Russia, U.S. military to meet on Syria ceasefire this week: Interfax | Deadly Blast Rocks Ankara: At least five people have been killed and at least 10 others injured in a suspected car bomb attack in the Turkish capital of Ankara | Turkey's Erdogan: No intent to stop retaliatory shelling against Syrian Kurds
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At least five people have been killed and at least 10 others injured in a suspected car bomb attack in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
US President Barack Obama says Republican hopeful Donald Trump would not win the presidency because it is a "serious job".
Editorial: A Tale of Horror at the United Nationsby THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The organization is failing some of the world’s most vulnerable children by not cracking down on sexually abusive peacekeeping troops.
A senior Iranian Oil Ministry official says his country won’t freeze its oil output but will keep increasing crude exports until it reaches levels attained before international sanctions were imposed on Tehran.
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President Barack Obama says on Tuesday he still believes that Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump will not be elected to the White House. Obama was asked about the US election during a news conference at the Asean summit of south-east Asian leaders in Rancho Mirage, California
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If Britain votes to leave the EU, what would the options be for our political and trade relationship with Europe?
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Trucks destined for besieged areas in Syria are being loaded with humanitarian aid, part of an agreement between the Syrian government and the U.N.’s Syria envoy
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian foreign ministry said Russian and U.S. military officials will take part in the first meeting on Friday of a working group to discuss implementation of a ceasefire in Syria, Russia's Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.
Reuters |
The Latest: Russia Rejects Idea of No-Fly Zone in Syria
New York Times DAMASCUS, Syria — The Latest on the civil war in Syria (all times local): 1 p.m.. A senior Russian diplomat has shrugged off German Chancellor Angela Merkel's proposal to consider a no-fly zone over Syria, saying it can only be done with Damascus' ... Russia, US military to meet on Syria ceasefire this week: InterfaxReuters all 29 news articles » |
A new film describes how the US developed a plan to launch a major cyberattack on Iran if military conflict broke out.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey does not intend to stop shelling Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in response to cross-border fire, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, adding the United State should decide whether it wants to back Turkey or the Kurdish insurgents.
Allegations that former president Lech Walesa was a communist-era secret informer have resurfaced after prosecutors seized documents illegally held by a communist-era official’s family.
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Turkey’s president: Ankara has no intention to halt shelling of Syrian Kurdish positions.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States is pressing NATO to play a bigger role against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, putting Washington at odds with Germany and France which fear the strategy would risk confrontation with the alliance's old Cold War foe Russia.
European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to hammer out a deal designed to keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc. With the stakes high and the issues complex, the AP explains the ins and outs of the UK-EU relationship.
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Russian media report that Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has flown to Antarctica to say Mass at a scientific research station.
Colombia's chief of police, Gen Rodolfo Palomino, resigns a day after a probe is launched into claims he created a prostitution ring within the force.
The head of Colombia’s police is resigning amid accusations of illegal enrichment and sexual misconduct with young cadets.
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Accusation levelled by Syria's representative to the UN after regime and Russia accused of bombing MSF hospital on Monday
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Commentary: Petro Poroshenko's House Of Cardsby support@pangea-cms.com (Serhiy Leshchenko)
The failure to dismiss Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk followed a prearranged script, in which President Petro Poroshenko was either an active participant or a puppet master.
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Old Documents Revive Poland's Debate over Walesa's Pastby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Allegations that former president Lech Walesa was a communist-era secret informer have resurfaced after prosecutors seized documents illegally held by a former official's family. Nobel Peace laureate and Solidarity founder Walesa has repeatedly denied the allegations and was cleared by a special court in 2000. Agnieszka Sopinska-Jaremczak, a spokeswoman for the state National Remembrance Institute, said Wednesday that its prosecutors seized documents from the...
A laser light shone on the plane with Pope Francis on board when it prepared to land in Mexico City on Friday.
Alitalia confirmed on Wednesday that Captain Massimiliano Marselli alerted the control tower about what his crew had seen from the air, which the airline called “standard procedure with these type of matters” in a statement. The incident was then reported to local authorities. The plane landed safely and no one on board was injured.
On Sunday, a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York was grounded after a laser beam was pointed at the plane, sparking worries that the pilots’ eyes could suffer injury. Last year, U.S. pilots reported more than 5,000 laser strikes, though none were injured.
Pointing a laser at a plane is a federal crime.
Russia Detains U.S. NGO Activists Over Visa Statusby support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL)
Russian authorities have detained and fined a veteran U.S. activist who for more than three decades has promoted closer ties between Moscow and the West, saying she violated the terms of her visa.
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Russia has filed a lawsuit against Ukraine at London's High Court over a $3bn (£2.1bn) debt.
GENEVA/PARIS (Reuters) - Major powers trying to forge a Syrian peace plan have made almost no progress on overcoming one of the main obstacles to ending the war: deciding who is a terrorist - and therefore a legitimate target - and who is not.
Puerto Rico officials say they are considering new emergency measures to confront an economic crisis. Those could include a debt moratorium and having independent agencies take over some public operations.
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Reuters |
Putin says EU-Russia ties will return to normal 'sooner or later'
Reuters Relations between Russia and the European Union will be normalized," Putin said after talks at his residence near Moscow with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The EU imposed sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's ... Hungarian PM Orban meets Putin in Moscow, calls for 'normal' Europe-Russia relationsRT Russian President Putin Holds Press Conference After Meeting Hungarian PMSputnik International all 70 news articles » |
Yatsenyuk Ouster Fails in Ukraine by The Moscow Times
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and his government have survived a no confidence vote in parliament despite being asked by the country's president hours earlier to resign.
Not so long ago, Derbent buzzed with plans to celebrate its 5,000th anniversary. Then Moscow entered the picture and knocked 3,000 years off its age.
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Over the weekend, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at a Texas resort. His unexpected death sparked immediate political tension as President Obama vowed to fill the vacancy over GOP objections. Just hours after the news broke, GOP candidates responded to his death in their latest debate. Lawfare's Ben Wittes shared his thoughts on Scalia's passing over a series of tweets, documented here. And his former law clerk, Adam Klein, shares Justice Scalia's national security legacy as well.
Following Friday’s agreement among world powers to work towards a ceasefire that will allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura arrived in Syria this morning. The Washington Post reports that de Mistura met with the Syrian foreign minister “to discuss ‘unhindered’ humanitarian access to besieged populations.” The Syrian governmentapproved U.N. delivery of aid to several besieged areas. The special envoy’s visit will also “include discussion of the resumption of peace talks set for Geneva on February 25,” Reuters writes.
Yet as ceasefire talks stall, fighting intensified on Monday as four hospitals and a school were struck by airstrikes. The strikes left at least 50 dead in the rebel-held regions of Aleppo and Idlib provinces,the New York Times reports. Two of the hospitals hit were in the town of Azaz, “a major prize in the fierce battles unfolding in Aleppo Province.” U.S. officials have condemned Syrian and Russian forces for the attacks. State Department spokesman John Kirby declared that the targeting of civilians “casts doubt on Russia’s willingness and/or ability to help bring to a stop the continued brutality of the Assad regime against its own people.”
For his part, Syrian President Bashar al Assad rejected calls for a cessation of hostilities against rebel forces, and instead maintained that “everyone bearing arms against the state and the Syrian people is a terrorist”—a position he said was “nonnegotiable.” As regime forces push closer to Aleppo, the Associated Press tells us that “Russia hopes to use its air power to dictate the terms of a cease-fire and prospective peace talks.” Both the AP and the Washington Post have more on what’s at stake in the battle for Aleppo.
Meanwhile, Turkey has announced that it will send ground forces to fight against the Islamic State in Syria and will authorize Saudi forces to launch strikes from Turkish air bases. The AP reportsthat while Turkey would not act unilaterally, “the country is pushing the case for ground operations in Syria, hoping for the involvement of the U.S. and other allies in an international coalition against the Islamic State group.” As Saudi forces arrive in Turkey, the Daily Beast writes that “Riyadh’s offer of support is most likely a bluff, since Saudi Arabia already is stretched thin on both military and economic fronts,” and adds that any genuine Saudi commitment of force “will be an incredibly risky move that will prolong the civil war.”
As Turkey looks to step up military involvement in Syria, Turkish forces struck Kurdish targets after Russian-backed YPG militants advanced on the border town of Azaz, pushing back rebel fighters.Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu demanded that YPG forces withdraw from the area andpromised the “harshest reaction” should the YPG take Azaz. Turkey has maintained that the YPG is a terrorist group affiliated with the PKK. Russia has asked the U.N. Security Council to investigate Turkish shelling within Syrian territory.
Despite what it describes as dwindling Saudi participation in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State, CNN tells us that Saudi Arabia has launched a military exercise with forces from 20 Arab and Muslim countries. A Saudi news agency said that the “drills represent a clear message that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its brothers and friends of the participating countries stand united to confront all challenges and maintain peace and stability in the region.” The drills are likely designed to signal the Sunni country still has the capability to muster significant military resources, even as it battles Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Islamic State is facing serious money shortages and has been forced to slash salaries of militants and civil services at all levels. Describing the inflation and electricity rationing that has struck the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, the AP points out that, “having built up loyalty among militants with good salaries and honeymoon and baby bonuses, the group has stopped providing even the smaller perks: free energy drinks and Snickers bars.”
Reuters tells us that tests have confirmed that ISIS used mustard gas during a fight with Kurdish fighters near Erbil last year. With officials uncertain of how the militant group could have obtained chemical weapons, some have suggested that Syria’s stockpile as a possible source of the gas used by the group in Iraq.
Turning to Afghanistan, a report from the U.N. revealed that the country faced a record number of civilian casualties in 2015 with 3,545 killed and 7,457 injured. A U.N. official said that the report did not reflect the full scale of the devastation inflicted upon the civilian population by fighting between government and insurgent forces as well as Taliban attacks.
Israeli authorities detained the Washington Post’s Jerusalem bureau chief as he conducted interviews near Damascus Gate. According to the Times, Israel’s “Foreign Ministry later issued a statement calling the episode ‘regrettable’ and praising Mr. Booth’s work, and the Government Press Office called the episode ‘an unfortunate misunderstanding.’”
Ten people were detained after a series of raids connected to separate terrorism cases in Belgium and Germany.
As the ASEAN summit heads into its second day, President Obama and regional allies will discussthe ongoing disputes in the South China Sea. Reuters writes that U.S. officials hope to “produce a statement calling for China to follow international law and handle disputes peacefully.” In his opening remarks at the Summit, President Obama sought to advance a “shared vision of a regional order where international rules and norms, including freedom of navigation, are upheld and where disputes are resolved through peaceful, legal means.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg tells us that “China’s increased reliance on non-naval ships to assert its claims in the South China Sea is complicating U.S. efforts to avoid a clash in the disputed waters.”
After a U.S. hellfire missile accidentally ended up in Cuba, U.S. officials have confirmed that “the inert training missile has been returned with the cooperation of the Cuban government.” CNN tells us that the “missile was misrouted by the cargo-shipping firm as it traveled from Madrid for its flight back to Florida.”
The New York Times reports that flights between the United States and Cuba are set to resume this year with President Obama expected to complete an agreement that would allow U.S. carriers to operate a total of 30 flights to the island nation. This agreement would mark the first time commercial flights are permitted between the United States and Cuba in some 50 years.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced that the department is expanding its social media presence in response to growing fears of online radicalization. TheWashington Post writes that “the department is now monitoring the social media use of people who apply for various immigration benefits, along with those seeking asylum.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem goes on trial today, “in what is believed to be the first time the U.S. government has put a person on trial on terror charges related to” the Islamic State. Kareem was arrested in connection with an attempted attack on a Texas cartoon drawing contest of Prophet Muhammad.
Meanwhile in Guantánamo, 9/11 pretrial hearings are set to recommence after proceedings recessed on December 11. Defense attorneys are still pushing for access to some 6.3 million documents on CIA black sites as family members of 9/11 victims express frustration over the delays in beginning the trial. It remains unclear when the actual trials will commence, but one lawyer suggested that the trial could begin as late as 2021 if defense lawyers were not granted access to classified evidence.
Parting Shot: Following intense squabbles at Saturday night’s GOP debate, former Vice President Dick Cheney has accused Donald Trump of being a “liberal Democrat,” after the GOP candidate spoke out against the policies of George W. Bush.
ICYMI: This Weekend, on Lawfare
Cody alerted us to upcoming events in The Week That Will Be while Alex highlighted last week’s posts in The Week that Was.
Scott Roehm responded to Gordon England's challenge of Ash Carter's Guantánamo transfers.
Ben and Zoe Bedell took a look at tweeting terrorists. They asked whether it was illegal for Twitter to let terrorists operate accounts and how Twitter would defend itself against a material support prosecution.
Nadwa Dawsari wrote about lessons learned from counterterrorism in Yemen in this week's Foreign Policy Essay.
Cody shared this week's Lawfare Podcast, in which Daniel Placek discussed the hacker website Darkode.
Paul Rosenzweig asks how concerned we should be over vulnerability posed by the Internet of Things.
Paul also linked us to a survey of the worldwide distribution of cryptograpic systems.
Alex summarized last week’s worldwide threat assessment from the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Laura Dean took a look into the lucrative human smuggling business which continues to profit from the plight of refugees.
Ben highlighted recent Brookings’ events related to Syria.
Ben also posted the "Things Could Possibly Get Much Worse Edition" of Rational Security which took a look at the ongoings in Syria.
Matthew Waxman shared the news that Steve Bellovin was appointed as the first Technology Scholar of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
Daniel Severson addressed the French National Assembly’s vote in favor of an amendment that would enshrine the state of emergency in the French Constitution.
John Bellinger shared the news of the Senate's confirmation of NSC Legal Adviser Brian Egan to be Legal Adviser of the State Department.
Doron Hindin looked at Israeli export controls and asked whether such controls can tame cyber technology.
Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us onTwitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.
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Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death over the weekend at a West Texas ranch spawned a host of questions about how authorities in the area responded.
It also raised questions about the nature of his travel, who paid for a Supreme Court justice to visit the remote resort and whether justices are subject to the same disclosure guidelines as other judges or federal officials. Here is a guide to these questions.
Where did Justice Scalia die?
Scalia was at the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a resort tucked away in the Big Bend region of Texas about 30 miles from the border with Mexico.
The ranch is 30,000-acre getaway that is home to John B. Poindexter, according to the website of J.B. Poindexter & Co. It is a remote location that has reportedly attracted the likes of Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall and Bruce Willis. When Tommy Lee Jones directed a movie more than a decade ago, he filmed several scenes at the ranch, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Who paid for his trip?
All of which raises the question: Who pays for a Supreme Court justice to make this kind of trip?
Not Scalia, it turns out. Poindexter told The Washington Post that Scalia was not charged for his stay, something he described as a policy for all guests at the ranch.
“I did not pay for the Justice’s trip to Cibolo Creek Ranch,” Poindexter wrote in a brief email Tuesday. “He was an invited guest, along with a friend, just like 35 others.”
Poindexter added: “The Justice was treated no differently by me, as no one was charged for activities, room and board, beverages, etc. That is a 22-year policy.’’
However, Poindexter said he did not pay for Scalia’s charter flight to Texas.
A person familiar with the ranch’s operations said Poindexter hosts such events two or three times a year.
Poindexter, who would not identify Scalia’s friend, is a Texas native and decorated Vietnam veteran who owns Houston-based J.B. Poindexter & Co., a manufacturing firm.
The company has seven subsidiaries, with combined annual revenue of nearly $1 billion, according to information on its website. Among the items it manufacturers are delivery vans for UPS and FedEx and machine components for limousines and hearses. The company has 5,000 employees, the site said.
One of Poindexter’s companies was involved in a case that made it to the high court. Last year, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving an age discrimination lawsuit filed against one of these companies, court records show.
The nature of Poindexter’s relationship with Scalia remained unclear Tuesday, one of several lingering questions about his visit. It was not known whether Scalia had paid for his own ticket to fly to the ranch or if someone else picked up the tab, just as it was not immediately clear if Scalia had visited before.
It is also still not known who else was at the Texas ranch for the weekend, and unless that is revealed, there could be concerns about who could have tried to raise an issue around Scalia, said Stephen Gillers, who teaches legal and judicial ethics at the New York University School of Law. He compared it to unease that arises when judges and officials from major companies are invited to seminars or educational events that bring them together for periods of time.
“People worry at those kinds of things; there’s a creation of access on the part of people with an interest in the courts, and that is unfair,” Gillers said Tuesday.
Antonin Scalia died on Saturday, Feb. 13. Here's a look back on his tenure, his judicial philosophy and the legacy he leaves behind. (Monica Akhtar,Natalie Jennings/The Washington Post)
How do justices disclose their gifts and investments?
Much the same way other federal judges do: by filing reports outlining their outside income, gifts and times they are reimbursed for things.
The 1978 Ethics in Government Act, passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal, states that all federal judges — up to and including the chief justice and the associate justices — are required to report certain gifts. It also requires them to identify and describe when someone who is not a relative gives them “transportation, lodging, food, or entertainment” worth a certain amount.
A review of Scalia’s recent financial disclosure reports posted online by OpenSecrets.org shows that, like his colleagues, he regularly filed for unspecified reimbursements from universities, legal societies and other organizations after making trips for lectures and speeches. Scalia was among the court’s most active travelers. However, these disclosure forms offer scant details about who else attends events with the justices.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. devoted part of his 2011 report on the state of the federal judiciary to the topic of these disclosures. He also made sure to note that it was not entirely clear, in the court’s eyes, whether Congress could even extend such requirements to the justices.
“The Court has never addressed whether Congress may impose those requirements on the Supreme Court,” he wrote. “The Justices nevertheless comply with those provisions.”
Are there other ethical questions regarding justices?
The biggest ethical questions involve when justices should recuse themselves from cases, says Giller.
“Is [the justice] the final arbiter of whether or not he has to recuse himself? And the answer is yes,” he said. “Every other federal judge below the Supreme Court, every other federal judge’s decision about whether or not he should be recused is potentially subject to the review of a higher judge or other judges on his court. But no one reviews the decision of a justice.”
He pointed to perhaps the most famous case involving a justice and recusal, which involved Scalia himself. Scalia joined then-Vice President Richard B. Cheney on a hunting trip while Cheney was the subject of a lawsuit over his energy task force, and in response to calls that he sit out the case, Scalia issued a highly unusual 21-page argument explaining why he refused to do so.
There are also calls for recusal stemming from things justices did before they joined the bench. Justice Elena Kagan, who served as the Obama administration’s solicitor general before her appointment, dismissed suggestions to recuse herself from decisions on health-care reform. Kagan had said that while in the administration she was not involved in preparations for legal challenges the act would face.
For his part, Roberts has defended the court’s policy allowing justices to decide for themselves if they should step away from certain cases, defending the court’s members as capable of making this decision themselves.
In his 2011 report, Roberts noted that while lower courts can substitute for one another, there is only one U.S. Supreme Court, “and if a Justice withdraws from a case, the Court must sit without its full membership.” The justices have “an obligation to the Court” before making the decision on recusal, he wrote.
Roberts issued his report at the end of a year in which more than 100 law professors nationwide asked Congress to give the Supreme Court an ethical code of conduct after it emerged that Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas had attended private political meetings sponsored by billionaire conservative donors David and Charles Koch. That same year, Kagan was called on to recuse herself from hearing challenges to health-care reform, and a watchdog group said Thomas had failed to report his wife’s income from a conservative think tank before he amended his financial forms.
While Roberts did not specifically mention those issues, he said it would not be wise for justices to review the recusal decisions made by their peers. He said that “it would create an undesirable situation” enabling justices to play a role in determining which others get to weigh in on cases.
“I have complete confidence in the capability of my colleagues to determine when recusal is warranted,” he wrote. “They are jurists of exceptional integrity and experience whose character and fitness have been examined through a rigorous appointment and confirmation process.”
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The life of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
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Antonin Scalia, the influential and most provocative member of the Supreme Court, has died. He was 79.
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Antonin Scalia, the influential and most provocative member of the Supreme Court, has died. He was 79.
Oct. 8, 2010 Justice Antonin Scalia at the Supreme Court. Larry Downing/Reuters
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