January 2018 - Page 20 of 23

VOA Interview: Senator Ben Cardin Excerpts

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeEA

VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren spoke Friday to Senator Ben Cardin, the highest ranked Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Below are some excerpts.

Van Susteren: “Senator, there is a lot going on in Iran. There have been a series of protests sparked, at least at first, according to many as an economic issue, they have now somewhat subsided but what are your thoughts on these protests?”

Cardin: “Well, the Persian people, the Iranians, are great people; they want freedom, they want economic opportunities. They were promised a lot that has not been delivered so there’s a great deal of frustration among the Iranians that why aren’t they doing better why aren’t there better opportunities. They see their leadership, their government, is holding them back so they’re expressing themselves and I think we should all be proud of their courage.”

Van Susteren: “What about the response by the Trump administration to these protests? I know that there was criticisms—President Trump and, even Vice President Pence, has been critical of the Obama administration and President Obama waited a number of days before making a statement. Maybe President Trump made a statement earlier on Twitter; but, nonetheless they are just statements. Is there anything more that we should be doing in Iran about these protests?”

Cardin: “The question is what can you do? I mean these are obviously internal issues and it’s hard for us to get directly involved. But to the extent that the Iranian officials violate established international human rights standards we should take action. We have tools that we can use to take action against violations of human rights. People have a right to peacefully protest about their government, they should have the right to be able to speak out without intimidation or fear. In Iran that’s not true. So, it is right for us and we do impose sanctions against Iran for human rights violations. We’ve recently passed a new law, known as the Global Magnitsky, we can sanction individuals and in regards to our banking system or visas. So, there are steps that we can take against those who are perpetrating violations of human rights and we should working with the international community.”

Van Susteren: “How fast can we do those sanctions? I mean if sanctions are the proper response, how fast can we do that?”

Cardin: “Well, they can be done quickly. I mean obviously there’s some—when you are dealing with banking issues there’s due process that has to follow and the Treasury Department follows that pretty closely; but we can impose sanctions pretty quickly we have against Iran. We do have sanctions imposed against Iran for human rights we can strengthen those.”
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Violence in C.A.R. Sends Thousands Fleeing

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeAF

A recent flare-up in violence in northwest Central African Republic has sent thousands fleeing for their lives. The U.N. refugee agency reports more than 5,000 refugees from CAR have arrived in southern Chad since December 27.

The new year is off to a bad start for thousands of people forced to flee clashes involving armed groups in the northwestern CAR town of Paoua. The U.N. refugee agency reports an estimated 5,600 refugees have fled to Chad. But, UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told VOA the number could be higher.

“Chad is the third largest refugee host for refugees from the Central African Republic with over 75,000 refugees already in the camps,” he said. “UNHCR is registering the new arrivals. We are also working with our partners and government counterparts to provide aid and assistance to them.”

Baloch said many of the refugees have walked long distances to escape the violence in their country and notes that Chad’s border with CAR is officially closed. He said, though, the Chadian authorities, in a welcome humanitarian gesture, are allowing refugees to cross the border to seek protection inside Chadian territory.

Human rights abuses

“The influx is the largest movement of refugees from CAR, exceeding the total number for 2017, when about 2,000 fled into Chad,” he said. “Many are reporting widespread human rights abuses committed by the members of these armed groups in the village alongside the CAR-Chad border.”

The UNHCR warns that people are likely to continue to flee ongoing violence in CAR. It reports the serious deterioration in that country’s humanitarian situation has boosted the number of refugees and internally displaced to the highest ever recorded for CAR — almost one-fourth of the population of some 4.6 million.

UNICEF reports more than 1.1 million people are displaced both within the country or as refugees. That means more than one in five Central Africans have been forced to flee their homes since civil war broke out a few years ago.
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‘US Is Watching What You Do,’ Iran Told at UN

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeEA

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations praised anti-government protesters in Iran at an emergency meeting Friday of the Security Council, while Russia criticized the United States for what it said was meddling in Iran’s domestic affairs.

The United States called Friday’s emergency meeting to discuss the protests in Iran, which have left 22 people dead and led to the arrests of more than 1,000 others.

Competing pro- and anti-government demonstrations have been taking place in Iran’s major cities for the past week.

“The U.S. is watching what you do,” Ambassador Nikki Haley said to Iran in her statement in Friday’s meeting. She called the protests a “spontaneous expression of fundamental human rights” and a “powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are wiling to risk their lives in protests.”

Haley called on the Iranian government to stop censoring the voice of the Iranian public and to restore its citizens’ access to the internet.

She also said the international community should do more to support the anti-government demonstrators. U.S. President Donald Trump has also tweeted his support for the protesters.

But critics of the U.S. position, including Russia and Iran itself, have said the protests are not the business of the international community.

Iran’s ambassador, Gholamali Khoshroo, attended the meeting at the invitation of the Security Council. Speaking last, he said it was a “discredit” to the Security Council to hold such a meeting on Iran in the face of the conflicts taking place in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, criticized the U.S. push to hold Friday’s meeting as an intrusion into Iranian affairs.

Government advocates

Meanwhile, thousands of government advocates rallied for a third straight day in dozens of locations around Tehran and several cities after Tehran’s prayer leader urged authorities to deal “firmly” with those responsible for sparking more than a week of anti-government rallies.

Iranian officials say a plot by the Central Intelligence Agency, Israel and Saudi Arabia is responsible for the unrest amid escalating tensions with the neighboring countries since Trump won the U.S. presidency.

In an interview with VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren, Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland cautioned that the the U.S. must walk a “delicate line” in response to allegations of provocation.

“We don’t want to give them any ammunition for what they’re saying. We know that the Iranians don’t tell the truth about what is happening. Their people know that,” Cardin said.

Cardin added: “I think it’s important for us to keep a spotlight on the protesters and do everything we can to keep them safe and to take action against Iran if they violate basic human rights. I think the seeds for protest will remain unless the Iranian leaders change their course and allow the people basic human rights and basic economic freedoms.”

WATCH: U.S. Senator Ben Cardin discusses Iran unrest

The U.S. is promising support for anti-government protesters. A White House official Thursday said the U.S. would look for “actionable information” and seek to impose new sanctions against those responsible for stifling the protests.

The State Department also said it would not stand by idly.

“We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protesters, contribute to censorship or steal from the people of Iran,” it said in a statement. “To the regime’s victims, we say: You will not be forgotten.”

New U.S. sanctions

Though the action was not tied directly to the protests, the U.S. on Thursday sanctioned five Iranian companies linked to Tehran’s ballistic missile program.

“These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, which the Iranian regime prioritizes over the economic well-being of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

“As the Iranian people suffer, their government and the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] fund foreign militants, terrorist groups and human rights abuses,” Mnuchin added.

Ahead of Friday’s U.N. meeting, four U.N. human rights experts called on Iranian authorities to respect the right of protesters and said they were “extremely concerned” about the deaths and arrests that had occurred during the protests.

The experts also expressed concern that the government had reportedly blocked the internet on mobile networks and shut down social media platforms in an effort to suppress the anti-government protests.

“Communication blackouts constitute a serious violation of fundamental rights,” they said.

Iranian public’s discontent

The protests, which seemed to erupt spontaneously on December 28, have spread to many of Iran’s smaller cities, towns and rural areas, with protesters focused on economic hardships and government corruption.

But Iranian officials on Thursday insisted the wave of anti-government protests had waned.

General Abdolrahim Mousavin, the head of the army, thanked security forces for “putting out the fire of sedition.”

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said only 42,000 people had taken part in the protests. And an official with the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards force said the number of “troublemakers” was fewer than 15,000.

Instead, state television Thursday showed huge crowds marching in support of Iranian leaders in several major cities, including Isfahan, Ardebil and Mashhad, where the protests started.

Still, U.S. intelligence officials warned that Tehran was at a crossroads, noting the protests were the biggest outpouring of public discontent since Iranians took to the streets in 2009 following a disputed presidential election.

“The protests are symptomatic of long-standing grievances that have been left to fester,” an intelligence official told VOA on condition of anonymity. “Will it address the legitimate concerns of its people or suppress the voices of its own populace?

“What is clear is that these concerns are not going away,” the official said.

Critics of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, pointing to rising prices for key commodities like fuel, bread and eggs, say he has abandoned the poor.

And even Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told the semiofficial ISNA news agency, “The people’s main demand now is for the government and officials to deal with the economic problems.”

Growing US pressure on Iran?

In the meantime, Iran could face additional economic pressure from Washington.

Trump is set to decide next week whether to continue to waive sanctions against Iran that were suspended under the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons development. The U.S. president has repeatedly attacked the agreement and assailed Tehran’s military actions in Syria, Iran and Yemen.

But some analysts warn the administration runs a risk of taking too harsh a line on Iran and seeing it backfire.

“There’s really no reason for us to not waive the nuclear sanctions now,” said Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“Don’t pull out of JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal], because that will redirect the attention of the Iranian people from the regime’s inability to solve their financial problems to us,” Eisenstadt said. “We shouldn’t make the United States the issue here.”

Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa Rules Out Coalition Government

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeAF

Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, met Friday with ailing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai but ruled out forming a political coalition with him. The opposition welcomed the historic visit, saying it sets the tone for peace ahead of this year’s elections.

Accompanied by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga – the general who led a military operation that brought him to power in November, President Mnangagwa visited former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai for about half an hour. After that, Mnangagwa quashed speculation about forming a coalition government with Tsvangirai.

“What is the cause? We are a democratic country; people can lobby for anything. Currently, there is no need,” he said.

The 75-year-old Zimbabwean leader also commented on the health of Tsvangirai, who has been battling colon cancer.

“He is fine, he is recuperating very well,” Mnangagwa said. “He says he will soon go again to, for further medical check ups in South Africa.”

Two years ago, Tsvangirai announced that he was being treated for the disease. Since then, he has been frail. On Friday, he did not speak to reporters after meeting President Mnangagwa.

MDC Party Vice President Nelson Chamisa had this to say about President Mnangagwa’s visit:

“It is a welcome thing. It is African to care for one another and it is very Zimbabwean. This is the new politics we want to see in Zimbabwe. We are very appreciative of what has been done,” Chamisa said.

“The politics of peace, the politics of working together and feeling for one another. This is the direction,” he added. “And we hope that it will be the talk that will be walked and the walk that will be sustained, because going forward, we want to see a peaceful election.”

Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold elections around the middle of the year. Tsvangirai has not indicated if he will run, given the status of his health. Last month, at a party congress, the ruling ZANU-PF endorsed President Mnangagwa as its candidate for the 2018 elections.
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Turkey Gives Weapons to Somali Soldiers

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeEU

Somali State Minister for Defense Mohamed Ali Haga has confirmed to VOA Somali for the first time that the Turkish government has recently supplied weapons to the Somali army.

In an interview with VOA Somali, Haga said the Turkish government has equipped a company-sized Somali army unit which graduated from the Turkish military training camp in Mogadishu two weeks ago.

Haga said just over 400 soldiers were supplied with small weapons and machine guns allowed under a partial UN embargo on Somalia. Somalia cannot import certain heavy weaponry.

Turkish media report that the weapons exported to Somalia are the MPT-76, a Turkish-made rifle. Haga confirmed this to VOA Somali.

“They have been equipped with Turkish-made rifles,” he said. “When the soldiers were coming for the training they did not have weapons, Turkey equipped them, and Turkey promised to equip every soldier who is being trained at the camp.”

Big boost

The pledge by Turkey to arm Somali troops will be seen as a massive boost in Mogadishu at a time when the Somali army is in a difficult transitional period – struggling to get trained, preparing to take over from African Union forces, working to protect the government and fighting Al-Shabab, all at the same time.

A recent “Operational Readiness Assessment” conducted by the Somali government found that approximately 30 percent of the soldiers in the bases do not have weapons. The same assessment also found that some of the weapons used by government troops are privately owned by clans. The evaluators said some units also lack medium and heavy weaponry, and some units are “undermanned.”

The Turkish military base in Mogadishu was opened on September 30. Turkey plans to train as many as 10,000 soldiers according to Somali officials.

The first company to receive the training was selected from current members of the army and graduated on December 23. The second company is to start training soon.

In addition, military officers are also given training on command control and leadership skills, Haga said.

“Turkey military is advanced, their training is NATO training,” Haga said. “This is a brotherly country which came to help Somalia at time of need in terms of humanitarian assistance as well as military.”

Weapons from other countries

Apart from Turkey, several other countries have provided training to Somali soldiers. The United States has trained a 500-strong special forces known as Danab or “lightening”, and the United Arab Emirates. UK, EU, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda have also provided training over the years.

Somali officials say training at Turkish training base in Mogadishu will harmonize all the training given to Somali soldiers to produce an organized force.

Haga, who also chairs the army integration committee, says the training provided at the Turkish base is also part of the army integrating process for soldiers who were selected from different divisions and regions.
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Kinshasa National Museum Grows to Tell the Story of a Nation

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeAF

A true treasure overlooks the city of Kinshasa on top of Ngaliema Hill. An exhibition room of a few dozen square meters is too small to contain the 45,000 pieces that have been collected from across the Democratic Republic of Congo. But this is the temporary solution to keep some of this collection open to the public until a new and bigger museum, opens in 2018. Abdourahmane Dia has this report.
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Winter Storm Hits US East Coast With Record Low Temperatures

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeUS

Eastern U.S. states are in the grip of freezing weather not expected to ease until Monday. A massive storm, called a “bomb cyclone” because of the sudden drop in pressure, brought high winds along the Atlantic Coast Thursday, and dumped snow in Southern states that rarely see it. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a winter weather emergency for parts of the state Thursday. Thousands of flights were grounded and an Amtrak train derailed in Savannah, Georgia. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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East of the Rockies, North America Shivers

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeUS

A life threatening cold front swept across North America, bringing piles of snow and icy conditions. The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories and freeze warnings covering a vast area from South Texas to Canada and from Montana through New England. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports doctors are issuing warnings about injuries from frostbite and ice.
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Women’s Rights in Iran

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeEA

Several photos and videos posted to social media during the recent Iran anti-government demonstrations have shown women removing their hijabs to protest the Iranian dress code and one woman raising her fist in the air as she walked through a cloud of tear gas.

The images are notable in that Iran severely restricts women’s rights, from what they are allowed to wear in public to the jobs they hold, to not being allowed to watch men’s sports in stadiums.

According to Amnesty International, restrictions on women’s rights in Iran include:

Compulsory “veiling” (hijab) laws. The laws violate a woman’s right to equality, privacy, and freedoms of expression, belief and religion, and empower police and paramilitary forces to target women for harassment, violence and imprisonment.
Limited political involvement. Women’s rights activists who had campaigned for greater representation of women in the February 2016 parliamentary elections, were subjected by the Revolutionary Guards to lengthy, oppressive interrogations and threats of imprisonment on national security charges.
Pervasive discrimination. Women remain subject to discriminatory laws, including in gaining access to divorce, employment, equal inheritance, politics and in the area of criminal law.
Sexual and reproductive health. Several draft laws that remain pending would further erode a woman’s right to sexual and reproductive health. Women continue to have reduced access to affordable modern contraception as the authorities have failed to restore the budget of the state family planning program cut in 2012.
National family policies. In September 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued national family policies promoting early marriage, repeated childbearing, fewer divorces, and greater compliance to “traditional” roles of women as housewives and men as breadwinners. The policies raised concern that female victims of domestic violence may face further marginalization and increased pressure to “reconcile” with abusers and remain in abusive marital relationships.
Gender-based violence. Women and girls remain inadequately protected against sexual and other gender-based violence, including early and forced marriage. The authorities failed to adopt laws criminalizing these and other abuses, including marital rape and domestic violence, although the Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs pushed a draft bill that had been pending since 2012.

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Report: Trump Tried to Keep Sessions at Helm of Russian Inquiry

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeUS

President Donald Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The conversation between Don McGahn, the president’s White House counsel, and Sessions took place on the president’s orders and occurred just before the attorney general announced that he would step aside from the ongoing inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, according to a person with knowledge of the interaction. Two other people confirmed details of the conversation between McGahn and Sessions.

All three people spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press to avoid publicly discussing an ongoing investigation.

Mueller aware of conversation

The episode is known to special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors and is likely of interest to them as they look into whether Trump’s actions as president, including the May firing of FBI Director James Comey, amount to improper efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation. Investigators recently concluded a round of interviews with current and former White House officials, including McGahn.

The New York Times first reported that Trump had McGahn lobby Sessions against a recusal.

Sessions announced on March 2 that he would recuse himself from that probe. He said at the time that he should not oversee an investigation into a campaign for which he was an active and vocal supporter. The recusal also followed the revelation that he had had two previously undisclosed interactions during the 2016 campaign with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

McGahn speaks with Sessions

But soon before the announcement, McGahn spoke to Sessions by phone and urged him against recusing himself from the investigation.

During the conversation, according to people familiar with the matter, McGahn argued to Sessions that there was no reason or basis at that time for him to recuse. One person said McGahn also told him that recusal would do nothing to resolve concerns over whether Sessions had given a misleading answer at his confirmation hearing weeks earlier when he said he had not had any contacts with Russians.

Sessions ultimately declined the urging, and McGahn accepted the conclusion of officials who believed that Sessions should recuse.
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Both South, North Korea Agree to Talks Next Week

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeUS

The rival Koreas agreed Friday to revive their first formal dialogue in more than two years next week to find ways to cooperate on the upcoming Winter Olympics in the South, a sign of easing animosities that followed a period of rising nuclear tension that saw fears of war on the Korean Peninsula.

The announcement by Seoul’s Unification Ministry came hours after the United States said it has agreed to delay annual joint military exercises with South Korea until after the Winter Olympics. The exercises have been a major source of tension because North Korea considers them an invasion rehearsal, although South Korea and the United States have repeatedly said the drills are defensive in nature.

On Friday morning, North Korea sent a message saying it would accept South Korea’s offer to meet at the border village of Panmunjom next Tuesday to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said he expects the two Koreas to exchange messages to determine who would head each other’s delegations and other issues.

Any dialogue between the Koreas is considered a positive step toward easing confrontations. But critics say the North’s abrupt push for improving ties may be a tactic to divide Seoul and Washington and weaken international pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang.

Despite his recent outreach to the South, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in his New Year’s Day address that he has a nuclear button on his desk to fire atomic weapons at the United States. President Donald Trump quickly responded that he had a nuclear button of his own.

Past breakthroughs to ease Korean tensions have often ended with renewed animosities. It’s likely the North will agree to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics and refrain from provocations during the Games. But tensions could return afterward because the North has no intentions of abandoning its weapons programs and the U.S. will not ease its pressure on the country, analysts say.
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Islamic State Vows to Topple Rival Hamas in Gaza, Threatens Attacks on Israel

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeEA

The Islamic State terror group has released a new video from its Sinai Peninsula branch, in which it threatens to target rival Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

IS is accusing the Palestinian militant group of cracking down on jihadists and not taking a stronger stance against the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In the 22-minute, undated video, titled “Community of Abraham,” IS accuses Hamas of attempting to ease tensions with the West, and encourages its followers to attack Hamas targets across Gaza.

“The apostate Hamas gang group has taken advantage of the grand place of Al Aqsa mosque, which God has placed in the hearts of Muslims to accomplish political gains, even if the blood of Muslims was a price for those worldly gains,” said the video’s unknown narrator, referring to Islam’s third-holiest site, which is in Jerusalem.

“Their struggle changed from jihad to dismiss the Zionists in the land of Muslims to a struggle for the control of Gaza,” the Arabic-speaking narrator says in the video that surfaced Wednesday on the social media site Telegram.

For their part, Hamas leaders downplayed the IS threats and dismissed the video as a “Zionist production.”

Hamas spokesperson Salah al-Bardawil on Thursday accused Israeli intelligence of being behind the video in order “distort the resistance.”

“It is naive to engage in the analysis of this issue as an ideological one,” al-Bardawil wrote in a tweet. “It is necessary to quickly deal with it as a security issue linked to the occupation.”

Long history of IS-Hamas enmity

The enmity between IS and Hamas is not new.

While both groups are designated as terrorist organizations by the United States and Israel, IS sees Hamas as a nationalist movement that does not adhere to the strict interpretation of Islam. It has accused Hamas of trying to moderate itself to work with the U.S.-backed Palestinian faction Fatah, in order to appeal to the West.

The two groups are also at odds over the role of Iran and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Hamas in the past has publicly announced it was receiving weapons and money from Tehran. IS, which has been engaged in a fierce battle against the Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, sees this as a betrayal of the Sunni sect.

The IS video begins with a clip of U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last month that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. IS claims Hamas’ attempts “to disband Islamic law” enabled the U.S. to make such a decision.

“They have betrayed the entirety of Muslims,” the narrator says.

The video goes on to criticize Hamas’ new manifesto released in May, saying Hamas watered down its anti-Semitic language and offered to moderate its position toward Israel, distancing itself from Islamist groups in a bid for international recognition.

“We have been informed that the group of unbelievers in Gaza has declared war on God and turned its sword against those who order the rule of God,” a black-clad IS member, referred to as Abu Kazem al-Maqdisi, said in the video.

He accused Hamas of cooperating with Israel to crack down on jihadists sympathetic to IS in Gaza and work with the Egyptian government to obstruct the activities of IS branch in neighboring Egypt.

“They attempt to besiege the jihadists on the land of Sinai through direct security cooperation with [the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah] el-Sissi’s intelligence forces,” al-Maqdisi added.

IS in Egypt

The Islamic State branch in Sinai surfaced in November 2014 after the militant group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Since then, the group has overpowered smaller militant factions close to al-Qaida and has become the most brutal jihadist group in Egypt.

The group is responsible for the death of hundreds of Egyptian civilians and security personnel in the country’s northeast and has claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian plane in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board
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Who Is Michael Wolff?

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeUS

Michael Wolff, an American author, essayist and journalist, has written Fire and Fury, a book that portrays a chaotic initial year for the presidency of Donald Trump. What’s his background?

Michael Wolff

Age: 64

Early life: Wolff was born in New Jersey to a father who worked in advertising and a mother who was a newspaper reporter. He attended Columbia University in New York and worked as a copy boy at The New York Times while in school.

The journalist: Wolff published his first book of essays, White Kids, in 1979. He was most recently a media critic and columnist for USA Today, Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine and, before that, Vanity Fair and Newser.

In 2011, he briefly was at the helm of AdWeek magazine, but left after less than a year.

The author: In 1997, he wrote the bestseller Burn Rate, about his early dotcom company Wolff New Media.

In 2004 he published Autumn of the Moguls, about the decline of mainstream media that would occur later in the decade.

He was perhaps best known for his 2009 biography of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, The Man Who Owns the News.

Accolades: Wolff has won two National Magazine Awards, which recognize excellence in the magazine industry in both print and digital mediums.

One of the awards was for a series of columns he wrote from the Middle East at the start of the Iraq War in 2003.

Controversies: Wolff’s work has often drawn criticism from his fellow journalists as well as his subjects. Just before the publication of The Man Who Owns the News, Murdoch took issue with several parts of the book, just as U.S. President Donald Trump has over Wolff’s latest work.

In a 2004 cover story for The New Republic, reporter Michelle Cottle characterized Wolff’s writing by saying that “even Wolff acknowledges that conventional reporting is not his bag.” Rather, she said, “he absorbs the atmosphere and gossip swirling around him at cocktail parties, on the street, and especially during those long lunches.”
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US to Iranian Protesters: You Will Not Be Forgotten

Posted on 01/05/2018 by SeeEA

The United States is promising support for protesters in Iran, condemning Iranian officials for a crackdown that has left 21 people dead and more than 1,000 others under arrest.

A White House official Thursday said the U.S. would look for “actionable information” and seek to impose new sanctions against those responsible for stifling protests that began just last week.

The State Department also said it would not stand by idly.

“We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protesters, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran,” it said in a statement. “To the regime’s victims, we say: You will not be forgotten.”

New U.S. sanctions

Though not tied directly the protests, the U.S. Thursday sanctioned five Iranian companies linked to Tehran’s ballistic missile program.

“As the Iranian people suffer, their government and the IRGC fund foreign militants, terrorist groups and human rights abuses,” Mnuchin added.

And at the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley has requested an emergency U.N. meeting Friday on the situation.

But Russia and other members of the U.N. Security Council are criticizing the U.S. call for a meeting, saying the protests are a domestic issue and do not involve threats to international peace and security.

However, Haley said in a statement late Thursday “The world has witnessed the horrors that have taken place in Syria, that began with a murderous regime denying its people’s right to peacefully protest. We must not let that happen in Iran.”

Haley added, “It will be telling if any country tries to deny the Security Council from even having this discussion, just as the Iranian regime tries to deny its own people the ability to have their voices heard.”

The U.S. statements and sanctions are unlikely to sit well with Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who have blamed foreign governments for instigating the protests.

The protests, which seemed to erupt spontaneously last week, have spread to many of Iran’s smaller cities, towns and rural areas, with protesters focused on economic hardships and government corruption.

Iranian public’s discontent

But Iranian officials Thursday insisted the wave of anti-government protests had waned.

General Abdolrahim Mousavin, the head of the army, thanked security forces for “putting out the fire of sedition.”

“This blind sedition was so small that a portion of the police force was able to nip it in the bud,” Mousavin was quoted as saying in state-run media.

Instead, state television Thursday showed huge crowds marching in support of Iranian leaders in several major cities, including Isfahan, Ardebil and Mashhad, where the protests started.

Still, U.S. intelligence officials warn Tehran is at a crossroads, noting the protests are the biggest outpouring of public discontent since Iranians took to the streets in 2009 following a disputed presidential election.

“What is clear is that these concerns are not going away,” the official said.

Critics of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani say he has abandoned the poor, pointing to rising prices for key commodities like fuel, bread and eggs.

And even Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told the semi-official ISNA news agency, “The people’s main demand now is for the government and officials to deal with the economic problems.”

Growing U.S. pressure on Iran?

In the meantime, Iran could face additional economic pressure from Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to decide next week whether to continue to waive sanctions against Iran that were suspended under the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons development. Trump has repeatedly attacked the agreement and assailed Tehran’s military actions in Syria, Iran and Yemen.

But some analysts warn the administration runs a risk of taking too harsh a line on Iran and seeing it backfire.

“Don’t pull out of JCPOA [nuclear deal] because that will redirect the attention of the Iranian people from the regime’s inability to solve their financial problems to us,” Eisenstadt said. “We shouldn’t make the United States the issue here.”

Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report
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Watchdog: Russian Airstrikes Kills Civilians in Syria

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeEU

Nearly 30 civilians, including children, have been killed by airstrikes in the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, outside the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The Britain-based watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the Syrian civil war, said most of the airstrikes were carried out by Russian jets.

There was no immediate confirmation by the Russian military, which is providing air support to government forces fighting rebels.

A government forces base, the only one in the region, was surrounded by rebels earlier this week. Syrian state television said “army units had launched an assault to break the siege.”

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory, said “violent clashes were taking place” Thursday close to the base, which is believed to hold some 250 government soldiers.

Eastern Ghouta, home to 400,000 residents, has been cut off from food and medical aid since 2013.

Last week, the Syrian government allowed Red Cross to evacuate 29 critically ill patients, including 18 children and four women suffering from heart disease, cancer, kidney failure and blood diseases, in addition to cases requiring surgery not available in the besieged area.

The United Nations had called for an emergency evacuation of nearly 500 patients and an end to the siege to allow access for humanitarian medical and food aid.
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Turkish Banker Conviction Threatens US-Turkey Ties

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeEU

Ankara has slammed the conviction in the U.S. of a Turkish banker for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.

“This is the scandalous verdict of a scandalous case,” Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalin told reporters at the presidential palace. “Unjust and unfortunate,” said the Turkish foreign ministry in a statement, adding, “the evidence was fake and open to political exploitation.”

Mahir Unal, the spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AKP, pointed the finger directly at Washington. “The purpose of the case in United States is interference in the internal affairs of Turkey. This case is a violation of international law and a legal disaster. It is clear that this decision has no provision for us,” tweeted Unal.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has in the past been at the forefront of condemning the case, has remained silent on the verdict.

That silence is telling, claimed political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global source partners.

“Erdogan was misled by his advisers, who told him Mr. [Hakan] Atilla would be acquitted. Now he understands that if the United States really intends to kick Turkey in the shin, they have received the perfect excuse to do so. At this point, he realizes it’s not wise to antagonize the United States. Now I am sure there are high-level contacts with Washington on how to make this case ago away,” said Yesilada.

On Wednesday, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who headed international banking at the Turkish state-owned Halkbank, was convicted by a New York court on 5 of 6 charges of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. With prosecutors presenting evidence of several Turkish banks involved in extensive laundering of money to avoid Iranian sanctions, analysts warn the door is open to a potential wide range of financial sanctions.

Such measures range from fines on Turkish banks to extensive restrictions on banks’ ability to borrow from U.S. financial markets. Turkey borrows on average about $16 billion a month to sustain existing loans and meet its financial obligations.

Joon Kim, the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, speaking after the conviction, made clear there would be consequences. “Foreign banks and bankers have a choice: You can choose willfully to help Iran and other sanctioned nations evade U.S. law, or you can choose to be part of the international banking community transacting in U.S. dollars. But you can’t do both.”

“Best-case scenario is a couple of billion dollars in fines against Halkbank for violating sanctions and the American administration closing the file, and that’s the end of it,” said consultant Yesilada.

The Turkish finance minister, Mehmet Simsek, already has guaranteed that any fines would be covered by the government.

Despite international investors reportedly closely watching the New York case, Turkish financial markets Thursday were largely unaffected by Wednesday’s verdict.

The experience of previous foreign banks caught violating U.S. sanctions suggests the repercussions could be severe for Turkish banks.

In 2015, the French bank BNP Paribas was fined about $9 billion for violating U.S.-Iranian sanctions. An economist specializing on financial matters relating to Turkey — working for an international bank and speaking anonymously — warned that given the scale of the violations outlined by prosecutors in the New York case, Halkbank could face fines of up to $40 billion. Last year Turkey’s Haber Turk newspaper reported U.S. authorities were considering a similarly large fine.

Observers single out the Halkbank case from previous sanction-busting cases. During the New York trial, the prosecutor witness implicated Turkish government involvement in sanctions violations, including then-Prime Minister Erdogan.

“If the Trump administration wants to portray this as a state crime, as Ankara systematically violating Iranian sanctions, I don’t think anyone can stop them,” said political consultant Yesilada.

Analysts suggest the price of leniency by Washington could be Ankara having to cool its warming relationship with Moscow, and Tehran, as well as the toning down of its hostility toward the Syrian Kurdish militia, which has been backed by the U.S. in fighting Islamic State militants.

Ankara accuses the militia of being terrorists linked to an insurgency in Turkey. Both issues have contributed to recent deep strains in U.S.-Turkish relations. But Washington’s decision in December to restore normal visa services after being severely curtailed was seen as a sign of its commitment to improving ties.

Even if Ankara can come to an agreement with the White House, Congress still remains a problem.

“The American Congress acts independently of both the judiciary and the executive, and the information I receive from my sources in the United States, it’s extremely angry with Turkish behavior, and it might consider a sanction law against Turkey,” warned consultant Yesilada. “But I think the financial markets collectively don’t think that the United States does want to push this any further. There, I don’t agree with the markets, but as the American game plan is crystallized over the coming weeks, market sentiments will change to a negative.”
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18 Killed, Hundreds Injured in South Africa Train Crash

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeAF

A passenger train burst into flames Thursday after striking a truck at a crossing in rural South Africa. At least 18 people were killed, and about 260 were injured.

Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi said the train jumped the tracks after hitting the truck, which was trying to cross in front of it.

“The truck driver was taking chances. He thought that he was going to pass through,” Maswanganyi said. “Little did he know that the train was going to hit him. That has cost a lot of lives.”

The train, packed with hundreds returning home after holidays, was near near Kroonstad at the time of the crash, on a trip from Port Elizabeth to the country’s commercial hub, Johannesburg.

Several passengers were trapped inside the burning cars, while others managed to scamper out and away from the flames and smoke.

The driver of the truck was not injured but was taken to a hospital, where he was to receive a “blood test to verify if he was sober or not, or what was the problem,” Maswanganyi told reporters.

Mthuthuzeli Swartz, acting chief executive of the state-owned passenger rail agency, told local media outlet eNCA that the truck was towing two trailers and managed to get halfway across the tracks when it was hit.

“Human error” caused the accident, he said. Local police were still investigating the incident.
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Nigeria Army Says Chibok Girl Rescued

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeAF

The Nigerian army said Thursday it has rescued one of the girls kidnapped from the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants nearly four years ago.

The army said on its Twitter feed that troops deployed in the northeastern town of Pulka rescued a girl it identified as Salomi Pagu. Officials said that according to preliminary investigations, Pagu is the same person as the one on a list of girls who were abducted.

The army said Pagu was found in the company of another girl and a child and that all are in safe custody and receiving medical attention.

Boko Haram provoked worldwide outrage when it kidnapped more than 270 girls and young women from a secondary school in Chibok on April 14, 2014. Some of the girls quickly escaped, but 219 remained in the Islamist radical group’s captivity.

A few have since escaped, and negotiations with the government have led to the release of more than 100 others; but, more than 100 of the girls are believed to still be under Boko Haram control.

The group has been fighting the government since 2009 to establish a strict Islamic state in the northern part of the country.

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Border Shutdown Hurts Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea Business

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeAF

The border between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea has been sealed for nearly two weeks due to the alleged coup attempt against Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Merchants on the border say the closure is costing them business.

It is a relatively quiet atmosphere here at Kiossi, a town in southern Cameroon that borders Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The town is normally a conduit for farm produce, beverages and other goods being trucked across the borders.

But Cameroonian businessman Fidele Kemmengne says activity has been at a standstill since the border was sealed. And Kemmenge himself has been stuck in Equatorial Guinea for nearly two weeks.

He says when they were returning from work on December 24 at about 4 pm, they discovered that the military from Equatorial Guinea had blocked entry into their country. He says they thought it was a temporary move to control the huge number of people crossing over for end of year festivities, but adds that authorities have not reopened the border since then.

Cameroonian food merchant Abdou Fayou is waiting for the border to reopen so his trucks can come back for more supplies.

“There is nothing coming [from] the Equato Guineans because they have the problem of security. No passengers from the 23rd [of December] to now,” Fayou said.

Equatorial Guinean businesswoman Falamu Fatouma says the border closure is preventing her from making deliveries.

She says since the border was sealed on December 24, she has not been able to do business and the goods she provides to her customers are perishing and she will not be able to refund their money.

Coup fears

On December 29, Equatorial Guinea said it had arrested people on the border in possession of rocket launchers, rifles and a stockpile of ammunition. It said the men planned to destabilize the government of President Theodoro Obiang, who has led the country since 1979 and is the longest-serving leader in Africa.

Cameroon said it arrested 40 heavily-armed men on the border and has strengthened security along the 290-kilometer boundary.

Felix Nguele Nguele, governor of Cameroon’s south region, says Cameroonians should be vigilant as soldiers are there to assure their security and safety in case of any attacks.

He says the military has taken measures to rigorously check movements on the border between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and surveillance measures have been intensified. He says there is an alert of insecurity from neighboring Equatorial Guinea but that authorities are assuring the population that the situation is under control.

Obiang, who is 75, was elected to a fifth seven-year term in 2016 in polls the opposition said were rigged in his favor.

His country is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest oil producers, but a large proportion of its 1.2 million people live in poverty.

In 2004, mercenaries attempted to overthrow Obiang in a coup thought to be largely funded by British financiers.

Last week, Obiang said a war is being prepared against his regime, allegedly because of his length of time in power.

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UK Ponders What to Do with Homeless Ahead of Royal Wedding

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeEU

A political storm is brewing ahead of Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s May 19 wedding over whether to crack down on homeless people and beggars in the well-to-do English town of Windsor.

Homeless charities are reacting angrily to borough councilor Simon Dudley’s call for police to clear the streets so the town makes a favorable impression on visitors drawn to see what they can of the royal nuptials.

They reject his assertion that the homeless in Windsor are living on the streets by choice, a view expressed in a letter Dudley sent to police and to Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May. Greg Beales, a spokesman for Shelter, says Thursday that punishing the homeless is “totally counter-productive.”

Dudley says beggars and homeless people are creating a “hostile atmosphere” in Windsor.
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Macron Heading to China to Strengthen Economic Ties

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeEU

French President Emmanuel Macron will head to China next week to strengthen commercial ties with the world’s second-largest economy.

It will be Macron’s first state visit to China since he won election last year.

According to the Elysee, Macron will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 9 after visiting the ancient imperial capital of Xi’an.

Talks also will focus on North Korea, the fight against terror financing and international efforts against climate change.

Macron’s office on Thursday said a number of commercial deals are expected to be signed during the three-day visit but they have yet to be finalized. A Franco-Chinese investment fund worth more than a billion euros ($1.2 billion) also should be announced.

France says China has a major role to play in the North Korea nuclear crisis and Macron hopes that good cooperation between France and China could improve chances of a denuclearization agreement.

While in Xi’an, an eastern departure point of the ancient Silk Road, Macron will deliver a speech on the Franco-Chinese relationship from an historical standpoint.

The second day of his trip is expected to feature a visit to Beijing’s Forbidden City. Macron also will meet with French and Chinese entrepreneurs and sign deals with Xi before a state dinner.

The Elysee said China is France’s leading commercial partner in Asia, but France’s trade deficit with China reaches about 30 billion euros ($36.2 billion). Macron, who will travel with representatives of large French companies, wants to secure new deals that would guarantee reciprocal market access.

In terms of agriculture exports, French authorities want to open a market for beef products and will ask China to abolish non-tariff barriers to trade on wine and spirits, which represent 50 percent of French exports.

The final day of Macron’s visit will include talks on the fight against climate change and meetings with Chinese artists. France says China is committed to the Paris climate deal and wants to form a “joint leadership” on the issue, especially after President Donald Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement.
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Chinese Democracy Advocates Identify With Iranian Protests

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeEA

The protests in Iran are resonating with democracy advocates in and outside of China, many of whom have expressed hope that a similar uprising could come to the tightly ruled country and put an end to tight controls on civil rights and freedoms.

At the same time, Chinese authorities have moved quickly to tighten censorship controls online and limit discussions of the anti-government demonstrations.

“The higher the pressure from the government, the faster it is actually accelerating the awakening of the oppressed. The way Iranians staged their protests and the way their protests were quelled by police, following instructions from the authorities, will have an impact on both the Chinese people and local police,” said Hu Jia, a Chinese civil rights activist and noted Communist Party critic.

The Communist Party is widely known to have studied political unrest in other parts of the world in search of lessons it can use to maintain stability at home.

Internet controls tightened

In the case of the protests, some have noted on social media that the party appears to have imposed a ban on all media reports about the massive Iranian protests.

A copy of a propaganda directive that was circulating online outlines the controls “given Iran’s indescribable conditions.”

“The office of cyberspace affairs will immediately activate Internet controls to keep a close tab on those who mention the Iranian revolution online. Wherever necessary, compulsory measures such as blocking Internet connections, prohibiting relevant comments to be posted or forwarded and detentions will be taken,” the directive said.

As a result, Iran was the top-trending censored topic on the website Freeweibo.com on as of late Wednesday, just before the Revolutionary Guards in Iran claimed that six days of unrest from a sting of anti-government protests across several major cities were over.

Heralding Iranian protesters

However, prior to the ban and bypassing the notorious Great Firewall in China – which blocks access to many foreign news media and websites – dissidents and netizens still managed to make their voices heard on social media.

“Marking the first day of 2018, the people of Iran shall triumph,” tweeted dissident journalist Gao Yu.

On late Wednesday, Gao tweeted again to report that she had just turned down requests by Chinese Internet police, who demanded she stop tweeting and asked to inspect her phone.

“My reasons: why can you internet police log into the Twitter and the rest of us can’t?… This is the latest evidence of social media controls…I just succeeded in unblocking the restrictions. I will continue [to speak up]…” she added.

Lesson learned

Others were drawing lessons from the Iranian protests

“[Let’s] follow the Iranians and take to the streets to demand changes in China. The Iranians are protesting against the looting of national wealth, rising inflation and unemployment,” tweeted Li Fang, a mainland Chinese living in Helsinki, Finland.

“Don’t underestimate the anti-government protests in Iran. They may trigger a similar move by the Chinese to stand up against the dictatorship and the Communist Party of China,” tweeted Cao Ji, a Chinese scholar who moved to Taiwan after the 1989 Tiananmen movement.

Cao argued that, following last year’s price hikes of natural gas and raw materials, the inflation in China will surely spike in the coming year, which will push the Chinese to follow in the footsteps of the Iranians.

There were, however, mixed reactions to Cao’s arguments.

“The ghosts can only dance in the darkest of nights. One day, the sun will be out,” said a Twitter user who appeared to agree with Cao.

But another twitter user wrote pessimistically that “the 1984 phenomenon [omnipresent government surveillance] is a reality in China: many are being brainwashed… Not even another famine will lead to revolution [in China].”

Commenting on those mixed reactions from China, civil rights activist Hu Jia said, we “can only stay optimistic and ready to take action. There’s no waiting on China to change. It takes accumulated efforts and all necessary sacrifices to make change happen.”

Alleged US meddling

On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform, online comments about the Iranian protests were shown on Thursday although they were once blocked the day before.

Some Chinese netizens pointed fingers at the United States, accusing it of playing a sabotaging role behind the Iranian protests.

The U.S. “has interfered with other countries’ domestic affairs by upholding human rights than sovereignty,” a Weibo user wrote.

Another Weibo user added, “Mind your own business and don’t meddle in others affairs.”

Both wrote in response to a posting by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which showed U.S. politicians’ support behind the Iranian people’s protests and condemnation of the Iranian police arrests of peaceful protesters.

In a column published on the state-run Global Times, Hua Liming, China’s former ambassador to Iran, however, clarified that “so far, no evidence has shown that the string of Iranian protests is another round of color revolution plotted by the U.S. or any other western countries.”

Hua argued that political, economic and social grievances have driven the Iranians to the streets, “who shall decide their own path ahead.”

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US East Coast Bracing for ‘Bomb Cyclone’

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeUS

Forty-million people along the U.S. East Coast are bracing themselves for what weather forecasters are calling a “bomb cyclone” — a massive winter storm blowing through the Atlantic Ocean.

The first bands of the snow began moving through the mid-Atlantic region of the eastern U.S overnight into early Thursday.

The storm is expected to greatly impact the northeastern United States, possibly dumping more than 20 centimeters of snow on Boston, Massachusetts, where schools are closed Thursday.

Hurricane-force winds are expected to hit the New England coast and into Canada. Blizzard warnings are out for coastal towns from Virginia through Maine.

Forecasters liken the storm to a bomb because of the sharp drop in pressure in just 24 hours, creating tremendous winds.

Meanwhile, brutal winter weather brought snow, ice, and freezing temperatures to parts of the country not used to such conditions.

Snow covered the ground in Tallahassee, Florida for the first time in nearly 30 years Wednesday. Ice turned highways in Georgia and the Carolinas into dangerous skating rinks.

Those who did not listen to warnings to stay home found themselves stuck in a 97 kilometer-long traffic backup along Interstate 95 — a major East Coast highway. Emergency workers, not used to powerful winter weather, could not keep up with the numerous accidents and overturned cars.

Elsewhere, fierce cold is gripping much of the country from the Midwest to the east and Deep South.

The high temperature in International Falls, Minnesota Wednesday was minus 19 Celsius.

Forecasters say much of the country can expect another wave of dangerously-cold weather later this week before temperatures moderate.
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Pakistan Warns US to Avoid ‘Collision Course

Posted on 01/04/2018 by SeeUS

Pakistan is rife with uncertainty and speculation on steps the United States may possibly take in the wake of President Donald Trump’s New Year’s Day tweet about slashing the country’s aid for treating U.S. leaders “as fools” and giving safe haven to the terrorists battling American forces in Afghanistan.

Islamabad denounced the comments as “completely incomprehensible” and has reiterated its resolve to work together with Washington to fight terrorism and stabilize Afghanistan. Pakistani leaders insist the United States is scapegoating their country for its Afghan “failures.”

However, Trump’s twitter outburst has set off a war of words, fueling concerns about a breakdown in historically fragile relations between the United States and Pakistan.

Pakistani ambassador to Washington, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, while speaking to VOA, called for the two countries to remain engaged with each other and avoid steps that could create tensions and destabilize the region.

“We should not be on the collision course. That’s the point we want to make because, I think, if we move in that direction both countries will drift apart and I do not think that it is in the interest of either state to drift apart. I think we have got to find ways, more creative ways to build each other’s trust to work together. That’s the direction that we think that we should be going to,” noted Chaudhry.

He said national security forces have cleared Pakistani soil of all terrorist groups and recalled Islamabad’s “unmatched” contribution in U.S.-led international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and promote a peaceful settlement of the conflict there.

“Pakistan has also facilitated the U.S and worked together with it to decimate al-Qaida. If you do not hear about al-Qaida today it is because we worked together to a successful end. Pakistan has been providing lines of communications to the U.S. for a long time. It is a partnership to us and it should be measured not in terms of money and monetary value but in terms of the results that we have achieved together,” said Chaudhry.

He urged the U.S. administration to focus on addressing the issues of governance, corruption, deteriorating security, emergency of Islamic State in Afghanistan, saying ungoverned spaces in the neighboring country are threatening security in Pakistan and the region in general.

“So, all these are matters of concern for us because we are suffering because of this and that’s why we have been saying many a times that look you need to address those issues and not place the blame on Pakistan’s doorsteps for all the failure in Afghanistan,” he said.

The Trump administration has promised to soon announce more punitive measures to follow up on the president’s twitter comments.

There is wide speculation that Pakistani security officials allegedly tied to terrorist groups could face sanctions and the U.S. military may undertake unilateral strikes deep inside Pakistan to target terrorists linked to the Taliban-allied Haqqan Network, or HQN. The network is allegedly tied to the ISI, the Pakistani spy agency.

“In case of U.S. action against Pakistan, it will be responded to the aspiration of people of Pakistan,” said army spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor.

The general was responding to widespread speculations the U.S. may stage a unilateral military strike against suspected terrorist sanctuaries linked to the HQN.

“We have taken action against HQN. Effects of the action against HQN will be visible in due time,” Ghafoor insisted.

The army spokesman complained the presence of around 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan hampers counterterrorism efforts because the displaced population serves as a hideout for insurgents fighting on the Afghan side.

Pakistani officials have been pressing the United States and its allies to arrange for the refugees to go back to their country as soon as possible.

On Wednesday, the federal cabinet granted only a one month extension to the legal residency status of 1.4 million documented Afghan refugees, saying Pakistan can no longer sustain their burden under the circumstances. The rest of the refugees are undocumented economic migrants. Analysts see the mere 30 day extensions a fallout of President Trump’s criticism of Islamabad and an attempt to pressure Washington.

A national security committee of the parliament also held an urgent meeting Thursday, where leaders of major political parties were briefed by the foreign and defense ministers on the emerging situation following Trump’s criticism.

Pakistani civilian and military leaders have also said Trump’s figures of giving more than $33 billion to Islamabad since 2002 to help fight terrorism are wrong.

Officials say that almost $14 billon of the amount in question was part of the Coalition Support Fund (CLF), which was reimbursement for the money Pakistan was spending on security operations in support of coalition efforts in Afghanistan. The Pakistan government says the total amount billed under CLF has been about $22 billion and Washington still owes Islamabad $8 billion.

Pakistan also maintains it has lost around 70,000 lives, mostly civilians in terrorist attacks it has faced since joining the U.S. counter terrorism coalition and the national economy has also suffered losses of over $120 billion.

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