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Iraq foreign minister thanks Russia for assistance in fighting Daesh terrorists


Sputnik
Wed, 30 Jan 2019 20:56 UTC
Iraqi flag Muslim woman
© AFP 2018 / Ahmad Al-Rubaye
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim on Wednesday thanked Russia for its assistance in battling the Daesh terrorist group at a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"I would like to... express my gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the help we received in the fight against Daesh. Russia played a central role in it", Alhakim said.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, the Iraqi minister said he was happy to be in Moscow where he planned to discuss a wide range of matters, from bilateral cooperation to regional issues.
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Attention

Plum post for prominent Trump foe: Plan, sideswipe or stupidity?

Joseph Duggan
American Greatness
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Elliott Abrams
© Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Elliott Abrams
On Friday, following the dramatic arrest of a prominent Trump supporter on charges of lying to Congress, President Trump gave one of the nation's most sensitive national security and diplomatic posts to another controversial figure who already had been convicted of lying to Congress.

Has the NeverTrump Republican echo chamber gone berserk over this irresponsible appointment?

Have Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio taken to the Senate floor to speak out against the president's defiance of honesty in government? Have they demanded hearings and a confirmation vote?

Has House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Trump's action is so egregious it might call for an article of impeachment?

Has Bill Kristol's "Republicans for the Rule of Law" launched an ad blitz to protest Trump hiring an amoral convict?

Not at all. Turns out, the appointee is one of the president's worst enemies, a man forcefully opposed to almost all of Trump's policies and campaign promises, a man who repeatedly has said Trump is morally unfit for his office. He is Elliott Abrams, the 71-year-old éminence grise of the NeverTrump movement.

Comment: A true head-scratcher on Trump's part - if he even had a say. Given the 'plan' for Venezuela has been in the works for years, Abrams was likely a key contributor. Score one for the swamp.

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Stop

Dems stall committee vote on the William Barr nomination

Kelly Cohen
Washington Examiner
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 12:53 UTC
William Barr
© Tom Williams/Getty Images
Attorney General William Barr
Senate Democrats on Tuesday delayed a final Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination of William Barr to be President Trump's next attorney general, although Republicans on the committee expect to confirm him next week.

It's standard practice for the committee to delay votes on nominees. But Barr is expected to sail through next week, as Republicans control the panel, and then be scheduled for a Senate floor vote.

At Tuesday morning's business meeting, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she's still worried about a memo Barr wrote, unsolicited, to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in which he criticized special counsel Robert Mueller's possible investigation into obstruction of justice by President Trump. Feinstein said:
"This memo is of serious concern to me and appears to be seminal in his appointment to his position. If this view is applied in the current context, there will be little check on the president. I'm troubled by the idea that the individual seeking to oversee this investigation has predetermined whether allegations can even be pursued."
Feinstein also said she's worried about whether Barr will end up releasing Mueller's final report.

Comment: See also:

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Nuke

Lavrov: US production of its new nuclear warhead ups risk of nuclear war


RT
Wed, 30 Jan 2019 11:57 UTC
US delegation
© EPA-EFE/THOMAS PETER/POOL
US delegation to US Under Secretary of State Andrea Thompson (C) delivers her opening remarks during a nuclear conference in Beijing, Jan.30, 2019.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the US of bringing a nuclear conflict closer after the Trump administration ordered the production of a new nuclear warhead, the W76-2.

The country's top diplomat reminded journalists that Moscow voiced its concern last year that the production of small-capacity nuclear weapons "lowers the threshold of nuclear weapons use and, of course, boosts the risk of a nuclear conflict."

"Apparently, these plans were put into practice," Lavrov said. "Certainly, it won't contribute to global security."

Russia will now await Europe's reaction to the US move to begin production of the new weapon. The warhead, known as the W76-2, is being produced at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Pantex Plant in the Texas Panhandle, according to the National Nuclear Security Agency. The US Navy is expected to receive the first batch of new warheads in September.

Comment: More from Sputnik:
Representatives of five major nuclear powers - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States or "nuclear five" met in Beijing on Wednesday. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the meeting that the level of potential conflict in the world has reached a dangerous point:
"The situation in the sphere of international security has not stabilized and even continued to deteriorate. Some countries are making dangerous changes to their doctrines, including those leading to lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons. Moreover, a "nuclear five" refused to adopt a final joint statement at a meeting in Beijing.

"It cannot but cause concern that all these events are taking place against the background of a deepening deficit of mutual trust between the members of the 'nuclear five,' which is an unprecedented challenge for this format. The situation is so serious that this time we even had to refuse to adopt the final statement.

"That is why the issue submitted by Russia regarding the role and the place of the 'nuclear five' both in the context of strengthening the NPT and in a broader perspective, becomes particularly relevant."
Later on the sidelines of the meeting Sergey Ryabkov told reporters that he will hold a separate meeting with US Deputy State Secretary Andrea Thompson on Thursday.


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Brick Wall

The tide is beginning to turn as Democrats jump ship, show support for the border wall

Jack Davis
The Western Journal
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 05:51 UTC
ChuckNancy
© truthseries
Chuck & Nancy dumped by Dems
Despite the intransigence of House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an increasing number of Democratic Party voices are supporting President Donald Trump's call for a stronger barrier across America's Southern Border.

Joe Manchin, a centrist Democratic senator from West Virginia, said that Democrats realize the need for border security.

"On the Senate side, we understand. I don't think any senators ... said they don't want any secured structure fence or wall or whatever you want to call it," he said, saying that House Democrats are the stumbling block.

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner also noted that there is a hole to plug. "I know we're going to have to add additional border security. ... We've got about 700 miles of existing fencing. Where folks say we need additional barrier protections, I'm all for it," Warner said last week.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana recently issued a release on border security, noting that Democratic senators including Chris Coons and Tom Carper of Delaware as well as Ben Cardin of Maryland have made comments supporting border barriers. Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent, has also spoken out for barriers, the release said.

Comment: Avoiding entrenchment, valuing individuation - a Groupthink lesson for 'stale'mates.

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Bullseye

Venezuelan Supreme Court targets opposition leader Guaido with travel ban, bank account freezes


RFE/RL
Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:43 UTC
GuaidoMaduro
© AFP
Juan Guaido • Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuela's Supreme Court has ordered a travel ban on the opposition leader Juan Guaido and frozen his bank accounts. Guaido is banned from leaving the country until a preliminary investigation is complete after he "caused harm to peace in the republic," court head Maikel Moreno said on January 29.

The 35-year-old opposition leader, who declared himself interim president last week, has been backed by the United States and other nations. Other countries, including Russia, support President Nicolas Maduro.

In an interview with Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti, Maduro reiterated that he was ready for talks with the opposition "for the sake of peace and its future," with the participation of international mediators. Maduro ruled out an early presidential election, saying the next one was not due until 2025, but said he would support snap parliamentary polls.

He also thanked his Russian counterpart, saying that Vladimir Putin "is giving us support on all levels," according to Russia's state-run Sputnik information agency.

Comment: Controversy, surrounding this unofficial appointment of Guaido to interim president, is well-founded if we retrace his rise and support. See also:

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Arrow Down

Democratic hopefuls are already moving too far left to beat Trump in 2020

Tom Rogan
Washington Examiner
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 01:22 UTC
Trump effect
© CNN/KJN
President Trump's approval ratings are falling, and his failure to build the U.S.-Mexican wall endangers his consolidated political base. As my colleague David Drucker reports, top Texas Republicans now fear that the president may lose Texas in 2020.

Yet, I believe Trump has an increasingly good chance of reelection. Why?

Because of the growing division between the basic political ideology of most Americans and the campaign platforms of 2020 Democratic Party presidential aspirants. The first point to note here is that most Americans identify as either conservative or moderate, rather than liberal. A 2018 Gallup poll, as below, shows that while the number of self-described liberals is growing, the gap between self-identified conservatives and liberals remains near 10 points.
chart
© Gallup
I believe that this gap is the critical element in allowing Trump to win reelection, because there's no question that the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries is now centered around a contest of who can be the most liberal.

Comment: The Democratic Party has provided ample munition to Trump's re-election strategy and unwittingly continues to do so.

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Propaganda

'Fake news' filter NewsGuard scrutinized for having links to PR firm that promoted Saudi propaganda

Suhaib Salem
RT
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 14:07 UTC
Saudis
© Reuters/Suhaib Salem
NewsGuard linked to Saudi PR machine
A new app claiming to serve as a bulwark against "disinformation" by adding "trust rankings" to news websites has links to a PR firm that received nearly $15 million to push pro-Saudi spin in US media, Breitbart reports.

NewsGuard and its shady advisory board - consisting of truth-lovers such as Tom Ridge, the first-ever homeland security chief, and former CIA director Michael Hayden - came under scrutiny after Microsoft announced that the app would be built into its mobile browsers. A closer examination of the company's publicly listed investors, however, has revealed new reasons to be suspicious of this self-declared crusader against propaganda. As Breitbart discovered, NewsGuard's third-largest investor, Publicis Groupe, owns a PR firm that has repeatedly airbrushed Saudi Arabia.

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Riyadh enlisted Qorvis Group, a Publicis subsidiary, in the hope of countering accusations that the kingdom turned a blind eye to - or even promoted - terrorism. Between March and September 2002, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia reportedly paid Qorvis $14.7 million to run a PR blitz targeting American media consumers. As part of the campaign, Qorvis employed a litany of dubious tactics, including running pro-Saudi ads under the name of an activist group, Alliance for Peace and Justice. Tellingly, the FBI raided the company's offices in 2004, after Qorvis was suspected of running afoul of foreign lobbying laws.

Comment: All the more reason for individuals to think independently, truthify 'persuasions' with facts and calibrate the sources at hand. See also:

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Dollars

Trump's foe Schneiderman paid legal bills with campaign cash

Michael R. Sisak
AP
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Schneiderman
© AP/Mary Altaffer/File
NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman used nearly $340,000 in political campaign funds to pay the law firm that represented him during an investigation of allegations that he physically abused several women, according to campaign finance reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

The practice is legal, but reform activists say Schneiderman and other politicians are exploiting lax campaign finance rules.

"By and large, if you are an elected official, you can use your campaign contributions as a Get Out of Jail Free card," said Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Schneiderman's re-election committee, Schneiderman 2018, began paying the Clayman & Rosenberg LLP law firm the week after his abrupt May 7 resignation from office, the records show. The last payment was made Dec. 7, a month after a special prosecutor closed the investigation without filing charges.

Schneiderman, a Democrat and nemesis of President Donald Trump, announced his resignation hours after The New Yorker published an expose saying four women had accused him of slapping or choking them. Some said Schneiderman was a heavy drinker.

Comment: That a low-life like Schneiderman is guaranteed access to campaign funding for his personal legal bills is astounding, even more so for the reasons cited.
See also:

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Bullseye

Time to break the silence on Palestine

Michelle Alexander
The New York Times
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 20:11 UTC
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
© John C. Goodwin
“We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared at Riverside Church in Manhattan in 1967.
On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped up to the lectern at the Riverside Church in Manhattan. The United States had been in active combat in Vietnam for two years and tens of thousands of people had been killed, including some 10,000 American troops. The political establishment - from left to right - backed the war, and more than 400,000 American service members were in Vietnam, their lives on the line.

Many of King's strongest allies urged him to remain silent about the war or at least to soft-pedal any criticism. They knew that if he told the whole truth about the unjust and disastrous war he would be falsely labeled a Communist, suffer retaliation and severe backlash, alienate supporters and threaten the fragile progress of the civil rights movement.

King rejected all the well-meaning advice and said, "I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice." Quoting a statement by the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, he said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal" and added, "that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam."
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