CIA plans major reorganization and a focus on digital espionage: “This is a major reorganization, one of the largest and most fundamental they’ve had,” said Mark M. Lowenthal, a former senior CIA officer and an expert on the history of the U.S. intelligence community... “I strongly endorse Director Brennan’s vision,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in a statement. “I see many advantages to this, but the one I want to highlight specifically is the impact this change will have in promoting integration.” | Russia: 2 Suspects Detained in Murder of Boris Nemtsov: The suspects were identified as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev. No further information was given about them, but opposition figures unearthed a statement from the Chechen government from 2010 in which a Zaur Dadaev was among the police troops awarded medals.
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(MOSCOW) — Two suspects have been detained in the killing a week ago of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the head of Russia’s federal security service said Saturday, an announcement received with both skepticism and reserved satisfaction by some of Nemtsov’s comrades.
Alexander Bortnikov, in comments shown on state television, said the two suspects were from Russia’s North Caucasus region, but gave no details other than their names.
He said they were “suspected of carrying out this crime,” but it was not clear if either of the suspects was believed to have fired the shots that killed Nemtsov as he and a companion walked over a bridge near the Kremlin on Feb. 27. No charges were immediately announced.
Nemtsov’s killing shocked Russia’s already beleaguered and marginalized opposition supporters. Suspicion in the opposition is high that the killing was ordered by the Kremlin in retaliation for Nemtsov’s adamant criticism of President Vladimir Putin. The 55-year-old was working on a report about Russian military involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict.
But Russia’s top investigative body said it was investigating several possible motives, including that he was killed in an attempt to smear Putin’s image. It also said it was looking into possible connections to Islamic extremism and Nemtsov’s personal life.
Many believe that Nemtsov’s death in a tightly secured area near the Kremlin wouldn’t have been possible without official involvement, and could be an attempt to scare other government foes.
Putin dubbed Nemtsov’s killing a “provocation.”
One of Nemtsov’s closest allies in the opposition, Ilya Yashin, said on Fcebook after the announcement that “It’s hard to judge whether these are the real performers of if the investigation went down a false track.”
In any case, he said, “it’s extremely important that the matter not be limited to detention of the shooters, whether these are the real killers or not. The key task is the identification and detention of who ordered” the attack.
“For the time being, it’s very skimpy information, which tells us little, but it’s good that the first results of the investigation has appeared,” another opposition leader, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, was quoted as telling the news agency Interfax.
In some previous killings of Kremlin critics, especially the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, there has been wide criticism that those who ordered the killing have not been identified or prosecuted.
The North Caucasus region from which the suspects reportedly come includes Chechnya, where two separtatist rebels fought two wars against Russian forces over the past two decades and which now is in under the tight control of Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Kadyrov has been widely criticized for brutality against opponents, including summary executions and abductions, and is a vehement defender of Putin. He blamed Western security services for Nemtsov’s killing.
The suspects were identified as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev. No further information was given about them, but opposition figures unearthed a statement from the Chechen government from 2010 in which a Zaur Dadaev was among the police troops awarded medals.
Kremlin critics say the spiteful nationalist propaganda on state television, which cast Nemtsov and other liberals as Western stooges, helped prepare the ground for his killing.
“The atmosphere of mad aggression created by the state television … has signaled that you could do anything to the people expressing a different view, this will benefit the Motherland,” Dmitry Muratov, the editor of the Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the Kremlin, told the AP on Friday.
Nemtsov was walking with a young Ukrainian woman, Anna Duritskaya, when he was shot. The woman has returned to Ukraine after questioning by police and the state news agency RIA Novosti on Saturday quoted her lawyer Vadim Prokhorov as saying she has not been called back to Russia for testimony in connection with the detentions.
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· · ·
Washington revolving door speeds up as Obama officials head for lobbying jobs by Rupert Neate in New York
As the 2016 election looms, the former White House press secretary Jay Carney has joined the corporate exodus, despite the president’s stated policy
Washington has long been notorious for its revolving doors. A city where politicians, regulators and other officials spin out of one capital building only to return at another as highly paid lobbyists and spin doctors for the people they used to watch over.
As the 2016 election approaches those doors are likely to spin faster. A rash of senior White House staff jumping ship for well-paid lobbying jobs at some of America’s biggest and most controversial companies could pose a threat to open government, governance and transparency campaigners have warned.
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Russian authorities arrested two men Saturday in the killing of a key opposition leader, Russian state media reported.
UN demands open borders for Europeby The European Union Times
François Crépeau, the United Nation’s special rapporteur on human rights of migrants, has said the final “solution for Europe” is for it give up on immigration and to have open borders.
“I don’t see any other solution for Europe,” he said. “They need to open the borders.”
“European states need to create an operation where saving lives is the first objective.”
Joel Millman, a press officer for the International Organization for Migration echoed Crépeau’s call for open borders.
“We appreciate border security is a shared responsibility. We don’t think everybody should be allowed in, not terrorists or pedophiles. But you can’t ignore certain truths here. Europe is close to massive conflict zones” he said.
“We need to open up the channels of legal resettlement”
“The EU can’t escape it. This is their future. They should actually embrace it,” Millman said.
Traitors and sellouts are really pushing for open borders in Europe, even Pope Francis has demand Europe open its borders.
The majority of Europe is already against massive immigration, but all the buffoon politicians in power refuse to accept our opinion.
All these open borders policies will irreparably change our European culture based on Christian moral values, freedoms and technological progression. People from other continents don’t share our mentality and most of the time they want us to change and become like them and forget about our culture and our way of life but even if hypothetically our culture would be worse then theirs, still no one has the right to destroy our culture in this way, for according to UN’s definition of genocide, this is exactly what’s happening in Europe.
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· ·
ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT — The top U.S. military officer will press the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi during a visit to Iraq this week about its plans for avoiding sectarian fallout once the Iranian-backed operation to dislodge the Islamic State from the city of Tikrit concludes.Read full article >>
Two men have been detained in Russia in connection with the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the country's Federal Security Service, or FSB, has revealed. The men, identified as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadayev, were detained on Saturday, FSB director Alexander Bortnikov said, speaking on Russian television, the BBC reported.
Bortnikov said both suspects come from Russia’s southern region of the North Caucasus, a restive place with insurgency and crime problems, Russia Today reported. The investigation into Nemtsov's death is ongoing, Bortnikov said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the arrests. Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister and ardent critic of Putin, was gunned down last Friday in Moscow, a short distance from the Kremlin.
He had reportedly been preparing a report that provided evidence of the involvement of Russian military forces inside Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels have been involved in a violent conflict with forces loyal to the pro-Western government in Kiev since April 2014.
Some foreign leaders, including Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, have speculated that Moscow was behind Nemtsov's assassination, in a move designed to silence a government critic.
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Russian activists close to Nemtsov have in recent days said that the report he was working on will be published at an unspecified future date, despite Russian security services seizing the slain politician's laptop, which was believed to contain the only copy of much of the evidence he had obtained.
Other prominent critics of the Russian government have also been assassinated in mysterious circumstances in recent years. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent critic of Putin, was gunned down in her Moscow apartment in 2006. Five men have been convicted of her murder by contract killing, but those responsible for dispatching the killers have never been discovered.
In addition, former KGB (the former name of the FSB) agent Alexander Litvinenko was killed in 2006, after two Russian men that he met with in London poisoned him with a radioactive substance. A public enquiry into his death has been ongoing in the U.K. since January 2015.
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Two suspects arrested in Boris Nemtsov's death
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· · · · · · · · · · · ·
MOSCOW — Two suspects have been detained in the murder of the opposition leader Boris Y. Nemtsov, the head of Russia’s internal law enforcement agency announced on Saturday.
Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, named the two suspects as Anzor Kubashev and Zaur Dadayev and said the men were residents of the southern Caucasus, state-run television reported.
Mr. Bortnikov provided no other details, other than to say that the investigation was continuing as a joint operation of his agency, the interior ministry and the prosecutor’s office.
But an unidentified source told the Interfax news agency that the police had been able to trace the men both through cell phone activity around the location of the murder and from DNA testing of evidence found in the suspected getaway car. The Interfax report said that although the two men are the suspects in carrying out the killing, the people who organized it have yet to be identified.
Mr. Nemtsov was the victim of a brazen shooting in downtown Moscow late on Feb. 27. His proximity to the Kremlin, one of the most heavily guarded areas in Moscow, led some opposition figures to accuse the government of complicity in the crime.
An outspoken critic of the Russian government, Mr. Nemtsov was shot in the back by a man who had been hiding on a staircase leading up to the bridge across the Moscow River, according to police accounts. After shooting Mr. Nemtsov at least four times in the back, the shooter fled in a light-colored getaway car driven by someone else.
Interfax quoted an unidentified law enforcement source as saying the vehicle was found quickly. Investigators also got clear pictures of the suspects from cameras on the bridge, the report said. However, there have been confused reports all week in Russia about whether the cameras were actually working and what they were able to capture. Finally, cell phone conversations helped lead to the suspects, Interfax reported.
The two men have yet to be arraigned, which may happen as early as Sunday, according to Russian press reports.
Mikhail Fedotov, the head of President Vladimir V. Putin’s Human Rights Council, was quoted as saying he hoped law enforcement officials would ultimately identify both the killers and those behind the crime.
“Certainly, it is important to find both those who committed and those who ordered this brazen and cynical crime,” Interfax quoted him as saying.
Ilya Yashin, a political ally of Mr. Nemtsov’s, expressed the widespread skepticism among activists that this case would prove any different from previous murders in which those responsible were never identified. Given the lack of significant details, “it is hard to judge whether these are the real perpetrators or whether the investigation went down the wrong track,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Mr. Yashin called on the authorities to release any substantial evidence they had such as pictures from the security cameras, so the public will know that the case is real. More important, the authorities had to identify not just the perpetrators, but whoever was behind them, he said.
It is not uncommon in high profile cases to detain the perpetrators, which allows the authorities to present a good picture on television, he said. “But if whoever ordered it can avoid responsibility, then the practice of political assassinations will no doubt continue.”
There have been a series of high profile murders of government critics in Russia over the past two decades in which the mastermind has never been identified.
Last June, for example, Moscow’s highest criminal court sentenced five men, all from the North Caucasus, to prison for the 2006 murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. But her supporters stress that the question of who ordered her killing remains open.
Ms. Politkovskaya was a scathing critic of Kremlin policies in the troubled southern Russian republic of Chechnya and of the local strongman, Ramzan A. Kadyrov.
The names of the two suspects in the Nemtsov case seem to indicate that they are from Chechnya, where Russia has been fighting insurgents on and off for centuries.
After two bloody wars in the 1990s, which leveled the capital, Grozny, Mr. Putin essentially subcontracted control over Chechnya to Mr. Kadyrov.
In recent weeks, Mr. Kadyrov and his supporters assumed a highly visible role in the anti-Maidan movement which seeks to block any attempt to recreate in Russia the kind of political upheaval that forced a change in government in neighboring Ukraine. More broadly, anti-Maidan figures support the conservative, nationalistic, anti-Western ideology that Mr. Putin has made a signature of his 3rd term.
In a large march through central Moscow on Feb. 21, youngsupporters of Mr. Kadyrov carried signs saying “Putin and Kadyrov will prevent Maidan in Russia” and “It’s the enemies of Russia who want Maidan.”
Other signs singled out Mr. Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny, another charismatic opposition leader, as organizers of the Maidan movement in Russia. State television has also repeatedly attacked them as “enemies of the people” and members of a “fifth column” working for Western powers.
Opposition members maintain that this year-long campaign created a climate of hate which lead to Mr. Nemtsov’s killing.
Leaders of the anti-Maidan movement have denied any role, saying the assassination was likely plotted abroad. Mr. Kadyrov has said he suspected Western intelligence agencies intent on destabilizing Russia of killing Mr. Nemtsov.
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By Alexey Semyonov and Alexey Bayer March 6 at 6:58 PM
Thirty-five years ago, on Jan. 22, 1980, Andrei Sakharov was detained by KGB agents on a Moscow street and packed off to Nizhny Novgorod, then called Gorky. The decision to send the human rights defender and winner of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize into internal exile came as relations with the West deteriorated after the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan a month earlier. Today, history is being repeated as the Russian government mounts a legal attack on human rights and civic organizations — including an institution created to preserve Sakharov’s legacy — at a time when Moscow’s relations with the world are strained by its involvement in a war in neighboring Ukraine. And with the brazen murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov last week within sight of the Kremlin, the need for a vibrant civil society in Russia is all the more urgent.
In December, the Ministry of Justice, acting on an anonymous denunciation, carried out an unscheduled inspection of the Sakharov Center, one of the oldest and most respected nongovernmental organizations in Russia (and, appropriately, the venue of the memorial service for Nemtsov). Along with 16 other independent NGOs, the center was required to register as a “foreign agent” under a law passed in 2012. Some NGOs have decided to shut down rather than admit to or challenge this designation, which in Russian carries clear connotations of “spy” and “traitor.” The Sakharov Center is contesting its designation as a foreign agent and, in the meantime, faces heavy fines that could endanger its survival.
The 2012 law designates as foreign agents those NGOs that receive any funding from abroad (regardless of the source) and engage in political activity (as arbitrarily defined by the Ministry of Justice). The law has been central to the government’s intensifying crackdown on independent thought, and last year Russia’s highest court found that the law was not intended to persecute or discredit any group — even though it does exactly that.
Founded in 1990, a year after Sakharov’s death, the Sakharov Center is a civic and cultural institution that houses a permanent exhibition on the history of repression in the Soviet Union and puts on temporary exhibitions on human rights. Its space is also used for discussions, debates and performances in the spirit of Sakharov’s principles of openness, tolerance and unrestricted debate. The center recently served as the venue for the play “Nadya and Osya, a Love Story,” about the early-20th-century Russian poet Osip Mandelstam and his wife, Nadezhda. A discussion in early February addressed protection for freedom of speech.
Because of these and similar events, the Ministry of Justice said the center “systematically carries out political activities.” In its inspection report, the ministry cited the topics of those discussions, as well as statements by participants — who were not affiliated with the center — that were critical of government agencies and policies. In other words, the ministry equated criticism of the government with political activity, in the same way that Sakharov’s activities — his civic advocacy of human rights, dignity and international disarmament — were considered “anti-Soviet” and brought about his persecution and exile.
The Sakharov Center does not accept the ministry’s broad definition of political activity, which should properly cover only actions and publications supporting specific political parties and candidates or efforts that otherwise seek to exercise influence over the state. Moreover, the center has not changed its mission or its policies since the ministry investigated it in past years without labeling it a foreign agent. Apart from the financial pressure — the center could face repeated fines of up to about $7,500 for the same alleged transgression — being classified as a foreign agent raises issues greatly complicating the functioning of the center. Worse, a slew of new and pending legislationwould allow the government to ban any NGO classified as a foreign agent as well as other “undesirable foreign organizations.”
As Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch, noted, “Instead of targeting independent groups, the government should be listening to what they have to say.” On paper, Russia claims to have broken with its Soviet past. On the surface, it continues to honor Sakharov’s memory and has repudiated the Soviet-era persecution of the physicist. A major Moscow thoroughfare is named after him. In Nizhny Novgorod, a monument to Sakharov was placed in front of the building where he and his wife spent six years of their exile. But such honors are meaningless while the principles that Sakharov stood for are under siege.
“At certain periods of time in the life of any nation, there will be people who turn on the light, if you will. They show a road for the nation to follow,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a 2001 interview with NPR. “Andrei Sakharov was one of those people: a visionary, someone who was able not only to see the future, but to articulate his thoughts, and to do so without fear.” The road that Sakharov showed us is indispensable for any country to grow, develop and prosper in the modern world. The Russian government can begin to follow it by ending its persecution of the Sakharov Center and other NGOs acting in the spirit of the principles for which he stood.
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· · · · ·
The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency in the lobby of the headquarters. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The CIA embarked on a sweeping restructuring Friday that will bring an end to divisions that have been in place for decades, create 10 new centers that team analysts with operators, and significantly expand the agency’s focus on digital espionage.
The plans were unveiled by CIA Director John Brennan to a workforce in which thousands of employees are likely to see changes in which departments they work for, the lines of authority they report to and even where they sit.
The overhaul is designed to foster deeper collaboration and an intensified focus on a range of security issues and threats, replacing long-standing divisions that cover the Middle East, Africa and other regions with hybrid “mission centers” modeled on the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center.
The CIA will also create a directorate focused exclusively on exploiting advances in computer technology and communications. The Directorate of Digital Innovation will rank alongside the agency’s operations and analysis branches, and it will be responsible for missions ranging from cyber-espionage to the security of the CIA’s internal e-mail.
In a briefing with reporters, Brennan described the far-reaching changes as “part of the natural evolution of an intelligence agency” that has not seen a significant reorganization in decades.
A central aim, he said, is to eliminate “seams” in coverage that lead to confusion over which part of the agency is responsible for tracking a specific issue or threat. After the reorganization, Brennan said, the CIA should be in position to “cover the entire universe, regionally and functionally, and so something that’s going on in the world falls into one of those buckets.”
The changes, however, are also likely to create turmoil at a time that Brennan and others frequently characterize as the most complicated and challenging period for intelligence agencies in a generation. Brennan said the plan has been received enthusiastically by most at the agency, but there have also been signs of friction and disagreement.
The head of the CIA’s clandestine service recently decided to retire abruptly in part because of opposition to a plan that would strip his position of much of its authority over the agency’s covert operations overseas and the teams of spies that it deploys.
CIA veterans and experts described the restructuring as among the most ambitious since the agency was founded in 1947.
“This is a major reorganization, one of the largest and most fundamental they’ve had,” said Mark M. Lowenthal, a former senior CIA officer and an expert on the history of the U.S. intelligence community. Lowenthal also expressed concern that replicating the Counterterrorism Center may also mean replicating an approach criticized at times for being too driven by short-term objectives such as finding the next target for a drone strike.
“Where in this does John have what I would think of as his intellectual strategic reserve, people not worried about day-to-day stuff but who think about what is going to happen two years out?” Lowenthal said. “The centers tend not to do that. They tend to answer today’s mail.”
But Brennan defended the reforms as critical to the agency’s viability in an era of technological and social upheaval. At one point he compared the initiatives to an effort to avoid the fate of Kodak, the company that failed to foresee the impact of digital technology on its film franchise. “Things just passed them by,” Brennan said.
Brennan’s plan was endorsed by others in the Obama administration who noted the advantages of allowing operators and analysts to collaborate.
“I strongly endorse Director Brennan’s vision,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in a statement. “I see many advantages to this, but the one I want to highlight specifically is the impact this change will have in promoting integration.”
As part of Brennan’s plan, long-standing divisions focused on Africa, the Middle East and other regions will give way to centers of corresponding geographic boundaries. The Directorates of Intelligence and Operations — as the analysis and spying branches are known — will continue to exist but will function mainly as talent pools, recruiting and training personnel who can be deployed to the new centers.
“Some who grew up in the old structure will have heartburn with this, but those costs will be short term,” said Michael Morell, former deputy director of the CIA. Morell said that existing centers have “proven to be a very powerful combination” and that the Counterterrorism Center is “the most successful agency component over the last decade.”
The Directorate of Digital Innovation will perform a similar role, and absorb existing entities including the Open Source Center, which monitors Twitter and other social media sites for intelligence on such adversaries as the Islamic State, as well as the Information Operations Center, a secret organization that handles missions including cyber-penetrations and sabotage and is now the second-largest center at the CIA.
But Brennan made clear that the digital directorate will have a much broader mandate, responsible not only for devising new ways to steal secrets from cellphones and other devices, but also for helping CIA officers evade detection overseas in an age when their phones, computers and ATM cards leave digital trails. The head of the new directorate will be responsible for “overseeing the career development of our digital experts as well as the standards of our digital tradecraft,” Brennan said.
Brennan did not present a timetable for the reorganization, or provide names of those who will be picked to lead the new centers. Other aspects of the plan are also unclear, including how much power the new assistant directors will exert over CIA stations overseas.
Brennan began exploring plans for the restructuring last year, when he established a panel to evaluate his proposed changes. The leader of that group, a veteran paramilitary officer whose first name is Greg, was recently put in charge of the Directorate of Operations, one of several departments that will revert to more traditional titles after being rebranded in recent years.
Greg Miller covers the intelligence beat for The Washington Post.
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ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT — The top U.S. military officer will press the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi during a visit to Iraq this week about its plans for avoiding sectarian fallout once the Iranian-backed operation to dislodge the Islamic State from the city of Tikrit concludes.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was confident that Iraq would ultimately defeat the Sunni militants in Tikrit, a largely Sunni city north of Baghdad. He said the group’s fighters numbered only in the hundreds there, while the force of Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed militia fighters advancing on the city stands around 23,000.
“The important thing about this operation in the Tikrit in my view is less about how the military aspect of it goes and more about what follows,” he told reporters ahead a visit to Iraq, where he will meet with Iraq’s Shiite-led government. “Because if the Sunni population is then allowed to continue to live its life the way it wants to, and can come back to their homes … then I think we’re in a really good place.”
“But if what follows the Tikrit operation is not that, if there’s no reconstruction that follows it, if there’s no inclusivity that follows it, if there’s the movement of populations out of their homeland that follows it, then I think we’ve got a challenge in the campaign.”
The Tikrit offensive, launched earlier this week, is the first test of al-Abadi’s ability to orchestrate the recovery of a major city from the Islamic State. It is also an illustration of the government’s deepening partnership with Shiite militia organizations and the military of Shiite neighbor Iran, which has provided advisors, weaponry, training, surveillance and intelligence to counter the militant group.
U.S. officials say two-thirds of the force poised to make an attempt for Tikrit are militiamen rather than Iraqi government forces.
The renewed prominence of Iranian-backed militias — many of them groups U.S. soldiers fought prior to the 2011 U.S. withdrawal — and the increasing openness with which Iranians such as Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Qods force, now operate in Iraq has raised alarms in Western capitals and among Iraqi Sunnis.
Militias are already being blamed for abuses in Sunni areas they have cleared of Islamic State militants. But their fighting power is a necessity given the weakened state of Iraqi security forces and the decision by Western countries to keep troops out of combat in Iraq.
The overt Iranian involvement is also a strain on the rekindled U.S.-Iraq military partnership. U.S. soldiers returned to Iraq last summer after Islamic State militants, fueled by the conflict in neighboring Syria, seized much of the north and west of the country.
While the United States and its allies have conducted air strikes across Iraq, U.S. war planes are notably absent in the unfolding battle in Tikrit. In contrast to the hands-off role there, U.S. forces have been playing a major role in helping the Iraqi military prepare for another future urban battle, in Mosul.
Dempsey, who once commanded the U.S. effort to train Iraqi soldiers, has voiced a results-based view of Iran’s military role in Iraq. Earlier this week, he said that Iranian support could be “positive” if it does not spark sectarian tensions.
Now, as he prepares to meet with Iraqi leaders, Dempsey said he was “trying to get a sense for how our activities and (Iran’s) activities are complementary, because we don’t actually coordinate with them directly nor do we intend to.”
Dempsey said the Tikrit campaign — characterized in its early stage by a crowded push of pickup trucks and military vehicles — did not currently qualify as a “sophisticated military maneuver.” He said U.S. and allied air strikes around the refinery city of Baiji had made the Tikrit offensive possible by depriving nearby Tirkit of militant resources.
The Obama administration has been scrambling to reassure allies, especially Arab nations which are partnering with the United States against the Islamic State, about Iran’s military rise in Iraq. During the same trip, Dempsey will also meet with officials in Bahrain, a tiny Gulf nation that is a key U.S. military ally but struggles with Shiite-Sunni tensions of its own.
While Dempsey said Iranian support had made the militias more “tactically effective,” he appeared more skeptical that Iran would play a constructive role once the Tikrit battle ends.
Dempsey said he would ask Iraqi leaders whether Iran shared a U.S. desire to see a multi-sectarian future for Iraq, which U.S. officials say is required to ease the tensions that helped give rise to the Islamic State. “Otherwise,” he said, “it’s just deferring another fight to another day.”
Missy Ryan writes about the Pentagon, military issues, and national security for The Washington Post.
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Menendez: I've behaved appropriately in office(1:08)
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said amid a federal investigation that he has always behaved appropriately in office and added he was "not going anywhere." (AP)
The Justice Department is preparing to file criminal corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), law enforcement officials said Friday, setting the stage for a legal showdown between the Obama administration and the veteran lawmaker.
The anticipated charges, which the Justice Department could announce in a matter of weeks, would mark a final stage in a more than two-year investigation into the relationship between Menendez and Salomon Melgen, a close friend and political donor.
Federal officials are expected to allege that the senator used the power of his office to improperly benefit Melgen, an ophthalmologist and businessman who operates eye clinics in Florida.
Law enforcement officials confirmed the Justice Department’s plans, which were first reported Friday by CNN. The Justice Department and the White House declined to comment. So did an attorney for Melgen.
Menendez denied any wrongdoing Friday evening at a hastily arranged appearance in New Jersey during which he took no questions.
“I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law,” the senator, shown here in February, said Friday evening. He later declared, “I am not going anywhere.” (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
“I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law,” the senator said. He later declared, “I am not going anywhere.”
The charges would ensnare a leading political figure who has served in Congress for more than two decades and who recently has clashed with the administration over foreign policy issues.
At issue in the federal probe are questions about whether the senator skirted the law to use his influence in the Senate to advance Melgen’s business interests.
Twice in recent years — in 2009 and 2012 — Menendez and his top staff spoke directly to officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about the agency’s finding that Melgen had overbilled the government by $8.9 million for care at one of his clinics.
Menendez repeatedly questioned whether federal auditors had been fair in their assessment of Melgen’s billing for eye injections to treat macular degeneration. His office said he questioned the fairness and consistency of the federal agency in its decision-making with all doctors, not just Melgen.
The matter has been viewed as a particular challenge for prosecutors. While Menendez appeared to go to bat to help a donor’s bottom line — both with the State Department and with the Medicare agency — Melgen is also a longtime friend. Prosecuting an official for receiving gifts from a person who is a genuine personal friend can be difficult.
Another area in which Menendez appeared to use his position to help Melgen came after the doctor became the chief investor in a company holding a long-dormant port security contract in the Dominican Republic, the country where Melgen was born. The contract called for paying lucrative fees for security screening of ships coming into the port.
In the summer of 2012, as Melgen donated $700,000 to support Menendez and other Democrats, Menendez pressed for the United States to push the Dominican Republic to put the contract into effect. At a July Senate hearing he led on Latin American businesses, Menendez urged officials from the Commerce and State departments to apply pressure on countries that didn’t honor agreements with U.S. businesses. Without naming Melgen, Menendez highlighted the contract to provide security in the Dominican port.
Court filings, according to reports in the New Jersey Law Journal, indicate the government has argued that a Menendez staffer urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection not to provide screening equipment to the Dominican Republic so that Melgen could.
The law enforcement officials, who sought anonymity to discuss the pending case, said concerns from the FBI and federal prosecutors about the statute of limitations running out on some charges spurred the Justice Department to move ahead swiftly.
Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill were mostly quiet Friday on the subject of Menendez. In conservative circles, some called for him to step down, and American Commitment, a conservative organization, launched a petition drive calling for his resignation.
During the course of the federal investigation, grand juries convened in both Florida and New Jersey. But many white-collar legal defense experts had raised doubts about federal prosecutors’ ability to pursue charges against the senator, and some suspected the case had died.
Early in the investigation, Menendez faced and denied allegations that among the gifts Melgen provided him was access to prostitutes, some of them underage. Those allegations fizzled after the women who made them publicly recanted their stories.
On Friday, law enforcement officials said that the FBI was pushing prosecutors to charge Menendez and that the top prosecutor in New Jersey, where a grand jury has been hearing evidence, supported the case. The case is being run now by attorneys in the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. declined at a public event Friday to weigh in when asked by a reporter to comment.
In a statement, a Menendez spokeswoman insisted that the senator’s actions did not violate the law.
“Any actions taken by Senator Menendez or his office have been to appropriately address public policy issues and not for any other reason,” said Tricia Enright, his communications director.
The New Jersey Law Journal last week reported on court documents that were inadvertently made public and that indicated Menendez aides could be required to testify before a grand jury. The documents offered the most substantive window yet into the case against the senator.
Public corruption cases typically hinge on evidence of a quid pro quo, or proof of the improper exchange of political favors. Such cases, which are notoriously difficult to prove, involve claims that a public official has used or promised to use his or her government position in exchange for gifts or other things of value. A recent example is the prosecution of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell (R), who was convicted of trying to help a businessman win state support for his product in exchange for more than $170,000 in loans and gifts. McDonnell is appealing the conviction.
On Capitol Hill, Menendez has maintained his prominence this year, even after surrendering his gavel as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee when Republicans assumed control of the Senate.
The son of Cuban immigrants, he was a lonely but powerful voice among Democrats criticizing President Obama’s decision in December to normalize relations with Havana. He decried the trading of convicted Cuban spies for an imprisoned American aid worker, saying it “vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government.”
In the new year, Menendez has assumed a leading role in the Senate debates over U.S. relations with Iran — again taking a harder line on the issue than the Obama administration.
At home in New Jersey, public opinion of Menendez has been more positive than negative. AMonmouth University poll released in February showed that 48 percent of residents approved of the job Menendez was doing, while 26 percent disapproved.
Menendez served in the House from 1993 to 2006, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Senate. He was elected to a full term later that year and easily won reelection in 2012.
If Menendez were to leave office, his departure would shake up New Jersey politics. Most ambitious New Jersey Democrats have been focused on running to succeed Gov. Chris Christie (R) in 2017, and not on Menendez’s seat. Philip Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs official who served as Obama’s ambassador to Germany, has said he is considering a gubernatorial run, as has Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop.
The state’s congressional delegation is dominated by Democrats, but most of them are older, including 78-year-old Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) and 64-year-old Albio Sires (D-N.J.). Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) has expressed interest in higher office in the past but just won a grueling battle to serve as top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Mike DeBonis, Scott Clement, David Nakamura, Ed O’Keefe and Adam Goldman contributed to this report.
Sari Horwitz covers the Justice Department and criminal justice issues nationwide for The Washington Post, where she has been a reporter for 30 years. Follow her @SariHorwitz.
Carol Leonnig covers federal agencies with a focus on government accountability.
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 CNN |
Russian authorities arrest 2 men in killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov
CNN After Nemtsov's shooting Putin blamed extremists and protesters who he said were trying to stir internal strife in Russia. Yet many opposition sympathizers and people close to Nemtsov have pointed the finger at him and the Russian government he leads. Russia detains two men in Boris Nemtsov murder inquiryThe Guardian Russia: 2 Suspects Detained In Boris Nemtsov's MurderHuffington Post Russia: Suspects detained in murder of Putin criticCBS News Financial Times -Toronto Star all 645 news articles » |
Nemtsov – a Russian Liberal Whose Liberalism Didn’t End at Ukraine by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, March 7 – Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered last week in the shadow of the Kremlin, was an exception to the rule that Russian liberalism ends with Ukraine, according to two of his friends, Igor Eidman and Vladimir Milov, in interviews they gave to Novy Region-2’s Kseniya Kirillova.
Eidman, Nemtsov’s cousin and a close friend of Nemtsov, said that “unfortunately,” he “never asked Boris about his person relations to Ukraine but that [he] knows that beginning with the first Orange Revolution, he was very much agitated by everything which took place in that country” (nr2.com.ua/blogs/Ksenija_Kirillova/Igor-Eydman-Borba-protiv-putinskoy-agressii-v-Ukraine-eto-luchshee-chto-sdelal-Boris-91581.html).
With the Anschluss of Crimea and Putin’s moves in the Donbas, he continued, Nemtsov “immediately adopted a tough position directed at a struggle against this aggression. He did everything that was in his power to stop it,” living according to the principle, “’Do what you should and what will be will be.’”
“I consider,” Eidman said, “that [Nemtsov’s] struggle against Russian aggression was the best and most correct thing he did in politics and perhaps in his life.”
One can only welcome the outpouring of sympathy and support for Nemtsov following his death, the Moscow commentator said, “but one must understand that [those taking part] are no danger for the regime – there are too few of them” and most are not prepared to do more than march.
At the same time, he continued, such actions are important because they “demonstrate .. that “Putin’s Russia is not all of Russia” and “show the entire world that Putin’s quasi-fascist criminal elite which has set up a terrorist regime at home, attacked its neighbors and its own citizens, and zombified the population” has not been able to eliminate all such people.
At present, Eidman said, “the forces of the democratic opposition in Russia are very weak. They can express their attitude toward Putin but they are still incapable of effectively struggling with the regime.” Consequently, he added, he very much fears that “the regime’s moves toward fascism will continue.”
The commentator said that he does not expect any more such murders in the immediate future because Putin is someone who carefully “doses out” what he does, following the principle of “’two steps forward, one step back’” in order to undermine the vigilance of his opponents and thus allow him to prepare for new acts of aggression without much interference.
Thus, it is very unlikely that Putin will unleash “mass terror against politicians.” But “undoubtedly, having begun the war with Ukraine and a new Cold War with the West, Putin is interested in converting the country into a kind of military camp so that it will be able to oppose the entire world.”
In some respects, Putin’s decision to assassinate Nemtsov – and Eidman reiterated his view that the Kremlin leader gave the order for the killing – reflected two things. On the one hand, Putin responded like any criminal chieftain who can’t stand to be called names. And on the other, Nemtsov’s actions concerning Ukraine were a direct challenge to Putin’s power.
According to the Moscow commentator, Nemtsov’s execution designed to send a message to all those who are against Putin’s system that “no one can struggle” against it without serious risks and that “everyone who does oppose [the Kremlin leader] will be swept aside and destroyed.”
Vladimir Milov, a Russian opposition politician and close friend of Nemtsov, told Kirillova that he had talked about Ukraine with him many times. Nemtsov, he said, “considered Ukraine a very close and native country and the Ukrainian people a fraternal one (nr2.com.ua/blogs/Ksenija_Kirillova/Nam-prislali-metku-chto-nas-budut-ubivat-Vladimir-Milov-91662.html).
Nemtsov viewed Ukrainians as facing “exactly the same problems” Russia is: “an authoritarian restoration, corruption and all the other difficulties of the transition from communism to a normal society.” As a result, he “always sympathized with the Ukrainians” and their plight.
Unlike many others, Milov continued, Nemtsov “did not have any sense of imperial superiority and viewed all the post-Soviet countries as equals.” From the very beginning, he suffered what he Ukrainians have suffered and supported their struggle with Kuchma, in the Orange Revolution and in the Maidan against Yanukovich.
“For Nemtsov, it was obvious,” Milov said, “that Yanukovich was not only the head of a corrupt clan which had seized power in a country but the latest attempt of authoritarian restoration of the Putin or Lukashenka type, something that sooner or later would convert Ukraine into Belarus-lite.”
As “a principled supporter of freedom,” Nemtsov thus could not view with equanimity Yanukovich’s suppression of media freedom, his promotion of corruption, and his jailing of political opponents. “All this reminded [Nemtsov] of what is taking place with [Russians],” Milov said.
It is far from clear what will happen now that Nemtsov has been killed, the opposition politician says. Clearly the murder of Nemtsov touched a nerve and the reaction of Russian society surprised the regime, forcing it to back down a little. But whether that is only temporary or whether something more fundamental happens depends on how the opposition itself behaves.
One thing is very clear, however, Milov argued. By going into the streets, Putin’s opponents showed that the Kremlin-organized Anti-Maidan is not nearly as strong and effective as the Russian leader hoped. Indeed, Yanukovich organized pro-regime forces better than Putin has so far – and the Ukrainian leader lost.
“But there are worrying signals as well,” Milov said. Some taking part in the memorial march showed fear and said they wanted to go home before something bad happened. That is how the regime wanted them to react, and it does not bode well for the future. Opposition leaders must fight to overcome that fear.
Like Eidman, Milov said he does not expect a new wave of political murders to follow immediately not only because that is not Putin’s way but also because the Kremlin understands, having seen the reaction to Nemtsov’s murder, that any additional killings of this type could lead to a situation in which it could lose control.
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Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine claim to have completed an agreed withdrawal of heavy weapons in line with recent cease-fire deals, though a report from Donetsk suggested artillery fire there was continuing around the time of the announcement.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Paris to win European support for a nuclear agreement with Iran amid French concern a deal would not be tough enough.
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ЕС работает над пакетом помощи для Украины – МИД Латвии
СЕГОДНЯ Европейский союз работает над пакетом помощи трем странам, подписавшим соглашение об ассоциации, Украине, Грузии и Молдове к майскому саммиту "Восточного партнерства" в Риге. Об этом заявил министр иностранных дел председательствующий в Совете ЕС Латвии Эдгарс ... Грузия, Молдова и Украина проведут консультации по Рижскому саммитуCivil Georgia Европа готовит помощь Украине к саммиту Восточного партнерстваУкраинское национальное информагентство МИД Латвии: ЕС работает над пакетом помощи Украине, Грузии и МолдавииВзгляд Подробности -GIGAmir -ПРОВЭД Все похожие статьи: 48 » |
 Press TV |
Russia to match US lethal aid to Ukraine: Top US diplomat
Press TV Some US and European officials are worried that providing lethal weapons to Ukraine would escalate a conflict that has killed about 6,000 people since last April, and drag them into a proxy war with Russia. However, some members of Congress have ... Russia Today vs. Ukraine tomorrowMacleans.ca At least 1638 soldiers killed in Russia's war against UkraineKyiv Post all 140 news articles » |
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Malaysia: 'Back to Drawing Board' if MH370 Not Foundby webdesk@voanews.com (Steve Herman)
Malaysia’s civil aviation department on Saturday gave copies of its interim investigation of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to government officials, the latest chapter in what some call the world's greatest air crash mystery. The document is to be made public Sunday — the one year anniversary of the Boeing 737's disappearance. MH370, scheduled to fly to Beijing, was carrying 239 passengers and crew. It veered off course after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur and disappeared from radar. Despite an estimated $200 million spent so far in a multi-national search focused 1,600 kilometers to the west of the Australian coast, no trace of the jetliner has been found. Malaysia's transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai, says if the search turns up nothing by the end of May, then his country, along with Australia and China, will re-examine the data and devise a new plan. “We have to go back to the drawing boards,” said Liow. “We need the experts to advise us how to move forward.” The transport minister also said he remains “cautiously optimistic” the missing plane is in the southern Indian Ocean. Australian Prime Minister John Abbott told Parliament on Thursday he “can't promise that the search will go on at this intensity forever, but we will continue our very best efforts to resolve this mystery and provide some answers.” Abbott's deputy, Warren Truss, who is also the country's transport minister, says the search — the most expensive in aviation history — will continue for now. “We have committed significant financial resources to the search and we will have to make a decision also about how much more we will be prepared to devote,” Truss said. “And that would depend clearly on the commitments that other countries are prepared to make.” How long to search? Some analysts question whether a costly search for MH370 - which is currently focused on a patch of water equivalent to the size of Sri Lanka - can go on indefinitely. “I suppose when it comes from the cost perspective, you really can't justify looking for the aircraft forever,” says Professor James Chin, the director of the University of Tasmania's Asia Institute. Chin cautions, however, that ending the search does risk further fueling all kinds of speculation about the passenger jet's fate. “If they do not find the aircraft, I think a lot of people will come to believe the various conspiracy theories about what happened to the aircraft,” Chin says. “They really do need to find the aircraft in order for the families to have closure and, perhaps more importantly, bring confidence back to flying.” Aviation experts, including experience airlines pilots, and legions of amateur sleuths at their keyboards around the world are not in agreement as to why MH370 veered off course and where it ultimately ended up. Many speculate the flight's captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, purposely crashed the plane, which is known to have flown along the border of Malaysia and Thailand, skirting the pilot's home island of Penang. The search has focused in the southern Indian Ocean based on fragments of data recorded by an Inmarsat satellite indicating the jet flew south in a straight line for six hours after making a series of unexplained turns. Other theories abound, partly fueled by initial contradictory statements by Malaysia's government and the airline, despite repeated insistence by both they have revealed all they know. Some of the explanations propagated online and the airwaves are quite far-fetched, such as that the aircraft was shot down - by the Americans, the Thais or the Chinese, depending on who is expounding. Some even suggest the large jet and its occupants were abducted by space aliens, based on supposed sightings of UFOs in the area. There is a primary alternate theory for the route, based on a different interpretation of that same satellite data that reverses the flight's arc and has MH370 possibly flying into Central Asia. Science journalist Jeff Wise, who has made numerous appearances on CNN to talk about the missing plane, recently authored a 4,000-word New Yorker magazine article concluding that MH370 could have landed at an airstrip that is part of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, possibly on Russian President Vladimir Putin's orders to intimidate the West. Unless the plane's flight data recorders or significant wreckage is recovered, the conspiracy theories are likely to persist, as they have regarding the fate of famed female aviator Amelia Earhart who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 with flight navigator Fred Noonan in their twin-engine Lockheed Model 10 Electra. Malaysia, in January, formally declared MH370 had met with an accident and everyone on board was declared dead, allowing families to receive compensation payments from the airline.
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 The National Interest Online |
Russia Befriends North Korea to Punish U.S. Over Ukraine
Cato Institute (blog) Russian President Vladimir Putin has reached out to one of the poorest and least predictable states on earth: North Korea. So far, the new Moscow-Pyongyang axis matters little. But the effort demonstrates that Russia can make Washington pay for ... Friends with Benefits: Russia and North Korea's Twisted TangoThe National Interest Online all 7 news articles » |
 УНИАН |
США отложили реализацию программы подготовки украинских военных
РБК США откладывают реализацию программы подготовке военнослужащих из Национальной гвардии Украины. Вашингтон будет реализовывать программу в зависимости от выполнения в Донбассе минских договоренностей о перемирии. Тренировка украинских военных, 16 сентября ... США приостановили миссию по обучению украинских военныхРБК Украина США подтвердили, что пока не будут тренировать Нацгвардию Украины1news.az СМИ: Пентагон пока не намерен тренировать Нацгвардию УкраиныРоссийский Диалог Новости Украины | Новостное агентство ХАРЬКОВ -Сводка Украинских и Мировых Новостей Все похожие статьи: 41 » |
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Песков с «осторожным оптимизмом» оценил ситуацию в Донбассе
Взгляд «И в ДНР, и в ЛНР заявили об отводе своих вооружений на положенное расстояние, - сказал он. - У нас опасения вызывали заявления украинских силовиков, которые уже после достижения договоренностей начали выдвигать новые требования, но в целом ситуация вызывает ... Басурин: миссии ОБСЕ не дали инспектировать отвод вооружения силовиковВести.Ru ДНР: Силовики сконцентрировали войска под МариуполемРоссийская Газета ДНР: силовики не допустили миссию ОБСЕ зафиксировать отвод техники в ВолновахеГазета.Ru СЕГОДНЯ -Экономические известия Все похожие статьи: 907 » |
Швейцария расширила санкции против России.
Радиостанция ЭХО МОСКВЫ Швейцария расширила санкции против России. Новые меры, в частности, затрагивают Крым и Севастополь. Соответствующее решение принял швейцарский федеральный совет, сообщается на сайте учреждения. Новые санкции введены в дополнение к мерам, которые Берн принял в ... и другие » |
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