United States news

Days Before Vilnius Summit, Biden Won’t Budge on Ukraine Joining NATO

Posted on 07/08/2023 by SeeUS

WHITE HOUSE – President Joe Biden remains the most reluctant among NATO allies to grant Ukraine a quick pathway to join the alliance, setting up a contentious debate at the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week with eastern flank members who are eager for the war-torn country to join as soon as its conflict with Russia ends.

Publicly, Biden says Ukraine must make additional reforms to qualify for NATO membership, saying in June that he was “not going to make it easier” for Kyiv. But his aides have also signaled that Biden believes a fast-track membership for Kyiv is an invitation for conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, rather than a deterrent.

“We are not seeking to start World War III,” said Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, in response to VOA’s question during Friday’s White House press briefing.

Biden’s reluctance is puzzling to some observers.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, who is now senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, criticized the administration for “not leading on this critical issue.”

“This is an historic juncture,” Herbst told VOA. “The administration has obviously made a major commitment to ensure Ukraine does not lose. Why is it dawdling in ensuring that Ukraine emerges successfully from this crisis?”

A key consideration is the potential for the alliance to be dragged into a conflict with Russia. As a pillar of NATO, the U.S. would have to send many of its troops to do the fighting, something that Biden has repeatedly promised he would not do.

From Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea to its current military invasion, Washington has shown it is not willing to commit American forces to fight Russia on Ukraine’s behalf, said George Beebe, director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank that advocates a restrained U.S. foreign policy.

“Nor should we take on such a commitment, because avoiding a direct war with nuclear-armed Russia is far more important to U.S. security than defending Ukraine,” he told VOA.

While the administration is holding firm on Ukraine’s NATO bid, Sullivan reiterated it would support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and provide it with “an exceptional quantity of arms and capabilities.”

Those capabilities now include a cluster munitions package, weapons that can kill over a wide area and are banned by more than 100 countries, which Kyiv has been requesting for months amid its artillery shortage. The weapons contain multiple explosive bomblets that can spread widely and stay undetonated on the ground for years.

Responding to criticism for sending such indiscriminate weaponry, Sullivan argued that the risk of letting Russia take more territory outweighs the risk of civilian harm from unexploded bomblets.

Compromise for Kyiv

Days before the summit in Vilnius, NATO’s 31 members are still negotiating the final wording of a compromise communique that will signal that Kyiv is moving closer to membership without promises of a quick accession.

“I expect allied leaders will reaffirm that Ukraine will become a member of NATO and unite on how to bring Ukraine closer to its goal,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference in Brussels on Friday.

A key agenda item will be whether the allies will agree to allow Kyiv to bypass the Membership Action Plan, a NATO program to assist countries wishing to join the alliance.

A second track that allies are hoping to secure is a deal to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces “for as long as it takes,” including its postwar needs, through a series of long-term commitments or security guarantees made by individual allies outside the NATO framework.

“I don’t want to talk about specific platforms or systems, just that there will be a more robust discussion about what long-term defense needs Ukraine is going to need,” said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, in an interview Thursday with VOA.

Security guarantees

The security guarantees will fall short of NATO’s Article 5 collective defense principle, that an attack on one ally is an attack on all. Some observers find such guarantees insubstantial, referring to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, wherein the United States, the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation pledged to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and to refrain from the threat or use of military force. In return, Kyiv relinquished the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, which it had inherited from the collapsed Soviet Union.

Russia breached the memorandum with its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Battle-worn after 16 months of Moscow’s invasion, Kyiv is skeptical of the value of such assurances. However, they would be useful in the interim, said William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now vice president for Europe and Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

“Until Ukraine gets into NATO, it needs some way to ensure that it has that military capability to deter Russia,” Taylor told VOA.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to attend the two-day Vilnius summit to make the case that his country should join when the conflict ends. He said the indecision is threatening the strength of the alliance and global security.

“I think there is not enough unity on this,” Zelenskyy said Friday in a press conference during his visit to Slovakia, reiterating his request for “concrete steps” on Kyiv’s movement toward membership.

Sweden’s accession

Another unresolved issue ahead of the Vilnius summit is Sweden’s bid to join the alliance, which has not been ratified by Turkey or Hungary, in a process that must be unanimous among all current members.

Last-minute negotiations continue between Stoltenberg and the leaders of Turkey and Sweden aimed at overcoming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objections to the Nordic country joining NATO. Ankara has accused Sweden of being too lenient toward militant Kurdish organizations that Turkey considers terrorist groups.

Observers say those concerns deflect the real issue, which is Ankara’s long-delayed request to purchase F-16 fighter jets made by the U.S. company Lockheed Martin. The sale is held up in the U.S. Congress, which has authority to block major weapons sales, as leading senators from both parties insist Ankara must first drop its objections to Sweden’s accession.

Iuliia Iarmolenko and Tatiana Vorozhko contributed to this report.
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US Destroys Last of Its Declared Chemical Weapons

Posted on 07/08/2023 by SeeUS

RICHMOND, Ky. — The last of the United States’ declared chemical weapons stockpile was destroyed at a sprawling military installation in eastern Kentucky, the White House announced Friday, a milestone that closes a chapter of warfare dating back to World War I.

Workers at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky destroyed rockets filled with GB nerve agent, completing a decadeslong campaign to eliminate a stockpile that by the end of the Cold War totaled more than 30,000 tons.

“For more than 30 years, the United States has worked tirelessly to eliminate our chemical weapons stockpile,” President Joe Biden said in a statement released by the White House. “Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the final munition in that stockpile — bringing us one step closer to a world free from the horrors of chemical weapons.”

The U.S. faced a Sept. 30 deadline to eliminate its remaining chemical weapons under the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which took effect in 1997 and was joined by 193 countries. The munitions being destroyed in Kentucky are the last of 51,000 M55 rockets with GB nerve agent — a deadly toxin also known as sarin — that have been stored at the depot since the 1940s.

By destroying the munitions, the U.S. is officially underscoring that these types of weapons are no longer acceptable in the battlefield and sending a message to the handful of countries that haven’t joined the agreement, military experts say.

Chemical weapons were first used in modern warfare in World War I, where they were estimated have killed at least 100,000. Despite their use being subsequently banned by the Geneva Convention, countries continued to stockpile the weapons until the treaty calling for their destruction.

In southern Colorado, workers at the Army Pueblo Chemical Depot started destroying the weapons in 2016, and on June 22 completed their mission of neutralizing an entire cache of about 2,600 tons of mustard blister agent. The projectiles and mortars comprised about 8.5% of the country’s original chemical weapons stockpile of 30,610 tons of agent.

Nearly 800,000 chemical munitions containing mustard agent were stored since the 1950s inside row after row of heavily guarded concrete and earthen bunkers that pock the landscape near a large swath of farmland east of Pueblo.

In the 1980s, the community around Kentucky’s Blue Grass Army Depot rose up in opposition to the Army’s initial plan to incinerate the plant’s 520 tons of chemical weapons, leading to a decadeslong battle over how they would be disposed of.

The military eliminated most of its existing stockpile by burning weapons at other, more remote sites such as Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean or at a chemical depot in the middle of the Utah desert.

The Kentucky storage facility has housed mustard agent, VX and sarin nerve agents, much of it inside rockets and other projectiles, since the 1940s. The state’s disposal plant was completed in 2015 and began destroying weapons in 2019. It uses a process called neutralization to dilute the deadly agents so they can be safely disposed of.

Workers at the Pueblo site used heavy machinery to meticulously — and slowly — load aging weapons onto conveyor systems that fed into secure rooms where remote-controlled robots removed the weapons’ fuses and bursters before the mustard agent was neutralized with hot water and mixed with a caustic solution to prevent the reaction from reversing. The byproduct was further broken down in large tanks swimming with microbes, and the mortars and projectiles were decontaminated at 538 degrees Celsius and recycled as scrap metal.

Problematic munitions that were leaky or overpacked were sent to an armored, stainless steel detonation chamber to be destroyed at about 593 degrees Celsius.

The Colorado and Kentucky sites were the last among several, including Utah and the Johnston Atoll, where the nation’s chemical weapons had been stockpiled and destroyed. Other locations included facilities in Alabama, Arkansas and Oregon.

Officials say the elimination of the U.S. stockpile is a major step forward for the Chemical Weapons Convention. Only three countries — Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan — have not signed the treaty. A fourth, Israel, has signed but not ratified the treaty.

Concerns remain that some parties to the convention, particularly Russia and Syria, possess undeclared chemical weapons stockpiles. Biden on Friday urged Russia and Syria to fully comply with the treaty, and called on the remaining countries to join it.
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US Capitol Rioter Linked to Proud Boys Gets 5 Years in Prison

Posted on 07/08/2023 by SeeUS

A Florida man who U.S. prosecutors say is affiliated with the Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for attacking police officers with pepper spray as they tried to defend the U.S. Capitol against supporters of then-President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.

Barry Ramey, an aircraft mechanic who was convicted of assault and other crimes in federal court in Washington, also tried to intimidate an FBI agent investigating him before his arrest. Ramey anonymously called the agent and recited the agent’s home address over the phone, prosecutors say.

Ramey has been locked up since his April 2022 arrest. His attorney wrote in court documents that Ramey “has understood the gravity of his actions and is ready for a change with support standing by to help him through it.”

There was no immediate response Friday to an email sent to his attorney seeking comment.

Prosecutors say Ramey joined a large group of Proud Boys on the morning of January 6 before heading toward the Capitol, where lawmakers were meeting to certify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory over Trump. As another rioter charged a police line, Ramey lifted his arm and began spraying, hitting two officers, according to prosecutors.

After the officers were sprayed, rioters pushed past the police line and up the stairs toward the Capitol, authorities say.

“Like an attacker who holds a pillow over a victim’s head while the victim is assaulted, Ramey’s spray was capable of making officers just as vulnerable to attack,” prosecutors wrote in court papers.

Defense statements

Ramey’s lawyer noted in court documents that her client didn’t enter the Capitol, steal anything or “remain defiant following January 6th — as many have done.” The attorney disputed prosecutors’ characterization of Ramey as a member of the Proud Boys on January 6. She said there’s no evidence he was part of any chats that “planned a coup on democratic government” or came to Washington prepared to stop the certification of the vote.

“There is a marked difference between those who came prepared that day for violence, planned for it, advocated for it, and enlisted others to carry it out versus those who came to support their candidate, and were egged on by more nefarious forces and conducted themselves in a criminal manner,” defense attorney Farheena Siddiqui wrote.

A slew of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates have been charged with federal crimes in the riot. Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other leaders were convicted in May of seditious conspiracy for what authorities said was a plot to halt the transfer of power from Trump to Biden.

Also on Friday, another Florida man — who authorities say came to Washington with a militia group called Guardians of Freedom — was sentenced in a separate case to five months behind bars for his role in the riot, according to court documents.

Authorities say Jonathan Rockholt came to the Capitol with a tactical vest and helmet, joined other rioters in pushing against police in a tunnel and stole an officer’s riot shield. Rockholt pleaded guilty of civil disorder and theft of government property.

More than 1,000 people have been charged in the Capitol attack. Over 600 of them have pleaded guilty, while approximately 100 others have been convicted after trials decided by judges or juries. More than 550 riot defendants have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from six days to 18 years.
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Biden Warned China’s Xi on West’s Investment After Xi-Putin Meeting

Posted on 07/08/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. President Joe Biden told Chinese President Xi Jinping following Xi’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to “be careful” because Beijing relies on Western investment, according to excerpts from an interview with CNN.

“I said: This is not a threat. This is an observation,” Biden said.

“Since Russia went into Ukraine, 600 American corporations have pulled out of Russia. And you have told me that your economy depends on investment from Europe and the United States. And be careful. Be careful.”

Putin and Xi held two days of talks in March with warm words of friendship between China and Russia and joint criticism of the West, but no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough over Ukraine.

The pair also participated in a virtual summit earlier this week.

There are heightened tensions and pessimism in the U.S.-China relationship over national security issues, including Taiwan, Russia’s war in Ukraine, growing U.S. export bans on advanced technologies and China’s state-led industrial policies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was continuing a visit to China on Saturday.

Asked what Xi’s response was, Biden said: “He listened, and he didn’t … argue. And if you notice, he has not gone full-bore in on Russia.”

“So, I think there’s a way we can work through this.”
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US Journalist Evan Gershkovich Marks 100 Days in Russian Custody

Posted on 07/07/2023 by SeeUS

Friday marks 100 days since Russian authorities detained Evan Gershkovich and charged him with espionage — the first U.S. journalist to be accused of this since the Cold War. The Kremlin hinted this week that it would be open to negotiating a prisoner swap. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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US Cluster Munitions Headed to Ukraine

Posted on 07/07/2023 by SeeUS

The United States is moving ahead with plans to provide Ukraine with a deadly and controversial weapon as part of a new $800 million security package aimed at bolstering Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russia.

For the first time since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year, the U.S. will provide Ukraine with cluster munitions — shells or bombs that open in midair — capable of spreading hundreds of smaller charges, or bomblets, over a wide area.

The munitions can inflict heavy casualties in civilian areas and are banned under a 2010 treaty signed by 111 countries. But Russia and Ukraine, which have both used cluster munitions during the conflict, are not signatories. The U.S. also has never signed the convention.

“We recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Friday. “But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery.

“That is intolerable,” he added.

U.S. officials declined to say just how many rounds of cluster munitions Washington will send Ukraine as part of the new aid package, although they said the new munitions, in the form of 155 mm artillery rounds, will arrive in time to help Ukrainian forces with the current counteroffensive.

Sullivan said the decision to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions was not an easy one and was made by President Joe Biden after consultations with U.S. allies and lawmakers, and after “a unanimous recommendation from his national security team.”

U.S. law generally prohibits the transfer of cluster munitions with failure rates of more than 1%, but Sullivan said Biden signed a waiver allowing the move because of national security needs.

Pentagon officials Friday also defended the decision to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions.

“We want to make sure that the Ukrainians have sufficient artillery to keep them in the fight,” Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters, citing what he called “the urgency of the moment.”

“The worst thing for civilians in Ukraine is for Russia to win the war,” he said, noting the Ukrainian counteroffensive has not made progress as quickly as many had hoped.

“It’s been hard sledding because the Russians had six months to dig in,” Kahl said. “Those defensive belts that the Russians have put in place in the east and the south are hard.”

Ukraine has been asking for additional cluster munitions for months, saying they are critical to its efforts to push back Russian forces.

“The transfer of additional volumes of shells to Ukraine is a very significant contribution to the acceleration of deoccupation procedures,” Ukrainian presidential political adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters ahead of the U.S. announcement. “Especially if we are talking about cluster ammunition, which is undoubtedly capable of having an extraordinary psychoemotional impact on already demoralized Russian occupation groups.”

Until now, the U.S. had been reluctant to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, prioritizing other types of weapons and systems. That thinking seemed to change in recent weeks, though, as Ukraine’s long-anticipated counteroffensive struggled to retake ground.

Human rights groups and activists have long opposed the use of cluster munitions, pointing to high failure or dud rates, which leave areas saturated with unexploded bomblets.

“If they fall or land on your home or a populated area, it can be devastating,” Mary Wareham, the acting director of Human Rights Watch’s Arms Division, told VOA.

“When they fail, you have unexploded submunitions lying around that endanger civilians, endanger de-miners, that have to be cleared, that have to be destroyed,” she said. “It’s a very time-consuming and costly exercise.”

Wareham acknowledged Russia has been “using hundreds of cluster munitions since the very first day” of its latest invasion. But she added, “that doesn’t mean Ukraine should also be using this prohibited weapon.”

A report issued by the Cluster Munition Monitor last year found that through the first five months of Russian’s latest invasion of Ukraine, at least 215 Ukrainians — almost all civilians — were killed and another 474 were injured in Russian attacks using cluster munitions.

“Cluster munition use in Ukraine mostly affected civilian infrastructure, with attacks damaging homes, hospitals, schools, playgrounds, and in one instance a cemetery where mourners were among the casualties,” the report said.

U.S. officials said Friday that Ukraine has given the U.S. written assurances it will not use the U.S.-made cluster munitions in urban areas and that Ukrainian forces would track when and where such munitions were used to facilitate clearing efforts once the fighting is over.

“We welcome the decision of the U.S. to provide Ukraine with the new liberation weapons that will significantly help us to de-occupy our territories while saving the lives of the Ukrainian soldiers,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov posted on social media Friday, backing the U.S. statements that use of the munitions would be closely monitored and tracked.

“Ukraine will use these munitions only for the de-occupation of our internationally recognized territories,” he wrote. “These munitions will not be used on the officially recognized territory of Russia.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. gave similar assurances in an interview with VOA.

“We Ukrainians will be using them very, very responsibly because it’s our territory, it’s our people we are liberating,” Oksana Markarova said. “And we have shown [a] number of times that we are actually doing this, and we are not only adhering to all the conventions [with cluster munitions] but we also are very responsible in in its usage.”

The U.S. also pushed back against allegations that U.S.-made cluster munitions present the same type of threat to civilians as the ones being used by Russia.

Both Sullivan and Kahl said Russia has been deploying cluster munitions with dud rates of 30% to 40%, while the U.S. is sending Ukraine cluster munitions that have undergone repeated testing to ensure failure rates of less than 2.5%.

There are questions, however, about how much of a difference U.S.-provided cluster munitions will make on the battlefield.

“I don’t expect the cluster munitions to be game changers,” Brookings Institution senior fellow Michael O’Hanlon told VOA in an email.

“I think cluster munitions can help tactically, like artillery, by forcing Russian troops manning defensive positions to seek cover when Ukrainian vehicles are attempting an offensive,” he wrote. “That said, Ukraine has already had artillery (albeit not enough), and Russian troops can still take partial cover while maintaining their positions.”

Other experts agree.

“There’s no such thing as a game changer … but it will help,” Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA.

“Cluster munitions are very good against area targets, targets that are spread out,” like infantry and truck convoys, he said, noting the use of cluster munitions could slow the rapid pace at which Ukraine’s military is going through standard munitions.

It could also take pressure off the U.S. and other countries that have been providing Ukraine with ammunition and artillery as their own stockpiles dwindle.

“The stocks of regular munitions are quite low and it’s not clear how much more we can give them,” Cancian said.

U.S. officials Friday admitted that concerns about ammunition stockpiles factored into the decision to give Ukraine the cluster munitions.

“We are reaching a point in this conflict, because of the dramatically high expenditure rates of artillery by Ukraine and by Russia, where we need to build a bridge from where we are to today to where we have enough monthly production of unitary rounds that unitary rounds alone will suffice to give Ukraine what it needs,” Sullivan said.

VOA Russian’s Liliya Anisimova and VOA’s Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.
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Texan in Walmart Shooting Gets 90 Life Sentences

Posted on 07/07/2023 by SeeUS

EL PASO, TEXAS — A white gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack on Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in a Texas border city was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive life sentences but could still face more punishment, including the death penalty.

Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty earlier this year to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges in the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, making it one of the U.S. government’s largest hate crime cases.

Crusius, wearing a jumpsuit and shackles, did not speak during the hearing and showed no reaction as the verdict was read. The judge recommended that Crusius serve his sentence at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.

Police say Crusius drove more than 700 miles from his home near Dallas to target Hispanics with an AK-style rifle inside and outside the store. Moments before the attack began, Crusius posted a racist screed online that warned of a Hispanic “invasion” of Texas.

In the years since the shooting, some Republicans have described migrants crossing the southern U.S. border as an “invasion,” waving off critics who say the rhetoric fuels anti-immigrant views and violence.

State trial to come

Crusius pleaded guilty in February after federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. But Texas prosecutors have said they will try to put Crusius on death row when he stands trial in state court. That trial date has not yet been set.

As he was led from the courtroom, a family member of one of the victims shouted at Crusius from the gallery:

“We’ll be seeing you again, coward. No apologies, no nothing.”

Joe Spencer, Crusius’ attorney, told the judge before the sentencing that his client had a “broken brain.”

“Patrick’s thinking is at odds with reality … resulting in delusional thinking,” Spencer told the court.

Crusius became alarmed by his own violent thoughts, including once leaving a job at a movie theater because of those thoughts, Spencer said. He said Crusius once searched online to look for ways to address his mental health and dropped out of a community college near Dallas because of his struggles.

Spencer said that Crusius had arrived in El Paso without a specific target before winding up at Walmart.

Impact statements

The sentencing by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama in El Paso followed two days of impact statements from relatives of the victims, including citizens of Mexico. In addition to the dead, more than two dozen people were injured and numerous others were severely traumatized as they hid or fled.

One by one, family members used their first opportunity since the shooting to directly address Crusius, describing how their lives have been upended by grief and pain. Some forgave Crusius. One man displayed photographs of his slain father, insisting that the gunman look at them.

Bertha Benavides’ husband of 34 years, Arturo, was among those killed.

“You left children without their parents, you left spouses without their spouses, and we still need them,” she told Crusius.

During the initial statements from victims, Crusius occasionally swiveled in his seat or bobbed his head with little sign of emotion. On Thursday, his eyes appeared to well up as victims condemned the brutality of the shootings and demanded Crusius respond and account for his actions. At one point, Crusius consulted with a defense attorney at his side and gestured that he would not answer.

Crusius’ family did not appear in the courtroom during the sentencing phase.

Shootings linked to hate

The attack was the deadliest of a dozen mass shootings in the U.S. linked to hate crimes since 2006, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.

Before the shooting, Crusius had appeared consumed by the nation’s immigration debate, tweeting #BuildtheWall and posts that praised then-President Donald Trump’s hardline border policies. He went further in his rant posted before the attack, sounding warnings that Hispanics were going to take over the government and economy.

As the sentencing phase got underway, some advocates for immigrant rights made new appeals for politicians to soften their rhetoric on immigration. Republicans, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, have pushed for more aggressive actions to harden the southern U.S. border.

Amaris Vega’s aunt was killed in the attack and her mother narrowly survived a softball-sized wound to the chest. In court, Vega railed at Crusius’ “pathetic, sorry manifesto” that promised to rid Texas of Hispanics.

“But guess what? You didn’t. You failed,” she told him. “We are still here, and we are not going anywhere. And for four years you have been stuck in a city full of Hispanics. … So, let that sink in.”

Margaret Juarez, whose 90-year-old father was slain in the attack and whose mother was wounded but survived, said she found it ironic that Crusius was set to spend his life in prison among inmates from racial and ethnic minorities. Other relatives and survivors in the courtroom applauded as she celebrated their liberty.

The people who were killed ranged in age from a 15-year-old high school athlete to several elderly grandparents. They included immigrants, a retired city bus driver, teachers, tradesmen including a former ironworker, and several Mexican nationals who had crossed the U.S. border on routine shopping trips.

Two teenage girls recounted their narrow escape from Crusius’ rampage as they participated in a fundraiser for their youth soccer team outside the store. Parents were wounded and the soccer coach, Guillermo Garcia, died months later from injuries in the attack.

Both youths said they still are haunted by their fear of another shooting when they are in public venues.
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Official: Blinken To Press ASEAN To Take Tougher Line on Myanmar, China

Posted on 07/07/2023 by SeeUS

Washington hopes to rally Southeast Asian nations to take tougher action against Myanmar’s military junta and to push back on China’s actions in the South China Sea as top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken heads to the region for meetings next week, a State Department official said on Friday.

Secretary of State Blinken will travel to Indonesia to participate in a meeting of foreign ministers from the ASEAN regional bloc after he joins President Joe Biden in the United Kingdom and in Lithuania for NATO meetings from Sunday to Wednesday.

Daniel Kritenbrink, the top State Department official for East Asia, told reporters that Myanmar, which was plunged into chaos by a 2021 military coup, would be “one of the key issues” discussed in Jakarta.

ASEAN has barred Myanmar’s ruling generals from its high-level meetings, but Thailand has proposed re-engaging with the junta.

“We do expect our friends and partners in ASEAN … to continue to downgrade Myanmar’s representation in the ASEAN ministerial and we also look forward to finding ways to increase pressure on the regime to compel the regime to end its violence and return to a path of democracy,” Kritenbrink said during a phone call to preview the trip.

Washington last month issued sanctions against two Myanmar banks used by the junta to convert foreign currency, in a move aimed at reducing the military’s ability to import weapons and material for its crackdown on anti-coup forces.

Kritenbrink said last week that countries in the region should make progress in resolving maritime disputes with each other in order to strengthen their collective voice in disputes with China in the South China Sea.

Kritenbrink said on Friday that the U.S. would work with ASEAN members in Jakarta to push back against what he said was “an upward trend of unhelpful and coercive and irresponsible Chinese actions.”

“It’s not a matter of getting countries on board with the U.S. view, it’s a matter of working with our partners to advance our shared view and vision for the region, and to push back on behavior that runs counter to that vision,” he said.
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US Treasury Secretary Holds ‘Candid and Constructive’ Talks With China’s PM

Posted on 07/07/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held “candid and constructive” talks Friday with China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing.

A Treasury Department statement said Yellen “discussed the administration’s desire to seek healthy economic competition with China that benefits both economies, including American workers and businesses.”

She also emphasized close communication on “global macroeconomic and financial issues and working together on global challenges, including debt distress in low-income and emerging economies and climate finance.”

The U.S. treasury secretary began a four-day visit to China on Friday by calling for market reforms in the world’s second-largest economy, and warning that the United States and its allies will fight back against what she called China’s “unfair economic practices.”

Speaking Friday in Beijing to the American Chamber of Commerce in China, Yellen said, “The United States does not seek a wholesale separation of our economies. … The decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be destabilizing for the global economy, and it would be virtually impossible to undertake.”

And while she noted the importance of trade and investment with China, Yellen also “raised concerns, including barriers to market access, China’s use of non-market tools, and punitive actions that have been taken against U.S. firms in recent months,” during a roundtable with more than 10 U.S. businesses operating in Beijing.

“She also reaffirmed the U.S. economic approach to China, which remains focused on three primary objectives: securing vital interests pertaining to national security and human rights; pursuing healthy and mutually beneficial economic competition, in which China plays by international rules; and seeking mutual cooperation on urgent global challenges, including on the macroeconomy, climate, and global debt,” according to a Treasury Department statement Friday.

Yellen arrived in Beijing Thursday and tweeted, U.S. President Joe Biden “charged his administration with deepening communication between our two countries on a range of issues, and I look forward to doing so during my visit.”

Treasury Department officials said ahead of the trip that Yellen would be discussing stabilizing the global economy, as well as challenging China’s support of Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yellen was not expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Her visit, which is scheduled to last through Sunday, follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month.

Yellen met earlier this week with China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, where the Treasury Department said Yellen “raised issues of concern while also conveying the importance of the two largest economies working together on global challenges, including on macroeconomic and financial issues.”

Chinese state media said Xie expressed hope that the two countries will eliminate interference and strengthen dialogue.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Russian Jets Harass US Drones Over Syria for 2nd Time in 24 Hours

Posted on 07/07/2023 by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to several U.S. drone aircraft over Syria again Thursday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers, the Air Force said.

It was the second time in 24 hours that Russia has harassed U.S. drones there.

“We urge Russian forces in Syria to cease this reckless behavior and adhere to the standards of behavior expected of a professional air force so we can resume our focus on the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, head of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said in a statement.

Colonel Michael Andrews, Air Forces Central Command spokesperson, said “the Russian harassment, including close fly-bys, by one SU-34 and one SU-35 and deploying flares directly into the MQ-9, lasted almost an hour. So it wasn’t a quick fly-by, but much more of a sustained and unprofessional interaction.”

U.S. Air Forces Central released videos of the two separate incidents that took place Wednesday and Thursday. In the first incident, which took place about 10:40 a.m. local time Wednesday in Northwest Syria, Russian SU-35 fighters closed in on a Reaper, and one of the Russian pilots moved their aircraft in front of a drone and engaged the SU-35’s afterburner, which greatly increases its speed and air pressure.

The jet blast from the afterburner can potentially damage the Reaper’s electronics, and Grynkewich said it reduced the drone operator’s ability to safely operate the aircraft.

Later a number of the so-called parachute flares moved into the drone’s flight path. The flares are attached to parachutes.

In the second incident, which took place over Northwest Syria around 9:30 a.m. Thursday local time, “Russian aircraft dropped flares in front of the drones and flew dangerously close, endangering the safety of all aircraft involved,” Grynkewich said.

The drones were not armed with weapons and are commonly used for reconnaissance missions.

Army General Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement that Russia’s violation of ongoing efforts to clear the airspace over Syria “increases the risk of escalation or miscalculation.”

About 900 U.S. forces are deployed to Syria to work with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces battling the Islamic State militants there. No other details about the drone operation were provided.
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US ‘Actively’ Seeking Leader for Haiti Force, Blinken Says

Posted on 07/07/2023 by SeeUS

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – The United States remains active in its search for a country to head a multinational force in troubled Haiti, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday, without offering Washington’s lead.

Blinken met Wednesday at a Caribbean summit with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and again spoke of the urgency of an international force in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, where gangs have taken over broad stretches of territory.

But no country has stepped forward despite nearly a year of calls for the force by Henry and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“We’re in very active conversations with countries in the region and beyond about such a force and we’re in active conversations, of course, at the United Nations about what it might do to give a force the proper imprimatur from the international community,” Blinken told reporters in Guyana.

“Part of this involves making sure that countries step up to play important roles in such a force, particularly identifying a country that would play a leading-nation role,” Blinken said.

But he declined to offer such a role for the United States, which has a long history of intervention in Haiti, and instead reiterated U.S. support for building Haiti’s fledgling national police.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who ended America’s longest war in Afghanistan, has made clear he has no intention of putting U.S. troops at risk in Haiti.

Haiti Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus spoke to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday about the urgent need for the international force.

And the U.N. special representative for Haiti reported on the violence there. In her report, Maria Isabel Salvador said that at least 264 suspected gang members in Haiti have been killed by vigilante groups since April.

“The appearance of vigilante groups adds another layer of complexity,” Salvador told the U.N. Security Council.

Haitian police have been unable to quell the unprecedented violence by gangs that control much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and residents have begun to take matters into their own hands.

Haitians have not voted since 2016, with the last elected president, Jovenel Moise, assassinated in July 2021. Henry, the prime minister, has promised to step down after a new government is installed in February 2024, although election targets have repeatedly slipped in Haiti.

Blinken met with Henry at the Caribbean summit in Trinidad and Tobago, where the top US diplomat also called for renewed efforts to hold elections in Haiti.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said there was progress on Haiti at the Caribbean summit, with Kenya and Rwanda, whose president, Paul Kagame, was in attendance, offering support for the police force.

A group of former leaders, including former Prime Ministers Bruce Golding of Jamaica and Kenny Anthony of Saint Lucia, agreed to work with both Henry and other Haitian stakeholders on a political transition, Ali said.

“Prime Minister Henry is committed to broadening this transitional government,” Ali said.
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Biden’s New Asylum Policy Strands Some Migrants at Mexico Border

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

On a June afternoon when temperatures climbed near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), Alejandra Pena gently tipped a jug of water into her son’s mouth. Like other children in the migrant camp, a mile-long stretch of tents along the banks of the river separating Mexico from the United States, the toddler had diarrhea. Pena worried the boy was dehydrated.

“Drink, Natanael. Drink,” Pena coaxed. One of the few humanitarian groups operating in the camp had told her Natanael was malnourished and underweight, she said, attributing his condition to the lack of clean water and poor sanitation in the camp.

Pena, 34, fled Venezuela after a criminal group killed her sister, according to interviews and police records. Hoping to seek asylum in the United States, she said her family was stuck in northern Mexico because of new U.S. border rules adopted on May 11 by the administration of President Joe Biden.

The rule requires migrants to make an appointment on a government-run smartphone app before approaching the border – but none of the people with Pena has a device.

“We are paralyzed here,” Pena said.

Biden, a Democrat, promised to replace the hardline policies of Republican President Donald Trump, including the COVID-era public health order Title 42, with a more humane immigration system.

Title 42 allowed border agents to expel migrants to Mexico without a chance to seek asylum. The new Biden regulation allows migrants once again to ask for asylum at the border but wait in Mexico for a slot on the app or risk a sped-up deportation process that could be conducted while they are held in detention.

Officials said the regulation and other Biden immigration policies are reducing illegal border crossings that have hit record highs in recent years.

But in the first month of the new policy, Reuters interviews with more than 50 migrants, U.S. and Mexican officials, a review of court records and previously unreported data found:

Tens of thousands of people waiting in dangerous Mexican border towns to snag a spot on the app, according to U.S. and Mexican officials, and warnings from humanitarian groups of deteriorating sanitary conditions at migrant camps;
A sharp drop in people passing their initial U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum screenings, down to 46% for single adults from an average of 83% from 2014 to 2019, according to government data contained in a court filing;
A 35% increase in people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the filing said;
A sharp rise in time spent in Border Patrol custody, according to previously unreported U.S. government data obtained by Reuters;
Roughly 50,000 people deported, according to the court filing.
Migrants who don't use the Customs and Border Protection app, called CBP One, face a higher bar to claim asylum if they passed through another country without seeking refuge there, a standard which critics say mirrors a Trump policy that was blocked by courts.

Those who fail the screening can be deported and banned from entering the U.S. for five years.

A senior Biden administration official told Reuters the policy was working. Government figures show the number of migrants caught crossing illegally has dropped by 69% in one month.

“Our goal is to incentivize people to go through legal channels,” said the official, who was granted anonymity as a condition of the interview. “We’re seeing, so far, initial positive results.”

The U.S. on June 30 increased the number of appointments available on the app to 1,450 a day from 1,250.

The Biden official said the administration is working with shelters and other non-governmental organizations to expand internet access for migrants, adding that there was no need for them to wait in dangerous border towns: “There are plenty of safer parts of Mexico where people can go.”

Juan Rodriguez, head of the state-level migrant services agency, said officials visit the Matamoros camp a few times a month to provide water and health services.

The Mexican federal government did not respond to requests for comments on the camp conditions or the regulations.

By mid-June, the population of the Matamoros camp exceeded 5,000, according to Rodriguez, with an additional 3,000 migrants scattered across Matamoros in shelters, hotels, Airbnbs, abandoned houses and an out-of-service gas station, local officials said.

Humanitarian organizations say at times the camp has grown bigger under Biden than during the Trump years.

Approximately 104,000 migrants are amassed in northern Mexico overall, according to U.S. government figures.

After dark

As mosquitos descended at dusk, Pena doused her children in the last of their bug spray. Swollen red bites pockmarked Natanael’s face and the bodies of his sisters Nathalya, 11, and Nathaly, 13. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said they have seen a few suspected cases of malaria and dengue fever.

Nightfall also brings out criminal groups, camp residents say.

Cindy, a 23-year-old from Honduras, hesitated for weeks to approach the U.S. border, even after she was raped repeatedly in the Matamoros camp and in a house nearby by men she believed to be part of a cartel, she told Reuters.

Cindy, who Reuters is identifying only by her first name because of the nature of the attacks, said the men threatened to “disappear” her 3-year-old son if she reported the assaults to Mexican authorities, according to interviews and a written report from the psychiatrist who evaluated and accounts from her attorney.

Desperate after multiple assaults, and unable to secure an appointment on the CBP One app, she and her son walked up to the international bridge on May 21. She said they were allowed to enter and given a notice to appear in immigration court in Houston in August.

Officials and advocates said families are subject to the higher asylum standard but have not been held for in-custody screenings. Cindy was not detained, though she may still have a tough time winning her case in court.

The Mexican state-level security agency did not respond to request for comment about violence in the camp. The Biden administration did not respond to questions about Cindy’s case.

‘Part of the enforcement’

The Biden border strategy set a target of 63,000 sped-up screenings for the month of June, more than five times the previous high in July 2019, according to a previously unreported virtual town hall for USCIS officers shared with Reuters.

Asylum division chief John Lafferty told the town hall the administration aims to process migrants for release or deportation within one or two weeks and cut the time migrants have to consult with a lawyer from 48 hours to 24 hours.

Some asylum officers in the meeting raised concerns about the timelines.

In a June 7 filing supporting a lawsuit brought against the regulation by the American Civil Liberties Union and others in U.S. District Court in northern California, the union representing asylum officers said the policy puts “our international and moral commitments at risk.”

The government responded in legal filings that the rule was a “well-reasoned border management policy that for the past month and a half has been key to ensuring the continued functioning of the U.S. immigration and asylum system during exigent circumstances while providing ways for vulnerable populations to seek protection.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Homeland Security Department, which oversees USCIS, told Reuters the regulation will reduce the strain on immigration courts by swiftly denying asylum claims with no merit. Lafferty did not respond to a request for comment.
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Volt Hockey Reinvents Game for Power Wheelchair Users

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

Whether played on a field or ice, hockey is an intense and physically demanding sport. In Boston, players in power wheelchairs have taken up the challenge. VOA’s Tina Trinh went to a match.
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Titan Submersible Operator Suspends Expeditions After Deadly Implosion

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

OceanGate, the U.S.-based company that managed the tourist submersible that imploded during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, has suspended all exploration and commercial operations, its website showed on Thursday.

The company did not elaborate beyond a red banner at the top of its website: “OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”

OceanGate had planned two expeditions to the century-old Titanic ruins, located in a remote corner of the North Atlantic, for June 2024, its website showed.

U.S. and Canadian authorities are investigating the cause of the June undersea implosion, which killed all five people aboard and raised questions about the unregulated nature of such expeditions.

The U.S. Coast Guard last week recovered presumed human remains and debris from the submersible, known as the Titan, after searching the ocean floor. Examination of the debris is expected to shed more light on the cause of the implosion.

The Titan lost contact with its support vessel during its descent on June 18. Its remains were found four days later, littering the seabed about 488 meters from the bow of the Titanic wreck.
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American Journalist Gershkovich Marks 100 Days in Russian Jail 

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

Jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich on Friday marks his 100th day in detention in Russia on espionage accusations.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested March 29 while on assignment in the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Russian authorities have accused the Moscow-based reporter of spying.

Gershkovich, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny the espionage charges.

Media watchdogs say his arrest marked a new low in Russia’s declining press freedom environment under President Vladimir Putin.

“Evan’s detention marked a new escalation in Putin’s war on the free press, expanding his crackdown beyond Russia’s domestic media which has already been totally hollowed out,” Clayton Weimers, executive director of the U.S. office of Reporters Without Borders, told VOA.

“One hundred days in jail is 100 days too long to punish a journalist for simply doing journalism,” he said.

The first American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since the end of the Cold War, Gershkovich faces 20 years in a penal colony if convicted.

“It is vital to keep Evan’s story front and center, particularly as we reflect on this difficult milestone,” The Wall Street Journal said in a statement.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Moscow and Washington have discussed a possible prisoner swap, in an apparent reference to the American journalist and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges.

“We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, without naming any specific detainee. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.”

Peskov added that “the lawful right to consular contacts must be ensured on both sides.”

In response to a question Wednesday about a potential prisoner swap, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Sadly, we do not have any news to share.”

“What I can say is Evan, along with Paul Whelan, who are both wrongfully detained, as you know, should be home. They should be home with their families. I just don’t have anything to share at this time,” she added.

Whelan, a former U.S. marine, is also detained in Russia on espionage charges that the U.S. views as baseless.

Russia’s Washington embassy did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Gershkovich’s detention has taken a toll on his friends and colleagues in the community of journalists who cover Russia.

“Knowing that it’s been 100 days that Evan has been in Lefortovo prison, an FSB-run prison that is very isolating, known for being really psychologically challenging for its inmates — it’s just really hard to know that Evan has been in those circumstances for so long already,” Financial Times reporter Polina Ivanova told VOA.

Ivanova has known Gershkovich since 2017, when they both started reporting jobs in Moscow — Gershkovich at the Moscow Times and Ivanova at Reuters.

“It’s a very tight-knit community, so we’ve always been good friends,” said Ivanova, now based in Berlin and still covering Russia and Ukraine.

Since Gershkovich’s arrest in March, the journalist has been granted only two consular visits.

The latest visit took place Monday, when U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was allowed to visit Gershkovich for the first time since April.

“Ambassador Tracy reports that Mr. Gershkovich is in good health and remains strong, despite his circumstances,” a State Department spokesperson said about the latest visit. “We expect Russian authorities to provide continued consular access.”

In a statement about Gershkovich’s 100-day marker, the press freedom group the Committee to Protect journalists said it was concerned about the lack of due process and the denial of consular access to the journalist.

“One hundred days is obviously just incredibly difficult to get your head around — to imagine yourself in such a small space for so long with so little contact with the outside world,” Ivanova said.

Gershkovich’s original pre-trial detention was set to expire on May 29, but a Russian court lengthened that period to August 30.
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Supreme Court Upholds Native American Adoption Preferences

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

In its latest session, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld preferences for Native American foster children to be adopted by Native American parents. The Indian Child Welfare Act was challenged by non-Native foster parents who say it is discriminatory. For VOA, Levi Stallings has our story from the Southwest state of Arizona. (Camera: Levi Stallings)
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Yellen in China for Talks Focused On Stabilizing Ties

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived Thursday in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials as part of an effort to address strained relations between the two countries.

“I am glad to be in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials and business leaders,” Yellen said on Twitter. “We seek a healthy economic competition that benefits American workers and firms and to collaborate on global challenges.”

“We will take action to protect our national security when needed,” she added, “and this trip presents an opportunity to communicate and avoid miscommunication or misunderstanding.”

Yellen said U.S. President Joe Biden “charged his administration with deepening communication between our two countries on a range of issues, and I look forward to doing so during my visit.”

Her visit, which is scheduled to last through Sunday, follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month.

Chinese state media said Xie expressed hope that the two countries will eliminate interference and strengthen dialogue.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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US Says Russian Jets Harassed Drones Over Syria

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

The U.S. military said a group of three Russian fighter jets harassed three U.S. drones that were taking part in a mission Wednesday against Islamic State group targets in Syria.

Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, commander of the U.S. 9th Air Force in the Middle East, said the Russian jets dropped flares attached to parachutes in front of the U.S. drones, which forced the drones to take evasive action.

Grynkewich also said one of the Russian pilots maneuvered in front of a drone and engaged the jet’s afterburners, which affected the drone operator’s ability to safely operate the aircraft.

The U.S. military did not specify where in Syria the incident took place.

There are about 900 U.S. forces deployed to Syria to advise and assist Kurdish-led forces in the fight to defeat the Islamic State group.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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US Unseals Previously Blacked-Out Portions From Trump Search Warrant Application

Posted on 07/06/2023 by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Wednesday disclosed some of the previously blacked-out portions of a warrant application it submitted last year to gain authorization to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida property for classified documents.

Key portions of the document had already been made public, but media organizations including The Associated Press had pressed for further unsealing in light of a 38-count indictment last month charging Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta, with concealing classified records at Mar-a-Lago from investigators. A magistrate judge, Bruce Reinhart, declined to order the Justice Department to unseal the search warrant affidavit in its entirety but did require prosecutors to publicly file a less-redacted affidavit.

The newly revealed paragraphs lay out important evidence that prosecutors had gathered well before the search took place, recounting how surveillance footage from inside the property showed dozens of boxes being relocated by a Trump aide in the days before FBI and Justice Department investigators visited the home to collect records.

During that June 3, 2022, visit, law enforcement officials were handed an envelope of 38 classified documents and told that all records sought by a subpoena were being turned over and that a “diligent search” of the home had been done. But investigators had reason to believe that was not true based on the relocation of boxes that they had observed on video, and that additional records remained at the house.

The movement of boxes by Nauta was detailed in last month’s indictment, but its inclusion in the search warrant affidavit helps explain why the Justice Department felt it had probable cause to search Trump’s home on Aug. 8, 2022, and why investigators were concerned that documents were being intentionally withheld from them.

The affidavit recounts how someone identified only as “Witness 5” was seen on multiple days carrying either cardboard or bankers’ boxes in and out of the anteroom at the house. The affidavit does not mention Nauta by name, but the dates of the actions — as well as of an FBI interview “during which the location of boxes was a significant subject of questioning” — line up with the dates cited in the indictment.

Nauta is set to be arraigned in federal court in Miami on Thursday. Trump has already pleaded not guilty to more than three dozen felony counts, many alleging willful retention of national defense information.
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Pentagon to Enhance Security for Classified Intelligence

Posted on 07/05/2023 by SeeUS

The U.S. Defense Department will not order a sweeping overhaul of its security procedures following a review of the leak of hundreds of classified documents earlier this year on a social media platform popular with gamers.

Results of the 45-day review, released Wednesday, instead call for a series of measures aimed at tightening existing security measures and improving communication so that officials in charge of secure facilities are taking all the necessary precautions.

“This review found that the overwhelming majority of DoD personnel with access to CNSI [Classified National Security Information] are trustworthy, and that all DoD Components demonstrate a broad commitment to security,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a memo, dated June 30.

But Austin added that the review “identified areas where we can and must improve accountability.”

Pentagon officials announced the review in April after the arrest of 21-year-old Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira.

Teixeira has been charged with six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information for removing intelligence documents from a secured work environment and posting them, as well as photos of other documents, for a small group on Discord.

Teixeira pleaded not guilty during a court hearing last month and remains in custody pending trial.

The Pentagon has already sought to reduce the number of employees with access to sensitive information and officials said the new recommendations seek to build on that.

“There was no single point of failure,” a senior defense official said Wednesday, speaking to reporters about the review’s findings on the condition of anonymity.

“What we see here is we have a growing ecosystem of classified facilities and a body of personnel who are cleared,” the official said. “Within that we have opportunities to clarify policy … they are not the clearest documents always.”

The official said that includes making sure Defense Department personnel understand when and how to report violations of security protocols.

The official also said efforts are underway to make sure employees are continually vetted and that managers have the information they need to revoke security clearances if something in an employee’s history necessitates a change.

Other changes called for in the review are aimed at improving physical security, including a mandate to install detection systems that would identify when a smart phone or other prohibited electronic device is brought into a secure facility.

According to a 2017 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, approximately 4 million people have U.S. security clearances, with 1.3 million cleared to access top secret information.

Following the disclosure of the Discord leak in April, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines called the incident, “deeply depressing … very frustrating.”

But she also urged officials not to overreact.

“What I think we all try to do is learn the right lessons and then not over-torque as a consequence,” Haines said at the time. “What I mean by that is to try to promote better practices, while at the same time not undermining our capacity to do appropriate sharing and to engage in our mission.”
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Powder Found in White House Wing Tests Positive for Cocaine

Posted on 07/05/2023 by SeeUS

A white powder discovered in a lobby area of the White House’s West Wing that prompted a brief evacuation Sunday evening tested positive for cocaine in a laboratory analysis, three people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

Officials who found the powder in a small plastic envelope in the heavily trafficked part of the White House initially suspected illegal drugs, but they ran tests to ensure that the powder was not a more dangerous substance.

Investigators have not yet identified who brought the cocaine into the White House, according to the three people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss the inquiry and spoke on condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden was at Camp David with members of his family for the holiday weekend when the powder was discovered, and the complex was briefly evacuated as a precaution. It’s routine for emergency teams to quickly test a suspicious substance on the scene to determine whether it’s hazardous and also to follow up with more sensitive lab tests later.

The U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for securing the White House, was taking the lead on the investigation, consulting visitor logs and security footage.

The lobby is where many official visitors and staffers enter. It is also open to staff-led tours of the West Wing, which are scheduled for nonworking hours on the weekends and evenings.

The Secret Service said in a statement Tuesday the White House was closed as a precaution as emergency crews investigated, and that the District of Columbia Fire Department was called in to evaluate and determine that the substance was not hazardous.

“The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending,” the Secret Service said.
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US Navy Says It Prevented Iran From Seizing Tankers in Gulf

Posted on 07/05/2023 by SeeUS

DUBAI — The U.S. Navy said it intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf on Wednesday in the latest in a series of seizures or attacks on ships in the area since 2019.

Chevron said one incident involved the Richmond Voyager, a very large crude carrier managed by the U.S. oil company, and that crew onboard were safe.

An Iranian navy vessel fired shots during the second seizure attempt, Navy Fifth Fleet spokesperson Timothy Hawkins said.

Both incidents took place in the Gulf in waters between Iran and Oman.

Hawkins did not say how the U.S. Navy prevented their seizure. Details regarding the second vessel involved in the incident were not immediately clear.

Since 2019, there have been a series of attacks on shipping in the strategic Gulf waters at times of tension between the United States and Iran.

Iran seized two oil tankers in a week just over a month ago, the U.S. Navy said.

About a fifth of the world’s supply of crude oil and oil products passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point between Iran and Oman, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa.

Refinitiv ship tracking data shows the Richmond Voyager previously docked in Ras Tannoura in eastern Saudi Arabia before Wednesday’s incident in the Gulf.

A Chevon spokesperson said “there is no loss of life, injury, or loss of containment” aboard the Richmond Voyager.

“The vessel is operating normally. The safety of our crew is our top priority,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
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Americans Divided Over Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action

Posted on 07/05/2023 by SeeUS

Americans are divided by the Supreme Court overturning decades of precedent supporting affirmative action in college admissions, a policy that advantaged otherwise disadvantaged students from racial or ethnic minority groups.

“Unfortunately, race still matters in our society and affirmative action is essential in guaranteeing that everyone — not just the advantaged — benefit from an education that can serve as a pathway to upward mobility,” Coalition for a Diverse Harvard board member Michael Williams told VOA.

Harvard University, along with the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, were sued by Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit organization against racial classifications in college admissions. By ruling in their favor, the Supreme Court is disadvantaging all Americans, Williams said.

“Many of our college applicants have been systematically and purposefully excluded from aspects of our society and discriminated against based on race, and an equitable college admissions process must recognize these disadvantages,” Williams said. “But this affects everyone because studies show that diverse institutions are better institutions. Affirmative action helps prepare all our students for the diversity they’ll find in the workplace.”

Other Americans welcomed the high court’s ruling against race-conscious admissions.

“America is supposed to be a meritocracy, and race shouldn’t play any part in college or job decisions,” said Angelica Garcia, a teacher in Saginaw, Michigan.

“Assuming every Black and brown person has lived this underclass or inferior experience and needs help is racist,” she continued. “As a person of color, I worked hard for what I’ve gotten and I’ve overcome a lot, and I hate that some people think I’ve only been accepted into college or my job because of my race.”

Born from civil rights movement

Race-conscious admissions in American universities were born from the civil rights movement of the 1960s and laws supporting affirmative action in the U.S. labor market. Colleges that adopted these policies were challenged in the Supreme Court, where justices ruled that while quota systems were an unconstitutional violation of equal protections, race could still be considered by universities as one factor among others.

“Affirmative action was implemented to address the longstanding exclusion and segregation of Black and brown students in higher education and to recognize the persistent inequalities that students of color face on both individual and systemic levels,” Edgar Saldivar, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, told VOA.

The impact of eliminating that is clear to Connie Chung Joe, chief executive officer of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California.

“Without race-conscious admissions, racial segregation will rise at our nation’s colleges and universities,” she predicted. “This will disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, and Asian communities. Entire generations of talented students of color will be denied the future they deserve.”

Policy has harmed, say opponents

Opponents of race-conscious admissions say it’s the policy itself that has done harm by overlooking those excluded from preferential treatments.

“Maybe affirmative action was something necessary many years ago, but in the present day, it was time for it to be revisited,” said Jillian Dani, a former teacher from Merritt Island, Florida. “I understand the desire to give minorities more opportunities, but in today’s world, minorities have the same opportunities as the rest of us.”

“All-women colleges exist, and all-Black colleges exist,” Dani told VOA. “But there aren’t any all-white male colleges even though poor white people are a real thing. They’re missing out on opportunities, too, and affirmative action wasn’t helping them.”

Twenty-year-old San Diego entrepreneur Willow Hannington believes the decision to strike down affirmative action is a positive one for the country.

“It’s a significant stride towards fostering a truly fair and equal society,” she told VOA. “This nation has achieved significant progress, and, in my opinion, race should no longer play a decisive role in any aspect of our lives.”

Schools commit to diversity

In a recent poll by ABC News/Ipsos, a majority of Americans favor this more “race neutral” or “color-blind” approach. Following the ruling, many colleges and universities issued statements reaffirming their commitment to diversity.

“Eliminating the use of standardized test scores in admissions, increasing guaranteed financial support, broadening recruitment efforts to underserved communities, and developing robust middle and high school pipelines that benefit all students are just some of the things that can be done,” Saldivar told VOA.

Craig Mindrum from Chicago has a strategy to add. With experience on a graduate school admissions committee, he said students should continue talking about how their lived experiences and race has shaped their character, drive and talents.

“No legislation or court decision is going to stop me from making some recommendations while considering minority or disadvantaged status,” he said. “Admissions counselors are people, not legislative robots, and across the country they’re going to be making the final decision on who is accepted into their college.”
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China Accuses US of Turning Taiwan Into Powder Keg with Latest Sales to Self-Governing Island

Posted on 07/05/2023 by SeeUS

China’s Defense Ministry accused the United States of turning Taiwan into a powder keg Wednesday with its latest sales of military equipment to the self-governing island democracy worth a total of $440.2 million.

The U.S. State Department approved of the sale of 30 mm ammunition and related equipment, along with spare parts for Taiwan’s vehicles, small arms, combat weapon systems, and logistical support items. Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei responded that “the U.S. ignores China’s core concerns, crudely interferes in China’s internal affairs, and deliberately escalates tensions across the Taiwan Strait.”

China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be conquered by force if necessary and Tan said “stern representations” had been lodged with the U.S.

“This is tantamount to accelerating the transformation of Taiwan into a ‘powder keg’ and pushing the Taiwanese people into the abyss of disaster,” he said in a statement carried on the ministry’s website.

Using force to seek independence is wishful thinking and is doomed to failure, he said, using standard Chinese terminology, adding that the People’s Liberation Army was always ready and would maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

The U.S. maintains a “One China” policy under which it does not recognize Taiwan’s formal independence and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island in deference to Beijing. Nonetheless, U.S. law requires a credible defense for Taiwan and for the U.S. to treat all threats to the island as matters of ”grave concern.”

China regularly sends warships and planes across the center line in the Taiwan Strait that provides a buffer between the sides, as well as into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, in an effort to intimidate the island’s 23 million people and wear down its military capabilities.

During a transit stop in the U.S. by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in April, during which she met with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, China staged three days of large-scale drills around the island, simulating a blockade. China opposes any exchanges at the official level between Taiwan and other governments.

On Wednesday, 26 PLA aircraft and 4 Chinese navy ships were detected around Taiwan, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said. Aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems were monitoring the situation, it said.

Few Taiwanese seem fazed by such displays, with the vast majority favoring maintaining the island’s current status of de-facto independence. The island split from mainland China amid civil war in 1949.

In its announcement of the sale, the State Department said it “serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability.”

“The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region,” it said. The ammunition and associated equipment will maintain the effectiveness of Taiwan’s CM34 Armored Vehicles while “further enhancing interoperability with the United States.”

In addition to purchasing military hardware from the U.S. — with an estimated $19 billion of F-16 fighter jets and other items on backorder — Taiwan has been revitalizing its domestic defense industries, overhauling training and extending compulsory national service for all men from four months to one year.

While China’s vast military dominates Taiwan’s in almost every category, part of the island’s strategy is to hold off Chinese forces long enough for outside help to arrive.
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