Obama to name Marine general to become top US military officer - Reuters
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Obama Calls for New Commitment to Help Minority Youths Succeed by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
President Barack Obama said Monday that recent urban protests show the United States needs to do more to make sure its youth – particularly black and Latino boys and young men – have an equal chance to succeed in America. "We cannot guarantee everyone's success," Obama said, but the country can "ensure an equal shot." Speaking at Lehman College in New York, he announced the launch of a nonprofit foundation aimed at carrying out his My Brother’s Keeper initiative...
US ‘Old Thinking’ Leads to Conflict With Chinaby The European Union Times
While Beijing is seeking to link its growing economic power to geopolitical ambition, Washington is still refusing to treat China as an equal; the US, stuck in its “old thinking,” risks aggravating tensions with China, Philip Stephens warned.
Washington is not ready to concede its superiority to Beijing in Asia, and since neither side wants a cold war, the best offer on the table is a “frosty peace,” Philip Stephens, an author and a political expert, pointed out.
“The terms of the global order during the 21st century will be set above all by the three ‘C’s in the Sino-American relationship. So far co-operation and competition have sat uneasily alongside each other, but there is only a short distance to the third C, conflict,” Philip Stephens underscored.
The authors stressed that it is clear that Beijing has got rid of “any residual inhibitions about staking out China’s claims.”
Indeed, the Chinese leadership has recently launched a series of ambitious infrastructural projects in Asia, strengthened its presence in the South China Sea, and established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), considered by experts as a potential alternative to the US-led Bretton Woods financial institutions.
Although China does not plan to expel the United States from East Asia in the near future, it is obvious that the region’s powers will soon gain control of their geopolitical affairs, “presumably with China’s leadership,” the author highlighted.
According to China’s officials, the West is stuck in its old thinking; Washington’s network of bilateral alliances, on the other hand, is just a “hangover from the cold war.”
However, the US is not ready to treat China as equals or co-opt it as a stakeholder in the present world order, the expert pointed out. Furthermore, America’s political elite is urging the government to play a more active policy-making role in Asia.
Citing the Carnegie scholar Ashley Tellis, Mr. Stephens pointed out that the US political establishment is intended “to draw together all the elements of US power” in order to maintain America’s “primacy” in East Asia.
“Primacy is the neuralgic word here for some US allies as much as for Beijing. The legitimacy of the US presence in the western Pacific rests on the simple fact that many other governments want it to remain as a counter to China,” Philip Stephens stressed.
At the same time, facts on the ground indicate that Asian powers, neighboring with China, have a strong lucrative interest in getting on with Beijing.
That means that Washington’s efforts to establish its own “world order” in that part of the globe could lead to a serious conflict of interests.
Referring to ancient Greek political philosopher Thucydides and his statement regarding the Peloponnesian war, Philip Stephens suggested that Sino-American relations could deteriorate tremendously resulting “inexorably” in conflict.
Since neither side wants to be engaged in a direct military confrontation or a cold war, it seems that the best offer on the table may be a “distinctly frosty peace” between Beijing and Washington, the expert concluded.
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US Horrified by Russian Missile Shield Programby The European Union Times
Actions of the United States of America predetermined Russia’s military cooperation with China and Iran. Now, should a conflict occur, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran will take joint efforts to show resistance to Washington’s expansionist policies, Pepe Escobar, journalist and political analyst, author of “Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War.”
According to him, Russia is deploying the “Eurasian missile shield” that may protect the continent from the actions of the US and NATO. Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehkan has repeatedly expressed what he was expecting from BRICS members that would will actively resist NATO’s uncontrolled eastward expansion and the creation of the missile defense system in Europe. At the same time, defense ministers of Russia and China emphasize the priority of cooperation between the two countries in the military sphere.
Washington is trying to put pressure on China in the Asia-Pacific region, while putting pressure on Russia as well – from Eastern Europe and on Iran – from the Near East. In response, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran are working on a strategic alliance. This “new great game” is on a par with the development of the “New Silk Road” project, Pepe Escobar said.
In turn, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, told Pravda.Ru: “The West has felt the seriousness of our intentions to defend our interests. Commander of NATO forces in Europe, US General Philip Breedlove, set NATO forces at a high degree of readiness. They wanted to flex muscles. We have responded to them by flexing our own muscles.”
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 Reuters |
Obama to name Marine general to become top US military officer
Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday will nominate Marine Corps' Commandant Joseph Dunford as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. officials said on Monday, disclosing a widely expected pick likely to win swift ... Marine General Joseph Dunford chosen Joint Chiefs chairmanFox News Obama to name Marine Gen. Dunford chairman of Joint Chiefs of StaffUSA TODAY Marine Corps Commandant Named to Lead Joint ChiefsNew York Times ABC News all 43 news articles » |
Baltimore police: Man arrested near scene of recent riotsby By BEN NUCKOLS and DAVID DISHNEAU
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Days after riots crippled Baltimore, tensions again escalated Monday after police said they arrested a man who appeared to be armed. The arrest drew a crowd of protesters who chanted, "Black community, control the police!"...
A new homeless shelter called Casa Ruby is opening in Washington, DC that is specifically for the LGBT community - lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered young people. Janet Weinstein has this report.
Originally published at - http://www.voanews.com/media/video/2749388.html
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Maya Plisetskaya, a former principal dancer at the Bolshoi, was the greatest ballerina of her day, but her life was more akin to the plot of a Cold War spy novel.
Elton Simpson: FBI had monitored Texas gunman since 2006by Staff and agencies
Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi were roommates, while Simpson had court record resulting from lengthy surveillance centred on his ambitions of violent jihad
Federal agents had for years monitored Elton Simpson, one of the two gunmen who were shot dead after opening fire with assault rifles at a heavily guarded Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Government sources said the shooters were roommates Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi of Phoenix. Court documents show Simpson had been under surveillance since 2006 and convicted in 2011 of lying to FBI agents over his desire to join violent jihad in Somalia.
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The Navy has been accompanying United States-flagged ships through the strait in response to last week’s detention of the MV Maersk Tigris by Iranian Revolutionary Guards patrol boats.
RIYADH (Reuters) - France and Saudi Arabia believe that any future deal between Iran and six major powers must ensure not to destabilise the region further and threaten Iran's neighbours, the two countries said ahead of a summit in Riyadh on Tuesday.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's armed forces, the largest in the world, have yet to become a military which fully follows the law, its official newspaper said on Tuesday, underscoring the problem of rooting out deeply-seated corruption.
Yazidi activists and a lawmaker have sharply criticized reports that Islamic State (IS) gunmen have carried out a fresh massacre of hundreds of Yazidis in northern Iraq, saying that there is no reliable source or confirmation to back up the claims.
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 ValueWalk |
US Forcing Russia, China And Iran Into Eurasian Military Alliance
ValueWalk Russia's decision to sell the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran is clearly a game-changer, and reflects changing geopolitics and the new world order. Jane's Defense Weekly has been saying for years that Israel would have great difficulty ... Russia's S-300 missiles: Let the games beginAl-Arabiya Russia working on Eurasian missile shield that horrifies USA - scientist of ...Pravda all 14 news articles » |
Gerhard Schindler denies BND acted as ‘submissive tool’ or was guilty of ‘treason’ in work with NSA
A 68-year-old Frenchman is facing rape charges after accusations emerged that he had "tricked" women into sex by posing as a young, handsome male model.
When protestors gathered Saturday in Moscow to mark one year since 48 people were killed in Odessa during street battles between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine activists, there was little sadness on display.
Sponsor of Muhammad Cartoon Contest Known for Controversial Views on Islamby webdesk@voanews.com (Matthew Hilburn)
The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) which sponsored the “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” in Texas is no stranger to the media spotlight. For years before the attack on the Texas event Sunday by two men with assault rifles, AFDI president and cofounder Pamela Geller has been making headlines for expressing staunch, and often controversial, opposition to Islam. Her supporters say she speaks the truth about a topic people are too fearful to address, but her critics call her a bigot. “We've been concerned about Pamela Geller for several years,” said Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a group dedicated to stopping "the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all," according to its website. “Primarily because she is one of the leading American anti-Muslim bigots, consistently vilifying Muslims and the Islamic faith under the guise, of course, of fighting radical Islamists,” Segal said. “They preach that Islam is inherently evil and she has said that she prefers that immigration from Muslim countries is limited.” Geller fired back at the bigotry accusation in a comment to VOA. “It is not bigotry to stand up for the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression against those who would violently suppress it,” she wrote in an email. “The ADL apparently prefers submission in the face of violent threats to standing up for the liberty and dignity of the individual. And as the ADL chooses slavery, it will get slavery.” Segal said one of the most dangerous aspects of Geller’s rhetoric is that she conflates Islamic extremists with all Muslims. Commenting on the Texas shooting on her blog, Geller wrote: “It’s not just the Islamic State — it’s your everyday, run of the mill moderates praising mind-numbing savagery.” The ADL is not alone in condemning Geller. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group “dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society,” lists Geller in their “extremists files,” calling her “the anti-Muslim movement's most visible and flamboyant figurehead.” And her influence is widespread, Segal said. He pointed to Anders Behring Breivik, the man who killed over 70 people in a 2011 shooting spree in Norway as someone influenced by Geller’s views. In his manifesto, Breivik praised Geller, writing "there are no important theological differences between jihadists and so-called 'peaceful' or 'moderate' Muslims." Geller has a knack for getting media attention. In 2010, AFDI, which also calls itself Stop the Islamization of America, campaigned against a proposed Islamic community center near the site of the World Trade Centers in lower Manhattan, dubbing it the “Ground Zero Mosque.” The center was never built. Geller and her associated groups have also sparked debate with provocative advertising on public transportation systems, including New York and Washington. One such ad read “In a war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” Another read "It’s Not Islamophobia ... It’s Islamorealism." While critics call Sunday’s Garland, Texas, event “provocative,” Geller defended it on her blog. “This incident shows how much needed our event really was,” she wrote. “The freedom of speech is under violent assault here in our nation. The question now before is — will we stand and defend it, or bow to violence, thuggery, and savagery?” Geller defended her views, too, on Monday morning during a television interview with CNN. “Increasingly we are abridging our freedoms so as not to offend savages,” she said. “The very idea that is something offends me, or I’m insulted by something, I’ll kill you, and that way I can get my way, and somehow this is OK with members of the elite media and academia, is outrageous. It’s a cartoon. It’s a cartoon.” Segal, while critical of the Texas event, condemned the violence. “As abhorrent as we find her views and as divisive as the event that she held was clearly meant to be, nothing – obviously – sanctions the type of violence that we saw,” he said.
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President Putin signed legislation Saturday that will increase tenfold the maximum fine that can be levied on Russian news organizations accused of inciting extremism.
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Homeless Shelter For LGBT Youth Opens in Washingtonby webdesk@voanews.com (Janet Weinstein)
A new homeless shelter called Casa Ruby is opening in Washington, DC that is specifically for the LGBT community - lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered young people. Janet Weinstein has this report.
Display of cutting-edge weapons sends powerful message about Russia’s intent to project power
 РИА Новости |
NYT: глава сената Нью-Йорка задержан по подозрению в мошенничестве
РИА Новости Сенатор обвиняется в том, что он лоббировал определенные законы и оказывал поддержку проектам компаний Glenwood Management и небольшой компании из штата Аризона AbTech Industries, взамен они выплачивали комиссионные его сыну Адаму. Мужчина в наручниках. © Fotolia/ ... NYT: председатель сената американского штата Нью-Йорк и его сын арестованыКоммерсантъ Американского сенатора и его сына арестовали по обвинению в шантаже и мошенничествеНТВ.ru Сенатору Нью-Йорка и его сыну грозит тюремное заключениеИА REGNUM Вести.Ru -Газета.Ru -Федеральное агентство новостей No.1 Все похожие статьи: 34 » |
U.S. President Barack Obama May 5 will nominate Marine Corps' Commandant Joseph Dunford, a commander in both the Afghan and Iraq wars, as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, officials said.
The U.S. government extensively investigated a gunman who opened fire at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas, and prosecuted him in 2010 for lying about his intent to wage jihad in Somalia, authorities said May 4.
FBI agents continue to investigate the two men who opened fire outside a free speech event Sunday in Garland, Texas, before being shot to death by a police officer on the scene. The shooting took place outside an auditorium where a group that is considered anti-Islam held a contest for the best depiction of the Prophet Mohammad, the physical representation of whom is considered blasphemous by devout Muslims. VOA's Greg Flakus has more on the story from Houston.
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A suicide bomber has killed five police officers and injured several more in a reported attempt to attack a concert hall in the Russian region of Chechnya.
The attack happened outside of a concert hall in the capital Grozny on Sunday, as thousands of people were gathering in advance of celebrations for a local holiday.
Local officials said the bomber killed five policemen and wounded 12 others as the city celebrated the birthday of Chechnya's pro-Kremlin leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
The Investigative Committee, Russia's leading federal investigative agency, also said that five policemen were killed and 12 others wounded. No civilians were reported injured in the attack.
The attacker was believed to be a 19-year-old resident of Chechnya, the agency said in a statement.
The bomber triggered the explosives after police tried to inspect the man's identity papers, a Russian Interior Ministry said.
"Police officers who were manning metal detectors at the entrance of the concert hall noticed a suspicious young man. When the police officers decided to check the individual, the man blew himself up," a local police officer told the RIA news agency.
Al Jazeera cannot independently verify the authenticity of the official version of the incident.
The Tri-City Herald daily newspaper quoted Kadyrov as saying that the suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform and presented police identification when he tried to go through metal detectors set up outside the concert hall.
When police moved to stop him, he detonated the explosives, Kadyrov said.
Several ambulances were seen leaving the site, which was blocked off by police.
Source: Agencies
MOSCOW (Reuters) - At least six gunmen and three policemen were killed in gun battles in which a building was stormed in the Chechen capital Grozny on Thursday, the leader of the turbulent southern Russian region said.
The attack, before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to deliver his annual state of the union address in Moscow, underlines the fragile security situation in Chechnya more than a decade after he sent troops to quell separatists there.
Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, wrote on his Instagramm account that "six terrorists were annihilated" after they opened fire at a police patrol car, killing three officers, and then stormed offices housing local media.
A spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry in Moscow said an unspecified operation was still under way in Grozny, but gave no other details.
Russia's Tass news agency quoted Kadyrov as saying several gunmen remained holed up at a school in the city center. It was not clear whether any hostages had been taken.
A video posted on YouTube showed what appeared to be footage of the clashes. It suggested the attackers had entered Grozny in an act of "retaliation" for what it called the oppression of Muslim women.
Kadyrov keeps a firm grip on Chechnya after separatist wars there in 1994-96 and 1999-2000, but an Islamist insurgency has spread across the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, fueled by a mixture of religious fervor and anger over corruption and alleged rights abuses.
In October, five policemen were killed and 12 were injured in Grozny when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive device when officers approached him asking for identification papers.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Police killed in attack in Russia's Chechnya - Al Jazeera ...
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Oct 6, 2014 - A suicide bomber has killed five police officers and injured several more in a reported attempt to attack a concert hall in the Russian region of ...
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One option would put in writing, but not send to Congress, language agreeing to the defense of Arab allies if they came under attack from outside forces.
Human Rights Watch said it had found evidence that the Saudi-led coalition had used a type of munition in Yemen that is banned by much of the world because of the long-term danger it poses to civilians.
Marine Corps Commandant Named to Lead Joint Chiefsby By PETER BAKER and HELENE COOPER
President Obama’s choice of Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, a former commander in Afghanistan, must be confirmed by the Senate.
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The toll from attacks by the American-led coalition on Friday included at least nine children, a rights group reported on Saturday.
Stumbling Into a Wider War by By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Further expansion of the campaign against ISIS and other militant groups must be debated rigorously and openly by Washington and its coalition partners.Fertilizer, Also Suited for Bombs, Flows to ISIS Territory From Turkey by By BEN HUBBARD and KARAM SHOUMALI
The fertilizer ammonium nitrate, which was used in explosives at the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, has been moving into an extremist-controlled Syrian town in what appear to be large quantities.- Get link
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