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Ukrainian embassy confirms DNC contractor sought dirt on Trump for 2016 election

John Solomon
The Hill
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:31 UTC
Clinton DNC
The boomerang from the Democratic Party's failed attempt to connect Donald Trump to Russia's 2016 election meddling is picking up speed, and its flight path crosses right through Moscow's pesky neighbor, Ukraine. That is where there is growing evidence a foreign power was asked, and in some cases tried, to help Hillary Clinton.

In its most detailed account yet, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington says a Democratic National Committee (DNC) insider during the 2016 election solicited dirt on Donald Trump's campaign chairman and even tried to enlist the country's president to help.

In written answers to questions, Ambassador Valeriy Chaly's office says DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought information from the Ukrainian government on Paul Manafort's dealings inside the country, in hopes of forcing the issue before Congress.
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Telephone

Trump and Putin discuss Venezuela and North Korea during phone call, Mueller report 'only briefly'

Tucker Higgins
CNBC
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:15 UTC
putin trump phone call
President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin discussed the Mueller report, Venezuela and North Korea during a lengthy phone call on Friday, the White House said.

The two talked on the phone for more than an hour, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

"Had a long and very good conversation with President Putin of Russia," the president wrote in a post on Twitter shortly after Sanders disclosed the call. "As I have always said, long before the Witch Hunt started, getting along with Russia, China, and everyone is a good thing, not a bad thing."

Regarding the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, which concluded in March, Sanders said "both leaders knew there was no collusion." The discussion on the matter was brief, she said.

Comment: "To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war." - Winston Churchill

RT reports:
The Kremlin has confirmed the call took place.

Regarding the possibility of a nuclear agreement, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters it could either be a new multilateral nuclear accord between the US, Russia and China - or the extension of the current US-Russia strategic nuclear accord.

The US announced in February that it would end its participation in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which had been a cornerstone of European security since 1987. The White House cited Russian violations of the treaty as the reason, although Russia denied the violations and accused Washington of using "fabricated" evidence to justify its withdrawal from the agreement.

Russia suspended its own participation in the INF treat in a "mirror response" to the US decision.

Sanders said Trump and Putin also discussed North Korea, with Trump urging Putin to put more pressure on Pyongyang to denuclearize. The pair also discussed the unfolding political crisis in Venezuela.
It's encouraging that Trump is still communicating with Putin, despite all the pressure from his cabinet not to do so, and knowing the negative spin the media will put on it. Perhaps there will be a way to thread the various needles of North Korea, Venezuela, Syria, Ukraine etc. if the dialogue continues. But don't hold your breath. It seems clear that for the moment, foreign policy is in the hands of war mongers Pompeo and Bolton.

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Network

Japan's Abe indicates possible meeting with North Korea's Kim 'without conditions'


RT
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:14 UTC
shinzo abe and kim jong-un
© Reuters / Francois Lenoir (L) ; Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov (R)
There were signs of renewed diplomacy between Japan and North Korea on Friday, after Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was reported suggesting that a meeting with Kim Jong-un without any "preconditions" was a possibility.

The resolution of the issue of Japanese citizens "abducted" by Pyongyang has long been held up by Tokyo as a precursor to any potential thaw in relations between the two powers. However, a potential policy shift was indicated by Abe during an interview with the Sankei newspaper, where he said the only way to "break the current mutual distrust" was for both leaders to meet.

"That's why I would like to meet him without setting preconditions and hold frank discussions. I hope he's a leader who can determine flexibly and strategically what is best for his country," he told the paper.
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Bad Guys

Scaremongering Pentagon sounds alarm over military 'expansion' of China... which only has one base abroad


RT
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:11 UTC
destroyer
© REUTERS / Stringer
The Pentagon, whose military installations abroad dwarf those of China, is deeply worried about Beijing conspiring to build up such facilities across the world in order to protect the global One Belt, One Road project.

The Chinese military is hastily working to project power overseas, the US Department of Defense warned in a comprehensive report to Congress. Rising global ambitions have increasingly propelled China's military "to think about how it will operate beyond China's borders and its immediate periphery," the paper alleges.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) currently has one overseas facility in Djibouti but Pentagon analysts believe they are eyeing others, possibly in Pakistan, the Middle East or Western Pacific. China's projects such as the 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) "will probably drive military overseas basing through a perceived need to provide security for OBOR projects."

That aside, the report stoked fear of China using submarine patrols and developing an icebreaker fleet as a bulwark of spreading influence in the Arctic.
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Stock Up

US unemployment rate falls to lowest level since 1969

Lucy Bayly
NBC News
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:04 UTC
job fair
© Joe Raedle / Getty Images file
Betty Fernandez, from Macy's department store, speaks with Paul Cunningham about job openings during a job fair in Miami on April 5, 2019.
The economy added a healthy 263,000 jobs in April, firmly beating analyst expectations of 190,000, according to Friday's monthly snapshot from the Department of Labor.

Wall Street reacted positively to the jobs report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 160 points at market open on Friday.

The nation's unemployment level fell to 3.6 percent, the lowest since December 1969, and average hourly earnings grew by 0.2 percent, for an annual gain of 3.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While some of those job gains can be attributed to government hiring of the first wave of temporary workers to carry out the 2020 Census - a number that will eventually hit 500,000 by early next year - April's figures are a firm indication that the economy remains on a robust growth track.
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War Whore

Like father, like daughter: Vile creature Meghan McCain calls Moscow 'city of Satan'


RT
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:07 UTC
moscow
© Sputnik / Natalya Seliverstova
Meghan McCain has found a new, xenophobia-laced way to debase Russia and its people, thoughtfully describing Moscow as the "city of Satan." Like father, like daughter?

In keeping with family tradition, the daughter of late Senator John McCain and co-host of The View recently took to the airwaves to express her disdain for Russia. Speaking to US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman and his wife Mary Kaye via live satellite feed, McCain used Biblical language to help accentuate her apparent disgust for the country.

"John and Mary Kaye are doing the Lord's work in the city of Satan. Thank you so much for your service to our country, that's a rough job," she said to the envoy and his wife before ending the segment.
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Eye 1

US ambassador unleashes new sanctions threats against Nord Stream 2 participants


RT
Fri, 03 May 2019 11:33 UTC
Nord Stream pipeline
© Nord Stream 2 / Axel Schmidt
Pioneering Spirit installing the pipeline in Swedish waters.
Russian gas transported via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline may result in sanctions for European contributors, a US ambassador has warned as he targeted the project once again. Europe, however, is standing firm against US demands.

"From American point of view, the pipeline is not just transporting gas, but has an increased sanctions risk," US envoy to Berlin and vocal critic of the project, Richard Grenell, told Focus news magazine.

The diplomat has previously made similar threats against firms involved in the multinational pipeline project. In a letter he sent to German companies in January, Grenell said that they should consider "the danger" and "significant" sanctions risk the gas export pipeline poses. He later came under fire from media outlets and German politicians for his words.

The envoy's renewed threats came just one day after US Energy Secretary Rick Perry claimed that Russian gas supplies are unreliable, while he boasted of the advantages of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments. He reportedly said that Washington's supplies bring "freedom" to Europe, while further fueling the Trump administration's mantra about Russian attempts to use gas exports to manipulate European foreign policy.
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Snakes in Suits

UK Foreign Sec supports increased press freedom for all, but not RT

Simon Rite
RT
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:04 UTC
Jeremy Hunt
© REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Jeremy Hunt
Britain's Foreign Secretary says he wants improved global media freedom while at the same time suggesting that RT has a bit more freedom than he'd like.

Jeremy Hunt was marking World Press Freedom Day whilst on a trip to Ethiopia, which may seem like an unlikely setting to work in a dig about a Russian news organisation, but he did it anyway.

He said: "We shouldn't forget the international context Channels like RT - better known as Russia Today - want their viewers to believe that truth is relative and the facts will always fit the Kremlin's official narrative. Even when that narrative keeps changing.

After the Russian state carried out a chemical attack in the British city of Salisbury last year, the Kremlin came up with over 40 separate narratives to explain that incident. Their weapons of disinformation tried to broadcast those narratives to the world."
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Chess

Spain vows its embassy in Venezuela won't become 'center of political activity' for Guaido's 'mentor' Leopoldo Lopez


RT
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:01 UTC
Leopoldo Lopez
© Reuters / Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez talks to the media at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas
Madrid won't hand opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez to the Venezuelan authorities, but he'll be prevented from continuing his struggle from within the walls of the Spanish embassy in Caracas, Spanish FM Josep Borrell promised.

"Spain will not permit its embassy to be converted into a center of political activity by Mr Lopez, or anyone else," Borrell said on the sidelines of a summit in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The 48-year-old Lopez, his wife Lilian Tintori, and their daughter have been staying in the Spanish embassy since Wednesday after a failed military coup in the country.

It's unclear how Madrid is going to keep its promise as media reports suggest that Lopez, who has strong links to the US, masterminded the current political crisis in the country despite being under house arrest. He was restricted in July 2017 for inciting violence during the 2014 anti-government protests. The closest ally and mentor of opposition leader and self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido, Lopez will surely enjoy a lot more freedom within the Spanish embassy.
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Chess

Jordan's King sacks intel chief, senior officials amid plot suspicions


Sputnik
Fri, 03 May 2019 16:54 UTC
king abdullah
© AFP 2019 / KHALIL MAZRAAWI
Jordanian King Abdullah II fired several senior officials, including the general intelligence chief over the past week following reports of a plot to destabilise the kingdom.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, citing anonymous sources, reported that several senior and influential Jordanian figures had conspired to hold a mass protest outside the royal palace in Amman to demonstrate a lack of public confidence in Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz and thereby create instability in the kingdom.

The Jordanian King replaced the director of the General Intelligence Department, General Adnan al-Jundi, who held one of the most influential positions in the country. The palace issued a statement stating that the king had decided to retire Jundi, replacing him with General Ahmed Husni, who has served in several senior intelligence posts.
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