Month: July 2017

McCain: War Hero Who Became a Political Power Broker

Posted on by SeeUS

There has been an outpouring of bipartisan support from current and former lawmakers for Republican Senator John McCain, a singular figure in American politics, after it was revealed he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma.

The Arizona Republican is widely regarded as an American hero for his service as a U.S. Navy pilot in the Vietnam War, where he narrowly escaped death twice. His plane was shot down over a Hanoi lake, and he was captured.

He spent the next five years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, including two years in solitary confinement. His injuries were neglected and he was beaten and tortured. He was offered early release, because his father was a four-star admiral, but he rejected it, choosing to stay until his fellow POWs were also released.

Visits to Vietnam

VOA interviewed McCain last May, ahead of then-President Barack Obama’s historic trip to Vietnam and Hiroshima. McCain said he had been back to Vietnam more than 20 times since the war, working to promote normalization of relations and to bring back the remains of American servicemen killed during the war.

McCain is passionate about the power of reconciliation to bring two former enemies, the U.S. and Vietnam, together,

“First of all, I worked very, very hard for normalizing our relationship,” he said. “I wanted to heal the wounds of war. I wanted many of our veterans, who have been unable to do so, to come all the way home. I can’t tell you, by the way, the number of veterans that I have met who have brought their families back to Vietnam to show them where they served and fought. … And the relations between the Vietnamese people and the United States of America has never been better.”

After the war, McCain was elected to the U.S. House, then to the U.S. Senate in Arizona, his home state.

After 31 years in the Senate, McCain now chairs the powerful Armed Services Committee and is a staunch champion of the U.S. military. He is viewed as a tough foreign policy “hawk,” championing U.S. intervention in hot spots such as Syria and remaining a deep skeptic about improving relations with Russia.  

McCain has been seen as an independent thinker who has not shied away from questioning decisions made by fellow Republicans. He supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 but criticized how the Bush administration waged the war.

He is also known for reaching across the aisle to work with Democrats on a number of issues, such as climate change, comprehensive immigration reform and campaign finance reform.

McCain and Obama

He has run for president twice. He dropped out when running behind Republican George W. Bush in the primaries in 2000.

Eight years later, he was chosen as the Republican nominee to run against Obama, then a U.S. senator from Illinois.

A few weeks before the November election, at a time when some McCain supporters shouted racist insults about Obama, McCain corrected one of his supporters in this famous exchange:

“I don’t trust Obama,” the woman told McCain. “He’s an Arab.”

McCain stopped her and said: “No, ma’am,” he said. “He’s a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with.”

After Obama won, McCain congratulated him, saying he recognized the special significance his victory had for African-Americans.

One of the first people to respond to the news breaking late Wednesday of McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis was Obama, who tweeted: “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”

This same sentiment has been echoed by President Donald Trump and a number of foreign leaders, and by many of McCain’s Democratic and Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill, who are hoping to have the 80-year-old fighter back in the Senate soon.
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Qatar’s Emir Amends Anti-Terrorism Laws

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Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has issued a decree to amend the country’s anti-terrorism laws, in a move that appears aimed at countering charges that the Gulf Arab state supports terrorism.

Qatar has been under pressure from four Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, over allegations it supports terrorism, a charge it denies.

The decree includes definitions for the words terrorist, crime, terrorism and acts of terrorism, as well as freezing of funds and financing terrorism.

It also creates two national terrorism lists and sets rules for listing individuals and groups on each list.

The Arab nations have not only accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, they have also imposed strict sanctions on the Gulf state.

Last week, Qatar signed an accord with the United States that provided for measures to work together to fight terrorism financing. Details of the accord have not been released.
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US Lawmakers Want Fresh Sanctions on Hezbollah

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Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday seeking to increase sanctions on Hezbollah, accusing the powerful Shiite Muslim political group of violence in Syria and amassing rockets along Israel’s border.

The bill, an amendment to existing sanctions on the group, seeks to further restrict its ability to fundraise and recruit, increase pressure on banks that do business with it and crack down on countries, including Iran, that support Hezbollah.

Among other things, it would bar anyone found to be supporting the group from entering the United States, require the president to report to Congress on whether Iranian financial institutions are facilitating its transactions, and impose blocking sanctions on the group for criminal activities.

Officials in Lebanon fear U.S. efforts to widen sanctions on Hezbollah could damage the country’s important banking industry, because of the group’s widespread influence in their country. They visited Washington to lobby lawmakers in May.

But members of the U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration are eager to curb the influence of Iran and its allies in the Middle East. This week, the Trump administration slapped new sanctions on Iran.

“These sanctions will severely limit Hezbollah’s financial network and transnational criminal activities, as well as crack down its backers, most importantly Iran,” Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

Versions of the bill were introduced in both the House of Representatives and Senate, sponsored by Royce and Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senators Marco Rubio and Jeanne Shaheen, Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

There was no immediate word on when or if the legislation might come up for votes in the House of Senate.
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Officer in Minnesota Shooting Was Celebrated in Somali Community

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Mohamed Noor was celebrated when he became a Minneapolis police officer 21 months ago, joining a handful of other Somalis on the police force in a city with one of the United States’ largest Somali communities.

Now he is now under investigation in fatal shooting of Justine Damond, an Australian woman who had made Minneapolis her home and who was killed by a single gunshot wound to the abdomen that state law enforcement officials say was fired by Noor.

Noor, 31, still has supporters after the shooting of Damond, who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in her neighborhood on Saturday.

But some are worried about a backlash in the Somali community, while one former politician had only harsh words. The eldest of 10 children, Noor came to the United States as a child and has been held up by the Somali community as an example. He was one of only about 20 Somali police officers in Minnesota.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges had touted his arrival to the police force in a Facebook post.

“I want to take a moment to recognize Officer Mohamed Noor, the newest Somali officer in the Minneapolis Police Department,” she said in a May 2016 post, a few months after he joined the department, alongside photos of Noor smiling at a community meet-and-greet. “His arrival has been highly celebrated, particularly by the Somali community.”

‘Inspiring’ to youths

He remains a role model for some.

“He is inspiring to young people in the community,” Abdikadir Hassan, a candidate for a Minneapolis Park Board seat, told the city’s Star Tribune said this week.

Others said the community could suffer.

“A lot of people are holding the Somali community accountable,” said Abdirizak Bihi, director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis. “That’s absolutely wrong.”

Among the most vocal critics was Michele Bachmann, a Republican former U.S. representative. On Wednesday she called Noor an “affirmative-action hire by the hijab-wearing mayor of Minneapolis,” the Star Tribune reported.

Noor has refused to be interviewed by authorities about the shooting, which has sparked outrage in Minneapolis and in Australia. Police are investigating why body cameras on Noor and the second police officer who arrived at the scene and the dashboard camera on their patrol car were not turned on at the time.

His record has not been spotless. In his 21 months on the force, he received three complaints. The police union said that rate is not very unusual.

Police records show that one of the complaints closed with no discipline and two remain open. It did not detail the issues involved, and police have not yet released his personnel file.

Sued in rights case

Noor was sued in June along with two other officers in a case now in federal court for an alleged rights violation over their role in transporting a woman to a hospital after a relative reported concern about her mental health. The case is pending.

It is not clear when Noor came to the United States, but in 2011 he earned a degree in business administration, management and economics from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, according to a spokeswoman for the school.

He worked as a hotel manager in Minnesota and at a real estate business in St. Louis, court documents show.

Noor has a 7-year-old son, according to court documents filed as part of a child custody proceeding. At one point, he lived alone in a sparse one-bedroom apartment, where he had a box of Lego blocks for his son, the documents said. It was not clear where the son currently resides.

“He joined the police force to serve the community and to protect the people he serves,” his lawyer, Tom Plunkett, said in a statement. “Officer Noor is a caring person with a family he loves.”
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CAF Executives Approve African Cup Expansion, Timing Change

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The Confederation of African Football’s executive committee has approved expanding the African Cup of Nations from 16 to 24 teams and moving the continent’s top tournament from the beginning of the year to June-July.

CAF says the changes should come into effect for the next tournament in 2019 in Cameroon.

Other radical proposals for the African Cup — that it be hosted outside of Africa and invite non-African teams to play — were ditched by the executive committee. CAF says the African Cup will be “exclusively held on African soil with African national teams.”

CAF president Ahmad Ahmad says the approved changes will now be put to CAF’s general assembly in Rabat, Morocco, on Friday to be endorsed by African soccer’s member countries.

Moving the tournament from its January-February slot to the European summer months of June and July has long been seen as necessary to ensure the continent’s top players play at the Cup of Nations.

The move will avoid it taking place at the height of the European league season, a clash which has often undermined the Cup of Nations by making African players choose between staying with their European clubs or representing their country.
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US Lifts Ban on Laptop Computers on Incoming Foreign Flights

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The U.S. has lifted its ban on carry-on laptop computers on foreign flights headed to American airports.

The Department of Homeland Security’s ban list originally affected 10 airports and nine airlines, mostly Middle Eastern carriers. The agency announced that the countries where the airports are located were complying with tightened security measures and anyone flying to the U.S. can now bring a computer onto the plane.

The toughened security measures include checking electronic devices for possible explosives and pulling more people out of airport security lines for more extensive screening.

Ban started in March

Homeland Security imposed the laptop ban from the Middle East in March and threatened to expand it to more than 280 airports worldwide unless all of them carried out the intensified screenings.

Many global airlines feared a laptop ban, especially for business travelers, would hurt their business.

“The quick and decisive action taken by airlines, nations, and stakeholders are a testament to our shared commitment to raising the bar on global aviation security,” Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan said Thursday.

DHS tests laptop bomb

U.S. authorities imposed the ban in March when intelligence said Islamic State was working to build a bomb inside a laptop.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told a U.S. security conference Wednesday that experts carried out such a test.

“We tested it on a real airplane on the ground, pressurized, and to say the least, it destroyed the airplane,” he said.
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Kenyan Election Body Fighting Over 300 Lawsuits as Vote Looms

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Kenya’s electoral body says it is facing more than 300 court cases from candidates, parties and civil society groups before elections on August 8, raising concern about whether the disputes can be resolved in time.

President Uhuru Kenyatta will again face his arch-nemesis, Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition leader. Kenyatta is the son of Kenya’s first president and the urbane scion of a wealthy family, while Odinga is the son of the first vice president and a fiery populist.

Any doubts over the legality of the elections could spark protests by candidates contesting presidential, legislative or local seats. Odinga has said that the last two elections, both marred by irregularities, were rigged.

In 2007, he called for street protests, sparking ethnic violence that killed more than 1,200 people. In 2013, when Kenyan government leaders faced charges at the International Criminal Court, he went to court but much of his testimony was dismissed on technicalities.

Paul Mwangi, the head of Odinga’s legal team, said he had lost count of the number of cases they had filed against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

They have demanded that electronic systems be foolproof and that results announced at constituency level be final to remove the possibility of tampering in Nairobi. They have also lodged a complaint saying the company printing ballot papers is too close to Kenyatta.

The first case will be decided Friday, the second was lost on appeal and the third was won.

Attempt to delay seen

The government argues the legal battles are an attempt to delay the elections and pave the way for power-sharing. “If that date is vacated, this republic will be thrown into a constitutional crisis,” Attorney General Githu Muigai said before the high court.

Chrispine Owiye, overseeing the electoral body’s legal response, said the flood of cases could indicate a newfound faith in the democratic system.

“We’ve opened up a flurry of complaints because people now believe they can get justice from IEBC,” he said.

The opposition are not the only ones suing. There are 8,000 independent candidates vying for lucrative seats in this election, and many of them have lodged cases. During the last election, there were only 300.

Civil society groups have also filed cases. The Africa Center for Open Governance wants the voter registry to be public.

A KPMG audit report said the registry contained irregularities; IEBC says it has addressed these, but the center says it is impossible to tell until the registry is public.

“Three weeks to the election, we don’t have the register published,” said Gladwell Otieno, director of the center. “The reason people are going to court is because IEBC isn’t doing the right thing.”
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Gunmen Attack Elite Security Unit in Ivory Coast, Steal Weapons

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Gunmen, some of them in uniform, attacked the base of an elite security unit in Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, killing an officer, stealing weapons and then fighting security forces in another part of the city, defense officials said on Thursday.

The raid, late on Wednesday, follows months of military mutinies. It came hours after the government rejigged top security posts, and two days before an event that will bring in thousands from around the French-speaking world to Ivory Coast.

Shooting broke out at around 9.30 p.m. (2130 GMT) at the national police academy in Abidjan’s Cocody neighborhood and lasted for about an hour, one Reuters witness said.

The academy houses a detachment of the CCDO, a rapid response unit composed of police officers, gendarmes and soldiers that is one of the best-equipped units in the Ivorian security forces.

Defense Minister Hamed Bakayoko told Reuters during a visit to the base early on Thursday that the attack was clearly aimed at seizing weaponry.

“These are saboteurs, men who mount sporadic operations and create a feeling of insecurity, and sabotage the work of the government. They aren’t able to hold a position for long,” he said.

Bakayoko, previously minister of the interior, was appointed defense minister on Wednesday. The government shake-up was part of an attempt to end successive waves of armed uprisings by members of the security forces demanding bonus payments.

Bakayoko said security forces had fought off the attackers, who fled with stolen weapons.

Spent bullet casings littered the parking lot outside the CCDO base and bullet holes marked the walls inside. An army spokesman said later that one security officer was killed in the initial raid.

Following that attack, a second Reuters reporter heard sustained gunfire near the base of the police anti-riot brigade in the Yopougon neighborhood in northern Abidjan, which also houses a CCDO unit. Bakayoko said security forces had clashed with the same group of gunmen there.

“We found their vehicle in Yopougon. There was an engagement between our forces and these people, and we found weaponry that was taken here [at the police academy],” he said.

Authorities were trying to determine if any arms were still missing, Bakayoko said.

Witnesses and a police source had reported gunfire in other parts of Abidjan overnight also, but the city was calm by early morning and two attack helicopters were patrolling the skies.

From Friday, Abidjan will host the Jeux de la Francophonie, a 10-day sporting and cultural event when 3,000 Francophone athletes and artists will convene.
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UN: Fighting Rages in Parts of South Sudan Despite Cease-fire

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A senior U.N. peacekeeping official said Thursday that fighting had escalated in parts of South Sudan, despite a government-declared unilateral cease-fire in May.

“There have been concerning reports of active military operations in the Equatorias and Upper Nile,” U.N. deputy peacekeeping chief El Ghassim Wane told the Security Council.

“The security environment remains extremely volatile and South Sudan is in need of an effective and credible cease-fire,” he said.

Wane said earlier this month that the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan had received credible reports of heavy fighting after the Sudanese army moved toward Mathiang in Upper Nile. He said there were also clashes between government and opposition forces near Torit, in Eastern Equatoria.

“The nature of these operations clearly contradicts the unilateral cease-fire declared by the government,” he said.

Last August, the Security Council authorized the deployment of 4,000 additional peacekeepers as part of a Regional Protection Force. They will be based in the capital, Juba, to help protect civilians.

Deployment has been slower than envisioned.  Wane told the council that troops from Rwanda and Ethiopia should be arriving in the next two months.

Revitalizing peace process

Meanwhile, efforts to revive the stalled peace process continue.

Former Botswana President Festus Mogae, who chairs the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, which is overseeing peace efforts in South Sudan, told the council via a video link from Juba that he had engaged in extensive outreach to stakeholders and regional leaders.

Among those he met with recently was former South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar, who is the political rival at the center of the more than three-year-old conflict with President Salva Kiir. Machar is living in South Africa.

Mogae told the council, “The message I conveyed to Dr. Riek Machar was to renounce violence, declare a unilateral cease-fire and participate in the national dialogue” — an initiative begun by Kiir to try to reconcile all grievances of South Sudan’s political and armed groups. “He declined to do so,” Mogae said. “However, he demanded a new political process by the region outside South Sudan.”

Also of concern is the obstruction of humanitarian aid deliveries by both the government and opposition. More than 6 million South Sudanese are severely food insecure.

In June, council diplomats said aid was blocked 100 times, the worst month for aid access this year. In addition, the government is still asking humanitarian groups to pay high fees to continue operating in the country.

Sanctions, arms embargo

“This council must be prepared to hold the parties accountable for their inaction and for the continued suffering of South Sudan’s people,” U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Michele Sison told the council. “The council must put real pressure on the parties to change their behavior. That should start with additional targeted sanctions and an arms embargo.”

She said imposing such measures would show that the Security Council was serious about pushing for an end to the fighting and a return to the negotiating table.

A U.S.-led effort in the council last December to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan failed, with only seven of the 15 council members supporting the measure and the other eight abstaining.

“I haven’t seen a significant enough change to be confident that there would be nine positive votes and no vetoes this time around,” British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters when asked about a possible move to try again for an arms embargo.

Since fighting along largely ethnic lines erupted between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar in December 2013, tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million have been displaced from their homes.
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Uganda Arrests Opposition Activists

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Speculation Museveni planning constitutional change for another term
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Despite Rhetoric, Trump’s Foreign Policy Hews Close to Obama’s

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Six months into his presidency, Donald Trump has a mixed record on his pledges to reverse much of his predecessor’s foreign policy legacy. He has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, dropped the Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact and vocally supported better relations with Russia. But as VOA White House correspondent Peter Heinlein reports, many other aspects of Barack Obama’s policy, such as the Iran nuclear deal, remain in place.
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Report: Trump Ends CIA Program to Arm, Train Syrian Rebels

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President Donald Trump has decided to halt the CIA’s years-long covert program to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels battling the regime of the nation’s president Bashar al-Assad. Russia had long pushed the United States to end the program.

The phasing out of the secret program was reported by The Washington Post Wednesday. Officials told the newspaper that ending the operation reflects Trump’s interest in finding ways to work with Russia.

The program was a key component begun by the Obama administration in 2013 to put pressure on Assad to relinquish power. But even its supporters have questioned its usefulness since Moscow sent forces in Syria two years later.

Russia long saw the anti-Assad program as an assault on its interests. Ending the plan, in addition to appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin, is also an acknowledgment of the United States’ limited ability to remove Assad from power.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders declined to comment on the reported end of the program and said she did not know if it was discussed during a pair of conversations — including one just revealed Tuesday — that Trump had with Putin at an international summit earlier this month.

The CIA declined comment on the report.

The White House had previously condemned Assad, and just three months ago Trump launched dozens of airstrikes against a Syrian air base after the United States accused the Syrian regime of using chemical weapons on its own people.

After the Trump-Putin meeting, the United States and Russia announced an agreement to back a new cease-fire in southwest Syria, where many of the CIA-supported rebels have worked.

Trump made the decision nearly a month ago, after an Oval Office meeting with national security adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, according to the newspaper. And officials told The Washington Post that the move to end the program to arm the anti-Assad rebels was not a condition of the cease-fire.
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Joyce Banda: ‘Any African Girl Can Grow Up to be a Leader’

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Malawi’s former president Joyce Banda says any girl in Africa can grow up to be a leader — and she would know what she is talking about. Banda spoke in Washington this week as she launched a toolkit designed to ensure that all women with leadership traits are found, trained and encouraged to take more active roles in their communities. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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Enhanced Security in Effect on International Flights to US

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Travelers flying to the U.S. from nearly 300 international airports, including those in Mexico and Canada, are now subject to stepped-up security measures that include stricter screening for electronic devices larger than cellphones.

The regulations could include asking passengers to present larger electronic devices for inspection and prove that they can be powered on.

The Homeland Security Department demanded last month that airlines around the world step up security measures for international flights bound for the United States or face the possibility of a total electronics ban for planes. The deadline for some of those changes to take affect was Wednesday.

Airlines and aviation authorities responded by warning passengers to expect longer security screenings at airports.

“Enhanced screening measures are in effect,” read an alert on the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority’s website. It said that passengers flagged randomly for additional screening will be asked to remove electronic devices from protective cases for inspection, and possibly show they can be powered on.

Mexico’s aviation authority advised passengers on flights bound for the U.S. to arrive at the airport three hours early to comply with the new screening measures.

Toronto-based Porter Airlines, which operates numerous flights a day between the U.S. and Canada, informed frequent travelers of the new security measures in an email Wednesday.

“As of July 19, if you’re travelling to the U.S., the U.S. Department of Homeland Security requires you to take your personal electronic devices larger than a smartphone, such as your laptop and/or tablet, out of their protective cases and to turn it on, if asked,” they advised, adding that devices that failed to comply would not be allows onboard.

The new rules apply to roughly 180 foreign and U.S.-based airlines flying from 280 airports in 105 countries. The Department of Homeland Security says more than 2,000 international flights land in the United States each day.
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What are Trump’s Options in Venezuela?

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The Trump administration is threatening to take “strong and swift economic actions” if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proceeds with his plan to rewrite the nation’s constitution and consolidate power over the few remaining institutions outside the control of the ruling party. A senior administration official said Tuesday that “all options are being discussed and debated,” implying that Trump could use Venezuela’s dependence on oil exports to the U.S. as a means of pressuring Maduro to halt the July 30 constitutional assembly.  

What’s at stake?

Oil-rich Venezuela has been plunged into political and economic turmoil as petroleum prices plummet, nationalized farms and factories halt production and corruption runs rampant. More than three months of street protests have left at least 93 people dead.

Maduro has called for the election of the special assembly to rewrite the country’s 1999 constitution. Opposition members fear any branch of government that doesn’t fall in line with Maduro will be left powerless, creating a single-party, authoritarian state along the lines of the system in Cuba, a close Maduro ally.

A coalition of opposition parties organized a symbolic vote against the assembly on Sunday that it said garnered more than 7.5 million votes, a number that could not be independently confirmed. The United States, European Union, Germany, Brazil, Canada and Mexico are among countries that have called for the constitutional rewrite to be canceled.

What is Trump threatening?

President Donald Trump said in a statement Monday that “the United States will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles. If the Maduro regime imposes its Constituent Assembly on July 30, the United States will take strong and swift economic actions.”

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in a briefing for reporters Tuesday that “the President told us to consider all options, so options are on the table” but declined to provide any details of what actions might be in the works.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who has worked with the Trump administration on Latin American issues, has indicated several times on Twitter that he believes the U.S. is preparing to take action against Diosdado Cabello, the powerful vice president of Venezuela. Rubio and other U.S. officials accuse him of involvement in drug trafficking. Cabello denies the charge.

What can Trump do?

In February, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami, accusing him of playing a major role in international drug trafficking – a charge he denies. Then in May it imposed sanctions on eight supreme court justices who voted to strip the opposition-led congress of many of its powers earlier in the year.

Rubio’s tweets indicate the administration may be thinking of doing the same for Cabello and other high-ranking Venezuelans. The individual sanctions freeze targets’ assets in U.S. banks, bar travel to the U.S. and make it illegal for Americans to do business with them. Venezuelan experts say it’s not clear if top officials are vulnerable to such measures, but said expanding the list of targets throughout the army hierarchy could force some military officials to reconsider the cost of supporting Maduro’s government.

A more powerful and risky weapon is cutting back on U.S. imports of Venezuelan oil, a measure with the ability to severely damage Maduro’s government and create broad chaos in Venezuela.

Venezuela, the US, and oil

The United States is the primary source of hard currency keeping the Venezuelan government afloat.

Venezuela exports an average of 700,000 barrels of oil a day to the U.S., about half its total exports. Because much of the other half serves as payment of debt owed to China, a total cut in exports to the U.S. would slash Venezuelan government income by 75 percent, Angel Alvarado, a member of congress and economist, told The Associated Press.

Venezuelan oil accounts for about 10 percent of U.S. oil imports, meaning a cut in oil from Venezuela could have an impact on consumer gasoline prices and on U.S. refineries.

Miguel Tinker Salas, an expert in Venezuela history at Pomona College in California, said U.S. officials likely fear that any disruption in the oil market would increase prices in the U.S. There is also skepticism over whether economic sanctions are an effective means of encouraging a political opening.

“There has been a lot of talk about raising the stakes of Venezuela but the one thing they have not touched is oil imports,” he said.

Three refineries in Texas, Louisiana and Illinois process Venezuelan crude. Last week, the chairman of the port of Corpus Christi, Texas, said in a letter to Trump that putting restrictions on Venezuelan crude could have a “significant” impact on those refineries.

But Antoine Halff, an oil-markets expert at Columbia University, said because crude imports from Venezuela are down and there are large inventories of crude in the U.S. and worldwide, a ban on Venezuelan crude wouldn’t have a major effect on prices at the pump for U.S. motorists. “A ban would not cause any supply shortfall,” he said.

While starving Venezuela of oil revenues could debilitate the Maduro government, it could also produce something resembling state collapse in Venezuela, where armed men already roam with impunity and tens of thousands have been fleeing the country. 
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Trump: Sessions Should Not Have Recused Himself From Russia Probe

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U.S. President Donald Trump told the New York Times that if Attorney General Jeff Sessions had indicated before being nominated to the post that he would recuse himself from the investigation of Russia’s influence on last year’s election then the president would have “picked someone else.”

“Sessions never should have recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job,” Trump said, according to a transcript of the interview released late Wednesday. 

Trump added that he thinks the way Sessions proceeded was “very unfair to the president.”

After Sessions recused himself, his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, appointed former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to carry out the probe, which also includes looking into any possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.  Committees in the Senate and House of Representatives are conducting their own investigations as well.

Trump has repeatedly insisted there was no link.

“I have done nothing wrong.  A special counsel should never have been appointed in this case,” he told the Times.

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law and current White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his then-campaign advisor Paul Manafort met last year with a Russian attorney who said she had damaging information about Trump’s Democratic opponent in the presidential race, Hillary Clinton.

Trump downplayed the meeting in his interview, calling it “standard political stuff” and reaffirming his stance that he believes most politicians would have taken such a meeting.

Donald Trump Jr. has said the Russian lawyer had no information of value about Clinton and that the talks ended quickly.

When asked about it by the Times, the president said it “must have been a very unimportant meeting, because I never even heard about it.”

Hours after the meeting in June 2016, Trump said he would soon be giving a major speech focused on Clinton.  In Wednesday’s interview, he rejected the idea that the two events were linked, saying he “made many of those speeches.”

“There wasn’t much I could say about Hillary Clinton that was worse than what I was already saying,” Trump said.

While much of the interview focused on the questions about Russia and the campaign, Trump talked about other issues that have emerged during his presidency and declared that the country is “doing well.”

He pledged during his run for office to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system, and after the Republican-held Senate faced several setbacks in recent weeks in efforts to repeal and replace the program put in place under former President Barack Obama, Trump hosted a group of lawmakers for talks Wednesday at the White House.

“If we don’t get it done, we are going to watch Obamacare go down the tubes, and we’ll blame the Democrats.  And at some point, they are going to come and say, ‘You’ve got to help us,'” Trump said.

He added that under a Republican plan, Americans will see “major tax cuts, and reform,” which he said is “like a windfall for the country.”

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has evaluated several versions of Republican health care bills, and while the details of each are a little different, generally the CBO projected the plans would save the government several hundred billion dollars over a decade and result in millions of people losing health coverage.

On international issues, Trump criticized Obama for inaction on Ukraine, North Korea and Syria.

Trump said that when Russia annexed Crimea, Obama “allowed it to get away.” 

“He didn’t talk tough to North Korea. You know, we have a big problem with North Korea. Big. Big, big,” Trump said.

Obama in 2013 threatened to use force against the Syrian government if it carried out a chemical weapons attack, but never did, as his administration worked with Russia to negotiate an agreement that required Syria to send its stockpiles of chemical weapons out of the country.  After a chemical attack blamed on Syrian forces in April, Trump did order airstrikes on a Syrian airfield.

“He didn’t do the shot. I did the shot,” Trump said.
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Gunfire Erupts Near Police Bases in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Posted on by SeeAF

Gunfire erupted near several police installations across Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan late on Wednesday, witnesses and a police source said, in what appeared to be a renewed bout of insecurity following months of military mutinies.

Shooting broke out at around 9.30 p.m. (2130 GMT) in the Cocody neighborhood near the national police and gendarmes academies and lasted for around an hour, according to one Reuters witness.

A second Reuters reporter later heard sustained gunfire near the base of the police anti-riot brigade in the Yopougon neighborhood in northern Abidjan.

A local resident also said shooting broke out near a police station in another part of Yopougon.

“On the radio in the station they were talking about an attack a bit all over the place, including the police academy as well as Angre and Attoban [neighborhoods],” a police officer told Reuters, asking not to be named.

The unrest erupted just hours after President Alassane Ouattara dismissed his defense minister and replaced him with the minister of the interior.

The move was seen as an attempt to put a stop to successive waves of armed uprisings launched by members of the security forces demanding bonus payments.
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Abidjan Waterside Boom Spurs New Demand: Crocodile Removal

Posted on by SeeAF

“It’s not my first time,” fireman Patrick Obite said with an air of confidence as, kneeling, he straddled a meter-long crocodile in the parking lot of a building site in Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan.

“There was a first session yesterday at the zoo when we got used to them,” he added, smiling.

Africa’s fastest growing economy, Ivory Coast, is now in the midst of a construction boom that is changing the face of the lagoon-side city, bringing new hotels, offices and homes ever closer to the water’s edge.

But Abidjan’s 5 million human residents are not the only ones experiencing an urban renaissance and rapid growth risks setting them on a collision course with the area’s oldest inhabitants, said American conservation biologist Matt Shirley.

“As the city has become bigger and bigger and the people here become less dependent upon fishing and hunting, crocodiles have found the lagoon system to be a tranquil retreat and they’re repopulating the area,” he said.

In an effort to head off the risk of confrontation, Shirley is leading a government-backed program teaching rescue workers and forestry agents how to humanely capture and relocate the reptiles, which are protected under Ivorian law.

Crocodile attacks are rare

On a recent moonlit night, he and a half dozen of his team slowly cruised the shoreline in a corner of the lagoon that a half-billion-dollar development project plans to transform into high-end real estate complete with a marina for luxury yachts.

“You see him. He’s over there. You can see his eyes,” one of the men said, aiming a high-powered torch across the bay at two red-orange orbs shining on the surface of the black water.

There hasn’t been a crocodile attack on a human recorded in Abidjan in decades, and Shirley views the risk to the city’s residents as largely psychological.

But rescue worker Fabrice Boko, among those who have dealt with crocodiles in the past, witnessed first-hand the effect they can have when he was called in to remove one from a storm drain.

“They were going crazy. They were panicking,” he said of the residents living in the area. “People aren’t used to crocodiles.”

17 crocodiles released

There’s a fear that kind of reaction could provoke a violent backlash against the crocodiles.

At the end of the 10-day training program, the team, which will go on to teach their colleagues across the country, released 17 crocodiles in a national park an hour outside the city.

“When there’s a conflict between man and the crocodiles, they’re going to call us,” Boko said. “I’m not going to say I’ll never be afraid, but I’ll be able to get over it. No matter the crocodile, I’ll go.”

 
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Nigeria Bolsters Security in Northern State of Kaduna Amid Violence

Posted on by SeeAF

Nigeria is to deploy troops and police to reduce violence in the northern state of Kaduna, the acting president’s spokesman said on Wednesday, as ethnically charged violence pressures a government already fighting Boko Haram in the northeast.

Clashes between Muslim herders and Christian farmers have killed hundreds in the region over the last few years. The violence is partly over land use in Nigeria’s middle belt region and some northern areas, but also has religious overtones in a country almost evenly split between the two faiths.

Police said 32 people were killed on Tuesday in clashes between herdsmen and villagers in Kajuru local government area of southern Kaduna state. Troops were deployed to southern Kaduna in April amid an eruption of inter-communal violence.

“Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered further security reinforcements in Kaduna state following reports of communal clashes,” presidency spokesman Laolu Akande said.

He said the strengthened security would comprise of troops and police special forces, adding that “the number of the personnel will be determined by the military and the police authorities.”

The heightened tensions in Kaduna come as security forces in the northeast are contending with a series of attacks by suspected members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram that have killed at least 62 people since June 7.

Osinbajo is acting president in the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari, who vowed to restore order in Nigeria when he came to power in May 2015.

Buhari handed over power to his deputy, Osinbajo, when he traveled to Britain on May 7 on medical leave for treatment of an unspecified ailment.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with around 180 million people and around 250 different ethnic groups who mostly live peacefully side-by-side.
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‘Shame on You:’ Survivors of Tower Block Fire Berate London Council

Posted on by SeeEU

Furious survivors of the London high-rise fire that killed at least 80 people booed the new leader of the local authority during chaotic scenes on Wednesday at the council’s first meeting since the blaze.

About 70 survivors of last month’s fire at the Grenfell Tower apartment block and other local residents gathered to protest as council members met amid tight security at Kensington Town Hall in north London.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council has been criticized by locals and politicians for its slow and ineffective response to the fire while many accuse the authority, which administers one of Britain’s wealthiest areas, of having turned its back on social housing.

“We did not do well enough in our initial response to the tragedy … tonight I want to reiterate my apology to you directly,” said council leader Elizabeth Campbell. “No ifs, no buts, no excuses. I am deeply sorry. We did not do enough to help you when you needed it most.”

Kensington’s previous leader Nicholas Paget-Brown resigned following his decision to abruptly suspend the last council meeting on June 29 when he said holding it in public could interfere with a future inquiry.

Campbell promised there would be a new direction at the council and that it would spend some of the 250 million pounds ($325 million) it held in reserve on new housing for those who had lived in Grenfell.

But her election was greeted with cries of “shame on you” and her subsequent speech was repeatedly interrupted by shouts and boos, while some residents who could not get into the meeting banged loudly on the council chamber doors.

After Campbell’s speech, a succession of survivors were invited to speak, many furiously berating the council for its failures.

Holding up the key to her Grenfell Tower apartment and weeping, Iranian national Mahboobeh Jamalvatan said: “Every time I look at this key, I wonder and I ask ‘what’s the difference between us human beings?’ We are all created human beings.

“The U.K. is accusing other countries about a lack of human rights, but there are lots of people from those counties living in the UK. Why don’t you care about human rights here?”

British police have said the final death toll from the blaze that gutted the 24-story building might not be known until next year.
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EU Closer to Sanctions on Poland Over Changes in Judiciary

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The European Union is coming closer to imposing sanctions on Poland for the government’s controversial attempt to take control of the judiciary, a senior EU official warned Wednesday, as new street protests and heated debate erupted in the Polish parliament.

 

The ruling conservative and populist Law and Justice Party had been rushing to get parliament’s approval for a contentious draft law that would reorganize the nation’s highest court. But it has had to slow down after vehement objection from the opposition, alarm from the EU and mass peaceful protests against the measure.

 

After a tense debate in parliament, lawmakers on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to send the draft bill on the Supreme Court for more work by a special parliamentary commission. Opposition legislators have proposed 1,300 amendments to the draft, which they say violates the constitution, kills judicial independence and destroys the democratic principle of the separation of the judiciary from the executive branch.

 

Crowds have held street protests in Warsaw and other cities in defense of democracy and judicial independence, chanting “Free courts!” and “Freedom, equality, democracy!” They urged President Andrzej Duda to veto the draft legislation.

 

It was the latest in a string of conflicts that has exposed the deepening political divide in Poland since Law and Justice won power in 2015.

 

The proposed bill calls for the immediate dismissal of the current Supreme Court judges, except those chosen by the justice minister. It would give the justice minister the power to appoint the key court’s judges.

 

In a proposed amendment, the Law and Justice has switched those powers to the president.

 

The ruling party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, insists that its reforms will introduce “good change” expected by the people who voted them in. It also argues that the judiciary still works along communist-era principles and needs radical reforms and new people to be efficient.

 

The opposition says the changes to the judiciary are Kaczynski’s revenge on judges who have been critical of his policies.

 

Kaczynski, a lawyer, is currently Poland’s most powerful politician, controlling the government, the parliament and having influence on the president, even though he holds no government office.

 

The vote Wednesday was 434-6 with one abstention for a justice commission to review the draft law.

 

Shortly after the vote, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Brussels that the EU may soon strip Poland of its voting rights because its recent steps toward the judiciary “greatly amplify the threat to the rule of law” and threaten to put the judiciary “under full political control of the government.”

 

Such a sanction, which was intended to ensure democratic standards in EU members, requires unanimity among all other member states. Timmerman said the dialogue between the EU and Poland should continue while the legislation is being worked on.

 

Poland’s parliament has already approved new laws that give lawmakers the power to appoint judges to the regulatory National Council of the Judiciary, and changed regulations for ordinary courts. All changes require the approval of Duda, who has so far followed the ruling party line.

 

Law and Justice has previously backed down under mass protests — including last year when it withdrew a proposed ban on abortions after a nationwide women’s strike.

 

The debate preceding Wednesday’s vote has led to some unpleasant exchanges in parliament.

 

An opposition lawmaker, Borys Budka, drew Kaczynski’s wrath when he implied that his late twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, had prevented him previously from taking any drastic steps toward the justice system.

 

Kaczynski’s reaction was immediate and violent.

 

“Don’t wipe your treacherous mugs with the name of my late brother. You destroyed him, you murdered him, you are scoundrels,” Kaczynski shouted from the podium. He was referring to the 2010 plane crash that killed the president, his brother, which he blames on the former government of the Civic Platform party.

 

Poland’s former foreign minister and head of the Civic Platform, Grzegorz Schetyna, condemned the tone of the parliamentary debate.

 

“It shows that we are in some catastrophic place, not only regarding emotions, but also regarding the level of the public debate,” Schetyna said Wednesday.
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UN Chief Urges More International Cooperation on Africa

Posted on by SeeAF

The U.N. secretary-general urged the international community Wednesday to, in his words, “change the narrative” about Africa.  Antonio Guterres said countries should cooperate more with the continent to recognize its vast potential and prevent and manage conflicts there.

Guterres told a Security Council debate about enhancing peace and security in Africa that the African Union and the United Nations have a shared interest in neutralizing conflicts before they escalate and managing them effectively when they do happen.

“Enhancing African capacities is essentially both in the context of our collective response to international peace and security challenges as well as for the self-reliance of the African continent,” said Guterres, who noted the challenge posed by terrorism and extremist groups, including Somalia-based al-Shabab.

“It is my deep belief that with enhanced support to AMISOM, the African Union Force, and predicable funding, along with a coordinated effort to build the Somali National Army and police forces,  al-Shabab can be defeated,” said Guterres.

Guterres welcomed the initiative by the Group of Five Sahel countries to create a joint force to fight terrorism, as well as the Lake Chad Basin Multinational Joint Task Force, which is battling Boko Haram.

Smail Chergui, the commissioner for peace and security of the African Union, told the Council that African troops face some of the most challenging situations without adequate equipment and financial resources.

He urged more investment in conflict prevention and management tools, as well as in countering the threat and spread of violent extremism.

​The continent is also coping with potential famine situations in several countries, none of which are solely the product of drought. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley criticized the actors responsible for conflicts which have led to these crises.

“These famines are a sign of a collective failure and any effective response must begin with the nations of Africa themselves,” said Haley.  “AU member states must ramp up their response to this crisis.”

On July 8, the United States announced an additional $446 million in humanitarian assistance to people facing food crises in South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia, bringing this fiscal year’s total to $1.4 billion.
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German-Turkish Tensions Rise Over Detention of German National in Turkey

Posted on by SeeEU

Tensions between Germany and Turkey escalated Wednesday after Berlin summoned the Turkish ambassador to receive an official protest after Ankara arrested several human rights activists, including a German citizen. Berlin has warned that EU aid to Turkey could be at risk, putting in jeopardy a key migrant deal.

A Turkish court Tuesday ordered the detention of Peter Steudtner, a German national who was attending a human rights workshop in Istanbul and was among six rights activists held as part of an ongoing crackdown since a failed coup last year.

“The Turkish government needs to immediately and directly hear the German government’s outrage and incomprehension as well as its crystal clear expectations in the case of Peter Steudtner and, this time, without diplomatic niceties,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schafer on the summoning of the ambassador.

“Absolutely unjustified,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in response to Steudtner’s detention. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel cut short his vacation to deal with the increased diplomatic tension.

Steudtner is the 10th German national to be held in the ongoing crackdown. “Turkish-German relations at the moment are incredibly stained,” warns political columnist Semih Idiz of the al-Monitor website. “But under normal circumstances ambassadors should be withdrawn and doors slammed and this is not happening…”

EU aid for migrants in question

Along with Turkey being key to counterterrorism cooperation, it is acting as a gatekeeper on stemming the flow of migrants into Europe following an agreement with the European Union. More than one million migrants escaping war and persecution in Africa and the Middle East have crossed into Europe using irregular land and sea routes back in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Observers say the deepening crisis between Germany and Turkey could jeopardize $3.4 billion in EU aid, which is part of the migrant deal.

“Unfortunately we have constant cause to talk to Turkey about civil and press freedoms,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference. “We think it is important to review aid in light of the latest developments.”

Tensions have been simmering for years between the two NATO allies; but, Berlin’s granting of asylum to dozens of Turkish diplomats and military personnel following the failed coup in July 2016 brought tensions to a boiling point.

International conspirators

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly accused Berlin of aiding conspirators against him. Erdogan made reference to what he called international conspirators Saturday in a speech to mark the defeat of the attempted coup.

“There are so many enemies lying in ambush, unwilling to grant us the right of existence. If I name them one by one, we will be confronted by a very serious international crisis,” Erdogan said.

Germany has become a gathering point for Erdogan’s opponents, with opposition media, including a television station, broadcasting to Turkey. Erdogan has also criticized Berlin for failing to crack down on the activities of the Kurdish rebel group the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish state. Berlin refutes the allegations.

Suspicions are growing that detained German citizens are becoming pawns in the deepening crisis. “When you focus on individuals, especially foreigners detained, there is a sense imprisoning people is almost a form of blackmail, a form of bargaining,” said Emma Sinclair Webb, senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch. Ankara dismisses any political motivation behind the detentions, maintaining that the judiciary is independent.

Germany moves planes

The war against Islamic State has also fallen victim to the increasingly acrimonious dispute. Germany is in the process of relocating its reconnaissance planes used against the jihadists from Turkey’s Incirlik air base, after Ankara stopped German lawmakers from visiting its personnel at the base. The dispute has now spread to German forces operating at the Turkish Konya airbase.

Analysts say Berlin, along with the rest of the EU, could be paying the price for more than a decade of all but freezing Ankara’s effort to join the regional bloc. Merkel has been one of most outspoken critics of the bid.

“There is very little stick that Europe has to wield against Turkey,” notes columnist Idiz. “Merkel appears to be in a weaker position. Erdogan is very bullish. He is very uncompromising and European leaders, including Merkel, don’t know how to handle him. So, Merkel looks embarrassed and that’s how Erdogan is playing it.”

 
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Measles Kills 35 Children in Europe; Minnesota Outbreak Not Over

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Thirty-five European children have died from measles in the past 12 months in what the World Health Organization calls an “unacceptable” tragedy. The deaths could have been prevented by a vaccine. A measles outbreak in Minnesota sent nearly two dozen people to the hospital. Still, some parents in developed countries continue to believe false reports that the measles vaccine causes autism. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports.
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