Month: August 2018

10 Years After War, Georgia Condemns Russia’s Ongoing ‘Occupation’

Posted on by SeeEU

Georgia on Tuesday condemned Russia’s continued “occupation” of its territory, a decade after the two countries went to war over the Kremlin-backed separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“This is a war against Georgia, an aggression, an occupation, and a blatant violation of international law,” Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili told a round table meeting attended by Georgian government officials and visiting foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine’s vice premier.

“The aggressor’s appetite has only increased after the invasion,” he said.

Georgia and its Soviet-era master Russia have long been at loggerheads over Tbilisi’s bid to join the European Union and NATO with the spiraling confrontation culminating in a five-day war in 2008.

On August 8, 2008, the Russian army swept into Georgia – bombing targets and occupying large swathes of territory – after Tbilisi launched a large-scale military operation against South Ossetian separatist forces who had been shelling Georgian villages in the region.

Over just five days, Russia defeated Georgia’s small military and the hostilities ended with a cease-fire mediated by France’s then-president Nicolas Sarkozy, who at the time held the European Union’s rotating presidency.

After the war, Moscow recognized South Ossetia and another separatist enclave, Abkhazia, as independent states where it then stationed permanent military bases.

Tbilisi and its Western partners condemned the move as an “illegal occupation of Georgian soil” and the first time a sovereign state’s borders were changed in Europe through military force since the end of World War II.

‘Failure to punish Russia’

Speaking to AFP last week, Margvelashvili said that back in 2008, the West believed Russia’s military campaign against Georgia “was an isolated move which will not be repeated against other countries”.

“And then we witnessed what Russia did in Ukraine in 2014,” he added, referring to the Kremlin’s support for pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

In an interview with the Kommersant daily Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev – who was president in 2008 – defended Moscow’s recognition of the separatist regions as “the only possible step… to maintain durable peace” and “stability in the South Caucasus.”

‘Smack in the jaw’

In an editorial published on Monday on the website of Russia’s Echo Moskvy radio station, Mikheil Saakashvili – Georgia’s president in 2004-2013 – said Russia had been preparing to invade his country years before the war broke out.

He said Georgia had no chance of winning a war against its giant northern neighbor, but gave “the aggressor a smack in the jaw” when it offered resistance and won “time until the international community woke up.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin – a prime minister during the war – said in 2012 that he approved a plan of military action against Georgia as early is in 2006 and that Russia has “trained South Ossetian militia”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry denounced Russia’s continued military build-up in the separatist regions.

“The Russian Federation has not implemented its international obligations despite constant calls from the international community… and has further reinforced its illegal military presence on the ground,” the ministry said in a statement.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the “Russian military presence in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia continues to violate international law”.

She reiterated Europe’s “firm support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia” which she hailed as a “model of democratic stability in the region.”

Joining the chorus of international condemnation, the German Foreign Ministry called Russia’s recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia “unacceptable.”

The 2008 war claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and civilians from both sides. The U.N. said around 120,000 people were displaced during the war, though most returned to their homes afterwards.

Up to 18,500 ethnic Georgians were forcibly displaced from South Ossetia, according to prosecutors from the International Criminal Court which in 2016 opened an investigation into war crimes committed during the conflict.

Russia and separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia have rejected repeated calls from the U.N. General Assembly for the “safe and dignified return to their homes.”

 
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Trump Reimposes Iranian Economic Sanctions

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States has reimposed economic sanctions on Iran that were originally put in place to pressure the country to limit its nuclear program and later lifted under a 2015 international agreement.

President Donald Trump has been a frequent critic of that deal and withdrew the United States from the agreement three months ago, setting in motion the reimposition of the sanctions effective at midnight Monday.

Earlier in the day he assailed Iran as “a murderous dictatorship that has continued to spread bloodshed, violence and chaos.”

Trump said the new sanctions target the Islamic Republic’s automotive sector, its trade in gold and other precious metals, along with its currency, the Iranian rial, and other financial transactions.

WATCH: US-Iran relations

​He also reiterated that on Nov. 5, the United States would also resume sanctions against Iran’s energy-related transactions, as well as business conducted by foreign financial institutions with the Central Bank of Iran.

Trump renewed his attack on the international nuclear pact, calling it “a horrible, one-sided deal” that “failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb,” while giving it “a lifeline of cash” when earlier sanctions were lifted.

“Since the deal was reached, Iran’s aggression has only increased,” Trump said. He said Iran has used “the windfall of newly accessible funds” it received “to build nuclear-capable missiles, fund terrorism, and fuel conflict across the Middle East and beyond.”

He added, “To this day, Iran threatens the United States and our allies, undermines the international financial system, and supports terrorism and militant proxies around the world.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a speech broadcast on state television, said the United States cannot be trusted because it withdrew from the international pact, whose other signatories still support it. He said Tehran has always believed in resolving disputes diplomatically.

Rouhani said that Trump’s call for direct negotiations with Iran were “only for domestic consumption in America … and to create chaos in Iran.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like Trump a long-time opponent of the accord, congratulated him on the new sanctions. 

“This is an important moment for Israel, the U.S., the region and the entire world,” Netanyahu said.

In Washington, senior administration officials said that while critics of Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran pact predicted that the threat of unilateral sanctions reimposed by the United States would be ineffective, the reality has shown the opposite.

“Three months out, we have a very different picture in front of us,” with higher unemployment, “widespread protests, social issues and labor unrest,” one Trump official said.

One of the officials said that nearly 100 international firms have announced their intention to leave the Iranian market, particularly in the energy and finance sectors.

The official said the United States expects Iran will blame it for any new hardships, saying, “They’ve been doing it for almost 40 years. Now, it’s there. It’s their modus operandi. But I think you can see the Iranian people start to see through that. We would like to see a change in the regime behavior, and I think the Iranian people are looking for the same thing.”

EU takes action

The European Union, which remains a supporter of the three-year-old nuclear pact with Iran, said it is taking counter-measures to blunt the impact of the sanctions Trump has reinstituted.

The EU said it is simultaneously implementing a “blocking statute” as the new sanctions take effect, stopping European companies from complying with the U.S. sanctions unless they have permission to do so. It also blocks the effect of any U.S. court actions in Europe related to the sanctions.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and the French, German and British foreign ministers said they deeply regretted Trump’s action.

They called the international agreement “a key element of the global nuclear nonproliferation architecture, crucial for the security of Europe, the region and the entire world.” 

In his statement, Trump said the United States “is fully committed to enforcing all of our sanctions, and we will work closely with nations conducting business with Iran to ensure complete compliance. Individuals or entities that fail to wind down activities with Iran risk severe consequences.”

The two other signatories to the 2015 pact — Russia and China — also continue to support it. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is monitoring the implementation of the deal, has said in 11 consecutive reports that Iran is in compliance and that the agreement has allowed for greater verification of Iran’s nuclear activities.

The 2015 agreement called for Iran to sharply curb its uranium enrichment program and other nuclear activity in exchange for the end of most sanctions. Iran has repeatedly denied its nuclear program was aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
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California Fire Swells to Largest in State History

Posted on by SeeUS

Authorities in the western U.S. state of California say a wildfire that began burning more than a week ago has become the largest in the state’s history.

The blaze, known as the Mendocino Complex, is made up of two separate fires in the northern part of the state that have merged and collectively burned 115,000 hectares to surpass the December 2017 Thomas Fire in size.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said as of late Monday the Mendocino fire was only 30 percent contained and was still growing. The flames have so far destroyed about 150 structures.

Doreen Gatewood, a fire information officer working on the Mendocino Complex Fire, told VOA no one had been killed in the blaze. Gatewood said conditions such as high temperatures, low humidity, and heavy wind have persisted in the area, allowing the fire to reach such a massive size.

Nearly 4,000 personnel are working to put out the fire, including crews flying helicopters and planes to drop fire suppressant from above.

CAL FIRE estimated it could bring the fire under control by the middle of next week.

Similar environmental conditions have also contributed to the growth of the Carr Fire, also in the northern part of California. That fire, the 12th largest ever recorded in the state, has proved far deadlier, killing five civilians and two firefighters.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for the area, paving the way for increased federal assistance in fighting the fire.

Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to criticize the state’s environmental laws in the wake of the fire.

“California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!” Trump wrote.

LeRoy Westerling, an environmental professor at the University of California, Merced, disputed Trump’s comments.

“We do manage all of our rivers in California, and all the water is allocated many times over. So I’m not sure what he was recommending,” Westerling told The San Francisco Chronicle.

Allie Weill, a fire behavior researcher at the University of California, Davis, told VOA that in recent years the climate conditions that make such large fires possible have been present earlier and longer in the state.

“This is part of a trend, the new normal, that we’ve got to deal with,” said California Governor Jerry Brown.
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FBI Task Force Sharing Information About Online Trolls 

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The FBI’s new foreign influence task force is sharing information about online trolls with technology companies as part of the bureau’s behind-the-scenes effort to disrupt Russian and other foreign influence operations aimed at U.S. elections, FBI and Justice Department officials say. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray set up the task force last November as part of a broader government approach to counter foreign influence operations and to prevent a repeat of Russian meddling in the 2018 midterm and the 2020 presidential elections.   

The U.S. intelligence community concluded last year that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election in part by orchestrating a massive social media campaign aimed at swaying American public opinion and sowing discord.

“Technology companies have a front-line responsibility to secure their own networks, products and platforms,” Wray said. “But we’re doing our part by providing actionable intelligence to better enable them to address abuse of their platforms by foreign actors.”

He said FBI officials have provided top social media and technology companies with several classified briefings so far this year, sharing “specific threat indicators and account information, and a variety of other pieces of information so that they can better monitor their own platforms.”

FBI expertise

The task force works with personnel in all 56 FBI field offices and “brings together the FBI’s expertise across the waterfront — counterintelligence, cyber, criminal and even counterterrorism — to root out and respond to foreign influence operations,” Wray said at a White House briefing.  

Adam Hickey, a deputy assistant attorney general, said on Monday that the FBI’s unpublicized sharing of information with the social media companies is a “key component” of the Justice Department’s to counter covert foreign influence efforts.

“It is those providers who bear the primary responsibility for securing their own products and platforms,” Hickey said this week at MisinfoCon, an annual conference on misinformation held in Washington, D.C. 

“By sharing information with them, especially about who certain users and account holders actually are, we can assist their own, voluntary initiatives to track foreign influence activity and to enforce their own terms of service,” Hickey said.

The comments come as top U.S. security officials from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on down warned about continued attempts by Russia and potentially others to disrupt the November midterm elections. 

Coats said on Friday that U.S. intelligence agencies continue “to see a pervasive message campaign” by Russia, while Wray said Moscow “continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day.” 

But the officials and social media company executives say the ongoing misinformation campaign does not reach the unprecedented levels seen during the 2016 election.  

Hickey, of the Justice Department’s national security division, said that the agency doesn’t often “expose and attribute” ongoing foreign influence operations partly to protect the investigations, methods and sources, and partly “to avoid even the appearance of partiality.”

Social media, technology companies

Social media and technology companies, widely criticized for their role in allowing Russian operatives to use their platforms during the 2016 election, have taken steps over the past year to crack down on misinformation.

In June, Twitter announced new measures to fight abuse and trolls, saying it is focused on “developing machine learning tools that identify and take action on networks of spammy or automated accounts automatically.”

In April, Facebook announced that it had taken down 135 Facebook and Instagram accounts and 138 Facebook pages linked to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm indicted in February for orchestrating Russia’s social media operations in 2016.  

The company did not say whether it had removed the pages and accounts based on information provided by the FBI.  

Monika Bickert, head of Facebook’s product policy and counterterrorism, told an audience at the Aspen Security Forum last month that the social network has moved to shield its users against fake information by deploying artificial intelligence tools that detect fake accounts and instituting transparency in advertising requirements. 

Tom Burt, vice president for customer security and trust at Microsoft, speaking at the same event, disclosed that the company had worked with law enforcement earlier this year to foil a Russian attempt to hack the campaigns of three candidates running for office in the midterm elections.  

He did not identify the candidates by name but said they “were all people who, because of their positions, might have been interesting targets from an espionage standpoint, as well as an election disruption standpoint.”

Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri confirmed late last month that Russian hackers tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate her Senate computer network, raising questions about the extent to which Russia will try to interfere in the 2018 elections.

Wray stressed that the influence operations are not “an election cycle threat.”

“Our adversaries are trying to undermine our country on a persistent and regular basis, whether it’s election season or not,” he said.  
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Mexico’s New Leader: ‘Nobody Will Threaten Us’ with Wall

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Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed Monday his country would not be threatened by a wall, in a thinly veiled rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump’s jabs across the border.

“Mexico is going to become a power — and will change the balance of power. Nobody will threaten us that our borders will be closed or militarized,” warned Lopez Obrador, who takes office December 1.

“This will be possible because the country will grow and there will be jobs.”

Trump has cited Mexico’s record number of homicides last year as one of many reasons the United States needs a more secure border.

The reality star turned president campaigned on a promise to deport undocumented immigrants and build a new border wall with Mexico — which he said would be paid by America’s southern neighbor — to prevent arrivals of undocumented migrants, whom he has described as criminals.

Trump’s explosive remarks cost him business contracts and fueled the worst diplomatic crisis in decades between the United States and Mexico.

On May 14, a senior U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Lopez Obrador in Mexico City.

But the issue of the wall was not addressed then or in letters that the Mexican president-elect later exchanged with Trump.

Official Mexican government statistics counted 28,711 murders in 2017, the highest since records began in 1997.

The situation has worsened, with another 15,973 murders over the first half of this year alone.
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Ankara on Collision Course With Washington Over Iran Sanctions

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order Monday to introduce sanctions against Iran threatens to put Washington and Ankara on a collision course. 

Ankara insists Trump’s unilateral actions do not bind it. The looming dispute threatens to exacerbate existing tensions between the two NATO allies.

“We are going to aggressively enforce our sanctions, and that puts a very important test to those companies, to those banks and to those governments — who do they want to do business with?” said a senior official Monday. “We are very serious to enforce those sanctions, and that’s what the president has directed us to do.”

The first wave of Iranian sanctions goes into effect Tuesday and targets mainly financial transactions and commercial airline sales with Iran. In November, measures to stop the sale of Iranian energy are set to go into effect.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has ruled out complying with U.S. measures, insisting Turkey is bound only by international agreements. Ankara identifies Tehran as a key trading partner to help boost its flagging economy.

Iranian oil and gas are critical to energy-poor Turkey. In the first six months of this year, Turkey imported an average of 176,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil, accounting for 49 percent of Turkish imports.

“It’s pretty damn serious, obviously, with the Turkish economy facing difficult times. To give up on trade with Iran and not being able to buy gas and oil would really hurt the Turkish economy,” said international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. “So, there is a big problem, and there is very little time to solve it, and at a time when both sides don’t trust one another.”

Strained relations

Turkish-U.S. relations are already profoundly strained over myriad differences. Last week, Washington took the unprecedented step of sanctioning two Turkish ministers over the ongoing detention of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson. Brunson, facing terrorism charges, is under house arrest. Ankara retaliated in kind, sanctioning two unnamed U.S. officials.

With Turkey a significant importer of Iranian oil, analysts say it will be a priority of Washington to persuade Ankara to comply with its sanctions. Last month, senior U.S. officials — led by Marshall Billingslea, assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing — visited Ankara to meet with government ministers and business leaders to press the case for sanctions.

Billingslea described the talks as positive, but a source privy to the meeting described the meetings as difficult.

A Turkish business source claims Washington’s suggestion to use Saudi Arabian oil instead of Iran’s fails to take into account the costly and timely readjustment of Turkish refineries to accommodate the lower quality of Saudi oil.

Ankara also has strategic concerns about relying on Saudi Arabia.

“Turkey is being told to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, while it has a pipeline with neighboring Iran and can get crude at a lower price,” wrote Ilnur Cevik, a senior presidential adviser in Turkey’s Sabah newspaper. “Besides, who can guarantee that Turkey will be provided a steady flow of oil at reasonable prices when Saudi Arabia at times is displaying an antagonistic policy toward Ankara?”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama granted Ankara some exemptions when imposing sanctions against Iran. However, critics point out, Ankara severely undermined U.S. sanctions by using gold to circumvent restrictions on the use of dollars to trade with Iran.

Turkey at one time was one of the world’s biggest gold importers and exporters. Washington has now closed the door to using gold in trade with Tehran.

Halkbank case

Earlier this year, a New York court convicted a senior official of Turkish state-controlled Halkbank for a violation of U.S. Iranian sanctions. The U.S. Treasury is considering a hefty fine against the bank, which analysts warn could be several billion dollars.

Analysts see the Halkbank experience as a warning to Ankara and the Turkish financial system of the risks violating future U.S. sanctions.

“It will actually force Ankara to choose between Iran and the United States,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington. “Not complying with Iran sanctions is not an option. There will be increased pressure from the U.S. bringing a vicious circle in bilateral relations.”

The deepening U.S.-Turkish tensions are taking a heavy toll on Turkey’s financial markets. The Turkish lira suffered heavy drops last week over Washington sanctioning two Turkish ministers. On Monday, the currency hit another record low on news of new U.S. economic tariffs against Turkey. 

U.S. Iranian sanctions are set to be the latest in an ever-growing list of disputes between Ankara and Washington. 

“You could actually find ways out of all this,” Ozel said. “But trust in these relations has been totally decimated. And to rebuild trust in relations is the main, hard task.”
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Two Dead, Scores Injured in Italy Highway Explosion

Posted on by SeeEU

A tanker truck carrying flammable material exploded, causing a huge fireball after hitting a stopped truck on a highway outside the northern Italian city of Bologna on Monday.

At least two people were killed and more than 60 injured, some with severe burns, during the midday accident.

A police video showed the tanker failing to slow down and plowing into the back of a truck that was stopped in traffic. Upon impact, the truck exploded in flames.

Another truck appeared to hit the tanker from behind. After an unspecified time lapse, during which the highway was cleared of most other vehicles, the truck erupted in a second explosion that spanned eight lanes of the highway and beyond.

The blast engulfed the area with flames and black smoke, and caused a bridge to partially collapse, the Italian fire service tweeted.

Firefighters have since extinguished the blaze, a spokesman said, adding that efforts were under way to determine the cause of the explosion and the exact number of victims.

A video published on Twitter by the fire service showed a huge column of black smoke billowing from the wreckage of the truck.

Authorities said the accident closed down a major interchange connecting highways linking northern Italy with the Adriatic coast, a popular destination as Italy heads into next week’s peak summer holiday travel period. 
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Zimbabwe President Rules Out Coalition Government With Opposition

Posted on by SeeAF

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ruled out forming a coalition government, despite his narrow win in last week’s presidential election.  The opposition is gearing up to challenge the official results in court. 

In a television broadcast,  Mnangagwa ruled out forming a coalition government with Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance. 

The two locked horns in the July 30 presidential election with Mnangagwa winning a slim victory with 50.8 percent of the vote, according to official results. 

Asked by Sky television whether he would form a coalition government given his narrow victory, the 75-year-old politician pointed out his ZANU-PF party won firm control of parliament. 

“In 1964 Harold Wilson of Britain had one seat, beating the conservative by one seat and he formed a government and ruled England and I have two thirds majority and you are talking about me abandoning my two thirds majority to seek a government of national unity,” Mnangagwa said.

“Not that it’s a bad idea, but it doesn’t show that there is any need … Those who voted against me, those who voted for me, we say Zimbabwe is ours together let’s move on.  The best argument, the best vision, the best ideas have taken the day.”

Opposition leader Chamisa has refused to accept results given by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and accused it of rigging the July 30 polls for ZANU-PF. 

Last week the opposition protested in Harare.  Police used tear gas and live fire to disperse the crowd, killing six people.

The co-director of an international observer mission to Zimbabwe’s elections, Larry Garber, called on all parties to refrain from violence. 

“We have expressed concerns, certainly about the use of excessive force, we think that’s inappropriate,” Garber said. “And we appreciated the commitment by the president to an independent investigation of the events of last week, we think it’s important that there will be accountabilities to those who are responsible for perhaps using excessive force.”

On Monday, Chamisa spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda said the opposition had put together a “strong” legal team and will approach the court Tuesday to challenge election results.

Meanwhile, some protesters who were arrested last week appeared in court Monday.

The 27 protesters have been charged with public violence and malicious damage to ZANU-PF property.  Attorneys from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights say the charges should be dropped, arguing the defendants were nowhere near the scene of the alleged crimes. 

 

 
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Some Arabs Eager to See New US Sanctions Hit Iran

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With new U.S. sanctions on Iran due to go into effect Tuesday, Iranians are bracing for the repercussions, while neighboring Arab states are eager to see the sanctions place pressure on their regional nemesis.

Various proxy wars between Shi’ite Iran and the Sunni-Arab Gulf States in places such as Yemen, Syria and Iraq have created a bitter rivalry that has left each side rejoicing at the misfortunes of the other.

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, tells VOA that he was surprised by the enthusiasm expressed in some Saudi media over the new sanctions, but that Riyadh is ultimately hoping to resume dialogue with Tehran.

“I was reading the Saudi Al Riyadh newspaper this morning, and they were celebrating the imposition of the sanctions. But at the same time, the Saudis gave the head of the Iranian interests section in Jeddah, along with his team, visas to enter Saudi Arabia, which means the Saudis are interested in engaging the Iranians as well, even if they are reluctant to do so,” Khashan said.

Former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani Sadr tells VOA that both the impending sanctions and the ongoing conflict between Iran and its Arab neighbors conjure up bitter memories of the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980s.

He says that the experience of the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran is still fresh in the minds of the Iranian people. If you tell the Iranian people that they have to submit to U.S., British or Russian domination, that is one thing, he says, but if you tell them that they must submit to the orders of the Saudis, that’s a more bitter pill to swallow.

Bani Sadr adds that he does not think that U.S. President Donald Trump is the real instigator of the new sanctions, but rather that he is following the lead of the Saudis, the Israelis and the other Gulf monarchs. He claims that many Iranians believe that Arab oil money is cajoling Trump into supporting the Saudis against Iran, and that the Iranian people “consider this to be an unacceptable humiliation.”

Trump’s executive order reimposing sanctions on Iran is effective Tuesday, including prohibitions on selling gold or U.S. dollars to Iran, sanctions on the country’s automotive sector and purchases of jetliners. Exports of drugs, medical devices and foodstuffs are excluded from the list of new sanctions.

Sanctions against Iran were lifted following the 2015 Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members, plus Germany. Trump officially withdrew from that agreement on May 8.
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President of Ethiopia’s Turbulent Somali Region Resigns

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The president of Ethiopia’s turbulent Somali region has resigned, following violence in the regional capital killed at least 29 people.

Abdi Mohamoud Omar stepped down from his post Monday, according to two senior regional officials, including Khadar Abdi Ismail, an ally of Omar.

“Yes, there has been a change [of leadership]. The former president has handed over his responsibilities to Ahmed Abdi Mohamed,” Ismail told VOA’s Somali service. “That change has taken place peacefully, the former president has been working for the interest of the people, and now he handed over in consideration of the interest of the public.”

The new president, Mohamed, previously served as regional finance minister.

Meanwhile, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the Ethiopian army has been ordered to enter the Somali regional state to “restore order.”

Witnesses in Jigjiga have confirmed that large columns of Ethiopian military vehicles entered the regional capital, Jigjiga, on Monday.

Regional officials said on Sunday 29 people were killed during Saturday’s violence in Jigjiga.

Fighting broke out Friday after an apparent rift between local authorities and the central Ethiopian government.

Ismail blamed the deaths on federal forces and said the violence was sparked by public anger over “the illegal entry of the dangerously armed troops” into the city.

The government recently accused regional officials of carrying out human rights abuses.

Ethiopia’s Somali region was the first area visited by new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed after he was selected by the ruling party last April

At the time of the visit, Ahmed was trying to ease tensions between the ethnic Somali and Oromo communities, which have been engaged in deadly tit-for-tat attacks that have claimed the lives of dozens of people.
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Cameroon’s 2nd Largest Employer Losing Workers to Conflict

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Cameroon’s second largest employer, the Cameroon Development Corporation, says it may be forced to downsize because thousands of workers have fled fighting between security forces and separatists seeking an independent English-speaking state.

 

The atmosphere is quiet at the workers’ residential area of the Cameroon Development Corporation in Illoani, a village of about 5,000 people. But it’s not a holiday. Many workers at the CDC, a state-run agro-industrial company in the English-speaking southwest, have simply fled.

 

Armed separatists seeking an independent English-speaking state in April killed a Cameroonian soldier in the area. The attack touched off sporadic clashes that have since led thousands of villagers to flee the area, including more than 2,000 of the CDC’s 20,000 workers.

 

54-year-old William Kangue, a father of three, said he abandoned his job and fled the area because of ongoing clashes.

“The secessionist guys attacked in broad daylight,” he explained. “There were bullets flying everywhere, flying over my house. People got shot, civilians must [flee] especially. Many people have gone away from their communities and so their farms have been abandoned.”

The military on Sunday said separatists attacked at least nine villages in the southwest over the weekend, killing a policeman and four soldiers. More than 200 separatist fighters clashed with the military at Wotutu village, according to a military communique, home to hundreds of CDC workers.

 

The military’s report could not be independently verified.

Separatists seeking to establish an English-speaking republic within Cameroon consider the state-run CDC a legitimate target. The company’s vehicles, tractors, buildings and warehouses have been torched and some of their staff kidnapped.

Despite ongoing violence, some locals refused to run away.

Fifty-seven-year old CDC nurse Suzan Nenda said they have received threats from separatists to stop working and leave the area. But she rejects leaving the village of her birth.

“If death comes, then it is God’s making that I have to die,” she said. “People are not living in their houses. Most of them are in the bushes. Some of the houses are burned, some of the villages are burned. People don’t have places to stay so they have decided to stay in the bush. They build huts in the bush and stay there.”

The CDC runs banana, palm oil, and rubber plantations in Cameroon’s troubled southwest. But its Director General Franklin Njie said only one of its 11 estates is functioning normally.

“Most of our units, estates, oil mills, factories are shut down completely while some are operating timidly,” he said. “It is the only Debuncha palms estate that is operating normally, but amidst threats. Since the first of July 2018, the banana sector has been hit. The pack house [warehouse] was attacked and set ablaze. Till today, no work is going on.”

Njie said CDC’s gross revenue has dropped by 75 percent. He said if the attacks continue, they may be forced to lay off as many as 5,000 workers.

 

The unrest in Cameroon began in November 2016, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested being forced to use French in schools and courts and called for greater autonomy. The government crackdown that followed only encouraged separatists to take up arms.

 

Authorities say at least 300 people, including soldiers and police, have been killed in the fighting since.
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Kenyan President Kenyatta to Visit White House

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The White House announced Monday that Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta would visit August 27.

Kenyatta will meet with President Trump to discuss “ways to bolster trade and investment between the two countries, while strengthening security cooperation,” according to a White House statement.

In June, a U.S. delegation that included undersecretary for Commerce Gilbert Kaplan visited Kenya to attend the inaugural American Chamber of Commerce meeting. Kenyatta attended that gathering.

Kaplan told VOA economic development in Africa would benefit the U.S. economy, and that the U.S. was providing resources to fight corruption in the Kenyan economy.

“We can convince Kenya that following those [corruption] rules is ultimately to their benefit because it brings more businessmen and women into the system and being able to be successful,” he said.

Both Trump and Kenyatta have come under criticism for employing data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica in their respective 2016 and 2017 presidential campaigns. Cambridge Analytica, which shut down in May, reportedly gained access to the data of more than 50 million Facebook users, using the data to influence voters.
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Trump Reimposes Economic Sanctions on Iran

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump has reimposed economic sanctions against Iran, effective at midnight Monday, assailing Tehran as “a murderous dictatorship that has continued to spread bloodshed, violence, and chaos.”

Trump, acting three months after he withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 international accord restraining Iran’s nuclear development program, said the new sanctions target the Islamic Republic’s automotive sector, its trade in gold and other precious metals, along with its currency, the Iranian rial, and other financial transactions.

He said that on November 5, the U.S. would also resume sanctions against Iran’s energy-related transactions, as well as business conducted by foreign financial institutions with the Central Bank of Iran.

Trump, in the midst of a working vacation at his Bedminster golf resort in New Jersey, renewed his attack on the international nuclear pact, calling it “a horrible, one-sided deal” that “failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb,” while giving it “a lifeline of cash” when earlier sanctions were lifted.

“Since the deal was reached, Iran’s aggression has only increased,” Trump said. He said Iran has used “the windfall of newly accessible funds” it received “to build nuclear-capable missiles, fund terrorism, and fuel conflict across the Middle East and beyond.”

He added, “To this day, Iran threatens the United States and our allies, undermines the international financial system, and supports terrorism and militant proxies around the world.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a speech broadcast on state television, said the United States cannot be trusted because it withdrew from the international pact, whose other signatories still support it. He said Tehran has always believed in resolving disputes diplomatically.

Rouhani said Trump’s calls for direct negotiations with Iran were “only for domestic consumption in America … and to create chaos in Iran.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like Trump a long-time opponent of the accord, congratulated him on the new sanctions. “This is an important moment for Israel, the U.S., the region, and the entire world,” he said.

In Washington, senior administration officials said while critics of Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran pact predicted that the threat of unilateral sanctions reimposed by the U.S. would be ineffective, the reality has shown the opposite.

“Three months out, we have a very different picture in front of us,” with higher unemployment, “widespread protests, social issues and labor unrest,” one Trump official said.

One of the officials said nearly 100 international firms have announced their intention to leave the Iranian market, particularly in the energy and finance sectors.

He said the U.S. expects Iran will blame it for any new hardships.

“They’ve been doing it for almost 40 years,” he added. “Now, it’s there. It’s their modus operandi. But I think you can see the Iranian people start to see through that. We would like to see a change in the regime behavior, and I think the Iranian people are looking for the same thing.”

EU takes action

The European Union, which remains a supporter of the three-year-old nuclear pact with Iran, said it is taking counter-measures to blunt the impact of the sanctions Trump has reinstituted.

The EU said it is simultaneously implementing a “blocking statue” as the new sanctions take effect, stopping European companies from complying with the U.S. sanctions unless they have permission to do so. It also blocks the effect of any U.S. court actions in Europe related to the sanctions.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and the French, German and British foreign ministers said they deeply regretted Trump’s action.

They called the international agreement “a key element of the global nuclear nonproliferation architecture, crucial for the security of Europe, the region and the entire world.”

In his statement, Trump said the U.S. “is fully committed to enforcing all of our sanctions and we will work closely with nations conducting business with Iran to ensure complete compliance. Individuals or entities that fail to wind down activities with Iran risk severe consequences.”

The two other signatories to the 2015 pact — Russia and China — also continue to support it. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is monitoring the implementation of the deal, has said in 11 consecutive reports that Iran is in compliance and that the agreement has allowed for greater verification of Iran’s nuclear activities.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iran has to start behaving like what he calls a “normal country.”

“This is just about the Iranians’ dissatisfaction with their own government and the president’s [Trump] been pretty clear. We want the Iranian people to have a strong voice in who their leadership will be,” Pompeo told reporters Sunday.

The 2015 agreement called for Iran to sharply curb its uranium enrichment program in exchange for the end of most sanctions. Iran has repeatedly denied its nuclear program was aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

 

Trump has said he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani anytime without preconditions. But with both presidents swapping threats and insults, a meeting seems unlikely.

“We’re hopeful that we can find a way to move forward, but it’s going to require enormous change on the part of the Iranian regime,” Pompeo said.
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Facebook, Apple, YouTube Drop Alt-Right Conspiracy Outlet InfoWars

Posted on by SeeUS

Several major media outlets announced Monday that they would be removing content from InfoWars, a far-right, conspiracy-peddling media source.

On Monday, Apple announced it had removed hundreds of podcasts produced by InfoWars from its iTunes and podcast apps.

Facebook said it had removed four pages belonging to InfoWars founder Alex Jones. And music-sharing app Spotify said it would be removing all InfoWars podcasts available on the site, following last week’s removal of some InfoWars content.

Jones has gained notoriety for spreading unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, including claiming that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut were hoaxes perpetrated by the U.S. government.

Jones has also repeatedly used inflammatory language against transgender people and Muslims, one of the reasons Facebook said forced it to remove his content.

“We believe in giving people a voice, but we also want everyone using Facebook to feel safe,” the social media outlet said in a statement. “It’s why we have Community Standards and remove anything that violates them, including hate speech that attacks or dehumanizes others.”

In July, Facebook suspended Jones’s personal profile for what it called “bullying and hate speech.”

Apple said it removed all of the content from five of six InfoWars shows from its platforms. As of Monday, only one InfoWars podcast, named RealNews with David Knight, remained on iTunes.

“We have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users,” Apple said in a statement. “We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions.”

In July, Facebook and YouTube announced they had removed four of Jones’s videos from their sites. Two of the videos claimed without evidence that Muslims were taking over several European countries. Another compared the creators of a show about drag queens to satanists.

YouTube followed suit and banned Jones’s channel on Monday afternoon, claiming the account, which had over 2.4 million subscribers, violated the site’s guidelines on hate speech.

In recent weeks, Jones garnered increased attention as the parents of children killed in the Connecticut shooting sued him for defamation. While Jones said he now believes the shooting was not a hoax, he said his earlier claims were protected under U.S. free speech laws.

In July, Jones also appeared to threaten special counsel Robert Mueller, who is currently investigating U.S. President Donald Trump and his campaign for potential Russian influence.

“[Mueller is] a demon I will take down, or I’ll die trying,” Jones said, making a pistol motion with his hands. “You’re going to get it, or I’m going to die trying, bitch.”

While Jones’s beliefs have often been characterized as fringe, he has found some mainstream appeal. In December 2015, Trump, then a candidate, appeared on InfoWars via a satellite interview.

“Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down,” Trump said to Jones.
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British Officials Blamed for Giving Visas to Spouses of Girls Forced into Marriages

Posted on by SeeEU

The British government has launched a probe into claims officials are failing to scrutinize visa applications from foreign men whose British-born Muslim wives have been forced by their families to marry them overseas.

Campaigners say even when women, many of them teenagers, have objected to their spouses being issued visas to join them in Britain, officials all too often ignore their opposition.

An investigation by The Times newspaper outlining cases in which British officials appear to have compounded the victimization and abuse of women forced into marriages has prompted the country’s interior minister Sajid Javid to launch an inquiry, saying forced marriage is a “despicable, inhumane, uncivilized practice that has no place whatsoever in Britain.”

He added in a tweet, “We will be doing more to combat it and support victims.”

Figures released to The Times under Freedom of Information laws showed that last year, Britain’s Home Office received 175 inquiries from spouses or third parties trying to block visas being issued. Eighty-eight developed into full cases. They included direct appeals from women or objections from others who feared the marriages had been forced.

Visas were issued in 42 of the cases, while another 10 are pending a final decision.

Many unreported cases

But charities say those cases are the tip of the iceberg, and thousands of women, mainly from South Asian backgrounds, are being coerced into marriages that often become highly abusive, involving rape and domestic violence. The government’s Forced Marriage Unit, part of the Foreign Office, received reports of nearly 2,000 possible cases of women being forced into marriages overseas last year.

Laws were introduced in England and Wales in 2014 criminalizing forced marriage. But campaigners say some immigration officials are “turning a blind eye,” concerned they may be criticized for being culturally or religiously insensitive for mistaking an arranged marriage for a forced one.

Labor lawmaker Naz Shah from the Yorkshire town of Bradford said the laws need to be changed to help ease the plight of British Asian women trying to block abusive spouses from gaining visas and joining them in Britain. Bradford has the third largest British Asian population in the country.

She expressed frustration to a British broadcaster, saying, “There is nothing racist about highlighting the fact that a girl is being forced into a marriage or protecting that victim. Abuse is abuse, regardless of any cultures, and that needs to be understood loudly and clearly.”

Shah and the charities say among the legal changes needed is to do away with a requirement for officials to inform a foreign spouse, if his wife doesn’t endorse his visa application. That information can lead to further abuse by the families of women who try to block the issuance of a visa, including exposing them to honor-based violence.

 

Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom, a charity opposing forced marriage, told Reuters, “It is a very typical case that girls are forced into marriage, and then when they come back to the U.K., they are forced to put in a spousal application for their abuser.” Campaigners say most of the forced marriages are taking place in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates.

Some progress made

Gerry Campbell, a former Scotland Yard detective and a director of the Sharan Project, a charity that helps vulnerable women, particularly of South Asian origin, said in a tweet the government has done some “excellent work on tackling forced marriage over the years. It must, however, be relentless as is the case with other forms of violence against Women and Girls.”

Last month, a court in Yorkshire sentenced a couple from Leeds to eight years in prison for forcing their teenage daughter to marry. In 2016, the 18 year old was told she had to marry an older cousin in Pakistan. When she refused, she was assaulted, and her father threatened to kill her.

She was helped to escape by armed police after British diplomats were tipped off about her plight. After her parents were sentenced, the girl said, “I know I will always have to remain cautious, but knowing those monsters are going to be in prison, I feel the uttermost freedom in my heart.”

The conviction is the second in Britain for forced marriage. In May, a woman was jailed in the British town of Birmingham for trying to force her 17-year-old daughter to marry a relative twice her age in Pakistan.

 
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Sen. Rand Paul Invites Russian Lawmakers to Washington

Posted on by SeeUS

A United States senator who met with Russian lawmakers in Moscow said he invited them to visit Washington and they accepted Monday.

Sen. Rand Paul said during a trip to Russia that American and Russian legislators need closer contact, noting that “our biggest problem right now is no dialogue.”

 

The Kentucky Republican said after meeting with members of the foreign affairs committee for Russia’s upper house of parliament that he invited them to come to the U.S. capital. Paul added that lawmakers from the two countries could also meet in a neutral third nation.

 

“Those who believe in either country that we should not have diplomacy are greatly mistaken,” he said.

 

Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the Federation Council, the upper house, strongly backed Paul’s effort to promote contacts.

 

“Each of these meetings is important for a better understanding of each other and for talking about the perspectives of how to escape the `dead end’ of the relationship,” Kosachev said.

 

In a statement released by his office, Paul emphasized that “engagement is vital to our national security and peace around the world.”

 

“I invited the Russian Federation to send a delegation to the Capitol, and they have agreed to take this important next step,” he said.

 

Paul has nurtured a close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump and defended Trump after the president’s Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month.

 

After meeting with upper house members, Paul also met Monday with members of the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma.

 

 
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StoryCorps: Q&A

Posted on by SeeUS

A mother and her son – who has Asperger’s syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum – have a conversation about the importance of animals, telling the truth and facing adversity.
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Report: Russia Set Up Clandestine Network For N. Korea Oil Shipments

Posted on by SeeEU

Russia engaged in more extensive oil exports to North Korea than had been previously reported, by setting up an illicit trade network that is likely still being used today to evade United Nations sanctions, according a South Korean research organization.

A recent report issued by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul used Russian customs data to document how “one North Korean state enterprise purchased 622,878 tons of Russian oil worth $238 million,” between 2015 and 2017.”

While China is North Korea’s main oil supplier, the ASAN estimate for Russian oil exports to North Korea is significantly higher than the $25 million in sales for the same period that was reported by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) in Seoul.

“Smuggling has always been an important element in the cross-border trade between North Korea and it’s important allies. What the Chinese government and the Russian government to a lesser extent have been doing is to turn a blind eye to these activities,” said Go Myong-Hyun, a North Korea analyst with the Asan Institute For Policy Studies in Seoul.

Russian evasions

The Asan report comes amid allegations that Russia potentially violated international sanctions imposed on North Korea by granting thousands of new work permits to North Korean laborers. Moscow had denied any such actions.

The Trump administration also imposed targeted U.S sanctions on a Russian bank for allegedly doing business with a person blacklisted for involvement with North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

On Friday U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called the allegations against Russia, “very troubling.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on “the Russians and all countries to abide by the U.N. Security Council resolutions and enforce sanctions on North Korea,” while attending the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore on Saturday.

United Nations sanctions imposed in September of 2017 prohibit member countries from “providing work authorizations” permits to North Korean workers.

In December of 2017 the U.N. Security Council further strengthened the sanctions to cut North Korean oil imports by a third, and to impose a total export ban on North Korea’s $3 billion coal and other mineral industries, its $800 million clothing manufacturing output, and its lucrative seafood industry.

Shell companies

The ASAN report is centered on the activities of the Independent Petroleum Company (IPC), a Russian firm that the U.S. Treasury Department targeted in June 2017 for violating restrictions on selling oil to North Korea. IPC has since changed its name. 

IPC was found to have sold large quantities of oil to Russian affiliated companies, such as the Pro-Gain Group Corporation (PGGC) that was actually operating on behalf of North Korea’s state owned Foreign Trade Bank. The North Korean bank has been under U.S. sanctions since 2013.

“The entities involved tried to cover up the transactions by falsifying destination countries for the purchases,” said the ASAN report entitled The Rise of Phantom Traders.

The report notes that PGGC is owned by Taiwan citizen Tsang Yung Yuan. Tsang was sanctioned earlier this year by the U.S. for facilitating North Korean coal exports using a Russia-based North Korean broker. PGGC has headquarters listed both in Taipei and Samoa.

North Korea has also been accused of conducting illicit ship-to-ship transfers of oil, and to conceal these operations by disabling the Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder of vessels in order to hide their location. There have also been reports of North Korea changing vessel names and identification numbers, even painting over or altering the numbers on the ships’ exteriors.

Rajin-Khasan Exemption

A large number of oil shipments were also delivered to the Russian-North Korean border village of Khasan, which is connected by rail to the North Korean port terminal at Rajin.

The Rajin-Khasan rail project was exempted from U.N. sanctions to allow Russia to use the North Korean seaport to export Russian coal.

Trade records show that oil deliveries arriving in Khasan were on their way to China, but the report suggests it is more likely North Korea was the final destination. Since 2015, the ASAN report says, only PGGC and Velmur, two companies with ties to North Korea, listed Khasan as the point of delivery for oil shipments. 

According to the ASAN report, Moscow and Pyongyang are likely exploiting the Rajin-Khasan rail exemption to evade restrictions on North Korean oil imports.

In 2016, South Korea suspended its participation in the Rajin-Khasan rail project to comply with U.S. unilateral sanctions imposed on North Korea trade.

Recently some officials in Seoul have called for these sanctions affecting the Rajin-Khasan Project to be lifted, so that investment can proceed in connecting South Korean rail both to North Korea, and to the intentional railway system beyond that can reach Europe.

Sanctions effectiveness

The sanctions are intended to cut North Korea off from foreign currency and materials needed for weapons production, and to impose economic pain on the leadership to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile development programs.

Despite increased reports of sanctions evasions, Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea analyst with the Sejong Institute in South Korea, says the recent report of an 88 percent decline in North Korean trade in the first quarter of this year indicates the economic situation there is in dire condition.

“If the sanctions from the U.N. Security Council continue, economic breakdown in North Korea will be inevitable,” said Cheong.

Talks between Washington and Pyongyang have made little significant progress toward ending the North’s nuclear program since June, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore.

The U.S. insists that the North completely end it nuclear weapons program before any concessions are granted, while Pyongyang wants early sanctions relief.

On Sunday Pompeo said that North Korean Foreign Minster Ri Yong Ho reiterated a “very clear” commitment to denuclearize when the two met at the ASEAN conference in Singapore.

Lee Yoon-jee contributed to this report.
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US Sanctions on Iran to Resume

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Iran has to start behaving like what he calls a “normal country” as the U.S. prepares to reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

“This is just about the Iranians’ dissatisfaction with the own government and the president (Trump) is pretty clear. We want the Iranian people to have a strong voice in who their leadership will be,” Pompeo told reporters Sunday.

Starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, sanctions against a wide range of Iranian industries come into effect, including traditional Iranian rug exports. 

The Iranian government will also no longer be allowed to buy U.S. and European planes and U.S. banknotes.

Sanctions against Iranian energy exports are set to come back into effect in November.

The sanctions that had been lifted are returning after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and five other nations.

The agreement called for Iran to sharply curb its uranium enrichment program in exchange for the end of most sanctions. Trump has called it a terrible deal because he says it gives Iran the opportunity to restart its nuclear program. 

Trump has said he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani anytime without preconditions. But with both presidents swapping threats and insults, a meeting seems unlikely.

“We’re hopeful that we can find a way to move forward, but it’s going to require enormous change on the part of the Iranian regime,” Pompeo said.
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Greece Replaces Heads of Emergency Services After Deadly Fires

Posted on by SeeEU

The heads of Greece’s emergency services have been removed from office in the wake of the deadly wildfires near Athens that . killed 91 people, government officials said Sunday.

The chiefs of the police and fire brigades have been replaced by their deputies.

The changes came a day after Greece’s public order minister, Nikos Toskas, also resigned.

The death toll from the July 23 fire rose to at least 91. Nearly 40 people remain hospitalized, including six in critical condition.

The Athens government has been criticized for its response to the deadly blazes.

Authorities blamed arsonists for starting the fire, as well as illegal construction, which blocked escape routes from the coastal resort town of Mati. 
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US Secretary of State Pompeo Plays Down North Korea Sparring

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday played down an exchange of contentious remarks with North Korea on the sidelines of weekend regional meetings in Singapore, saying Pyongyang had made clear its continued commitment to denuclearize.

Both Pompeo and North Korean Foreign Minster Ri Yong Ho were in Singapore, less than two months after an unprecedented summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Trump has hailed as a success despite a lack of concrete action by Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Pompeo and Ri’s interaction nevertheless appeared limited to a brief handshake at the ASEAN Regional Forum. When Pompeo left the meeting on Saturday, Ri delivered an address in which he said Pyongyang was alarmed by U.S. intentions. He also complained about U.S. calls to maintain sanctions on North Korea and reluctance to declare a formal end to the Korean War.

Pompeo was asked in a briefing to reporters traveling back with him to Washington whether he was concerned by Ri’s remarks.

He noted the tone of the North Korean statement was far different that it was last year.

“The minister made very clear of their continued commitment to denuclearize,” Pompeo said. “I probably don’t have his words exactly right, but it’s pretty close. Compare the anger, frankly, over years and years, and hatred, as spewed by the North Koreans; his comments were different.”

Pompeo stressed the U.S. “mission statement” remained clear.

“The U.N. Security Council has said they must end their nuclear program and their ballistic missile program. He has to deliver on the commitments he’s made,” he said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

At the June 12 summit, Kim committed in broad terms to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula but North Korea has offered no details on how it might go about this. U.S. officials, including Pompeo, have said North Korea has continued to work on its weapons programs.

 

Ri said North Korea was committed to implementing a joint statement by Kim and Trump at their summit “in a responsible and good-faith manner.” But he reiterated a call for a phased approach to talks, which differs from the U.S. insistence that North Korea give up its weapons before relief from sanctions.

Asked whether North Korea could be offered concessions other than sanctions relief, Pompeo replied: “I am not going to comment on the sanctions and what others may have proffered.”

Asked why he had apparently not held a formal meeting with Ri in Singapore, Pompeo, who has been leading U.S. negotiating efforts with Pyongyang, replied: “Your question has a predicate and I’m just going to say, there are lots of conversations taking place.”

According to the State Department, in their brief exchange on Saturday Pompeo told Ri: “We should talk again soon,” to which Ri responded: “I agree, there are many productive conversations to be had.”

Ri’s later comments were not the first since the summit in which that North Korea has appeared to offer a more negative impression of the progress of talks with the United States shortly after Pompeo has departed from a meeting.

Following a trip to Pyongyang in July, Pompeo spoke of progress, but as soon as he had left the country North Korea accused the United States of “gangster-like” diplomacy, casting doubts about the future of the discussions.
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34 People Shot in Chicago in Just 24 Hours

Posted on by SeeUS

Chicago police say they will not be defeated after an unusually violent weekend that saw at least 34 people shot in the city in just 24 hours.

Five of those victims died, including a 17-year-old girl who was shot in the face.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” a policeman told the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. “It’s hot right now. There’s a lot of tension … and it might get worse.”

The officer says overheard people talking on their cellphones, planning revenge attacks and urging others to also get even (take revenge).

Families crowded into the emergency room of one of the city’s busiest hospitals between Saturday morning and early Sunday when the 34 shootings were reported. The youngest victim was an 11-year-old boy.

Hundreds of demonstrators blocked a major Chicago highway last week to protest gun violence and demand Mayor Rahm Emanuel resign.

The mayor has not yet commented on the weekend violence but has called for more gun control measures, not only in Chicago but throughout Illinois.

Police blame the gun violence not just on the large number of weapons on the streets, but also what they say is the belief by gang members that they can gun down a rival and get away with it.

More than 300 people have been shot to death in Chicago so far this year, the most of any U.S. city.

But police say that is 25 percent fewer incidents than the same time last year, and say 5,500 illegal guns have been confiscated since January.  
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Saudi Expels Canadian Envoy, Recalls Its Envoy Over ‘Interference’

Posted on by SeeEA

Saudi Arabia announced Monday it was expelling the Canadian ambassador and had recalled its envoy while freezing business ties with Ottawa, over what it called “interference” in its internal affairs.

The move follows vigorous calls by Canada for the immediate release of human rights activists swept up in a new wave of detentions.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia… will not accept interference in its internal affairs or imposed diktats from any country,” the foreign ministry tweeted.

“The kingdom announces that it is recalling its ambassador… to Canada for consultation.”

The ministry said that the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh had 24 hours to leave the country, and announced the “freezing of all new commercial and investment transactions” with Ottawa.

The move came after the Canadian embassy in Riyadh said it was “gravely concerned” over a new wave of arrests of human rights campaigners in the kingdom, including award-winning gender rights activist Samar Badawi.

“We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists,” the embassy tweeted on Friday.

Badawi was arrested along with fellow campaigner Nassima al-Sadah last week, “the latest victims of an unprecedented government crackdown on the women’s rights movement”, Human Rights Watch said.

The arrests come weeks after more than a dozen women’s right campaigners were detained and accused of undermining national security and collaborating with enemies of the state. Some have since been released.

The Saudi foreign ministry voiced anger over the Canadian statement.

“It is very unfortunate that the words ‘immediate release’ appeared in the Canadian statement… it is unacceptable in relations between countries,” the ministry said.
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Oregon Police Chief Orders Review of Use of Force at Protest

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Portland police were accused Sunday of being heavy-handed against people protesting a rally by extreme-right demonstrators, reportedly injuring some counter-protesters and prompting the city’s new police chief to order a review of officers’ use of force.

Police in riot gear tried to keep the two groups apart, many of whom had come on Saturday dressed for battle in helmets and protective clothing. Dozens of the extreme-right protesters were bussed to Portland, one of America’s most liberal cities, from nearby Vancouver, Washington.

Saturday’s clashes were the most recent of several this year in the city as right-wing militants converged, met by counter-protesters, including members of anti-fascist, or “antifa,” groups. City officials have struggled with striking a balance between free speech and keeping events from spiraling out of control.

But on Saturday, some said police seemed to act mostly against those protesting the presence of the extreme-right demonstrators, using stun grenades and what appeared to be rubber bullets against them.

Police “targeted Portland residents peacefully counter-protesting against racist far-right groups, including white supremacists, white nationalists, and neo-Nazi gangs,” the Oregon chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America said in a statement. It called on officials to investigate.

Police ordered the counter-protesters to disperse, then moved in behind a volley of stun grenades. One of the rounds reportedly hit a counter-protester in the head, becoming embedded in his helmet and injuring him. One woman was taken to a hospital after being hit in the arm and chest with a “flash-bang” grenade, local media reported. The blasts echoed through downtown Portland.

Four people were arrested.

Police Chief Danielle Outlaw, who assumed command less than a year ago as Portland’s first African-American female police chief, said in a statement Sunday she takes all use-of-force cases seriously.

Outlaw directed the professional standards division to begin gathering evidence to determine if the force used was within policy and training guidelines. The Office of Independent Police Review will be provided with the information for review and investigation.

Saturday’s incidents started with demonstrators aligned with Patriot Prayer and an affiliated group, the Proud Boys, gathering in a riverfront park. The Proud Boys has been characterized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is “dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.”

Hundreds of counter-demonstrators faced them from across the street, holding banners and signs with messages such as “Alt right scum not welcome in Portland.” Some chanted “Nazis go home.”

Officers stood in the middle of a four-lane boulevard, essentially forming a wall to keep the two sides separated.

The counter-protesters were made up of a coalition of labor unions, immigrant rights advocates, democratic socialists and other groups.

Patriot Prayer also has held rallies in many other cities around the U.S. West, including Berkeley, California, that have drawn violent reactions.

Saturday’s rally, organized by Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson, was the third to roil Portland this summer. Two previous events ended in bloody fistfights and riots.

Gibson disputed the group’s classification as a hate group.

“We’re here to promote freedom and God. That’s it,” Gibson told Portland TV station KGW. “Our country is getting soft.”
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