Month: December 2018

UN States Adopt Global Compact on Refugees

Posted on by SeeEU

The U.N. General Assembly voted nearly unanimously Monday to adopt a framework to strengthen the international response to the global refugee crisis.

The United States and Hungary were the only two nations that voted against the Global Compact on Refugees, while 181 countries voted in favor. The Dominican Republic, Eritrea and Libya abstained.

“It is a global commitment to step up and shoulder our responsibilities toward refugees, to find solutions that respect their human rights, to provide them with hope, and to recognize the legal responsibility to protect and support them,” said U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed in welcoming the vote.

She urged all member states to begin implementing the framework as soon as possible.

Over the past 18 months, states in conjunction with the U.N. Refugee Agency negotiated the non-binding document, which aims to ease the pressure on refugee host countries and support conditions in countries for displaced citizens to return home.

There are more than 25 million refugees worldwide, and just 10 countries host 60 percent of them. Most host countries are middle- or low-income ones and the compact seeks to more equitably distribute burden-sharing and help make refugees more self-reliant.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi welcomed the adoption, saying it is the first time he has seen countries take such a comprehensive and broad approach to cooperating on the issue. But he had strong words for countries which have taken a hard line on migration and refugees.

“In this world of ours which often turns its back to people in need — that has shamefully politicized even the pain of exile, that has demonized and continues to demonize refugees and migrants, and sometimes even just foreigners — this compact, in synergy with the other compact on migration, can really represent tangibly a new commitment to international cooperation,” Grandi said.

United States

In November, the United States said it would vote against the compact over sovereignty concerns. It also quit negotiations on the global compact on migration.

The Trump administration has come in for harsh criticism for its treatment of migrants at the U.S. border with Mexico, its travel ban on persons from certain Muslim countries, and its decision to sharply cut the number of refugees it resettles. But it has remained the U.N. Refugee Agency’s largest single donor, contributing more than $1.45 billion in 2017.

“I think that there is a fundamental commitment of the U.S.,” Commissioner Grandi told reporters. “I would have hoped that they would support it [the compact] institutionally, but in substance, I think that support will continue to be there.”

‘Protection, compassion, solidarity’

He urged countries to keep their borders open and said both refugees and migrants deserve “protection and compassion and solidarity.” He noted that when given opportunities, refugees “can make a formidable contribution” to the societies hosting them.

“The compact aims at providing states and communities with the tools to maximize, to create those opportunities,” Grandi said.

On Wednesday, the General Assembly will vote to endorse the Global Compact on Migration, which was adopted at an international conference in Marrakesh last week.
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Latest Data Fuels Fears Over Turkey’s Economy

Posted on by SeeEA

Turkish industrial production has plummeted to a nine-year low, according to the latest published figures.  The data was part of a swath of negative economic results released Monday, as Turkey continues to be impacted by this year’s collapse in its currency. 

Turkey’s Statistical Institute (TurkStat), recorded industrial production falling in October 5.7 percent year-on-year.  The fall follows a 2.4 percent decline in September.  The latest figures took many international financial institutions by surprise. 

“Horrendous,” was analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners reaction to the economic data.  

“Industrial production was the most disappointing visa vie the consensus,” he added.  ”We’ve seen annual production contraction by more than five percent.  It looks like despite success in exports, domestic demand is weak, or producers are very hesitant to start domestic production.”

“Before these figures, I had penciled in a 2.5% contraction in GDP (size of the economy) for Q 4 (October to December),” said economist Inan Demir of Nomura Securities,  

“I would say today’s numbers have forced some downsize risk to those predicted GDP numbers.  More important the momentum carrying forward to 2019 is shaping up to be quite weak.  On current trends we see GDP contracting five percent year on year.”

Looking for work

Monday, also saw the jobless rate rising to more than 11 percent and more than 21 percent for youth unemployment.  Since the start of the year, the number of unemployed has leapt from three to nearly 3.8 million. 

The Turkish economy is reeling from the currency losing nearly a third of its value, which resulted in inflation soaring to more than 20 percent and forcing the central bank to hike interest rates to 24 percent.

Turkey is no stranger to economic shocks caused by sharp falls in the currency.  In the past, the economy, after a severe recession, usually recovered quickly.  But analysts warn this time it may be different. 

“In the past, Turkey had much lower debt burden in general,” said economist Demir.  “So this time round Turkey is facing an exchange rate shock, and in general financial market shock with much more elevated leverage (debt) levels.  Given that the debt overhang is a significant factor that typically slows down the recovery phases in other countries, there is the risk the Turkish recovery this time around will be much slower.”

During the past 15 years of economic boom, Turkish companies took advantage of worldwide low-interest rates and borrowed heavily, both in local and foreign currency.  Now with Turkey widely predicted to be facing a painful recession, analysts warn corporate debt is becoming a significant problem for Turkey’s banks.

“I understand through my conversations with bankers, AKP (Turkey’s ruling party) or government officials are intervening in favor of large companies, for the banks to restructure their loans,” said analyst Yesilada.  “The problem is shifting from corporate balance sheets to bank balance sheets.”

Erdogan rules out help

“As a result of which banks cannot issuing new loans,” he added, “so this is a vicious circle from which there is no way out.  The solution you have to inject fresh cash, fresh resources, fresh capital into the economy.  We are talking $50-60 billion to fill the tank and get the car going.  No one has that kind of money, except the IMF (International Monetary Fund).”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out IMF assistance.  Analysts say with crucial local elections for control of Turkey’s main cities in March, Erdogan will be reluctant to look for international help, given ending Turkey’s dependence on IMF support is one of his most significant achievements.

But with Turkey facing recession, analysts warn Erdogan’s AKP Party is facing an uphill struggle in March’s local polls.

“All the (opinion) polls show me, the main concern for the voters is the economy, and they are going to register their protest in local elections,” said Yesilada. “My estimate, AKP will lose five percentage points; I expect AKP to suffer great losses, I would not be too surprised if they lose Istanbul or Ankara.”

Turkey’s main cities are the only place where opposition parties can exercise power.  Erdogan has declared winning the local elections a priority.  Analysts suggest Turkey’s central bank could face growing presidential pressure to cut punishingly high-interest rates of 24 percent to ease the economic pain before the March polls.

Turkey’s small business community, a key backer of the AKP, is lobbying hard for an interest rate cut.  Last month’s better than expected inflation figures, which recorded a modest fall is emboldening calls for a rate cut. 

But international investors warn against a premature cut in rates before inflation is tamed.  “I think that concern (cutting interest rates) will be with us all through the first quarter of next year,” said Demir, “I think an early cut concerns the markets.”

The repercussions of such a move could be severe. “There is no patience right now, internationally speaking, with emerging nations that resort to popularism or make mistakes, every country’s punished severely and Turkey is a repeat offender,” said Yesilada.
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Turkey Revives Ghosts of Gezi Protests as Elections Loom

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Three years after she was acquitted over her role in Turkey’s Gezi Park protests, Mucella Yapici was called in last month by police to face more questions about the unrest that had posed a direct challenge to the authority of President Tayyip Erdogan.

Yapici is one of dozens who were involved in demonstrations that brought millions onto Turkey’s streets in 2013 to protest against the government and who are now caught up in a renewed investigation, raising concerns among Turkey’s Western allies.

Opposition figures say the renewed crackdown is designed to polarize public opinion and rally support for Erdogan’s AK Party ahead of local elections in March, when it could face tight races in some of Turkey’s largest cities.

“It is a political maneuver,” Yapici said of her questioning two weeks ago. “We were tried in Turkish courts and acquitted. And the state did not appeal,” she told Reuters, adding that authorities had produced no new evidence.

The moves by prosecutors and police have been accompanied by renewed and sharp criticism of the Gezi protesters by Erdogan.

Such attacks have been a hallmark of his election triumphs since he first won power 16 years ago. But they also risk alienating allies such as the European Union and United States at a time when Turkey is trying to resolve diplomatic disputes that helped fuel a currency crisis this year.

Yapici, a 67-year-old architect whose activist group Taksim Solidarity was at the heart of the Gezi protests, was one of 26 defendants acquitted in April 2015 of charges carrying jail terms of up to 13 years.

She said the investigations were an attempt to rewrite social memory of the protests.

“They are trying to blacken the clear celebration of democracy that was Gezi in the minds of children, youths and society,” Yapici said.

She has not been charged again, but last month more than a dozen people were detained as part of an investigation into the Gezi protests and prosecutors have issued warrants for a prominent journalist and an actor, both living abroad.

“Five years later the prosecutor has suddenly remembered the Gezi resistance and started a new witch hunt,” the Berlin-based journalist, Can Dundar, said after details of his arrest warrant emerged on Dec. 5.

A senior Turkish official said the Gezi incidents were solely a matter for the courts.

“Of course the government does not make any requests in this respect,” he told Reuters. “Ultimately courts and prosecutors take various steps in cases based on the evidence which they obtain.”

“It is not a matter of the incidents specially being put onto the agenda five years later,” he added. “Ultimately the judiciary will take up these dossiers and reach the necessary verdicts.”

‘Pay the price’

According to government estimates, 3.6 million people took part in the Gezi protests, which began with a small demonstration against the redevelopment of a park near Istanbul’s Taksim Square. It evolved into a demonstration of wide-ranging discontent with the government.

Over the summer of 2013 the chant “everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance” resounded in daily protests across Turkey, with many banging pots and pans at their windows every evening. Nine people, eight young protesters and a police officer, were killed in the unrest, and 5,000 injured.

Three years later, following a failed coup against Erdogan, authorities launched a sweeping roundup in which 77,000 people have so far been jailed pending trial. A two-year state of emergency was lifted in July, but arrests linked to the coup attempt have continued alongside the revived Gezi investigations.

Prosecutors have prepared an indictment targeting 120 people over their participation in a Gezi-related protest in Ankara and an investigation into 600 others is continuing, state media says. Pro-government journalists say the probe will widen.

Erdogan blames the protests on billionaire philanthropist George Soros and Osman Kavala, a well-known Turkish civil society leader. Kavala has been in jail for a year awaiting trial on charges of seeking to overthrow the government.

“They are still in solidarity, the operatives of the project to make our country surrender,” Erdogan said last month in a speech denouncing the two men. Kavala was directed by “the famous Hungarian Jew, Soros … who assigns people to divide nations”, he said.

Two weeks ago the Soros-funded Open Society Foundation announced it was closing down in Turkey because it could no longer work there.

Responding to last month’s arrest of 13 academics and civil society representatives linked to Kavala, EU commissioner Johannes Hahn said Brussels was troubled by the arrest of journalists, human rights defenders and civil society activists.

“Criminal and judicial proceedings must be based on the presumption of innocence,” he said after talks in Ankara with Turkey’s foreign minister.

‘Hatred and revenge’

The leader of the main opposition CHP party, which is challenging Erdogan’s AK Party for control of Istanbul and Ankara in the March elections, has said there are no grounds for the latest protest-related arrests.

“If you throw innocent people in jail and then go and see where you can create evidence, there is no justice there. There is a feeling of hatred and revenge,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu said.

Kilicdaroglu’s party say the Gezi arrests are an attempt to divert attention from a slowing economy, high inflation and rising unemployment – significant weak points in Erdogan’s election plans after years of stellar economic growth.

By focusing on perceived security threats, Erdogan could rally support. A survey for the Center for American Progress this year found that around half the public approved of the government’s response to the failed coup in 2016, including 80 percent of AK Party voters.

The challenge, however, will be significant.

Although he strengthened his presidential powers after elections in June, support for Erdogan’s AK Party fell to 43 percent, meaning he needed an alliance with nationalists for a parliamentary majority.

A survey by pollster Metropoll last month showed his personal approval had fallen below 40 percent, having been around 50 percent ahead of the June elections.

Aykut Erdogdu, a CHP lawmaker for Istanbul, said trust in Erdogan was declining due to economic hardship.

As things stand “they know they will lose the local elections. Hence it is necessary to polarize the people,” Erdogdu wrote on Twitter. “They are setting up their election stall using Gezi.”
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Anti-Migrant Protest in Belgium Turns Violent

Posted on by SeeEU

Right-wing groups organized a massive protest Sunday in Belgium against the United Nation’s agreement on global migration. The deal, signed by more than 160 nations last week in Morocco, calls for safe orderly and regular migration to avoid humanitarian crises of recent years. But many Europeans fear the pact could lead to an increase in immigration. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Report to Senate: Russia Used Every Major Social Media Platform to Help Trump Win

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Russia used every major social media platform to target voters with misinformation to try to get Donald Trump elected president, according to a new report that was prepared for the U.S. Senate and seen by The Washington Post. 

The report says Russians working for a group called The Internet Research Agency (IRA) began experimenting with social media to influence local elections in 2009 and expanded its operations to U.S. elections in 2013 using Twitter.

It gradually added other popular social media sites to its campaign, including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

For the 2016 presidential campaign, the report says Russians attempted to stir up conservative voters to back Trump by stressing such issues as gun rights and immigration.

At the same time, the Russian operatives sent black voters messages and other information aimed at confusing them about the electoral process, including misleading information on how to vote.

​Other groups, such as liberals, women, Muslims, Latinos, and veterans, were also targeted with similar messages either appealing to their politics or trying to discourage them from voting.

“What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party and specifically Donald Trump,” the report says according to The Washington Post. 

The newspaper says the report criticizes technology companies for what it calls their “belated and uncoordinated response” when the misinformation campaign was discovered and their delay in sharing information with investigators.

The report also warns that social media is morphing from what it says are tools for “sharing collective grievances and coordinating civic engagement,” including in the Middle East, to threats to democracy from “canny political consultants” and “politicians in democracies and dictatorships alike.”

The Post says Facebook and Google have not commented on the report. But Twitter says it has made “significant strides since the 2016 election to harden its digital defenses.”

The United States has already leveled criminal charges against Russia’s Internet Research Agency for interfering in the 2016 campaign. 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election and whether the president has tried to obstruct justice by trying to undermine the probe.

Trump denies there was any collusion and calls the Mueller probe a “witch hunt.”
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Guinea Bissau Women Entrepreneurs Share Ideas, Expand Business

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A group of young female business owners in Guinea Bissau have banded together to learn more about the business world and increase sales. A year later, their efforts appear to be paying off. Ricci Shryock reports from the west African nation.
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Saudi Arabia Rejects US Senate Position on Khashoggi

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Saudi Arabia has hit back at a U.S. Senate resolution to end U.S. military support for the war in Yemen and blame the Saudi crown prince for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“The Kingdom condemns the latest position of the U.S. Senate that was based on unsubstantiated allegations and rejects the blatant interference in its internal affairs,” the foreign ministry said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The Senate delivered a rare double rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump on Saudi Arabia last week, voting to end American military support for the war in Yemen.

It also condemned Khashoggi’s death and called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, “responsible” for it.

Riyadh warned that it would not tolerate any “disrespect” of its rulers. “This position by the U.S. Senate sends the wrong messages to all those who want to cause a rift in Saudi-U.S. relationship,” the Saudi ministry said.

The Senate resolution acknowledged that the U.S.-Saudi relations were “important,” but it called on the kingdom to “moderate its increasingly erratic foreign policy.”

Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, was killed Oct. 2 shortly after entering the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in what Riyadh has called a “rogue” operation.
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Iraq Lays Cornerstone in Rebuilding Mosul Mosque

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An Iraqi Sunni Muslim leader laid the cornerstone Sunday in the first step to rebuild the iconic 11th-century al-Nuri mosque in Mosul.

Three years of fighting between Islamic State and Iraqi forces left the structure in ruins.

All that remains is the stone gate, the green graffiti-covered dome, and part of the base of the minaret.

United Nations officials and European ambassadors joined Iraqi political and religious leaders for Sunday’s cornerstone-laying ceremony.

The United Arab Emirates donated more than $50 million to the rebuilding project, which is expected to take at least five years.

After centuries of serving as a place for Muslims to worship, the al-Nuri mosque became the site of a much darker period in Iraqi history: It was where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood and declared an Islamic State caliphate after his terrorist fighters overran Mosul in 2014.

There was little left of the mosque after the Islamic State was defeated. UNESCO’s representative in Iraq, Louise Haxthausen, called its destruction a “moment of horror and despair.”
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Ottawa’s Ambassador Meets with 2nd Canadian Citizen Arrested in China

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China has allowed the Canadian ambassador to meet with a second Canadian citizen detained for reasons that are still unclear, the foreign ministry in Ottawa said.

Ambassador John McCallum spoke with Canadian business executive Michael Spavor on Sunday — two days after he met with another Canadian detainee, former diplomat Michael Kovrig.

A foreign ministry statement said Sunday the ambassador will continue providing consular services to Spavor and will seek further access to him.

China detained both men after Canadian police arrested senior Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou earlier this month in Vancouver on a U.S. warrant.

Meng is out on bail awaiting possible extradition to the United States on charges of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Canada denies Meng’s arrest was a political move. It says it was purely a judicial matter and a case of Canada living up to its treaty obligations to the United States.

“We are being absolutely clear on standing up for our citizens who have been detained, trying to figure out why, trying to work with China to demonstrate that this is not acceptable,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late last week.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also calls the arrests in China unacceptable.

Ottawa has declined to say why it believes the two Canadians were arrested. But China’s state-run Beijing News newspaper says the two are suspected of activities that endanger Chinese national security.

On Monday, state-back newspaper the Global Times warned in an editorial that the spat with Canada could escalate.

“In the struggle with Canada, China needs to prepare for the possibility of conflict escalation,” it said.

“Beijing must take the contest seriously and maximize the support of international public opinion, leaving Western media no smear to slander its counterattacks as ‘degradation of China’s opening-up.'”
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Sudanese President Is First Arab Leader to Visit Syria in 8 Years

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Sudan’s president has become the first Arab leader to visit Damascus since the Syrian civil war began eight years ago.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad greeted Omar al-Bashir at the airport Sunday, the state-run news agency SANA reported.

Most Arab countries have closed their embassies in Damascus and condemned Assad for using overwhelming military force and failing to negotiate with the opposition.

Syria was also expelled from the 22-member Arab League.

No official reason was given for the visit, but SANA said the two leaders held talks at the presidential palace about developments in the region and in Syria.

As the war in Syria winds down in Assad’s favor, some Arab nations have called for normalizing ties with Damascus and even of allowing it back in the Arab League.
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Freed Cameroonians Ask for Release of Separatist Leaders

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Barely 24 hours after being released from detention centers, some of the people accused of fighting for the creation of an English-speaking state in Cameroon have called for the movement’s leaders to be released if President Paul Biya wants peace in the country.

The detainees’ release last week came after Biya ordered charges against them dropped.

Evelyn Ako, a mother of four, says she spent the night with her husband for the first time in 22 months. She says he was arrested in the English-speaking Southwest town of Mamfe and taken to Yaounde.

“With him besides me, we can work harder,” she said. “He used to give me money to support my children but this year, they are in the house. They have not gone to school because of [his absence]. So this thing has disturbed us a lot. It has disturbed even our family because any money that we gather, we used it to buy foodstuff to go and give him. We use it to buy medicines, dresses.”

Evelyn Ako relocated to Yaounde to help her husband and says they will only return to Mamfe when the crisis is over.

Joseph Cho, the spokesperson for the 120 people released from detention camps, said they are pleading with Biya to free their leaders.

“We have leaders. If these people are released, things will be better,” Cho said. “Like Sissiku … who [was] arrested because of this. We expected this decision long ago. Things would not have been the way it is now.”

Sissiku is the name given to the leader of the Ambazonia separatist movement, Julius Ayuk Tabe. He was arrested in Abuja, Nigeria, with 46 of his collaborators and extradited last January to Cameroon. They face a possible death penalty on charges of secession, terrorism and attempting to destabilize Cameroon.

‘Frank dialogue’ needed

University of Yaounde political analyst Willibroad Ze Ngwa says if Biya frees the Anglophone leaders, peace likely will return to Cameroon.

“The most important should be releasing the leaders and engaging in frank dialogue with these people. I pray the head of state [president] should move us into 2019 with some sort of general amnesty so that Cameroonians should be able to live in total concord and harmony,” Ngwa said.

Governor of the English-speaking Northwest region, Deben Tchoffo, says the government is open for dialogue and the separatists should disarm.

“Use all means at your level to convince your other mates to lay down their guns and to come back to normal civil life,” Tchoffo said. “They will be well taken care of, they will be well treated, trained and even supported to ease their coming back to civil life.”

Separatist insurgency

The separatist insurgency gained pace in 2017 following a government crackdown on peaceful protests by Anglophones, who complain of being marginalized by the French-speaking majority.

Biya was re-elected to a seventh term in October, and since then there has been pressure from the international community to start sincere dialogue with the separatists.

Last Thursday, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Cohen told the U.N. Security Council that conditions in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions had highly deteriorated, and the United States wants an immediate end to violence and a speedy start to talks between the government and separatists.  
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Washington Reacts after Obamacare Struck Down

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The future of health care in America is murkier than ever after a federal judge ruled that former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law is unconstitutional. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports that the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is still in effect pending appeals that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
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AP FACT CHECK: Trump Floats Fictions About the Border

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President Donald Trump’s relationship with the truth tends to be borderline, at best, when it comes to the border.

So it was this past week when he made a flurry of false or unsupported statements about immigration. He said, with no evidence, that migrants are plagued with disease. He asserted that Mexico has in effect agreed to pay for his border wall, even as he threatens a partial government shutdown if Congress doesn’t approve billions of dollars to build it. He twisted federal statistics to claim the recent arrest of 10 terrorists who don’t exist.

On another front, Trump tried to cast doubt on whether his former national security adviser had lied to the FBI even after the aide pleaded guilty to doing just that.

A look at recent rhetoric and the reality:

BORDER SECURITY

TRUMP: “People with tremendous medical difficulty and medical problems are pouring in, and in many — in many cases it’s contagious. They’re pouring into our country. We have to have border security.” — statement in Oval Office meeting Tuesday with Democratic leaders, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer.

THE FACTS: Trump provided no evidence that people coming into the country, including the caravan at the U.S.-Mexico border, are carrying contagious diseases at a higher rate than the U.S. population. Medical screening is part of the process for vetting people who seek asylum.

A study published this month by the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health called scares about contagion one of the most pervasive myths about migrants. The study found no evidence that migrants pose a significant public health risk to countries such as the U.S. that have good health systems. In fact, migrants themselves face health threats from arduous journeys, violence along the way, or overcrowding in shelters or camps, the Lancet commission said. While some may come from regions where certain diseases are common, the report noted that international tourism and movement of animals spread illness, too.

As for the caravan and other migrants from the south, World Bank statistics show Mexico and Central America vaccinate most children against measles, sometimes at a bit higher rate than the U.S. Along the border between Mexico and California, public health departments have long had a system in place to watch for signs of outbreaks of a variety of illnesses, whether they’re immigration-related or not.

TRUMP: “Our Southern Border is now Secure and will remain that way.” — tweet Tuesday.

TRUMP: “We need border security. People are pouring into our country, including terrorists. We have terrorists. But we caught 10 terrorists. These are over the last very short period of time — 10. These are very serious people.” — statement in Oval Office meeting.

THE FACTS: Trump contradicted himself, declaring the border secure and insecure on the same day. And Trump is wrong about the government recently catching 10 terrorists.

His statement is a mangling of federal statistics showing that U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped an average of seven to 10 people a day in the 2017 budget year who were denied entry to the U.S. because they were on a watch list. That average applied to all points of entry, and overwhelmingly from airports, and was not specific to the southern border. The standard for placing someone on the list is reasonable suspicion, a lower bar than the probable cause needed to arrest someone for an alleged crime. The statistics do not show how many might have been arrested or charged with anything.

In any event, Trump rendered a daily average as 10 recently captured terrorists in the flesh.

As for border security, U.S. arrests on the Mexican border jumped 78 percent in November from a year earlier to the highest level in Trump’s presidency. Increased arrests indicate that more people are trying to cross the border illegally.

JOBS

PELOSI: “We came at a place to say, ‘How do we meet the needs of American people who have needs?’ The economy has — people are losing their jobs.” — Oval Office meeting.

TRUMP: “Well, we have the lowest unemployment that we’ve had in 50 years.” — Oval Office meeting.

THE FACTS: Trump is correct about jobs.

There may always be some layoffs even if the economy is strong. General Motors, for instance, said last month it would cut as many as 14,000 workers in North America in a restructuring aimed at generating cash to spend on innovation, even though U.S. auto sales are near historic highs.

But the U.S. economy has now added jobs for a record 98 straight months, dating to October 2010, during the Obama administration.

The Labor Department reported the unemployment rate in November stayed at 3.7 percent, a five-decade low, for the third straight month.

The job gains are pushing down unemployment rates to historically low levels for a variety of groups. The unemployment rate for men aged 20 and above fell last month to 3.3 percent, the lowest in 18 years. The rate for Americans with just high school diplomas dropped to 3.5 percent, the lowest since December 2000. The African-American jobless rate declined to 5.9 percent, matching May’s figure as the lowest on record.

That’s making it more challenging for businesses to find the workers they need. Employers have posted 7 million open jobs, outnumbering the ranks of the unemployed, which fell last month to just under 6 million.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

SCHUMER: “The one thing I think we can agree on is we shouldn’t shut down the government over a dispute. And you want to shut it down. You keep talking about it.” — Oval Office meeting.

TRUMP: “No, no, no, no, no. The last time, Chuck, you shut it down.”

SCHUMER: “No, no, no.”

THE FACTS: There’s no settling any argument over who is responsible for a shutdown. But the last one, in January, was generally attributed to Senate Democrats seeking to force protections for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants.

Parts of the government closed for three days as Democrats united against a Republican-backed temporary spending bill unless Republicans and Trump agreed to extend the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protected the children of parents who came to the U.S. illegally. The White House was resisting bipartisan efforts to help the young immigrants.

Schumer ultimately gave in to GOP demands in exchange for a promise from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to address the issue at a later date, infuriating liberal activists who were pushing Democrats hard for an immigration deal.

Schumer had grounds, though, for accusing Trump of wanting a partial shutdown now. The president said he’d be “proud to shut down the government” and eager to take responsibility for it if he didn’t get enough money from Congress for border security.

TRUMP: “If we don’t get what we want one way or another … I will shut down the government.” — in meeting with Pelosi and Schumer.

SCHUMER, asked after the meeting what happens if Trump doesn’t compromise: “He will get no wall and he will get a shutdown.”

PELOSI: A “Trump shutdown” could be his “holiday president to the American people.”

THE FACTS: Everyone’s exaggerating. The government is not at risk of closing if a deal is not reached by the end of this coming Friday.

About three-quarters of the government would continue to have enough money to operate. But even a partial shutdown could be disruptive. Among the affected departments absent a deal: Homeland Security, Transportation, Agriculture, State, Justice.

Congress has approved continued financing of the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments, among other federal operations, and workers deemed essential would not be idled.

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

TRUMP: “Well the FBI said Michael Flynn, a general and a great person, they said he didn’t lie. And Mueller said: ‘Well, maybe he did.’ And now they’re all having a big dispute, so I think it’s a great thing that the judge is looking into that situation. It’s an honor for a lot of terrific people.” — remarks Thursday.

THE FACTS: That’s not what the FBI said. And Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, has agreed that he lied to the FBI. He pleaded guilty to it and is to be sentenced next week — the first White House official punished as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia investigation.

The idea that Flynn didn’t lie to the FBI picked up steam after Republicans on the House intelligence committee issued a report this year that said ex-FBI director James Comey, in a private briefing, told lawmakers that agents who interviewed Flynn “discerned no physical indications of deception” and saw “nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them.” But Comey called that description “garble” in a private interview with House lawmakers this month.

Comey, in essence, said Flynn was a good liar, having a “natural conversation” with agents, “answered fully their questions, didn’t avoid. That notwithstanding, they concluded he was lying.”

As for Trump’s comment that the judge is looking into the matter, it’s true U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has asked for documents related to the agents who interviewed Flynn. It’s not clear from Sullivan’s order whether he considers there to be a dispute to resolve or if he just wants to see the underlying documents as he decides Flynn’s sentence.

THE WALL

TRUMP: “I often stated, ‘One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall.’ This has never changed. Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!” — tweet Thursday.

THE FACTS: This is a face-saving statement to mask the fact that Mexico refused to pay for a U.S. border wall, Trump gave up trying to make it do so and U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for it.

In essence, Trump is arguing that new terms of trade with Mexico will increase economic growth in the U.S. and produce more tax revenue. That’s what everyone hopes trade agreements will do. As part of that, he hopes for a lower trade deficit with Mexico. Neither outcome is assured.

The deal negotiated with Mexico and Canada is an update of the North American Free Trade Agreement he railed against, not a transformative pact. The three countries will continue trading in an environment of mainly low or no tariffs, with improvements here and there for all three partners. There is no credible way for Trump to forecast additional growth covering costs that are being charged to U.S. taxpayers if the wall is built. Trade balances depend on too many factors — consumer tastes, exchange rates, overall economic performance, and the choices of thousands of companies among them — and some are well outside any government’s control.

Trump specifically promised in the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall. That is not the same as trying to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, which is about the exchange of goods and services among private entities rather than payments between governments. Nor is a trade deficit necessarily a penalty on consumers. It is the result of consumers buying things made in another country.

He wants some $25 billion from Congress for wall construction over five years and promises a partial government shutdown if he does not get a $5 billion or so portion in the next week. Congress may or may not give him that. If it does, it will not be because lawmakers expect a refund to the treasury in future years from extra growth produced by a trade deal.

TRUMP: “Tremendous amounts of wall have already been built.” — statement in meeting Tuesday with Pelosi and Schumer.

TRUMP: “People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built.” ″We have already built large new sections & fully renovated others, making them like new.” — tweets.

THE FACTS: Tremendous portions of the wall have not been built. Yes, some barrier renovation has happened, but little wall construction has been completed under Trump.

Congress allocated roughly $1.4 billion in the spring — a bit more than 5 percent of what Trump wanted — for border security and specified that the money was not to be used for construction of the prototype wall sections that stand near San Diego. Instead, the money is to strengthen or replace existing fencing with more secure fencing.

Altogether, Trump promised in the campaign that he’d build a 1,000-mile (1,600 kilometer-) wall, as high as 40 feet or 12 meters (and have Mexico pay for it, which isn’t happening). If some 650 miles (1,050 km) of existing fencing are considered in the equation, that leaves him with about 350 miles (560 km) of wall to build.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, Trump adviser: “You just want to keep saying ‘wall, wall, wall.’ … There are many ways to secure a border.” — to reporters asking Tuesday about Trump’s wall.

THE FACTS: Trump, of course, has been saying wall, wall, wall, since the 2015 Republican primaries, in a torrent of tweets and in countless rallies. Or, as he put it in Tuesday’s tweet, “the Wall.” He’s described the material, the dimensions and the beauty of it, and had prototype sections built, and they are of a wall, not a fence.

Federal officials, and Trump himself, at times, have tried to scale back expectations by noting, for example, that “there are places where you can’t have a physical wall,” as Conway put it Tuesday. “There are rivers. There’s brush.” But Trump already accounted for that when he promised 1,000 miles of wall to supplement an additional 1,000 miles of rivers and other natural barriers.

“The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it,” he tweeted in January, as if inviting voters to hold him to his literal promise.
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Reopening of Port of Hodeida is Good News for Starving Yemenis

Posted on by SeeEA

The World Food Program says reopening the Yemeni Port of Hodeida is crucial in efforts to stave off famine in that country, which has been at war for more than three years. The United Nations warns some 14 million people are on the verge of starvation in Yemen.

Yemen imports 90 percent of its food, with 70 percent arriving at the port of Hodeida.  Yemen’s warring parties agreed to a province-wide cease-fire in Hodeida at U.N.-mediated talks in Sweden.  Unfortunately, fighting broke out Friday on the outskirts of the port, a day after the truce was adopted, putting the reopening of the port in doubt.

The World Food Program reports it is critical to both humanitarian operations and to the commercial sector that the agreement be salvaged.  It says the port of Hodeida is the principle lifeline for two-thirds of the country.

WFP spokesman, Herve Verhoosel, says the free flow of commercial food supplies into Yemen should prevent further increases in food prices, which have skyrocketed, making food unaffordable for millions.

“In Yemen, 20 million people today rely on the private market,” said Verhoosel. “They buy their food in the street, in the market … And we hope that when the port will again work at normal capacity, more food will come on the private market and potentially the price of that food for those millions of people who buy it will not go up anymore.”

Last year, WFP was providing 3.5 million Yemenis with food rations every month.  The number of beneficiaries has more than doubled over the past two years.  Since August, the agency has been assisting seven to 8 million people a month.

Verhoosel says WFP is scaling up its operations to reach 10 million of the most vulnerable people in Yemen this month, with plans to reach up to 12 million in the New Year.  

He says special attention will be given to increasing nutrition for severely malnourished children, and for pregnant and breastfeeding women.  He says they are most at risk of famine and death.
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Zimbabwe NGOs Worry Government Could Close Them

Posted on by SeeAF

Human rights organizations and opposition parties in Zimbabwe fear the “old days” are back after the government this week threatened to deregister civic organizations that get involved in politics.

The National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations said Friday threats to shut down NGOs that meddle in politics caused them a “sense of shock”.

The threat came from the acting minister of public service, Kazembe Kazembe, who said non-profits are not legally allowed to engage in politics. 

“The government has however noted with concern that some private voluntary organizations and/or NGOs have negated their objectives and are now meddling in politics,” said Kazembe. “Should these organizations continue with this behavior, government will not hesitate to withdraw their registration certificates.”

Roselyn Hanzi, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, says she was not expecting that threat.

She says that since President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power from Robert Mugabe in November 2017, the government has been somewhat more respectful of rights enshrined in Zimbabwe’s constitution.

“We remain concerned that there is limited compliance with the constitution, there is selective compliance with the constitution, so we continue to see the same violations that we saw before 15 November (2017),” said Hanzi. “But in some areas we have seen some improvements and we urge the authorities to really comply with the constitution and fully respect the rights of citizens.”

When President Mnangagwa assumed power, he pledged to move away from the tactics used by Mugabe to stifle opposition and dissent.

But that seems to be forgotten now, as the ruling ZANU-PF party this week threatened to raise the minimum age for president to 52.  That would disqualify the main opposition leader in the next election, as he is only 40.

Alexander Rusero, a senior journalism and international politics lecturer at Harare Polytechnic College, says remnants of Mugabe’s dictatorship are still in the Mnangagwa government.

He says by shutting down NGOs, the government would only be hurting itself.

“It is actually a misguided priority to tray and threaten NGOs, because NGOs by the very nature of their job, one way or the other are involved in politics.., because they keep the government in chec,” said Rusero. “They also complement the work of the government.”

Hanzi of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says her organization will continue to push for Zimbabweans’ rights even if it means challenging the government.
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Trump: Interior Secretary Zinke to Leave at Year’s End

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Saturday his scandal-plagued Interior Department secretary, Ryan Zinke, will leave his administration at the end of the year.

Zinke’s departure was Trump’s second high-level personnel announcement in less than a day and the latest in a series of officials to leave the Trump administration under a cloud of controversy.

“Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation,” Trump wrote in a Saturday morning tweet, adding that Zinke’s replacement will be announced next week.

Trump’s announcement, which did not indicate whether Zinke resigned or was fired, comes as the Justice Department reportedly is considering whether to launch a criminal investigation against him. His personal conduct and executive decisions have raised questions about whether he has used his position for personal gain, triggering at least 15 investigations, several of which cleared him of wrongdoing.

The former Republican congressman from the western state of Montana, who has served as Interior Secretary for almost two years, is leaving just weeks before Democrats take control of the House. The transfer of power to Democrats is likely to result in an escalation of the probes into his conduct.

As head of the Interior Department, which oversees federal land and wildlife, Zinke helped lead the Trump administration’s successful roll-back of environmental regulations and promote U.S. energy development, but questions about his conduct dogged him throughout his term.

The Interior Department’s internal watchdog investigated Zinke for his involvement in a Montana land agreement backed by David Lesar, chairman of the oil field services company, Halliburton.

The agency’s Office of Inspector General has referred the investigation to the Justice Department for potential wrongdoing. Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, has denied any wrongdoing.

Zinke also drew criticism for mixing official business with political campaigning and family travel. The IG’s office said in an investigation it released in October that Zinke had staffers explore designating his wife an agency volunteer so that she could travel with him at taxpayers’ expense. Some of the taxpayer-funded trips were taken to the U.S. Virgin Islands, an Alaska steakhouse and a Montana ski resort.

Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who will oversee the Zinke probes when she assumes the House Speaker’s position next year, left little doubt Saturday the investigations will intensify under her watch.

“Secretary Zinke has been a shameless handmaiden for the special interests. His staggering ethical abuses have delivered a serious and lasting blow to America’s public lands, environment, clean air and clean water,” Pelosi said in a statement.

Pelosi said citizens are burdened with the Trump administration’s “unprecedented corruption, cronyism and incompetence” and declared “The American people have demanded a new dawn of transparency, accountability and openness in government.”

“When Democrats take the gavel in January,” Peloso said, “we will clean up corruption to make Washington work For The People.”

Zinke’s departure deals a serious blow to a political career over the past decade that began in the state senate and led to a coveted cabinet position.

Zinke is the most recent in a series of officials to depart the Trump administration under controversial circumstances. Friday evening, just hours before Trump announced Zinke’s departure, Trump named Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to replace retired Marine General John Kelly as White House Chief of Staff.

Kelly, like his predecessor Reince Priebus, found the position frustrating. Their authority was repeatedly undercut by the president and other top administration officials, especially presidential daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, both of whom hold senior positions in the West Wing.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, the architect of the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign to rewrite federal environmental regulations, resigned in July amid numerous ethics investigations into his activities.

Pruitt was not able to overcome allegations of excessive spending and unusually close relationships with lobbyists. Pruitt also was denounced for getting staff members to seek special favors for him and his family, including contacting Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy to help Pruitt’s wife open a franchise of the restaurant.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was forced out in September 2017 after federal investigators said he wasted at least $341,000 by charging taxpayers for his extravagant use of chartered jets and military aircraft.

Other high-profile departures include former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former Attorney General and U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, both of whom were fired by the president.
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Cameroon Frees English Speakers Accused of Separatist Activity

Posted on by SeeAF

More than 100 people in Cameroon, who had been arrested for attempting to create an English-speaking state, were freed Friday. President Paul Biya had ordered legal proceedings against them to be stopped a day earlier.

Security was tight at the Yaounde military tribunal where hundreds of English-speaking Cameroonians gathered Friday to watch the release of 120 detainees a day after President Paul Biya ordered that all legal proceedings against them be stopped. Another 169 are reportedly still held in several detention camps around the country.

Thirty-four-year-old Vincent Bouma was the first to regain his freedom after seven months. Bouma says he was arrested in the northwestern town of Bafut and taken to Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.

“I am very, very happy,” said Bouma. “I am going to tell the people that there is nothing wrong in the country and that our people who are in the bush, let them reason and come back.”

Thirty-six-year-old Rajali Adjara, from the English-speaking northwestern village of Sabga, says she traveled to Yaounde overnight, hoping her husband, elder brother and neighbor, arrested 17 months ago, were among the detainees released. Unfortunately, only her brother regained freedom. She says President Biya should have freed everyone.

“The best thing for him to do is to call for dialogue. He needs to dialogue with the people and release all the detainees involved in the crisis,” Adjara said. “We have seen him dialogue with Boko Haram fighters. He has even paid ransom. If he can do [the] same (dialogue) in the northwest and southwest, then I think, peace will return.”

Tatah Julius, whose father was released, says Biya’s initiative was not enough to bring peace.

“If he wants true peace to reign, remove these military who are shooting people on a daily basis,” Tatah said. “Remove them from our towns, our streets. Remove the military cars, armored cars that are walking the streets every day and then we know that yes, you are looking for a lasting and peaceful solution to this problem.”

The conflict that led to the arrest of 289 people began in 2016, when teachers and lawyers in Cameroon’s English-speaking region complained about discrimination by the French-speaking majority in education and the justice system. The government responded with a crackdown that led to a violent separatist movement to create an English-speaking state within Cameroon.

Ngaibe Philippe, one of the lawyers defending English-speaking detainees, says Biya should be tried for refusing to respect Cameroon’s laws and taking people charged with simple crimes to the military tribunal.

“How on Earth would you take a crisis of misdemeanor and they are judged in a military court,” Ngaibe said. “Now a majority like our president, Sisseko (Ayuk Tabe), fall under felonies. It means those ones are going to remain in jail while a minute number of 289 are released under misdemeanor. This is absolute nonsense and it is not going to change the face of the struggle in anyway.”

Cameroon’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, said those who have received the president’s pardon exclude convicts charged with terrorism, inciting violence and taking up weapons against the state. Such may face death penalties, he said.

 
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US Orders non-Emergency Staff Out of Congo Before Election

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. State Department said on Saturday it had ordered non-emergency government staff and family members of government employees to leave Democratic Republic of Congo a week before a presidential election that it fears could turn violent.

 
Campaigning for the long-delayed Dec. 23 poll to choose President Joseph Kabila’s successor had been mostly peaceful until this week, when security forces opened fire to disperse opposition gatherings, killing at least four people.

A fire in the capital Kinshasa also destroyed thousands of voting machines and ballot boxes early on Thursday morning, and Kabila’s ruling coalition and opposition candidates traded blame for the incident.

The State Department also said in an e-mailed advisory to citizens that it had “limited ability to provide emergency services” to U.S. citizens located outside Kinshasa, especially in the east and the central Kasai provinces.

The U.S. embassy in Kinshasa closed for a week last month over what it said was a possible terrorist threat. Two diplomats told Reuters the purported threat was related to the arrest of a cell of Tanzanian jihadists from a Ugandan Islamist group.

Britain advised its citizens on Wednesday against traveling to Congo, while the U.N. human rights chief on Friday called on Congolese authorities to halt violence and inflammatory speech ahead of the election.

Kabila, who succeeded his assassinated father in 2001, is due to step down after the election. His refusal to leave power when his mandate officially expired in 2016 sparked violent demonstrations in which security forces killed dozens of protesters.
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Ukraine to Establish Independent Orthodox Church

Posted on by SeeEU

Ukrainian Orthodox priests are holding a historic synod in Kyiv’s Saint Sophia’s Cathedral to establish a new national church, one that does not have ties to Russia.

The clergy gathering Saturday follows a landmark decision by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodoxy, to remove the Ukrainian Orthodox church from under the Moscow Patriarchate, which has overseen the Ukrainian branch for hundreds of years.   

The decision infuriated the Russian church, prompting it to cut all ties with Constantinople.

Relations between Ukraine and Russia have been strained since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, following a pro-Western uprising in Kiev.  

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is expected to attend Saturday’s meeting between representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.  The Moscow-loyal branch of the church says it will not attend the synod and denies being a tool of the Kremlin.

Before the meeting, Russian Patriarch Kirill asked Pope Francis, the United Nations and religious and world leaders to protect the faithful and the clergy from “persecution.”
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Russian Spy’s Guilty Plea Illustrates Danger Facing US

Posted on by SeeEU

Former top U.S. intelligence officials are warning the guilty plea by a former Russian graduate student and self-proclaimed gun-rights advocate should serve as a wake-up call about the Kremlin’s brazen desire and ability to interfere with the American political system.

Maria Butina, a 30-year-old native of Siberia, entered the plea Thursday in Washington, admitting she worked with a top Russian official, and two other Americans, to infiltrate U.S. conservative groups and the Republican Party for Russia’s benefit.

Her efforts, according to court documents, which included attending events hosted by the National Rifle Association gun-rights group and hosting so-called “friendship dinners,” were directed by Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russia’s central bank with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At one gathering in 2015, she even managed to ask President Donald Trump, a candidate at the time, about U.S.-Russian relations, prompting him to say he thought he would “get along very nicely” with President Putin.

“It certainly is yet more validation of the Intelligence Community Assessment,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told VOA via email, referring to the unclassified January 2017 report by the country’s top three intelligence agencies that concluded that Putin and the Russian government aspired to sway the election in Trump’s favor

Significance of plea

Clapper, who has been publicly critical of Trump since leaving office, said the Butina plea is most significant because it shows “the lengths to which the Russians went to meddle in the 2016 election.”

“It illustrates, as well, the astute understanding the Russians have of our political ecosystem; the fact that they singled out the NRA speaks to the death grip the NRA has on many of our politicians,” he added.

Other former intelligence officials said the details in Butina’s guilty plea put a spotlight on the Kremlin’s obsession with undermining the U.S. from within.

“The big picture takeaway is that Russia comes at the U.S. target with every option it can muster — full-fledged spies operating under some kind of cover, a corps of “Illegals” like the 10 expelled from the U.S. in 2010, and someone like Butina who is best seen as espionage ‘lite,’” said John McLaughlin, a former acting director of the CIA.

“In combination, these three techniques increase dramatically the possibility that Moscow will gain something — or someone — of intelligence value,” he warned.

​Plea agreement downplayed

A Kremlin spokesman Friday called the charges against Butina “absolutely groundless and invalid.”

And Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov downplayed the significance of the plea agreement.

“As far as I understand the whole idea of this plea agreement — this practice is typical for the U.S. — is to bargain for a chance to go free as soon as possible and to get back home,” he told reporters.

Plea deal unusual

Former U.S. officials admit a plea deal in a case like this is unusual and note that if she makes good on her promise to cooperate truthfully with prosecutors, it could help unravel and expose others who were part of Butina’s network, leading perhaps to more indictments and embarrassment for some organizations.

“It basically pulls the curtain back on the Kremlin’s broader objectives, to gain influence with the Republican Party and the right in America,” said Max Bergman, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and director of the Moscow Project, and who served in the State Department under President Barack Obama.

One of those coming under scrutiny is Paul Erickson, a U.S. political activist with extensive ties to the Republican Party who was romantically linked with Butina.

Erickson matches the description of “Person 1” in the statement offense provided by prosecutors. “Person 1” helped advise Butina on which politicians to target, according to the document.

Erickson’s lawyer, William Hurd, said in an email to the Reuters news agency, “Paul Erickson is a good American. He has done nothing to harm our country and never would.”

White House officials had no comment Friday on the Butina guilty plea.

Trump himself, while not having commented on Butina specifically, has repeatedly denied allegations he or his presidential campaign coordinated with Russia, calling the special counsel investigation by Robert Mueller a “witch hunt” and stating “NO COLLISION” on Twitter.

Russian efforts to meddle

U.S. intelligence agencies, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, also have not commented on the significance or impact of the Butina guilty plea, though many officials have warned Russia’s efforts to meddle in U.S. domestic politics have not stopped.

“We continue to see a pervasive message campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told reporters from the White House briefing room in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections this past November.

And in October, U.S. prosecutors unsealed charges against Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, described as the chief accountant for Russia’s multimillion-dollar information warfare operation to influence both the 2016 and 2018 elections.

While many of Khusyaynova’s social media efforts focused on conservative U.S. voters, some also targeted liberal voters and aimed to stir up anger, and even hatred, for Trump.

Officials and experts said as a result, it would be a mistake to assume there are no others like Butina out there who, rather than targeting Republicans and conservative groups, are looking to infiltrate liberal parties and organizations.

“The Russians don’t have a partisan agenda,” said the Moscow Project’s Bergman, pointing to a 2015 gala to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Russian-owned television outlet RT, during which Russia’s Putin sat at a table with former Trump adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

“Their agenda is for discord,” Bergman said.
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‘Yellow Jacket’ Protestors Demonstrate in Paris for 5th Straight Weekend

Posted on by SeeEU

Police fired tear gas to disperse “yellow vest” demonstrators who converged on central Paris Saturday for the fifth straight weekend to protest the high cost of living and their belief President Emmanuel Macron is out of touch with working people.

Scuffles erupted between protestors and police, who fired tear gas on demonstrators as they scurried down side streets of Paris’ famed Champs-Elysees boulevard.

Sixty people had been arrested in the capital by late Saturday morning, fewer than the 500 that had been detained at the same time last weekend, the local government said.

Some 8,000 police and 14 armored vehicles were deployed to prevent a repeat of previous protests that turned violent, with protestors looting stores and setting up burning barricades in the streets.

The protests, triggered by fuel tax hikes, have morphed into a movement about France’s high living costs, and has ballooned into the biggest crisis of Macron’s presidency.

The weeks of protests have exposed intense resentment among non-city residents who feel that Macron, a former investment banker, is out of touch with struggling middle-class and blue-collar workers.

Macron has since abandoned the fuel tax hikes and hopes a package of tax and minimum wage measures will help ease tensions in the country after a month of violent clashes.

Protesters, however, have made new demands to address other economic issues hurting workers, retirees and students.

Government officials are concerned that repeated outbreaks of violence would weaken the economy and raise doubts about the government’s survival.

Officials are also concerned about far-right, anarchist and anti-capitalist groups like Black Bloc that have mimicked the “yellow vest” movement.  

The “yellow vest” movement was named after the safety jackets French motorists are required to keep in their vehicles, which the protestors wear at demonstrations.
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House Condemns Iran’s Persecution of Baha’i Minority

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.S. Baha’i community has welcomed a resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives condemning Iran for “state-sponsored persecution” of minority Baha’is in the Islamic Republic.

The House resolution, which also condemns what it calls Iran’s “continued violation” of the International Covenants on Human Rights, passed without objection Wednesday.

The resolution urges President Donald Trump and the State Department to immediately issue a similar condemnation of Iran and demand the immediate release of prisoners held solely on account of their religion. It also urges the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Iranian officials and other individuals directly responsible for serious rights abuses, including abuses against Iranian Baha’is.

Baha’i statement

In a statement emailed to VOA Persian, U.S. Baha’i Office of Public Affairs Director Anthony Vance expressed gratitude to the House for reiterating its concern about rights abuses to which he said Iranian Baha’is are “unjustly subjected.” The Baha’i Office of Public Affairs represents the U.S. Baha’i community in its relationships with the U.S. government, media and public.

“In spite of extraordinary levels of (Iranian) state-sponsored hate propaganda against the Baha’is, as highlighted in the congressional resolution, we are greatly encouraged by reports of the fair-mindedness of the vast majority of Iran’s citizens,” Vance said. “(They) have come to realize in recent decades that their fellow Baha’i citizens are peaceful and seek only to contribute to the progress of their country.”

Iran considers its Baha’is to be heretics with no religion. Rights groups say authorities routinely arrest members of Iran’s estimated 300,000-strong Baha’i minority for expressing or practicing their beliefs.

Lawmaker’​s statement

U.S. Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch introduced the resolution condemning Iran’s treatment of Baha’is in April 2017.

After the resolution passed, Ros-Lehtinen issued a statement saying Iranian Baha’is are a “frequent target” of rights abuses by Iran’s Islamist leadership, who she said subjects them to arbitrary arrest and harassment, denial of employment, refusal to recognize marriages and destruction of cemeteries and holy places.

“By passing Ted’s and my resolution, Congress is sending a strong message of support to those suffering in Iran and making it clear that those responsible for this persecution will be held accountable,” she said.

A similar resolution won unanimous approval in the Senate on Dec. 21, 2017.

There was no immediate response from the Trump administration to the passage of the House resolution.

In May, the State Department said it was horrified by reports of Iranian government persecution of religious minorities. Its 2017 International Religious Freedom Report said Tehran continued to harass, interrogate and arrest Baha’is, Christians, Sunni Muslims and other religious minorities and to use anti-Semitic and anti-Baha’i rhetoric in official statements.

The report also said members of Iranian religious minorities, especially Baha’is, continued to face societal discrimination and harassment, with employers experiencing social pressures not to hire Baha’is or to dismiss them from their private-sector jobs.

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.
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Australia Recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital 

Posted on by SeeEA

Australia will recognize West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but will not immediately move its embassy from Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will also acknowledge the aspirations of Palestinians for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

If, in the future, Jerusalem’s status is finalized under a peace settlement, Australia says it could move its embassy then. In October, Morrison said he found arguments in favor of moving Australia’s diplomatic presence from Tel Aviv to be “persuasive.” He denied his comments were an attempt to influence Jewish voters in a crucial by-election in Sydney.

Trade deal

There was support from the Israeli government, but Palestinian leaders said Australia risked becoming an “international pariah.”

A major trade deal between Australia and neighboring Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, has also been jeopardized because of speculation Canberra could move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Palestinian leaders have also lobbied Arab and other states to stop buying Australian exports and withdraw their ambassadors from Canberra in the event of an embassy move.

The decision not to relocate the Australian embassy should ease some of that diplomatic pressure, according to Daniel Flitton, managing editor of the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter, a magazine produced by the Sydney-based think-tank.

“That really depends on the reaction from the rest of the world as to whether or not this issue continues to dog the government,” Flitton said. 

“There is a difference between when a United States makes this decision and the rest of the world reacts because the United States is a big power versus when Australia makes this decision, and there is a risk that some countries might choose to try and make Australia an example and to try and punish Australia as a consequence. That might mean that the issue stays live for the months ahead. But my suspicious is that the decision to change the recognition but not physically move the embassy will probably limit the consequences,” he added.

Australia is not US

Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been acknowledged internationally.

Last December, U.S. President Donald Trump overturned decades of U.S. neutrality when he recognized the divided city as Israel’s capital, prompting widespread condemnation. It led to the Palestinian Authority cutting off dialogue with Washington. At the time, the Trump administration said it was “strongly committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace” in the region.

The American embassy was moved from Tel Aviv in May.
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Challenges for US Seen in China-Pakistan Ties

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. diplomat who once steered Washington’s relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan says Islamabad’s growing closeness with Beijing could pose new challenges to already frail U.S.-Pakistan relations. 

 

Richard Olson was the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and was previously U.S. ambassador to Pakistan. In a Voice of America interview, he warned that growing rivalries between the United States and China were likely to complicate security and other issues in this already volatile region.

A contest between Washington and Beijing for dominance can frame the U.S.-Pakistan relationship and bring “new challenges,” Olson said.

Some of Pakistan’s policy elite share this view. Pakistan’s former foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, told VOA that Washington should not view regional issues through the lens of the U.S.-China rivalry that intensified this year.

“There is a tendency in Washington’s policy circle to view everything as part of the great game. Pakistan has already experienced this as a U.S. ally during the Cold War years against the then-Soviet Union, and that cooperation turned into a disaster for Pakistan. We are not ready to be part of this new great game,” Bashir said.

However, the U.S and China agree on some issues related to Afghanistan, believing that a stable Afghanistan could help economic development and regional integration for South and Central Asia.

Olson said China “would want to see Afghanistan included in its Belt and Road Initiative and somewhat aligned with CPEC  [the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor]. But the first step is to establish security and achieving a political settlement [with the Afghan Taliban].” 

He said Pakistan could play a significant role in that matter, because it has some sway over warring Taliban factions.

“If Pakistan can help bring the Taliban to the table, it would also dramatically improve its relations with Washington, which is pursuing a single-point agenda of striking a political settlement and achieving peace in Afghanistan,” Olson said.

However, he acknowledged that during 2018, the strategic divergence between Islamabad and Washington grew wider than ever.  The former ambassador said “there is still a window of opportunity available to Pakistan in terms of helping the U.S. secure peace in Afghanistan. And I don’t believe Pakistan can deliver the Taliban to the table. But they can definitely take certain initiatives to make that happen.” 
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