U.S. lawmakers are weighing in on the decades-long dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece has objected to its neighbor calling itself Macedonia, arguing the name implies a territorial claim to a region in Northern Greece with the same name. Experts say this is the last obstacle to Macedonia joining NATO And with Russian influence growing in Europe, there’s a new push to include the former Yugoslav republic in the alliance. VOA’s Jane Bojadzievski has more.
…
Month: May 2018
GOP Outsiders In, and Out, as Primary Season Begins
Republican voters rejected ex-convict Don Blankenship Tuesday in a West Virginia Senate primary in which he sold himself as “Trumpier than Trump” but was vigorously opposed by the president. GOP voters in Indiana, meanwhile, chose wealthy businessman Mike Braun over two sitting congressmen to lead the party’s charge against a vulnerable Democratic senator in the fall.
President Donald Trump and his allies cheered the West Virginia result, which helped avert a potential political disaster for a GOP bracing for major losses in the November midterm elections.
In a possible sign of party unrest, however, Rep. Robert Pittenger lost in North Carolina to the Rev. Mark Harris, a Baptist pastor he narrowly beat two years ago. Pittenger is the first incumbent to lose his seat this primary season.
The day’s slate of early season elections tested the limits of the anti-establishment fervor that has defined the Trump era.
Hopelessly behind in West Virginia, Blankenship conceded defeat in the contest to determine Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s general election challenger. The Republican president fought in the campaign’s final days to defeat Blankenship, a retired coal executive, who remained popular among some West Virginia Republicans despite having served a year in prison for his role in a deadly mine disaster and attacked the Asian heritage of the top Senate Republican’s wife.
State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey claimed the nomination instead, promoting his record of challenging policies of the administration of former President Barack Obama and deflecting criticism of his roots in New Jersey, where he lost a 2000 congressional race.
“Mr. President, if you’re watching right now, let me tell you, your tweet was huge,” Morrisey said in his nomination address, referring to Trump’s election eve call for voters to shun Blankenship’s candidacy. “You’ve been to the state now four times. I’d like you to come back as many times as you can between now and November.”
Key contests
The key Senate contests headlined primary elections across four states on Tuesday that will help shape the political landscape in this fall’s midterm elections. Control of Congress is at stake in addition to state governments across the nation.
In most cases, the Republican candidates on the ballot had competed to be seen as the most conservative, the most anti-Washington and the most loyal to the Republican president.
Indiana
In Indiana, Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly will face off in November against Braun, a multimillionaire owner of a national auto parts distribution business who loaned more than $5.4 million of his own money to his campaign. Braun credited his victory to voter disenchantment with “business as usual” and said he hoped to join other Republican senators who came from outside politics.
Another Indiana contest was less contentious: Greg Pence won the primary for the congressional seat his younger brother, Vice President Mike Pence, once held. Greg Pence is a Marine veteran and owner of two antique malls who once ran the now-bankrupt chain of Tobacco Road convenience stores. He’ll be the favorite to win the seat in November.
Ohio
In Ohio’s high-profile governor’s race, Democrats nominated Obama-era consumer watchdog Richard Cordray while Republicans selected state Attorney General Mike DeWine.
An Ohio state senator won the Republican primary to succeed retiring Rep. Pat Tiberi. The race had become a proxy fight between Tiberi, a GOP moderate, and conservative Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. Tiberi’s candidate, Troy Baldersonof Zanesville pulled out a win.
And on the local level, a woman who accused Trump of sexually harassing her more than a decade ago claimed the Democratic nomination in a race to represent an area southeast of Toledo in the state House of Representatives. Democrat Rachel Crooks, a 35-year-old university administrator, ran unopposed, but must next win a November general election to become the first Trump accuser to hold elected office.
A bright spot for Republicans in swing-state Ohio: GOP turnout was considerably stronger than Democratic voting in the open governor’s race. With nearly two-thirds of the vote counted, 567, 000 Republicans cast votes, to 412,000 Democrats.
U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, with Trump’s support, won the Republican primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in November.
West Virginia
Yet none of Tuesday’s other contests was expected to have more impact on the midterm landscape than West Virginia, where Blankenship had embraced Trump’s tactics, casting himself as a victim of government persecution and seizing on xenophobia, if not racism, to stand out in a crowded Republican field that included Attorney General Morrisey and Congressman Evan Jenkins.
No matter Tuesday’s winner, Trump’s team was keeping pressure on Manchin. A pro-Trump political action committee America First was airing ads promoting Gina Haspel, Trump’s nominee to be CIA director, and urging residents to call Manchin to support her confirmation.
Manchin coasted to the Democratic nomination, but he remains a top Republican target this fall.
Speaking Tuesday night at his Charleston headquarters, he said he expects Trump to get involved in the contest, despite Manchin’s “good relationship” with the president. The Democrat said he would campaign as he always has: a bipartisan problem solver who works “for West Virginians.”
…
Families Wonder How Iran Decision Will Impact US Detainees
Families of several Americans currently detained in Iran are hoping President Donald Trump’s decision announced on Tuesday to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal will not make it harder to get their love ones freed.
At least five Iranians, all dual-American citizens or green-card holders, have been sentenced to prison in Iran on espionage-related charges, as has Chinese-American Xiyue Wang, a Princeton University graduate student in history.
Wang’s wife Hua Qu said her family did not want to be in the middle of the dispute over the nuclear deal, calling it “a humanitarian issue for our family.”
“My hope is to be reunited soon with my husband, the father of our child,” she said. “We urge the American, European, Chinese, Russian, and Iranian governments to find a humanitarian solution, clemency or otherwise, to help bring Xiyue home.”
She said their lives have been very difficult since her husband was detained in August 2016. She’s concerned Wang, 37, may go on a third hunger strike while being held as the only non-Iranian in the prison where he is incarcerated. Their son is now 5.
The family of Bob Levinson, who disappeared from an Iranian island in March 2007, issued a statement that said Trump’s announcement should mean Levinson’s return “needs to be a priority in any new negotiations with Iran.”
Levinson’s son David told The Associated Press on Tuesday that although the family isn’t political and has no opinion on the Iran deal, “we do hope what this initiates and what it sparks is a renewed conversation about Bob Levinson, and that in the future in any negotiation between Iran and the United States that he becomes a priority and is at the forefront of any discussions.”
He added, “If our administration believes in America first, they can make a strong statement and a strong step in the right direction by advocating for the release and return of an American citizen.”
For years, U.S. officials said Levinson had been working for a private firm, but The Associated Press reported in December 2013 that he had actually been on a mission for CIA analysts who were not authorized to run spy missions.
Photos and videos released in 2010-11 showed a gaunt and bearded Levinson wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif said last month the U.S. government would have to change its attitude and engage in a respectful way before meaningful negotiations can take place.
Zarif said Iran could be open to discussing a prisoner release if Washington’s approach changed, particularly if it is on health or humanitarian grounds.
One of the prisoners, 81-year-old Baquer Namazi, is said to be in poor health.
…
IOM Data: Deportations of Salvadorans Fall as End of TPS Slows Migration
The number of Salvadorans deported from the United States and Mexico fell 38 percent in the first three months of 2018, a U.N. agency said on Tuesday, a decline that coincided with President Donald Trump ending Salvadorans’ temporary protected status (TPS).
According to data compiled by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is supported by the United Nations, 5,829 Salvadorans were deported between January and March, compared with 9,392 during the first three months of 2017.
Jorge Peraza, the IOM’s Central America chief, said the Trump administration’s January announcement that it would end Salvadorans’ TPS on Sept. 9, 2019, had contributed to a decline in northbound migration.
“The news of the cancellation of TPS also could have had an effect because in some ways, it acts as a disincentive to undertake a migratory project,” he told Reuters, adding that declining murders in El Salvador and an anti-migration campaign were also factors.
In January, the Trump administration gave Salvadorans 18 months to seek lawful residency or leave the United States, and for El Salvador to prepare for their return. The TPS was granted in the wake of two devastating 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador that left hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
The decision to end TPS for Salvadorans was part of the administration’s broader push to tighten immigration laws and expel those living in the United States illegally.
The IOM data also showed that deportations of Hondurans and Guatemalans from the United States and Mexico had grown over the same period, up 29 percent and 48 percent, respectively.
…
Trump to Allow Year-Round Sales of High-Ethanol Gas
President Donald Trump will allow year-round sales of renewable fuel with blends of 15 percent ethanol as part of an emerging deal to make changes to the federal ethanol mandate.
Republican senators and the White House announced the deal Tuesday after a closed-door meeting, the latest in a series of White House sessions on ethanol.
The Environmental Protection Agency currently bans the 15-percent blend, called E15, during the summer because of concerns that it contributes to smog on hot days. Gasoline typically contains 10 percent ethanol. Farm-state lawmakers have pushed for greater sales of the higher ethanol blend to boost demand for the corn-based fuel.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley called the agreement good news for farmers and drivers alike, saying it would increase ethanol production and consumer choice at the pump.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the deal will save the jobs of thousands of blue-collar workers at refineries in Texas, Pennsylvania and other states.
“Terrific final decision from @POTUS meeting,” Cruz tweeted. “This is a WIN-WIN for everyone.”
The decision allowing E15 to be sold year-round will provide “relief to refiners” and “protect our hardworking farmers and refinery workers,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. “The president is satisfied with the attention and care that all parties devoted to this issue.”
Trump met Tuesday with Grassley, Cruz, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, as well as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
The EPA oversees the decade-old Renewable Fuel Standard, commonly known as the ethanol mandate, which sets out how much corn-based ethanol and other renewable fuels refiners must blend into gasoline. The program’s intent was to address global warming, reduce dependence on foreign oil and bolster the rural economy by requiring a steady increase in renewable fuels over time.
The mandate has not worked as intended, and production levels of renewable fuels, mostly ethanol, routinely fail to reach minimum thresholds set in law.
Environmental groups criticized the deal, saying it would worsen air pollution during summer months.
“Waiving clean-air standards at the behest of one favored industry would not only set a precedent for bad policy, it could cost lives,” a coalition of environmental groups said in a statement.
Ernst said allowing year-round sale of E15 “will drive up domestic ethanol production and consumption” while helping to “maintain already low prices” for fuel credits that oil refiners must buy if they can’t blend ethanol into their fuels.
She and Grassley also said they were encouraged that the Trump administration will take a closer look at “hardship” waivers that have been granted to small refineries, a practice they say has hurt biofuels and undermined the RFS.
The EPA has reportedly granted a waiver to a refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, a former Trump adviser, as well as other small refineries. The agency has not disclosed which refineries received the waivers, saying it did not want to reveal private business information.
Cruz said the president also agreed to consider his proposal to include fuel credits for ethanol that is produced domestically and exported. The proposal is meant to make it easier for the industry to meet annual sales volumes required under the renewable-fuel mandate.
“This is good for farmers, refiners and America,” Cruz said in a statement.
But the Renewable Fuels Association, an industry group, said allowing exports to qualify for RFS compliance could dramatically reduce domestic demand and result in retaliatory trade barriers from countries that import U.S. ethanol.
The group’s president, Bob Dinneen, called the export idea a “disgrace” and said ethanol producers and farmers would bear the brunt of any retaliatory tariffs.
…
China Cuts US Soybean Purchases
With the threat of tariffs and counter-tariffs between Washington and Beijing looming, Chinese buyers are canceling orders for U.S. soybeans, a trend that could deal a blow to American farmers if it continues.
At the same time, farmers in China are being encouraged to plant more soy, apparently to help make up for any shortfall from the United States.
Beijing has included soybeans on a list of $50 billion of U.S. exports on which it has said it would impose 25 percent tariffs if the United States follows through on its threats to impose the same level of tariffs on the same value of Chinese goods. The U.S. tariffs could kick in later this month; China would likely retaliate soon after.
It can take a month or longer for soybean shipments to travel from the U.S. to China. Any soybeans en route to China now could be hit by the tariff by the time they arrive.
“The Chinese aren’t willing to buy US soybeans with a 25 percent tax hanging over their head,” said Dan Basse, president of AgResource, an agricultural research and advisory firm. “You just don’t want the risk.”
China typically buys most of its soybeans from South American nations such as Brazil and Argentina during spring and early summer. It shifts to U.S. soybeans in the fall. As a result, for now, the cutbacks from the United States are relatively small.
But should they persist, it could cause real pain to U.S. farmers. Roughly 60 percent of U.S. soybeans are shipped to China.
There might also be a political impact: Three of the top five soybean-exporting states — Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska — voted for President Donald Trump in 2016.
Illinois, the top soybean exporter, and Minnesota, the third-largest, backed Hillary Clinton.
Basse said that it has been roughly three weeks since China has made any major soybean purchases, an unusually long delay.
Some Chinese buyers might be showing support for their government in the trade dispute by turning away U.S. soybeans, Basse said. The dispute may also make it seem too risky to buy from the United States over the long run.
“The United States could lose the reliable supplier label that we’ve had these many years,” Basse said.
Data from the U.S. government data show that sales of soybeans have fallen from about 255,000 metric tons in the first week of April, when the trade dispute began, to just 7,900 in the week that ended April 26.
Cancellations have also jumped, to more than 140,000 metric tons in the week ending April 26. In the same week last year, there were no canceled sales at all.
Some analysts argue that the shifts aren’t yet particularly significant. China buys most of its soybeans from the United States in the late summer and fall, and then switches to South American sources, mainly Brazil and Argentina, in the spring. So the current market activity doesn’t necessarily reflect the pattern that would occur during the main buying season.
“These numbers we’re talking about are pretty minor,” said John Baize, an economist for the U.S. Soybean Export Council.
The U.S. ships about 35 million metric tons of soybeans to China a year, Baize said. China usually imports about 100 million tons a year and can’t import enough from other countries, he said, to abandon the United States as a source.
“Where’s China going to buy its beans?” Baize asked.
That may be true in the short run. But Basse suggests that Brazil has enough land that could be used for soybean cultivation that it could soon mostly replace the United States as a supplier to China.
And if the Chinese market were to be closed to U.S. farmers, they might be able to sell some portion of their soybeans to other markets. Baize said that huge multinational companies, such as Cargill and ADM, might, for example, sell more U.S. soybeans to Europe, where they wouldn’t face any tariffs, though this likely wouldn’t make up for the loss of the Chinese market.
At the same time, China is looking more to its own farmers. Since China announced its potential tariffs on U.S. soy in April, the government has encouraged farmers to cultivate more soybeans. Beginning this month, Chinese farmers say, Beijing reduced corn subsidies and raised annual soybean subsidies from 2550 yuan ($400) per hectare to 3000 yuan ($470) or more per hectare in major soybean-producing provinces in northeast China.
An adjustment had already been planned to help draw down China’s substantial corn stockpiles, so the change wasn’t necessarily aimed at U.S. soy growers, analysts say.
But the subsidy adjustment did come with political undertones. Officials in major soybean-producing provinces were describing the promotion of local soybeans as “the most important political task in agricultural production at present.” Heilongjiang in northeast China announced a pilot project to plant soybeans on over 100,000 new hectares, with an extra 2,250 yuan ($353) subsidy per hectare.
The moves are prompting farmers like Liu Cong to focus more on growing soy. Liu says he used most of his land to grow corn last year but this year is planting more soybeans.
“This is encouraging for farmers,” he said in a phone interview. “We’re more motivated.”
Zhang Xiaoping, China director for the U.S. Soybean Export Council, says that Chinese buyers have been canceling soybean purchases of last year’s U.S. soybean harvest because of the threat of tariffs.
“The buyers literally stopped buying from the U.S.,” Zhang said. “Exporters cannot find any buyers in China.”
…
Al-Qaida Branch Threatens Attacks on Western Companies in Africa
An al-Qaida affiliate threatened attacks on Western companies’ operations across North and West Africa on Tuesday, calling them “legitimate targets” and urging Muslims to boycott them.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has launched raids on installations in the past, in particular in Algeria where it carried out a major assault on a gas plant in 2013 that killed dozens of workers.
Its fighters have also carried out high-profile attacks on hotels frequented by foreigners in Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
“This statement calls to boycott all Western companies and foundations … that operate in the Islamic Maghreb … and the countries of the Sahel, and gives a warning to them that they are legitimate target for the mujahideen,” it said.
The statement, which was circulated on social media and translated by the extremism watchdog SITE, singled out France – the former colonial power in much of North and West Africa – and its allies in the region.
“We have decided to strike that which prolongs the continuity of these agent governments and enables the French occupier to provide a lavish life and prosperity to its people,” it said.
The region has witnessed a rise in Islamist militancy since an uprising in Libya toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, sparking chaos during which armed factions looted government weapons stocks.
France led a military intervention in Mali in 2013 to drive back Islamist groups that had seized the country’s desert north a year earlier.
Paris still has thousands of troops deployed in West Africa’s arid Sahel region as part of an operation to stamp out militant groups, and the United States is also ramping up its presence in the region.
…
IMF Warns of Rising African Debt Despite Faster Economic Growth
Sub-Saharan African nations are at growing risk of debt distress because of heavy borrowing and gaping deficits, despite an overall uptick in economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.
The sober assessment came as African countries continue to tap international debt markets and issue record levels of debt in foreign currencies, spurred on by insatiable investor demand for yields.
“What really we’re concerned about is the pace of increase, rather than the average,” IMF Africa Director Abebe Aemro Selassie told Reuters at the launch of its economic outlook for the region in Accra.
“What we’re calling for right now is that those countries are going to need to go through fiscal consolidation,” he said, adding that oil producers and other resource-dependent economies were seeking the sharpest growth in their debt loads.
The Fund projected the rate of economic expansion would rise to 3.4 percent this year, up from 2.8 percent in 2017, boosted by global growth and higher commodity prices.
Slower growth in South Africa and Nigeria — the continent’s two largest economies — weighed on the region-wide average, but the IMF expects growth to pick up in around two-thirds of African nations. However, under current policies, that rate is expected to plateau below 4 percent over the medium term.
Growth seen slowing
Meanwhile, around 40 percent of low-income countries in the region are now in debt distress or at high risk of it, the IMF report said. And refinancing that debt could soon become more costly.
“The current growth spurt in advanced economies is expected to taper off, and the borrowing terms for the region’s frontier markets will likely become less favorable … which could coincide with higher refinancing needs for many countries across the region,” it said.
African governments issued a record $7.5 billion in sovereign bonds last year, 10 times more than in 2016. And they have issued or plan to issue over $11 billion in additional debt in the first half of 2018 alone, the report said.
Foreign currency debt increased by 40 percent from 2010-13 to 2017 and now accounts for about 60 percent of the region’s total public debt on average, IMF data showed. Average interest payments, meanwhile, increased from 4 percent of expenditures in 2013 to 12 percent in 2017.
Six countries — Chad, Eritrea, Mozambique, Congo Republic, South Sudan and Zimbabwe — were judged to be in debt distress at the end of last year. And the IMF’s ratings for Zambia and Ethiopia were changed from moderate to “high risk of debt distress.”
The IMF conceded that Africa’s enormous needs will continue to demand heavy investments to build infrastructure and social development. But to do so while avoiding the risk of a debt trap, the continent, which currently has the lowest revenue-to-GDP ratio in the world, will need to become more self-reliant.
“Borrowing to finance spending is part of the macroeconomic policy tool kits which all countries use,” Selassie said. “But over the medium to long-term they have to rely more on domestic revenues, tax revenues to address their development spending needs.”
…
Unidentified Gunmen Wound Montenegrin Journalist
Unidentified assailants on Tuesday shot and wounded a Montenegrin journalist who has written about crime and corruption in the small Balkan country.
Olivera Lakic, a journalist for the Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti, was wounded in the right leg outside her home in the capital, Podgorica. Lakic was taken to a hospital and was reported out of danger.
Police said the attack happened around 9 p.m. A search for the attackers was underway, including stepped up controls throughout the city and a review of surveillance cameras in the area, police said.
Vijesti’s chief editor, Mihailo Jovovic, said Lakic told him a man approached her and shot her in the leg, while two other men ran away.
Lakic, 49, was beaten six years ago after she wrote a series of articles about alleged murky dealings over a tobacco factory. That attacker was jailed for several months and Lakic had police protection for a while.
“I am speechless. For how much longer will this be happening?” Jovovic said in comments published on the Vijesti website. “A lot of stories she wrote have not been investigated (by the authorities). For how much longer must we live in fear of such cowards?”
Prime Minister Dusko Markovic condemned the attack and urged a “swift and efficient investigation” to discover the motive as well as who might have ordered it.
The U.S. Embassy in Podgorica tweeted that it was “following with concern the attack tonight on journalist Olivera Lakic.” It said journalists “are the guardians of democracy and must be protected so they can do their jobs in safety.”
Aivo Orav, head of the European Union delegation in Montenegro, called the attack “very worrying.” In the tweet, Orav said that “journalists must be protected.”
Montenegro is a former Yugoslav republic that joined NATO last year and is now also seeking EU membership. The long-ruling Democratic Party of Socialists has faced accusations of widespread crime and corruption.
…
South Sudan President Asks SPLM to Forgive Machar
Ahead of a high-level forum on South Sudan next week, President Salva Kiir is urging SPLM ruling party officials to forgive his former deputy, Riek Machar, and said the rebel leader should return home.
“You bring Riek Machar to Juba here. I guarantee his safety and I will protect him with the national army. If you don’t believe me, the RPF [Regional Protection Force] is here. You bring the RPF to take charge of the security of Riek Machar in Juba. This is where we will be meeting him and so that we talk to him,” Kiir told party members attending a National Liberation Council meeting late last week in Juba. The council is a legislative body of the SPLM.
Kiir said he also wants all former detainees, including former SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum, to return to Juba in accordance with a reunification agreement signed in 2015 in Arusha, Tanzania.
“If you forgive those who are among you here, those of Taban [First Vice President Taban Deng Gai], and those of Ezekiel [Ezekiel Lul, minister of petroleum], those of John Luk [minister of roads and transport], why would you not forgive Riek? I still believe that Riek is a citizen of South Sudan. He will come,” Kiir told party delegates.
Kiir said he believes insecurity across the country has prevented Machar and other opposition leaders from returning to South Sudan. He acknowledged that the issue has forced millions of South Sudanese to seek refuge in neighboring countries and in protection sites inside South Sudan.
Kiir said it is time that he and other South Sudanese leaders swallow their pride and work together to change the direction of the country.
“I want all of us to consider the plight of our people, then we change the way of doing things,” Kiir told party members.
May 17 focus
Kiir’s comments come as a top official within the SPLM-in Opposition, or SPLM-IO, faction led by Machar said his party is not focused on reunifying the SPLM, but on the talks May 17 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
At the forum, Imatong state governor-designate Oyet Nathaniel will head the SPLM-IO’s Cluster for Governance, which is loyal to Machar. Nathaniel said his group was surprised to hear Kiir call for Machar’s return. He told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program that Machar will only return after a comprehensive peace deal is signed with a clear agenda outlining the way forward.
“We need a new transition, a new governance arrangement, new security arrangements to secure the transition. We need an overhaul in the security sector considering the fact that the fighting forces under Salva Kiir now are militias collected from Bar al-Ghazal, and parts of Upper Nile,” Nathaniel told VOA.
He said the SPLM-in Opposition no longer recognizes the 2015 reunification agreement.
One faction dissolved
In a bid to try to prop up South Sudan’s collapsing government, Gai said on Monday he had dissolved his faction of the SPLM-IO, saying it would boost the government’s chances of restoring peace.
“I would like to announce on behalf of the SPLM-IO structures and the entire membership of the party, the dissolution of the SPLM-IO organs and declare them to be united with the SPLM, the historic liberation party in the Republic of South Sudan,” Gai said.
Gai, popularly known as Taban Deng, said he was acting on a resolution the National Liberation Council passed last week that calls on all SPLM factions to reunite.
Ruling party officials, former detainees, and the former SPLM-IO faction allied to Gai attended the meeting, but key signatories to the Arusha agreement such as Machar and former SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum were not present.
Gai has said a reunified SPLM will allow political leaders to address challenges facing the country and prepare for elections.
“Reunification of SPLM will give more power, more spirit, and more energy to the party to strive on the areas of making peace,” Gai said.
Despite dissolving his faction, Gai said his group will continue to participate in talks in Addis Ababa under the government’s delegation.
“The Arusha agreement is very clear that the faction of the SPLM will continue leading an interim government until you have an election,” Gai added.
Kiir handpicked Gai to become the new first vice president and head the SPLM-IO after Machar fled Juba following renewed fighting between government forces and Machar’s bodyguards in Juba in July 2016.
South Sudan’s conflict began in 2013 as a power struggle between Kiir and Machar.
…
US to Review Assistance to South Sudan
The Trump administration will review all assistance programs to South Sudan, citing frustration with the lack of progress in reaching a peace agreement to end the violence in the country.
“The American people are generous and loyal. We have endeavored to help the people of South Sudan,” a statement released by the White House said Tuesday. “It is, however, the responsibility of the South Sudanese Government to protect and provide for its own citizens.”
The statement said the United States was a “proud and hopeful supporter” of the fledgling country when it gained independence in 2011. But it blamed the government of failing to live up to its commitments.
It said the leaders of South Sudan have for seven years “pilfered the wealth of South Sudan, killed their own people, and repeatedly demonstrated their inability and unwillingness to live up to their commitments to end the country’s civil war.”
The White House also cited the forced exile of key leaders and the promotion of individuals sanctioned by the United Nations to top government positions as a point of concern, pointing to the appointment last week of Gabriel Jok Riak as the new head of the military.
The review, the statement said, was aimed at condemning “any unilateral effort of the current government of South Sudan to extend its power through sham elections, the legislature or continued military offensives.”
It is unclear when the final results of the review will be announced.
…
Iraq’s Sunnis Voting Without Hope in First Election Since Islamic State
At the gates of Tikrit under a giant billboard of a Shi’ite militia commander, hundreds of Iraqi Sunni Arabs wait in the scorching sun for hours to be searched before being let into the city that was once the power base of Saddam Hussein.
Treated as Islamic State sympathizers by Iraq’s Shi’ite dominated security forces and militias, the Sunnis near Tikrit say they feel disillusioned and alienated ahead of a May 12 election to elect a new prime minister.
Under Saddam, power was concentrated within Iraq’s minority Sunni community but the tables turned in 2003 with the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the dictator and ushered in Shi’ite dominance, and a cycle of bloodletting and revenge.
Six months after the defeat of Islamic State, Iraq’s Sunni Arabs are at their lowest point yet.
Almost 2.3 million remain displaced, while others linger in prisons or without work in half-ruined cities – all collectively suspected of ties to the hardline Sunni militants.
Shujaa Mohammed, 35, a former army bomb disposal expert from Tikrit, said he went to Baghdad when Islamic State seized the city in 2014, offering to help the authorities fight back.
“The commanders said you’re from Tikrit, you’re all Islamic State. I told them: ‘Check our records and punish us if we are’.
They just stopped paying our salaries,” said Mohammed, who plans to put a large X over the entire ballot paper on Saturday.
Despite the widespread disillusionment, many Sunnis say they do want their voices heard, even if that means spoiling their ballots or backing a candidate they have no faith in.
Interviews with dozens of voters, candidates and local officials in three Sunni provinces suggest the community is planning to turn out in high numbers on Saturday though few believe the election will do much to improve their fate.
“I will vote, but I don’t have hope that anything will change,” said Ghufran, a 25-year-old pharmacist in Mosul who declined to give her full name for fear of reprisals.
Defying threats
Ghufran is one of thousands to have returned since Mosul was retaken from Islamic State in July, despite the difficulties of living among “rubble and checkpoints”.
Even before Islamic State seized it 2014, Mosul had been a stronghold for Islamist militants who threatened to kill anyone who voted in the first elections after Saddam’s fall.
Falah Mohammed braved the intimidation to work on the election in 2010, but stayed away in 2014 after Islamic State threatened his family.
This time he will defy the latest threats from Islamist militants who have warned Sunnis not to vote, despite having lost control of the city.
“The climate of fear is over,” said 41-year-old Mohammed, who, like many of his neighbors, will vote despite his disdain for the candidates. “It’s our duty to vote.”
The determination to vote in the absence of a belief anything will change was echoed across Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province where more than 900 candidates from over 30 electoral lists are running for just 31 parliamentary seats.
Sunnis have long complained about rampant discrimination at the hands of Shi’ite-led governments and security forces since 2003, though some concede there have been improvements since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took over four years ago.
Unlike his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki, who was seen as overtly sectarian, Abadi has some support among Sunnis who credit him with freeing them from Islamic State and could endorse his re-election bid.
“We don’t trust the current politicians but I’d vote for Abadi. He liberated Mosul,” said Fatouma Badran, 40, in the Hammam al Alil refugee camp south of the city.
Abadi’s Victory Alliance list is the only one running in all 18 provinces. He has been campaigning across Iraq and his visits to Sunni heartlands have been well received.
Others in Mosul, such as 31-year-old Ali Fares, say they could never vote for the leaders they blame for recklessly battering their city in the battle to oust Islamic State.
“They all destroyed Mosul,” said Fares in a makeshift tea shop in the heart of the Old City. “Instead of spending millions of dinars on campaign posters, they should rebuild houses.”
Displaced voters
Many of those displaced by war have spent months or years in camps, but some live in informal settlements, as their former homes are no long habitable, or their areas not yet secure.
In a charred, multi-story garage full of blown-up cars in Tikrit, hundreds have set up their own informal camp, where families are divided by simple hanging sheets.
Here, not everyone wants to vote. Rahman Mohsen, a 47-year-old former taxi driver, said he returned home to Baiji after Islamic State was driven out but his house had burnt down.
So he came to Tikrit instead and ended up in the garage, and is angry with politicians for not doing more to help.
“We only see them during elections, after elections we never see them again. Not a single official has visited us. The children have developed scabies and lice,” he said pointing to one of his young sons with a visible bald spot. “We survive on charity … thank God, at least there is a ceiling.”
In the Amriyat al-Falluja (AAF) complex west of the capital Baghdad, the only things more abundant than tents are campaign posters – though most families in the camp are using the structures displaying the candidates to hang their laundry.
Jamal Khalaf plans to vote for a candidate who he says helped camp residents with much needed supplies. But, like most people interviewed by Reuters in the camp, he hasn’t got a voting card and believes this will bar him from participating.
“Islamic State punished those who had voting cards so we got rid of them,” he said. Khalaf said it would cost him 20,000 Iraqi dinars ($16) to hire a car to go and get a new voting card, money he and thousands of others in camps do not have.
Camp residents are allowed to vote through a system called “conditional voting” where they only need to show documents that confirm their identity and that they live in the camp, but many were unaware of the process.
Voters in camps and rural communities across the mainly Sunni provinces of Anbar, Salahuddin and Nineveh also said several Shi’ite militias had threatened to press terrorism charges against their youths unless specific candidates won.
Another problem for the Sunnis is that unlike Iraq’s Kurds and Shi’ite Arabs, they lack a strong national leadership or party structure meaning the electoral base of their politicians is largely provincial or tribal in nature.
In some regions, such as Tikrit, that vacuum is felt particularly acutely.
“Since the occupation in 2003 we have not had any representative from Tikrit in the provincial council or parliament. Because Saddam was from Tikrit. They say in Baghdad we ruled Iraq for 35 years and it’s enough,” said Najeeb Saeed, a 46-year-old street trader.
Sunnis mostly did not engage in the political process after 2003. Some considered it born out of an illegal occupation while many would-be leaders were banned for belonging to Saddam’s Baath party.
Many feel the Sunni politicians who have engaged in politics since the fall of Saddam are collaborators, just out for personal gain.
“What have Sunni politicians ever done for me? Why should I vote for the same politicians who are the reason I live in a tent?” said 72-year-old Mehdi Ahmed, who fled to the AAF camp complex because of the fighting.
“I would rather dig my own grave than do that.”
…
Trump Withdraws US From Iran Nuclear Deal
President Donald Trump on Tuesday pulled the United States out of the 2015 international agreement aimed at restraining Iran’s nuclear program, contending that it is a “disastrous” pact that won’t keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and endangering the world.
The U.S. leader said he is reimposing the “highest levels of economic sanctions” on Iran. Trump said he was open to working with its European allies to negotiate a new deal with the Islamic Republic to curb its ballistic missile tests and military advances in Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere in the Mideast, although Tehran has already declared it is not interested in forging a new accord.
Trump, in a short address at the White House, called the agreement championed by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, “decaying and rotten.”
Watch Trump’s remarks
He said it was “a giant fiction” that Iran only wants to develop its nuclear program for peaceful purposes. “The Iran promise was a lie,” Trump asserted.
In abrogating the deal, Trump lived up campaign vows he made in his 2016 run to the White House. But in doing so, he also rejected pleas from three of the U.S.’s closest allies — Britain, France and Germany — to stay in the deal, which also included China and Russia.
“When I make promises, I keep them,” Trump said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet, “France, Germany, and the UK regret the U.S. decision to leave the JCPOA. The nuclear non-proliferation regime is at stake.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has certified 10 times that Iran is complying with the deal. The European Commission said Tuesday that “the agreement is working and our commitment to continue with implementation remains.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran will remain in the deal without Washington.
Hours ahead of his announcement, Trump for the second consecutive day assailed former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, one of the chief architects of the agreement between Iran and the six international powers. Kerry met recently with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in an effort to save the pact.
“John Kerry can’t get over the fact that he had his chance and blew it!” Trump said on Twitter. “Stay away from negotiations John, you are hurting your country!”
A day earlier, Trump said, “The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!”
The three-year-old agreement called for lifting sanctions on Iran that had hobbled its economy in exchange for Iran restraining its nuclear program, which Iran has claimed was for peaceful purposes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long criticized the deal and in Trump found an ally with similar views.
Among Trump’s chief objections are a lack of provisions addressing Iran’s ballistic missile activity and the fact that Iran’s responsibilities, such as limiting its uranium enrichment, expire after a set number of years.
In his speech, Trump said the current deal would leave Tehran “on the cusp” of a “nuclear breakout.”
The text of the document, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, states in multiple places that Iran would treat the reinstatement of sanctions
…
US Urges Post-Election Lebanon to Uphold Regional Policy
The United States on Tuesday urged Lebanon to uphold a policy of staying out of regional wars and a U.N. Security Council resolution that sought Hezbollah’s disarmament, after the Iran-backed group and its allies won more than half the seats in Sunday’s election.
The United States views Hezbollah as a terrorist group and is critical of its role in the Syrian conflict, but has given Lebanon substantial military support.
“As Lebanon looks ahead to forming a new government, we urge all parties to uphold Lebanon’s international obligations, including those contained in U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a statement.
The two resolutions relate to the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon, the disarmament of all militias including Hezbollah and the terms of a 2006 cease-fire agreement between Lebanon and Washington’s close ally Israel.
Avoiding regional conflicts
The Lebanese policy of disassociation was declared in 2012 to keep the deeply divided state out of regional conflicts such as the civil war in neighboring Syria. Despite the policy, Hezbollah is heavily involved there, sending thousands of fighters to help President Bashar al-Assad.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, issued in 2004, sought
the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon, chiefly Syrian
troops that allowed for Syrian domination.
The Syrian forces left in 2005 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Winners in Sunday’s election included a retired general, Jamil al-Sayyed, who was one of the most powerful figures in Lebanon during the era of Syrian domination. A close friend of Assad, he won his seat with Hezbollah’s backing.
Several other pro-Syrian Lebanese who have not held public office since the Syrian withdrawal also won seats.
Western-backed Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri lost more than a third of his seats, though he is widely expected to form another unity government that will include Hezbollah and Lebanon’s other main parties.
…
Anti-Semitic Crime, Mostly With Far-Right Motive, Edges Up in Germany
The number of anti-Semitic crimes in Germany rose by 2.5 percent last year despite an overall drop in politically motivated crimes, statistics showed on Tuesday, reinforcing fears about growing hostility after several high-profile attacks in Berlin.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that 1,504 anti-Semitic offenses were reported in 2017, up from 1,468 in 2016, though he said there had been fewer attacks on hostels housing refugees.
“It is not surprising that the so-called “imported anti-Semitic crimes” are rising – even if at a lower level. But I want to make clear that almost 95 percent of anti-Semitic crimes in 2017 had a right-wing motive,” said Seehofer.
Some politicians, including many in the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), blame the influx of more than 1.6 million refugees and other migrants, many fleeing war zones in Syria, Iraq and beyond.
Seehofer cited recent offenses, including the bullying of Jewish children in school, an attack on an Israeli Arab who wore a Jewish kippa on a Berlin street and the awarding of a top music award to rappers accused of reciting anti-Semitic lyrics.
Germany is not the only country confronting anti-Semitism but the legacy of the Holocaust, in which Nazis killed at least six million Jews, means Germans feel a special sense of responsibility.
Politically motivated crimes overall fell by 4.6 percent in 2017, the first decrease in four years, said Seehofer.
Attacks on refugee accommodation fell by nearly 69 percent. With 312 reported attacks in the past year, numbers returned to levels that preceded the influx of migrants from 2015.
Overall, crime was down by 9.6 percent, helped by a big fall in immigration-related offenses such as illegal border crossings.
your ad hereThousands of Hungarians Rally Against PM Orban
Thousands of Hungarians protested outside parliament on Tuesday against what they described as Viktor Orban’s authoritarian rule, after parliament convened for its first session following an election that gave the premier a third straight term.
Right-wing nationalist Orban has increased his control over the media and put allies in charge of formerly independent institutions. His hostility to accepting migrants into Hungary has put him in conflict with the EU, but proved popular in last month’s vote, particularly in rural areas.
Orban is due to be elected prime minister on Thursday in a vote expected to be a formality, and address parliament.
Protesters in Budapest, waving national and EU flags, urged the fragmented opposition parties to unite their forces. The protest was smaller than two previous rallies in April when tens of thousands took to the streets.
“Viktor Orban is neither a Christian nor a democrat,” said Balazs Gulyas, one of the organizers, referring to a radio interview last week in which Orban said his government was building an “old-school Christian democracy”.
Orban’s Fidesz party holds 133 of 199 parliamentary seats, and he is the longest-serving premier in post-communist Hungary.
Some protesters criticised his tough stance on asylum-seekers. At the peak of the EU migration crisis in 2015, Orban built a fence on Hungary’s southern border and set up secure camps where asylum applications are now handled.
“I think they have been handling the migration crisis in an inhumane manner … I don’t know what the right solution would be but this is the wrong one,” said Gergely Gyallai, a student.
your ad hereBosnia Calls October 7 Election, Rules Still in Dispute
Bosnia will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on October 7, even though rival ethnic leaders have yet to agree on voting rules for the upper house of the Bosniak-Croat Federation’s parliament.
Nearly 3.4 million voters will choose Croat, Serb and Bosniak members of the tripartite presidency and lawmakers for parliament’s lower house, plus regional leaders and assemblies, the Central Election Commission (CIK) said on Tuesday.
But CIK chief Irena Hadziabdic warned: “We are entering the election period without clear regulations on how to carry out elections and contrary to the international principles.”
Days after the European Union said Bosnia risked sliding into a constitutional crisis, she said Federation institutions could cease to operate unless a solution to the dispute over voting rules is found.
“Unless we … reach a solution within a legal time-frame, we are facing a major problem,” Hadziabdic told a news conference.
The Balkan country has been governed along ethnic lines since a 1995 peace deal ended a four-year-long war that claimed 100,000 lives. The accords split Bosnia into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, which are linked via a weak central government.
Christian Croat and Muslim Bosniak political parties are currently deadlocked over amendments to the law on voting for the upper house of parliament of their joint Federation.
Responding to an appeal by Croat nationalists, Bosnia’s Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that candidates elected to the upper house should come from main parties that draw the support of most of their respective ethnic kin.
Croat parties have since proposed new, ethnically-based electoral districts where people would vote only for their own community’s representatives at all levels of governance including the presidency.
They say they want to prevent Muslim Bosniaks, the majority group in the Federation, from bringing about the election of Croats of a civic, non-nationalist persuasion they see as not serving the best interests of Bosnian Croats.
But Bosniak parties oppose their proposals, fearing they could be a maneuver to forge a separatist Croat entity reminiscent of Bosnia’s devastating 1992-95 war.
Western envoys have been mediating talks between the parties but no breakthrough has been made. The EU last week warned Bosnian leaders not to hold the election results “hostage to party interests.”
Bosnian Serb, Bosnian Croat and Muslim Bosniak leaders have heated up nationalist rhetoric recently, launching election campaigns unusually early and halting reforms needed for Bosnia to progress towards membership of the EU and NATO.
…
Half a Million Turks Say ‘Enough’ to Erdogan on Social Media
More than half a million Turks piled onto social media to call time on President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, making the word “Tamam” (“Enough”) a trending topic worldwide after he promised to step down if the people wanted it.
“If one day our nation says ‘enough’, then we will step aside,” he said in a speech in parliament.
The most popular – and divisive – politician in recent Turkish history, Erdogan has ruled for 15 years, overseeing a period of sharp economic growth and a widespread crackdown against his opponents. Last month he declared snap elections for June 24, bringing the polls forward by more than a year.
Soon after the speech, the #Tamam hashtag swept across Turkish-language Twitter, then became a global trending topic.
“We want democracy so we say #enough to Erdogan. Please leave your seat, you did insane things to our country and people. Enough,” said one user.
“You will not step aside quietly. You will give account for the things you did. Enough!” said another.
Erdogan’s rivals in the presidential polls also jumped in, with the “Tamam” tweets from three of his main opponents together garnering more than 10,000 retweets.
“Time is up. Enough!” tweeted Muharrem Ince, the candidate of the main opposition CHP.
Social media has become the primary platform for opposition against the government in Turkey, where traditional media is saturated with coverage of Erdogan and his ministers. Erdogan’s speeches, usually two or three a day, are all broadcast live on major channels, while opposition parties get little to no coverage.
The “Tamam” tweets also provided a rare moment of opposition unity with all major parties, including the pro-Kurdish opposition uniting behind the hashtag. Pro-Kurdish politicians and nationalists rarely find common ground.
“Enough: It’s very strange that Erdogan has offered the opposition a uniting slogan,” tweeted journalist Rusen Cakir.
Rights groups and Turkey’s Western allies have criticized Ankara for its deteriorating record on civil rights and have voiced concerns that the NATO member has been sliding further into authoritarianism under Erdogan.
The government says the measures are necessary due to the security threats it faces.
After the vote, Turkey will switch to the powerful, executive presidential system narrowly approved in a referendum last year.
…
Netanyahu Opposition to Iran Deal Not Shared by All Israelis
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an outspoken opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, but some in Israel’s security establishment see it as a least-bad option that should be preserved.
President Donald Trump is set to announce Tuesday whether the U.S. will exit the 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers.
The agreement lifted painful economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Netanyahu has been a leading critic of the deal, saying it did not contain sufficient safeguards to prevent Iran from reaching nuclear-weapons capability or address Iran’s other activities across the region or its long-range missile program.
Trump’s disdain for the deal has been a welcome development for Netanyahu.
But while Netanyahu has been urging the deal be either “fixed or nixed,” not all are clamoring to cancel the agreement.
“An American announcement that it’s withdrawing from the agreement would let Iran drive a wedge between the world powers and gradually loosen international oversight over its nuclear program,” Amos Gilad, a retired senior Israeli defense official, told the Haaretz newspaper for a story published this week.
“If the Americans abandon the agreement, they have to prepare for alternatives, and I don’t see this being done,” he said.
Gilad said Israel needs to prioritize the threats it faces.
“If Iran now continues to suspend its nuclear project for eight or 10 years, in accordance with the agreement, that will let us focus on more urgent threats relating to the Iranian army establishing a presence in Syria, and preparing the Israeli army for the possibility that, in the future, we’ll have to deal with the nuclear [issue] if a confrontation erupts,” he told Haaretz.
Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its nuclear and missile programs, its support of violent anti-Israel groups in the region and frequent calls for destruction of the Jewish state.
…
Russian Hackers Posed as IS to Threaten Military Wives
Army wife Angela Ricketts was soaking in a bubble bath in her Colorado home, leafing through a memoir, when a message appeared on her iPhone:
“Dear Angela!” it said. “Bloody Valentine’s Day!”
“We know everything about you, your husband and your children,” the Facebook message continued, claiming that the hackers operating under the flag of Islamic State militants had penetrated her computer and her phone. “We’re much closer than you can even imagine.”
Ricketts was one of five military wives who received death threats from the self-styled CyberCaliphate on the morning of Feb. 10, 2015. The warnings led to days of anguished media coverage of Islamic State militants’ online reach.
Except it wasn’t IS
The Associated Press has found evidence that the women were targeted not by jihadists but by the same Russian hacking group that intervened in the American election and exposed the emails of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta.
The false flag is a case study in the difficulty of assigning blame in a world where hackers routinely borrow one another’s identities to throw investigators off track. The operation also parallels the online disinformation campaign by Russian trolls in the months leading up to the U.S. election in 2016.
Links between CyberCaliphate and the Russian hackers — typically nicknamed Fancy Bear or APT28 — have been documented previously. On both sides of the Atlantic, the consensus is that the two groups are closely related.
But that consensus never filtered through to the women involved, many of whom were convinced they had been targeted by Islamic State sympathizers right up until the AP contacted them.
“Never in a million years did I think that it was the Russians,” said Ricketts, an author and advocate for veterans and military families. She called the revelation “mind blowing.”
“It feels so hilarious and insidious at the same time.”
`Completely new ground’
As Ricketts scrambled out of the tub to show the threat to her husband, nearly identical messages reached Lori Volkman, a deputy prosecutor based in Oregon who had won fame as a blogger after her husband deployed to the Middle East; Ashley Broadway-Mack, based in the Washington, D.C., area and head of an association for gay and lesbian military family members; and Amy Bushatz, an Alaska-based journalist who covers spouse and family issues for Military.com.
Liz Snell, the wife of a U.S. Marine, was at her husband’s retirement ceremony in California when her phone rang. The Twitter account of her charity, Military Spouses of Strength, had been hacked. It was broadcasting public threats not only to herself and the other spouses, but also to their families and then-first lady Michelle Obama.
Snell flew home to Michigan from the ceremony, took her children and checked into a Comfort Inn for two nights.
“Any time somebody threatens your family, Mama Bear comes out,” she said.
The women determined they had all received the same threats. They were also all quoted in a CNN piece about the hacking of a military Twitter feed by CyberCaliphate only a few weeks earlier. In it, they had struck a defiant tone. After they received the threats, they suspected that CyberCaliphate singled them out for retaliation.
The women refused to be intimidated.
“Fear is exactly what — at the time — we perceived ISIS wanted from military families,” said Volkman, using another term for the Islamic State group.
Volkman was quoted in half a dozen media outlets; Bushatz wrote an article describing what happened; Ricketts, interviewed as part of a Fox News segment devoted to the menace of radical Islam, told TV host Greta Van Susteren that the nature of the threat was changing.
“Military families are prepared to deal with violence that’s directed toward our soldiers,” she said. “But having it directed toward us is just complete new ground.”
`We might be surprised’
A few weeks after the spouses were threatened, on April 9, 2015, the signal of French broadcaster TV5 Monde went dead.
The station’s network of routers and switches had been knocked out and its internal messaging system disabled. Pasted across the station’s website and Facebook page was the keffiyeh-clad logo of CyberCaliphate.
The cyberattack shocked France, coming on the heels of jihadist massacres at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket that left 17 dead. French leaders decried what they saw as another blow to the country’s media. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said evidence suggested the broadcaster was the victim of an act of terror.
But Guillaume Poupard, the chief of France’s cybersecurity agency, pointedly declined to endorse the minister’s comments when quizzed about them the day after the hack.
“We should be very prudent about the origin of the attack,” he told French radio. “We might be surprised.”
Government experts poring over the station’s stricken servers eventually vindicated Poupard’s caution, finding evidence they said pointed not to the Middle East but to Moscow.
Speaking to the AP last year, Poupard said the attack “resembles a lot what we call collectively APT28.”
Russian officials in Washington and in Moscow did not respond to questions seeking comment. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied masterminding hacks against Western targets.
‘The media played right into it’
Proof that the military wives were targeted by Russian hackers is laid out in a digital hit list provided to the AP by the cybersecurity company Secureworks last year. The AP has previously used the list of 4,700 Gmail addresses to outline the group’s espionage campaign against journalists, defense contractors and U.S. officials. More recent AP research has found that Fancy Bear, which Secureworks dubs “Iron Twilight,” was actively trying to break into the military wives’ mailboxes around the time that CyberCaliphate struck.
Lee Foster, a manager with cybersecurity company FireEye, said the repeated overlap between Russian hackers and CyberCaliphate made it all but certain that the groups were linked.
“Just think of your basic probabilities,” he said.
CyberCaliphate faded from view after the TV5 Monde hack, but the over-the-top threats issued by the gang of make-believe militants found an echo in the anti-Muslim sentiment whipped up by the St. Petersburg troll farm — an organization whose operations were laid bare by a U.S. special prosecutor’s indictment earlier this year.
The trolls — Russian employees paid to seed American social media with disinformation — often hyped the threat of Islamic State militants to the United States. A few months before CyberCaliphate first won attention by hijacking various media organizations’ Twitter accounts, for example, the trolls were spreading false rumors about an Islamic State attack in Louisiana and a counterfeit video appearing to show an American soldier firing into a Quran .
The AP has found no link between CyberCaliphate and the St. Petersburg trolls, but their aims appeared to be the same: keep tension at a boil and radical Islam in the headlines.
By that measure, CyberCaliphate’s targeting of media outlets like TV5 Monde and the military spouses succeeded handily.
Ricketts, the author, said that by planting threats with some of the most vocal members of the military community, CyberCaliphate guaranteed maximum press coverage.
“Not only did we play right into their hands by freaking out, but the media played right into it,” she said. “We reacted in a way that was probably exactly what they were hoping for.”
…
Iraq’s Kurdistan Region to Hold Elections on Sept. 30
The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, which voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence last year in a referendum rejected by Baghdad, will hold an election on Sept. 30.
A Kurdistan Regional Government media official said KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani had approved the date.
The vote should elect both a parliament and a president for Kurdish regions which have gained self-rule in 1991, when a U.S-led coalition forced Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army to withdraw from them in the wake of his eight-month occupation of Kuwait.
A federal Iraqi election, which includes the Kurdistan region, is set to take place on Saturday and its results will give clues as to the importance of the different Kurdish political parties.
Longtime Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani stepped down from the KRG presidency on Nov. 1 after the independence referendum last September.
Opposition to the ruling Kurdish establishment, represented by the Barzani and Talabani dynasties, has become more vocal over the past years, especially after the referendum.
The Iraqi government and Shi’ite militias allied to Iran dislodged Kurdish forces from the oil region of Kirkuk in retaliation for the vote, curtailing the oil income of the KRG and leading to an economic crisis in the region.
Unpaid public servants hold regular demonstrations in Kurdish cities, and new parties have been formed to challenge the Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
The Kurdish elections were set for Nov. 1 but were delayed as the KRG had to deal with the conflict with Baghdad. Nechirvan Barzani has been exercising the function of the presidency since his uncle Masoud stepped down.
The current parliament was elected in 2013.
Gorran, or “Change” movement, and Barham Salih’s Coalition for Democracy and Justice are the main parties challenging the KDP and PUK’s grip on Iraqi Kurdish politics. Salih is himself an ex-KRG prime minister and a PUK dissenter.
your ad hereFissures Spread from Hawaii Volcano, Threatening More Homes
Emergency crews said they were poised to evacuate more people as fissures kept spreading from Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano, five days after it started exploding.
Around 1,700 people have already been ordered to leave their homes after lava crept into neighborhoods and deadly volcanic gases belched up through cracks in the earth.
The evacuation zone could now grow as fissures are spreading into new areas on the eastern side of the Big Island, Hawaii Civic Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno told a community meeting.
“If things get dicey, you got to get out,” he said. “If you live in the surrounding communities … be prepared. Evacuation could come at any time.”
Kilaueax has opened 12 volcanic vents since it started sending out fountains and rivers of lava on Thursday, officials said. Lava was not flowing from any of the vents on Monday.
Resident Heide Austin said she left her home just west of the current eruption zone after noticing small cracks appearing at the end of her driveway.
One eruption near her home “sounded like a huge blowtorch going off,” said the 77-year-old who lives alone. “That’s when I really got into a frenzy.”
Many of the evacuated people were permitted to return home during daylight hours on Sunday and Monday, during a lull in seismic activity.
Residents of a second area, Lanipuna Gardens, were barred from returning home on Monday due to deadly volcanic gases.
Leilani Estates, about 12 miles (19 km) from the volcano, was evacuated due to the risk of sulfur dioxide gas, which can be life threatening at high levels.
No deaths or major injuries have been reported. At least 35 structures had been destroyed, many of them homes, officials said.
The southeast corner of the island was rocked by a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the volcano’s south flank on Friday.
More earthquakes and eruptions have been forecast. Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has been in constant eruption for 35 years.
…
Trump to Discuss Trade, North Korea in Call With China’s Xi
U.S. President Donald Trump said North Korea and trade will be among the topics he will discuss with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a phone call scheduled for Tuesday.
“The primary topics will be Trade, where good things will happen, and North Korea, where relationships and trust are building,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
The call between the two leaders comes just hours after Xi met Monday and Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, two independent sources told the South China Morning Post. The Post reported the two leaders met in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian.
The report said Xi planned to use the summit with Kim to lay the groundwork for the first sea trial of China’s first aircraft carrier built on Chinese soil.
Trump and Kim are expected to take meet this month or in early June.
Kim visited Beijing in March on his first trip abroad as leader of North Korea, an indication China was still engaged in the denuclearization process on the Korean peninsula.
Mixed messages on US troop withdrawal
Amid preparations for the Trump-Kim summit, South Korean officials have been rattled by reports the U.S. president is considering withdrawing American forces from the peninsula if his talks with Kim go well.
Trump told reporters Friday that “at some point into the future, I would like to save the money” spent on keeping the U.S. military in South Korea, but the president emphasized that “troops are not on the table” for his talks with Kim.
Earlier Friday, National Security Adviser John Bolton, responding to a New York Times report, termed it “utter nonsense.” “The president has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea,” he added.
The Defense Department also said in a statement the newspaper’s story was false.
Trump has stated the United States will continue to apply maximum pressure on Pyongyang until the country denuclearizes, which he has defined as “I want them to get rid of their nukes.”
Formal peace treaty?
South Korean officials say Kim told them he would abandon his nuclear weapons if the United States officially ended the Korean War.
The North and the United States were among the signatories to a cessation of hostilities in 1953, known as an armistice.
Many analysts are skeptical Kim will agree to abandon his nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles merely in exchange for a peace treaty.
“A common definition of denuclearization” would be helpful before a meeting, said Tara O, an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum and author of The Collapse of North Korea. “Otherwise, there would be surprises,” she said.
O, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, told VOA News that Kim and his generals view denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as including a withdrawal of U.S. troops and an end to the U.S.-South Korean alliance in order to remove the American nuclear umbrella and the joint military capability from the peninsula.
…
US China to Meet for Round 2, But Big Differences Remain
Trade negotiations between China and the United States continue early next week in Washington D.C., but analysts say after the first round, the differences between the two sides are huge. Some believe the differences are so fundamental and big that an escalation of tariffs is unavoidable.
According to a widely circulated copy of Washington’s demands, President Donald Trump’s delegation not only asked Beijing to cut its trade deficit with the United States by $200 billion by 2020, but to also sharply lower tariffs and government subsidies of advanced technologies.
Beijing wants the United States to no longer oppose granting China market economy status at the World Trade Organization, amend an export ban against Chinese tech company ZTE Corp and open American government procurement to Chinese technology and services among other demands.
View to escalation
Scott Kennedy, a China scholar at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the first round made it clear just how far apart the U.S. and China are in their views of what’s fair, what they want and expect the other side to do.
“I think we’re still headed toward escalation with both sides adopting tariffs in the next few weeks, but at least now we know what the fight is about,” Kennedy said. “It’s about whether or not China should be a market economy, or what you know whether it should be able to maintain its state capitalist system without any constraints.”
China joined the WTO in December of 2001 as a non-market economy and after 15 years it was expected the granting of the status as a market economy would naturally follow — along with its opening up.
But that is not what has happened, and the United States and European Union have refused to grant China market economy status.
Beijing insists it should be regarded as a market economy regardless of whether other countries believe it fits the definition. Under Xi Jinping, the Communist Party has moved to assert greater control over business and the economy.
Competition vs. compensation
It has also become increasingly clear that China’s definition of reform and that of the West are strikingly different.
In an interview with VOA earlier this year, William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce, said that while many used to assume China would continue to carry out Western style economic reforms initiated in the early 2000s, that is no longer the case.
“In the last four or five years, we’ve seen that reform has taken a different direction, that the Chinese economy is on a different trajectory and that is more support for state-owned enterprises,” Zarit said. “And when I hear reforms now, it is more about making state-owned enterprises more efficient and not necessarily competitive in a fully market-based economy.”
But Song Hong, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, argues that China has fulfilled its WTO obligations and it is the United States and European Union that have broken their promises to grant the country market economy status.
He said Washington’s demands to slash the trade deficit by $100 billion a year does not make economic sense. He also said the demand for China to lower tariffs and put the two countries on equal footing is impossible.
“The market in China is of course not as open as the U.S. market because China remains a developing country, which is no match to the U.S.,” Song Hong said. “The per capita income level in China around $10,000 vs. the U.S.’s some $50,000. How can both countries be equal?”
Talks as clock ticks
Some Chinese state media reports have tried to sound upbeat about the meetings focusing on the two sides agreed to keep talking, despite their differences.
On Monday, the White House announced a Chinese delegation led by Liu He, China’s vice premier and a top aide to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, will visit the United States early next week.
At the same time, however, the clock is ticking on U.S. threats to implement up to $150 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. A day after Liu arrives in Washington, there will be a public hearing to discuss tariffs and the Trump administration’s investigation into China’s trade policies and practices.
If no agreement is reached by May 23, Washington would be well within its right to go ahead with the tariffs, analysts note. To which, China has promised to promptly reply.
Kennedy said that while the United States has used unilateral penalties in the past, this time around the chances of escalation are a lot higher.
“Not only are the disagreements deeply fundamental, China is much more powerful and ambitious than it used to be. And so it’s not likely to cave easily,” he said.
Brian Kopczynski contributed to this report.
your ad here