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'No blank check for war': House votes to curb Trump's ability to strike Iran, other targets

Deirdre Shesgreen
USA TODAY
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:14 UTC
trump
The House voted Thursday to sharply limit President Donald Trump's ability to launch a military strike against Iran and to repeal the 2002 law that authorized the Iraq war, which has been used as justification for other U.S. military operations.

Democrats said the two votes were vital to reining in what they see as a reckless and impulsive president, pointing to his decision to authorize a U.S. drone strike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 2.


Comment: The Dems had no problem with Obama dropping bomb after bomb on civilians during his administration though.


Trump has taken the U.S. "to the brink of war with an assassination of a foreign leader, without any imminent threat demonstrated, only double-talk," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas. "It is time to put the brakes on his dangerous pursuits."

Republicans warned the two House bills would tie the president's hands at a perilous moment. And they applauded Trump's decision to target Soleimani, saying the Iranian leader was a terrorist with American blood on his hands.
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NPC

Trump Derangement Syndrome spreads: Republicans are 'actual demons,' 'zombies,' says New York Times Nobel Prize-winning columnist


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:07 UTC
demon
© Pixabay / kalhh / chayka1270
New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has doubled down on denouncing the Republican Party as "bad people," insisting that there's nothing wrong with "demonizing" opponents who "actually are demons."

Krugman refused to budge from his declaration that "Republicans are bad people" during an interview with PBS' Firing Line on Thursday. When interviewer Margaret Hoover pressed the Nobel Prize-winning economist on the risks inherent in "demonizing" political opponents, he only doubled down, taking his ad hominems into the mythical realm.

While Krugman stressed he was referring to "professional Republicans," and not "someone I might meet over lunch who declares herself a Republican [who] can perfectly well be a perfectly nice person," he stood firm in his attacks on a party he described as "irredeemable, devoid of principle or shame" in a Times opinion column last month.
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Light Sabers

Videos show rockets flying over Israeli territory bordering Gaza, hours after IDF targets Hamas 'observation posts'


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:04 UTC
rocket fire
© Global Look Press / ZUMA Press / Mahmoud Issa
Footage has emerged showing Israeli missile defenses shooting down rockets allegedly launched from the direction of the Gaza Strip. One rocket out of the three reportedly managed to pierce the Iron Dome defense system.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported late Thursday that three rockets were launched towards Israeli territory from the area of the Gaza Strip, two of which were taken down by the Israeli air defenses. Videos posted on social media show several projectiles lightning up the night skies over the border communities of Nir Am, Ivim and Sderot near the Gaza border, followed by several loud bangs - resembling the sounds of explosions.
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Dominoes

Hamas: 'All options legitimate' now for Palestinians to fight Trump's contentious peace plan


Sputnik
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 17:57 UTC
palestineprotest
© REUTERS / IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA
Donald Trump's peace plan, which was announced on Tuesday, led to a rare show of unity between the two key Palestinian factions: both Hamas and Fatah rejected the proposal, which envisages US recognition of the Palestinian state, albeit one with less autonomy and territory than they claim, as being biased heavily towards Israel.

A senior leader of Hamas, the Palestinian organisation governing the Gaza Strip, has urged Muslim and Arab leaders to reject Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan and said that all options are now on the table for Palestinians to react.

The head of the Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh has sent a letter to the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union Commission, according to Iran-based Press TV.
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Light Sabers

Turkey 'will not hesitate to use military force' if attacks by Syrian govt forces don't stop in Idlib - Erdogan


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 17:24 UTC
turkish military
© REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Ankara will not sit idly by as the Syrian Army carries out an offensive in northeastern Idlib province, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned, saying all options, including the most extreme ones, are on the table.

"We will not watch the situation in Syria... We will not hesitate to do whatever it takes, including using military force," Erdogan said on Friday in Ankara. He claimed that attacks by the "Syrian regime" causes an influx of migrants into Turkey.
We will do what is necessary when someone is threatening our soil. We will have no choice but to resort to the same path again if the situation in Idlib is not returned to normal quickly.
On Tuesday, Syrian government forces entered a town south of Idlib city and had significant success in their fight against militants. Turkey warned that it would retaliate if any of its 12 observation posts around the city were caught in the crossfire.
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Eye 1

DOJ relents, says it would accept probation for Michael Flynn as he moves to withdraw guilty plea

Tyler Olson
FOX News
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 17:06 UTC
General Flynn
The Department of Justice backed down from seeking jail time Wednesday and made clear that prosecutors would accept mere probation in the case of former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn -- a shift that comes as Flynn moves to withdraw his guilty plea leveraging accusations of government misconduct.

Just weeks ago, the DOJ said it would seek up to six months of prison time for the retired Army lieutenant general who spent just 24 days at his post in the Trump administration. Represented by an aggressive new attorney, Flynn days later had moved to withdraw his guilty plea for making false statements to two FBI agents in 2017 -- statements that eventually wrapped him up in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"In truth, I never lied," Flynn wrote in a new supplemental motion to withdraw his guilty plea filed Wednesday. "My guilty plea has rankled me throughout this process, and while I allowed myself to succumb to the threats from the government to save my family, I believe I was grossly misled about what really happened."

Flynn also blamed his former lawyers for providing him with bad information that led him to plead guilty.

Comment: See also: Retired army war hero urges AG Barr to dismiss charges against Flynn

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Star of David

Trump's 'Deal of the Century' won't bring peace - it will pave the way to greater bloodshed

Jonathan Cook
Mondoweiss
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
Trump Deal of the Century
Much of Donald Trump's long-trailed "deal of the century" came as no surprise. Over the past 18 months, Israeli officials had leaked many of its details.

The so-called "Vision for Peace" unveiled on Tuesday simply confirmed that the US government has publicly adopted the long-running consensus in Israel: that it is entitled to keep permanently the swaths of territory it seized illegally over the past half-century that deny the Palestinians any hope of a state.

The White House has discarded the traditional US pose as an "honest broker" between Israel and the Palestinians. Palestinian leaders were not invited to the ceremony, and would not have come had they been. This was a deal designed in Tel Aviv more than in Washington - and its point was to ensure there would be no Palestinian partner.

Importantly for Israel, it will get Washington's permission to annex all of its illegal settlements, now littered across the West Bank, as well as the vast agricultural basin of the Jordan Valley. Israel will continue to have military control over the entire West Bank.

Comment: Quite a few analysts agree that Trump's 'Vision for Peace' is an unlikely roadmap to peace:

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Star of David

Confusion reigns: Kushner contradicts Netanyahu on annexing of chunks of West Bank


Sputnik
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:24 UTC
Netanyahu
© AP/Gali TibbonIsrael's acting PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, eyes a map projecting 800 new housing units on Palestinian land.
In a recent interview, Trump advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner called on Israel to hold off on applying sovereignty over West Bank settlements until after the March parliamentary elections, with his words contradicting a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Tel Aviv could annex the settlement as soon as this Sunday.

The Israeli government has sent an inquiry to Washington over the planned annexation of the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements in the West Bank following Trump Middle East advisor Jared Kushner's remarks to a US media outlet asking Tel Aviv to hold off on the matter, a senior member of Prime Minister Netanyahu's entourage has told Haaretz. An unnamed source said:
"I hope nothing's changed. It wasn't done in bad faith and we're inquiring about the matter. We have been working on this for three years, hundreds of hours, to bring the best agreement in Israel."
The source noted that Trump's move to recognize the application of Israeli law to the Jordan Valley, the Northern Dead Sea, Judea and Samaria was "a huge thing" and an undeniable success for Israel.

Comment: Israel's hope is that the Palestinians 'take it' or 'leave it''. In fact, it is counting on a Palestinian exodus to pave the way for new Israeli settlements and tighter control.

See also:

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Arrow Up

Pompeo: Brexit will be 'fantastic' for the USA

Adam Blenkov
Business Insider
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 15:10 UTC
Pompeo
© Win McNamee/Getty Images/KJN
Brexit will be "fantastic" for the United States because it will allow the United Kingdom to abandon European trade regulations and standards, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested on Thursday.

Speaking at an event in London, Pompeo said that Britain's exit from the EU on January 31 would reduce barriers to trade between the two countries.

"What I'm optimistic about is that there were things that the United Kingdom was required to do as part of being a member of the EU and they will be able to do them differently now," Pompeo told an event alongside UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

"I think that's fantastic. I think that's fantastic for the United States. I think that's fantastic for the United Kingdom. We will be able to reduce transaction costs and share [goods and services] in ways we could not do when the United Kingdom was part of that and I look forward to working through that."
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Star of David

Hidden in Trump-Netanyahu deal is an effort to 'torpedo' ICC war crimes probe

Andrea Germanos
Common Dreams
Wed, 29 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
ICC-Hague
© ICC-CPIInternational Criminal Court
The plan announced Tuesday by the White House demands Palestinians "dismiss all pending actions" before the International Criminal Court.

As the International Criminal Court moved forward this week with its investigation into alleged war crimes committed against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, the White House's new so-called "peace" plan includes a largely unreported provision that would end such efforts to hold the Israeli government to account.

The document, released Tuesday, was widely criticized as a "screw the Palestinians over harder non-peace plan" that lets Israel continue its illegal occupation and a "ludicrous" proposal that offers no path towards Palestinian statehood.

The plan's architect, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner, suggested Palestinians "take a cold shower" and accept it lest they "screw up," he said, like with "every other opportunity that they've ever had in their existence."

A portion of the document states that "the parties should conduct themselves in a manner that comports with this vision, and in a way that prepares their respective peoples for peace." For the Palestinians, that means victims of war crimes should keep quiet.

The plan states, in part, that Palestinians must take "no action, and shall dismiss all pending actions, against the State of Israel, the United States, and any of their citizens before the International Criminal Court" and other tribunals.

Comment: 'Hell hath no fury like an Israel scorned' if the ICC pursues accountability and retribution. Israeli power is built on lies, persuasion and entitlement - the unraveling of which will be something to behold.

See also:

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