backing rival sides in the civil war — and Russia’s support for Syrian Kurdish rebels that Ankara calls terrorists, the possibility of a re-emergence of tensions remains.

VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this story.
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Families of Victims in Loss of Cameroonian Ship Demand Answers

Posted on by SeeAF

Thirty-two people, most of them soldiers with Cameroon’s elite Rapid Intervention Battalion, remain unaccounted for after their ship capsized off the coast of the Bakassi Peninsula over a week ago. Relatives of the missing are demanding answers.

Dozens come every evening to comfort the residents of a house in the Yaounde-Nkoabang neighborhood of the capital. It is the home of Alex Alega, one of the 32 soldiers still missing after a Cameroonian military vessel went down off the Atlantic coast July 16. 

His brother, Theophile, is anxious for news. He says it is unacceptable that, to date, the military has not explained to the Cameroonian people what happened and why it has not been able to retrieve the corpses. He says the military should provide an account of what happened.

The Defense Ministry issued a written statement the day of the incident, saying the circumstances had not yet been established. No other statement has been released since then.

The military logistics ship was carrying 37 people when it went down. Three soldiers were rescued, and two victims were retrieved from the vessel three days later.

However, Colonel Henri Belinga, commander of the coast guard sector of Cameroon’s elite corps, says harsh weather has made it difficult to carry out search-and-retrieval missions.

Belinga says operations continue to try to recover the bodies from the vessel, which is 35 meters underwater. He says he wants to reiterate that this was an accident. He says they have asked for and obtained the support of the navy to help them find the bodies.

The Bakassi Peninsula remains a site of some tension in Cameroon. It was the source of a decades-long border dispute with Nigeria. Nigeria officially ceded the oil-rich peninsula to Cameroon in 2008 following a ruling by the International Court of Justice.

Belinga told VOA reports that the ship may have been attacked by pirates protesting alleged bad treatment of Nigerians in the Bakassi Peninsula are false.

The vessel was transporting equipment for construction work at a military base on the peninsula. Officials say the construction work and the transfer of supplies to troops in Bakassi have been halted since the lone supply vessel sank.
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Red Cross Urges West, Saudi-Led Coalition to Resolve Yemen Crisis

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Western and regional powers must use their influence on Yemen’s warring parties to end a two-year conflict that has exacerbated a huge cholera epidemic and left the country in ruins, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.

A Saudi-led coalition is battling the Iran-aligned Houthi group, which controls most of northern Yemen and the capital Sanaa, in a war that has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than three million.

“Definitely we would hope that Western countries understand the deep crisis, the risk of this enormous crisis for international stability, for the stability of the region,” ICRC President Peter Maurer told reporters, speaking from Sanaa during a five-day mission to Yemen.

“I came here to urge the international community to take action and step up its response to this outbreak, which is – let’s be very clear – a man-made outbreak. It’s largely the consequence of warfare and destruction of public services,” said Maurer, after visits to Taiz and Aden.

He called for finding solutions to pay workers’ salaries and allowing aid supplies including medicines into the port of Hodeidah and Sanaa airport, both controlled by the Houthi rebels, to ease massive suffering.

Yemen’s health system is in tatters, salaries have not been paid for 10 months, waste is “piling up” in the streets, and hospitals, water stations and other vital infrastructure have been attacked and destroyed, he said.

The cholera epidemic that erupted in April is still raging, infecting about 400,000 people, and despite signs of its spread slowing, could be reignited by the rainy season, Maurer said.

“The pace of increase of cases is slightly diminishing. Which does not mean overall the cases are decreasing but the pace is slightly diminishing,” he said. “The problem is most experts expect the pace to increase when the rainy season starts.”

Maurer said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their coalition as well as Yemeni parties were all “critical actors to find solutions” to the crisis.

“I would also hope that those countries outside the region should use their influence to nudge these parties into compromise, to use their influence in order to find solutions,” he added.

Maurer said he hoped to “break the deadlock” over ICRC visits to detainees who are held by all sides, including by the coalition. He sought an “atmosphere where exchanges of prisoners can be negotiated between the parties”.

 

 
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EU Warns US It May Counter New Sanctions on Russia

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The European Union warned on Wednesday that it was ready to act within days to counter proposed new U.S. sanctions on Russia, saying they would harm the bloc’s energy security.

Sanctions legislation overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday has angered EU officials: they see it as breaking transatlantic unity in the West’s response to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Brussels also fears the new sanctions will harm European firms with connections to Russia, and oil and gas projects on which the EU is dependent.

“The U.S. bill could have unintended unilateral effects that impact the EU’s energy security interests,” EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement issued after a meeting at which European commissioners were united in their views, according to a senior EU official.

“If our concerns are not taken into account sufficiently, we stand ready to act appropriately within a matter of days. ‘America First’ cannot mean that Europe’s interests come last,” he said, mentioning President Donald Trump’s guiding slogan.

A EU document prepared for the commissioners, seen by Reuters, laid out the EU’s plans to seek “demonstrable reassurances” that the White House would not use the bill to target EU interests.

The bloc, it says, will also prepare to use an EU regulation allowing it to defend companies against the application of extraterritorial measures by the United States.

If diplomacy fails, Brussels plans to file a complaint at the World Trade Organization. “In addition, the preparation of a substantive response that would deter the U.S. from taking measures against EU companies could be considered,” it says.

However, most measures taken by Brussels would require approval from all 28 EU member governments, which could expose potential differences in individual nations’ relations with Moscow and Washington.

Despite changes to the U.S. bill that took into account some EU concerns, Brussels said the legislation could still hinder upkeep of the gas pipeline network in Russia that feeds into Ukraine and supplies over a quarter of EU needs. The EU says it could also hamper projects crucial to its energy diversification goals, such as the Baltic Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project.

The new sanctions target the disputed Nord Stream 2 project for a new pipeline running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. But the EU note says: “the impact would in reality be much wider.”

A list prepared by the EU executive, seen by Reuters, shows eight projects including those involving oil majors Anglo-Dutch Shell, BP and Italy’s Eni that risk falling foul of the U.S. measures.

Voicing frustration at the fraying in the joint Western approach to Moscow, Juncker said “close coordination among allies” was key to ensuring that curbs on business with the Russian energy, defense and financial sectors, imposed in July 2014, are effective.

EU sources said Juncker told Commissioners the risk to EU interests was collateral damage of a U.S. domestic fight between Trump and U.S. lawmakers.

It was unclear how quickly the U.S. bill would reach the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. The bill amounts to a rebuke of Trump by requiring him to obtain lawmakers’ permission before easing any sanctions on Moscow.

Rejecting the legislation — which would potentially stymie his wish for improved relations with Moscow — would carry a risk that his veto could be overridden by lawmakers.

Industry concerns

European energy industry sources voiced alarm at the potentially wide-ranging damage of the new U.S. measures.

“This is pretty tough,” one industry source told Reuters.

“We are working with EU officials to see what safeguards can be anticipated to protect our investment and give us certainty.”

Five Western firms are partnered with Russia’s Gazprom in Nord Stream 2: German’s Wintershall and Uniper, Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV and France’s Engie.

But EU officials warn the U.S. measures would also hit plans for the LNG plant on the Gulf of Finland in which Shell is partnering with Gazprom.

The EU document shows they might jeopardize Eni’s 50 percent stake in the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia to Turkey as well as the CPC pipeline, carrying Kazakh oil to the Black Sea, involving European groups BG Overseas Holdings, Shell and Eni.

It further warns that BP would be forced to halt some activities with Russian energy major Rosneft.
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Qatar Calls New Terror List ‘Disappointing Surprise’

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Qatar said on Wednesday a decision by four Arab states to add 18 groups and individuals allegedly linked to Doha to their “terrorist” lists was “a disappointing surprise” and that it was doing all it could to fight extremism.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain put another nine groups based in Yemen and Libya and nine people from several Arab countries on the blacklist, saying all were associated with Qatar.

“[The new list] comes as a disappointing surprise that the blockading countries are still pursuing this story as part of their smear campaign against Qatar,” Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed al-Thani, director of the Gulf kingdom’s Government Communications Office, said in a statement sent to Reuters.

“This latest list provides further evidence that the blockading countries are not committed to the fight against terrorism. As we have previously stated, all individuals with links to terrorism in Qatar have been prosecuted.”

Sheikh Saif said Qatar constantly reviews its anti-terror laws to “remain on the front foot in the fight against extremism and terror financing.”

The four countries severed relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing the major gas-exporting Gulf state of financing terrorism, meddling in the affairs of Arab countries and cozying up to their arch-rival Iran.

Western-backed efforts by Kuwait to mediate in the dispute, the worst between the Gulf states in years, have so far yielded little progress. On Wednesday, remarks by a senior UAE official suggested no compromise would come any time soon.

It was important to look beyond “crisis” and to think of it as a “new set of relations in [the] Gulf replacing old ones,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash wrote on Twitter, adding that the current state was set to continue.

“We have to go on without Qatar; a conservative Gulf monarchy, in [a] totally anachronistic place. Promoting policies and values it does not practice,” he wrote.

The boycotting countries want Qatar to cut back ties with Iran, close down a Turkish military base in Qatar and shut the Al Jazeera TV channel, which they view as critical of their governments.

Qatar and Turkey have been important backers of the Muslim Brotherhood movement that has challenged entrenched Arab rulers.

Qatar, however, said last month that charges of support for Islamist militancy “hold no foundation in fact.”

Doha signed an agreement earlier this month with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson aimed at combating terrorist financing, part of a U.S. effort to end the worst rift between Western-allied Arab states for years.

In Tuesday’s statement, the four countries accused Qatari, Kuwaiti and Yemeni nationals of helping raise funds for al-Qaida militants. Their blacklist now includes three Yemeni charities, three Libyan media outlets, two armed groups and a religious foundation, some of which are already subject to U.S. sanctions.
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Lebanese Rock Singer Urges Men to Champion Women’s Rights in Middle East

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The lead singer of a Lebanese rock band, which has courted controversy for its songs dealing with homophobia and sexism, has urged more men to champion women’s rights in the Middle East.

Hamed Sinno, the openly gay frontman of Mashrou’ Leila, also called for more women in politics and for discriminatory laws to be repealed.

“No one is saying that we should arbitrarily just get rid of all men in power and substitute them with women, but there is a question about … why it is that we still have this many issues with women’s representation, with women in government and other rights,” he said.

Mashrou’ Leila, which is on a world tour, has made headlines for singing about subjects that are largely taboo in the Arabic pop scene, including politics, religion, social justice, and sexual freedom.

The group has garnered a loyal following in the Middle East, but has also received death threats on social media and was banned from playing in Jordan last month.

Jordanian parliamentarian Dima Tahboub suggested in media interviews that the ban was linked to Sinno’s homosexuality.

In a statement on Facebook, Mashrou’ Leila said the ban was symptomatic of “the fanatical conservatism that has contributed in making the region increasingly toxic over the last decade”.

Speaking by phone from New York, Sinno told the Thomson Reuters Foundation there was a lot of work to be done in the struggle for gender equality in the Middle East.

He criticized the lack of female representation in government in the region, wage inequality, women’s right to govern their own bodies, and Lebanon’s rape laws, which include a provision that allows a rapist to avoid punishment by marrying his victim.

The 29-year-old American-Lebanese singer said men should celebrate the achievements of leading women in the Middle East and he praised Muslim feminists, including the writers Mona Eltahawy and Maya Mikdashi, for “disturbing patriarchal codes”.

Sinno, who has described his all-male band as “extremely vocal feminists”, also said he was fed up of western stereotyping of Middle Eastern women as “passive”.

The band’s new music video by female Lebanese director Jessy Moussallem – released last week with their song “Roman” – is intended to challenge the way Muslim and Arab women are portrayed, he said.

The video shows dozens of women wearing traditional Islamic dress uniting around a powerful central figure who performs a striking contemporary dance wearing an abaya (loose-fitting robe) and hijab. Sinno said the video was a celebration of Muslim women’s ability to empower each other.

The male members of the band take a backseat in the video. “Having men there not doing anything was basically what the point was,” Sinno added.

 
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Objects From Auschwitz Death Camp to Tour Europe, America

Posted on by SeeEU

Officials at the museum of the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz say some exhibits are going on a tour of Europe and North America to bring its tragic truth about the Holocaust to a wider audience.

The museum says Wednesday this will be its first-ever traveling exhibition and will include some 600 items. Most of them will come from the museum, but also from other collections, like Israel’s Yad Vashem.

 

The “Not long ago: Not far away” exhibit will include personal items of the victims and an original barrack from the Auschwitz-Monowitz part of the camp, a German freight wagon the Nazis used to bring inmates in.

 

Some 1.1 million people, mostly Europe’s Jews, were killed in the camp that Nazi Germans operated in occupied Poland during World War II.

 

 
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Muslim Cleric: Protest to Go on Until Israel Removes New Railings, Cameras

Posted on by SeeEA

A senior Muslim official in Jerusalem said Wednesday that worshippers would not return to a contested shrine until Israel removes the new railings and cameras it installed after a deadly attack there, prolonging a crisis that Israel hoped it had resolved by making concessions at the site.

Ikrema Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Committee, said that even after Israel removed metal detectors from the site, more steps are required to restore calm. He said mass prayer protests would continue until the gates of the compound are opened, metal railings and an iron bridge removed and newly installed cameras taken down.

A lawyer working on behalf of the Muslim administration of the holy site would be in touch with Israeli police about it, he added.

“We will not enter the mosque until these things are implemented,” Sabri told The Associated Press. “Now we are awaiting the response of the police.”

The demands set off the prospect of a renewed showdown ahead of Friday prayers at the site, when a large number of worshippers arrive for the centerpiece of the Muslim prayer week.

Israel installed the new security measures earlier this month after Arab gunmen shot and killed two police officers from within the site. It said they were necessary to prevent more attacks, while Palestinians claimed Israel was trying to expand its control over the site. The issue sparked some of the worst street clashes in years and threatened to draw Israel into conflict with other Arab and Muslim nations.

Under intense pressure, Israel removed the metal detectors and said it planned to install sophisticated security cameras instead.

But Palestinian politicians and Muslim clerics say that isn’t enough and are demanding Israel restore the situation at the shrine in Jerusalem’s Old City to what it was before the July 14 deadly attack.

In response to that attack, Israel closed the site for two days for weapons searches and installed the metal detectors. The decision quickly triggered Muslim protests amid rumors that Israel was trying to expand its control at the site under the guise of security – a claim Israel strongly denied.

Low-level clashes have continued in and around Jerusalem. The Red Crescent said 13 people were treated Tuesday night after being hit by rubber bullets during protests.

The continued standoff highlighted the deep distrust between Israel and the Palestinians when it comes to the shrine – the third-holiest in Islam and the most sacred in Judaism.

The 37-acre (15-hectare) compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been a lightning rod for the rival religious and national narratives of the two sides and has triggered major confrontations in the past.

The latest development could put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a tough spot, as he tries to tamp out a wave of unrest that has triggered international pressure while not appearing to his hard-line base as capitulating.

His government has faced a growing backlash at home for what critics said was hasty decision-making and embarrassing policy reversals. Even Israel Hayom, a free daily owned by Netanyahu’s billionaire patron Sheldon Adelson, denounced Israel’s response to the crisis as “feeble and frightened.”

In an unprecedented headline, the paper – which has been an unequivocal source of support for the prime minister – led with “Netanyahu’s demonstration of helplessness.”

In a face-saving compromise, and after Netanyahu spoke to Jordan’s King Abdullah II and others, Israel’s security Cabinet announced on Monday that in place of the metal detectors, it would employ nonintrusive “advanced technologies” – reportedly smart cameras that can detect hidden objects. The new security system is said to be set up in the next six months at a cost of $28 million.

Netanyahu appeared to be doubling back again Wednesday when he instructed police forces to conduct thorough inspections at the site.

Israeli police, meanwhile, acknowledged Wednesday that their forces have been preventing journalists from entering parts of Jerusalem’s Old City as part of efforts to lower tensions.

Reporters have complained this week that they were being blocked from covering the unrest around the shrine while tourists have been able to freely move about the city and film with their mobile phones.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Wednesday that “journalists are being prevented from coming in those specific areas where there have been disturbances and riots.” He said it was a decision made by the Jerusalem police district.

The Foreign Press Association derided the move, calling it “a kind of innovative censorship that is surprising in a country that prides itself on press freedom.”

Israel has also found itself in a new scuffle with Turkey, whose leader President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been among its fiercest critics. On Tuesday, Erdogan accused Israel of using security measures as a pretext to take over holy sites in Jerusalem.

Israel’s foreign ministry responded by calling the comments “delusional, baseless and distorted.”

“The days of the Ottoman Empire are over,” it said. “He who lives in a palace of glass would be better off not throwing stones.”

Netanyahu’s office also chimed in, saying it wondered what Erdogan would have to say to Kurds and residents of north Cyprus. “Erdogan is the last one who can preach to Israel,” it said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s foreign ministry called the Israeli statements “arrogant.”
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Luxury Firms’ Online Battle Boosted by EU Court Adviser’s Coty Stance

Posted on by SeeEU

A decade-long battle by luxury brands to defend their image neared an end on Wednesday when an adviser to Europe’s top court said Coty can block a German retailer from selling its beauty products via online marketplaces.

“A supplier of luxury goods may prohibit its authorized retailers from selling its products on third-party platforms such as Amazon or eBay,” Advocate General Nils Wahl at the European Union’s Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion.

Wahl’s view relates to a dispute between the German business of Coty, whose brands include Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein and Chloe, and German retailer Parfumerie Akzente, which sells Coty’s goods on sites including Amazon against its wishes.

Luxury brands say they should have the right to choose who sells their products to protect their image and exclusivity.

Judges at Europe’s highest court, who follow their advisers’ opinions in four out of five cases, will rule on the case “Coty Germany GmbH v Parfumerie Akzente GmbH” in the coming months.

Coty did not respond to a request for comment.

Denis Waelbroeck, a lawyer at Ashurst, said there is a rationale to the luxury brands’ arguments against so-called free riders, companies who may benefit from others’ marketing efforts without paying the costs.

“I don’t think free riding deserves a particular reward. Competition rules do not allow free riding on heavy investments made by luxury goods companies,” he said.

EU antitrust regulators crafted rules in 2010 which allow brand owners with less than a 30 percent market share to block online retailers without a bricks-and-mortar shop from distributing their products.
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