February 2018 - Page 8 of 22

Buhari: Nigeria to Sell Assets Seized in Anti-graft Probes to Boost Treasury

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeAF

Nigeria will sell all assets seized by the government in anti-graft probes and use the funds to bolster the treasury, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday.

Nigerian state coffers have in past years been ransacked by government officials and their associates, and corruption is prevalent throughout society. Buhari was elected in 2015 in part on a promise to rid the country of graft.

“All mismanaged and misappropriated national assets recovered will be sold off and proceeds paid to the treasury for the benefit of the country,” he said, according to a statement from his spokesman.

The presidency statement did not say when the sales would happen, nor provide further details.

Very few officials from Buhari’s administration have so far been prosecuted despite frequent allegations against them.

Notable exceptions were his sacking last October of Nigeria’s most senior civil servant, Babachir Lawal, and the former head of the National Intelligence Agency for alleged involvement in corruption.
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Irish PM Calls for Urgent Restoration of Northern Ireland Government

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEU

Ireland’s prime minister called for the urgent restoration of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government Monday after talks to end a year-long political stalemate broke down yet again last week.

Both the British and Irish governments have said they want to get the talks back on track but neither have suggested when Irish nationalists Sinn Fein and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) should return to the negotiating table.

The British province has been without a devolved executive for over a year since Sinn Fein withdrew from the compulsory coalition with their arch-rivals that has been central to a 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of violence there.

“The [Irish] government will continue to engage with the parties in Northern Ireland and the British government to support the urgent formation of a new executive,” Varadkar said in a statement after meeting with Sinn Fein and speaking to British Prime Minister Theresa May by phone.

Before meeting Varadkar, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said there should be no delay in resuming talks that she and both governments believe were close to a successful outcome before the DUP pulled out over a disagreement on additional rights for Irish-language speakers.

DUP leader Arlene Foster reiterated her call for London to take further financial control of the region, saying her party remained committed to devolution “but not at any price.”

Britain has already had to take steps toward governing the region directly for the first time in a decade and many fear a return to full British direct rule would further destabilize a delicate balance between nationalists and unionists.

Britain has said it is absolutely committed to restoring the power-sharing administration and Varadkar repeated on Monday that his government did not want to see the introduction of direct rule across the border.
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Superstitious Mob Attacks BBC Journalists in Malawi

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeAF

Police in Malawi are hunting for vigilantes who assaulted a BBC film crew this past weekend after accusing the reporters of being vampires.

The attack happened around 8 p.m. Friday, when Dariud Gregory Barzagan, Ahmed Hussein Divela and Prince Anus Asamoah — journalists for British Broadcasting Corporation — were filming a documentary on traditional magic and the violence associated with it in the northern Karonga district.

Local journalist Henry Mhango accompanied the trio, and said they were attacked in the remote area of Malema.

“We found that some people were terrified because we were in two vehicles and they started mobilizing themselves,” Mhango told VOA. “When they came to us, they started confronting us saying they thought maybe we were blood suckers. In the first place, the discussions with locals were going on very well, but the more people were coming, the situation was becoming worse.”

He says a crowd armed with stones and other sharp objects assaulted the crew, confiscated some of their equipment and damaged one of their two vehicles.

Mhango, who suffered minor injuries, says they were rescued by police officers and other community leaders who took them to Karonga District Hospital for medical attention.

The attack is the latest incident resulting from a belief in superstition among Malawians.

Earlier in February, a mob in the southern district of Thyolo assaulted workers of the international nongovernmental organization Jhpiego, on suspicion they were blood-sucking vampires.

Two weeks ago, vigilantes burned eight houses and assaulted people suspected of stopping the rains in the Phalombe district.

“It is extremely … worrisome,” government spokesperson Nicholas Dausi told VOA on Monday. “In [the] 21st century, we cannot be doing this. Because these beliefs are really costing a lot of lives, and we do not want a [reoccurrence] of this. It is primitive and so retrogressive.”

Sangwani Tembo, an anthropologist at the Catholic University of Malawi, says government efforts to debunk superstitions are not making much headway because of the high illiteracy rate among locals.

“And if we look at those particular districts, issues of illiteracy are high compared to other districts,” Tembo said. “In most cases when there are problems which they cannot handle, for instance issues of drought, in most cases it is like a scapegoat, so they try to try blame someone.”

A local media advocacy group, Nyika Media Club, has condemned the attack and called for the police to bring the culprits to account. Police say no arrests have been made.
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Equipment Shortages Impair German Military Ahead of Key NATO Mission

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEU

Germany is coming under mounting pressure to tackle equipment shortages in its military that fellow NATO nations fear is eroding German readiness as it prepares to take the command of a NATO rapid response force.

Member states take turns heading NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) in eastern Europe, which has grown in importance amid concerns that Russian military activities, including support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, have surpassed levels seen during the height of the Cold War.

German lawmakers and NATO allies have grown frustrated about the slow pace of progress on the military preparedness of Europe’s most populous country and economic powerhouse, with some key weapons systems only available 40 percent of the time.

“German readiness levels are a serious concern,” a NATO diplomat, who asked not to be further identified, told Reuters.

Defense ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said on Monday equipment still needed for VJTF would arrive by mid-year and the German military could carry out all its duties when it assumes rotational control of the force at the start of 2019.

NATO’s VJTF includes 5,000 to 7,000 soldiers that can be deployed within days in the event of a crisis.

But Flosdorff said the ministry was concerned about shortages of tanks and other military equipment, such as body armor. The ministry aimed to reverse this trend, caused by a years-long decline in defense spending, by 2030, but this would take time, he told a regular government news conference.

“Will the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) be able to carry out its missions in line with its NATO obligations? Yes. But that doesn’t mean that we can be satisfied with the overall readiness of the Bundeswehr.”

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen pledged to address the gaps when she took office over four years ago and military budgets are now rising again, albeit slowly, but media reports of further shortages continue to surface regularly.

“The Bundeswehr’s problems aren’t new, but it is shocking that nearly nothing has improved after four years of Ursula von der Leyen serving as defense minister,” said Tobias Lindner, a defense and budget expert for the opposition Greens.

He said the Greens had asked von der Leyen to give lawmakers an overview of readiness at a committee meeting on Wednesday, instead of them learning about specific problems from the media on a near daily basis.

There was no immediate comment from the Defense Ministry.

Tanks, body armor all missing

Critics questioned Germany’s ability to head the VJTF next year after an internal ministry report leaked last week revealed serious deficits in the equipment of the German brigade that will lead the task force, mainly due to a lack of spare parts.

The conservative daily Die Welt reported that the brigade had only nine of 44 Leopard 2 tanks, and three of the 14 Marder armored personnel carriers that it needs. It is also missing night vision goggles, support vehicles, winter clothing and body armor, according to German media reports.

Henning Otte, defense spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc in parliament, said the new governing coalition deal with the Social Democrats included specific measures to improve military procurements. “We have to ensure that equipment gets to troops faster,” he said.

Shortfalls also afflict the German navy and air force.

At the moment, military officials say none of Germany’s six submarines can be deployed, only five of 16 A400M military airlifters are ready for use, and it will cost 500 million euros ($618 million) to ready hundreds of new Puma tanks for combat.

The already troubling readiness rates of other weapons – including the Eurofighter, Tornado and CH-53G heavy transport helicopters – have also stagnated or worsened over the past year, according to multiple sources familiar with the issue.

Defense Minister Frank Bakke Jensen of Norway said his country was tracking the situation in Germany closely, given ongoing disquiet about Russian military behavior but he had been assured that the submarines would be working again soon.

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Saudi FM Rejects Qatari Proposal of EU-style Security Pact

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEA

Saudi Arabia has no interest in participating in a European Union-style regional security alliance as proposed by Qatar, its Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Friday that Middle Eastern states should put their differences behind them and forge a security pact modelled on the European Union in order to pull the region back from the brink.

He asked the international community to keep up diplomatic pressure on the countries concerned to achieve that, but offered few other details.

“We already have a structure in place,” said al-Jubeir in Vienna on the sidelines of a meeting with his Austrian counterpart, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Gulf states’ 36-year-old political and trading bloc.

Qatar, a tiny but rich Gulf Arab state, has been isolated over the past seven months by trade and travel sanctions imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt over accusations – denied by Doha – that it supports terrorism and regional rival Iran.

Efforts by the United States and Kuwait to end the rift have failed to produce any results.

“It is our hope that the Qataris will do the right thing and stop their support for terrorism… Should they do so, they will become a welcome member of the GCC and we can move forward to improve the security for all of us,” al-Jubeir said.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Warns Syria About Military Intervention

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEA

With Turkish-led forces stepping up their military operations against the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave, Ankara has reacted cautiously to reports that Damascus is set to intervene militarily.

“If they are getting there to clean out YPG, then there is no problem,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday. “But If Syrian forces are entering Afrin to protect YPG, no one can militarily stop us.”

The Turkish government has declared the goal of its operation is to remove all YPG militia from Afrin and create a 30-kilometer (19 miles) security zone.

Ankara accuses the militia of being terrorists linked to a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. The United States backs the YPG in the fight against Islamic State.

Monday, Syrian state television claimed forces backed by the government of President Bashar al-Assad had reached an agreement with the YPG to deploy in the contested Afrin enclave.

Syrian Kurdish militia officials are reportedly giving mixed messages on whether a final agreement with Damascus has been reached.

Syrian officials say the Turkish offensive into Afrin is an infringement on territorial integrity, and warn Syria will take steps to resist it. Ankara says the operation is only about securing its borders and is within international law.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused calls by opposition party leaders in Turkey to open a dialogue with his Syrian counterpart.

A potential military clash between Turkey and Syria poses a problem for Russia, which is a major backer of the Assad regime, but maintains ties with Erdogan. Russian forces are allowing Turkish jets to enter Syrian airspace in support of the ongoing military offensive.

Turkish media reported Monday the Russian and Turkish leaders spoke by telephone to discuss Syria.
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Liberia’s George Weah Pays First Official Visit to France

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEU

Sports, along with politics, will be on the menu this week, when Liberia’s new president makes his first official trip outside Africa.

George Weah will not be visiting the United States, which has long had a special relationship with Liberia — but France, where he once was a star soccer player.

Many French soccer fans know Liberia’s new leader simply as “Monsieur George” — the star striker who spent years in France playing for the Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille soccer teams, along with AS Monaco next door.

“George is French in heart and spirit,” a former French ambassador told the weekly Journal du Dimanche.

This week, it is President Weah who returns to his former home, less than a month after his election. Weah’s four-day visit here is the last leg of a trip that also took him to Senegal and Morocco.

On the menu: lunch Wednesday with President Emmanuel Macron and top sports personalities. According to news reports, the discussions may focus on launching a fund dedicated to sports in Africa.

While French-Liberian ties have been strong for a number of years, analysts say, Weah’s trip here also underscores a broader shift in France’s Africa policy. Less than a year into office, Macron wants to break from the country’s colonial past.

Africa expert Francois Gaulme, of the French Institute for International Relations, says French development aid also underscores the change. Not only is it going up, Gaulme says, but for the first time, France has added anglophone Liberia to its short list of priority countries — a list that was long monopolized by former francophone colonies.

Gaulme says France may also be a natural destination for leaders of smaller, anglophone West African countries like Liberia, who want to forge closer ties with their regional francophone counterparts.

Development assistance may be another talking point. France has traditionally been slow in delivering aid. Gaulme says Liberia and its new leader may be hoping that this time, the positive diplomatic discourse will translate into concrete results.
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A History of Presidents’ Day

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeUS

The third Monday of February is known as Presidents’ Day in the United States. For nearly 100 years, America honored its first president, George Washington, on February 22. That was his birthday. But the date was not a national holiday until 1968.

That year, the U.S. Congress passed a measure known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The measure meant that some public holidays would always fall on a Monday. Today, the country honors its first president on the third Monday in February — and not on Washington’s actual birthday.

The holiday is now commonly called Presidents’ Day. Many say it also honors Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The nation’s 16th president was born on February 12.

The federal government, however, still recognizes the holiday as “Washington’s Birthday.”

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act gives workers a three-day weekend. It also gives shops and marketers a chance to have special Presidents’ Day sales.

Presidential facts and ‘firsts’

In January 2017, Donald J. Trump made history when he took the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States. At 70 years old, he became the oldest elected president. Before Trump, Ronald Reagan was the oldest person to take office. He was 69 years old when he became president in 1981.

As the first billionaire president, Trump also replaced John F. Kennedy, the 35th president, as the richest man to serve as president.

Kennedy still holds the record for the youngest person to be elected president. He was 43 when he took office. Kennedy is also the youngest president to die in office. He was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He was 46 years old.

Another presidential assassination actually put the youngest person in the office of the president. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, then the vice president, became president at the age of 42. He took office after William McKinley, the 25th president, was shot and killed in Buffalo, New York.

The first president to die in office, though, was William Henry Harrison. The country’s ninth president only served 32 days, the shortest time of any president.

Another Roosevelt holds the record for the longest time in office. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president, held office for 4,422 days. After his death, the 22nd amendment was passed. It limited a person to two four-year terms as president.

Most Americans know that the two Roosevelts were related. But they may not know how, exactly, they were related.

Here it goes: Franklin Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt was also his fifth cousin once removed. And Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, was Eleanor’s uncle. That makes the two presidents distant relatives.

But they were not the first relatives to both serve as president. That title belongs to the Adams. John Adams was America’s second president. His son, John Quincy Adams was elected as the nation’s sixth president.

The Bushes are the other father-son presidential pair. George Herbert Walker Bush was elected as the 41st president. His son, George W. Bush, was the country’s 43rd president.

Not everyone can run for president.

The U.S. Constitution says that a person must be at least 35 years old. A person must also have lived “within the United States” for at least 14 years. And they must be a “natural-born citizen.”

But the meaning of “natural-born citizen” is not exactly clear. People read the rule in different ways.

The first “natural-born” American president was not George Washington or John Adams. It was Martin Van Buren, the eighth president. He was born in 1782, six years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

All seven presidents before Van Buren, and William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, were not “natural-born” citizens. They were born before 1776, when the American states were still British colonies.

Hai Do wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Trump Blasts Oprah Over 60 Minutes Episode

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump blasted media mogul Oprah Winfrey on Twitter on Sunday night over a segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes program and again said he hoped she would face him as an opponent in the 2020 presidential race.

Actress and television host Winfrey, now a contributor to the CBS program, led a panel of 14 Republican, Democrat and Independent voters from Grand Rapids, Michigan in a wide ranging discussion about Trump’s first year in office.

Trump tweeted: “Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!”

Winfrey has told various media outlets, including Entertainment Weekly, that she is not running for president, but has considered it, after there was much recent media speculation.

The panelists ranged from voters who said “I love him more and more every day,” to others questioning Trump’s stability, saying, “All he does is bully people.”

Winfrey made no declarative statements for or against the president in the program. But she did ask questions ranging from whether the country is better off economically to whether respect for the country is eroding around the world.
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Gambia President Announces Moratorium on Death Penalty

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeAF

Gambia’s president has declared a moratorium on the death penalty, calling it a “first step toward abolition.”

President Adama Barrow announced the moratorium while addressing a large crowd gathered Sunday for the country’s independence anniversary.

This tiny West African nation is emerging from 22 years of dictatorship that were marked by arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Gambia made headlines in August 2012 when ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh defied international appeals when he ordered the execution of nine prisoners on death row saying it was a move to curb the country’s rising crime rate.

Now Barrow’s one-year-old government has begun judicial and constitutional reforms. The parliament is in the process of enacting legislation to establish a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission and a Human Rights Commission.
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IS Ambushes Iraqi Shiite-led Force, Killing 27 Fighters

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEA

Islamic State militants have ambushed a group of Iraq’s Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing at least 27.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite militias, said on Monday that the attack took place the previous night in the al-Saadounya area, southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, when the paramilitaries were conducting overnight raids.

The PMF says the attackers were disguised in army uniforms. It says clashes lasted for at least two hours and that some of the militants were killed while others fled the area.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a spokesman for Iraqi military, blamed IS “sleeper cells” and said Iraqi forces were searching the area to find the perpetrators.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Aamaq news agency.

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Trump Stays Quiet on Shooting Victims, Fumes Over Russia

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeUS

President Donald Trump spent the holiday weekend hunkered down at his Florida estate, watching cable television news, grousing to club members and advisers and fuming over the investigation of Russian election meddling.

In a marathon series of furious tweets from Mar-a-Lago, Trump vented about Russia, raging at the FBI for what he perceived to be a fixation on the Russia investigation at the cost of failing to deter the attack on a Florida high school. He made little mention of the nearby school shooting victims and the escalating gun control debate.

The president has grown increasingly frustrated since the indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday charged 13 Russians with a plot to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump viewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s declaration that the indictment doesn’t show that any American knowingly participated as proof of his innocence and is deeply frustrated that the media are still suggesting that his campaign may have colluded with Russian officials, according to a person who has spoken to the president in the last 24 hours but is not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.

Trump was last seen publicly Friday night when he visited the nearby Florida community reeling from a school shooting that left 17 dead and gave rise to a student-led push for more gun control. White House aides advised the president against golfing so soon after the tragedy. Instead, he fired off tweets Saturday and Sunday and met with House Speaker Paul Ryan Sunday afternoon.

Trump fumed to associates at Mar-a-Lago that the media “won’t let it go” and will do everything to delegitimize his presidency. He made those complaints to members who stopped by his table Saturday as he dined with his two adult sons and TV personality Geraldo Rivera.

Initially pleased with the Justice Department’s statement, Trump has since griped that Rosenstein did not go far enough in declaring that he was cleared of wrongdoing, and grew angry when his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, gave credence to the notion that Russia’s meddling affected the election, the person said.

Amid a growing call for action on guns, the White House said Sunday the president will host a “listening session” with students and teachers this week, but offered no details on who would attend or what would be discussed.

On Monday, 17 Washington students plan a “lie-in” by the White House to advocate for tougher gun laws. Students who survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland are planning a march on Washington next month to pressure politicians to take action on gun violence.

On Twitter, Trump stressed that the Russian effort began before he declared his candidacy and asserted that the Obama administration bears some blame for it. He also insisted he never denied that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 U.S. campaign, although in fact he has frequently challenged the veracity of the evidence.

The president declared “they are laughing their asses off in Moscow”at the lingering fallout from the Kremlin’s election interference.

James Clapper, a former director of national intelligence, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the president was not focusing on the bigger threat.

“Above all this rhetoric here, again, we’re losing sight of, what is it we’re going to do about the threat posed by the Russians? And he never – he never talks about that,” said Clapper. “It’s all about himself, collusion or not.”

Trump tweeted about the nation’s “heavy heart” in the wake of the shooting in Parkland and noted the “ncredible people” he met on his visit to the community. But he also sought to use the shooting to criticize the nation’s leading law enforcement agency.

Trump said late Saturday that the FBI “missed all of the many signals” sent by the suspect and argued that agents are “spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.”

The FBI received a tip last month that the man now charged in the school shooting had a “desire to kill” and access to guns and could be plotting an attack. But the agency said Friday that agents failed to investigate.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican and frequent Trump critic, called that tweet about the FBI an “absurd statement” on CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding that the “FBI apparently made a terrible mistake, and people should be held accountable. But we need leadership out of the executive.”

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Legendary African Filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo Dies at 64

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeAF

Colleagues say prolific filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo has died in his home country of Burkina Faso.

The National Union of Burkina Faso Filmmakers on Sunday announced Ouedraogo’s death at the age of 64 from an undisclosed illness.

During his career Ouedraogo produced more than 40 films including “Tilai,” which won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. In 1993, his film “Samba Traore” was featured at the Berlin Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear prize.

In a tweet, Burkina Faso’s president praised Ouedraogo’s “immense talent,” saying he had helped to bring “Burkina and African cinema beyond our borders.”

Ouedraogo also had served on the jury at the Ouagadougou film festival known as FESPACO.

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After US Indictments, Russia Denies Election Meddling

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeUS

The Kremlin on Monday denied Russian government involvement in interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the allegations are baseless.

The comments come days after the U.S. special counsel charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities with conducting an illegal “information warfare” campaign to disrupt the election to the benefit of President Donald Trump.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s indictment of the Russian interests contended that the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based social media company with Kremlin ties, 12 of its employees, and its financial backer orchestrated the effort.

The 37-page charging document alleges that the Russian conspirators sought to coordinate their effort with Trump campaign associates, but it does not accuse anyone on the Trump campaign of colluding with the Russians.

Trump has long insisted that his campaign did not collude with Russia, even as the U.S. intelligence community and now Mueller have concluded that Russia conducted a wide campaign to meddle in the election to help Trump win.

The indictment marks the first time Mueller’s office has brought charges against Russians and Russian entities for meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump used a series of Twitter comments Sunday to assail the various investigations by Mueller and congressional committees.

“If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and (Republican) Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams,” Trump said. “They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!”

Trump was also critical of H.R. McMaster, his national security adviser, who said Saturday there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian interference in the election.

“I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said ‘it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer,’ Trump tweeted. “The Russian ‘hoax’ was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia – it never did!”

Trump said McMaster “forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia” and his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other Democrats. Trump said McMaster overlooked Democratic funding of political opposition research in a controversial dossier alleging shady Trump links to Russian operatives.

Trump sarcastically praised one of his political opponents, Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, for saying that the administration of former President Barack Obama could have done more to thwart overseas cyberattacks after the 2014 hack into the files of the entertainment company Sony Pictures.

“I think that others around the world watched that and determined that cyber is a cost-free intervention,” Schiff said in an interview on NBC.

Trump tweeted, “Finally, Liddle’ Adam Schiff, the leakin’ monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!”

Trump added, “Now that Adam Schiff is starting to blame President Obama for Russian meddling in the election, he is probably doing so as yet another excuse that the Democrats, led by their fearless leader, Crooked Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. But wasn’t a great candidate?

“I’ve always said Obama should’ve acted sooner,” Schiff responded in his own tweet. “But you won’t recognize the truth, impose sanctions or act at all. If McMaster can stand up to Putin, why can’t you?”

Mueller’s sprawling investigation has led to the indictments of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and associate Rick Gates on money laundering charges in connection with their lobbying efforts in Ukraine that predates Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russian officials and are cooperating with Mueller’s probe.

In addition to investigating the Russian meddling in the election, Mueller is probing whether Trump has in several ways obstructed justice to undermine the investigation, including his firing of former FBI Director James Comey, who was leading the agency’s Russia probe at the time Trump ousted him. Mueller, over Trump’s objections, was then appointed to take over the Russia probe.
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US Open to Discussing Talks With North Korea

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeUS

The U.S. is indicating a new willingness to talk with North Korea, but it is still difficult to see a peaceful resolution to the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula in the near future.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday, that he is intent on keeping the channels of communication open with North Korea and is “listening” for an indication that the Kim Jong Un government is “ready to talk.”

Bloody nose

The shift in tone coming from the administration of President Donald Trump toward supporting unconditional exploratory talks with Pyongyang, and away from talk of a preemptive military “bloody nose” strike against North Korea, has come in response to the Olympic detente negotiated by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

North Korea’s agreement to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in the South has been accompanied by a pause in its intensive efforts over the last year to develop a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can strike the U.S. mainland. The U.S. contributed to the reduction in tensions by postponing joint military exercises with South Korea until after the Olympics.

After leading the American Olympic delegation in South Korea, Vice President Mike Pence also stated the U.S. may be open to unconditional informal talks, but emphasized the U.S. would continue to increase sanctions on North Korea until Pyongyang agrees to formal talks to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees and economic aid.

Susan Thornton, the acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific said last week, during her confirmation hearing in the Senate, that the U.S. has no “bloody nose” military strategy and seeks a diplomatic settlement to end North Korea’s nuclear program but also said that “we will reach this goal one way or another.”

Thornton’s testimony seemed to refute reports that Pentagon military planners were preparing for an imminent surgical strike attack on a North Korean missile or nuclear facility as a show of force to intensify pressure on Kim Jong Un to agree to denuclearization talks, known as the “bloody nose strategy.”

Critics of the bloody nose strategy say Thornton’s testimony indicates that moderates within the Trump administration have for now put on hold plans for a preventative strike as the risk remains too high that North Korea would launch a deadly counter attack on South Korea that could escalate into a devastating war, and that such unilateral military action would fracture the U.S./South Korean alliance.

“I think people began to understand it was going to be a bloody mess strategy and they are moving away from that,” said Frank Jannuzi, an East Asia analyst at the Mansfield Foundation during an interview on VOA’s Washington Talk.

Summit conditions

Kim Jong Un has responded to Moon’s outreach by inviting the South Korean president to visit Pyongyang for a leaders summit soon.

President Moon indicated a willingness to meet with Kim under the right conditions. On Saturday, Moon played down expectations that the summit would happen in the near future and said that he wants to see increased inter-Korean cooperation, and an agreement to discuss the nuclear standoff with the U.S., before a summit can occur.

“I expect the relations between South and North Korea to improve in the future. Meanwhile, a shared understanding to have talks between the United States and North Korea is growing. I hope the inter-Korean talks could lead to talks between U.S. and North Korea and also denuclearization talks,” said Moon.

Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has declared itself a nuclear weapons state and has repeatedly refused to talk about giving up what it claims is needed deterrence to prevent a U.S. invasion.

The U.S., meanwhile, is unwilling to ease economic sanctions pressure until the Kim government agrees to the goal of denuclearization.

Moon’s diplomatic efforts are aimed at finding a way to get Pyongyang and Washington in direct talks, despite these opposing stances.

“I don’t think the North is really prepared to talk about nuclear issues with South Korea, but South Korea could help facilitate that process getting underway,” said Robert Einhorn, a senior fellow for the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative at the Brookings Institution, during an interview on VOA’s Washington Talk.

However President Moon’s ability to offer North Korea significant economic incentives to encourage compromise and cooperation is constrained by international sanctions, and the U.S. maximum pressure approach.

And time for Moon’s Olympic diplomacy could run out in April, when the U.S. and South Korea are expected to resume joint military exercises. Washington defends these conventional drills as legal under international law and needed to maintain military readiness. But Pyongyang has called them provocative rehearsals for invasion, and could respond by resuming missile or nuclear tests, which could reignite tensions in the region.
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Rescue Teams Search Wrecked Iranian Plane

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEA

Iranian rescue teams battled weather and mountainous terrain Monday as they searched for the wreckage of a plane that crashed with 65 people on board.

The Aseman Airlines flight left Tehran Sunday morning for the city of Yasuj in Isfahan province, but went down in the Zagros mountains. Officials fear all those on board were killed.

The search effort was initially delayed due to dense fog, high winds and snow that made it impossible for helicopters to get close to the crash site. Conditions improved enough Monday for the helicopters to operate.

The United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined world leaders in expressing sorrow over the crash. The U.N. said Guterres “was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic airplane accident” and extended his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of the victims and the people of Iran.

Decades of international sanctions have left Iran with an aging commercial airline fleet, and accidents have increased in recent years. The country has been unable to buy airplane parts for needed maintenance or upgrade its fleet.

Following the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed agreements with both Airbus and Boeing to buy new planes.

Todd Curtis, founder of the website AirSafe.com said Iran was able to keep its planes flying despite sanctions that made it more difficult to buy parts or new aircraft, but that the aviation sector was not able to benefit from working with others in the industry from around the world.

“Many of the things that happen over time in aviation is based on the fact that those professionals who have dedicated their lives to making aviation safer and more efficient, they get a chance to meet each other at conferences, they get a chance to work in different companies over time. In Iran, that’s not so easy to do,” Curtis told VOA.

He also said the ATR-72 plane has been operating around the world for 25 years, and that while it has been involved in deadly crashes before, “there has been no ongoing issue, no ongoing controversy with anything about the design of the aircraft or fundamental faults with how the aircraft is handled by airlines.”
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Israel And Iran Clash Over Nuclear Threat At Munich Security Conference

Posted on 02/19/2018 by SeeEA

Iran and Israel have accused each other of aggression in the Middle East, with both sides warning of escalating dangers in the region. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany Sunday, Israel’s Prime Minister warned Tehran would develop a nuclear bomb within a decade. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Munich, the growing threat of nuclear warfare has loomed over the three-day meeting.
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Polish Embassy in Israel Vandalized After Polish PM’s Controversial Remarks

Posted on 02/18/2018 by SeeEA

Vandals spray painted swastikas on the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki talked about what he called “Jewish perpetrators” of the Holocaust.

Israeli leaders immediately condemned his comment. The prime minister was responding to a reporter’s question about Poland’s new law punishing anyone who calls the Nazi genocide a “Polish crime.”

“Saying that our people collaborate with the Nazis is a new low,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said at a conference Sunday. “We stand together, hand in hand, in this fight. We have to stand strong for the memory of our brothers and sisters murdered in the Shoah (Hebrew for the Holocaust). But today, more than ever, we must work to educate the world, even some of the leaders, about that dark time.”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with his Polish counterpart by telephone Sunday, telling him “a comparison between the activities of Poles and the activities of Jews during the Holocaust is unfounded.”

Ronald Lauder, head of the World Jewish Congress, called Morawiecki’s comment some of the “very worst form of anti-Semitism and Holocaust obfuscation.”

A reporter at the Munich Security Conference Saturday asked Morawiecki if under the new law, he could be jailed for telling the story of how neighbors betrayed his mother’s family in Poland to the Nazis.

“Of course it’s not going to be seen as criminal to say that there were Polish perpetrators, as there were Jewish perpetrators, as there were Russian perpetrators, as there were Ukrainian, not only German perpetrators,” Morawiecki replied.

He did not elaborate on who he regards as “Jewish perpetrators.” But he tweeted Sunday, “Dialogue about this most difficult history is necessary as a warning. We will conduct such dialogue with Israel.”

“The Holocaust, the genocide of Jews committed by Nazi Germans, was an extremely terrifying crime,” he further wrote. “There were also individuals who by collaborating with Nazi Germans, showed the darkest side of human nature.”

A Morawiecki spokesman said the prime minister was in no way trying to deny the Holocaust.

About 6 million Poles, half of them Jews, were murdered during World War II by Hitler and the Nazis.
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US-Russia Dispute Forms Backdrop for Tense Security Conference

Posted on 02/18/2018 by SeeEA

Moscow has dismissed U.S. charges against several Russian citizens and companies for meddling in the 2016 presidential election as “blather.” Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov questioned the evidence. The charges have formed a tense backdrop to the conference, which has focused on growing threats to global security, as Henry Ridgwell reports from Munich.
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US-Russia Dispute Forms Backdrop for Tense Munich Security Conference

Posted on 02/18/2018 by SeeUS

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Zimbabwe President Sees Deceased Opposition Leader’s Family

Posted on 02/18/2018 by SeeAF

Zimbabwe’s president Sunday visited the home of deceased opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to pay condolences to his family and to urge unity as power struggles within the opposition have heightened tensions.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged that his government will meet hospital and funeral expenses for Tsvangirai, who died of colon cancer last week in neighboring South Africa.

Tsvangirai’s body arrived in the capital, Harare, Friday and was taken to a military barracks where it will remain until Monday for public viewing. The longtime opponent of former president Robert Mugabe will be buried Tuesday in Buhera, his rural home about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Harare.

Hundreds of Tsvangirai’s supporters, wearing the red color of the Movement for Democratic Change party, hiked for kilometers to the airport and then to his home for a vigil. Some complained about the military’s role in the funeral and burial arrangements, saying the army had been instrumental in harassing Tsvangirai and his supporters over the years.

Mnangagwa said military involvement was standard procedure for state funerals and Tsvangirai had served as prime minister in the 2009-2013 coalition government.

Tsvangirai’s prominence across Africa as a veteran opposition leader was highlighted by the visit to Zimbabwe of Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party appears fractured by rivalry over who will take over leadership. Nelson Chamisa has won leadership of the opposition party, which holds the second largest number of seats in Zimbabwe’s parliament. However two other MDC officials, Thokozani Khupe and former Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri, also are vying to lead the party.
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5 Killed in Shooting Outside Church in Russia’s Dagestan Region

Posted on 02/18/2018 by SeeEU

Russian news reports say a gunman has opened fire on people leaving a church service in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing and least five people and wounding four others.

The Tass news agency said the shooting occurred Sunday outside a church in the town of Kizlyar. The assailant was killed by police.

“The shooter was shot dead,” Kizlyar’s Mayor Alexander Shuvalov told Tass, adding that two police officers were among those wounded.

The motive for the shooting is not known.

Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

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Macron’s Ideas on Reform of Islam Draw Fire

Posted on 02/18/2018 by SeeEU

Six months ago after a string of jihadist-inspired attacks in London and Manchester, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the time had come to have “embarrassing conversations” about Islam’s place in Britain.

Her comment was sparked by claims that the country’s Muslims weren’t doing enough to counter extremism and jihadist propaganda.

So far, mired in Brexit controversy, the British government hasn’t started a debate in earnest. But on the other side of the English Channel, French President Emmanuel Macron is proposing a root-and-branch reform of Islam in France — a project being closed watched by the British and by other Europeans.

Macron’s goals, he said, are to preserve “national cohesion” and to counter Islamic fundamentalism. Another key reform goal is to halt the influence of Arab states on France’s 6 million Muslims by way of the funding of mosques and paying clerics.

French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told reporters last week that although they have not finalized reform plans, the training of Islamic clerics and their funding “are at the heart of the manner in which we are rethinking the relationship between the Republic and Islam.”

“Why is the question of funding of Islam central for us? Because today, we know that the funding comes from foreign countries, and it is not desirable to have a religion in France funded by foreign countries who in fact will be defending their interests. And so, it’s a political Islam,” he said.

The plans being considered by the French president — including requiring imams to pass courses on secularism, civil liberties and theology, and the appointment of a chief imam as the sole religious authority over French Muslims — are drawing fire from some socialist politicians and Muslim leaders.

They argue government meddling in the training of Muslim clerics and interference in Islamic religious affairs would undermine the principles of freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state, underpinnings of the French state’s strict brand of secularism known as laïcité, which is enshrined in a1905 law.

Macron has been rebuked by some key Muslim leaders, including the head of an organization set up more than a decade ago to encourage the development of a homegrown form of Islam more in tune with traditional French values.

“The Muslim faith is a religion, and as such, takes care of its own household affairs. The last thing you want is the state to act as guardian,” Ahmet Ogras, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), told Reuters.

Macron has said he won’t unveil a detailed reform proposal until wide consultations take place, but left-wing critics say his ideas risk undermining the state’s religious neutrality and will pull the French government into the management of religion.

“The president’s plans to restructure Islam in France call into question the 1905 law separating church and state,” said Benoît Schenckenburger, an adviser to left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a challenger in last year’s presidential elections. “The state cannot influence the organization of Islamic institutions, cannot meddle in the training of imams and cannot weigh in on how Islam in France is to be financed.”

Critics point out that Macron never talks about the state managing Catholic and Protestant churches or overseeing how Judaism is exercised. But those supporting Macron say French Catholics, Protestants and Jews accept laïcité and that no threats to the state are being mounted from within their communities.

And Griveaux said the state has no alternative but to get more involved — “because you have at the same time preaching that is completely incompatible with the values of the Republic, and you have mosques that are places of radicalization.”

On the right of the political spectrum, some resistance is also emerging. National Front critics of the reform idea fear, too, that Macron risks undermining the very idea of laïcité and will be forced to amend the 1905 law underpinning it. National Front leader Marine Le Pen has called the idea of doing that “unbearable, inadmissible.”

In a television interview she argued the influence of mainly Gulf states on French Muslims could be curtailed by imposing a “total cessation of foreign financing of mosques.”

Macron first announced his intention to reform French Islam in an interview a week ago with the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche.

“What I’d like to get done in the first half of 2018 is set down markers on the entire way in which Islam is organized in France,” he said.

France isn’t alone among European states in struggling to formulate ideas about how to counter jihadists, harmonize Islam with Western ideals and to come up with ways of encouraging greater integration of Muslims.

He has drawn praise from British conservatives frustrated with what they argue is a muddled approach by the May government.

Last month, the British government withheld its support of an elementary school’s decision to ban young Muslim girls wearing the hijab to class, prompting an outcry from conservative lawmakers. Comparing May and Macron, historian Gavin Mortimer argued in the conservative Spectator magazine that Britain’s approach is “one of confusion.”
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Trump: Russia Has Been Hugely Successful in Disrupting US Political Landscape

Posted on 02/18/2018 by SeeUS

President Donald Trump said Sunday he believes Russia has been wildly successful in disrupting the U.S. political landscape with its interference in the 2016 election because of the subsequent months-long investigations it spawned.

“If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S.,” Trump said in a Twitter comment, “then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and (Republican) Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!”

In a string of tweets over several hours, the U.S. leader continued to assail the probe into his campaign’s links to Russia.

Trump was also critical of H.R. McMaster, his national security adviser, who said Saturday there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian interference in the election, a day after special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities with conducting an illegal “information warfare” campaign to disrupt the 2016 presidential election and help Trump win.

“I think that others around the world watched that and determined that cyber is a cost-free intervention,” Schiff said in an interview on NBC.

Trump has long contended that his campaign did not collude with Russia, even as the U.S. intelligence community and now Mueller have concluded that Russia conducted a wide campaign to meddle in the election to help Trump win.

Mueller’s indictment of the Russian interests contended that the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based social media company with Kremlin ties, 12 of its employees, and its financial backer orchestrated the effort.

None of the defendants charged in the indictment are in custody, according to a Mueller spokesman. The U.S. and Russia don’t have an extradition treaty and it’s unlikely that any of the defendants will stand trial in the U.S.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said that the Russian conspirators sought to “promote social discord in the United State and undermine public confidence in democracy.”

The indictment marks the first time Mueller’s office has brought charges against Russians and Russian entities for meddling in the 2016 election.