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Cowboy Hat

ICE chief to hire 10,000 more agents and target sanctuary cities


RT
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 15:13 UTC
Police ICE
© Charles Reed / ICE / Reuters
ICE'S acting director has praised president Donald Trump for "taking the handcuffs off law enforcement" adding, that 10,000 more agents will be hired. Thomas Homan also warned that he plans to crack down on the "ludicrous" so-called sanctuary cities.

"In the America I grew up in, cities didn't shield people who violated the law," the 30-year immigration enforcement veteran said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

Homan says he feels empowered, as Trump has "taken the handcuffs off law enforcement."

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement's acting chief also said that under Trump, illegal border crossings have decreased 70 percent and arrests in the US have increased 40 percent.
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Robot

US Army to invest in creation of autonomous drones & 'Internet of things'


RT
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 14:52 UTC
drone controls
© Henry Romero / Reuters
In an effort to compete with more technologically advanced forces, the US Army is investing in new programs to develop autonomous drones and create a network of battlefield devices that communicate with each other.

In March, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report that found the US Army has fallen behind other technologically advanced states after spending nearly two decades fighting technologically inferior adversaries in the Middle East.

The report specifically mentions Russia, which has invested heavily in anti-access / area denial (A2/AD) technologies that are able to block communications in certain areas.

"There are regions in Donbass where no electromagnetic communications - including radio, cell phone, and television - work,"the CSIS report reads, according to Defense One. "Electronic warfare is the single largest killer of Ukrainian systems by jamming either the controller or GPS signals."

In order to counter these technological advancements, Philip Perconti, director of the Army Research Lab, told Defense One the Army is investing in two new research programs that will modernize their forces.
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Snakes in Suits

House Dems want FBI to probe Ivanka Trump's clearance for 'not disclosing contacts with Russian lawyer'


RT
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 14:06 UTC
Ivanka Trump
© Yuri Gripas / ReutersIvanka Trump
A group of House Democrats has requested that the FBI review Ivanka Trump's security clearance, accusing the president's daughter of engaging in "deception" by not disclosing all her contacts with foreign officials, in particular the Russians.

Led by Representative Don Beyer (D-Virginia), a total of 22 lawmakers from the minority party signed the letter to Acting Director Andrew McCabe, requesting a review of potential discrepancies between the disclosure form filed by Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, both currently working as advisers to her father, President Donald Trump.

The Standard Form 86 (SF-86) submitted by federal officials required the disclosure of foreign contacts, business interests and meetings by spouses and siblings over the previous seven years, the lawmakers noted, demanding to see if Ivanka's SF-86 contained references to the June 2016 meeting with Russian attorney Natalya Veselnitskaya, which both Kushner and her brother Donald Trump Jr. attended.

Comment: Further reading: The non-story of Donald Trump Jr and the Russian lawyer: Set up for a possible sting?

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Radar

Trump cabinet briefing on Daesh shows 'renewed focus' on annihilating terror group


Sputnik
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 14:45 UTC
US soldier inspects Daesh weapons
© REUTERS/ Azad Lashkari
A classified briefing led by US President Donald Trump's cabinet officials demonstrates the administration's revitalized commitment to destroy Daesh terrorist group, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker said in a press release.

The briefing was conducted behind closed doors on Wednesday by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.

"There is a lot more clarity and a lot more focus on partnering with other countries to completely annihilate ISIS [Daesh]," the release stated after the briefing. "There is a renewed energy and a renewed focus, and I think every senator present today knows this administration is not playing around."
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Blackbox

China questions if it's possible to negotiate with the United States

Brian Cloughley
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 14:25 UTC
Trump and Jinping
In the recent past it hasn't been too difficult to assess or interpret US foreign policy. By and large the world, in the era of hideous confrontational aggression of George W Bush, was "either with us or against us in the fight against terror" — but now in the Age of Trump the threat of global terror has been sidelined by the threat and occasional actuality of erratic behavior by President Donald Trump.

It is difficult, for example, to define the policy the White House advocates as regards to China, the world's most populous nation that is exercising more and more international influence, which it is perfectly entitled to do. It seemed on 7 April 2017 that all was sweetness and optimism, because after President Trump entertained President Xi at his Mar-a-Lago estate he was effusive in declaring that "The relationship developed by President Xi and myself I think is outstanding. We look forward to being together many times in the future. And I believe lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away".

Then, on 12 April the two Presidents spoke on the telephone but all that the White House had to say about the exchange was "President Donald J Trump spoke last night with President Xi Jinping of China to follow up after President Xi's visit to Mar-a-Lago. It was a very productive call".
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Nuke

Britain threatens to return tons of nuclear waste to EU if Brexit talks fail


RT
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 12:41 UTC
nuclear wadte barrel
© Christian Ohde / Global Look Press
Britain is threatening to return boatloads of radioactive waste to Europe if an agreement on post-Brexit nuclear regulation is not reached.

The UK has 126 tonnes (139 US tons) of plutonium at Sellafield nuclear plant - the world's largest civilian stockpile. Almost a fifth of the material originates from other countries including Italy, Germany and Sweden.

The state-owned plant in Cumbria has been reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from across Europe since the 1970s, producing reusable uranium, plutonium and radioactive waste.

In what is being taken in Brussels as a thinly-veiled threat, a paper setting out the UK's position for the negotiations stresses the right "to return radioactive waste ... to its country of origin" should talks collapse.
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Info

'Threat to the rule of law': EU may strip Poland of voting rights over judicial reforms


RT
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 12:20 UTC
protester holds a copy of the Polish Constitution
© Agencja Gazeta/Jakub Porzycki / ReutersA protester holds a copy of the Polish Constitution during an opposition protest at the Market Square in Krakow, Poland July 16, 2017.
Poland has come under fire from the European Commission, which may opt to trigger Article 7, which includes possible deprivation of voting rights in the European Council, in response to Warsaw's proposed overhaul of the judiciary.

The European Commission is threatening to sanction Warsaw if it fails to take into account the commission's "grave concerns" and amend the proposed judicial reforms. The new measures, initiated by Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), will empower parliament and the justice minister to appoint judges to the Supreme Court.

"If adopted, [the laws] would seriously erode the independence of the Polish judiciary," First Vice-President Frans Timmermans stated following the European Commission meeting on Wednesday.
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Info

Trump lambastes AG Sessions for 'very unfair' Russia probe recusal and FBI conflicts of interest


RT
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 12:04 UTC
Donald Trump
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
President Donald Trump has expressed discontent with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and accused other prominent members of the Justice Department and the FBI of having conflicts of interest in a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times.

Trump complained that Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigations was "very unfair to him [the president]," in a 50-minute interview with the New York Times published Wednesday.

"Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else," Trump said. "It's extremely unfair - and that's a mild word - to the President."

Trump also criticized Sessions for testimony he provided during the Senate confirmation hearings when he said he never met with any Russians during the campaign.
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Info

Kremlin confirms Iraq to buy 'large batch' of advanced Russian T-90 tanks


RT
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 11:59 UTC
Russian T-90 tank
© Alexey Kudenko / Sputnik
Moscow and Baghdad have struck a major deal to deliver "a large batch" of advanced Russian-made T-90 tanks to the Iraqi military, a Kremlin official said. The T-90s will reinforce the Iraqis' M1A1 Abrams fleet damaged in the fight against Islamists.

"A significant contract for a large batch" of T-90 tanks has been signed between Baghdad and Russian manufacturer Uralvagonzavod, Vladimir Kozhin, an aide to the Russian president on military-technical cooperation, told the Izvestiya newspaper.

The defense industry official refused to disclose the price of the deal, but said "the number [of tanks] is substantial." Iraq's Ministry of Defense has also confirmed the purchase of the Russian-made tanks, according to the newspaper.
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Stop

Carnage continues: UN reports at least 20 civilians killed in Yemen airstrike


RT
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 22:36 UTC
Smoke and debris rise from the site of a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa, Yemen
© Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
An airstrike in Yemen has likely killed at least 20 civilians, including women and children, the United Nations has said. It added that it is "deeply shocked and saddened" by the attack.

The airstrike in Yemen's embattled Mawza district, in the Taizz governorate, was reported Tuesday, according to a statement released by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Although the UNHCR said the number of civilian casualties is still being verified, initial reports point to "at least 20 deaths, including that of women and children."

It notes that most of those killed in the airstrike are believed to have been from the same family. They had reportedly been displaced to Mawza from the nearby Al Mokha district.

Injuries were also reported, according to UNHCR, with a number of people taken to nearby hospitals.
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