In this episode of Straight talk Africa host Shaka Ssali previews the upcoming Nigerian elections on February 16th. He is joined by VOA reporter Peter Clottey in Lagos, VOA Hausa reporter Hauwa Umar in Abuja and Alhaji Buba Galadima, Spokesman for the PDP, Presidential Council, also in Abuja. In Washington his guests are Sylvester Okere, President and CEO: United People for African Congress (UPAC) and Ogbeni Lanre Banjo, Former Gubernatorial Candidate Ogun State, south western Nigeria.
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Month: February 2019
Turkish-Chinese Tensions Escalate Over Uighurs
China has issued a travel warning to its residents visiting Turkey, in a move seen as targeting Turkey’s large tourism industry. The advisory is the latest escalation in bilateral tensions after Hami Aksoy, a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry, condemned China’s treatment of its Uighur minority.
In a statement, Aksoy said 1 million Uighurs have been arbitrarily detained and subjected to torture and brainwashing. Beijing swiftly shot back, calling the Turkish statement “vile.” Chinese officials called on Ankara to withdraw what they described as “false accusations.”
The northwest Xinjiang region of China, home to most of the country’s Uighurs, has been under heavy police surveillance after years of ethnic tensions that have sometimes exploded into violence.
The Chinese government calls its crackdown a counterterrorism effort.
In the past, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan advocated for the rights of Uighurs, who are ethnically related to modern-day Turks, and the country often received Uighurs seeking asylum. In recent years, however, analysts say booming trade with China became more of a priority for Erdogan and his government.
“They stopped talking about this burning issue, preferring an economic relationship with this giant country,” political scientist Cengiz Aktar said.
Erdogan is a conservative Muslim and has been increasingly positioning himself as a defender of global Muslim rights. The Turkish leader regularly condemns Burma’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims, and he is vocal in his support for the Palestinians.
Aktar said the growing international condemnation of Beijing over its treatment of Uighurs forced Ankara to speak out.
“The issue became universal, and there were reactions all over the world especially from non-Muslim countries. So, [Turkey] felt simply compelled to react to it,” he said.
Election politics also is a factor, with Erdogan’s AKP Party competing in hotly contested local polls next month. Analysts say backing the Uighurs will play well among religious, conservative voters.
Analysts expect Beijing to impose further economic sanctions on Ankara, meaning the price Turkey will pay for standing up for the Uighurs in China could be considerable.
…
Somalia Readies for Oil Exploration, Still Working on Petroleum Law
The Somali government says it will award exploration licenses to foreign oil companies later this year, despite calls from the opposition to wait until laws and regulations governing the oil sector are in place.
Seismic surveys conducted by two British companies, Soma Oil & Gas and Spectrum Geo, suggest that Somalia has promising oil reserves along the Indian Ocean coast, between the cities of Garad and Kismayo. Total offshore deposits could be as high as 100 billion barrels.
The government says it will accept bids for exploration licenses on November 7, and the winners will be informed immediately. It says production-sharing agreements will be signed on December 9, with the agreements going into effect on January 1, 2020.
“We have presented our wealth and resources to the companies,” Petroleum Minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed told the VOA Somali program Investigative Dossier. “We held a roadshow in London [last week], and we will hold two more in two major cities so that we turn the eyes of the world to contest Somalia.”
But several lawmakers have expressed concern the government is moving too quickly. Last week, the head of the National Resource committee in the Upper House of Parliament accused President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s government of a “lack of due diligence” and violating the constitution.
Barnaby Pace, an investigator for the NGO Global Witness, which exposes corruption and environmental abuses, says Somalia, after decades of internal conflict, does not have the legal and regulatory framework to handle oil deals and the problems they can cause, such as environmental abuses, corruption, and political fights over revenue.
“There is not a clear consensus about how the oil sector could be managed in Somalia,” he said. “And once Somalia makes deals like the one it’s proposing, it may be locked in for many years and find it difficult to renegotiate or change them to best protect itself.”
Former oil officials speak out
Somalia’s parliament passed a Petroleum Law to govern oil sector in 2008 when the country operated under a transitional charter. But constitutional experts say that law was nullified after a constitution was ratified in 2012.
A proposed new law is now before parliament for debate. The bill says negotiations for oil-related contracts will be the responsibility of the Somali Petroleum Agency, which would not be formed until the law is passed.
Ahmed said government’s timetable for awarding licenses is just “tentative,” though he believes the government can keep to its schedule.
But Somali lawmakers and opposition leaders are worried the government is in a needless rush.
Jamal Kassim Mursal was permanent secretary of the Somali Petroleum Ministry until last month when he resigned.
He says when the government came to power in 2017, the ministry was informed that bids for oil exploration licenses would not be considered until the Petroleum Law was passed and “we are ready with the knowledge and skills.”
Since then, he told VOA, “Nothing has changed — petroleum law is not passed, tax law is not ready, capacity has not changed, institutions have not been built.”
Abdirizak Omar Mohamed is the former petroleum minister who signed the 2013 seismic study agreement with Soma Oil & Gas.
Mohamed said the country needs political consensus and stability before oil drilling. He notes that a resource-sharing agreement between the federal government and Somali federal states has yet to be endorsed by the parliament.
“No company is going to start drilling without agreement with regions,” says Mohamed. “So why rush? It’s not good for the reputation of the country.”
Soma and Spectrum’s advantage
Mursal also objects to an agreement that gives first choice of oil exploration blocks to Soma Oil & Gas, one of the companies that conducted the seismic studies.
According to the agreement, Soma Oil & Gas will choose 12 blocks or 60,000 square kilometers to conduct oil exploration. Among these are two blocks believed to contain large oil reserves near the town of Barawe.
He says the government needs to renegotiate and offer just two blocks instead.
“This is the one that is causing the alarm,” he said. He predicts that if Soma Oil & Gas gets to choose 12 blocks, the company will “flip” some of the blocks to the highest bidder.
In 2015, Soma Oil & Gas was caught up in controversy after allegations of quid pro quo payments to the Somali Ministry of Petroleum. The payments were termed as “capacity building.” The following year, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office closed the case because it could not prove that corruption took place.
Somalia’s current prime minister, Hassan Ali Khaire, was working for Soma Oil & Gas at time. Somali officials say that since taking office, Khaire has “relinquished” his stake in the company, said to be more than 2 million shares.
The other company that conducted seismic surveys, Spectrum, also made payments to the Somali Ministry of Finance, according to Mursal.
Mursal told Investigative Dossier that between 2015 and 2017, Spectrum paid $450,000 every six months to the ministry.
A senior official who previously was involved in the Ministry of Petroleum told VOA that Spectrum paid $1.35 million in all. He said the payment was “consistent,” though, with the advice of the Financial Governance Committee, a body consisting on Somali and donors which gives financial advice to Somalia.
Spectrum has not yet responded to Investigative Dossier requests for an interview.
Current Petroleum Minister Ahmed said the government will do what is best for Somalia, but needs to have a law governing the oil sector in place.
“The parliament has the petroleum law,” he said. “Without it being passed, we can’t touch anything.”
your ad hereSomalia Readies for Oil Exploration, Still Working on Petroleum Law
The Somali government says it will award exploration licenses to foreign oil companies later this year, despite calls from the opposition to wait until laws and regulations governing the oil sector are in place.
Seismic surveys conducted by two British companies, Soma Oil & Gas and Spectrum Geo, suggest that Somalia has promising oil reserves along the Indian Ocean coast, between the cities of Garad and Kismayo. Total offshore deposits could be as high as 100 billion barrels.
The government says it will accept bids for exploration licenses on November 7, and the winners will be informed immediately. It says production-sharing agreements will be signed on December 9, with the agreements going into effect on January 1, 2020.
“We have presented our wealth and resources to the companies,” Petroleum Minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed told the VOA Somali program Investigative Dossier. “We held a roadshow in London [last week], and we will hold two more in two major cities so that we turn the eyes of the world to contest Somalia.”
But several lawmakers have expressed concern the government is moving too quickly. Last week, the head of the National Resource committee in the Upper House of Parliament accused President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s government of a “lack of due diligence” and violating the constitution.
Barnaby Pace, an investigator for the NGO Global Witness, which exposes corruption and environmental abuses, says Somalia, after decades of internal conflict, does not have the legal and regulatory framework to handle oil deals and the problems they can cause, such as environmental abuses, corruption, and political fights over revenue.
“There is not a clear consensus about how the oil sector could be managed in Somalia,” he said. “And once Somalia makes deals like the one it’s proposing, it may be locked in for many years and find it difficult to renegotiate or change them to best protect itself.”
Former oil officials speak out
Somalia’s parliament passed a Petroleum Law to govern oil sector in 2008 when the country operated under a transitional charter. But constitutional experts say that law was nullified after a constitution was ratified in 2012.
A proposed new law is now before parliament for debate. The bill says negotiations for oil-related contracts will be the responsibility of the Somali Petroleum Agency, which would not be formed until the law is passed.
Ahmed said government’s timetable for awarding licenses is just “tentative,” though he believes the government can keep to its schedule.
But Somali lawmakers and opposition leaders are worried the government is in a needless rush.
Jamal Kassim Mursal was permanent secretary of the Somali Petroleum Ministry until last month when he resigned.
He says when the government came to power in 2017, the ministry was informed that bids for oil exploration licenses would not be considered until the Petroleum Law was passed and “we are ready with the knowledge and skills.”
Since then, he told VOA, “Nothing has changed — petroleum law is not passed, tax law is not ready, capacity has not changed, institutions have not been built.”
Abdirizak Omar Mohamed is the former petroleum minister who signed the 2013 seismic study agreement with Soma Oil & Gas.
Mohamed said the country needs political consensus and stability before oil drilling. He notes that a resource-sharing agreement between the federal government and Somali federal states has yet to be endorsed by the parliament.
“No company is going to start drilling without agreement with regions,” says Mohamed. “So why rush? It’s not good for the reputation of the country.”
Soma and Spectrum’s advantage
Mursal also objects to an agreement that gives first choice of oil exploration blocks to Soma Oil & Gas, one of the companies that conducted the seismic studies.
According to the agreement, Soma Oil & Gas will choose 12 blocks or 60,000 square kilometers to conduct oil exploration. Among these are two blocks believed to contain large oil reserves near the town of Barawe.
He says the government needs to renegotiate and offer just two blocks instead.
“This is the one that is causing the alarm,” he said. He predicts that if Soma Oil & Gas gets to choose 12 blocks, the company will “flip” some of the blocks to the highest bidder.
In 2015, Soma Oil & Gas was caught up in controversy after allegations of quid pro quo payments to the Somali Ministry of Petroleum. The payments were termed as “capacity building.” The following year, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office closed the case because it could not prove that corruption took place.
Somalia’s current prime minister, Hassan Ali Khaire, was working for Soma Oil & Gas at time. Somali officials say that since taking office, Khaire has “relinquished” his stake in the company, said to be more than 2 million shares.
The other company that conducted seismic surveys, Spectrum, also made payments to the Somali Ministry of Finance, according to Mursal.
Mursal told Investigative Dossier that between 2015 and 2017, Spectrum paid $450,000 every six months to the ministry.
A senior official who previously was involved in the Ministry of Petroleum told VOA that Spectrum paid $1.35 million in all. He said the payment was “consistent,” though, with the advice of the Financial Governance Committee, a body consisting on Somali and donors which gives financial advice to Somalia.
Spectrum has not yet responded to Investigative Dossier requests for an interview.
Current Petroleum Minister Ahmed said the government will do what is best for Somalia, but needs to have a law governing the oil sector in place.
“The parliament has the petroleum law,” he said. “Without it being passed, we can’t touch anything.”
your ad hereIran’s Supreme Leader says Talks with US Can Only ‘Harm’
Iran’s supreme leader said Wednesday that negotiations with the U.S. “will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm” in remarks just ahead of an American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw that’s expected to largely focus on the Islamic Republic.
The comments from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were part of a seven-page statement read out word-for-word on Iranian state television and heavily promoted in the run-up to its release. They also come two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.
“About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm,” Khamenei said.
The supreme leader went on to describe any negotiations as an “unforgiveable mistake.” He also said negotiations would be like “going on your knees before the enemy and kissing the claws of the wolf.”
That tone is a long way from 2015, when Khamenei approved of talks between Iran and the United States that resulted in the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The deal saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
However, that deal came under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of tearing up the accord, withdrew the U.S. from the deal last May. In the time since, the United Nations says Iran has kept up its side of the bargain, though officials in Tehran have increasingly threatened to resume higher enrichment.
Amid the new tensions, Iran’s already-weakened economy has been further challenged. There have been sporadic protests in the country as well, incidents applauded by Trump amid Washington’s maximalist approach to Tehran.
However, some have suggested Iranian leaders meet with Trump in a summit, much like North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Amir Mousavi, a former Iranian diplomat, has claimed that Trump sent a message to President Hassan Rouhani last week requesting direct talks. Mousavi, speaking with Lebanese television station al-Mayadeen, said Trump is ready to visit Tehran and had sent several messages through intermediaries in Oman.
There has been no acknowledgment of such a request from Washington.
The Warsaw summit, which started Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation.
your ad hereIran’s Supreme Leader says Talks with US Can Only ‘Harm’
Iran’s supreme leader said Wednesday that negotiations with the U.S. “will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm” in remarks just ahead of an American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw that’s expected to largely focus on the Islamic Republic.
The comments from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were part of a seven-page statement read out word-for-word on Iranian state television and heavily promoted in the run-up to its release. They also come two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.
“About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm,” Khamenei said.
The supreme leader went on to describe any negotiations as an “unforgiveable mistake.” He also said negotiations would be like “going on your knees before the enemy and kissing the claws of the wolf.”
That tone is a long way from 2015, when Khamenei approved of talks between Iran and the United States that resulted in the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The deal saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
However, that deal came under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of tearing up the accord, withdrew the U.S. from the deal last May. In the time since, the United Nations says Iran has kept up its side of the bargain, though officials in Tehran have increasingly threatened to resume higher enrichment.
Amid the new tensions, Iran’s already-weakened economy has been further challenged. There have been sporadic protests in the country as well, incidents applauded by Trump amid Washington’s maximalist approach to Tehran.
However, some have suggested Iranian leaders meet with Trump in a summit, much like North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Amir Mousavi, a former Iranian diplomat, has claimed that Trump sent a message to President Hassan Rouhani last week requesting direct talks. Mousavi, speaking with Lebanese television station al-Mayadeen, said Trump is ready to visit Tehran and had sent several messages through intermediaries in Oman.
There has been no acknowledgment of such a request from Washington.
The Warsaw summit, which started Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation.
your ad hereUS, Poland Launch Mideast Conference Despite Uncertain Aims
The United States and Poland are kicking off an international conference on the Middle East on Wednesday amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver.
Initially it was billed by President Donald Trump’s administration as an Iran-focused meeting, but the organizers significantly broadened its scope to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State group, Syria and Yemen. The shift was designed in part to boost participation after some invitees balked at an Iran-centric event when many, particularly in Europe, are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last year’s U.S. withdrawal and re-imposition of sanctions in its self-described “maximum pressure campaign.”
Yet the agenda for the discussions contains no hint of any concrete action that might result beyond creating “follow-on working groups,” and many of the roughly 60 countries participating will be represented at levels lower than foreign minister.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will attend along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from numerous Arab nations, France and Germany are not sending cabinet-ranked officials, and E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.
Russia and China are not participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent. Iran, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution this week, has denounced the meeting as a “circus.”
Pompeo predicted that the conference will “deliver really good outcomes” and played down the impact of lower-level participation. He told reporters in Slovakia on Tuesday that this “is going to be a serious concrete discussion about a broad range of topics that range from counterterrorism to the malign influence that Iran has played in the Middle East towards its instability.”
According to the agenda, Pence will address the conference on a range of Mideast regional issues, Pompeo will talk about U.S. plans in Syria following Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops and Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner will speak about his as-yet unveiled Middle East peace plan.
“We think we will make real progress,” Pompeo said. “We think there’ll be dozens of nations there seriously working towards a better, more stable Middle East, and I’m hoping by the time we leave on Thursday we’ll have achieved that.”
He did not, however, offer any details about specific outcomes.
Pompeo’s co-host for the conference, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, also steered clear of describing potential results. And, he made note of differences between the United States and Europe over the Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, that also exist among Washington and Warsaw.
“Poland is a part of the E.U., and hence we are of the opinion and we accept the policy of JCPOA,” Czaputowicz told a joint news conference with Pompeo on the eve of the conference. “We consider this to be a valuable element on the international arena.”
In a joint opinion piece published Wednesday by CNN, Pompeo and Czaputowicz said they did not expect all participants to agree on policies or outcomes but called for an airing of unscripted and candid ideas.
“We expect each nation to express opinions that reflect its own interests,” they wrote. “Disagreements in one area should not prohibit unity in others.”
In fact, three of America’s main European allies, Britain, France and Germany, have unveiled a new financial mechanism that the Trump administration believes may be designed to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is attending the Warsaw conference, but his main interest is in a side meeting on the conflict in Yemen, according to diplomats familiar with the planning.
Since Pompeo first announced the conference as a vehicle to combat increasing Iranian assertiveness during a Mideast tour in January, he has steadily sought to widen the program’s focus with limited success. Despite his efforts, Iran is still expected to be a major, if not the primary, topic of discussion, notably its nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile program, threats to Israel and support for Shiite rebels in Yemen and Bashar Assad’s government in Syria.
On his way to Warsaw, Netanyahu made clear he believed the conference is centered on Iran.
“The focus is Iran,” he told reporters. “Iran threatens us on the 40th anniversary of the revolution. They threatened to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, and I said that they would not succeed, but if they try then I repeat that this will be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate, this regime.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly denied allegations that it is seeking regime change in Iran. And yet, mixed messages continue to come from Washington.
Earlier this week, Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton released a short video on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution in which he called Iran “the central banker of international terrorism” and accused it of pursuing nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them and of “tyrannizing its own people and terrorizing the world.” The video ended with a not-so-veiled threat to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: “I don’t think you’ll have many more anniversaries to enjoy,” Bolton said.
Such rhetoric has prompted criticism from Europe and elsewhere but also from Obama administration veterans who have vocally opposed Trump’s attempts to wreck the nuclear deal, which was one of their signature foreign policy achievements. One group of former Obama officials, National Security Action, said the Warsaw conference was little more than an “anti-Iran pep rally” that underscored Trump’s isolation.
“We expect to see again this week an American approach to Iran that will showcase our alienation,” it said in a statement. “More than merely embarrassing, the administration’s stated ‘maximum pressure’ approach is incoherent, as America lacks allies willing to support such a strategy. Not a single E.U. country has endorsed pulling out of the Iran deal, unsurprising given that the Trump administration’s own intelligence chiefs testified earlier this month that Iran remains in compliance.”
your ad hereUS, Poland Launch Mideast Conference Despite Uncertain Aims
The United States and Poland are kicking off an international conference on the Middle East on Wednesday amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver.
Initially it was billed by President Donald Trump’s administration as an Iran-focused meeting, but the organizers significantly broadened its scope to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State group, Syria and Yemen. The shift was designed in part to boost participation after some invitees balked at an Iran-centric event when many, particularly in Europe, are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last year’s U.S. withdrawal and re-imposition of sanctions in its self-described “maximum pressure campaign.”
Yet the agenda for the discussions contains no hint of any concrete action that might result beyond creating “follow-on working groups,” and many of the roughly 60 countries participating will be represented at levels lower than foreign minister.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will attend along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from numerous Arab nations, France and Germany are not sending cabinet-ranked officials, and E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.
Russia and China are not participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent. Iran, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution this week, has denounced the meeting as a “circus.”
Pompeo predicted that the conference will “deliver really good outcomes” and played down the impact of lower-level participation. He told reporters in Slovakia on Tuesday that this “is going to be a serious concrete discussion about a broad range of topics that range from counterterrorism to the malign influence that Iran has played in the Middle East towards its instability.”
According to the agenda, Pence will address the conference on a range of Mideast regional issues, Pompeo will talk about U.S. plans in Syria following Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops and Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner will speak about his as-yet unveiled Middle East peace plan.
“We think we will make real progress,” Pompeo said. “We think there’ll be dozens of nations there seriously working towards a better, more stable Middle East, and I’m hoping by the time we leave on Thursday we’ll have achieved that.”
He did not, however, offer any details about specific outcomes.
Pompeo’s co-host for the conference, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, also steered clear of describing potential results. And, he made note of differences between the United States and Europe over the Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, that also exist among Washington and Warsaw.
“Poland is a part of the E.U., and hence we are of the opinion and we accept the policy of JCPOA,” Czaputowicz told a joint news conference with Pompeo on the eve of the conference. “We consider this to be a valuable element on the international arena.”
In a joint opinion piece published Wednesday by CNN, Pompeo and Czaputowicz said they did not expect all participants to agree on policies or outcomes but called for an airing of unscripted and candid ideas.
“We expect each nation to express opinions that reflect its own interests,” they wrote. “Disagreements in one area should not prohibit unity in others.”
In fact, three of America’s main European allies, Britain, France and Germany, have unveiled a new financial mechanism that the Trump administration believes may be designed to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is attending the Warsaw conference, but his main interest is in a side meeting on the conflict in Yemen, according to diplomats familiar with the planning.
Since Pompeo first announced the conference as a vehicle to combat increasing Iranian assertiveness during a Mideast tour in January, he has steadily sought to widen the program’s focus with limited success. Despite his efforts, Iran is still expected to be a major, if not the primary, topic of discussion, notably its nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile program, threats to Israel and support for Shiite rebels in Yemen and Bashar Assad’s government in Syria.
On his way to Warsaw, Netanyahu made clear he believed the conference is centered on Iran.
“The focus is Iran,” he told reporters. “Iran threatens us on the 40th anniversary of the revolution. They threatened to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, and I said that they would not succeed, but if they try then I repeat that this will be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate, this regime.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly denied allegations that it is seeking regime change in Iran. And yet, mixed messages continue to come from Washington.
Earlier this week, Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton released a short video on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution in which he called Iran “the central banker of international terrorism” and accused it of pursuing nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them and of “tyrannizing its own people and terrorizing the world.” The video ended with a not-so-veiled threat to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: “I don’t think you’ll have many more anniversaries to enjoy,” Bolton said.
Such rhetoric has prompted criticism from Europe and elsewhere but also from Obama administration veterans who have vocally opposed Trump’s attempts to wreck the nuclear deal, which was one of their signature foreign policy achievements. One group of former Obama officials, National Security Action, said the Warsaw conference was little more than an “anti-Iran pep rally” that underscored Trump’s isolation.
“We expect to see again this week an American approach to Iran that will showcase our alienation,” it said in a statement. “More than merely embarrassing, the administration’s stated ‘maximum pressure’ approach is incoherent, as America lacks allies willing to support such a strategy. Not a single E.U. country has endorsed pulling out of the Iran deal, unsurprising given that the Trump administration’s own intelligence chiefs testified earlier this month that Iran remains in compliance.”
your ad hereParkland Anniversary Highlights Democratic Shift on Guns
In the final weeks before the 2008 election, Barack Obama’s campaign sent mailers to Florida voters reassuring them that he supported the Second Amendment. In the opening days of the 2020 Democratic primary, it’s hard to imagine any candidate feeling the need to make a similar gesture.
“Guns are no longer the third rail,” said Steve Schale, a political operative who ran Obama’s Florida campaign in 2008. “Ten to 12 years ago, Democrats had to – for political necessity – be really careful about how they talked about it. Now, if you don’t talk about it, you’re not part of the political conversation.”
Democrats are increasingly emboldened to embrace gun control as the anniversary of America’s deadliest mass shooting at a high school approaches on Thursday. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 students and staff members and roused a group of young activists who sought to make gun violence a generational issue for younger voters.
Since then, Democrats say they’re buoyed by their success in last year’s midterms. The party won back the House of Representatives, fueled by victories in several competitive, suburban swing districts where candidates highlighted gun control.
Lucy McBath, who became a gun control activist after her 17-year-old son was shot to death at a gas station in 2012, won a suburban Atlanta congressional district that had long been held by the GOP. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger, ousted the Republican congressman and gun rights supporter who represented the district where the Aurora theater shooting happened outside Denver in 2012. Even in Republican-dominated Texas, backing gun control didn’t stop Democrats from flipping a suburban Houston seat to their column.
AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of the American electorate, found 8 percent of midterm voters across the country called gun policy the top issue facing the nation. They broke for Democrats over Republicans by more than 4 to 1.
“The primary thing that’s shifted in the politics of this issue is voter intensity was on their side. It’s now on ours,” said Peter Ambler, executive director of the gun control group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords after she was injured in a 2011 mass shooting.
Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, said Tuesday that he would run as a Democrat for Arizona’s Senate seat next year, suggesting that gun control won’t soon fade from the campaign trail.
Democratic bullishness on guns is reflected by the unanimity in its sprawling presidential field on the issue. Presidential aspirants who once took a more moderate stance and opposed elements of gun control, such as Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have now embraced the cause. And the most prominent potential moderates in the Democratic field, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Joe Biden, are longtime gun control advocates.
But there’s no guarantee the Democrats’ leftward turn on guns will help them recreate their 2018 victory during the 2020 presidential election, which will take place on different terrain than the diverse, educated suburbs where Democrats performed best in in November. Democrats will have to win more rural, whiter states to defeat Republican Donald Trump in the Electoral College in 2020. Florida will again play a crucial role, and Democrats lost major races there last year despite being the location of the Parkland shooting.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton ran on a platform of unabashed gun control – partly a product of attacking Sanders for his more conservative gun control positions in the Democratic presidential primary. Trump accused her of trying to do away with the Second Amendment and warned she might appoint Supreme Court justices with that goal. Republicans believe that’s part of the reason Trump eked out his 2016 win.
“The threat of a Hillary Clinton presidency brought gun owners out of the woodwork in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,” said Dave Workman, a longtime gun rights activist at the Second Amendment Foundation in Washington state. Gun owners “may not like everything about Trump, but they sure don’t want him replaced by Kamala Harris or Cory Booker,” Workman added, referring to the California and New Jersey senators running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
So far, Democrats like Booker and Harris routinely allude to problems of gun violence but have not released detailed plans to control it. The candidates may soon find themselves in a bidding war for the Democratic base on the issue, much as they have been tugged left on taxes and universal health care.
“They’re going to go too far,” Brad Todd, a Republican strategist, said.
Still, Democrats think the tide has turned since 2016. Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said Trump was able to win then because many female suburban swing voters didn’t believe he would really govern as a conservative president on hot-button issues like guns. Now, she said, they have no illusions.
“The victory for Democrats is going to come from the enthusiasm of women,” Lake said. “Parkland is a breakthrough moment that we need to take advantage of.”
Despite Democratic losses in Florida last year, there was a silver lining to party faithful on guns. In the weeks after Parkland, the GOP-controlled Florida legislature passed a bill allowing authorities to seize firearms from people deemed a threat, as well as implementing a three-day waiting period on gun purchases. It was the first gun control bill passed in Florida in decades, and it was signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, who highlighted it in his successful Republican Senate campaign.
Schale, who advised Parkland students and families who helped push the legislation, acknowledged that the gun issue could accentuate the divides that helped Trump win in 2016. But he believes the Democratic side is bigger.
“There’s a risk that Republicans could be out of the mainstream” on guns, Schale said.
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Parkland Anniversary Highlights Democratic Shift on Guns
In the final weeks before the 2008 election, Barack Obama’s campaign sent mailers to Florida voters reassuring them that he supported the Second Amendment. In the opening days of the 2020 Democratic primary, it’s hard to imagine any candidate feeling the need to make a similar gesture.
“Guns are no longer the third rail,” said Steve Schale, a political operative who ran Obama’s Florida campaign in 2008. “Ten to 12 years ago, Democrats had to – for political necessity – be really careful about how they talked about it. Now, if you don’t talk about it, you’re not part of the political conversation.”
Democrats are increasingly emboldened to embrace gun control as the anniversary of America’s deadliest mass shooting at a high school approaches on Thursday. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 students and staff members and roused a group of young activists who sought to make gun violence a generational issue for younger voters.
Since then, Democrats say they’re buoyed by their success in last year’s midterms. The party won back the House of Representatives, fueled by victories in several competitive, suburban swing districts where candidates highlighted gun control.
Lucy McBath, who became a gun control activist after her 17-year-old son was shot to death at a gas station in 2012, won a suburban Atlanta congressional district that had long been held by the GOP. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger, ousted the Republican congressman and gun rights supporter who represented the district where the Aurora theater shooting happened outside Denver in 2012. Even in Republican-dominated Texas, backing gun control didn’t stop Democrats from flipping a suburban Houston seat to their column.
AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of the American electorate, found 8 percent of midterm voters across the country called gun policy the top issue facing the nation. They broke for Democrats over Republicans by more than 4 to 1.
“The primary thing that’s shifted in the politics of this issue is voter intensity was on their side. It’s now on ours,” said Peter Ambler, executive director of the gun control group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords after she was injured in a 2011 mass shooting.
Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, said Tuesday that he would run as a Democrat for Arizona’s Senate seat next year, suggesting that gun control won’t soon fade from the campaign trail.
Democratic bullishness on guns is reflected by the unanimity in its sprawling presidential field on the issue. Presidential aspirants who once took a more moderate stance and opposed elements of gun control, such as Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have now embraced the cause. And the most prominent potential moderates in the Democratic field, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Joe Biden, are longtime gun control advocates.
But there’s no guarantee the Democrats’ leftward turn on guns will help them recreate their 2018 victory during the 2020 presidential election, which will take place on different terrain than the diverse, educated suburbs where Democrats performed best in in November. Democrats will have to win more rural, whiter states to defeat Republican Donald Trump in the Electoral College in 2020. Florida will again play a crucial role, and Democrats lost major races there last year despite being the location of the Parkland shooting.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton ran on a platform of unabashed gun control – partly a product of attacking Sanders for his more conservative gun control positions in the Democratic presidential primary. Trump accused her of trying to do away with the Second Amendment and warned she might appoint Supreme Court justices with that goal. Republicans believe that’s part of the reason Trump eked out his 2016 win.
“The threat of a Hillary Clinton presidency brought gun owners out of the woodwork in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,” said Dave Workman, a longtime gun rights activist at the Second Amendment Foundation in Washington state. Gun owners “may not like everything about Trump, but they sure don’t want him replaced by Kamala Harris or Cory Booker,” Workman added, referring to the California and New Jersey senators running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
So far, Democrats like Booker and Harris routinely allude to problems of gun violence but have not released detailed plans to control it. The candidates may soon find themselves in a bidding war for the Democratic base on the issue, much as they have been tugged left on taxes and universal health care.
“They’re going to go too far,” Brad Todd, a Republican strategist, said.
Still, Democrats think the tide has turned since 2016. Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said Trump was able to win then because many female suburban swing voters didn’t believe he would really govern as a conservative president on hot-button issues like guns. Now, she said, they have no illusions.
“The victory for Democrats is going to come from the enthusiasm of women,” Lake said. “Parkland is a breakthrough moment that we need to take advantage of.”
Despite Democratic losses in Florida last year, there was a silver lining to party faithful on guns. In the weeks after Parkland, the GOP-controlled Florida legislature passed a bill allowing authorities to seize firearms from people deemed a threat, as well as implementing a three-day waiting period on gun purchases. It was the first gun control bill passed in Florida in decades, and it was signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, who highlighted it in his successful Republican Senate campaign.
Schale, who advised Parkland students and families who helped push the legislation, acknowledged that the gun issue could accentuate the divides that helped Trump win in 2016. But he believes the Democratic side is bigger.
“There’s a risk that Republicans could be out of the mainstream” on guns, Schale said.
…
Forced Evictions, Discrimination Continue to Afflict Bulgaria’s Roma
On a cold day in January, Ivanka Angelova was at home with her daughter and four grandchildren when the village mayor arrived and advised them to leave.
Two neighbors – brothers aged 17 and 21 – were accused of beating up a local resident. The victim, a soldier, had been hospitalized.
Angelova, who like the brothers is from Bulgaria’s minority Roma community, said the mayor told her that villagers were out for revenge. He was concerned her family might be attacked.
She and most of the 76-strong Roma community fled Voyvodinovo village that evening, Jan. 6, and headed 10 kilometers to Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city.
“We were spread all over the place like a broken egg,” said Angelova, a widow, wiping away tears.
Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007 and is its poorest member, has one of the bloc’s largest Roma minorities.
As in other EU countries, many Roma live on the fringes of society and struggle for work – with those in small settlements facing legal problems when it comes to land ownership, says the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), a human rights group.
After Angelova and her family fled, the authorities started to demolish the cluster of 17 small homes at the village’s edge.
When the Thomson Reuters Foundation visited three days later, three houses had been destroyed and several others damaged.
Notices were pasted to the other homes to notify residents that theirs would be demolished too.
No Title, Few Rights
According to the 2011 census, there were 325,000 Roma people comprising about 5 percent of Bulgaria’s 7.3 million people. The European Commission, however, estimates there are more than twice as many Roma – about 750,000 people.
In the week following the assault on the local resident, nationalist and far-right groups held nightly gatherings in Voyvodinovo.
And at a Jan. 8 press conference, Krasimir Karakachanov – the deputy prime minister and head of the nationalist VRMO party – referred to the incident when he said “gypsies … have grown exceedingly insolent.”
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the BHC expressed “grave concern about multiplying cases of racist hate speech from Bulgarian government officials and frequent collective punishments for Roma communities.”
The BHC said the local authorities’ treatment in this case mirrored “many similar cases” of forced evictions of “illegal Roma settlements without providing adequate alternative housing, leaving those people homeless.”
Election Links
Other rights groups are also concerned about how the Roma people are treated in Bulgaria.
The Equal Opportunities Initiative Association (EOIA), which works on Roma development and rights issues, said in a 2017 study that one in four Roma homes were “illegal” – lacking land title, building permits or both. It noted other researchers had put the figure far higher.
Between 2012-2016, the EOIA said, information provided by three in every five municipalities revealed that 399 out of 444 housing demolition orders affected the sole residences of Roma families.
Daniela Mihaylova, a lawyer who co-authored the report, said in an interview that the data showed a correlation between the timing of elections and the number of demolition orders carried out – with nationalist parties using “the general anti-Roma trend in society to motivate more voters.”
Such targeting of the Roma by the right-wing alliance of United Patriots were “part of a strategy of distraction” and a way to deflect attention from corruption scandals, said Ognyan Isaev, country facilitator for The Roma Education Fund, and a Roma rights activist.
Retaliation
BHC chairman Krassimir Kanev said he was shocked that residents were chased from their homes in sub-zero temperatures, and that the demolitions were hastily carried out without allowing time for residents to gather their belongings.
He said Bulgarian law required residents be given notice, time to prepare an appeal, and the right to demolish their own homes and salvage the materials.
He said the BHC had helped residents appeal the removal orders. In the meantime, the municipality was forced to stop demolishing homes until the court considers the appeal. That could take weeks, he said.
In a case brought by the BHC to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the court ruled in 2012 that in seeking to evict Roma from a community in the capital Sofia, the Bulgarian authorities had violated one’s “right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”
Kanev said the ECHR recognized that “you cannot evict people on an arbitrary basis leaving them without any shelter.”
In 2015, the ECHR called on the Bulgarian authorities to halt forced evictions of Roma families or provide them with alternative housing, the Open Society noted at the time.
However, they have repeatedly failed to do so, said Kanev.
Meanwhile, he added, a number of other cases brought by Roma are pending adjudication at the ECHR.
‘Nowhere to Go’
Angelova said she had lived in her home since childhood.
But, said the mayor of Voyvodinovo, Dimitar Tosev – a former police chief – the land belonged to the municipality, and the Roma families had been warned they would have to move.
And, he added, villagers had demanded the municipality solve what they regarded as a long-standing problem.
“There have been a lot of issues – issues like integration,” he said.
“(Villagers) wanted to see action from the municipality,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that the Roma had been left alone until the fight sparked outrage, and he felt compelled to act.
Those whose homes had been demolished, he said, “have places to go, and they will go where they should go.”
In Angelova’s case, she headed to Plovdiv’s Stolipinovo district, where 50,000 people inhabit densely-packed apartment blocks and small houses.
She and her family are staying at a friend’s apartment that is now crowded with 18 people.
In the village, she said, she and her Roma neighbors worked on an occasional basis earning 2.50 Bulgarian levs ($1.45) an hour harvesting crops. There she had a home and a life.
“(Now) we have nowhere to go, we have no work and no money … I don’t know how I will survive,” she said.
…
Forced Evictions, Discrimination Continue to Afflict Bulgaria’s Roma
On a cold day in January, Ivanka Angelova was at home with her daughter and four grandchildren when the village mayor arrived and advised them to leave.
Two neighbors – brothers aged 17 and 21 – were accused of beating up a local resident. The victim, a soldier, had been hospitalized.
Angelova, who like the brothers is from Bulgaria’s minority Roma community, said the mayor told her that villagers were out for revenge. He was concerned her family might be attacked.
She and most of the 76-strong Roma community fled Voyvodinovo village that evening, Jan. 6, and headed 10 kilometers to Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city.
“We were spread all over the place like a broken egg,” said Angelova, a widow, wiping away tears.
Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007 and is its poorest member, has one of the bloc’s largest Roma minorities.
As in other EU countries, many Roma live on the fringes of society and struggle for work – with those in small settlements facing legal problems when it comes to land ownership, says the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), a human rights group.
After Angelova and her family fled, the authorities started to demolish the cluster of 17 small homes at the village’s edge.
When the Thomson Reuters Foundation visited three days later, three houses had been destroyed and several others damaged.
Notices were pasted to the other homes to notify residents that theirs would be demolished too.
No Title, Few Rights
According to the 2011 census, there were 325,000 Roma people comprising about 5 percent of Bulgaria’s 7.3 million people. The European Commission, however, estimates there are more than twice as many Roma – about 750,000 people.
In the week following the assault on the local resident, nationalist and far-right groups held nightly gatherings in Voyvodinovo.
And at a Jan. 8 press conference, Krasimir Karakachanov – the deputy prime minister and head of the nationalist VRMO party – referred to the incident when he said “gypsies … have grown exceedingly insolent.”
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the BHC expressed “grave concern about multiplying cases of racist hate speech from Bulgarian government officials and frequent collective punishments for Roma communities.”
The BHC said the local authorities’ treatment in this case mirrored “many similar cases” of forced evictions of “illegal Roma settlements without providing adequate alternative housing, leaving those people homeless.”
Election Links
Other rights groups are also concerned about how the Roma people are treated in Bulgaria.
The Equal Opportunities Initiative Association (EOIA), which works on Roma development and rights issues, said in a 2017 study that one in four Roma homes were “illegal” – lacking land title, building permits or both. It noted other researchers had put the figure far higher.
Between 2012-2016, the EOIA said, information provided by three in every five municipalities revealed that 399 out of 444 housing demolition orders affected the sole residences of Roma families.
Daniela Mihaylova, a lawyer who co-authored the report, said in an interview that the data showed a correlation between the timing of elections and the number of demolition orders carried out – with nationalist parties using “the general anti-Roma trend in society to motivate more voters.”
Such targeting of the Roma by the right-wing alliance of United Patriots were “part of a strategy of distraction” and a way to deflect attention from corruption scandals, said Ognyan Isaev, country facilitator for The Roma Education Fund, and a Roma rights activist.
Retaliation
BHC chairman Krassimir Kanev said he was shocked that residents were chased from their homes in sub-zero temperatures, and that the demolitions were hastily carried out without allowing time for residents to gather their belongings.
He said Bulgarian law required residents be given notice, time to prepare an appeal, and the right to demolish their own homes and salvage the materials.
He said the BHC had helped residents appeal the removal orders. In the meantime, the municipality was forced to stop demolishing homes until the court considers the appeal. That could take weeks, he said.
In a case brought by the BHC to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the court ruled in 2012 that in seeking to evict Roma from a community in the capital Sofia, the Bulgarian authorities had violated one’s “right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”
Kanev said the ECHR recognized that “you cannot evict people on an arbitrary basis leaving them without any shelter.”
In 2015, the ECHR called on the Bulgarian authorities to halt forced evictions of Roma families or provide them with alternative housing, the Open Society noted at the time.
However, they have repeatedly failed to do so, said Kanev.
Meanwhile, he added, a number of other cases brought by Roma are pending adjudication at the ECHR.
‘Nowhere to Go’
Angelova said she had lived in her home since childhood.
But, said the mayor of Voyvodinovo, Dimitar Tosev – a former police chief – the land belonged to the municipality, and the Roma families had been warned they would have to move.
And, he added, villagers had demanded the municipality solve what they regarded as a long-standing problem.
“There have been a lot of issues – issues like integration,” he said.
“(Villagers) wanted to see action from the municipality,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that the Roma had been left alone until the fight sparked outrage, and he felt compelled to act.
Those whose homes had been demolished, he said, “have places to go, and they will go where they should go.”
In Angelova’s case, she headed to Plovdiv’s Stolipinovo district, where 50,000 people inhabit densely-packed apartment blocks and small houses.
She and her family are staying at a friend’s apartment that is now crowded with 18 people.
In the village, she said, she and her Roma neighbors worked on an occasional basis earning 2.50 Bulgarian levs ($1.45) an hour harvesting crops. There she had a home and a life.
“(Now) we have nowhere to go, we have no work and no money … I don’t know how I will survive,” she said.
…
Acting US Defense Secretary Visits Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan
Less than two months after being named acting U.S. defense secretary, Pat Shanahan made his first overseas trip this week, focusing on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the details.
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Acting US Defense Secretary Visits Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan
Less than two months after being named acting U.S. defense secretary, Pat Shanahan made his first overseas trip this week, focusing on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the details.
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Supporters Renew Push for Nationwide Paid Family Leave in US
Democrats pushed on Tuesday for a nationwide paid family leave system in the United States, the only developed nation that does not guarantee pay to workers taking time off to care for children or other relatives.
The proposal would establish a national insurance program to provide workers with up to 12 weeks paid leave per year for the birth of a child, adoption or to care for a seriously ill family member.
The lack of paid family leave takes a particular toll on women who tend to care for children and aging relatives, and the proposed Family Act would bring national policy in line with other countries, supporters say.
The United States is one of only five nations that have no guaranteed paid maternity leave, the other four being Lesotho, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, according to the World Policy Analysis Center, a research group at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Family leave legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress in previous years but been unsuccessful.
Now, with Democrats controlling the lower House of Representatives and a record 127 women in the House and Senate, it could have a fighting chance, said Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a sponsor of the bill.
“Now we have a majority. We have a real shot at getting this passed, and I am so optimistic we can get this done,” said Gillibrand in a statement.
Gillibrand recently announced her intention to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. Guaranteed paid leave exists in a handful of states but not on the national level.
President Donald Trump has voiced support for six weeks of paid leave but his proposal does not cover care for sick family members.
Opponents say paid leave could be too costly for small businesses to shoulder. Supporters of the Family Act say it could be funded through paycheck deductions at an average weekly cost of $1.50 to workers.
“It’s shameful that America has lagged behind for so long on paid maternity leave,” Toni Van Pelt, head of the National Organization for Women, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Center for American Progress, a Washington-based policy institute, estimates more than $20 billion in U.S. wages are lost each year due to workers lacking access to paid family and medical leave.
One in every four U.S. mothers returns to work 10 days after giving birth, according to Paid Leave for the United States, a group promoting family leave.
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US Senate Backs Major Public Lands, Conservation Bill
The Senate on Tuesday approved a major public lands bill that revives a popular conservation program, adds 1.3 million acres of new wilderness, expands several national parks and creates four new national monuments.
The measure, the largest public lands bill considered by Congress in a decade, combines more than 100 separate bills that designate more than 350 miles of river as wild and scenic, add 2,600 miles of new federal trails and create nearly 700,000 acres of new recreation and conservation areas. The bill also withdraws 370,000 acres in Montana and Washington state from mineral development.
The Senate approved the bill, 92-8, sending it to the House.
Lawmakers from both parties said the bill’s most important provision was to permanently reauthorize the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports conservation and outdoor recreation projects across the country. The program expired last fall after Congress could not agree on language to extend it.
“The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been a pre-eminent program for access to public lands” for more than 50 years, said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. The program has supported more than 42,000 state and local projects throughout the U.S. since its creation in 1964.
The hodgepodge bill offered something for nearly everyone, with projects stretching across the country.
Even so, the bill was derailed last year after Republican Sen. Mike Lee objected, saying he wanted to exempt his home state of Utah from a law that allows the president to designate federal lands as a national monument protected from development.
Lee’s objection during a heated Senate debate in December forced lawmakers to start over in the new Congress, culminating in Tuesday’s Senate vote.
Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican who clashed with Lee on the Senate floor, said the vote caps four years of work to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund and protect public lands.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the bill enhances use of public lands and water, while promoting conservation and sporting activities such as hunting and fishing.
The bill includes provisions sponsored by more than half of the senators, Murkowski said, applauding a “very, very collaborative” process.
She and other senators called the Land and Water Conservation Fund one of the most popular and effective programs Congress has ever created.
The program uses federal royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling to fund conservation and public recreation projects around the country. The fund is authorized to collect $900 million a year but generally receives less than half that amount from Congress.
“This victory was a long time in the making, and it is the result of the steadfast efforts of many who care deeply about America’s natural treasures,” said Sen Richard Burr, R-N.C. “Protecting this program is the right thing to do for our children, grandchildren and countless generations so that they may come to enjoy the great American outdoors as we have.”
The bill creates three new national monuments to be administered by the National Park Service and a fourth monument overseen by the Forest Service. The three park service monuments are the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Mississippi and the Mill Springs and Camp Nelson national monuments in Kentucky.
The Evers site was the home of the slain civil rights leader, while Mill Springs commemorates a Civil War battlefield. Camp Nelson was used as Union Army hospital and recruiting center during the Civil War. President Donald Trump proclaimed Camp Nelson a national monument last year, but the bill gives it permanent, congressionally approved protection.
The bill also designates the former Saint Francis Dam site in California as a national memorial and monument. The dam outside Los Angeles collapsed in 1928, killing 431 people in one of the largest tragedies in California history.
“While this monument will serve as a reminder of the consequences of a failure of infrastructure, it offers a lesson going forward,” said Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
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UN: 2015 Peace Accord for Ukraine’s East Not Implemented
A 2015 agreement to bring peace to Ukraine’s volatile east remains largely unimplemented and civilians are paying the highest price, with more than 3,300 killed and 3.5 million needing humanitarian aid this year, U.N. officials said Tuesday.
Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in early 2014 and support for separatist rebels in the east triggered a conflict with Ukrainian government forces that the U.N. says has also injured up to 9,000 civilians and displaced 1.5 million people.
Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council that negotiations “appear to have lost momentum,” with Russia and Ukraine unable or unwilling to agree on key steps forward or too distracted to focus on implementing the 2015 agreement.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko blamed each other for the failure to implement the agreement signed in the Belarus capital, Minsk.
Jenca, who is in charge of European affairs, stressed that the conflict in eastern Ukraine is not dormant. “It is a conflict in the heart of Europe which continues to claim victims,” he said.
Jenca said the main parties have committed to over a dozen cease-fires since the start of the conflict, but “each one was regrettably, short-lived.”
The Organization for Security and Cooperation’s monitoring mission in Ukraine reports that the military positions of both sides are coming closer to each other in the “gray areas” near the so-called “contact line,” he said. “The use of heavy weapons and their deployment in the proximity of the contact line is a reality.”
Ursula Mueller, the U.N.’s deputy humanitarian chief, said the conflict is causing severe humanitarian problems, noting that many of the 3.5 million people who need aid are elderly, women and children.
“Many are struggling to access schools, hospitals and other essential services,” she said. “Many have lost their jobs, homes, family members and friends.”
Mueller said the U.N. has appealed for $162 million this year to aid 2.3 million people.
Ertugrul Apakan, chief of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, told the council by video that many people use checkpoints in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk to receive pensions and see families separated by the conflict. Since December, he said, there have been “14 cases of people who died from natural causes while waiting at the checkpoints.”
Mueller said most of those who died this year were elderly. People wait for several hours in freezing temperatures to cross the contact line, and she urged better conditions and additional crossing points, especially in Luhansk where there is only one.
Before the meeting, eight former and current European Union members of the Security Council issued a joint statement urging humanitarian access to areas not under Ukrainian government control.
They called on Russia “to immediately stop fueling the conflict by providing financial and military support” to the separatists and reiterated their opposition to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. Nonetheless, they said, they “remain convinced that a peaceful resolution of the conflict is possible.”
Nebenzia said Russia called the council meeting to discuss implementation of the 2015 agreement, declaring that the situation in southeastern Ukraine “remains explosive” with positions now “too close to each other at some locations.” He said Ukraine “comprehensively and consciously ignores and sabotages the Minsk agreements and our Western partners cover up for all of its unlawful acts.”
Ukraine’s Yelchenko countered that “it is only Russia and its ongoing military activity in the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as well as in Crimea that constitute for now an unsurmountable obstacle for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
…
UN: 2015 Peace Accord for Ukraine’s East Not Implemented
A 2015 agreement to bring peace to Ukraine’s volatile east remains largely unimplemented and civilians are paying the highest price, with more than 3,300 killed and 3.5 million needing humanitarian aid this year, U.N. officials said Tuesday.
Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in early 2014 and support for separatist rebels in the east triggered a conflict with Ukrainian government forces that the U.N. says has also injured up to 9,000 civilians and displaced 1.5 million people.
Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council that negotiations “appear to have lost momentum,” with Russia and Ukraine unable or unwilling to agree on key steps forward or too distracted to focus on implementing the 2015 agreement.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko blamed each other for the failure to implement the agreement signed in the Belarus capital, Minsk.
Jenca, who is in charge of European affairs, stressed that the conflict in eastern Ukraine is not dormant. “It is a conflict in the heart of Europe which continues to claim victims,” he said.
Jenca said the main parties have committed to over a dozen cease-fires since the start of the conflict, but “each one was regrettably, short-lived.”
The Organization for Security and Cooperation’s monitoring mission in Ukraine reports that the military positions of both sides are coming closer to each other in the “gray areas” near the so-called “contact line,” he said. “The use of heavy weapons and their deployment in the proximity of the contact line is a reality.”
Ursula Mueller, the U.N.’s deputy humanitarian chief, said the conflict is causing severe humanitarian problems, noting that many of the 3.5 million people who need aid are elderly, women and children.
“Many are struggling to access schools, hospitals and other essential services,” she said. “Many have lost their jobs, homes, family members and friends.”
Mueller said the U.N. has appealed for $162 million this year to aid 2.3 million people.
Ertugrul Apakan, chief of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, told the council by video that many people use checkpoints in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk to receive pensions and see families separated by the conflict. Since December, he said, there have been “14 cases of people who died from natural causes while waiting at the checkpoints.”
Mueller said most of those who died this year were elderly. People wait for several hours in freezing temperatures to cross the contact line, and she urged better conditions and additional crossing points, especially in Luhansk where there is only one.
Before the meeting, eight former and current European Union members of the Security Council issued a joint statement urging humanitarian access to areas not under Ukrainian government control.
They called on Russia “to immediately stop fueling the conflict by providing financial and military support” to the separatists and reiterated their opposition to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. Nonetheless, they said, they “remain convinced that a peaceful resolution of the conflict is possible.”
Nebenzia said Russia called the council meeting to discuss implementation of the 2015 agreement, declaring that the situation in southeastern Ukraine “remains explosive” with positions now “too close to each other at some locations.” He said Ukraine “comprehensively and consciously ignores and sabotages the Minsk agreements and our Western partners cover up for all of its unlawful acts.”
Ukraine’s Yelchenko countered that “it is only Russia and its ongoing military activity in the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as well as in Crimea that constitute for now an unsurmountable obstacle for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
…
UK’s May Seeks More Time to Find Brexit Deal, Tells Lawmakers: Hold Your Nerve
Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers on Tuesday to hold their nerve over Brexit and give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the European Union and the British parliament.
The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless May can persuade the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed last year and get it approved by British lawmakers.
“The talks are at a crucial stage,” May told parliament. “We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time.”
The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, accused her of running down the clock with sham negotiations to pressure parliament into backing her deal.
After talks in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, U.K. Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said there was “a lot of goodwill on both sides” to achieve a deal.
However, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit pointman, said he has yet to hear of a proposal to break the deadlock.
“What are these negotiations at a ‘crucial state’ raised in the House of Commons? The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal,” he said on Twitter.
May’s hopes of delivering an on-time Brexit were also undermined by an ITV news report which cited Britain’s lead negotiator Olly Robbins as being overheard in a Brussels bar saying: “In the end, they (the EU) will probably just give us an extension.”
British lawmakers rejected May’s withdrawal deal last month, with the major sticking point being the Irish “backstop” — an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between British province Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.
Critics of the backstop say it could leave Britain subject to EU rules for years after leaving the bloc or even indefinitely.
The EU says the backstop is vital to avoiding the return of border controls in Ireland and has refused to reopen the Brexit divorce deal, though May insists she can get legally binding changes to replace the most contentious parts of the backstop.
“By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers’ rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support”, May said.
The EU’s Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Monday the bloc would agree to tweak the political declaration on post-Brexit EU-U.K. ties that forms part of the exit package, to reflect a plan for a closer future relationship that could remove the need for the backstop.
May is pursuing three options in talks with Brussels: negotiating a way for Britain to leave the backstop without needing EU agreement, agreeing a time limit to the backstop, or finding an alternative arrangement that replaces it altogether.
Running down the clock?
Parliament is to hold a debate on Brexit on Feb. 14 but with just 45 days until Britain leaves the bloc it is not expected to change the course of the exit process, and no date has been set for another vote to approve or reject May’s deal.
May said that if she had not yet reached a deal in Brussels, she would deliver another progress report on Feb. 26 and provide another chance for parliament to express its opinion on her approach the following day.
She said she was prepared to speed up other parts of the ratification process of the Brexit deal if time gets too tight to pass legislation before exit day – a move some interpreted as a sign she was willing to keep negotiating until the last moment.
Opponents of Brexit argue May is deliberately delaying so lawmakers will be faced with the option of backing her agreement or leaving without a deal, a disorderly exit that businesses fear will cause widespread damage to the economy and jobs.
Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of the leading campaigners against Brexit without a deal, unveiled a new plan to ensure parliament has a chance to vote on ruling out a no-deal scenario.
Corbyn told parliament the prime minister has just one real tactic: “to run down the clock hoping Members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal.”
“This is an irresponsible act. She is playing for time and playing with people’s jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry,” he said.
May later told business leaders in a phone call that extending the Article 50 Brexit process would serve no purpose.
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UK’s May Seeks More Time to Find Brexit Deal, Tells Lawmakers: Hold Your Nerve
Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers on Tuesday to hold their nerve over Brexit and give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the European Union and the British parliament.
The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless May can persuade the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed last year and get it approved by British lawmakers.
“The talks are at a crucial stage,” May told parliament. “We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time.”
The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, accused her of running down the clock with sham negotiations to pressure parliament into backing her deal.
After talks in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, U.K. Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said there was “a lot of goodwill on both sides” to achieve a deal.
However, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit pointman, said he has yet to hear of a proposal to break the deadlock.
“What are these negotiations at a ‘crucial state’ raised in the House of Commons? The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal,” he said on Twitter.
May’s hopes of delivering an on-time Brexit were also undermined by an ITV news report which cited Britain’s lead negotiator Olly Robbins as being overheard in a Brussels bar saying: “In the end, they (the EU) will probably just give us an extension.”
British lawmakers rejected May’s withdrawal deal last month, with the major sticking point being the Irish “backstop” — an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between British province Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.
Critics of the backstop say it could leave Britain subject to EU rules for years after leaving the bloc or even indefinitely.
The EU says the backstop is vital to avoiding the return of border controls in Ireland and has refused to reopen the Brexit divorce deal, though May insists she can get legally binding changes to replace the most contentious parts of the backstop.
“By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers’ rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support”, May said.
The EU’s Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Monday the bloc would agree to tweak the political declaration on post-Brexit EU-U.K. ties that forms part of the exit package, to reflect a plan for a closer future relationship that could remove the need for the backstop.
May is pursuing three options in talks with Brussels: negotiating a way for Britain to leave the backstop without needing EU agreement, agreeing a time limit to the backstop, or finding an alternative arrangement that replaces it altogether.
Running down the clock?
Parliament is to hold a debate on Brexit on Feb. 14 but with just 45 days until Britain leaves the bloc it is not expected to change the course of the exit process, and no date has been set for another vote to approve or reject May’s deal.
May said that if she had not yet reached a deal in Brussels, she would deliver another progress report on Feb. 26 and provide another chance for parliament to express its opinion on her approach the following day.
She said she was prepared to speed up other parts of the ratification process of the Brexit deal if time gets too tight to pass legislation before exit day – a move some interpreted as a sign she was willing to keep negotiating until the last moment.
Opponents of Brexit argue May is deliberately delaying so lawmakers will be faced with the option of backing her agreement or leaving without a deal, a disorderly exit that businesses fear will cause widespread damage to the economy and jobs.
Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of the leading campaigners against Brexit without a deal, unveiled a new plan to ensure parliament has a chance to vote on ruling out a no-deal scenario.
Corbyn told parliament the prime minister has just one real tactic: “to run down the clock hoping Members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal.”
“This is an irresponsible act. She is playing for time and playing with people’s jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry,” he said.
May later told business leaders in a phone call that extending the Article 50 Brexit process would serve no purpose.
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Deadly Stampede in Nigeria at Political Rally Days Ahead of Election
A number of people were killed in a stampede at a rally in support of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, local officials from his party said on Tuesday, days ahead of an election in which he is seeking a second term.
The incident happened at an event in the southern city of Port Harcourt, which is in the country’s Niger Delta oil-production heartland.
Voters in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest democracy, will go to the polls on Saturday. Buhari’s main challenger in the race to govern the continent’s top oil-producing nation is Atiku Abubakar, a businessman and former vice president.
Watch related video: “Nigeria’s Presidential Candidates: Same-Same or Different?”
In a statement, Judith Amaechi, who runs the women and youth team in support of Buhari in the region for his All Progressives Congress (APC) party, expressed “deep shock over the death of APC members who were in a stampede.”
The statement, which did not specify the number of people killed, said it occurred after the rally.
Accidents sometimes occur at political rallies in Nigeria, which are often crowded. Last week, Buhari offered his condolences after supporters were killed in a stampede at a rally in the eastern state of Taraba.
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Deadly Stampede in Nigeria at Political Rally Days Ahead of Election
A number of people were killed in a stampede at a rally in support of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, local officials from his party said on Tuesday, days ahead of an election in which he is seeking a second term.
The incident happened at an event in the southern city of Port Harcourt, which is in the country’s Niger Delta oil-production heartland.
Voters in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest democracy, will go to the polls on Saturday. Buhari’s main challenger in the race to govern the continent’s top oil-producing nation is Atiku Abubakar, a businessman and former vice president.
Watch related video: “Nigeria’s Presidential Candidates: Same-Same or Different?”
In a statement, Judith Amaechi, who runs the women and youth team in support of Buhari in the region for his All Progressives Congress (APC) party, expressed “deep shock over the death of APC members who were in a stampede.”
The statement, which did not specify the number of people killed, said it occurred after the rally.
Accidents sometimes occur at political rallies in Nigeria, which are often crowded. Last week, Buhari offered his condolences after supporters were killed in a stampede at a rally in the eastern state of Taraba.
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Senegal Arrests 24, Seizes Weapons After Pre-Election Violence
Police in eastern Senegal have made two dozen arrests and seized knives and clubs after clashes in the run-up to presidential elections left at least two dead, officials said Tuesday.
The violence erupted Monday in Tambacounda, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Dakar, pitching supporters of President Macky Sall against those of opposition candidate Issa Sall.
One supporter of the president was fatally stabbed by a suspected member of the opposition Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), the sources said.
A second fatality was part of a group of young pro-government motorcyclists that tried to prevent Issa Sall’s motorcade from leaving the town. He was hit by a vehicle and died, they said.
Local media reported that a third supporter of the president died of injuries, but the officials did not confirm this.
“The gendarmerie have arrested 24 people,” a security source in Tambacounda told AFP on Tuesday.
Moustapha Sarr, a senior official with PUR, said 20 of the arrests were supporters of Issa Sall.
Macky Sall and Issa Sall share the same surname but are not related.
Tambacounda public prosecutor Demba Traore said the arrests were mainly members of Issa Sall’s security guard, and police had seized knives and clubs on PUR members.
Interior Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye said the police would find those responsible for the violence and “bring them to justice.”
He said national police would be available to work with the security teams of all presidential candidates until the end of elections.
Other incidents
Eight journalists who were covering Issa Sall’s campaign were hurt when their minibus was attacked by suspected supporters of the ruling coalition, organizations representing media workers said.
Senegal, a former French colony, has been buffeted by violence ahead of the Feb. 24 vote, which Macky Sall hopes to win outright in the first round.
On Sunday at least two people were “seriously injured” in Fatick, a presidential stronghold in Senegal’s center-west, in clashes with supporters of rising opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, local media reported.
Four people, all Sonko supporters, were badly hurt Feb. 4 in the northern city of Saint-Louis, Sonko’s campaign said.
Issa Sall said Tuesday on Twitter that after the “tragic events” in Tambacounda, he would be “suspending” his campaign and heading back to the capital.
President’s reaction
On Monday, the president called for calm but took aim at his predecessor and political rival, Abdoulaye Wade, who last week called for his supporters to burn their electoral registration cards and ballot sheets.
The clashes “are the result of the call for violence by certain political leaders … who will be brought before the courts to account for their acts,” President Sall said.
Senegal’s election campaigns are often marred by accusations of corruption, influence-peddling and dirty tricks, and misinformation, although the country is also often held up as a beacon of democracy and relative prosperity in West Africa.
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Senegal Arrests 24, Seizes Weapons After Pre-Election Violence
Police in eastern Senegal have made two dozen arrests and seized knives and clubs after clashes in the run-up to presidential elections left at least two dead, officials said Tuesday.
The violence erupted Monday in Tambacounda, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Dakar, pitching supporters of President Macky Sall against those of opposition candidate Issa Sall.
One supporter of the president was fatally stabbed by a suspected member of the opposition Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), the sources said.
A second fatality was part of a group of young pro-government motorcyclists that tried to prevent Issa Sall’s motorcade from leaving the town. He was hit by a vehicle and died, they said.
Local media reported that a third supporter of the president died of injuries, but the officials did not confirm this.
“The gendarmerie have arrested 24 people,” a security source in Tambacounda told AFP on Tuesday.
Moustapha Sarr, a senior official with PUR, said 20 of the arrests were supporters of Issa Sall.
Macky Sall and Issa Sall share the same surname but are not related.
Tambacounda public prosecutor Demba Traore said the arrests were mainly members of Issa Sall’s security guard, and police had seized knives and clubs on PUR members.
Interior Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye said the police would find those responsible for the violence and “bring them to justice.”
He said national police would be available to work with the security teams of all presidential candidates until the end of elections.
Other incidents
Eight journalists who were covering Issa Sall’s campaign were hurt when their minibus was attacked by suspected supporters of the ruling coalition, organizations representing media workers said.
Senegal, a former French colony, has been buffeted by violence ahead of the Feb. 24 vote, which Macky Sall hopes to win outright in the first round.
On Sunday at least two people were “seriously injured” in Fatick, a presidential stronghold in Senegal’s center-west, in clashes with supporters of rising opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, local media reported.
Four people, all Sonko supporters, were badly hurt Feb. 4 in the northern city of Saint-Louis, Sonko’s campaign said.
Issa Sall said Tuesday on Twitter that after the “tragic events” in Tambacounda, he would be “suspending” his campaign and heading back to the capital.
President’s reaction
On Monday, the president called for calm but took aim at his predecessor and political rival, Abdoulaye Wade, who last week called for his supporters to burn their electoral registration cards and ballot sheets.
The clashes “are the result of the call for violence by certain political leaders … who will be brought before the courts to account for their acts,” President Sall said.
Senegal’s election campaigns are often marred by accusations of corruption, influence-peddling and dirty tricks, and misinformation, although the country is also often held up as a beacon of democracy and relative prosperity in West Africa.
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