Month: December 2017

Critics: Tanzania’s Magufuli Bulldozes Too Much

Posted on by SeeAF

In his two years in office, President John Magufuli has brought many changes to Tanzania, though critics say not all of them are for the better.

Magufuli has been criticized for being arrogant and autocratic when dealing with opponents, either perceived or real.

In this speech, the Tanzanian president warned those who looted public money.

“They should be careful. I can decide in two or three days to change the currency,” he said.

During five years as minister of works, Magufuli earned his nickname, the Bulldozer, for his habit of pushing aside any obstacle in order to get what he wants.

As president, he often takes a similar approach. In April, he fired more than 9,000 government workers over fake education certificates.

His no-nonsense ways can get results. For instance, the government is building a railway, roads, and pipelines to connect the country to neighboring Uganda.

But his methods leave activists and the opposition concerned.

 

Opposition lawmaker Zitto Kabwe said Magufuli’s approach is shortsighted.

“We have a president who hates multiparty democracy. He might be developmental, he would like to see the country going forward, but he hates democracy, and without democracy, development is not sustainable, because without democracy the institutions of accountability, the inclusive institutions that will enable the country to move forward will not develop,” said Kabwe.

Human rights groups have accused the government of using repressive legislation to muzzle the media and civil society.

 

The laws have been used against Maxence Melo, the co-founder of Jamii Forums, a whistle-blowing website.

The website was dedicated to exposing corruption in Tanzania. But Melo was accused of obstructing an investigation and failing to register the website with the state.

 

Melo said the authorities need to stop seeing critics as enemies.

“You need the media to fight corruption. Whatever fight he [Magufuli] is trying to fight, the anti-corruption kind of drive, it is the same thing as we the media revealed. We are the ones who made sure this thing is getting to the parliament,” said Melo.

Political analyst Azaveri Luwaitama said the ruling CCM party is afraid of losing power, after 56 years of rule.

“The reality on the ground between 2010 and 2015 was that this party had lost its legitimate appeal to being inclusive. So they organized an election and made sure that they won, but there is uncertainty. So they are trying to crush the opposition so that they can sort out things within themselves,” said Luwaitama.

In the 2015 election, President Magufuli received 58 percent of the vote, a big drop from previous elections in which 80 percent of Tanzanians voted for the CCM party.
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S. Sudanese Opposition Politicians, Activists Embrace ‘Troika’ Statement

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South Sudanese activists and opposition politicians say they welcome the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway to support a revitalization forum on South Sudan’s 2015 peace agreement, set to start later this month Addis Ababa.

The “troika” — as the three countries are known — says if the forum is going to be successful, it must be inclusive.

The three countries funded and facilitated the 2015 peace deal. But just days after its signing, the cessation of hostilities agreement was violated by both government forces and opposition fighters.

In its statement, the troika called on all parties to recommit to the deal and participate in the high-level revitalization forum, which U.S. officials have said is the last chance for President Salva Kiir’s administration to restore peace and stability in South Sudan.

 

Jame David, executive director of the Foundation for Democracy and Accountable Governance, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus the troika should assert itself more in the implementation of the peace agreement.

 

“The troika should not jump away from this process and entirely push [it] to the South Sudanese people because they were part of the agreement, they have the resources, they have every opportunity to pressure these parties to the agreement to move the process forward,” said David.

 

He said it’s also important for there to be a mechanism to hold all parties accountable, such as the East African regional bloc IGAD. Western sanctions imposed on government and rebel leaders have not been effective, he said.

“We believe that most of these guys are people who do not have interest of going to Britain, to Washington or even to any of these European cities, but if we move towards a process of creating regional sanctions I think it will be very effective,” David told VOA.

 

The revitalization forum was proposed by IGAD heads of state in June as a last-ditch effort to revive the 2015 peace agreement.

Joseph Ukell Obango is the leader of the opposition United South Sudan African Party. Obango says his party agrees with the troika that the government and armed opposition must declare a permanent ceasefire before engaging in the revitalization forum.

By declaring a cease-fire, Obango said, all warring parties would demonstrate their commitment to reaching a compromise at the forum.

“You cannot go for any negotiation while people are fighting. The government has actually declared a unilateral declaration of ceasefire and this is not working,” said Obango.

 

He added opposition parties in South Sudan want to see the warring parties commit to respecting the cessation of hostilities agreement they signed in 2015.

“But if we come with a position that ‘I can’t compromise,’ then this is where we are going… into what people are calling us now, a failed state,” said Obango.

 

Steward Soroba Bubudia, chairman of the United Democratic Party, welcomes the troika statement but said he doubts that threats to impose more sanctions on those blocking the peace process will make a difference.

Soroba said previous sanctions slapped on leaders from both warring parties in the past have not worked.

 

“Sanctions are there, but they are not implemented and nobody on the ground can implement these sanctions. They are defied. The only solution is the international community should grab who is an obstacle to this and take steps towards him or her,” said Soroba.
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Ex-Boko Haram Fighters Hardly Finding Peace

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The U.N. is working with the governments of Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad to encourage communities to reintegrate rehabilitated ex-Boko Haram fighters and people held captive by the militant sect. The initiative faces continued resistance.

Two hundred women and children said to be ex-Boko Haram militants are in a makeshift camp here at Kolofata on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria.

The women say most of them were captured and kept in the Sambisa forest where they served as cooks and were subjected to rape and sexual slavery. They were eventually forced to join Boko Haram as fighters, spies and suicide bombers. Their sons were trained to fight and daughters became suicide bombers.

Among the ex-militants is Mamouni Adji, a 34-year-old mother of three. She said they were saved from Boko Haram training camps after troops from Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria operating under a multi-national joint task force attacked Sambisa for three consecutive weeks in May 2017.

She lost her remaining daughter in the attack. Two others went as suicide bombers and have never returned.

Adji said she returned home hoping to find peace, but instead met violence from people who consider the returnees Boko Haram militants. She said her nightmare is not over.

Adji said if she had not gone to buy food two weeks ago, she would have been killed in the fire that burned her house. She said she is left with nothing but a copy of her identity card that proves that she is a citizen of her village.

Boko Haram forcibly recruited thousands of youths in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger in its effort to create an Islamic state in West Africa.

Muhammad Djamil, president of Nigerian Muslim youths, said communities should accept the returning fighters and stop stigmatization, which may make them more radical. He said the military should also stop persecuting them as if they were still fighters.

“The law enforcement agents are using excessive force on these people such that even the innocent people are being killed alongside the militants and that is giving the innocent citizens the thinking that the government is not for us, it is against us and now they lend more support to the extremist. Give them cover, so we should reduce the force that we use in curtailing this. Dialogue, inclusive dialogue is what will solve this and not force,” said Djamil.

Villagers said the ex-fighters and captives may be returning with Boko Haram ideology or be spies.

Mohammed Chambas, the U.N. special representative in West Africa, said the worries of the population are legitimate.

But Chambas said Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad should promote deradicalization centers to help re-integrate the former fighters and victims.

“They have succeeded in pushing Boko Haram back. So on that security front there has been good success and we all commend the military efforts that have been taken. At the same time let us address issues of governance, of bringing on board women and youth to tackle the root causes of violent extremism in central Africa, in west Africa, in the Sahel,” he said.

Cameroon and the U.N. have been distributing seeds, goats, sheep and pigs to the returnees and asking their communities to welcome them.
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Mattis Tells Pakistan to ‘Redouble’ Efforts to Confront Militants, Terrorists

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis urged Pakistan on Monday to redouble its efforts to confront militants and terrorists operating within the country, emphasizing “the vital role” Islamabad can play to work with Washington to facilitate a peace process in Afghanistan.

Mattis arrived in Pakistan on a day trip and went into meetings with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, where top Cabinet members and head of the country’s spy chief as well as national security advisor were also in attendance.

A U.S. statement issued after the talks said Mattis recognized Pakistan’s sacrifices in the war against terrorism and called for increased efforts toward regional stability and security.

“The Secretary emphasized the vital role that Pakistan can play in working with the United States and others to facilitate a peace process in Afghanistan that brings stability and security to the region,” it said.

U.S. and Afghan officials allege the Taliban and the dreaded Haqqani Network are using sanctuaries on Pakistani soil for orchestrating attacks on the Afghan side of the border.

‘Committed to its resolve’

Abbasi’s office also issued its own statement that quoted the prime minister as telling Mattis that counterterrorism operations have improved national security and Pakistan would continue the campaign to consolidate the gains it has achieved over the past four years.

“The Prime Minister reiterated that there are no safe heavens in Pakistan and the entire nation was committed to its resolve on eradicating terrorism once and for all in all its forms and manifestations,” it said.

Earlier, Abbasi, while opening the meeting with Mattis, said “nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan.”  He added that the United States and Pakistan “share the same common objectives.”

Before his visit to Islamabad Mattis said he did not plan to “prod” Pakistan, but expected it to adhere to its promises to combat terrorism.  He also expressed hope for a collaborative approach.

“I believe that we [can] work hard on finding common ground and then we work together,” Mattis said.

In October, Mattis warned the United States is willing to work “one more time” with Pakistan before taking “whatever steps are necessary” to address its alleged support for militants.

But on Sunday, Mattis said he is focused on trying to find “more common ground … by listening to one another without being combative.”

The United States has for a decade accused Pakistan of sheltering or having ties to terrorists, such as the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban, which attack NATO coalition forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Islamabad rejects the accusation, saying Washington is scapegoating Pakistan for its own failures in Afghanistan, where the United States remains in a stalemate after 16 years of war.

Tougher stance

Before Mattis’ visit, other Trump administration officials took a harder public stance on Pakistan.

Speaking at a defense forum Saturday, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said, “We are going to do everything we can to ensure that safe havens no longer exist,” if Pakistan does not heed the U.S. message on militants.

Since 2004, the CIA has conducted drone strikes – mostly against al-Qaida and Pakistani Taliban targets – in northwest Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan.

The United States is considering expanding those strikes, along with several other measures, according to media reports.

Other options include downgrading Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally or sanctioning individual Pakistani leaders suspected having ties with the Taliban.

But any kind of punitive action wouldn’t take place for at least a few weeks at minimum, predicts Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst with the Woodrow Wilson Center.

“I think [the administration] wants to give the Pakistanis a bit more time to see if they’re responding to the various demands the United States made of them when it comes to cracking down on terrorists,” said Kugelman.

One of the likelier U.S. responses, according to Kugelman, is expanding not only the geographic scope of the drone war, but also widening the type of targets the United States goes after.

“I think we could start seeing the U.S. trying to target more Haqqani Network and Afghan Taliban targets,” especially in the sparsely populated Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, he said.

The Trump administration has also threatened cut off aid to Pakistan.  Since 2002, the United States has given over $33 billion in assistance to Pakistan. But the aid has already been cut sharply in recent years.

Pakistani leverage?

If ties were to deteriorate, the United States also has much to lose.  Pakistan controls U.S. military supply routes to landlocked Afghanistan, and could close them down, as they did in 2011. The United States would also like Pakistan to scale back its nuclear modernization, improve ties with India, and stay engaged in the broader fight against Islamic militants.

But despite the risks, Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, warns Washington appears to be running out of patience.

“For many years we were trying to hold out hope that the Pakistanis would change their mind about Afghanistan and our role there,” he said.  “But those kinds of hopes aren’t as prevalent anymore.  And on balance, therefore, I think we are closer to using some of those tougher methods.”

Mattis, who is on a regional tour that also took him to Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait, wouldn’t elaborate on any possible U.S. action.  But he says the situation is pressing.

“There’s always an urgency to something when 39 nations plus Afghanistan have their troops in the midst of a long war where casualties are being taken,” he said.

 
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Trump: Fired National Security Adviser Treated Unfairly

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President Donald Trump has expressed sympathy for his former National security adviser Michael Flynn, saying Flynn had been treated unfairly by investigators looking into Russia’s influence on the 2016 presidential election.

 

WATCH: Trump on Mike Flynn

Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation last January about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States. The conversation came weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

 

The president compared Flynn’s lies to the FBI with comments made by his presidential rival Hillary Clinton when asked by federal investigators about her emails.

“Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI. Nothing happened to her. Flynn lied and they destroyed his life. I think it’s a shame,” Trump said Monday as he departed the White House on a trip to Utah.

The president noted Clinton was not under oath when she spoke to the FBI, while Flynn was.

Former FBI director James Comey testified in July 2016 that Clinton did not lie to FBI agents investigating her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

“We have no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI,” Comey told House Oversight Committee during an open hearing.

“I feel badly for General Flynn. I feel very badly,” Trump told reporters. “He’s led a very strong life. And I feel very badly.”

Trump’s comments come as legal experts and investigators are parsing a tweet that appeared over the weekend on his Twitter account.

 

Trump tweeted that he “had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”

That suggests the president was aware that when he fired Flynn on February 13 — after less than a month as his national security advisor — Trump was aware the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency had lied to the FBI when agents interviewed him weeks earlier.

 

The president’s personal lawyer John Dowd told the Axios news website that he had written the tweet himself. Dowd called it “my mistake,” saying he had drafted it and passed it to White House social media director Dan Scavino, who then posted it to the @realdonaldtrump account.

 

The tweet has led to intense scrutiny about whether the president knew when he fired Flynn that his aide had lied to the FBI, which could be construed as an admission that he obstructed justice when he asked the former FBI director to end his investigation of Flynn and then later fired Comey.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is formulating a case of obstruction of justice against the president as he moves forward with his investigation into Russian election meddling.

 

“I think we see this in the indictments, the four indictments and pleas that have just taken place, and some of the comments that are being made. I see it in the hyper-frenetic attitude of the White House: the comments every day, the continual tweets,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

 

“And I see it, most importantly, in what happened with the firing of Director Comey and it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the Russia investigation,” according to Feinstein. “That’s obstruction of justice.”

 

Several Trump defenders have dismissed the possibility of any obstruction of justice charge against the president, saying the president was within his constitutional rights in talking to and subsequently firing Comey.

 

The “President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution’s Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case,” presidential attorney Dowd told Axios.

Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz agreed. “You cannot charge a president with obstruction of justice for exercising his constitutional power to fire Comey and his constitutional authority to tell the Justice Department who to investigate and who not to investigate,” Dershowitz said in comments to Fox News.

 

Many other legal analysts, however, argue that the president tweet is a clear admission that was trying to alter the course of the investigation at a time when he was aware that Flynn had lied under oath.

Ned Price, who was a special assistant to President Barack Obama on the National Security Council staff, questioned whether Trump’s seemingly incriminating tweet could have been written by someone else. “It seems as implausible as it is convenient to President Trump,” Price told VOA.

“The idea that a lawyer would draft that – without any input from or clearance by Trump – doesn’t strike me as believable,” said Price, a former CIA senior analyst and spokesperson. “Add that to the long list of cover-ups.”

Republican Senator Susan Collins, speaking to the NBC News “Meet the Press” program on Sunday, said the president should not be commenting on the case at all.

“The president should have no comment whatsoever on either of these investigations,” Collins said. “And the only thing that he should be doing is directing all of his staff and associates to fully cooperate.”
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Ex-US Congresswoman Brown to Be Sentenced for Fraud

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A federal judge is expected to sentence former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown on Monday for fraud and other charges related to a purported charity for poor students that she used as a personal slush fund.

 

The 71-year-old Brown was due in court at 10 a.m. in Jacksonville, a city in the Florida district she represented in Congress during her historic, nearly 25-year career.

 

Brown, a Democrat who was one of the first three African-Americans to be elected to Congress from Florida since Reconstruction, could spend the rest of her life in prison.

 

A federal jury in May convicted her of 18 of the 22 charges against her, which included fraud, lying on her tax returns and on her congressional financial disclosures.

 

Prosecutors outlined a pattern of fraud by Brown and her top aide that included using hundreds of thousands of dollars from the One Door for Education Foundation for lavish parties, trips and shopping excursions.

 

Brown’s former chief of staff, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons, and One Door’s executive director Carla Wiley accepted plea deals and testified against Brown. They are also scheduled to be sentenced Monday.

 

Federal prosecutors said the three used One Door to bring in more than $800,000 between 2012 and 2016, including a high-profile golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass. The Virginia-based One Door only gave out one scholarship for $1,200 to an unidentified person in Florida, according to court documents.

 

Simmons told jurors that his boss ordered him to take cash and checks from One Door’s account on dozens of occasions and deposit the money into Brown’s personal account.

 

Brown testified in her own defense, saying she was left in the dark about the details of One Door’s money, and blamed the theft on Simmons.

 

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Corrigan could sentence Brown to many years in prison for each of her 18 counts.

 

Her attorneys argued for leniency at a hearing last month, saying Brown’s community work should mitigate her crimes.
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Trump Endorses Republican Roy Moore in Alabama US Senate Contest

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President Donald Trump endorsed Republican Roy Moore on Monday in next week’s U.S. Senate election in Alabama, rebuffing calls by other prominent Republicans that Moore drop out of the race because of accusations that he sexually abused teenage girls four decades ago when he was in his 30s.

In a pre-dawn Twitter comment, Trump said, “Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama.”

The U.S. leader added that Republicans “need his vote” to stop crime, thwart illegal immigration, construct a wall along the Mexican border, advance military spending, fight against abortion, promote gun rights and other issues.

“No to Jones,” Trump said of Moore’s opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor, whom he said was a “puppet” of the top two congressional Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Trump told voters in the southern state that “Putting Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Puppet Jones into office in Alabama would hurt our great Republican Agenda of low on taxes, tough on crime, strong on military and borders … & so much more.”  Trump said people in Alabama should consider the likely increases in their savings accounts since he was elected a year ago.  “Highest Stock Market EVER! Jobs are roaring back!” Trump said.

A short time later, the 70-year-old Moore, expressed his appreciation, saying, “Thankful for President Trump’s support.  The America First agenda will (Make America Great Again.)  Can’t wait to help him Drain The Swamp.”

Later, the White House said Trump also called Moore to offer his support in the December 12 election.

Trump has said he will not go to Alabama to campaign for Moore, but is heading Friday to Pensacola, Florida, a short distance from Alabama, for a political rally. Trump has not said whether he believes the women’s accusations against Moore, but noted that Moore has denied them.

“He says it didn’t happen,” the president told reporters recently. “You have to listen to him, also.”

Until Monday, Trump had contended that Jones, 63, would, if elected, be beholden to Schumer and Pelosi.  But Trump had not explicitly endorsed Moore, who twice was deposed from the Alabama Supreme Court for failing to adhere to federal court rulings.  

On one occasion, Moore refused to take down a 2,400-kilogram granite monument at the Alabama court with the Ten Commandments written on it and another time ordered state officials to refuse to sanction same-sex marriages in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing them.

Polls still split on who’s ahead

The sexual misconduct allegations against Moore are playing a major role for voters in the campaign, but two major polls are split on who is ahead in the contest.  

A CBS News/YouGov poll on Sunday said Moore is leading by a 49-to-43 percent margin among likely voters.  A day earlier, The Washington Post-Schar School survey showed Jones ahead, 50-47.

The December 12 contest has been roiled by accusations from two women who alleged that Moore, when he was a local prosecutor in his early 30s, sexually abused them when they were teenagers, while other women, now also in their 50s, said that Moore pursued them for dates when they were teens.

The CBS poll said Republicans, by a 71-17 percent margin, think the allegations are false and they believe Democrats and the media are behind the accusations.  One of the accusers, who was 14 at the time she said Moore accosted her, first told her account in the Post, while a second woman held a news conference.  The Post’s poll similarly showed Republicans’ disbelief about the allegations, with fewer than one in six Republican-leaning likely voters believing that Moore made unwanted sexual advances against the girls.

The CBS poll said half of Moore’s supporters are backing him because they want a senator who would cast votes for conservative causes, rather than because they think he is the best candidate in the election.  The Post said its survey showed that a quarter of voters say moral conduct will be the deciding factor if how they decide to vote, with Jones winning such voters over Moore by a 67-30 margin.

The election is for the last three years of the seat once held by Jeff Sessions, who left it to join Trump’s Cabinet as attorney general, the country’s top law enforcement official.

While Trump is supporting Moore, other key Republicans have called for him to drop out of the race, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan and two former Republican presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain.

Some Republicans say that Moore, if he wins and is seated in the Senate, should then be immediately expelled because of the sexual misconduct allegations.  McConnell on Sunday said it is up to Alabama voters to decide the election and that should Moore win, it would be up to the Senate Ethics Committee to consider the women’s accusations.
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Indian Tycoon Calls Money-laundering Accusations ‘Baseless’

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Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya insisted Monday that he was innocent of money-laundering accusations after an evacuation of the court building during a London hearing put him the in the center of a media scrum.

 

The Westminster Magistrates Court session was interrupted briefly by a fire alarm, forcing Mallya outside amid the waiting media. Television crews from India pursued Mallya, while he tried to avoid them.

 

“The allegations are baseless, unfounded, deliberate and you will see our submissions in court,” he said.

 

But the media kept pursuing 61-year-old businessman and former politician, circling him on the sidewalk.

 

“The answer will be given to the judge – you think you are going to conduct a trial by media?” he asked.

 

India is seeking Mallya’s extradition to answer the allegations related to the collapse of several of his businesses.

 

Mallya launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 and the carrier set new standards for quality and service, forcing competing airlines to improve. But it ran into trouble as it expanded. The Indian government suspended the airline’s license in 2012 after it failed to pay pilots and engineers for months.

 

The case is expected to take roughly eight days and lead to a verdict on whether he will be sent back to India or allowed to remain in Britain.
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Yemen’s Former President Saleh Killed After Houthis Stop His Motorcade

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It was a bitter end for the former president who had ruled the north of Yemen and then a united north and south for nearly 34 years. His death came at the hand of Houthi militiamen who were pursuing him and a number of close aides as they attempted to flee fighting inside the capital Sanaa.  Amateur video released by Houthi media show the former president with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, being carried off in a blanket.

Members of his political party claimed Saleh had been killed at point-blank range, after his three-vehicle convoy was stopped by Houthi militiamen. One of his sons was also reportedly shot and taken captive by the Houthis.

Arab media claimed Iranian drones detected the former president’s motorcade leaving Sanaa and alerted the Houthis, who said Saleh was fleeing to territory under control of the Saudi-led coalition. He had broken with the pro-Iranian militia group on Saturday by offering to negotiate with the coalition.

In a televised speech Monday, Houthi leader Abdel Malek al Houthi declared victory against Saleh.

He said the Houthis have put a stop to a massive plot, which represented a serious threat to the country and to its stability and security, as well as the unity of its people, by handing it over to its enemies, after they had failed to capture it in nearly three years of battle.

Houthi went on to blast Saleh for betraying the loyalty of those he had worked with and claimed the ordinary people of the capital could not understand how he had changed sides after three years of denouncing the Saudi-led coalition.

The rebel leader claimed many ordinary Yemenis were shocked by (Saleh’s) calls for strife, combat, upsetting peace and security, and he says he tried in a fraternal and peaceful way to avoid the current conflict by talking (with Saleh).

As president of Yemen, Saleh had fought the Houthis in five conflicts between 2005 and 2012, before allying with them in 2014 after the Saudi-led coalition launched a military operation to restore the internationally-recognized president, Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi, after the Houthis had deposed and arrested him.

Former U.S. Diplomat David Mack, now with the Middle East Institute, told VOA Saleh was “one of the smartest political operatives in the Arab world,” and the former president believed he had been unjustly driven from office by countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in accord with the United States.

Mack told VOA, before news of Mr. Saleh’s death, the former president “wanted to have one chance to restore his reputation, which has been terribly, terribly damaged during the past decade.

“He has gone from having the reputation of being this supremely capable political operator within Yemen, to being somebody who was just out for personal power and was prepared to see tremendous suffering of the Yemeni people in the process,” Mack said.

The whereabouts of Saleh’s son, and political heir, Tareq, who was leading the fight against the Houthis in the capital at the head of the Presidential Guard regiment remain unclear. The former president’s supporters have suffered serious military setbacks during the past 48 hours.
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Malta Announces 10 Arrests in Investigative Journalist’s Murder

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Ten suspects were arrested Monday over the October 16 car bomb murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta’s prime minister announced.

 

Joseph Muscat said eight Maltese citizens were arrested on Monday morning, given a “reasonable suspicion” of their involvement in Caruana Galizia’s slaying. Shortly afterward, he tweeted that two others had been arrested, but didn’t cite their nationality.

 

Police sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the other two are also Maltese.

 

Overall, Muscat gave almost no details, citing concerns any information could compromise prospects to prosecute the case.

 

The investigation appeared to be continuing, as police and armed forces had cordoned off an area in Marsa, a small town close to Valletta, the capital.  

 

The arrests, made in an operation coordinated among the Police Corps, the Armed Forces of Malta and the Security Services, were the first known break in the murder that has drawn widespread outrage and condemnation.

 

Investigators have 48 hours to question the suspects to decide whether to seek charges, in accordance with Maltese law.

 

Caruana Galizia, whose reporting focused heavily on corruption on the EU island nation, was killed when a bomb destroyed her car as she was driving near her home.

 

Europol, the European Union’s police agency, sent a team of organized crime experts to help Maltese police investigate the assassination, joining the FBI and Dutch forensic experts.

‘Crooks everywhere’

Just before her death, Caruana Galizia, 53, 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 as well.

 

Just last week, a visiting delegation of European Parliament lawmakers left the island expressing concerns over the rule of law in the tiny EU member country and issued a warning that the “perception of impunity in Malta cannot continue.”

 

Low tax rates and a popular government program that allows wealthy foreigners to buy Maltese citizenship has made the country an attractive place for investment, financial and other companies. Authorities, including anti-Mafia investigators in nearby Italy worry that Malta is in the eye of criminals on the lookout for money-laundering schemes.

 

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

 
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Portugal’s Finance Chief Tapped to Lead Eurozone Group

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The finance ministers from the 19 countries that use the euro are deciding who should lead their regular meetings, with Portugal’s Mario Centeno widely tipped to take the helm of a group that has led the currency bloc’s crisis-fighting efforts.

The decision of who will succeed Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem as president of the so-called eurogroup is expected later Monday. Dijsselbloem, who has held the post for nearly five years, has been one of the most high-profile European politicians during a period that saw a number of countries, notably Greece, teeter on the edge of bankruptcy and the euro currency itself come under threat.

 

Three other candidates are in the frame, too: Luxembourg’s Pierre Gramegna, Slovakia’s Peter Kazimir and Latvia’s Dana Reizniece-Ozola.

 

Whoever gets the presidency will inherit a eurozone in far better shape than the one that existed during Dijsselbloem’s tenure. The economy is growing strongly while worries over Greece’s future in the bloc have subsided and the country is poised to exit its bailout era next summer.

 

A victory for Centeno, who in Portugal has favored easing off budget austerity policies, has the potential to mark a new era for the eurozone.

 

While eurozone governments still insist that countries must keep their public finances in shape, there’s a greater acknowledgement that many people, particularly in southern Europe, have grown weary of austerity. Following the departure of long-time German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a Centeno victory would encapsulate that shift.

 

Portugal was one of four eurozone countries that had to be bailed out during the region’s debt crisis. In 2011, the country required a 78 billion-euro rescue after its budget deficit grew too large and bond market investors asked for hefty premiums to lend to the government. In return for the financial lifeline, Portuguese governments had to enact a series of spending cuts and economic reforms.

 

Though the strategy may have worked in bringing Portugal’s public finances into better shape, austerity accentuated a recession and raised unemployment. Since Centeno took office in the Socialist government that came to power in December 2015, Portugal’s deficit has fallen to 2 percent, the lowest in more than 40 years while the unemployment rate is down to an almost 10-year low of 8.5 percent, after peaking at a record 16.2 percent in 2013.

 

Ahead of the meeting where the vote will take place, Centeno said his aim, should he come out on top, would be to “generate consensus” in the “challenging” period ahead.

 

“We have showed everyone that we can reach consensus, we can work with other parties, we can work with institutions,” he said. “Portugal is an example of that.”

 

Dijsselbloem said keeping the eurogroup “together and united” should be the primary purpose of the eurogroup president.

 

“It’s the only way we take decisions in the eurogroup,” he said.

 

 
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NATO Chief Unfazed by Tillerson Future Rumors

Posted on by SeeEU

NATO’s chief says he’s looking forward to talks with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and that the military alliance is too focused on security issues to be distracted by rumors about Tillerson’s future.

 

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that the alliance “and NATO ministers are able to focus on the core tasks of the job we have to do despite any speculation and rumors.”

 

Stoltenberg praised Tillerson’s “strong personal commitment to the trans-Atlantic bond and to NATO.”

 

President Donald Trump denied Friday that he wants to oust Tillerson, calling reports to that effect “fake news.”

 

U.S. envoy to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said that “there has been no change whatsoever” in planning for two days of talks between Tillerson and his NATO counterparts starting Tuesday.

 

 
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Judge Orders Release of 6 Catalan Politicians

Posted on by SeeEU

A Spanish Supreme Court judge ordered the release of six jailed Catalan politicians Monday, but upheld the continued detention of two separatist activists and two other former members of the regional government, including the vice president.

Magistrate Pablo Llarena ordered ousted Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras, the former regional interior minister Joaquim Forn and the leaders of two Catalan separatist groups to remain in jail without bail.

 

According to a Supreme Court statement, the judge ruled that, while he considered there was no risk the defendants would leave the country, it remained to be seen if their pledges to respect Spanish law and renounce unilateral independence for Catalonia were “truthful and real.”

 

Llarena set bail at $118,000 for the six other Catalan politicians.

That decision allows them to join the campaign for December 21 regional election.

Ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and four separatist allies who are also running for re-election are appearing in a Brussels court Monday for a second extradition hearing.

They are fighting return to Spain to face rebellion, sedition and embezzlement charges that can be punished with decades in prison under the Spanish law.

Whatever decision is made in Brussels, two appeals will be possible and a final ruling would come only after the December 21 vote called by Spain’s central government, in which Puigdemont is leading his party’s campaign.
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Airstrikes, Battles in Yemen’s Capital as Rebel Alliance Unravels

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Airstrikes struck Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, overnight and into Monday with witnesses saying the bombings hit Houthi rebel positions.

A Saudi-led coalition that has launched airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen since March 2015 is the only force known to conduct strikes on Sana’a.

Robert Mardini, Middle East regional director for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said “the night was tough” in the city with massive clashes that included airstrikes and artillery. He reported Yemenis were trapped in their homes and that an ICRC medical warehouse was hit.

The violence comes as an alliance between the Iran-backed Houthis and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh appears to have fallen apart.

The two sides joined ranks three years ago and swept across Sana’a, forcing the country’s internationally recognized President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to flee the country and seek the military intervention led by Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis’ political office accused Saleh of staging a “coup” against “an alliance he never believed in” after he offered to initiate talks with the Saudi coalition. In a televised speech, Saleh asked for an end to the siege on Yemeni ports and offered, in exchange, to “turn a new page” and “deal with them in a positive way.”

Clashes between fighters loyal to Saleh and the Houthis first erupted last week when Saleh accused the rebels of storming his giant mosque in Sana’a and attacking his nephew, the powerful commander of the special forces, Tarek Saleh.

David Mack, a former U.S. diplomat, has dealt with Saleh who was removed in 2012 after more than 30 years in office. Now with the Middle East Institute, Mack described Saleh as “one of the smartest political operatives in the Arab world,” and someone who felt he was unjustly pushed from power by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council backed by the United States.

“He still wanted to have one chance to restore his reputation, which has been terribly, terribly damaged during the past decade,” Mack told VOA. “He’s gone from having the reputation of being this supremely capable political operator within Yemen to being somebody who was just out for personal power and was prepared to see tremendous suffering of Yemeni people in the process.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged warring parties in Yemen to stop all ground and air assaults. The U.N. said the sharp escalation of armed clashes and airstrikes in Sana’a has already resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries, including civilians.

Fighting is restricting the movement of people and life-saving services within Sana’a city. Ambulances and medical teams cannot access the injured and people cannot go outside to buy food and other necessities, the U.N. said. Aid workers are unable to travel and implement critical life-saving programs at a time when millions of Yemenis rely on assistance to survive.

Yemen is one of the Arab world’s poorest countries and has become a humanitarian catastrophe with more than 10,000 people killed in the fighting and at least 2 million displaced. A cholera outbreak has infected nearly 1 million people.
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Kushner: Trump Has Not Decided Whether to Recognize Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. President Donald Trump has not yet decided whether to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and whether to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as promised during his campaign. The president’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner said Sunday that the president is still considering various facts. Trump has until Monday to make a decision. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Arab Leaders Warn Against US Recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli Capital

Posted on by SeeEA

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says he told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of the “dangerous consequences” that would follow if the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“Such a decision would trigger anger across Arab Muslim worlds, fuel tension and jeopardize peace efforts,” Safadi said on Twitter.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement this week concerning his administration’s policy on Jerusalem.

Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner said at an event Sunday the president had not yet made up his mind.

“He’s still looking at a lot of different facts,” Kushner said.

U.S. officials said last week that Trump was expected to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, but put off deciding to move the U.S. embassy to there from its current location in Tel Aviv.

WATCH: Jared Kushner on Trump’s decision

Israel seized control of Jerusalem in the Six Day War in 1967, and later annexed east Jerusalem — a move never recognized by the world community. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Israel contends the entire city is its undivided capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned Sunday that either moving the embassy or the recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital would be a threat to the Middle East peace process.

An Abbas advisor said he spent much of Sunday calling several world leaders to “explain the dangers of any decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem or recognize (Jerusalem) as Israel’s capital.”

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the U.S. is “playing with fire.”

Hamas has called for a new intifada — an uprising — if the embassy is moved.

A law enacted under former President Bill Clinton calls for the U.S. Embassy to move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem unless the current president signs a waiver every six months to block the move in the name of national security. Every president has signed the waiver since the law was created in 1995, including Trump.
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After Return Home, Former Egypt PM Says Still Mulling Election Bid

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Former Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafik, who returned home from the United Arab Emirates after announcing his bid for Egypt’s presidency, appeared in Cairo on Sunday to say he was still considering his run in next year’s election.

Shafik’s comments on a private Cairo television station came a day after his family said he had been taken from their home in the Emirates and deported back to Egypt, where they said they had lost contact with him until late on Sunday.

Shafik, a former air force chief and government minister, has been seen by critics of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the strongest potential challenger to the president, who is expected to run for a second term next year.

Details about what happened to Shafik between his leaving the UAE on Saturday and his declaration on Sunday were unclear.

He made a surprise announcement from the UAE last week that he planned to run in the 2018 election.

“Today, I am here in the country, so I think I am free to deliberate further on the issue, to explore and go down and talk to people in the street,” he said on Sunday. “There’s a chance now to investigate more and see exactly what is needed … to feel out if this is the logical choice.”

The interview on Dream TV was Shafik’s first public appearance since leaving the UAE on Saturday. His family said earlier they feared he had been “kidnapped”. Sources said he had been picked up by Egyptian authorities at Cairo airport.

Shafik dismissed reports he had been kidnapped. His lawyer, Dina Adly, wrote on her Facebook page that she had been able to see him at a Cairo hotel and said he was not subject to any investigations. She did not confirm whether he was able to leave the hotel or country.

“I had a meeting with Shafik an hour ago at one of the hotels in New Cairo and confirmed his health,” Adly wrote on Facebook, referring to a suburban area of Cairo.

“He confirmed that his health was good and that he was not subjected to any investigations,” she wrote. Shafik’s family said earlier he had been taken from their home on Saturday by UAE authorities and flown by private plane back to Cairo.

“We know nothing about him since he left home yesterday,” Shafik’s daughter May told Reuters on Sunday before his reappearance.

“If he was deported he should have been able to go home by now, not just disappear. We consider him kidnapped.”

UAE authorities confirmed he left the Emirates but gave no details.

A source at the Egyptian Interior Ministry said: “We do not know anything about Shafik. We did not arrest him and we did not receive any requests from the prosecution to arrest him or bring him back.”

Gulf allies

Shafik’s abrupt departure from UAE came weeks after Lebanese officials accused Saudi Arabia of meddling by forcing Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to resign by holding him against his will.

Saudi Arabia denied those charges but the case prompted a crisis and pushed Lebanon back into the center of a regional struggle between Riyadh with its Sunni Gulf allies and Iran.

Sissi is an ally of UAE and Saudi Arabia and his supporters say he is key to Egypt’s stability. Critics say he has eroded freedoms gained after a 2011 uprising that ousted former leader Hosni Mubarak and jailed hundreds of dissidents.

Sissi has won backing from Gulf states and has presented himself as a bulwark against Islamist militants since, as army commander, he led the overthrow in 2013 of former president Mohamed Mursi of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood.

After four decades in the military, Shafik touted his military experience as one of his strengths in the 2012 vote. But he fled to the UAE to escape corruption charges in June 2012. He dismissed the charges as politically motivated and was taken off airport watchlists last year.

In UAE, his family said he had round-the-clock security at home and informed authorities about his whereabouts. Soon after his announcement on Wednesday, he claimed he had been blocked from travelling, but his family later said he had been given assurances he could travel.

Sissi has yet to announce his own intentions for the election. His supporters dismiss criticism over rights abuses and say any measures are needed for security in the face of an Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds of police and soldiers.

His government is struggling to crush the insurgency in the North Sinai region and has enacted painful austerity reforms over the last year which critics say have eroded his popularity.
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Reports: Syrian, Russian Jets Bomb Residential Areas in Eastern Ghouta

Posted on by SeeEA

Jets believed to be Syrian and Russian struck heavily crowded residential areas in a besieged rebel enclave near Damascus, killing at least 27 people and injuring dozens in the third week of a stepped-up assault, residents, aid workers and a war monitor said on Monday.

Civil defense workers said at least 17 were killed in the town of Hamoriya in an airstrike on a marketplace and nearby residential area after over nearly 30 strikes in the past 24 hours that struck several towns in the densely populated rural area east of Damascus known as Eastern Ghouta.

Four other civilians were killed in the town of Arbin, while the rest came from strikes on Misraba and Harasta, the civil defense workers said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, said the casualties on Sunday were the biggest daily death toll since the stepped-up strikes began 20 days ago. The monitor said nearly 200 civilians were killed in strikes and shelling, including many women and children, during that period.

Eastern Ghouta has been besieged by army troops since 2013 in an attempt to force the rebel enclave to submission.

The government has in recent months tightened the siege in what residents and aid workers have said is a deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war, a charge the government denies.

The United Nations says about 40,000 civilians besieged in the region face a “complete catastrophe” because aid deliveries by the Syrian government were blocked and hundreds of people who need urgent medical evacuation have not been allowed outside the enclave.

Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining large swathe of rebel-held area around Damascus that has not reached an evacuation deal to surrender weapons in return for allowing fighters to go to other rebel-held areas farther north.

“They are targeting civilians … a jet hit us there, no rebels or checkpoints,” Sadeq Ibrahim, a trader, said by phone in Hamoriya.

“May God take his revenge on the regime and Russia,” said Abdullah Khalil, another resident, who said he lost members of his family in the airstrike on Arbin and was searching for survivors among the rubble.

The intensified bombardment of Eastern Ghouta follows a rebel attack last month on an army complex in the heart of the region that the army had used to bomb nearby rebel-held areas.

Residents said, however, that the failure of the army to dislodge rebels from the complex had prompted what they believe were retaliatory indiscriminate attacks on civilians in the Eastern Ghouta.

Government advances since last year have forced people to flee deeper into its increasingly overcrowded towns. The loss of farmland is increasing pressure on scarce food supplies.

Eastern Ghouta is part of several de-escalation zones that Russia has brokered with rebels across Syria that has freed the army to redeploy in areas where it can regain ground.

Rebels accuse the Syrian government and Russia of violating the zones and say they were meant as a charade to divert attention from the heavy daily bombing of civilian areas. The Syrian government and Russia deny their jets bomb civilians and insist they only strike militant hideouts.

 
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Gunbattles Rage as Yemen’s Rebel Alliance Unravels

Posted on by SeeEA

Gunbattles erupted in the Yemeni capital Sana’a Sunday as an alliance between the Iran-backed Shi’ite rebels known as the Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh appeared to have fallen apart.

The two sides joined ranks three years ago and swept across the capital, Sana’a, forcing the country’s internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country and seek military intervention led by Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis’ political office have accused Saleh of staging a “coup” against “an alliance he never believed in” after he offered to initiate talks with the Saudi coalition.  In a televised speech, Saleh asked for an end to the siege on Yemeni ports and offered, in exchange, to “turn a new page” and “deal with them in a positive way.”

Clashes between fighters loyal to Saleh and the Houthis first erupted last week when Saleh accused the rebels of storming his giant mosque in Sana’a and attacking his nephew, the powerful commander of the special forces, Tarek Saleh.

 

Both sides have set up checkpoints, placed snipers on rooftops and sealed off entrances to the city. But many state institutions, including the airport, state TV headquarters and the official news agency, remain under the control of the Houthis.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged warring parties in Yemen to stop all ground and air assaults. In a statement released Sunday, the U.N. said the sharp escalation of armed clashes and airstrikes in Sana’a has already resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries, including civilians.  

 

Fighting is restricting the movement of people and life-saving services within Sana’a city. Ambulances and medical teams cannot access the injured and people cannot go outside to buy food and other necessities, it said. Aid workers are unable to travel and implement critical life-saving programs at a time when millions of Yemenis rely on assistance to survive.

Yemen is one of the Arab world’s poorest countries. Since 2015, it has been locked in a devastating civil war pitting Saudi-backed government forces against Iranian-supported rebels.

Yemen has become a humanitarian catastrophe, with more than 10,000 people killed in the fighting and at least 2 million displaced. A cholera outbreak has infected nearly 1 million people.
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Nationalists Surge in First Round of Corsica Elections

Posted on by SeeEU

Nationalist dominated the first round of local elections on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, winning more than 45 percent of the vote in preliminary results. The vote has been closely watched elsewhere, following Catalonia’s independence moves in Spain.

The results mark a clear victory for the current ruling nationalist coalition in Corsica. Their Pe a Corsica list earned significantly more votes during this first round than two years ago, when they swept to an unprecedented victory in regional elections. A smaller nationalist ticket received far fewer votes. But should the two unite, they would capture the majority of seats in Corsica’s assembly.

Speaking to French TV, nationalist leader Gilles Simeoni, who heads the winning ticket, said his group would represent all Corsicans, whether they supported their movement or not.

The nationalists took power in 2015, refueling, for some, long-held independence dreams on the island. Catalonia’s independence struggle has added further juice.

University of Bordeaux Corsica expert Thierry Dominici said the results were a huge victory – and suggest nationalist sentiments touch everyone in Corsica. He credited the high abstention rate to a mix of factors – including that many are waiting for next Sunday’s runoff.

Strikingly, France’s main parties scored extremely low – including the far-right National Front party which faired strongly in Corsica during the presidential elections.

That meant, Dominici said, Corsican support for the far right reflects a protest vote, rather than real support.

The Corsican results mark yet another European region tilting to more autonomy. Unlike Spain’s Catalonia region, however, Corsica’s ruling coalition is not demanding independence – rather more local control of matters like taxation and education. More die-hard nationalists continue to hope for more.

 
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Washington Focused on Russia Probe, Republican Tax Plan

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U.S. President Donald Trump begins the week buoyed by a major legislative victory, but on the defensive yet again concerning the Russia investigation. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports.
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Netanyahu Says Iran’s Presence in Syria Won’t Be Tolerated

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Israel won’t allow Iran to entrench itself militarily in Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday.  

His remarks, in a taped message to a forum in Washington, came just a day after Israeli aircraft attacked a suspected Iranian base outside Damascus and could suggest the Middle East is entering a new volatile phase in a confrontation between Israel and Iran.

“Let me reiterate Israel’s policy,” Netanyahu said.  “We will not allow a regime hell bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons.  We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state,” he told the Saban Forum, an annual gathering of American and Israeli leaders in Washington hosted by the Brookings Institution.

Citing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who recently described Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei as “the new Hitler of the Middle East,” Netanyahu likened Iran to Nazi Germany, arguing they share in common, “a ruthless commitment to impose tyranny and terror” as well as “a ruthless commitment to murder Jews.”

Some cooperation

His criticism comes amid growing rumors a covert relationship is developing between Israel and Saudi Arabia, united in opposition to Iran and its growing clout in the region. Saudi Arabian officials have denied the claims. Saudi foreign minister Adel Jubeir told an Egyptian television station recently, “There are no relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”

But CIA director Mike Pompeo said Saturday Saudi Arabia has been working directly with Israel and Sunni Arab nations in the fight against terrorism.

“We’ve seen them work with the Israelis to push back against terrorism throughout the Middle East,” Pompeo told a security forum in California.

Last month, a senior Israeli minister, Yuval Steinitz, acknowledged publicly that joint enmity for Iran has pushed Israel and Saudi Arabia closer and that the two states, which do not enjoy formal diplomatic relations, had established “partly secret” ties to counter Iran’s influence in the region.  It was the first disclosure by a senior Israeli figure of long-rumored secret cooperation between the Jewish state and the Gulf Kingdom, although a top Israeli general had earlier said Israel stood ready to exchange intelligence about Iran with Saudi Arabia or any “moderate” Arab countries.

Israel sending message

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes flying over neighboring Lebanon fired several missiles at a military base Iran is said to be building in Syria close to the country’s capital, Damascus, according to a state-run Syrian news agency and foreign media.  The Israeli military has not commented on the missile strike targeting a military area near the southern suburb of Kiswah.

Sana, Syria’s news agency, claimed Syrian air defenses had shot down two of the Israeli missiles. Other Syrian media said the airstrike killed a dozen Iranian revolutionary guardsmen.

As the Syrian civil war has drawn Iran deeper into the conflict to shore up its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, Israel has conducted airstrikes against convoys and bases in Syria in a bid, officials say, to prevent Syria and Iran, from transferring sophisticated weapons to Tehran ally Hezbollah, the radical Lebanese Shi’ite movement, which is also fighting in Syria in support of the Assad government.

Some analysts question why Israel decided to strike the base at Kiswah now.  For more than a year, there have been claims Iran has been constructing permanent military bases in Syria.  On November 10 the BBC broadcast three satellite images taken over several months showing new buildings being erected and other construction work at the site 50 kilometers from Israeli installations on the Golan Heights.

The Israeli airstrike appears to have upped the ante regarding Iran’s military presence in Syria.  Last week Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had sent a stark warning to President Assad, via a third party, warning Israel would target his regime if he grants Iran a permanent presence in his country.

The airstrike, say analysts, is to show Israel’s willingness to enforce a red line, and that message may be directed to Assad’s other big foreign backer, Russia.  Israel and Moscow have been in negotiations for weeks about a buffer zone along the Israeli-Syria border with the Israelis demanding it extend at least 40 kilometers inside Syria.  The Russians, according to Israel diplomats, have agreed only an off-limits zone 10 to 15 kilometers.

Last month, the chief commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said Tehran will help rebuild Syria and bring about a lasting “ceasefire.”  Iranian state television quoted him as saying, “Hezbollah must be armed to fight against the enemy of the Lebanese nation, which is Israel.  Naturally they should have the best weapons to protect Lebanon’s security.  This issue is non-negotiable.”
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2 Polls Split on Who Is Winning US Senate Race in Alabama

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Four-decade-old sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama Republican Roy Moore are playing a major role for voters in his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat, but nine days ahead of the election two major polls are split whether he is ahead of Democrat Doug Jones.  

A CBS News/YouGov poll on Sunday said Moore, twice deposed from the Alabama Supreme Court for failing to adhere to federal court rulings, is ahead of Jones, a former federal prosecutor, by a 49-to-43 percent margin among likely voters.  A day earlier, The Washington Post-Schar School survey showed Jones ahead, 50-47.

The December 12 contest has been roiled by accusations from two women who alleged that Moore, when he was a local prosecutor in early 30s, sexually abused them when they were teenagers, while other women, now also in their 50s, said that Moore pursued them for dates when they were teens.

The CBS poll said that Republicans, by a 71-17 percent margin, think the allegations are false and that they believe Democrats and the media are behind the accusations.  One of the accusers, one of whom was 14 at the time, first told her account in the Post, while a second woman held a news conference.  The Post’s poll similarly showed Republicans’ disbelief about the allegations, with fewer than one in six Republican-leaning likely voters believing that Moore made unwanted sexual advances against the girls.

The CBS poll said half of Moore’s supporters are backing him because they want a senator who would cast votes for conservative causes, rather than because they think he is the best candidate in the election.  The Post said its survey showed that a quarter of voters say moral conduct will be the deciding factor if how they decide to vote, with Jones winning such voters over Moore by a 67-30 margin.

The election is for the last three years of the seat once held by Jeff Sessions, who resigned it to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as attorney general, the country’s top law enforcement official.

Trump has said Jones would prove to be an unwanted liberal vote in the Senate representing a deeply conservative state.  Other key Republicans have called for Moore to drop out of the race, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan and two former Republican presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain.

Some Republicans say that Moore, if he wins and is seated in the Senate, should then be immediately expelled because of the sexual misconduct allegations.  McConnell on Sunday said it is up to Alabama voters to decide the election and that should Moore win, it would be up to the Senate Ethics Committee to consider the women’s accusations.
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Mattis Says Won’t ‘Prod’ Pakistan During Visit

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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he does not plan to “prod” Pakistan, but expects it adhere to its promises to combat terrorism, as he embarks on his first visit to Islamabad as Pentagon chief.

Speaking aboard a military plane, Mattis said he does not expect to butt heads during his Monday meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa.

“That’s not the way I deal with issues,” Mattis said. “I believe that we [can] work hard on finding common ground and then we work together.”

In October, Mattis warned the United States is willing to work “one more time” with Pakistan before taking “whatever steps are necessary” to address its alleged support for militants.

But on Sunday, Mattis said he is focused on trying to find “more common ground … by listening to one another without being combative.”

The United States has for a decade accused Pakistan of sheltering or having ties to terrorists, such as the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban, which attack NATO coalition forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Islamabad rejects the accusation, saying Washington is scapegoating Pakistan for its own failures in Afghanistan, where the United States remains in a stalemate after 16 years of war.

Tougher stance

Before Mattis’ visit, other Trump administration officials are taking a harder public stance on Pakistan.

Speaking at a defense forum Saturday, CIA director Mike Pompeo said, “We are going to do everything we can to ensure that safe havens no longer exist,” if Pakistan does not heed the U.S. message on militants.

Since 2004, the CIA has conducted drone strikes – mostly against al-Qaida and Pakistani Taliban targets – in northwest Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan.

The United States is considering expanding those strikes, along with several other measures, according to media reports.

Other options include downgrading Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally or sanctioning individual Pakistani leaders suspected having ties with the Taliban.

But any kind of punitive action wouldn’t take place for at least a few weeks at minimum, predicts Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst with the Woodrow Wilson Center.

“I think [the administration] wants to give the Pakistanis a bit more time to see if they’re responding to the various demands the United States made of them when it comes to cracking down on terrorists,” said Kugelman.

One of the likelier U.S. responses, according to Kugelman, is expanding not only the geographic scope of the drone war, but also widening the type of targets the United States goes after.

“I think we could start seeing the U.S. trying to target more Haqqani Network and Afghan Taliban targets,” especially in the sparsely populated Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, he said.

The Trump administration has also threatened cut off aid to Pakistan. Since 2002, the United States has given over $33 billion in assistance to Pakistan. But the aid has already been cut sharply in recent years.

Pakistani leverage?

If ties were to deteriorate, the United States also has much to lose. Pakistan controls U.S. military supply routes to landlocked Afghanistan, and could close them down, as they did in 2011. The United States would also like Pakistan to scale back its nuclear modernization, improve ties with India, and stay engaged in the broader fight against Islamic militants.

But despite the risks, Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, warns Washington appears to be running out of patience.

“For many years we were trying to hold out hope that the Pakistanis would change their mind about Afghanistan and our role there,” he said. “But those kinds of hopes aren’t as prevalent anymore. And on balance, therefore, I think we are closer to using some of those tougher methods.”

Mattis, who is on a regional tour that also took him to Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait, wouldn’t elaborate on any possible U.S. action. But he says the situation is pressing.

“There’s always an urgency to something when 39 nations plus Afghanistan have their troops in the midst of a long war where casualties are being taken,” he said.
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