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Impeachment inquiry: It's really about who sets US foreign policy

John Daniel Davidson
The Federalist
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Kent/Taylor
© Xinhua
George Kent and William Taylor swear before the US House Committee on Intelligence during impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill, November 13, 2019.
If Trump thinks it's in the national interest to root out corruption in Ukraine and get to the bottom of 2016 election meddling, that's his prerogative.

Despite the hysterical headlines in the mainstream media, there was no bombshell on the first day of public testimony in the House impeachment inquiry. It was actually very boring and tedious.

But for those who had the patience to sit through it on Wednesday, the testimony of veteran State Department officials William Taylor and George Kent did help clarify what this impeachment inquiry is all about: a disagreement between President Trump and a coterie of career State Department bureaucrats about what U.S. policy should be in Ukraine.

To put it more bluntly, the Democrats' impeachment inquiry is about whether the president or unelected officials in the State Department should be able to determine U.S. foreign policy and define U.S. national interests abroad.

What we heard Wednesday was a lot of opinions from Taylor and Kent about what U.S. policy should be in Ukraine and what serves the national interest there. But if President Trump has a different view, whose opinion should matter? Clearly, the president's opinion is the one that counts because the president, not State Department officials, sets U.S. foreign policy.

Comment: See also:

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Jet2

Videos from Gaza Strip: Israeli forces claim to attack 'Islamic jihad targets'


Sputnik
Fri, 15 Nov 2019 01:56 UTC
Israeli F-15
© Ariel Schalit
Israeli Air Force F-15
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) announced new airstrikes on Gaza early Friday morning, saying they were "attacking terrorist targets" in the territory.

"We are currently striking Islamic Jihad terror targets in Gaza," the IDF tweeted. "This comes after rockets were indiscriminately fired from Gaza at Israeli civilians today." In a previous tweet two hours prior, they noted two rockets fired into southern Israel from Gaza were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.

Reports from inside the Gaza Strip said Gaza city and Hattin, west of Khan Younis, had been hit by IDF attacks. Others reported airstrikes near Rafah, in the south of the territory. Explosions and the roar of IAF jet engines, as well as the whine of drone motors, were recorded by observers in the early morning hours.

Comment: Gaza is at the mercy of Israeli politics and psychopathic leadership. Bibi is looking to shore up his political security. For Gantz, it is what he does best.

See also:

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Attention

Putin: Post-coup Bolivian anarchy 'resembles Libya', urges leaders to use 'common sense' to quell chaos


RT
Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:09 UTC
Putin
© AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin
The power vacuum in Bolivia has brought the country to the edge of a Libya-style disaster, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned. As protests consume other Latin American countries, Putin urged leaders to use "common sense."

President Evo Morales fled Bolivia to Mexico on Tuesday, after opposition leaders declared his October re-election fraudulent and the Bolivian police and military turned on him. Since then, opposition senator Jeanine Añez has declared herself "interim president," without a vote or recognition by Morales's Movement for Socialism majority party.

Pro-Morales protesters, outraged by the blatant coup, have since faced off with riot police on the streets of La Paz. Añez' grip on power is anything but secure.

Putin told reporters on Thursday:
"There is a situation where there is no leadership in the country... Anarchy. It resembles Libya somewhat. Although there is no direct armed invasion from the outside, the country is actually on the verge of chaos."

Comment: Traps are set. Triggers are initiated. The targeted populace is unsuspecting until it is too late. The pattern is as apparent as the source. Putin's accurate assessment and warnings will have little effect on the immanent destruction of Bolivia, a coup years in the planning and execution.

See also:
Dissection of the coup: Top Bolivian coup plotters were grads from SOA, attachés in FBI police programs

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Attention

The true Ukraine controversy involves an activist US embassy and non-adherence to the Geneva Convention

John Solomon
John Solomon Reports
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Marie Yovanovitch
© screen shot
Marie Yovanovitch
The first time I ever heard the name of U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was in early March of this year. It did not come from a Ukrainian or an ally of President Trump. It came from a career diplomat I was interviewing on background on a different story.

The diplomat, as I recall, suggested that Yovanovitch had just caused a commotion in Ukraine a few weeks before that country's presidential election by calling for the firing of one of the prosecutors aligned with the incumbent president.

The diplomat related that a more senior State official, David Hale, was about to travel to Ukraine and was prepping to be confronted about Yovanovitch's comments. I remember the diplomat joking something to the effect of, "we always say that the Geneva Convention is optional for our Kiev staff."

The Geneva Convention is the UN-backed pact enacted during the Cold War that governs the conduct of foreign diplomats in host countries and protects them against retribution. But it strictly mandates that foreign diplomats "have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State" that hosts them. You can read the convention's rules here.

Comment: See also:

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Stock Up

Global debt surges to $250 trillion - US and China in the lead

Spriha Srivastava
CNBC
Fri, 15 Nov 2019 20:43 UTC
debt
Global debt hit a record high of over $250 trillion in the first half of this year, led by a surge in borrowings in the U.S. and China, according to a new report.

The report, released by the International Institute of Finance (IIF) on Thursday, showed that global debt surged by $7.5 trillion in the first six months of 2019. The IIF said the overall number hit $250.9 trillion at the end of this period, and will exceed $255 trillion by the end of 2019.

"China and the U.S. accounted for over 60% of the increase. Similarly, EM debt also hit a new record of $71.4 trillion (220% of GDP). With few signs of slowdown in the pace of debt accumulation, we estimate that global debt will surpass $255 trillion this year," the IIF said in the report.

Rising debt across the world has been a big concern for investors and has also been flagged as the next breaking point by a number of economists. Record-low interest rates make it extremely easy for corporates and sovereigns to borrow more money.


Comment: Cheap money may sound sound good 'on paper', but the consequences are not pretty.


"However, with diminishing scope for further monetary easing in many parts of the world, countries with high levels of government debt (Italy, Lebanon) — as well as those where government debt is growing rapidly (Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and Greece) — may find it harder to turn to fiscal stimulus," the IIF report stated.
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Pirates

Say what? Top Islamic State commander arrested in ... Ukraine!


RFE/RL
Fri, 15 Nov 2019 20:22 UTC
Al-Bara Shishani

Al-Bara Shishani
Ukraine's main security agency says it has arrested a key figure in the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

Al-Bara Shishani, a Georgian national, was apprehended near Ukraine's capital, Kiyv, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said in a Facebook statement on November 15.

The statement said the CIA and Georgia's Interior Ministry participated in the operation.

Vika Klimicheva, a spokeswoman for Georgia's state security service, confirmed the man was being held in Ukraine and said his birth name was Cezar Tokhosashvili.

Shishani has served as a deputy to Abu Omar al-Shishani, the man the Pentagon has described as the IS's "minister of war."

After the latter was killed in 2016, Shishani fled to Turkey and in 2018 used a fake passport to travel to Ukraine, where he continued to coordinate IS activities, the SBU said.

He was detained in the Kyiv region near a private home where he resided, the statement said, without saying when the operation took place.

"A portrait examination has proved that the detained foreigner is indeed a wanted leader of the Islamic State," according to the SBU.

Comment: What RFE/RL doesn't - and never will - say is that there's a reason ISIS has a foothold in Ukraine. They are partners of sorts with the neo-Nazis there in their war against Russia. For just a peak into this relationship, see: The rank-and-file losers in ISIS and the Bandera-inspired nazi groups may not realize it, but they have the same masters.

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Snakes in Suits

Fear mongering US AG: Huawei, ZTE 'cannot be trusted' and pose security threat

David Shepardson
Reuters
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:09 UTC
Huawei logo
© Reuters / Hannibal Hanschke
The Huawei logo
Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp "cannot be trusted," U.S. Attorney General William Barr said, labeling the Chinese firms a security threat as he backed a proposal to bar U.S. rural wireless carriers from tapping an $8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment or services from them.

The Federal Communications Commission will vote on Nov. 22 and is proposing requiring the carriers to remove and replace equipment from the companies. Barr said in a letter to the FCC released on Thursday that "their own track record, as well as the practices of the Chinese government, demonstrate that Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted."

He added that "we should not signal that Huawei and ZTE are anything other than a threat to our collective security, for that is exactly what they, through their actions, have shown themselves to be."

Huawei and ZTE did not immediately comment.
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Light Saber

President Assad: War in Syria to end when terrorism defeated, not after constitution adopted


Sputnik
Fri, 15 Nov 2019 18:55 UTC
Assad interview
© Agence France-Presse/SANA
President Bashar al-Assad speaking during a special broadcast interview in Syria's capital Damascus on October 31, 2019 .
On 9 October, Turkey launched a military op in Syria to clear the border area of Daesh militants and Kurdish militia, which Ankara views as terrorists. After a series of ceasefire deals with the United States and Russia, the operation's active phase ended. Damascus has condemned Turkey's offensive as a violation of Syria's sovereignty.

The war in Syria will end after the victory over terrorism rather than after the adoption of a new constitution for the country.
"Some are led to believe the settlement of the conflict depends on the work of the constitutional committee. The war in Syria did not start because of disagreements around the Constitution, the war in Syria began because terrorists killed military, police and civilians, as well as because they destroyed infrastructure. By virtue of this, the war will end when terrorism is defeated."
Assad also said the Syrian government and the people of the Syrian Arab Republic will in no way agree to a partition of the country.
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Star of David

Netanyahu doesn't disappoint: Another election, another war on Gaza

Naim Mousa
Mondoweiss
Fri, 15 Nov 2019 18:26 UTC
netanyahu wars gaza elections cartoon
© Carlos Latuff/Mondoweiss
In a move that should have surprised absolutely no one, Israel has vigorously escalated its aggression in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in the past several weeks. Israel has been dangerously provocative towards Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, particularly in East Jerusalem.

For the past six months, residents of the Issawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem have been subjected to daily raids, arrests and beatings, and constant drone surveillance, culminating in the killing of 20-year-old Mohammad Samir Obeid at the hands of Israeli forces. Obeid was shot dead while holding his hands up in the air and waving a white cloth. 80 Palestinians were injured in subsequent protests due an exceedingly violent response by Israeli forces.

Now - under Netanyahu's orders - the Israeli military has vigorously escalated its aggression in Gaza in an effort to provoke a war that will allow Netanyahu to gain immunity from prosecution.

Comment:

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Bullseye

The Brennan Dossier: An indepth look at a prime mover of the Russiagate Hoax

Aaron Maté
RealClearInvestigations
Fri, 15 Nov 2019 17:27 UTC
john brennan
© Shawn Thew/EPA
John Brennan
In the waning days of the Obama administration, the U.S. intelligence community produced a report saying Russian President Vladimir Putin had tried to swing the 2016 election to Donald Trump.

The January 2017 report, called an Intelligence Community Assessment, followed months of leaks to the media that had falsely suggested illicit ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin while also revealing that such contacts were the subject of a federal investigation. Its release cast a pall of suspicion over Trump just days before he took office, setting the tone for the unfounded allegations of conspiracy and treason that have engulfed his first term.

What was Brennan's motive? Among the possibilities is hostility within his camp toward Michael Flynn (foreground), Trump's future reform-minded national security adviser.

Comment: Kudos to Aaron Maté for putting together a detailed report on the nefarious Mr. Brennan. It will take years to repair the damage he has done to the country.

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