James Woolsey: Iran deal worse than worthless | Iran: Nuclear Deal in Line With Khamenei’s Demands | Ridge Criticizes Obama’s Islamic State Strategy: ‘You Need To Put Your Commander-in-Chief Hat On’ | Counterterror Expert: Obama Showed ‘Almost Criminal Negligence’ on OPM Hack | DEA, FBI Accused of Long Relationship with Controversial Italian Firm | How The FBI's Dysfunctional Search Systems Keep Information Out Of FOIA | 8,145 immigrants freed; 1,800 re-arrested after detainers declined: report | Thiessen: Obama’s silence on Kathryn Steinle killing is deafening | Hiatt: The international war on LGBT people
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When asked whether Obama’s negotiations are merely an attempt to secure a legacy for himself, Woolsey replied, “Whatever he’s interested in, his behavior is not restricting terrorism by Iranian-backed entities such as Hamas or … any others, and it is not moving us toward any important restrictions on Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.”
Woolsey stated the negotiations are not doing anything positive at all. “If the negotiations on Iran are halted, Iran will end up getting up to $150 billion to finance … terrorism and their nuclear weapon,” he said.
“We’ve been negotiating with ourselves. Since the Iranians won’t make any changes in the directions we needed, I guess the administration’s negotiators or the administration itself, decided we would negotiate with ourselves – and we have defeated ourselves. We have conceded to the Iranians virtually all of the major points in the negotiations.”
The current negotiations with Iran will provide Iran with $150 billion to fund terrorism and pursue nuclear weapons, warned James Woolsey, former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and current chairman of Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Speaking on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia’s NewsTalk 990 AM or online, Woolsey stated neither the negotiations nor any agreement that grows out of them “are going to substantively … do anything to stop the Iranians from having a nuclear weapon.”
This is in contrast to White House press releases being issued on the subject, he said.
Klein brought up his own report on WND documenting that Israeli defense officials note Iran has been paying the salaries of Hamas’ so-called military wing.
Even the State Department confirmed in last month’s report that Iran’s “state sponsorship of terrorism worldwide remained undiminished.”
When asked whether Obama’s negotiations are merely an attempt to secure a legacy for himself, Woolsey replied, “Whatever he’s interested in, his behavior is not restricting terrorism by Iranian-backed entities such as Hamas or … any others, and it is not moving us toward any important restrictions on Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.”
Woolsey stated the negotiations are not doing anything positive at all. “If the negotiations on Iran are halted, Iran will end up getting up to $150 billion to finance … terrorism and their nuclear weapon,” he said.
The ex-CIA director noted that when the current round of negotiations began, “We had some very solid objectives to get [Iran] away from having a nuclear infrastructure.” This included not letting Tehran enrich uranium, and to allow inspections to be conducted whenever something looked suspicious.
“All of these are gone,” said Woolsey. “We’ve been negotiating with ourselves. Since the Iranians won’t make any changes in the directions we needed, I guess the administration’s negotiators or the administration itself, decided we would negotiate with ourselves – and we have defeated ourselves. We have conceded to the Iranians virtually all of the major points in the negotiations.”
 WND.com |
Ex-CIA chief: Iran deal worse than worthless
WND.com The ex-CIA director noted that when the current round of negotiations began, “We had some very solid objectives to get [Iran] away from having a nuclear infrastructure.” This included not letting Tehran enrich uranium, and to allow inspections to be ... |
Kendrick White dismissed from Russian university post amid 'information war' with Westby Marc Bennetts - Special to The Washington Times
MOSCOW — As the Kremlin fights what officials in Moscow have called an "information war" with the West, Russian state-run media are more powerful than ever.
Exactly how powerful is something that U.S. citizen Kendrick White discovered this week when he was dismissed from his position as deputy head of ...
MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian defense ministry says 23 people have died and 19 have been injured when the ceiling of military barracks collapsed in Siberia.
Rescuers search for hours for men trapped under the debris of an airborne troops training center in Omsk where the ceiling collapsed in the ...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 1,800 immigrants that the federal government wanted to deport were nevertheless released from local jails and later re-arrested for various crimes, according to a government report released Monday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement report — obtained by an organization that actively opposes illegal immigration ...
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's defense minister says the Western powers' pending nuclear deal with Iran will force the Jewish state to "defend itself, by itself."
Negotiators appeared on the verge of signing a final deal Monday that would lift longstanding sanctions on Iran in return for limitations and closer inspections ...
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Escape by Joaquin Guzman, top drug lord, a strong blow to Mexico's government by Alberto Arce and Christopher Sherman
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The capture of drug lord Joaquin Guzman was the crowning achievement of President Enrique Pena Nieto's government in its war against drug cartels, a beacon of success amid domestic woes. That makes the bold escape by "El Chapo" from a maximum security prison all the more ...
As Americans gathered in cities across the country to celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriage, several thousand Turks also tried to march in support of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.Read full article >>
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Regarding the July 10 front-page article “A crisis with roots in Washington”:The Puerto Rico government’s “outsize share of the overall workforce” is a misleading indicator of excess public spending. Per capita, Puerto Rico government employment ranks 37th among all 50 states and the District. As a percentage of gross domestic product in 2011, commonwealth and local spending was about 11 percent, the lowest in the country. Those prescribing austerity to fix the island’s economic crisis should consider that over the past 10 years, Puerto Rico slashed government employment by 24.6 percent. Even so, the island has seen economic contraction or stagnation.Read full article >>
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After Trayvon Martin was killed, President Obama spoke emotionally about his death, declaring “this could have been my son.” After Michael Brown was killed, Obama promised to ensure that “justice is done” and declared: “We lost a young man, Michael Brown, in heartbreaking and tragic circumstances. He was 18 years old. His family will never hold Michael in their arms again.” He even sent administration officials to attend Brown’s funeral.Read full article >>
A former adviser to four presidents on national security said on Sunday that the Obama administration was guilty of “almost criminal negligence” for its response to China’s massive cyber attack on the U.S. government.
“I don’t blame the Chinese,” Richard Clarke said on ABC’s Face the Nation. “This is what intelligence agencies do. This is what the United States does. We steal this sort of information. I blame the Obama administration for taking this issue not seriously enough. This is almost criminal negligence.”
“Criminal negligence, those are strong words, Richard,” host and former Democratic adviser George Stephanopoulos said.
The Office of Personnel Management disclosed last week that the personal information of over 22 million individuals was compromised by the attack. Many of the individuals whose information was stolen work in sensitive areas of the U.S. government.
Experts fear the trove of information, which in many cases includes detailed information about individuals’ finances, criminal history, and romantic relationships, will be used by China to recruit spies or blackmail U.S. officials.
Iranian sources familiar with the details of a final agreement scheduled to be announced on Monday said sanctions and an arms embargo against Iran will be lifted and restrictions on its nuclear activity will only be “temporary” in a deal that falls “within the redlines” laid out by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, accordingto Iran’s state-controlled media.
As world powers work to secure a final deal, Iranian sources are indicating that the United States has caved on most major issues, including the timing of sanctions relief, the length of the deal, and arms sales to Tehran.
Initially, U.S officials had promised that sanctions would not be lifted until Iran provided full access to its military and non-military nuclear sites. However, this demand appears to be off the table as talks begin to close.
The Iranians also claim the United States will sign a deal that only hinders the country’s nuclear program for a limited amount of time. Officials in Obama administration insisted just weeks ago that any deal would be permanent.
The most controversial concession purported to have been allowed by the Obama administration is the lifting of a United Nations resolution banning arms sales to Tehran, according to the country’s Fars News Agency.
“According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, all sanctions against Iran are terminated and Iran will no more be recognized as a sanctioned nation,” an Iranian source close to the negotiationswas quoted as telling Fars. “The JCPA only envisages a set of temporary restrictions that will be removed after a limited and logical period of time, as stated earlier by the Iranian Supreme Leader.”
Sanctions would be fully lifted after a deal is signed, the source told Fars.
“All economic, financial and banking sanctions against Iran will be terminated for good on day one after the endorsement of the deal, again as the Iranian Supreme Leader has demanded,” the news outlet quoted the source as saying.
Pro-Tehran organizations, such as the National American Iranian Council (NIAC), have lobbied American legislators in the past to convince them that a lifting of the arms embargo is a necessary requirement for any deal.
“Iran will no more be under any arms embargo, and according to a UN Security Council resolution that will be issued on the day when the deal is signed by the seven states, all arms embargoesagainst Iran will be terminated, while its annex keeps some temporary restrictions on Iran for a limited period,” Fars quoted the source as saying.
The source also said the final deal will fall within parameters outlined by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has repeatedly said that international inspectors would be barred from Iran’s military sites and that all sanctions must be lifted immediately.
Additionally, U.N. resolutions sanctioning Tehran would become “null and void,” according to the Iranians.
An announcement is likely to be reached by Monday, according to U.S. officials who spoke to the Associated Press.
If the deal is finished, a formal text will be sent for review to the leaders of all countries involved, including Iran, according to the AP.
Recent reports, as well as sources in Vienna appraised of the situation, remain unclear about how Iran’s sanctions money will be spent.
Lawmakers and analysts in the United States have expressed concern that Iran might spend the billions of dollars it would receive in sanctions relief on its global terrorism enterprise, which includes Hezbollah and other anti-Semitic terror groups.
Questions remain about how any final deal will affect Iran’s actions in the Middle East and elsewhere, including in Yemen, where Tehran is sponsoring militias.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill continued to express reservations about the deal.
“I am gravely concerned we soon will see an agreement that enables Iran, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, to keep vast nuclear capabilities without subjecting it to snap nuclear inspections anytime and at any place, including military facilities,” Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) said in a statement issued Sunday evening.
“Worse, the agreement is set to blow an irreparable hole in the international sanctions regime, easing a U.N. arms embargo while also giving Iran back as much as $160 billion in frozen assets. If theadministration cannot say ‘no’ to an Iran deal with bad terms, then Congress must act,” Kirk said.
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Tom Ridge, the first secretary of homeland security, said Sunday he would tell President Obama “to put your Commander-in-Chief hat on” in the fight against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) terrorist organization.
“I would just say, Mr. President, this is not a political game,“ Ridge said. “You need to not put your political hat on, you need to put your Commander-in-Chief hat on … The folks at the Pentagon whose recommendations you’ve ignored for the past couple years, I’d like you to listen to them, and more importantly I want you to be the global leader that everybody in the world expects you to be.”
Ridge, speaking with New York radio’s John Catsimatidis on AM 970 program The Cats Roundtable, remarked that Obama’s press conferences about IS were not enough to cut it. Obama recently stated that better ideas, rather than guns, defeated ideologies like IS, and he has said on multiple occasions that the United States has not formed a cohesive strategy to battle the group.
Ridge also said that a coalition of Arab allies could help turn the tide against the extremist faction.“It’s in their best interest, it’s in their backyards and ISIS is killing their citizens,” he said of the Arab response to the terrorist group.“I’d like to think there’s a common interest in eliminating ISIL given how barbarous they are and how much chaos they have caused in the region regardless of whether you’re Sunni or Shiite,” Ridge added, using an alternate acronym for the radical organization.Ridge additionally criticized Obama’s current military tactics against ISIS.“Airstrikes are not going to get it done,” he said. “It’s a whack-a-mole strategy. They need to be degraded and destroyed.”
Ridge also criticized a potential nuclear deal with Iran, saying nothing in the relationship with Tehran suggested anything about an agreement would be enforceable.
The Truth About Srebrenica by 20committee
This weekend the world commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, an event that provoked serious Western intervention in that country’s 1992-95 civil war and determined its fate. The two decades since that ugly war was stopped by American-led military and diplomatic involvement have not been happy ones for Bosnia-Hercegovina, as that country remains mired in seemingly intractable political and economic stalemate and stagnation. As someone who knows and loves Bosnia, I see very little to feel optimistic about.
This weekend’s commemorations at Srebrenica became the wrong sort of spectacle when Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was attacked by an angry Muslim mob and was struck by rocks. Belgrade promptly termed the attack an “assassination attempt,” thus continuing the customary Balkan cycle of avoiding reconciliation and any moving forward at all costs.
As usual, Balkan politicians of all stripes and tribes are perfectly happy to see citizens whipped up in nationalist fervor and revenge fantasies, since that distracts them from the region’s real problems of intermixed crime and corruption. As someone who for years has pleaded for reconciliation after the region’s terrible wars of the 1990s, to any audience that would listen, including the United Nations General Assembly, the ruckus at Srebrenica yesterday was sad news but no surprise.
Pervasive dishonesty about what actually happened during the Bosnian War has shaped Western debates about many things in the twenty years since Srebrenica. Media adherence to The Narrative about Bosnia, a simplistic, moralistic one-sided account of events, has been used by American foreign policy mavens to justify many misguided interventions since the 1990s.
I won myself no friends in Washington, DC, when I told the truth about what actually happened in Bosnia in the 1990s in my 2007 book Unholy Terror. Inconvenient facts are habitually ignored by our elites and mainstream media, who simply don’t want to know the truth about what happened in Bosnia, including Srebrenica. But I have explained it all in detail for anybody who wants to know. It has earned me the wrath of jihad apologists and Social Justice Warriors (Balkan variant), but the truth will out.
This weekend the Mothers of Srebrenica, a sort of victims’ advocacy group, wrote to Bill Clinton, asking him to reveal what U.S. intelligence knew about the fall of Srebrenica, particularly electronic intercepts. Since I used to handle NSA’s Balkan account, I, unlike reporters and SJWs, know what’s in there and I’m certain the Mothers won’t like it. Top Secret reports reveal a messy tale of lies, death, and deceit that does not comport with The Narrative. I’m also certain that the U.S. Government won’t allow such classified truths to see the light of day anytime soon.
In addition to my book, I recommend this Norwegian documentary about the fall of Srebrenica, a rare effort to cut through pleasant media myths to get to the sordid truth of what actually happened at Srebrenica, and why. It’s worth your time. My testimony is an important component of what they reveal.
Be sure to keep the dead of Srebrenica and all the dead of Bosnia’s catastrophe — some 8,000 died around Srebrenica in mid-July 1995, while 101,000 Bosnians of all backgrounds perished in that needless war — in your thoughts and prayers this weekend.
Filed under: Espionage, History, Radicalism, USG
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Charleston Suspect Was in Contact With Supremacists, Officials Say by By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
The authorities have found that people around Dylann Roof were aware he held racist beliefs and have said they will probably prosecute anyone who knew of his plans.Kyiv Dispatch: The View from Ukraine by Stephanie Leutert
More than a year after protesters filled the Ukraine’s Maidan, it is hard to imagine the dramatic scenes that defined this square during the revolution. There are still signs: the scattered memorials, picture galleries explaining the revolution, scorch marks on the concrete, and new cobblestones that have replaced those uprooted during the protests. Yet ordinary life has slipped back in.
Along the Maidan’s edges, grizzled soldiers scan the square. They are collecting money for the fight in the East. Other soldiers and police officers are spread across the space, carefully watching the passing hordes. Their presence belies the grim fact that while the Maidan may be calmer, the fight for Ukraine’s future has only moved eastwards.
For the next two months, I’ll be sending dispatches from Kyiv on what’s happening within this country that has become a flash-point in Russia’s relationship with the West. I am in no sense a conventional reporter. I’m a graduate student serving for the summer as a legislative intern in the Ukrainian Parliament. But Benjamin Wittes has asked me to report back on my conversations with people, to take pictures of the things I see, and to try to give Lawfare readers a flavor of what is happening in this country on the front lines of Vladimir Putin’s confrontation with the United States and Europe.
Ukraine’s fighting is far away, and Kyiv is filled with crowded sidewalk cafes and flower shops. Yet every day brings stark reminders of the country’s turmoil.
My commute to work takes me through the Maidan, along a sidewalk lined with pictures of Ukrainians taken from their families too soon.
It goes up a road where makeshift memorials, adorned with flowers and hardhats, mark the spots where protesters were brutally gunned down by government snipers. And it takes me past the spot where I stood a few days ago watching voluntary battalions chanting ultra-nationalist slogans as they marched in military fatigues and face masks.
It continues to Ukraine’s Central Bank, where a gaggle of protesters has camped out, demanding government relief after the hryvnia (Ukraine’s currency) collapsed earlier this year and made it difficult for them to pay back their dollar-denominated debt. And finally, it goes through the doors and into the oriental-rug-lined halls of my committee building. Here Ukrainian Members of Parliament and their staffs are pushing (and being pushed) to reform broad swaths of their economy and institutions. All the while, foreign delegations are arriving weekly to express support, offer advice, and pump money into new projects.
Pick up any newspaper and the headlines reveal just how grim the situation has become. A recent op-ed in the Washington Post asked “Will this be the summer when the West let Ukraine die?” In the East, the fighting continues even after ceasefire agreements. One day, it is six killed, another day it is twelve. The dead now total well over 6,000, with estimates that hundreds of Russian soldiers have been killed alongside the Ukrainians.
Russia, of course, denies any direct involvement in the crisis. It has even taken great measures to quietly hide its own soldiers who were killed in the fighting.
In contrast, Ukrainians are determined to lay out the evidence proving the opposite. Seized Russian tanks are displayed in front of Kyiv’s Rodina Mat statue, which was originally built as an ode to the Soviet Union’s military past.
The signs next to each seized item read: “This item is a material evidence of crimes committed by pro-Russian militant groups supported by the Armed Forces of Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.” One volunteer battalion, Dnipro-1, has useddrones to document growing Russian bases within Ukraine’s territory.
Nobody quite knows what to expect in the coming weeks. Some analysts suggest that the fronts have solidified and it would not be in the separatists’ or Russia’s interest to push them further. But others whisper in Kyiv’s bustling cafes that as summer grinds on and the mud roads dry up, tanks will be moving and the fighting will take off. Earlier this week, volunteer soldiers called my legislative office to collect money for the fight and for medical supplies. Perhaps out of genuine fear, or perhaps as a fundraising tactic, they expressed the conviction that the Russian-backed separatists were revving up for another big land grab with the strategic center of Mariupol at the center.
The United States and the rest of the world are certainly taking note. But the right balance of diplomacy, economic sanctions, military force, and strong rhetoric is not obvious. Ultimately, it will be Ukrainians who will be building their country and defending their borders. But if Russia is to be restrained, this isn’t just Ukraine’s battle to fight.
Protests Real and Fake
For anyone living in Kyiv, protests quickly become a fairly common part of everyday life. When the Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament) is in session, groups chant nonstop outside of my committee building, waving flags of all colors and insignias. They make speeches for hours, using megaphones to discuss their personal stories about dollar-denominated debt and the installation of cash registers in small businesses.
To a casual American observer, these protestors seem pretty normal, a tangible manifestation of fundamental rights. But there’s more to at least some of these protests than meets the eye.
A few days ago, I stopped by the U.S. Embassy to find protesters standing outside the consular entrance. This group was decidedly anti-American in its message, holding signs berating the United States, including my favorite: “Yankee Go Home.” The entire scene seemed to capture more of a Hugo Chávez vibe than a Ukrainian one. The signs were all written in variations of the same handwriting, with what looked like the same marker. All of the flags were identical.
“It looks like someone gave them a protest kit” my friend commented.
And it did. Enthusiasm was lacking, and anger, if there was any, was certainly not palpable. You can see for yourself what look like the world’s most bored protesters in this video shot by, you guessed it, a Russian news agency. And I wasn’t even sure what exactly they were protesting.
So I decided to ask.
At the front of the line, a teenage boy was clutching an anti-American sign in English. “English?” I asked. He shook his head and turned around. I wondered if he or his friends standing next to him knew what was on their signs . . . or if they even cared.
I tried another group of Ukrainians chatting on the group’s outskirts. A woman just shook her head as I tried to ask what the group was protesting against. The man in the group looked at me quizzically and then answered laughing, “It's an excursion.”
An “excursion” means that this protest likely did not stem from some spontaneous outburst of anti-American sentiment. Rather, it likely came from a group of protestors answering the many signs posted around the city that promise a few U.S. dollars for a couple hours of protest work.
Sometimes, the protestors are bussed. Sometimes, they just arrive at a location where they have been told to meet. A Ukrainian colleague of mine explained that some people even view these protest-for-pay gigs as a kind of part-time job.
Now if these protesters were indeed being paid, that only begs the question of who was paying them?
>But the perverse tactic of paying protesters also affects the way people look at protesters in general. The very uncertainty surrounding whether any given protesters are being paid or not casts a shadow of doubt on all protests. Just knowing that some Ukrainian protesters are paid makes you scan every protesting group, wondering if everyone really is there because he or she truly believes in the cause. There is an obvious difference between real anger and (poorly) paid facsimiles of it, and you can usually tell which is which. But the uncertainty that paid protestors create is corrosive nonetheless.
If Ukraine is to continue to build and protect its democratic foundations, it will need to tackle this head on. A free society requires a variety of views and a freedom of speech, but it also requires empowered citizens, civil society, and journalists ready and able to separate information from misinformation. It will be hard for Ukrainians to shake the past or look to the future, if they are never certain about the present.
Ukraine’s Latest Corruption Museum
Outside the striking metal gates, vendors rent bikes to families, kids beg their parents for ice cream cones, and new brides teeter past in impossibly high heels to take pictures among the spectacular gardens inside. It’s a beautiful day in Ukraine, not a cloud in the sky, and the atmosphere outside Mezhyhirya feels like it could be straight out of New York’s Central Park in the summer.
But this is no ordinary park. It’s former President Yanukovych’s private residence and, according to Ukrainians, it is their newest Museum of Corruption.
I’m at the sprawling Yanukovych estate to attend the first day of a two-day conference on investigative journalism. Entering the grounds, it is hard to believe that this was one man’s private property. Up first is the zoo—complete with ostriches (whichYanukovych explains in this interview doubling as satirical gold), peacocks, a range of exotic birds, chickens, antelopes, and sheep.
Then it’s the greenhouses, private tennis courts, fleets of collector cars, a non-functioning pirate ship, a golf course, and sprawling gardens that stretch 140 hectares down along the Dnieper river.
But the Honka is the centerpiece. The towering house was Yanukovych’s residence, surrounded by lavish gardens and fake Greek ruins.
The house is locked, guarded by a lone soldier, who slouches, looking bored on a bench outside. Tourists press their faces to the windows, peering in at the garish furniture inside. We, like them, will have to be content with our glimpses of the house's interior, having missed the two daily private tours for 200 hryvnia a person (about $10) advertised on a piece of paper taped next to the back door.
This type of extreme extravagance and corruption was one driving force behind the Ukrainian revolution. At a time when Yanukovych had just moved froman official salary of around $24,000 a year as a member of parliament to$100,000 as president, he somehow could afford to spend $38 million euros on new chandeliers for the Honka. His gutting of the Ukrainian economy to enrich himself and his cronies went far past your run-of-the-mill corruption, with estimates that they stole some 14 percent of the country’s annual production. Hundreds of companies, many of them state-owned, may have acted as part of this giant corruption scheme.
However, Mezhyhirya today is more than just a testament to mind-boggling corruption. It is also a representation of Ukraine’s dedicated civil society and journalists. From 2010 through 2013, the country’s journalists and activists would gather on June 6 outside Mezhyhirya’s gates to protest press censorship. When the gates finally opened on February 22, 2014, these journalists flooded in.
In a last minute (and spectacularly amateurish) attempt to dispose of mounds of incriminating documents, Yanukovych’s staff dumped 200 folders with more than 25,000 documents into the estate’s swimming pool and the Dnieper river. Immediately a team of more than 60 volunteers recovered the papers, painstakingly spreading them across the ground to dry them off, and then upload each one onto the website YanukovychLeaks.org to share their contents with the world. Since then, these journalists and their colleagues have held an annual conference on investigative journalism and advocacy at the very spot where these papers once lay.
Just as striking is the orderly spirit that infuses today’s Mezhyhirya. Fountains sprinkle peacefully and families wander around the still-very-manicured gardens. There is no rule breaking here. As we wait outside for our lunch of chicken, salad, and bread, a Ukrainian soldier sternly reminds us to stay off the grass. Even as we stare at the fleets of Yanukovych’s cars—including classic U.S. cars—soldiers stand by, making sure we do not touch anything.
In so many other countries, this type of luxury and tangible evidence of corruption would have been looted or destroyed. Yet my Ukrainian colleague shrugs off my amazement that things are so peaceful and well maintained within the estate. “It was built with the Ukrainian people’s [stolen] money so it makes far more sense to hand it back to the Ukrainian people.”
Behind the festive atmosphere, there are subtle signs that things are not entirely stable. Ukrainian soldiers and their Hummers are spread throughout the grounds, hinting at the estate’s notorious past. Their attire suggests deeper problems. While their uniforms match, by and large, their shoes are a different story. For an army charged not only with protecting Mezhyhirya but also with fighting the Russian-backed separatists in the East, the mismatching footwear is a sign of the military’s ill-preparedness.
As we leave the estate, vendors are packing up for the day. We quickly peruse their goods—magnets, maps, and sunglasses that mostly poke fun at Putin or Yanukovych. For a dollar, I pick up a roll of toilet paper complete with pictures of Putin’s face and Ukrainian obscenities. As I drop the hryvnia in the vendor’s hand and turn to leave, I can't help but notice that the song “Gangster’s Paradise” is playing softly in the background.
American Officials On Parade
If you are an American politician or policymaker right now, there’s a strong possibility that Ukraine is somewhere on your agenda. At least that’s the impression one gets watching the endless parade of U.S. politicians and policymakers touching down in Kyiv.
Perhaps the gold star should go to members of the U.S. Congress. Last month, the big ticket visit was from Senators John McCain, Tom Cotton, and John Barrasso, who toured the country and made headlines in Kyiv and the eastern front. But in total, a whopping 70 members of Congress are estimated to have passed through the country over the past year.
High ranking officials from the State Department too have touched down on the ground, as have members of the administration. Vice President Biden has appeared more than once. And Samantha Power, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, spoke recently at Kyiv’s October Palace right outside the Maidan, decrying “Russian aggression” four times.
But with so many U.S. officials passing through the country, what are they all actually doing?
On one hand, these visits reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine. Some Ukrainians even see this as being one of the United States’ most powerful foreign policy tools. “The constant presence is what we really need,” a former member of parliament told me. “When someone is in the hospital, sending money isn’t as meaningful as showing up with flowers.” This person quickly clarified that Ukraine was certainly “not sick."
Yet, on the other hand, it’s hard to tell what actually comes from these political visits. Each trip is a significant logistical enterprise both for the U.S. Embassy and for the receiving government officials. And, how much these visitors are adding to the discussion seems debatable. “I’ve heard this ten times before,” a Ukrainian colleague bemoaned as we left the Power event.
Certainly, these trips help create a more informed U.S. government that will ideally lead to better policy. The issues running through this part of the world are complex, and more time on the ground will likely only help policymakers to grasp this reality and their possible options. A more cynical view might also suggest that at least for members of Congress, these visits serve to strengthen security and foreign policy credentials by identifying the members with a dream narrative harkening back to more black-and-white, Cold War times.
To be fair, Congress has repeatedly passed bills authorizing hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine. Member pressure on the Obama administration to do something more for supporting and arming Ukraine has been significant.
As the year goes on, more delegations of U.S. officials will surely touch down in the Kyiv Boryspil airport. Ukrainians can only hope the explosion of frequent flier miles will amount to something more meaningful than a few free upgrades.
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New York Times |
Hacking of Government Computers Exposed 21.5 Million People
New York Times Before the scope was made public on Thursday, James B. Comey, Jr., the director of the F.B.I., called the breach “a very big deal,” noting that the information obtained included people's addresses; details on their neighbors, friends and relatives ... Hacks of OPM databases compromised 22.1 million people, federal authorities say Washington Post (blog) 21.5 million exposed in second hack of federal office - David Perera - POLITICOPolitico Cyberattack On The US Government Systems Swept 21.5 Million Accounts - The ...The Tech Portal TODAYonline all 1,869 news articles » |
International Business Times |
US Government Cyber-Attacks Were Biggest In History, Follows Several High ...
International Business Times “It is a very big deal from a national security perspective and from a counterintelligence perspective,” said FBI Director James B. Comey on Thursday. “It's a treasure trove of information about everybody who has worked for, tried to work for, or works ... and more » |
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Power Line (blog) |
Reckon with this | Power Line
Power Line (blog) ... reports: “Dylann Roof, who is accused of killing nine people at a church in South Carolina three weeks ago, was only able to purchase the gun used in the attack because of breakdowns in the FBI's background-check system, FBI Director James B. Comey ... |
Chron.com |
Killing roils immigration debate
The Hill House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who has accused the Obama administration of nurturing local sanctuary laws, linked the tragedy to “reckless” federal policies. “Sanctuary city policies coupled with the Obama administration's ... Politicians urge immigration policy change as immigrant felon enters murder ...Contra Costa Times White House blames GOP for illegal alien murder in San FranciscoAmerican Thinker (blog) San Francisco Status as 'Sanctuary' Criticized After SlayingABC News all 1,328 news articles » |
Huffington Post |
House Judiciary Committee Unlikely to Act on Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Bill
Bond Buyer WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee is unlikely to pass legislation that would give Puerto Rican municipalities and utilities the ability to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 9, committee chair Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., suggested on ... House Republicans doubt benefits of Chapter 9 for Puerto Rico: statement Yahoo! Maktoob News Congress balks at lifeline for Puerto RicoPolitico House GOP opposes bankruptcy protections for Puerto RicoWHDH-TV The Hill-Yahoo News all 433 news articles » |
International Business Times UK |
Hacking Team hacked: Spy tools sold to oppressive regimes Sudan, Bahrain ...
International Business Times UK The sale of the cyberweapons to Sudan is one of the most controversial revelations from the data dump, as the United Nations has been investigating a report by Citizen Lab that Hacking Team's tools were being used in the country. ... According to ... and more » |
Telegraph.co.uk |
Hack at surveillance firm exposes ties to...
The Hill “The more I read, the more I think the term 'merchants of death' accurately applies to @HackingTeam,” tweeted Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Hacking Team has long been criticized by human ... A Hacker Is Hacked: Controversial Italian Cyber Espionage Company Is TargetedNPR Hacking Team gets hacked hardComputerworld Hacking Team hacked: Spy tools sold to oppressive regimes Sudan, Bahrain ...International Business Times UK all 233 news articles » |
DEA, FBI Accused of Long Relationship with Controversial Italian Firm for ...
ticklethewire.com An Italian company with suspected ties to repressive regimes has been selling surveillance and spyware to the FBI and DEA, The Hill reports. The discovery comes after the firm, Hacking Team, was hacked. The hacker revealed company documents that ... |
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The Guardian |
Watching the watchers: Oakland seeks control of law enforcement surveillance ...
The Guardian In 2013, Oakland reported almost 8,000 violent crimes for a population of close to 404,000, according to FBI statistics. That was the ... According to data from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 40 out of 58 California counties and had some ... |
How The FBI's Dysfunctional Search Systems Keep Information Out Of FOIA ...
Techdirt FBI deals with the release (or lack thereof) of videotapes containing footage of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Four days of oral testimony has at least partially exposed the search methods used by the FBI, which the agency uses as convenient ... |
Largely unreported data published by the FBI appears to back up Donald Trump's contentions regarding illegal aliens from Mexico committing drug and violent crime offenses in the U.S.. According to the FBI, criminal gangs ...
Wall Street Journal |
Portents of World Cyberwar - WSJ
Wall Street Journal China hacks into American military computer systems to gain the advantage in cyberspace and outer space, prevailing for a time in air, at sea and on land. Mr. Singer is a Pentagon consultant and author of “Cybersecurity and Cyberwar,” a nonfiction work ... |
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CIA Director John Brennan provided keynote remarks on July 4, 2015 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon at a special Fourth of July naturalization ceremony where 101 new citizens from 45 diffrent countries recited the Oath of Allegiance.
CIA, FBI looking into amateurish forgery of Durbin letter « Hot Air
Hot Air Yahoo News' Olivier Knox reports that the CIA and FBI have opened investigations into the weak propaganda attempt: The discovery of the letter appeared to be a huge propaganda coup for Moscow and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, who have argued ... and more » |
Robert Dannenberg, who is also a 24-year CIA veteran, believes that Russia is the top strategic threat from a US perspective. "We are in an extraordinarily dangerous time right now because both Russia and NATO are starting ...
Former CIA central Eurasia chief ;Robert Dannenberg says Putin's nuclear strategy is different to anything we've seen in recent years.
The FBI is reaching out to diaspora communities in the U.S. for war crimes tips.
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The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attacks the body’s immune system and weakens its defenses against infections and certain types of cancer.In its most advanced stage -- which can take between two and 15 years to develop -- it is known as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. VIDEOGRAPHIC
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Four Key Things To Know About The EU-Greek Dealby support@pangea-cms.com (Charles Recknagel)
After 17 hours of negotiations, eurozone leaders on July 13 offered Athens a new 86 billion euro bailout ($95 billion) -- the third bailout for Greece since 2010. This is what you need to know.
Greek rescue deal: political tumult beckons as Alexis Tsipras returns home by Helena Smith in Athens
Some members of Greek prime minister’s Syriza party have already denounced bailout accord as harbinger of further catastrophe
For the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, the hard work begins now. The rescue deal hammered out in Brussels may have brought relief to Athens but its battle-hardened government knows that it also comes at enormous cost.
Within minutes of Tsipras giving his “victory” speech, some in his Syriza party were denouncing the bailout accord – the third emergency funding programme for the debt-stricken country since 2010 – as the harbinger of further catastrophe.
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Pontiff calls for a more welcoming Catholic church, open even to those don’t accept its teachings, as he preached at a large open-air Mass on the last day of a weeklong South American tour.
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