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March 4, 2016
Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for February 26 – March 4, 2016.
Clinton Email Probe Faces Serious Political Consequencesby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
The Justice Department will have to decide whether Hillary Clinton or any of her subordinates could face legal consequences for her use of a private email server, a decision whose timing has serious political repercussions. The Obama administration is in the unenviable position of conducting an election-year probe that, no matter the outcome, will result in grievances about its impact on the presidential election. Clinton has emerged from this week's Super Tuesday primaries as the presumptive Democratic nominee. One year ago, The Associated Press reported its discovery of Clinton's private email server, which she ran in the basement of her home in New York, to use exclusively for her work-related emails while she was secretary of state. Republican candidate Donald Trump has indicated he plans to target Clinton over the email investigations. Trump said Thursday he looked forward to running against Clinton, "assuming she's allowed to run, assuming she's not arrested for the email situation." The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowledged that some emails included classified information, including at the top-secret level, though Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classified at the time. The inspectors general at the State Department and the U.S. intelligence community are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken. "The best the Justice Department can do is try to accept that there will be political noise no matter what, and try to figure out what makes the most sense from their institutional perspective," said Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor and national security expert who has followed the case. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Justice Department has granted immunity to the staffer who set up the server, Bryan Pagliano, so that he would be willing to speak with investigators. Pagliano had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to refuse to answer questions from lawmakers investigating the server setup. A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Brian Fallon, said the campaign is pleased Pagliano is cooperating. Fallon said Clinton herself has offered to meet with investigators. Though it's extraordinary for a presidential candidate to be implicated in a federal investigation, there are instances of it happening to elected officials during campaigns.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin participated in a joint telephone conference with European leaders to discuss the partial cease-fire in Syria, the Kremlin press office reported Friday.
Это станция метро и электричек. Архитектура заставить вас затаить дыхание!
Podcast: The Russian Fronts by Brian Whitmore
A cease-fire in Ukraine was followed by an intervention in Syria. And now, a cease-fire in Syria is followed by a fresh escalation in Ukraine.
Russia’s bait-and-switch tactics suggest the Kremlin is fighting one war with the West — albeit on two fronts.
And on this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, we take a close look at both Russian fronts.
Joining me are Michael Weiss, senior editor at the Daily Beast and co-author of bestselling book ISIS: Inside The Army Of Terror; Kadri Liik, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations; and Andreas Umland, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation in Kyiv.
Enjoy…
The Inquisitr |
FBI Admits Error In San Bernardino iPhone Case, Apple Still Not Unlocking Phone
The Inquisitr According to the New York Times, head of the FBI, James B. Comey Jr., admitted that the iPhone unlocking mistake had been made. Within 24 hours of the shooting, employees attempted to crack the phone's iCloud by resetting the password. They believed it ... iPhone should be unlocked: DiMannoToronto Star Apple case won't be the lastOhlone Monitor US tech companies unite behind Apple ahead of iPhone encryption rulingChannel News Asia The Indian Republic all 1,206 news articles » |
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Los Angeles police are testing a knife found on the property of OJ Simpson, who was acquitted in the murder of his former wife and her friend.
Amr al-Absi led the Mujahideen Shura Council and was responsible for some of the group's worst atrocities
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The Canadian leader makes a polite suggestion ahead of his U.S. visit next week.
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Mexican authorities say at least four people died were when scaffolding collapsed at a cathedral under construction in the southern city of Tuxtepec.
EU ratchets up sanctions on North Korea by Associated Press
The European Union has boosted sanctions against North Korea in line with a U.N. Security Council Resolution imposing new measures over Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch.
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Detectives only recently learned about the existence of the blade, which is believed to have been found years ago by a builder.
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Europe urges Putin to obey Syria truce
Herald Sun European leaders have told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a fragile truce in Syria must be used to try to secure a lasting peace without President Bashar al-Assad, the spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron says. Cameron, German ... and more » |
Reuters |
Syria rebels say government mobilizes despite truce
Reuters BEIRUT/PARIS/LONDON A major Syrian insurgent group said on Friday the government was mobilizing forces to capture more territory, and a ceasefire was not possible while Damascus and its allies kept up attacks, signaling risks to an agreement that has ... Syria truce wobbles amid claims of government attacks and aid deliveries snagsWashington Post Amid cease-fire, Syrians rally against Assad in rebel areasWALB-TV all 62 news articles » |
Yeni Şafak English |
Turkey Takes Over Best-Selling Paper That Became Erdogan Critic
Bloomberg Turkish authorities seized control of the media company that owns the country's best-selling Zaman newspaper, a one-time supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that became one of his fiercest critics. An Istanbul court appointed a trustee on ... Turkish government will seize popular Zaman newspaper in latest crackdown on mediaMashable Turkish Court Orders Opposition Paper Managed by TrusteesABC News Turkish authorities seize newspaper close to cleric Gulen - state mediaReuters Chicago Tribune -Yahoo News all 123 news articles » |
Thousands of migrants have become trapped this week on Greece's border with Macedonia. With no way forward, dwindling supplies, and no way out, they say their situation is getting desperate. (Reuters)
Rupert Murdoch Weds Jerry Hall in Londonby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and model-actress Jerry Hall married Friday at an aristocratic palace in London. They were photographed emerging with smiles Friday from Spencer House, which was built in the 18th century by ancestors of the late Princess Diana. The 84-year-old groom wore a business suit; the bride, 59, was in a navy skirt and a trench coat. Murdoch's News U.K. confirmed Murdoch and Hall, who announced their engagement in January, had married. It is...
Washington Post |
The key difference between how Trump and Romney made their money
Washington Post Whatever critics might say about failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, everyone at least agrees that he has done well for himself as a businessman. There is no such consensus regarding Donald Trump, the front-runner in this year's Republican ... Trump Poses Dilemma for New York RepublicansWall Street Journal The Note: Hands Across AmericaABC News Romney takes chargeThe Hill (blog) Fox News -MSNBC -Politico all 4,959 news articles » |
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Powerful Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for the "government of corruption” to be overthrown on Friday in the biggest show of opposition yet to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's authority.
Podcast: The Russian Frontsby support@pangea-cms.com (Brian Whitmore)
Are Russia's hybrid war in Ukraine and its intervention in Syria two fronts in a larger war Moscow is waging with the West? Listen to the latest Power Vertical Podcast.
South Korea has begun negotiations to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system amid extremely heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The BBC looks at how Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall measure up in the world of power couples.
Scientists have used geographic profiling, which was developed to find serial criminals and terrorists, to confirm the identify the secretive graffiti artist Banksy.
According to Sky News, scientists at Queen Mary University of London looked at the spatial pattern of the artist’s works in both London and Bristol, U.K., to back a previously published theory identifying him as Robin Gunningham.
Geographic profiling has also been used to trace the source of disease outbreaks.
Gunningham’s identity was initially revealed in a 2008 Mail on Sunday story. According to theEconomist, researchers gathered 140 locations of his works and found a bar, playing fields and a residential address in Bristol as well as three London addresses that were all associated with Gunningham.
Their findings have been published in the Journal of Spatial Science.
U.S. Has Too Much Oil. So Why Are Imports Rising?by Leonard Brecken / Oilprice.com
Despite domestic production declining and demand surging, the EIA reported oil inventories surge by more than 10 million barrels, or more than three times what was expected.
The 10.4 million barrel increase was mostly due to a near record increase in imports of 490,000 b/d (3.4 million barrels weekly) and an adjustment swing of 352,000 b/d (2.5 million barrels weekly) by the EIA. The latter has been a repeated pattern to exaggerate the levels of inventory, a pattern going back to 2015.
Thus, over half of the said increase in inventory was driven by higher imports and an arbitrary adjustment that seems routine by the EIA. Domestic production actually fell by 25,000 B/D in the week ending on February 26. Also gasoline inventories fell 455,000 barrels, or nearly 5 percent, as capacity utilization rose 1 percent. Total gasoline supplied, which is a gauge of demand over last 4 weeks, has risen a whopping 7 percent.
Now the real question is with U.S. production declining and inventories at record levels, why are refiners still importing at such heights? The 8.2 million barrels per day imported in the week came very close to the record in December, missing by some few percentage points. U.S. commercial domestic crude oil stocks are now nearly 17 percent above last year levels. None of this adds up: We are producing less, inventories are rising, while demand is at records and yet we are using more imported oil? The chart below depicts these very odd phenomena.
Oilprice.com: Saudis Turn To Capital Markets For $10 Billion Loan
Moreover, most incremental U.S. output is light sweet crude from shale regions, as is the imported oil. The only logical answer that seems possible is that OPEC is undercutting light sweet U.S. crude pricing, so as to incentivize refiners to use imports. So are we then to believe Saudi Arabia that it isn’t at war with U.S. shale?
It is also clear that without higher OPEC output (thus higher imports to the U.S.) domestic stocks in the U.S. would be declining along with production. OPEC increased production by some 1.5 mb/d since oil prices peaked in 2014. The additional Iran supply will come on top of that. In short, it is pretty clear that someone is trying to drive the nail in the coffin for U.S. production.
This article originally appeared on Oilprice.com
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Turkey detained the executives of a top domestic conglomerate and appointed a trustee to take over a leading opposition newspaper, as authorities expand their crackdown on the political rivals of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Slovenia museum caring for ancient statuettes by Ali Zerdin | AP
Three statuettes dating back nearly 5,000 years from the Sumerian civilization and found in a refugee camp last year have been temporarily placed in the care of Slovenia’s national museum, one of the curators said on Friday.
Independent national measures to tackle the migrant crisis are counterproductive, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday as she met with her French counterpart in Paris to push for a joint European solution to the problem.
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An Istanbul court has ordered the newspaper Zaman, Turkey's bestselling daily newspaper, into administration, according to reports
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BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's top court approved a request by U.S. authorities to extradite a convicted hacker known as Guccifer for prosecution, a Bucharest-based prosecuting source told Reuters.
BEIRUT/PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - A major Syrian insurgent group said on Friday the government was mobilizing forces to capture more territory, and a ceasefire was not possible while Damascus and its allies kept up attacks, signaling risks to an agreement that has slowed fighting.
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WARSAW (Reuters) - The leader of Poland's ruling conservatives said an opinion from a panel of the Council of Europe was "legally absurd" and called the panel "discredited", after it said changes to the country's top court had undermined the rule of law.
“The Revolution Continues” was the slogan as demonstrators, taking advantage of a partial truce, came out in the largest numbers in years
BEIRUT (AP) -- A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting skeptics' expectations and providing some hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war might be possible....
Himalayan state officials believe they can locate Sanjeevani Booti, used by the monkey god Hanuman to bring Lakshmana back to life in the Ramayana, with additional resources
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France's president says discussions about a political transition in Syria will "accelerate" with the cease-fire that has held for a week across the war-wracked country.
Telegraph.co.uk |
El Chapo Guzman crossed into the US twice while on the run, daughter claims
Telegraph.co.uk Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman sneaked into the United States twice while on the run from prison, his daughter has claimed. Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, 39, who lives in the US, said her father crossed the border in late 2015 to visit relatives and to view her ... 'El Chapo' Calls for Extradition to U.S. A.S.A.P.KIII TV3 Could El Chapo escape this? First picture inside custom-made jail cell with extra bars and motion sensorsMirror.co.uk Jailed drug kingpin 'El Chapo' desperate to be extraditedChinadaily USA all 17 news articles » |
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Researchers have found the first cases of birth defects linked to the Zika virus in Colombia, which may signal the start of a wave of birth defects in the country.
According to Nature, researchers have diagnosed one newborn with microcephaly and two others with congenital brain abnormalities. All three tested positive for the presence of the Zika virus.
Colombia has seen the second-highest amount of confirmed Zika cases after Brazil, which has seen a marked uptick in birth defects in areas where the mosquito-borne disease is prevalent. Until now, the smaller South American country had not observed a similar increase.
Colombian researchers hope to monitor pregnant women and better establish the extent of the threat posed on fetuses by the virus, an important question that scientists have not been able to answer with Brazilian data.
[Nature]
PARIS (Reuters) - The idea that elections should take place in Syria in the coming months is "provocative" and "unrealistic", French President Francois Hollande said on Friday, highlighting a key difference over the Syrian peace process between Europe and Russia.
РИА Новости |
Госдеп: ИГ планирует теракты в Европе в ближайшее время
РИА Новости Злоумышленники планируют атаки и в других регионах, в частности, на Ближнем Востоке, гласит предупреждение внешнеполитического ведомства США. Боевики группировки Исламское государство. © AP Photo/ Militant Website. Ситуация в Сирии. Архивное фото · © РИА Новости. Госдеп: группировка ИГ планирует в ближайшее время новые теракты в ЕвропеТАСС Госдеп сообщил об опасности новых терактов, подготовленных ИГ и «Аль-Каидой»Росбалт.RU Госдеп США предупредил о скорых терактах в ЕвропеLenta.ru НТВ.ru-Взгляд -Аргументы и факты Все похожие статьи: 48 » |
Syrians, Iraqis: There is No Going Backby webdesk@voanews.com (Jamie Dettmer)
Hungry people are angry people. In the makeshift tent camp just meters from Macedonia, here on the Greek side of the border with the rain sleeting down overnight Thursday, refugees expressed deep anger at the conditions they are enduring and fury with a razor-wire fence the Macedonians have erected to block their progress deeper into the promised land of Europe. United Nations officials say at least 10,000 refugees are here – mostly Syrians, with some Iraqis and North Africans among them – and their number is expected to increase by nearly 2,000 a day. Greek officials have warned that this month at least 70,000 refugees will be trapped in Greece, creating a humanitarian crisis for a cash-strapped country struggling with debilitating debt since the 2008 financial crash. The Syrians have come from all over their war-shattered country: from the ancient, half-razed city of Aleppo; Homs, once known as the capital of the Syrian revolution; Palmyra, another ancient town now in the hands of jihadists; Deir ez-Zor; and the Syrian capital, Damascus. They have survived barrel and cluster bombs dropped by a regime that has preferred to wreck a country rather than relinquish power. They have fled the clutches of Islamic State militants. They have endured five years of civil war, navigated minefields to brave illegal crossings into Turkey, dealt with unscrupulous human smugglers and survived perilous Aegean Sea passages in small, overcrowded boats that only the foolhardy or desperate would risk. And now their hoped-for European destinations – Germany, for most – are blocked by the small Balkan country of Macedonia and beyond by border restrictions in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia on the Balkans route to western Europe. Austria’s leaders now say they will not be the "distribution hub" for Germany, if refugees make it that far. Hungry, cold and ill "Where are we meant go? What are we meant do?” asked Abdul, a former olive farmer, whose wife is expectinga third child any day now. The couple's 2-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son sleeping fitfully as we talk in a thin tent bought for $16 by their father and erected on the platform of Idomeni's gloomy railway station. As Abdul vents, the rain intensifies. In the tents lining the platform, a chorus of coughing rises from young and old. Abdul’s parents are in Germany. On his smartphone, he shows me photographs of his family farm and its 1,000 hectares of olive trees on the outskirts of Aleppo."There is no one there now," he says sadly. Like most of the Syrians VOA talked with here, into the early hours of Friday, Abdul has given up on Syria. "There is no future there," he remarks sadly, glancing at his young children. Aleece, sitting with her 6-year-old daughter at an adjacent tent, fled Palmyra several month ago. "Syria is beautiful – or was,” she says. She has ruled out returning there. She and her husband Ahmed, a barber, want to go to Germany with their three young children. She has a brother there. Other relatives are in Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State militants. "Wehave not talked to them for weeks," Aleece says. Both families have exhausted their cash. The adults have eaten nothing for two days, the kids very little. All are ill with coughs and flu, but in the morning they will crowd the razor-wire fence and face Macedonian troops armed with tear gas and rubber bullets as well as Slovene and Polish soldiers there to provide support. They will observe the water cannons, Humvees, armored personnel carriers and the dogs, and scream and plead to be allowed to continue their journey. Stopping the refugees There are no signs that Macedonia's government will have a change of heart. And to avoid more refugees traveling to northern Greece, authorities here are attempting to stop refugees who have arrived on Aegean islands from Turkey to board ferries to the Greek mainland. Travel agents on the islands of Lesbos and Leros say they have been instructed not to allow the asylum-seekers to buy tickets for public ferries. Ferry companies have been asked to reduce services, partly so that ferries can be used for emergency accommodations. The Greek authorities appear to be trying to slow the refugees from reaching the mainland, while they try desperately to persuade other European Union countries to open their borders and to cope with the challenge collectively. More than 130,000 refugees have arrived in Europe this year alone with 400 drowning at sea, according to the UN’s refugee agency. After meeting Thursday with European Council President Donald Tusk in Athens, Greece’s Prime Minister called for sanctions to be imposed on EU states that refuse to take in their share of the thousands of refugees arriving in his country. Alexis Tsipras also promised to provide dignified living conditions for refugees trapped in Greece. But that promise appeared to be falling far short in Idomeni, where many of the refugees have been for more than a week. In the sprawling makeshift camp around the railway station, refugees complained of hunger and cold. Outside tents, families tried to keep open-air fires going but they sputtered in the rain. The only warm place was a tea house a hundred meters or so from the railway station. It was crowded with refugees seeking shelter from the rain or electrical outlets to recharge their phones.Abdul said no doctors had visited their area of the encampment, and he worries about his wife.
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Россиян кормят фуражной пшеницей by SvobodaRadio
Президент зернового союза России Аркадий Злочевский объясняет, кто виноват в том, что в российском хлебе используют пшеницу пятого класса - для корма животных и птиц. Интервью Настоящего Времени
Ссылка на источник - http://www.svoboda.org/media/video/27589082.html
Ссылка на источник - http://www.svoboda.org/media/video/27589082.html
Lenta.ru |
В Нью-Йорке открыли самую дорогую станцию метро в мире
Lenta.ru В Нью-Йорке открылась самая дорогая станция метро в мире. Об этом сообщает newyork.cbslocal.com. Новая станция-хаб, получившая название Oculus, расположена рядом с мемориалом жертвам теракта 11 сентября 2001 года. Крыша конструкции представляет собой стилизованную ... В США открылась самая дорогая станция метроДни.Ру В Нью-Йорке открыли самую дорогую в мире станцию метроВести.Ru В Нью-Йорке на строительство станции метро, похожей на крылья птицы, потратили 4 млрд долларовВерсия Forbes Россия Все похожие статьи: 91 » |
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The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over the extension of sanctions by the United States and said Moscow reserves the right to retaliate with counter-measures, the ministry said Thursday.
BBC News |
Can Russia help build the peace in Syria?
BBC News The Russian air force has been accused of indiscriminate bombing. The human rights group Amnesty International says it has "compelling evidence" that Russian and Syrian government forces had "deliberately and systematically targeted hospitals and other ... Leaders Of Britain, France, Germany, And Russia Discuss Syria TruceRadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty all 526 news articles » |
Today's Headlines and Commentary by Elina Saxena
In his remarks at a conference on computer security, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that heopposed “back doors or a single technical approach” for accessing data on encrypted devices. While urging industry cooperation with the government, Carter unveiled “two new moves to draw Silicon Valley’s technology elite into efforts to spur defense-industry innovation, creating an official hackathon of military websites” as well as “a new Defense Innovation Advisory Board that would be led by Alphabet Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Electricity has begun to return to parts of Syria after a nationwide power cut struck the country.Reuters quoted the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) as saying that “electricity work has been cut in all governorates” and that “attempts to find the cause of the outage have begun,” but SANA did not specify the cause of the cut.
As the ceasefire enters its sixth day, U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said that the cessation of hostilities is largely holding. He added that, while the ceasefire has reduced violence, “there are still a number of places where fighting has continued, including parts of Hama, Homs, Latakia and Damascus, but they have been contained.” The Associated Press writes that “the cease-fire is shaping up as the most promising initiative in years to help end a five-year war that has killed at least 250,000 people.”
International actors continue to support the cessation of hostilities. France and Britain called upon Syrian and Russian forces to respect the terms of the cessation. The Washington Post tells us that the Russian Defense Ministry, in efforts to secure the ceasefire, has set up a “that includes several dozen officers who visit opposition groups and local communities to help negotiate local truce deals.”Following State Department efforts to establish a hotline to monitor ceasefire violations, the initiative was hampered by language difficulties as operators struggled to understand Arabic. Agence France Presse writes that “some reporters and activists have given up on the US line and are instead reporting breaches to the United Nations or to the opposition.”
Despite the optimism that has been generated by the partial cessation of hostilities, the Wall Street Journal notes that experts are skeptical that the ceasefire will produce a political deal. Syrians themselves are preparing for fighting to return. The next round of peace talks are expected to begin next week, but opposition figures have cast doubt on whether the talks will resume at all, with Assad government attacks near the Turkish border have calling into question whether the truce is fulfilling the opposition’s demands. AP has the latest from Syria.
U.S. forces led nearly 30 strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria yesterday. Noting the increased U.S. activity in Iraq , Foreign Policy tells us that the “battle to reconquer the pivotal city of Mosul has already begun.” The Delta Force raid responsible for capturing the first suspected Islamic State operative in Northern Iraq “adds to the growing pressure on the group across northern Iraq, as the Iraqi Army begins to move into place for its eventual assault on the country’s second-largest city, which has been held by the Islamic State for nearly two years.”
Europe continues to face an influx of refugees from Syria. Yesterday, NATO commander U.S. Gen Philip Breedlove accused Syria and Russia of “deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve.”
In an act of defiance, North Korea fired six short-ranged missiles into the Sea of Japan just one day after the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution imposing heavy sanctionsagainst the country. According to the Post, the new U.N. sanctions will “require cargo inspections for all goods going in and out of North Korea by land, sea or air" and "choke off supplies of most aviation fuel for its armed forces. The sanctions will also “ban the sale of all small arms and conventional weapons to Pyongyang and prohibit transactions that raise hard cash for North Korea through sales of its natural resources.” European Union officials are considering additional sanctions. Reuters tells us that “Germany, France, Spain and Poland want to see what more the bloc can do in areas such as finance and insurance, as well as hitting more North Koreans with asset freezes.”
In other news, the Washington Post reported that Israel is expected to launch “one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world” that “ will be able to knock down not only ballistic missiles but also orbiting satellites.” According to the Post, “a joint exercise now being conducted between thousands of Israeli forces and the U.S. European Command represents a final test before Israel begins to deploy one of the most sophisticated missile defense systems in the world.”
Two women attacked an Istanbul police station using guns and a grenade. Police confirmed that both attackers were shot dead. A Turkish news source suggested that “the women were identified as members of the banned far-left group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front,” NBC Newswrites.
Ahead of planned peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, chief Afghan peace negotiator Hekmat Khalil Karzai has called the talks that "the last opportunity to have peace" between Pakistan and Afghanistan and peace between "Afghanistan and the violent opposition." Scheduled to begin later this week in Pakistan, the talks have been brokered by a “four-nation coordinating group consisting of diplomats from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China.” The group has already prepared a “road map” for the peace process.
The Ukrainian government has “accused Russian-backed rebels of using large-caliber weapons despite a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine that required both sides to pull back those arms.” Rebels deployed a Grad multiple-missile launcher against government forces outside of Donetsk, the Associated Press reports. The government said that the attacks were accompanied by “over 60 cease-fire violations along the front line.” New United Nations estimates put the death toll in the conflict at 9,160 since fighting began in April 2014.
Saudi Arabia declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization yesterday, a move that comes weeks after the Arab kingdom cut a $4 billion aid package to Lebanon. The Times notes that, as Saudi Arabia cuts aid and distances itself from Lebanon, the small country is “once again thrust into the middle of the battle for regional dominance between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.”
The United States is planning joint naval exercises with India, Japan, and the Philippines in the northern Philippine Sea. Announcing the exercises in New Delhi, U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Harry Harris added that “no nation should perceive freedom of navigation operations as a threat.” The Wall Street Journal writes that “the maneuvers are part of an annual event between the U.S. and Indian navies that, since 2014, has expanded to include Japan, signaling closer cooperation between the three countries that share concern about China’s military ambitions.” In response to the drills, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that “[China hopes] the cooperation of relevant countries will benefit regional peace and security, and not harm the interests of third parties.”
The Associated Press tells us that “a federal court in Minnesota has created a program to assess the risks posed by terrorism defendants and come up with plans to deradicalize them so they don't engage in similar activities again.” The first of its kind, the program will be applied to four men who pled guilty in a conspiracy for involvement in a plan to provide material support to the Islamic State. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis suggested that the program could be expanded to other terror defendants. The AP notes that “Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S. and has been a target for terrorism recruiters,” and that “about a dozen Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria to join militant groups in recent years, and more than 22 men from Minnesota's Somali community have left since 2007 to join al-Shabab in Somalia.”
In the trial of suspected ISIS sympathizer Tairod Pugh—one of the first U.S. cases against an Islamic State supporter—an FBI agent testified "that Pugh warmed up to him after seeing an Islamic State flag on his Facebook page.” The agent described his encounter with Pugh in Kennedy Airport and suggested that Pugh was concerned that he would be arrested during his return to the United States from his travels to the Middle East.
U.S. prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in the case against Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, who is facing nine new terror-related charges for his alleged role in helping al Qaeda plan an attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan in 2009. Al Farekh was transferred to the United States from Pakistan in 2015 and has largely spent his detention in solitary confinement.
Over 50 GOP foreign policy experts signed an open letter declaring that presidential candidate Donald Trump is unfit to serve as President of the United States. The Post tells us that “Trump’s rhetoric appears to have finally crossed a line for those conservatives who have made their careers in foreign policy.” The letter states that Trump’s “vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle. He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence.” The letter is the latest in a series of concerns from experts in the field. Earlier in the week, former CIA director Michael Hayden suggested that the U.S. military might not follow orders from Trump, and yesterday, Lawfare’s Ben Wittes explained why the presidential candidate is a threat to national security.
ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare
Bobby took a look at the Obama administration's short-term military detention model.
Stewart Baker shared this week’s Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, which among other topics, considers Apple’s brief against providing additional assistance to the FBI.
Ben outlined why presidential candidate Donald Trump poses a threat to national security.
Cody alerted us to ODNI’s declassification and release of a second tranche of documents seized in the 2011 Abbottabad raid.
Nicholas Weaver imagined "a future where the FBI wins the San Bernardino case.”
Paul Rosenzweig asked whether President Obama's Executive Order "Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities" was merely an idle threat.
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Grigory Yavlinsky, co-founder of the Yabloko Russian liberal opposition party, said in an interview with the Interfax news agency Friday that he expects to beat current President Putin in the presidential race in 2018.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions is taking on a new position as chairman of Don Trump's advisory committee on national security.
Trump named the Mobile Republican to the post on Thursday. A release from the Trump campaign says he's honored to have Sessions as a member of ...
Big annual increases in China's defense budget have been fueling a top-to-bottom modernization drive that has brought in new equipment and vast improvements in living conditions for the People's Liberation Army's 2.3 million members. Even with the budget growing by a relatively modest 7 percent to 8 percent this year, the PLA can still be expected to continue adding the latest generation fighter jets, bombers, frigates, submarines and missiles.
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