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State Dept. official raised concerns about Hunter Biden and Burisma in 2015

Bob Fredericks
New York Post
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 04:32 UTC
George Kent
© Alex Wong/Getty Images
US Deputy Undersecretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, George Kent
A State Department expert on Ukraine told lawmakers this week that he raised concerns about Hunter Biden's job with a Ukrainian natural gas firm in 2015 — but Joe Biden's staff blew him off because the then-veep was preoccupied with his other son Beau's cancer battle, Fox News reported Friday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, who testified behind closed doors before committees leading the House impeachment effort, said that he had qualms about Hunter Biden's role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

The Washington Post first reported details of Kent's testimony on Friday, which included his concern that Hunter Biden's role in the company could complicate US diplomatic efforts with Ukrainian officials, and that he also raised conflict of interest concerns since the elder Biden was spearheading the Obama administration's efforts to fight corruption in the country.

Kent also said that he feared that Hunter Biden's position would make Ukrainian officials believe he was a backchannel to his father, Fox reported. The Post first reported that the staff said they didn't have the "bandwidth" to deal with the issue.
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Bullseye

China's top trade negotiator on same side with Trump: We 'have made substantial progress' in trade deal

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 11:29 UTC
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He
© unknown
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He
Confirming a late Friday leak from Global Times' editor Hu Xijin...
... on Saturday, China's Vice Premier and top trade negotiator, Liu He, spoke to a technology conference audience and for the first time adopted the position represented by the Trump administration for over a week, namely that last Friday's "Phase 1" of the deal represented "substantial progress in many fields" and laid "an important foundation for the signing of a phased agreement."

"Stopping the escalation of the trade war benefits China, the U.S., and the whole world. It's what producers and consumers alike are hoping for," he added.
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Laptop

State Dept. concludes Clinton email review, identifies 91 violations from 38 people, another 497 remain unidentified

Zachary Stieber
The Epoch Times
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
HClinton
© Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Hillary Clinton
The review of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server has wrapped up. State Department investigators found nearly 600 security violations, they said in a report sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Investigators found 91 "valid violations attributable to 38 individuals," they wrote (pdf). The individuals were described as current and former State Department officials but not identified in the report that was sent to Congress this week.

There were another 497 "valid violations where no individual was found to bear culpability, resulting in a 'valid, but not culpable' determination," investigators said.

They said there were a number of challenges in probing the case, including "the unprecedented nature and scale of this event. A typical spillage event involves a single email, not thousands of hard-copy documents to be sifted through. The scale alone caused considerable delay to the effort," the report stated. The significant time that elapsed between the time the emails were sent and the probe started, up to nine years for some of the emails, also posed challenges.

The probe concluded on Sept. 6 and the report was dated Sept. 13.
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Dollars

'Fun times in Beijing': Biden received $700,000 from company holding stake in Chinese investment firm

Andrew Kerr
The Daily Caller
Thu, 17 Oct 2019 18:53 UTC
Joe/Finnegan/Hunter Biden
© AFP/NG Han Guan
Presidential candidate Joe Biden, granddaughter Finnegan Biden and son Hunter Biden
Hunter Biden received over $700,000 from a New York-based capital management company that held equity in a Chinese investment firm with close ties to the Bank of China, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of Hunter Biden's Chinese, Ukrainian and American business dealings has found.

And despite the deluge of media reports saying Hunter Biden received $50,000 a month for his work on the board of the Ukranian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, the records tell a much different story.

Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, did not receive any compensation directly from Burisma, according to available records. The oft-cited $50,000 a month figure is actually based on payments he received from a New York-based company called Rosemont Seneca Bohai, which was owned and controlled by his longtime business partner, Devon Archer.
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Wine n Glass

Whining bigly: Israel supporters are flipping out over Trump's Syria withdrawal

Philip Weiss
MondoWeiss
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:49 UTC
trump israel
© Ariel Schalit / Reuters
Donald Trump's decision to abandon former Kurdish allies in Syria last week has been a shock to Israel and its US lobby. Israel thought it had a very special place in Trump's worldview, but the withdrawal appears to gives Iran far more leeway in the Middle East. We are on our own against Iran, several Israeli officials and Israel supporters have concluded fearfully.


Comment: Break out the Champagne!


Not surprisingly, Israel's interest in U.S. Syria policy was on display in American politics this week. For the first time Congressional Republicans broke with Trump over the move; and 129 Republicans voted to condemn the decision when the House voted by 354-60 on that resolution Wednesday.

Israel featured in Congressional debate of Trump's move. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said Trump's move endangers Israel.

Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida said the decision forces the Kurds into the Iranian camp, and Israel is the loser:
Our Kurdish friends were betrayed and slaughtered and are now forced to align with Syrian forces backed by Iran creating an even bigger threat to our friend Israel.
Israel came up for the first time in four Democratic debates this week because of the Syria decision, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar saying, "This is an outrageous thing that happened here.... Think about our other allies, Israel. How do they feel right now? Donald Trump is not true to his word when they are a beacon of democracy in the Mideast."

Comment: Translation: Trump made the right choice. Just read the response from the American Jewish Congress: Every once in a while there is good news. Thank G-d!

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Eye 1

The US has backed 21 of the 28 'crazy' militias leading Turkey's brutal invasion of northern Syria

Max Blumenthal
The Greyzone
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:30 UTC
ohn McCain with then-FSA chief Salim Idriss

Left: John McCain with then-FSA chief Salim Idriss (right) in 2013; Right: Salim Idriss (center) in October, announcing the establishment of the National Front for Liberation, the Turkish mercenary army that has invaded northern Syria.
Footage showing members of Turkey's mercenary "national army" executing Kurdish captives as they led the Turkish invasion of northern Syria touched off a national outrage, provoking US government officials, pundits and major politicians to rage against their brutality.

In the Washington Post, a US official condemned the militias as a "crazy and unreliable." Another official called them "thugs and bandits and pirates that should be wiped off the face of the earth." Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the scene as a "sickening horror," blaming President Donald Trump exclusively for the atrocities.

But the fighters involved in the atrocities in northern Syria were not just random tribesmen assembled into an ad hoc army. In fact, many were former members of the Free Syrian Army, the force once armed by the CIA and Pentagon and branded as "moderate rebels." This disturbing context was conveniently omitted from the breathless denunciations of US officials and Western pundits.
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No Entry

Hillary Clinton says Tulsi Gabbard is a 'Russian asset' groomed to ensure Trump reelection - Tulsi hits back ... hard!

Tim Pearce
Washington Examiner
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:35 UTC
hillary clinton
Hillary Clinton said that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is being groomed by Moscow to run as a third-party spoiler candidate in 2020 to help President Trump win reelection.

The former secretary of state pushed the theory on Campaign HQ podcast hosted by David Plouffe, President Barack Obama's campaign manager in 2008.

Plouffe and Clinton discussed hurdles the Democratic nominee would face and compared the 2020 race to Clinton's loss to Trump in 2016. Plouffe asked Clinton about the part third-party candidates, such as Jill Stein of the Green Party, played in 2016, allowing Trump to secure key states.

Comment: Tulsi's tweeted response:




#IamTulsi is trending on Twitter as a result:





Of course, some continue to be brainwashed. See RT for their tweets. Thankfully, the meme-gods have arrived:








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Attention

38 people cited for violations in Clinton email probe


Chattanooga Times Free Press
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 00:01 UTC
hillary clinton
© Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald via AP
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answers a question posed by student journalists during the Trailblazing Women of Park Ridge event in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Oct. 11, 2019.
The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.

The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were "culpable" in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton's personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.

Although the report identified violations, it said investigators had found "no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information." However, it also made clear that Clinton's use of the private email had increased the vulnerability of classified information.

Comment: Could this be the bit of news Clinton was hoping to draw attention away from by attacking Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein?



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Arrow Up

Russia begins pumping natural gas into Turkish Stream pipeline


RT
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 11:22 UTC
turkstream
© turkstream.info
Gazprom has started to fill the first branch of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream pipeline with natural gas. This is the final stage of testing the pipeline before putting it into operation later this year.

"Filling the pipeline system with gas is a significant step towards the start of actual gas supplies to Turkey and South-East Europe through the new system of offshore gas pipelines," said the pipeline's operator South Stream Transport B.V. It added that the first deliveries are scheduled for the end of 2019.

The major joint project between Moscow and Ankara, the Turkish Stream (aka TurkStream), was officially agreed in October 2016. It involves the construction of a gas pipeline consisting of two branches with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. The first line is intended for the supply of Russian gas to Turkish consumers, the second - for gas supply to the countries of Southern and Southeast Europe.

Comment: With Turkey's operation in Syria right now, and with Russia watching, the timing of this is brilliantly coincidental:

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Caesar

Is Putin the new 'King' of the Middle East?

Patrick J. Buchanan
Buchanan.org
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:00 UTC
putin
© PixaBay
If Putin wants to be king of this, and it is OK with Assad, how does that imperil the United States of America, 6,000 miles away?
"Russia Assumes Mantle of Supreme Power Broker in the Middle East," proclaimed Britain's Telegraph. The article began:

"Russia's status as the undisputed power-broker in the Middle East was cemented as Vladimir Putin continued a triumphant tour of capitals traditionally allied to the US."

"Donald Trump Has Handed Putin the Middle East on a Plate" was the title of a Telegraph column. "Putin Seizes on Trump's Syria Retreat to Cement Middle East Role," said the Financial Times.

The U.S. press parroted the British: Putin is now the new master of the Mideast. And woe is us.

Comment: See also:

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