Month: October 2017

Turkish President Attacks Washington

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. and Turkish diplomats continue talks on resolving a dispute over recent visa curbs, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up his rhetoric against Washington. Bilateral relations are set to be further strained by an upcoming court case over Iranian sanction busting involving Turkish citizens.

Erdogan launched a scathing attack Sunday on the country’s Western allies.

He warned Turkey would respect its strategic alliances with its partners as long as those countries respected the law. Ankara has accused some of its NATO partners of conspiring against it and offering sanctuary to people it accuses of being involved in last year’s coup.

Erdogan specifically targeted Washington.

“They say the United States is the cradle of democracy. This can not be true, this can not be democracy,” he said. ” If the United States issues arrest warrants for my 13 bodyguards in a country where I went upon invitation, I am sorry, but I will not say that country is civilized.”

Erdogan’s body guards are accused by U.S. prosecutors of assaulting peaceful protesters outside the Turkish embassy during his visit to Washington in May.

The Turkish president’s scathing attack comes as diplomats from both countries are continuing efforts to resolve the mutual curbing of visas.

Washington imposed visa restrictions following the arrest on terrorism charges of two local employees working at U.S. diplomatic missions in Turkey.

That move saw Ankara retaliating with its own visa restrictions.

The U.S. State Department described the talks Thursday as productive.

Political columnist Semih Idiz of Al Monitor website said Erdogan’s increasingly tough rhetoric against Washington should be viewed in a wider context of the importance of bilateral relations to both sides.

“He [Erdogan] is a master of coming out with bellicose remarks at unexpected and sensitive moments. But we must realize Erdogan was in New York very recently and had a very chummy meeting with Donald Trump who called him a special friend. So Turkey is aware for all the problems it has with America, [it] too it has to tread carefully,” said Idiz.

Observers point out Erdogan’s tough rhetoric is in part motivated by domestic politics. A tough anti American stance plays well with Turkish nationalists Erdogan is courting for 2019 presidential and general elections.

But U.S. Turkish relations could be further strained with an upcoming Iranian sanction busting court case in the United States that involves Turkish-Iranian businessmen Reza Zarrab and senior members of a Turkish State bank.

Political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source partners warns the case can only add to bilateral tensions.

“This upcoming Reza Zarrab case which we [Turkey] consider a big conspiracy of the American deep state, so the possibility of these political shocks tampering off is almost nil,” said Yesilada.

Washington’s ongoing support of Syrian Kurdish militia fighting the Islamic State, also continues to infuriate Ankara who accuse the militia of being, linked to an armed insurgency in Turkey.
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UN Condemns Arrests of Congo Opposition Members

Posted on by SeeAF

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo on Monday condemned the arrest of about 30 opposition members amid a crackdown on dissent by President Joseph Kabila’s government.

The arrests occurred in the eastern city of Lubumbashi on Sunday when police broke up a meeting by the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party on the eve of a return to the city of opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi after a long absence, party members told Reuters.

Congo is struggling to deal with high political tension and security concerns are threatening to spiral out of control in Africa’s largest copper producer because of Kabila’s refusal to hold elections when his presidential mandate expired nearly a year ago.

The election commission said earlier this month that an election to replace Kabila, who came to power after his father’s assassination in 2001, will not be possible before April 2019 at the earliest — raising the prospect of long-term unrest.

“I urge the Congolese authorities to release immediately and unconditionally those arbitrarily arrested yesterday in Lubumbashi,” said Maman Sidikou, head of the U.N.’s MONUSCO peacekeeping mission.

MONUSCO also demanded an end to restrictions imposed on Kyungu wa Kumwanza, president of the National Union of Federalists of the Congo (UNAFEC) party, who has been under de facto house arrest for several months without being charged with a crime.

Congo’s government has banned opposition demonstrations since last year, when security forces killed dozens of protesters demanding Kabila’s departure.

Kabila’s political opponents are weak and divided. Many joined a power-sharing government earlier this year following the death of opposition icon, Tshisekedi’s father Etienne, and they enjoy limited credibility with the population.

However, an economic crisis that has seen inflation spike to over 50 percent, increased militia activity, and a series of prison breaks have highlighted Kabila’s tenuous hold on power.
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Tillerson Makes Unannounced Visit to Iraq, Afghanistan

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a previously unannounced visit Iraq, hours after a similar trip to Afghanistan.

In Baghdad, Tillerson was to meet Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haida al-Abadi.

Earlier, the top American diplomat discussed the new U.S. strategy for South Asia with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other senior officials at Bagram airbase, outside of Kabul.

Tillerson said, “I think the U.S. has made it clear in terms of our support for Afghanistan, support for a sovereign, unified, and democratic Afghanistan, charting a path to peace, prosperity, and self-reliance.  It is imperative at the end that we are denying safe haven to any terrorist organizations or any extremists to any part of this world.”    

Ghani said the new U.S. strategy brought a positive change in the region and added, “all stakeholders should carryout their responsibilities sincerely,” according to the statement from the presidential palace.  

 

The U.S. and Afghanistan have long alleged that Afghan Taliban, particularly their deadliest arm the Haqqani network, has safe havens in Pakistan.  But Islamabad claims it has cleared out all militant safe havens in previously lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan through a military operation.

Calls for action

Tillerson, who travels to Islamabad Tuesday, said, “We have made some very specific requests of Pakistan in order for them to take action to undermine the support that the Taliban receives and the other terrorist organizations receive in Pakistan.”

“Pakistan needs to, I think, take a clear-eyed view of the situation that they’re confronted with in terms of the number of terrorist organizations that find safe haven inside of Pakistan,” he added.

Pakistan has acknowledged that it has some influence with the Taliban but says it does not control the movement or its leaders.   

 

Held in Pakistan

 

Last week, American Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle, who were kidnapped in Afghanistan five years ago, were rescued, along with their three children born in captivity, from the Haqqani network in Pakistan’s Kurram Agency bordering Afghanistan.  The rescue operation was carried out by the Pakistan military on an intelligence tip from the United States.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo told a Washington based group, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the couple was held in Pakistan for the entire length of their captivity.

 

This contradicted earlier statements by Pakistan’s military and government that the couple was recently moved across the border from Afghanistan.

 

Secretary Tillerson’s Afghanistan trip was kept a secret due to security concerns, especially after an attack last month on Kabul airport during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis.  Even many in the State Department press corps were expecting the visit to take place Thursday, on the way back from India.

 

Relations between India and Pakistan, almost always on a rollercoaster in their 70 year history of independence from the British, seem to be in a downward spiral for the past two years.  Both sides used harsh words against each other in the recent U.N. General Assembly in New York, accusing each other of human rights abuses or supporting terrorism.

 

The tensions between the two countries may also be a topic of discussion when the Secretary arrives in New Delhi.

 

“The possibility of an India-Pakistan dialogue will be discussed, and Mr. Tillerson will also brief his Indian counterparts on the outcome of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group [U.S.-China-Afghanistan-Pakistan] meeting on talks with Taliban that took place in Oman on October 16,” a source familiar with the planning for the visit told Indian English language daily The Hindu.
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Journalist With Russia’s Ekho Moskvy Stabbed, Hospitalized

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An unidentified male assailant has rushed into the Moscow headquarters of news radio station Ekho Moskvy and stabbed a deputy editor in chief and anchor, Tatyana Felgengauer.

Ekho Moskvy editor in chief Aleksei Venediktov wrote on Twitter that the attacker struck Felgengauer in the throat with a knife in the October 23 attack.

The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into charges of attempted murder.

The attacker was detained by station security personnel, while Felgengauer was hospitalized in serious, but non-life-threatening condition.

He said that police are working at the scene. No more details were immediately available.

Venediktov said the assailant rushed past station guards after spraying them with a chemical.

It is unclear how the assailant made it to the station’s offices on the 14th floor. The crowded building has only two public elevators that are notoriously slow.

Venediktov told RFE/RL that the attacker went directly into the room where Felgengauer was sitting.

“He knew the layout of the rooms at the station,” Venediktov said. “There can be no doubt about that.”

“The attacker didn’t shout anything,” station deputy editor in chief Sergei Buntman told the Meduza website. “Everything was quiet. He just walked up to her, grabbed her, and stabbed her.”

The Uzbekistan-born Felgengauer, 32, is stepdaughter of the well-known Russian journalist and military expert Pavel Felgenhauer. She has worked at Ekho Moskvy since 2005.

Owned by a Kremlin-controlled Gazprom natural gas company, Ekho Moskvy is one of the few remaining independent media outlets in Russia. It has managed to avoid being targeted for criminal investigations, which are often used in Russia to silence media.

Journalists frequently come under attack or are harassed in Russia. In September, Ekho Moskvy journalist Yulia Latynina fled Russia after being attacked and threatened in Moscow.

Political analyst Yekaterina Vinokurova wrote on the social-media site VKontakte that “Tanya and Ekho Moskvy have been under assault for years.”

“They have attacked journalists from the station,” Vinokurova wrote. “They have hung banners with their photos saying they were ‘enemies of the people,’ ‘agents of the [U.S.] State Department, and so on. There has been all sorts of garbage about them coming from state television…. Now we have come to this and they shameless are talking about the motive of ‘hooliganism.'”

Physical attacks on Russian opposition figures and journalists are often investigated under the relatively lax law against “hooliganism,” rather than as assaults or attempted murder.

Vsevolod Bogdanov, chairman of the Russian Union of Journalists, condemned the attack on Felgengauer.
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Syrian Activists: Islamic State Killed 128 Civilians

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Syrian activists say Islamic State militants killed at least 128 people in the town of Qaryatayn before losing control of the area to government forces.

The government troops and allied militias retook Qaryatayn, located in Homs province, on Saturday. Islamic State fighters had held the town for three weeks.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict in Syria, said Monday it had documented the killings and that Islamic State had accused the civilians of collaborating with President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The Observatory also said many of the killings took place in the final days before Syrian forces moved in.

 
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Who Will Blink First — Barcelona or Madrid?

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Catalan separatists are devising nonviolent plans to resist the imposition of direct rule by Madrid.

With days to go before the Spanish government secures parliamentary approval to curb Catalonia’s semi-autonomy, separatist leaders are promising to disrupt Madrid’s efforts to shutter their regional government, which could start by the end of the week.

Separatists stand firm

They have pledged to meet any deployment of the national police with what the leaders say will be “walls of people.” And they say that new bosses sent in by Madrid to oversee Catalonia’s own regional police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, and Catalonia’s public broadcaster as well as the regional tax authority will face obstructionism and disobedience.

Spain’s conservative prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, and the country’s three main national parties are adamant that the unruly northeastern region won’t be allowed to secede. They maintain Catalans broke the law when they held an independence vote on October 1, which was deemed illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Court.

Government strategy

According to Spanish officials, Madrid’s current plan is to remove from their offices only the top echelon of Catalonia’s government, including regional president Carles Puigdemont and his deputy Oriol Junqueras but will leave in place other Catalan ministers, government officials and the executives of public companies so that they can continue to oversee day-to-day administration.

“We are going to ask them to be professional and to continue to provide services for their citizens,” a Spanish official told VOA. The strategy is to be as light-touch as possible and for the intervention to be as brief as possible with quick early regional elections.

Direct rule

On Saturday, the Spanish prime minister announced plans to impose direct rule on the troublesome Catalonia — marking the first time since 1933 that an elected Spanish government has stripped Catalonia of its semi-autonomy.

The separatists’ answer came Sunday when an estimated 450,000 took to the streets of Barcelona to protest on a warm sunny evening the proposed direct-rule measures and to demand the release of two prominent independence leaders, who have been jailed on charges of sedition.

Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, has pledged the region will not accept Madrid’s plan for direct rule, describing it as the worst attack on Catalonia’s institutions since General Francisco Franco’s 1939-1975 dictatorship, under which regional autonomy was dissolved completely and the Catalan language suppressed. His advisers say he may declare a formal break with Spain on the day, most likely Saturday, that Madrid moves in to take over.

And they expect many of the regional government’s more than 200,000 employees will obstruct the Spanish government. Spanish officials say all Catalan employees will remain in their positions under the current direct-rule plan, unless they work “for the independence of Catalonia.”

Threat of prison

The separatists are plotting their resistance, defying a warning from Spain’s attorney general that acts of rebellion will carry lengthy prison terms. “Passive resistance” classes are being held — some taught by 70-year-old Pepe Beunza, who spent years in Spanish prisons in the 1970s during Franco’s dictatorship.

He says separatists shouldn’t be afraid of imprisonment, arguing “we need to demystify the jail.”

“If the repressive drift does not end, the time will come when we will be freer in prisons than in the streets,” he says. He argues Catalan separatists will endure any crackdown by Madrid and come through “more convinced of their cause and stronger.”

Separatist propaganda on a winning streak

As the dangerous game of political chicken nears a denouement there are many here in the Catalan capital who feel impotent and puzzled why the conservative national government of Mariano Rajoy keeps on gifting — as far as they are concerned — the Catalan separatists propaganda wins.

In Barcelona’s warren-like medieval Barri Gotic, or Gothic Quarter, an area filled with trendy bars, clubs and Catalan restaurants as well as tourists, VOA found more people ambivalent about independence than for it. But all were alarmed about how the confrontation might play out, and critical of the central government’s strong-armed tactics — like its attempt to stop the October 1 referendum, which left about 800 people injured.

They worry Madrid is being led by the nose into yet another trap that will prompt more support for the separatists.

“The government should be softer,” 30-year-old Maria told VOA. She said she didn’t hold a strong position about whether Catalonia should be independent or not. “Maybe we should have a bit more autonomy,” she mused.

Danny, a 43-year-old street performer, said: “I know the rules, the rights of Spain but I think it most important that Madrid recognize the opinion of the Catalans and this nationalist feeling of Catalonia.”

“There is opposition to the measures that Madrid is proposing,” says Josep Costa, a political scientist. In an interview with VOA on the campus of Pompeu Fabra University, he said: “On the issue of independence there is not unanimity but when it comes to democracy and civil rights there is widespread unity. We see people wanting to show solidarity with the independence movement when it comes to the responses of the central government.”

He thinks Rajoy is pursuing “a flawed strategy.” By pledging to stop Catalonia holding the October 1 referendum, Madrid set itself on the path of repression “because it had to show it still has authority.”

Many are ambivalent

Less than half of the region’s 7.5 million Catalans turned out to vote in the referendum earlier this month, although 9 out of 10 who did, backed independence. But separatists think the political trajectory is favoring their cause.

Tanya Verge, a political scientist and prominent separatist, noted that Catalans have been divided on secession but she said the government’s strategy is backfiring. Catalans who were ambivalent about breaking away from Spain are being pushed into the pro-independence camp, she says.

“There’s a strong Catalan consensus on our right to self-determination, and with Madrid and all the national parties being opposed to even dialogue that’s making more people side with us,” she said.

But an opinion poll Sunday for El Periodico, a Barcelona newspaper, found only 36 percent of respondents backed independence, a 10 percent drop on previous polling.

 

 

 
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Yemeni Journalist Says US Visa Approved After 2 Denials

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Prominent Yemeni journalist Afrah Nasser says she has obtained a visa to enter the United States, after twice being denied, so she can accept an award next month from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“We did it! I got the visa!” Nasser wrote on Twitter. She added an embassy officer said the visa was being granted “this time as we realized the significance of the award you got.”

The CPJ announced last month it would present its 2017 International Press Freedom award to Nasser, who has been living in exile in Sweden, where she holds citizenship.

She cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to people from a group of countries that included Yemen.

The administration says the ban is needed to protect national security, while federal judges have blocked it from taking effect.

Nasser had written on her blog Friday, “The proposed travel ban has gone through various iterations, but what I know for sure is that my visa applications to the U.S. embassy in Stockholm were rejected because of it,” she wrote.

Nasser’s case gained media attention, something she noted Monday after successfully getting the visa.

“Makes me think of people who do not enjoy my high media profile,” she said. “This is why, we need to get the tragedy in Yemen, as well-known as hell so we can all help pushing an end for it!”

Nasser is scheduled to receive the award at the New York-based CPJ’s ceremony on November 15th. She applied for asylum in Sweden in 2011 after receiving death threats in connection with her blogs and stories critical of the regime in Yemen. She has continued to report on the war from Stockholm for the past six years, according to the CPJ.
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Orange Is the New White? Unique Amber Wine Creates Buzz

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The sloping vineyards of New York’s Finger Lakes region known for producing golden-hued rieslings and chardonnays also are offering a splash of orange wine.

 

The color comes not from citrus fruit, but by fermenting white wine grapes with their skins on before pressing – a practice that mirrors the way red wines are made. Lighter than reds and earthier than whites, orange wines have created a buzz in trendier quarters. And winemakers reviving the ancient practice like how the “skin-fermented” wines introduce more complex flavors to the bottle.  

 

“Pretty outgoing characteristics. Very spicy, peppery.  A lot of tea flavors, too, come through,” winemaker Vinny Aliperti said, taking a break from harvest duties at Atwater Estate Vineyards on Seneca Lake. “They’re more thoughtful wines. They’re more meditative.”

 

Atwater is among a few wineries encircling these glacier-carved lakes that have added orange to their mix of whites and reds. The practice dates back thousands of years, when winemakers in the Caucasus, a region located at the border of Europe and Asia, would ferment wine in buried clay jars. It has been revitalized in recent decades by vintners in Italy, California and elsewhere looking to connect wine to its roots or to conjure new tastes from the grapes. Or both. Clay jars are optional.

 

Aliperti has been experimenting with skin fermenting for years, first by blending a bit into traditional chardonnays to change up the flavor and more recently with full-on orange wines. This fall, he fermented Vignoles grapes with their skins in a stainless steel vat for a couple of weeks before pressing and then aging them in oak barrels.

Orange wines account for “far less than 1 percent” of what is handled by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the nation’s largest distributor with about a quarter of the market, according to Eric Hemer, senior vice president and corporate director of wine education.

 

Hemer expects orange wines to remain a niche variety due to small-scale production, higher retail prices _ up to $200 for a premium bottle – and the nature of the wine.

 

“It’s not a wine that’s going to appeal to the novice consumer or the mainstream wine drinker,” Hemer said. “It really takes a little bit more of, I think, a sophisticated palate.”

 

The wines have caught on in recent years among connoisseurs who like the depth of flavors, sommeliers who can regale customers with tales of ancient techniques and drinkers looking for something different. Christopher Nicolson, managing winemaker at Red Hook Winery in Brooklyn, said the wines hit their “crest of hipness” a couple of years ago, though they remain popular.

 

“I think they’re viewed by these younger drinkers as, ‘Oh, this is something new and fresh. And they’re breaking the rules of these Van Dyke-wearing, monocled … fusty old wine appreciators,’” Nicolson said.

 

It’s not for everyone. The rich flavors can come at the expense of the light, fruity feel that some white wine drinkers crave. And first-time drinkers can be thrown by seeing an orange chardonnay in their glasses.

 

“Actually I wasn’t sure because of the color, but it has a really nice flavor,” said Debbie Morris, of Chandler, Arizona, who tried a sip recently at Atwater’s tasting room. “I’m not a chardonnay person normally, but I would drink this.”
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Pentagon Chief in Asia; North Korea High on Agenda in Talks With Allies

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U.S.Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he would talk with Asian allies about North Korea and the crisis caused by Pyongyang’s “reckless” provocations, as he kicked off a week-long trip to the region on Monday to meet defense chiefs in the Philippines.

Mattis’ trip to Asia, which will also include stops in Thailand and South Korea, comes just weeks before President Donald Trump’s first visit to Asia.

Trump has been locked in a war of words with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, calling him a “rocket man” on a suicide mission for openly pursuing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States.

Trump, in a speech last month at the United Nations, threatened to destroy North Korea if necessary to defend the United States and its allies. Kim has blasted Trump as “mentally deranged.”

Mattis, who has emphasized diplomacy, was expected to meet both his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on Monday before meeting with all three of them together. He will attend a meeting from Monday to Wednesday of defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, in the Philippines. He will go to Seoul later in the week for more defense talks.

“I will talk with my counterparts, discussing the regional security crisis caused by the reckless DPRK North Korea provocations but also discuss our respect for shared values like sovereignty of the states, their territorial integrity, freedom of navigation through historically international waters, and fair and reciprocal trade,” Mattis told reporters.

A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea last week, seeking to promote freedom of navigation. The maneuver prompted anger in Beijing.

Trump’s trip next month will include a visit to China, which he has been pressuring to do more to rein in North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs. China is North Korea’s neighbor and biggest trading partner.

Mattis, while in the Philippines, said he would commend the military for defeating insurgents in Marawi City on the island of Mindanao.

Some experts see the siege as a prelude to a more ambitious bid by Islamic State loyalists to exploit Mindanao’s poverty and use its jungles and mountains as a base to train, recruit and launch attacks in the region.

“It was a tough fight,” Mattis said, adding he thought the Philippines had sent “a very necessary message to the terrorists.”

On Thursday, Mattis will lead the U.S. delegation in Thailand for the cremation rites for the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
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13 Killed in Nigeria Suicide Bombing

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A suicide bomber has killed 13 other people in the restive northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Sunday.

The Sunday evening attack also injured five people.  Two subsequent suicide bombings injured more than a dozen others.  

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but officials suspect Boko Haram the militant group is behind the violence.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people during in its eight-year insurgency against the Nigerian government in a bid to create a strict Islamic state in the majority Muslim north. Maiduguri, the capital of the state of Borno, is the birthplace of Boko Haram.

A report issued last month by the human rights advocacy group Amnesty International said at least 223 civilians have been killed at the hands of Boko Haram since April, including 100 civilians killed in August alone.  The deadliest attack occurred on July 25, when 40 people were gunned down in an ambush on an oil exploration team in Borno state.  Amnesty says the “real figure may be higher, as some attacks may have gone unreported.”

It said the violence from Boko Haram has led to millions of civilians across the Lake Chad region in need of humanitarian assistance.   A total of 2.3 million people have been displaced in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, and more than seven million face serious food shortages.
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2 Wealthy Italian Regions Vote for More Autonomy From Rome

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Amid the turmoil in Spain’s separatist-minded Catalonia region, two wealthy Italian regions voted overwhelmingly Sunday for more autonomy from Rome.

Referenda were held in Veneto – the northern region that includes the tourist haven of Venice – and in Lombardy, another northern region with the city of Milan as its main attraction.

The presidents of both regions say more than 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted in favor of more autonomy.

Both referenda are non-binding. But the presidents say the voices of their people give them a strong mandate and more leverage when they open talks with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Leaders of both regions want to keep more tax revue and have a greater say over such matters as education, immigration, security, and the environment.
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Trump Urges House Republicans to Move Quickly on Budget, Tax Cuts

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President Donald Trump urged House Republicans to move swiftly on passing a budget bill during a conference call Sunday, clearing the way for what he described as an historic push for tax cuts.

 

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both joined the House GOP call in which Trump called on members to adopt the budget passed by the Senate this week, so that they can move on to passing his tax reform plan.

 

Trump told the members they were on the verge of doing something historic, according to one Republican official on the call, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss publicly what was intended as a private update for members.

 

Another GOP aide familiar with the conversation said that Trump told the members again and again that the party would have a steep price to pay in next year’s midterm elections if they failed to pass his plan, which would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and double the standard deduction used by most average Americans. The president also said multiple times that, beyond the looming elections, his plan was the right thing to do for country, the person said.

 

The Senate last week passed a budget that includes rules that will allow Republicans to get tax legislation through the Senate without Democratic votes and without fear of a Democratic filibuster.

 

Desperate for legislative victory

Republicans are desperate to rack up a legislative win after a series of embarrassing failures that have come despite the fact that the party controls both chambers of Congress and the White House.

 

On the call, House Speaker Paul Ryan told members he hoped to pass a revised Senate budget bill this week to increase the changes that tax reform can be enacted by the end of the year.

Trump will also work to rally support for the plan on the Hill Tuesday at a lunch with Senate Republicans.

 

Congress also continues to wrestle with the health care system.

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday he’s willing to bring bipartisan health care legislation to the floor – if Trump makes clear he supports it. A proposal by two senators – Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democrat Patty Murray of Washington – would extend for two years federal insurance payments that Trump has blocked. But Trump has offered mixed signals, alternately praising and condemning the effort – confusing Democrats and Republicans alike.

 

Asked whether he would bring the bill to the floor, McConnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he was waiting “to hear from President Trump what kind of health care bill he might sign.”

 

“If there’s a need for some kind of interim step here to stabilize the market, we need a bill the president will actually sign.  And I’m not certain yet what the president is looking for here, but I will be happy to bring a bill to the floor if I know President Trump would sign it,” the Republican said. He added of Trump: “I think he hasn’t made a final decision.”

 

Compromise on health care?

The plan unveiled last week likely has 60 votes in the Senate, mostly from Democrats, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday urged McConnell to bring it to the floor “immediately, this week.”

 

“This is a good compromise,” Schumer said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He predicted it would pass “by a large number of votes” and that the president would ultimately sign it to avoid the blame for rising insurance premiums.

 

“If Republicans think that if premiums go up they’re going to avoid the blame, if Senator McConnell thinks that, he’s wrong,” Schumer said.

Trump at first suggested he supported the temporary fix as he continues to hold out hope for the passage of legislation that would repeal and replace former president Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have repeatedly failed to achieve. But White House officials said later that Trump would only sign an interim bill that also lifts the tax penalties that Obama’s health care law imposes on people who don’t buy coverage and employers who don’t offer plans to employees. The White House also wants provisions making it easier for people to buy low-premium policies with less coverage. Top Senate Democrats reject those demands.

 

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, who was also spotted at Trump’s Virginia golf course Sunday, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Trump doesn’t want to back a plan “without also getting something for folks who are being hurt.”

 

“And I think the criticisms you’ve heard this week are like, ‘Look, I’m okay with doing a deal.’ This is the president now. ‘But I’m not getting enough for the folks who are getting hurt. So give me more by way of associated health plans. Give me more of the things that we know we can do for folks back home to actually help them,’” Mulvaney said.

 

“I think there’s actually a pretty good chance to get a deal,” he added. “It’s just Murray-Alexander in its current form probably isn’t far enough yet.”

 

McConnell, in his interviews, also but pushed back against former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s efforts to recruit candidates to challenge Republican incumbents who support McConnell’s leadership, arguing that what Republicans need is candidates who can win.

 

“Look, this is not about personalities. This is about achievement. And in order to make policy, you have to actually win the election,” he said on Fox News. “And some of these folks that you’ve been quoting, as I said are specialists on nominating people who lose.”
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Malta: Newspapers, Citizens Take Up Slain Reporter’s Message

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Several thousand Maltese citizens rallied Sunday to honor an investigative journalist killed by a car bomb, but the prime minister and opposition leader who were chief targets of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s reporting stayed away from the gathering.

 

Participants at the rally in Malta’s capital, Valletta, placed flowers at the foot of a memorial to the 53-year-old reporter that sprang up opposite the law court building after her October 16 slaying.  

 

Some wore T-shirts or carried placards emblazoned with words from Caruana Galizia’s final blog post: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate” in the European Union nation of some 400,000 people.

 

Police removed a banner describing Malta as a “Mafia state.”

Hundreds of participants later held a sit-in outside police headquarters, demanding the resignation of Malta’s police commissioner. Some hurled tomatoes, cakes and coins against an enlarged photograph of the commissioner spread out on the street.

 

The homicide of a journalist who devoted her career to exposing wrong-doing in Malta and raised her three sons there united many of the nation’s oft-squabbling politicians, at least for a day.

 

Caruana Galizia had repeatedly criticized police and judicial officials.

 

Malta’s two dominant political forces, the ruling Labor and opposition Nationalist parties, participated in the rally which was organized to press demands for justice in her slaying.

 

Official no-shows

But Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told his Labor party’s radio station a few hours before the event’s start time that he wouldn’t attend because he knew the anti-corruption reporter’s family didn’t want him to be there.

“I know where I should be and where I should not be. I am not a hypocrite and I recognize the signs,” Muscat said, adding that he supported the rally’s goals of call for justice and national unity.

 

Nationalist leader Adrian Delia also skipped the rally, saying he didn’t want to “stir controversy.”

 

“Today is not about me, but about the rule of law and democracy,” Delia told reporters.

 

Muscat and Delia, while fierce political rivals, have another thing in common:  Both brought libel lawsuits against Caruana Galizia. Delia withdrew his pending libel cases last week after her killing.

 

Caruana Galizia’s family has refused to endorse the government’s offer of a 1 million euro ($1.18 million) reward and full protection to anyone with information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of her killer or killers.

Instead, the family, which includes a son who is an investigative journalist himself, has demanded that Muscat resign. In their quest for a serious and efficient investigation, Caruana Galizia’s husband and children also want Malta’s top police office and attorney general replaced.

“The killers decided to silence her, but they won’t silence her spirit, they won’t silence us,” Christophe Deloire, a French journalist from the journalism advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders, said.  “From us they will not have more than one minute of silence.”

On Sunday morning, all seven national newspapers had their front pages black in Caruana Galizia’s memory. Printed in bold letters against the black backgrounds were the words: “The pen conquers fear.”

‘Crooks everywhere’

Just before her death, Caruana Galizia had posted on her closely followed blog, Running Commentary, that there were ‘crooks everywhere’ in Malta. The island nation has a reputation as a tax haven in the European Union and has attracted companies and money from outside Europe.

The journalist focused her reporting for years on investigating political corruption and scandals, and reported on Maltese mobsters and the island’s drug trafficking. She also wrote about Maltese links to the so-called Panama Papers leaks about offshore financial havens.  

 

After the rally ended, several hundred participants walked to police headquarters, and sat in the street outside shouting “Shame on you!” and “Resign!”

 

Malta President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca received a delegation from the Civil Society Network, a non-partisan organization of university professors, businessmen, opinion writers and authors in Malta.

 

The car bombing was “an attack on all of us, every single one of us,” Coleiro Preca told them. “We need to see how we are going to work together. We need to unite to have the reform that is needed.”
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15 Jewish Extremists Arrested in Israel for Alleged Threats Against Arabs Who Date Jews

Posted on by SeeEA

Israeli police have arrested 15 members of a Jewish extremist group for allegedly threatening to attack Arab men who date Jewish women.

Bentzi Gopstein, the leader of the group called Lehava, was ordered to remain under house arrest after a court appearance Sunday. Most of the other members were released.

Gopstein denied the charges as “nonsense,” insisting Lehava operates within the limits of the law.

Gopstein’s lawyer blames those he calls leftists and reform Jews for pressuring police to act.

Police say they arrested the 15 after an undercover investigation into Lehava. A police spokesman said the operation was meant to “prevent radicalization by members of the group and harming others on the basis of racist nationalism.”

Lehava and Gopstein have been under police scrutiny for several years over threatening comments made about non-Jews. Several Lehava members were arrested for trying to burn down an Arab-Jewish school in 2014.

Gopstein has encouraged arson attacks on churches and has been seen near weddings between Jews and Arabs shouting racist slogans, including “Death to Arabs.” He has also condemned homosexuals.

Some Israeli politicians have called for Lehava to be branded a terrorist group.
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Slovenian President Wins First Round, Runoff in 3 Weeks

Posted on by SeeEU

Slovenia’s incumbent president Borut Pahor won the most votes in Sunday’s election, but not enough to avoid a runoff.

With nearly all the ballots counted, Pahor is expected to finish with 47 percent, while his main challenger, former comedian Marjan Sarec, will win about 25 percent.

Pahor said he expects to win the November 12 runoff as he thanked voters for backing him in Sunday’s first round.

Slovenia is a former Yugoslav republic which has frequently been in the news in the past year as the birthplace of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

The Slovenian presidency is a largely ceremonial office. But the president nominates the prime minister, and presidential opinions greatly influence government policies.

 
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FBI Couldn’t Access Nearly 7K Devices Because of Encryption

Posted on by SeeUS

The FBI hasn’t been able to retrieve data from more than half of the mobile devices it tried to access in less than a year, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Sunday, turning up the heat on a debate between technology companies and law enforcement officials trying to recover encrypted communications.

 

In the first 11 months of the fiscal year, federal agents were unable to access the content of more than 6,900 mobile devices, Wray said in a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Philadelphia.

 

“To put it mildly, this is a huge, huge problem,” Wray said. “It impacts investigations across the board – narcotics, human trafficking, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, gangs, organized crime, child exploitation.”

 

The FBI and other law enforcement officials have long complained about being unable to unlock and recover evidence from cellphones and other devices seized from suspects even if they have a warrant, while technology companies have insisted they must protect customers’ digital privacy.

The long-simmering debate was on display in 2016, when the Justice Department tried to force Apple to unlock an encrypted cellphone used by a gunman in a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. The department eventually relented after the FBI said it paid an unidentified vendor who provided a tool to unlock the phone and no longer needed Apple’s assistance, avoiding a court showdown.

The Justice Department under President Donald Trump has suggested it will be aggressive in seeking access to encrypted information from technology companies. But in a recent speech, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein stopped short of saying exactly what action it might take.

 

“I get it, there’s a balance that needs to be struck between encryption and the importance of giving us the tools we need to keep the public safe,” Wray said.

 

In a wide-ranging speech to hundreds of police leaders from across the globe, Wray also touted the FBI’s partnerships with local and federal law enforcement agencies to combat terrorism and violent crime.

 

“The threats that we face keep accumulating, they are complex, they are varied,” Wray said, describing threats from foreign terror organizations and homegrown extremists.

Wray also decried a potential “blind spot” for intelligence gathering if Congress doesn’t reauthorize an intelligence surveillance law set to expire at the end of the year. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the government to collect information about militants, people suspected of cyber crimes or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other foreign targets outside the United States. Intelligence and law enforcement officials say the act is vital to national security.

 

A section of the act permits the government, under the oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, to target non-Americans outside the United States.

 

“If it doesn’t get renewed or reauthorized, essentially in the form that it already is, we’re about to get another blind spot,” Wray said.
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Debate Sharpens in Washington on Nuclear Pact With Iran

Posted on by SeeUS

Debate is intensifying in Washington on the merits and potential pitfalls, the risks and possible rewards, of the United States possibly pulling out of the international nuclear accord with Iran.  

The U.S. Congress has decisions to make now that President Donald Trump has withheld certifying Iran’s compliance with the pact co-negotiated by the Obama administration.

As a candidate and as president, Trump has consistently bashed the nuclear accord with Tehran as “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”

The pact halted much of Iran’s nuclear activities, but left a multitude of other thorny topics unaddressed, from Tehran’s ballistic missile program to its support for international terrorism.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley says a new approach is needed.

“The United States has now embarked on a course that attempts to address all aspects of Iran’s destructive conduct, not just one aspect. It’s critical that the international community do the same,” Haley said.

Some on Capitol Hill applaud the move. Among those agreeing the president is Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

“I think it was one of the worst deals I have ever seen, and President Trump has every right to change it or tear it up,” Graham said.

America’s closest allies are urging caution. Speaking Friday at the Center for Strategic and International studies in Washington, French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said she saw no alternative.

“We need the JCPOA,” she said, referring to the Iran deal by its formal name – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “Scrapping it would be a gift to Iran’s hardliners and a first step towards future wars.”

That argument is echoed by prominent Democrats in Congress. Among the deal’s supporters is Senator Tim Kaine.

“If you weaken diplomacy, you raise the risk of unnecessary war, and that’s what this president is doing.… If we take a step back from the deal, Iran will take a step back.  And what will they ask for, that they get to now increase centrifuges or get some of their enriched uranium back?  I do not want to give Iran one thing back from this deal,” said Kaine.

Iran says it is adhering to the nuclear pact, at least for now.  But that is not good enough for some Republicans.

“Under the deal, after the passage of 15 years, the Iranians can enrich and reprocess [uranium], no matter how they are behaving,” Senator Graham said.

Defenders of the accord note that Congress already provided tools to punish Tehran for behavior not covered by the nuclear accord.

“We have given the power to the president to impose more sanctions on Iran for bellicose behavior, for activities in other countries, for violations of human rights, for violating U.N. Security Council resolutions on their missile program,” Senator Kaine said. “The president should use the sanctions power we just gave him.”

Under former president Barack Obama, the United States committed to the nuclear accord as an executive agreement that can be revoked, not as a formal treaty binding future administrations.  For many Republicans, pulling out would be an appropriate use of President Trump’s authority. According to many Democrats, it would be a dangerous mistake.

 
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Key US Senators Call for More Information on Niger Attack

Posted on by SeeEU

Key U.S. senators called Sunday for the White House to be more forthcoming about the country’s military involvement in Niger after four U.S. soldiers were killed in an ambush there earlier this month.

In separate interviews on NBC’s “Meet the Press” news show, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senate leader Charles Schumer said they support an effort last week by Republican Senator John McCain to find out the details of the attack as well as the scope of the U.S. campaign against Islamic State in the west African country. Both Graham and Schumer said they had been unaware of the substantial number of the U.S. troops in Niger.

“I didn’t know there was 1,000 troops in Niger,” Graham said. “This is an endless war without boundaries and no limitation on time and geography. You’ve got to tell us more.

“We don’t know exactly where we’re at in the world militarily and what we’re doing,” Graham said. “So John McCain is going to try to create a new system to make sure that we can answer the question, why were we there, we’ll know how many soldiers are there, and if somebody gets killed there, that we won’t find out about it in the paper.

“I can say this to the families,” Graham said. “They were there to defend America. They were there to help allies. They were there to prevent another platform to attack America and our allies.”

Schumer said, “We need to look at this carefully. This is a brave new world. There are no set battle plans.”

He said that he would favor revisiting the current congressional authorization for overseas military action that is 16 years old, an agreement stemming from the 2001 terror attacks on the U.S.

“There is no easy answer but we need to look at it,” he said. “The answer we have now is not adequate.”

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Graham and McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, last week that the military is shifting its counter-terrorism strategy to focus more on Africa. The defense chief said military leaders want to expand their ability to use force against suspected terrorists.

U.S. officials believe the Niger attack was launched by a local Islamic State affiliate, but the Pentagon is still investigating the circumstances of how it occurred.

 
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Kenya’s Leader Urges Peace Ahead of Vote as Tensions Rise

Posted on by SeeAF

President Uhuru Kenyatta urged Kenyans to remain peaceful ahead of Thursday’s fresh presidential election, while a witness said police shot and wounded at least one person amid a rise in ethnic tensions in the capital, Nairobi.

 

A resident of the low-income Lucky Summer neighborhood said tensions grew after members of Kenyatta’s ethnic Kikuyu community performed a ceremony involving the slaughter of sheep. Some residents interpreted it as a war ceremony. Others said it was a ceremony to recruit members of the Mungiki, a proscribed quasi-religious gang known for beheadings that has been used in past elections to attack supporters of the opposition, Sheila Kariuki said.

 

Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga went to the site of the ceremony and police shot at them when an argument started, Kariuki said. Running battles between stone-throwing residents ensued until local legislator Tom Kajwang arrived and calmed the Odinga supporters, Kariuki said.

 

Kajwang condemned the police for allowing the meeting to occur.

 

“This is intimidation that we won’t allow. This is aimed at provoking us and we will protect ourselves,” he said.

 

Area police chief Alice Kimeli confirmed that police had shot one person and said the group performing the ceremony had asked for police protection.

 

Kenyatta’s re-election in August was nullified by the Supreme Court, citing irregularities, and a fresh election was ordered. Tensions have increased ahead of Thursday’s vote, which Odinga has said he is boycotting because the electoral commission has not made the reforms he seeks.

 

One member of Kenya’s electoral commission has resigned, and its chairman has said it will be difficult to guarantee that the new vote will be credible.

 

Human rights groups have accused Kenyatta’s government of using police to clamp down on dissent. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch last week said police killed at least 67 opposition supporters in demonstrations after the results of the August vote were announced.

 

Violence has followed some previous elections. During a prayer meeting Sunday, Kenyatta said the country narrowly avoided plunging into civil war after the flawed 2007 election, when more than 1,000 people were killed. Kenyatta was charged with orchestrating that violence, but the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court dropped the charges while citing threats to witnesses, bribery and interference.

 

Without citing the election, Pope Francis on Sunday spoke of his hopes for Kenya, telling faithful in St. Peter’s Square that the nation was in his thoughts.

 

“I am following, with particular attention, Kenya, which I visited in 2015, and for which I pray so that all the country will know how to face the current difficulties in a climate of constructive dialogue, having at heart the search for the common good,” Francis said.
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Landmine Blast Kills 6 in Somalia

Posted on by SeeAF

Six Somali civilians were killed in a landmine explosion on Sunday, just days after the country’s deadliest attack killed hundreds.

Officials in Lower Shabelle region confirmed to VOA Somali that two women and four men died after an improvised explosive device hit a minibus at Daniga village about 35 kilometers north of Mogadishu.

Deputy Governor of Lower Shabelle Ali Nur Mohamed says the victims were traders bringing farm produce and were travelling from Afgoye to Bal’ad.

“They were bringing spinach from Afgoye when the explosion hit their explosion, there are no injuries, all those on board died and the bodies of six people were recovered,” he said.

Mohamed said militant group al-Shabab is burying landmines in the area because they heard the government may be planning a military offensive. He warned officials against publicizing military activities.

“There are people in the system of the government who are publicizing military plans on their Facebook pages, saying there is an imminent attack or saying the president is going to Afgoye,” he said.

He said security forces have found two more landmines Sunday planted in Elasha Biyaha, a Mogadishu suburb, and says they are being dismantled.

Sunday’s attack comes just over a week after the truck bomb in the capital left at least 358 people dead and 228 injured. Nearly 60 people are still missing presumed dead.

On Sunday, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo flew to Uganda to seek military assistance as the government prepares to respond to the attack, according to sources close to the government.

On Saturday Farmajo told members of the Somali army they will be departing for the frontlines. He said he is joining in the battle in support of the troops.

“I will be the first, I’m ready to come to the battleground and sacrifice my life for the defense of Somali people,” he said.

 

 
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South African Bakery Slices Prices and Sees Sales Skyrocket

Posted on by SeeAF

A bakery in a low-income area of Johannesburg slashed prices of its popular bread, with unexpected results. What started as a way to help feed the community became a recipe for success as the bakery has a lot more business than ever. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.

((NARRATOR))
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Mugabe Removed as WHO Goodwill Ambassador

Posted on by SeeAF

The World Health Organization rescinded Sunday its appointment of Zimbabwe’s longtime President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador.

“I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised. I have also consulted with the Government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

Tedros, who became head of the WHO in July, had announced his appointment of Mugabe two days earlier during a conference in Uruguay, saying that Zimbabwe could “influence his peers in his region” and praising the country’s commitment to providing health care for all.

But over two dozen organizations quickly released a statement slamming the decision, saying health officials were “shocked and deeply concerned” — citing Mugabe’s record of human rights abuses and claiming that the country’s healthcare system has collapsed under his nearly 30-year rule.

The United States called the appointment of Mugabe by WHO’s first African leader “disappointing.”

The United States has maintained sanctions on Zimbabwe since 2003, citing the leader’s use use of millions of dollars to travel abroad, human rights abuses, and accusations of electoral fraud.
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Lost in Desert, Hikers May Have Died in ‘Sympathetic Murder-suicide’

Posted on by SeeUS

Friends and relatives of a couple whose bodies were found in Joshua Tree National Park say they believe the two got lost while hiking in the sprawling desert park and struggled in the searing heat with little food or water before they died in a “sympathetic murder-suicide.”

Rachel Nguyen, 20, and Joseph Orbeso, 22, had been missing for nearly three months after going for a hike in late July and failing to return to their bed-and-breakfast. Their disappearance launched an exhaustive search. Crews spent more than 2,100 hours scouring the rugged terrain before finding their bodies in a steep canyon Oct. 15.

Autopsies found both had gunshot wounds and evidence at the scene led detectives to believe Orbeso shot Nguyen and then himself, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Friday. The stunning announcement came days after Orbeso’s father, who was with searchers who made the discovery, said the bodies were locked in an embrace.

​Brutal elements

The Orange County Register reports there was evidence the pair had been battling the elements. The bodies were under a tree, with clothing covering their legs to protect them from the blazing sun. They appeared to have been rationing food and had no water.

Nguyen’s family said investigators told them that based on the circumstances and positioning of the bodies, they believed the two died in a “sympathetic murder-suicide.”

“We hold no grudges against Joseph or the Orbeso family,” they said in a statement and offered their condolences.

“We thank God that we’ll be able to give Rachel a proper burial and lay her to rest.”

Investigation continues

As for authorities, Orbeso’s actions remained under investigation, though his motive may never be known.

“Since we don’t have any evidence (note, message) to tell us why the shooting occurred, we are left to speculate,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said. “Knowing that they rationed food, had no water and were seeking shade certainly sheds a different light on the apparent dire circumstances.”

Orbeso and Nguyen had once dated, and he took her to Joshua Tree to celebrate her birthday, his best friend Austin Young told the newspaper.

A gun found near the bodies was registered to Orbeso. Young said Orbeso worked as a security guard and may have carried the gun to protect Nguyen.

“I think they got lost and were suffering in 100-degree heat,” Young said.

“They had a choice of a slow and painful death or a quick death,” he said. “And they made the choice of a quick death.”

Vast national park

The Joshua Tree Search and Rescue team said on its Facebook page that it’s easy to get lost in the vast park covering more than 1,200 square miles of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, 130 miles (209 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.

“You can take a short hike and lose sight of the road, and, if you didn’t pay attention to what the landmarks look like, in the opposite direction, you could start wandering,” the team said.
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NY Times: Carter Willing to Travel to North Korea

Posted on by SeeUS

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said he would be willing to travel to North Korea on behalf of the Trump administration to help diffuse rising tensions, The New York Times reported on its website Sunday.

“I would go, yes,” Carter, 93, told the Times when he was asked in an interview at his ranch house in Plains, Georgia, whether it was time for another diplomatic mission and whether he would do so for President Trump.

Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981, said he had spoken to Trump’s National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who is a friend, but so far has gotten a negative response.

“I told him that I was available if they ever need me,” the Times quoted Carter as saying.

Told that some in Washington were made nervous by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s war of words, Carter said “I’m afraid, too, of a situation.”

“They want to save their regime. And we greatly overestimate China’s influence on North Korea. Particularly to Kim,” who, Carter added, has “never, so far as I know, been to China. And they have no relationship. Kim Jong Il did go to China and was very close to them.”

Describing the North Korean leader as unpredictable, Carter worried that if Kim thinks Trump will act against him, he could do something pre-emptive, the Times reported.

“I think he’s now got advanced nuclear weaponry that can destroy the Korean Peninsula and Japan, and some of our outlying territories in the Pacific, maybe even our mainland,” Carter said.

In the mid-1990s, Carter traveled to Pyongyang over the objections of President Bill Clinton, the Times report said, and struck a deal with Kim Il Sung, grandfather of the current leader, that defused the nuclear crisis and led to the 1994 Agreed Framework, in which North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid.
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