| Palestinians denounce Trump tweets against hometown hero Posted: 15 Jul 2019 07:45 AM PDT ![Palestinians denounce Trump tweets against hometown hero]( "Palestinians denounce Trump tweets against hometown hero") Palestinians on Monday denounced President Donald Trump's attack on U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, accusing him of racism and saying it once again proves his bias against the Palestinian people. Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and daughter of Palestinian immigrants, was one of four congresswomen of color who were targeted in a Trump Twitter barrage over the weekend.
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| The Latest: Dutch FM says US requests aid in Hormuz Strait Posted: 15 Jul 2019 06:32 AM PDT  The Netherlands is studying a U.S. request to provide military backing in the Strait of Hormuz to protect commercial shipping in the key passage. Dutch Foreign Affairs minister Stef Blok said Monday that the government would work through mid-September assessing the request before making a decision. "We will use the summer to see what answer we will come up with," Blok said.
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| UK's Hammond pledges to fight a no-deal Brexit from outside government Posted: 15 Jul 2019 06:07 AM PDT ![UK's Hammond pledges to fight a no-deal Brexit from outside government]( "UK's Hammond pledges to fight a no-deal Brexit from outside government") British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Monday he would not stay in his job when the country's next prime minister takes over next week, and he would do everything he could to stop a no-deal Brexit. Hammond told CNBC television he did not want to make life difficult for either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, the two contenders to replace Theresa May as prime minister on July 24. "If the new government tries to drive the UK over a cliff edge called no-deal Brexit, I will do everything I can to stop that happening," he said.
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| The Latest: US, EU promise support to tackle Ebola Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:53 AM PDT |
| Workers recover hundreds of bodies from Syrian mass grave Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:44 AM PDT ![Workers recover hundreds of bodies from Syrian mass grave]( "Workers recover hundreds of bodies from Syrian mass grave") A local official in Syria's Raqqa says workers have so far unearthed 313 bodies from a mass grave discovered last month near the northern city. The mass grave was discovered in mid-June on the southern edges of Raqqa. The city was the de facto capital of the Islamic State group's so-called Islamic caliphate, which spanned territories in Syria and Iraq.
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| Susan Rice Calls Chinese Diplomat a ‘Racist Disgrace’ on Twitter Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:19 AM PDT ![Susan Rice Calls Chinese Diplomat a 'Racist Disgrace' on Twitter]( "Susan Rice Calls Chinese Diplomat a 'Racist Disgrace' on Twitter") (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice sparred with a senior Chinese diplomat on Twitter in an unusual and heated dispute over race in Washington.In a series of Tweets apparently aimed at making a broader point about diplomatic divisions over the mass detention of Muslims in China's Xinjiang province, Lijian Zhao, a diplomat posted in Islamabad, said on Sunday that if "you're in Washington, D.C., you know the white never go" to the southeastern part of the U.S. capital."You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too," Rice told Zhao on Twitter. Likely assuming that Zhao was posted in China's mission in Washington, she then addressed her next comment to China's ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai. "Ambassador Cui, I expect better of you and your team. Please do the right thing and send him home."Zhao, who is deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Pakistan's capital, is often vocal on Twitter against critics of China's infrastructure-building projects in Pakistan and other parts of Asia. Beijing has invested tens of billions of dollars in Pakistan, whose leader Imran Khan has previously dodged questions about the issue.'Shockingly Ignorant'"You are such a disgrace, too. And shockingly ignorant, too. I am based in Islamabad. Truth hurts. I am simply telling the truth," Zhao fired back at Rice on Monday. "To label someone who speak the truth that you don't want to hear a racist, is disgraceful & disgusting."Read More: How China Is Defending Its Detention of Muslims to the WorldZhao didn't immediately respond to phone calls, an email and a direct message on Twitter seeking comment.In a string of messages that appeared aimed at highlighting U.S. hypocrisy on human rights, Zhao referred to everything from income inequality and school shootings in the U.S. to immigration officers separating children from parents.He tweeted a list of mostly-Western nations that condemned China for its actions in Xinjiang as well as a separate list of other countries -- including Pakistan, Cuba, Tajikistan and Nigeria -- that wrote a joint letter to the United Nations supporting Beijing, which Zhao called "a big slap on the face of U.S. & its western cohorts."Outspoken DiplomatsChina's diplomats have become increasingly vocal and outspoken. This month, China's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, gave a rare televised statement accusing the British government of meddling in Hong Kong, the scene of mass protests against Beijing's rule.Earlier this year, China's envoy to Canada publicly accused his hosts of "white supremacy," while the country's chief envoy in South Africa said President Donald Trump's policies were making the U.S. "the enemy of the whole world."Asked about the Twitter dispute on Monday, China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang didn't comment directly."I don't know the specific situation," he said. However, he added, "we resolutely oppose the interference of the U.S. and individual Western countries in interfering in China's internal affairs with the Xinjiang issue."To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in New Delhi at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Chris Kay, Gregory TurkFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Populist Voters Don’t Mind Putin’s Help Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:19 AM PDT ![Populist Voters Don't Mind Putin's Help]( "Populist Voters Don't Mind Putin's Help") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the nationalist-populist League party, is having a hard time waving off accusations that one of his close aides plotted to get Kremlin funding for the political force. It should be clear by now that such aid is readily available to European populist parties. If voters don't see it as a deterrent – and so far they don't – then it's only going to become more brazen. The first report of a Moscow meeting between Gianluca Savoini, Salvini's former spokesman, and some Russians with high-level government contacts appeared in the Italian magazine L'Espresso in February. At the meeting, an oil deal was supposedly discussed: The Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft would sell some Russian diesel fuel to an Italian intermediary at a discount; the intermediary would then sell it on to Italy's Eni SpA and use the profit to fund the League.Last week, Buzzfeed published what it said was the transcript of a secret recording of that meeting. It contains some titillating details about how the proposed deal would be structured to hide the Russian involvement, the amount of fuel to be sold (250,000 tons a month for a year), the size of the discount (4%) – and a Russian demand for a kickback. Buzzfeed calculated the Italians stood to receive about $65 million so the League could "sustain a campaign."As in February, there's still no evidence that the deal actually took place, that the League received any Russian money or that Salvini even knew about the negotiations. An Italian lawyer, Gianluca Meranda, has since come forward claiming that he'd been present at the meeting and that the transaction hadn't been completed. And Salvini has said that he's "never taken a ruble, a euro, a dollar or a liter of vodka in financing from Russia."As Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, pointed out in a recent Twitter thread, it's natural for Putin to offer enticements to potential allies, and he doesn't much care about European laws (or Russian ones, for that matter). "What should be much more surprising and troubling," Greene wrote, "is the increasing number of players in our own political establishments who are willing to sell out -- politicians and voters who no longer think our own rules matter. That's the threat."As I've written before, European populists are perfectly aware of the toxicity of accepting Russian money in any form. In some countries, Italy among them, political slush funds are not unheard of – but Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has drawn so much attention, including from intelligence services, that accepting the Kremlin's financial aid increases the probability of getting caught. That explains Salvini's obvious caution – and that of Brexit campaign funder Arron Banks, who apparently turned down offers of lucrative Russian deals. And yet the aftermath of the sting operation that brought down the Austrian government just before the European Parliament election in May suggests voters may increasingly be willing to shrug off such Russian involvement. Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, then leader of the Freedom Party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, was recorded holding talks with a woman he thought was a Russian billionaire's niece. He discussed a plan to buy Austria's biggest tabloid newspaper to ensure favorable coverage for his party and told her she could make an illegal donation to the party through a special foundation. Then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz forced Strache to resign and dissolved the coalition. But the Freedom Party's support didn't collapse. In the European Parliament election, it won 17.2% of the vote, less than the 20.5% it garnered in the 2017 national election but still a surprisingly high percentage under the circumstances.Strache himself received the second highest number of votes among Freedom Party candidates and won one of the party's three European Parliament seats. He refused to take it, saying he didn't want to move to Brussels. Indeed, he only paid a political price because his coalition partner, Kurz, used the scandal to shake off an uncomfortable alliance with the far right. The Freedom Party is polling close to 19% in the run-up to the national election in October.The League's polling numbers are on the rise despite the Russia scandal. It's conceivable that populist voters simply don't care about the Kremlin scare, either because they're generally sympathetic toward Russian President Vladimir Putin (who cleverly echoes hard right rhetoric as he seeks allies in Europe) or because they write off media reports of Russia scandals as fake news. The more Russia scandals hatch and pass without consequences, the more the latter perception will be reinforced: one can't cry wolf too many times. Voters also know these parties have a harder time gaining funding and may simply be willing to ignore such freelancing if it helps their larger anti-establishment cause. It has long been clear that legal forms of aid, such as French nationalist Marine Le Pen's Russian bank loans, are fine with such politicians' supporters. The Brexit Party's voters have also brushed off concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 referendum. Ultimately, if voters keep showing they don't mind politicians' Kremlin links, all the politicians need to do is set up legal structures to receive Putin's aid with a minimum of risk. That may not be straightforward, but it's more a technical task rather than a political one.So far, the European establishment has failed to impress on a significant number of voters the idea that Putin is a threat. That's part of its general vulnerability. Whether or not the Kremlin may becomes an agenda-setting player in European politics, the record so far suggests it will continue to look for open doors and increasingly find them. To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Populist Voters Don’t Mind Putin’s Help Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:19 AM PDT ![Populist Voters Don't Mind Putin's Help]( "Populist Voters Don't Mind Putin's Help") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the nationalist-populist League party, is having a hard time waving off accusations that one of his close aides plotted to get Kremlin funding for the political force. It should be clear by now that such aid is readily available to European populist parties. If voters don't see it as a deterrent – and so far they don't – then it's only going to become more brazen. The first report of a Moscow meeting between Gianluca Savoini, Salvini's former spokesman, and some Russians with high-level government contacts appeared in the Italian magazine L'Espresso in February. At the meeting, an oil deal was supposedly discussed: The Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft would sell some Russian diesel fuel to an Italian intermediary at a discount; the intermediary would then sell it on to Italy's Eni SpA and use the profit to fund the League.Last week, Buzzfeed published what it said was the transcript of a secret recording of that meeting. It contains some titillating details about how the proposed deal would be structured to hide the Russian involvement, the amount of fuel to be sold (250,000 tons a month for a year), the size of the discount (4%) – and a Russian demand for a kickback. Buzzfeed calculated the Italians stood to receive about $65 million so the League could "sustain a campaign."As in February, there's still no evidence that the deal actually took place, that the League received any Russian money or that Salvini even knew about the negotiations. An Italian lawyer, Gianluca Meranda, has since come forward claiming that he'd been present at the meeting and that the transaction hadn't been completed. And Salvini has said that he's "never taken a ruble, a euro, a dollar or a liter of vodka in financing from Russia."As Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, pointed out in a recent Twitter thread, it's natural for Putin to offer enticements to potential allies, and he doesn't much care about European laws (or Russian ones, for that matter). "What should be much more surprising and troubling," Greene wrote, "is the increasing number of players in our own political establishments who are willing to sell out -- politicians and voters who no longer think our own rules matter. That's the threat."As I've written before, European populists are perfectly aware of the toxicity of accepting Russian money in any form. In some countries, Italy among them, political slush funds are not unheard of – but Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has drawn so much attention, including from intelligence services, that accepting the Kremlin's financial aid increases the probability of getting caught. That explains Salvini's obvious caution – and that of Brexit campaign funder Arron Banks, who apparently turned down offers of lucrative Russian deals. And yet the aftermath of the sting operation that brought down the Austrian government just before the European Parliament election in May suggests voters may increasingly be willing to shrug off such Russian involvement. Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, then leader of the Freedom Party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, was recorded holding talks with a woman he thought was a Russian billionaire's niece. He discussed a plan to buy Austria's biggest tabloid newspaper to ensure favorable coverage for his party and told her she could make an illegal donation to the party through a special foundation. Then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz forced Strache to resign and dissolved the coalition. But the Freedom Party's support didn't collapse. In the European Parliament election, it won 17.2% of the vote, less than the 20.5% it garnered in the 2017 national election but still a surprisingly high percentage under the circumstances.Strache himself received the second highest number of votes among Freedom Party candidates and won one of the party's three European Parliament seats. He refused to take it, saying he didn't want to move to Brussels. Indeed, he only paid a political price because his coalition partner, Kurz, used the scandal to shake off an uncomfortable alliance with the far right. The Freedom Party is polling close to 19% in the run-up to the national election in October.The League's polling numbers are on the rise despite the Russia scandal. It's conceivable that populist voters simply don't care about the Kremlin scare, either because they're generally sympathetic toward Russian President Vladimir Putin (who cleverly echoes hard right rhetoric as he seeks allies in Europe) or because they write off media reports of Russia scandals as fake news. The more Russia scandals hatch and pass without consequences, the more the latter perception will be reinforced: one can't cry wolf too many times. Voters also know these parties have a harder time gaining funding and may simply be willing to ignore such freelancing if it helps their larger anti-establishment cause. It has long been clear that legal forms of aid, such as French nationalist Marine Le Pen's Russian bank loans, are fine with such politicians' supporters. The Brexit Party's voters have also brushed off concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 referendum. Ultimately, if voters keep showing they don't mind politicians' Kremlin links, all the politicians need to do is set up legal structures to receive Putin's aid with a minimum of risk. That may not be straightforward, but it's more a technical task rather than a political one.So far, the European establishment has failed to impress on a significant number of voters the idea that Putin is a threat. That's part of its general vulnerability. Whether or not the Kremlin may becomes an agenda-setting player in European politics, the record so far suggests it will continue to look for open doors and increasingly find them. To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Some Iranian women take off hijabs as hard-liners push back Posted: 15 Jul 2019 04:53 AM PDT  The simple act of walking has become a display of defiance for a young Iranian woman who often moves in Tehran's streets without a compulsory headscarf, or hijab. With every step, she risks harassment or even arrest by Iran's morality police whose job is to enforce the strict dress code imposed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The hijab debate has further polarized Iranians at a time when the country is buckling under unprecedented U.S. sanctions imposed since the Trump administration pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers last year.
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| U.K. Leader Says Trump’s Tweets on Democrats Are ‘Completely Unacceptable’ Posted: 15 Jul 2019 04:44 AM PDT ![U.K. Leader Says Trump's Tweets on Democrats Are 'Completely Unacceptable']( "U.K. Leader Says Trump's Tweets on Democrats Are 'Completely Unacceptable'") (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Donald Trump used "completely unacceptable" language to describe four female Democratic lawmakers, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman told reporters on London in Monday, potentially exacerbating the recent tensions with Washington.Trump posted a series of tweets on Sunday suggesting that four U.S. lawmakers, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, should return to the "broken and crime infested places from which they came."May thinks "the language used to refer to these women was completely unacceptable," her spokesman, James Slack, told reporters on Monday.May's office publicized her criticism of Trump as she entered her final few days as the U.K.'s prime minister. She's had a fraught relationship with the U.S. president, who last week criticized her handling of Brexit.The transatlantic alliance is already under strain after a controversy over leaked comments from Britain's ambassador to the U.S., Kim Darroch, in which he criticized the Trump administration. The president froze Darroch out of meetings in Washington, and the envoy resigned last week.May's comments are likely to put pressure on the two rivals to succeed her, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson, to join her in denouncing the president's language when they take part in a live debate on Tuesday evening. Johnson has been widely criticized over his perceived failure to stand by Darroch, though the front-runner in the Tory leadership contest denied he was unsupportive and said the incident had become politicized.(Updates with Tory leadership debate in final paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UPDATE 1-Trump sees slowing Chinese growth pressuring Beijing on trade Posted: 15 Jul 2019 04:31 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Trump sees slowing Chinese growth pressuring Beijing on trade]( "UPDATE 1-Trump sees slowing Chinese growth pressuring Beijing on trade") U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday pointed to slowing economic growth in China amid restarted trade talks, saying U.S. tariffs were having "a major effect" and warning that "possibly much more" were to come. "This is why China wants to make a deal with the U.S., and wishes it had not broken the original deal in the first place," Trump tweeted. Trump and his administration are seeking to push China to make a trade pact after talks broke down in May. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restart negotiations at their meeting at the G20 last month.
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| EU holds crisis talks on Iran nuclear deal Posted: 15 Jul 2019 04:28 AM PDT  European foreign ministers met Monday for crisis talks on the Iran nuclear deal, as Britain warned the "small window" to save the accord was closing, with Tehran breaching the agreement. Tensions in the Gulf have soared since the United States last year pulled out of the 2015 deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran, hammering its economy and prompting Tehran to break limits on uranium enrichment and stockpiling. The European Union is desperately trying to prevent the deal unravelling completely, seeing it as the best way to stop Tehran acquiring atomic weapons, and the issue was top of the agenda as ministers from the bloc met in Brussels.
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| Trump sees slowing Chinese growth pressuring Beijing on trade Posted: 15 Jul 2019 04:18 AM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday pointed to slowing economic growth in China amid restarted trade talks, saying U.S. tariffs were having "a major effect" and warning that "possibly much more" were to come. "This is why China wants to make a deal with the U.S., and wishes it had not broken the original deal in the first place," Trump tweeted. Trump and his administration are seeking to push China to make a trade pact after talks broke down in May. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restart negotiations at their meeting at the G20 last month.
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| Award-Winning Reporter to Counter-Sue Man Who Bankrolled Brexit for ‘Harassment’ Posted: 15 Jul 2019 03:51 AM PDT  Caitlin Ochs/REUTERSLONDON—The award-winning journalist whose investigations led to the collapse of Donald Trump's campaign-data gurus Cambridge Analytica and a record $5 billion fine for Facebook has launched a lawsuit for harassment against the man who bankrolled Brexit.Carole Cadwalladr, a freelance investigative reporter, served the papers Monday against Arron Banks, the largest Brexit campaign donor. Lawyers acting on her behalf say a campaign of harassment, trolling, and threats of violence culminated Friday with a libel suit filed at the High Court against Cadwalladr for remarks she made during a TED talk, at a convention in London, and in a tweet."This is such an abuse of the law by Arron Banks. He's not suing TED. He's not suing The Observer or The Guardian. He's a bully who's targeting me as an individual to harass and intimidate me and prevent me from doing journalism, a course of behavior that has been going on for more than two years," Cadwalladr told The Daily Beast.How a Journalist Kept Russia's Secret Links to Brexit Under WrapsCadwalladr's exposés of Cambridge Analytica and its alleged links to Banks and his Leave.EU campaign have appeared in The Observer and The Guardian newspapers. Multiple media outlets have also reported on Banks' relationship with Russian officials, including the Kremlin's ambassador in London. Banks and his team have not sued over those stories.Britain's National Crime Agency is investigating Banks for his involvement in the Brexit campaign, after the Electoral Commission said there were reasonable grounds to suspect Banks was "not the true source" of $10 million donated to Leave.EU. Banks' lawyers advised Cadwalladr two weeks ago that they were planning to take legal action over the TED talk, which has been viewed more than two million times. In it, she said: "I'm not even going to go into the lies Arron Banks has told about his covert relationship with Russia."At an event called The Convention: Never Again held in June last year, she said: "We know that the Russian government offered money to Arron Banks."In both cases, Cadwalladr says she will use the defense that her statements were true. It has been reported that Banks was offered Russian mining contracts and Banks and his spokesman Andy Wigmore have repeatedly changed their stories on how many times they met with Russian officials in London."I think people can see exactly what's going on here. It's an attack on journalism by a man whose millions are now the subject of a criminal investigation. I can see why he's touchy about me talking about his relationship with the Russian government, though. I would be too if I'd gone to the lengths he has to conceal it," Cadwalladr said."What I really hope now is that members of Parliament will start asking hard and serious questions about why he twice visited the Russian embassy in the week he launched the Leave.EU campaign and why the Russian government might have wanted him to take one of the exciting gold and diamond deals it took great trouble to introduce him to."Cadwalladr's solicitors wrote to Bank's legal team on Monday saying they would pursue a counterclaim if the libel action against her continues. "Litigation can form part of a course of conduct amounting to harassment," her solicitor Ravi Naik wrote. "Should your client continue with these unmeritous proceedings, our client will counter claim against your client for harassment."Brexit campaigners have mocked Cadwalladr as a "crazy cat lady" and nicknamed her "codswallop" after she persisted in pursuing the stories in print and via social media. Last week, Britain's likely next prime minister, Boris Johnson, said a Cadwalladr story linking him with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was "codswallop."Wigmore told The Daily Beast that Cadwalladr was simply the first journalist to be targeted."It's a very simple case—she has made statements in which she categorically said as fact Arron was offered money by the Russians and as fact Arron had received money from the Russians—she has to produce to a court evidence to support those comments. If she can, then she wins—if she can't, she loses. There is no evidence because it didn't happen—it's that simple," he wrote in an email."We have a series of other cases that will be placed in court over [the] next few days—including every single person/s organisation that's have repeated those allegations as fact—remarkably quite a few, not ever using words to protect themselves—again they will all be asked to produce evidence to support reporting the allegations as fact. If they can then they win, if they can't they lose and pay compensation etc.""FYI all winnings will be made as a donation to the Brexit party so some of these high-profile anti-Brexit supporters could conceivably become the most significant donors to the Brexit cause—oh the irony lol ��"Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Italy Can’t Stop Talking About Salvini’s Russia Tape Scandal Posted: 15 Jul 2019 08:11 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Matteo Salvini, the euroskeptic strongman of Italian politics, can't seem to shut down a scandal over alleged illegal financing from Russia.The deputy prime minister has been trying to distance himself from a close ally, Gianluca Savoini, who was recorded apparently soliciting illegal party funding from three Russians, according to a report by Buzzfeed News. The story has dominated Italian media coverage since it broke last week, with Salvini attempting -- and so far failing -- to distance himself from the fixer.Savoini, a one-time Salvini spokesman, attended a July 4 dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Rome, and the deputy premier has said he doesn't know how his associate came to be there. On Sunday, however, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte undermined that account, saying in a statement that Savoini had in fact been invited by Salvini's office.Milan prosecutors questioned Savoini on Monday, according to a person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified discussing privileged information. The prosecutors' office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Savoini could not be immediately reached. With western leaders struggling to come to grips with the scope of Russian attempts to undermine their democracies, the Buzzfeed report suggests that the most powerful home-grown opponent of the European Union may have been colluding with the Kremlin.Salvini has broken rank with France and Germany by repeatedly calling on the EU to lift sanctions against Russia. Italian media also reported that League lawmakers tried to ease limits on foreign funding of political groups.Undermining DemocracyIn addition to meddling in the U.S. presidential election of 2016, Russia has sought to attack the democratic process in at least 15 EU states, including Germany, France and Spain, according to a Senate minority report last year which labeled Putin a "malign influence."Savoini, who is president of the Lombardy Russia association, met with three unidentified Russians in Moscow last October and discussed ways to finance Salvini's League party, Buzzfeed reported on July 10, citing a recording of the conversation. Milan prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into possible Russian funds paid to the League.Salvini, who also serves as interior minister, has denied his party received any Russian financing. In a statement last week, the deputy premier said he has "never taken a ruble, a euro, a dollar or a liter of vodka in financing from Russia."Salvini sought to ignore the attacks over the Moscow meeting, focusing instead on the fight against crime -- a key policy platform alongside curbing immigration and introducing a so-called flat tax. He's also convened unions to discuss economic policy.Salvini's RiseAfter more than 20 years working in obscurity for the League, Salvini has surged to prominence since joining a populist coalition in Rome as junior partner last year. His mastery of social media and ordinary-Joe persona have struck a chord with Italians. Since his victory in May's European elections, he's been looking to tighten his grip on the government.Conte on Sunday night said he still has confidence in Salvini, according to Ansa news agency, but that there has to be transparency in government.Still StrongThe revelations may not put a dent in Salvini's domestic popularity -- Italians after all stuck by Putin's friend Silvio Berlusconi through multiple scandals. The party's poll numbers have continued to rise even after the revelations, Salvini said on Monday, calling the probe "surreal."Many of Salvini's allies have been pushing for him to break with Five Star and seek early elections. Support for the League climbed to 38% in a poll this month, within shooting distance of the 40% threshold that could give the League a majority in the parliament.Yet the ongoing questions over the Moscow meeting have put Salvini, the dominant force in the ruling coalition, on the defensive.Salvini's coalition ally and sometime political rival, fellow-Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio of Five Star, called for the creation of a parliamentary commission to probe funding of political parties.The opposition center-left Democratic Party also kept up the pressure, with former Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni calling for Salvini to resign."Someone who tells lies to cover fraud can't be the interior minister of a major democratic country," Gentiloni, a leader of the opposition Democratic Party, wrote in a Twitter post.(Updates with questioning in fourth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Marco Bertacche and Sergio Di Pasquale.To contact the reporters on this story: Tommaso Ebhardt in Milan at tebhardt@bloomberg.net;John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, ;Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Jerrold ColtenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| History Made: The Untold Story of the First Jet-On-Jet Shootdown by a U.S. Navy F9F Panther Posted: 15 Jul 2019 03:36 AM PDT  After the combat, Russians believed they have downed at least five or six American aircraft, but because of the disorganized flying of the 139th GvIAP, none of the US aircraft was lost during the action.The Korean war, that raged for three years from Jun. 25, 1950 to Jul. 27, 1953, saw the first widespread use of jet engine-powered fighter aircraft for both sides of a conflict.These machines brought the air combat to a new, more faster and more lethal level. In fact the jet engines offered a significant increase in performance over the last piston engines, such as higher top speed, twice the cruise speed, greater ceiling and sustained climb rate. During the Korean War the fighter jets were deployed not only by the U.S. and their allies, but also by the North Korea and China and eventually some of these jets were flown by Russian pilots.
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| Turkey marks 3rd anniversary of failed coup Posted: 15 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT ![Turkey marks 3rd anniversary of failed coup]( "Turkey marks 3rd anniversary of failed coup") Turkey is marking the third anniversary of the July 15 failed coup attempt against the government with prayers and other events remembering its victims. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday attended a prayer recitation at a mosque on the grounds of the presidential complex, kicking off a series of events to commemorate the crushing of the coup. On July 15, 2016, factions within the military used tanks, warplanes and helicopters to try to overthrow Erdogan's government.
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| Yemen's warring sides meet over flashpoint port city Posted: 15 Jul 2019 03:03 AM PDT ![Yemen's warring sides meet over flashpoint port city]( "Yemen's warring sides meet over flashpoint port city") Yemen's warring sides have met for the first time in five months to discuss redeployment of forces from the flashpoint port city of Hodeida. Wadah Dabish, a spokesman for the forces loyal to the internationally recognized government, says the meeting took place late on Sunday abroad a U.N. vessel. Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, head of the U.N. mission in Hodeida, led the meeting.
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| China Down But Far From Out Under U.S. Assault Posted: 15 Jul 2019 03:03 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.The last time China's economy grew this slowly, a youthful Bill Clinton was campaigning for the presidency on the mantra, "it's the economy, stupid!"It's a sentiment not lost on today's Chinese leadership, which can take solace from data beyond the headline statistics suggesting their efforts to keep the world's second-biggest economy on course may be gaining traction. Those signs of robustness will embolden China's negotiators as they face down trade hawks in Washington.While China's 6.2.% growth from April to June was the slowest since quarterly data began in 1992, factory output, retail sales and investment all looked more rosy. That's a fillip for Chinese efforts to prioritize stimulus.China's resilience in the face of President Donald Trump's determination to take on Beijing over trade, as well as its technological base, will also be of some relief to open economies around the world that have built up a reliance on Chinese markets.Still, economists warned the Chinese figures could be as good as it gets. And they do nothing to dispel a growing willingness among political leaders to abandon a multilateral approach and stoke tensions on trade and other issues.Taken together, the Chinese data amount to a fragile lifejacket in a raging global storm.Global HeadlinesGo home | Trump critics called him racist after he tweeted yesterday that four non-white female Democratic lawmakers should return to the "broken and crime-infested places from which they came," even though three of them were born in the U.S. His comments on the day his administration started carrying out raids in major cities to remove illegal migrants signaled he's sharpening his anti-immigrant message ahead of the 2020 race for the White House.Read why Democrats disagree over how to defeat Trump on immigrationClick here on NBC-WSJ Poll Matchups showing Trump's Democratic rivalsArms trade | India and Russia have agreed to settle defense contracts in rupees and rubles instead of dollars to avoid U.S. sanction risks and banking restrictions. The new mechanism would potentially release billions of dollars in contract payments to Russia, N.C. Bipindra and Evgenia Pismennaya report. Even so, it may still be dependent on India winning a waiver from Trump to avoid U.S. penalties that threaten Russian weapons buyers.Italy's Russia tape | A scandal over possible illegal financing from Russia just keeps bothering Matteo Salvini, the EU-skeptic dominant force in Italy's populist government. Salvini and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte are at odds over who invited Gianluca Savoini, a close ally of the League party leader, to a July 4 dinner in Rome with Vladimir Putin. Savoini sought illegal party funding last year from three Russians, according to a report by Buzzfeed news, a charge he denies.Trump's word | The U.S. may announce a package of sanctions against Turkey for its purchase of a Russian missile-defense system as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The Turkish side is betting that Trump will be lenient, disregarding those in Congress and other parts of the U.S. government calling for harsher measures.French connection | France's admission that it owned U.S.-made missiles found at a Libyan base seized from warlord Khalifa Haftar's forces indicates it had operatives on the ground supporting his offensive on Tripoli, the interior minister of Libya's internationally-recognized government said in an interview. He disputed France's claim the missiles were inoperable and said his government has asked experts from the UN and U.S. to examine the weapons to confirm they're in working order.What to WatchUrsula von der Leyen, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has one more day to chase support among left-leaning factions in the European Parliament before facing a confirmation vote that she must survive to clinch the European Union's top policy-making job. French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Serbia today to allay concerns about the future of EU enlargement after he said the bloc can't expand until it overhauls how it makes decisions. Former South African President Jacob Zuma is appearing before a judicial panel for the first time today to answer accusations that he consented to and benefited from widespread looting during his nine-year rule.And finally ... The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said "the English are not a very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity." On Sunday, the English men's side won the World Cup in a nail-biting match that rekindled a sense of pride in a Brexit-battered nation. It didn't take long for the moment to be ruined by arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg writing on social media that "we clearly don't need Europe to win." The irony, of course, is that the captain, whose mother is English, was born in, well, Ireland. \--With assistance from Benjamin Harvey, Anthony Halpin, Flavia Krause-Jackson and Caroline Alexander.To contact the author of this story: Enda Curran in Hong Kong at ecurran8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Jeremy Corbyn Faces a Crisis of His Own Making Posted: 15 Jul 2019 02:36 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Britain's Conservative Party tears itself apart over Brexit, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn might be expected to be enjoying a big lead in the opinion polls.Instead, the opposition is embroiled in a crisis every bit as deep as that facing the embattled government. At the European election, the Labour party put in its worst national performance in almost a century. A recent poll by YouGov put the party in fourth place, trailing not only the Conservatives but the Brexit Party and Liberal Democrats, too.Corbyn, a lifelong euroskeptic socialist, has been reluctant to oppose Brexit, leaving the party unable to capitalize on the unpopularity of leaving the European Union. At the same time, his party has been dogged by allegations of anti-Semitism – a scandal that has prompted lawmakers and supporters to resign in disgust.Given the continued impasse in parliament over Brexit, an early general election is no longer a remote possibility. Many Labour supporters are wondering if Corbyn is best-placed to lead his party into a vote – especially if his opponent is Boris Johnson instead of the more wooden Theresa May. He may, though, be almost impossible to dislodge.Labour has struggled to find a policy on Brexit that doesn't alienate at least part of its base: Most of the party's MPs represent leave-voting constituencies, yet the majority of Labour voters wanted to remain in the EU.The policy of "constructive ambiguity," in which Labour both promised to deliver on the Brexit referendum and leave all options open, had been an attempt to bridge this divide. But the grim opinion polls have finally forced Corbyn to take a position. Many disaffected Labor voters are lending their support, at least temporarily, to the remain-supporting Liberal Democrats.Pushed by the five largest Labour-affiliated unions last week, Corbyn has pledged to hold a second referendum on any Brexit put forward by a Tory government. In that scenario, Corbyn's party would campaign to remain in the EU. But if Labour were to get elected, the leader won't say what the party would do. This about-face feels too little, too late.Corbyn's problems run deeper than just Brexit; they go to questions of trust and competence. Back in May, Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission began an investigation into anti-Semitism in the Labour party. Last week, the BBC's Panorama program broadcast an hour-long investigation into the issue. The party claimed it was a hatchet job, but viewers will draw their own conclusions from the chilling testimonies of party insiders who claimed that anti-Semitism isn't only rife, but institutionalized. Following the program, a group of leading Jewish intellectuals published a letter saying the party faces "a taint of international, historic shame." It's hard for Labour to be credible on any other issue if it can't move beyond this one.It's not hard to see why this issue has dogged Corbyn since he became leader. He has, at times in his political career, seemed more interested in Palestinian causes than British voters; his presence at a wreath-laying ceremony in Tunisia in 2014 (in which individuals believed to have been behind the 1972 Munich Olympic killings were also honored) offended and infuriated many.The persistence of the anti-Semitism charges suggest either he has very limited real control over his party or he has cared too little. Removing him, however, would be difficult.Corbyn faced down a leadership challenge after the Brexit referendum, where at least part of the blame for the result was laid at the feet of a leader who had barely bothered to campaign for his party's Remain position. He brushed aside resignations from his shadow cabinet and a non-binding no-confidence vote that saw 172 Labour MPs vote against him to only 40 in favor.While Corbyn has come under increasing criticism from within the parliamentary party (including from Deputy Leader Tom Watson), anyone seeking to challenge him needs the support of 20% of Labour MPs to be nominated. Even if a challenger cleared that hurdle, beating Corbyn in a vote of party members would be an even bigger ask.Corbyn has remade the party in his image after becoming leader, building up the membership with loyalists from the Momentum group, a powerful left-wing grassroots movement that is increasingly independent and aggressive. On Friday, the group announced a nationwide campaign to oust Labour MPs that don't meet with its approval and replace them with local activists.That is the heart of the Labour crisis: Its moderate parliamentary party is at odds with its hard-left base of members and socialist affiliates. These latter groups hold the leader's fate in their hand, but aren't representative of the wider voting public. The party has always been a broad church, but that unity presupposes a leader who can appeal across the various divides in a way Corbyn hasn't.Corbyn's politics of grievance may have worked well against May – at the 2017 election, Labour saw its largest increase in vote share since 1945. They might have worked well against May again; but against Johnson's message of exuberant optimism, they risk looking dour and defeatist.For all Corbyn's shortcomings, the party looks to be stuck with him. Just as the Brexit party has benefited from the turmoil in the Conservative party, so the Liberal Democrats are likely to benefit from Labour's crisis of leadership.To contact the author of this story: Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Therese Raphael writes editorials on European politics and economics for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Jeremy Corbyn Faces a Crisis of His Own Making Posted: 15 Jul 2019 02:36 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Britain's Conservative Party tears itself apart over Brexit, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn might be expected to be enjoying a big lead in the opinion polls.Instead, the opposition is embroiled in a crisis every bit as deep as that facing the embattled government. At the European election, the Labour party put in its worst national performance in almost a century. A recent poll by YouGov put the party in fourth place, trailing not only the Conservatives but the Brexit Party and Liberal Democrats, too.Corbyn, a lifelong euroskeptic socialist, has been reluctant to oppose Brexit, leaving the party unable to capitalize on the unpopularity of leaving the European Union. At the same time, his party has been dogged by allegations of anti-Semitism – a scandal that has prompted lawmakers and supporters to resign in disgust.Given the continued impasse in parliament over Brexit, an early general election is no longer a remote possibility. Many Labour supporters are wondering if Corbyn is best-placed to lead his party into a vote – especially if his opponent is Boris Johnson instead of the more wooden Theresa May. He may, though, be almost impossible to dislodge.Labour has struggled to find a policy on Brexit that doesn't alienate at least part of its base: Most of the party's MPs represent leave-voting constituencies, yet the majority of Labour voters wanted to remain in the EU.The policy of "constructive ambiguity," in which Labour both promised to deliver on the Brexit referendum and leave all options open, had been an attempt to bridge this divide. But the grim opinion polls have finally forced Corbyn to take a position. Many disaffected Labor voters are lending their support, at least temporarily, to the remain-supporting Liberal Democrats.Pushed by the five largest Labour-affiliated unions last week, Corbyn has pledged to hold a second referendum on any Brexit put forward by a Tory government. In that scenario, Corbyn's party would campaign to remain in the EU. But if Labour were to get elected, the leader won't say what the party would do. This about-face feels too little, too late.Corbyn's problems run deeper than just Brexit; they go to questions of trust and competence. Back in May, Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission began an investigation into anti-Semitism in the Labour party. Last week, the BBC's Panorama program broadcast an hour-long investigation into the issue. The party claimed it was a hatchet job, but viewers will draw their own conclusions from the chilling testimonies of party insiders who claimed that anti-Semitism isn't only rife, but institutionalized. Following the program, a group of leading Jewish intellectuals published a letter saying the party faces "a taint of international, historic shame." It's hard for Labour to be credible on any other issue if it can't move beyond this one.It's not hard to see why this issue has dogged Corbyn since he became leader. He has, at times in his political career, seemed more interested in Palestinian causes than British voters; his presence at a wreath-laying ceremony in Tunisia in 2014 (in which individuals believed to have been behind the 1972 Munich Olympic killings were also honored) offended and infuriated many.The persistence of the anti-Semitism charges suggest either he has very limited real control over his party or he has cared too little. Removing him, however, would be difficult.Corbyn faced down a leadership challenge after the Brexit referendum, where at least part of the blame for the result was laid at the feet of a leader who had barely bothered to campaign for his party's Remain position. He brushed aside resignations from his shadow cabinet and a non-binding no-confidence vote that saw 172 Labour MPs vote against him to only 40 in favor.While Corbyn has come under increasing criticism from within the parliamentary party (including from Deputy Leader Tom Watson), anyone seeking to challenge him needs the support of 20% of Labour MPs to be nominated. Even if a challenger cleared that hurdle, beating Corbyn in a vote of party members would be an even bigger ask.Corbyn has remade the party in his image after becoming leader, building up the membership with loyalists from the Momentum group, a powerful left-wing grassroots movement that is increasingly independent and aggressive. On Friday, the group announced a nationwide campaign to oust Labour MPs that don't meet with its approval and replace them with local activists.That is the heart of the Labour crisis: Its moderate parliamentary party is at odds with its hard-left base of members and socialist affiliates. These latter groups hold the leader's fate in their hand, but aren't representative of the wider voting public. The party has always been a broad church, but that unity presupposes a leader who can appeal across the various divides in a way Corbyn hasn't.Corbyn's politics of grievance may have worked well against May – at the 2017 election, Labour saw its largest increase in vote share since 1945. They might have worked well against May again; but against Johnson's message of exuberant optimism, they risk looking dour and defeatist.For all Corbyn's shortcomings, the party looks to be stuck with him. Just as the Brexit party has benefited from the turmoil in the Conservative party, so the Liberal Democrats are likely to benefit from Labour's crisis of leadership.To contact the author of this story: Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Therese Raphael writes editorials on European politics and economics for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| WRAPUP 3-Britain sees "small window" to salvage nuclear deal, Iran urges Europe to act Posted: 15 Jul 2019 02:30 AM PDT ![WRAPUP 3-Britain sees "small window" to salvage nuclear deal, Iran urges Europe to act]( "WRAPUP 3-Britain sees \"small window\" to salvage nuclear deal, Iran urges Europe to act") Britain said on Monday there was a "small window" of time to save the Iran nuclear deal, as Tehran signalled it would ramp up its nuclear programme -- seen by the West as a cover for making atomic bombs -- if Europe failed to do more to salvage the pact. U.S.-Iranian tensions have worsened since U.S. President Donald Trump decided last year to abandon the nuclear deal under which Iran agreed to curtail its atomic programme in return for relief from economic sanctions crippling its economy.
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| Russia’s Election Hackers Are Back—and Targeting George Soros Posted: 15 Jul 2019 02:21 AM PDT  Sean Gallup/GettyThe Russian intelligence agency behind 2016's election attacks is training its sights on billionaire financier George Soros, The Daily Beast has learned. The move comes hot on the heels of a surge in U.S.-focused hacking by Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate with similarities to 2016 in targeting and methodology. Laura Silber, chief communications officer for Soros' Open Society Foundations, confirmed the hack attempt, but couldn't provide additional details over the weekend. "We were aware of an attack," Silber told the Daily Beast.Last month Microsoft quietly seized a new batch of 10 deceptive domain names the company says were set up by the hackers known as Fancy Bear, the group intelligence officials and independent analysts have long attributed to Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU. Those web addresses imitate genuine domains used for Microsoft services like Sharepoint, an unmistakable sign that they were intended for use in phishing attacks, in which a victim is tricked into typing their password into a fake login page. Mueller Finally Solves Mysteries About Russia's 'Fancy Bear' HackersOne domain targets a Singapore-based investment firm, and another references the Berlin anti-corruption organization Transparency International, which Russia has targeted before. Others are generic or ambiguous in their targeting. But one seized domain, soros-my-sharepoint[.]com, jumps out as a clear reference to Soros, a past GRU target from Russia's 2016 election interference. An additional four phishing domains registered in the same time frame appear to target Soros' Open Society Foundations, said Kyle Ehmke, an intelligence researcher at the Arlington, Virginia-based cybersecurity firm ThreatConnect. Those domains haven't been seized and ThreatConnect hasn't found enough evidence to definitively link them to the Russian hackers, said Ehmke. The Kremlin's targeting of Soros and his organization carries echoes of 2016, when the GRU dumped 2,500 files stolen from the Open Society Foundations for the debut of "DC Leaks", the fake leak site the spies created for their 2016 election interference campaign. "SOROS INTERNAL FILES – BIG DATA", the site announced at the time.Some of the stolen files were reportedly altered to create the appearance that Soros was secretly financing Russian opposition candidates, making the leak politically useful to Vladmir Putin. More importantly, the Soros dump earned DC Leaks instant credibility in American right-wing circles, where the 88-year-old Hungarian-American philanthropist plays the role of villainous global puppet-master in countless conspiracy theories. Russia's Internet Research Agency—the so-called "troll farm, later indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller—pushed the same trope on its Facebook and Instagram feeds in the run-up to election day. One meme featured a close-up of Soros against a backdrop of anti-Trump picketers. "No lives matter for those who sponsoring [sic] anti Trump protests," the caption read. Another imagined Soros confronting the late Senator John McCain. "Hey Johnny, I'm paying you a fortune. I don't care how much cancer you have, get back to DC and backstab Trump."The Soros targeting comes in the wave of what one expert describes as a fresh wave of Fancy Bear attempts against political nonprofits in the U.S. that ran from last December to March or April of this year, using similar tactics to the mass phishing campaign that famously ensnared Hillary Clinton's campaign chief in 2016. "It's a similar type of activity to what hit Podesta," said Robert Johnston, the former Marine Corp captain who investigated the 2016 DNC breach, and now heads the financial cybersecurity firm Adlumin. "These were against political organizations and NGOs. The FBI has reached out to of bunch of them."Putin's Hackers Now Under Attack—From MicrosoftIn 2016 Microsoft sued Fancy Bear in federal court in Virginia and won, unopposed, an injunction allowing the company to seize any web addresses registered by the GRU's hackers that imitate a Microsoft product or service. The company has seized over 100 domains so far.Experts caution that Russia's hackers have always cast a wide net, and there's no way to tell what their motives are in revisiting old haunts now. It may be pure intelligence gathering, or the opening salvo of a 2020 election interference campaign."We don't know whether they are ultimately looking to compromise targets for influence operations, internal intelligence uses, or both," said Ehmke.Either way, Russia likely views its 2016 efforts as a success, and is certain to try for an encore. "I think you should absolutely anticipate a very vocal Russian interference in the 2020 elections," said Johnston.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| UPDATE 2-Britain's Hunt says "small window" to save Iran nuclear deal Posted: 15 Jul 2019 01:14 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Britain's Hunt says "small window" to save Iran nuclear deal]( "UPDATE 2-Britain's Hunt says \"small window\" to save Iran nuclear deal") British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday that there was still time to save the Iran nuclear deal and that despite the United States being Britain's closest ally it disagreed on how to handle the Iran crisis. "Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear bomb. There is still some closing, but small window to keep the deal alive," Hunt told reporters on arrival for a foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.
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| REFILE-France's Le Drian says Europeans must stay united on Iran issue Posted: 15 Jul 2019 01:03 AM PDT ![REFILE-France's Le Drian says Europeans must stay united on Iran issue]( "REFILE-France's Le Drian says Europeans must stay united on Iran issue") France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday that Europe had to remain united in trying to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, and said Tehran should reverse its decision not to comply with parts of the accord. "The Europeans have to stay united on this issue," Le Drian told reporters at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. Iran's decision to reduce compliance with the deal that the United States abandoned last year was "a bad response to a bad decision," he said.
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| Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea Posted: 15 Jul 2019 12:04 AM PDT  A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at developments in the South China Sea, the location of several territorial conflicts in the region. Justice Antonio Carpio added that Duterte's recent statement that he had a verbal agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping that effectively allows Chinese to fish in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone will "substantially diminish the arbitral award, a self-inflicted blow to our sovereign rights" in the South China Sea.
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| Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day Posted: 14 Jul 2019 10:11 PM PDT ![Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day]( "Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day") (Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on what's moving European markets in your inbox every morning? Sign up here.Good morning. China's growth is slowing but there looks to be a silver lining, campaigning to be the next U.K. prime minister is getting messy and the year's biggest IPO isn't happening. Here's what's moving markets.Slowing ChinaChinese economic growth slowed to the weakest pace since quarterly data started in 1992 in the second quarter of the year, hit hard by the trade standoff with the U.S. but with signs of stabilization starting to emerge in the monthly indicators for the country. The slowdown is helping to increase the focus on the need for interest-rate cuts across emerging markets after the dovish Federal Reserve comments last week. In Turkey, at least, where interest-rate cuts are a constant hot topic, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged rates will be significantly lower by the end of the year, a week after he ousted the central bank chief.Best Laid PlansThe battle between the two contenders to be Britain's next prime minister is getting messy. Boris Johnson, the frontrunner, admitted that he doesn't know all the details involved in the plan B he's set out for continuing trade should the U.K. leave without a deal. The October 31 deadline is also getting an airing, with Johnson saying it would be "insane" to suggest this date couldn't be met while his opponent, Jeremy Hunt, refused to commit to getting the exit done by Christmas. And pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller said that if the government were to suspend Parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit, she'll sue.Flat BeerThe decision by Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the world's biggest brewer, to pull the planned IPO of its Asia-Pacific business is a blow not only for the heavily indebted company but also for listings outside of a booming, unicorn-filled U.S. market. The move came after Swiss Re AG, the Swiss reinsurance group, suspended the listing of its Reassure unit, a move also blamed on the familiar market conditions concerns. Controversial TweetingU.S. President Donald Trump stirred more controversy over the weekend as he faced accusations of racism after telling four Democratic lawmakers to return to the ``broken and crime infested places from which they came." His impact didn't stop there. Criticisms that Trump made about cryptocurrencies last week sent Bitcoin and its cohort tumbling lower over the weekend, though these kinds of moves in cryptos are hardly one-offs. Note, too, that Trump is trailing three Democratic presidential contenders in theoretical polling match-ups, though it remains some way to go before 2020 elections roll around.Coming Up...The signs that China's economy is stabilizing sent stocks higher in Asia and European futures are pointing to a positive start following a pretty flat Friday. Oil prices eased a little after a strong week as a storm shut down a huge proportion of Gulf of Mexico crude production. Elsewhere, EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss Iran's non-compliance with its nuclear accord and the U.S. bank earnings season will kick off later with Citigroup Inc. What We've Been ReadingThis is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours.The countries most at risk of a housing bubble. Jeffrey Epstein and the Victoria's Secret billionaire. The disturbing selfie craze at a toxic lake in Siberia. E-scooter safety is back in focus after the death of a YouTube star. The unlikely bond industry powerhouse: Japan's Post Office. Royal Box attendees at Wimbledon may have been swiping their water bottles. You had Hygge. You had lagom. Get ready for Niksen.Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close.Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more.To contact the author of this story: Sam Unsted in London at sunsted@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US activists promote anti-birth control app in Nigeria's 'most vulnerable' areas Posted: 14 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  The Femm app has received Catholic church backing but experts say it's unreliable as birth control and does not help the vulnerableThe Femm menstruation tracking app has been promoted in rural Nigeria. Photograph: Luis Tato/AFP/Getty ImagesUS campaigners who oppose the birth control pill have promoted a menstruation tracking app in "the most vulnerable communities" in rural Nigeria with the backing of the Catholic church, the Guardian has learned.Prominent anti-abortion campaigners in New York developed and funded the Femm app, which collects intimate information about women's sex lives and sows doubt about hormonal birth control methods.The app has been downloaded more than 400,000 times globally, according to its developers, and appears to be the first ideologically aligned fertility tracking app.But leaders of the organization are also promoting the app and teaching the "Femm methods" of natural family planning in places such as rural Nigeria, where women are at high risk of HIV infection, child marriage and sexual violence.The Catholic church's diplomatic arm, the permanent observer mission of the Holy See at the United Nations, has promoted the Femm foundation and its app in speeches and events at the UN headquarters in New York. Femm also received a $100,000 grant from the Papal Foundation.Video footage uncovered by the Guardian shows a UN event called Affirming the Human Dignity of Rural Women and Girls through Healthcare and Education, where Femm's chief executive, Anna Halpine, described the company's work in Nigeria.The event at the UN Commission on the Status of Women was co-sponsored by the Holy See in March 2018. Halpine showed footage of Femm-trained teachers from an organization called Doctor's Health Initiative (DHI) speaking at what appeared to be a camp for displaced people in Nigeria.The footage shown at the UN side event showed DHI's employees teaching women about natural family planning methods.Femm promotes its app as a way to help women "avoid or achieve" pregnancy without hormonal birth control, by tracking their ovulation to determine their most fertile days of the month. However, the app offers no information on its efficacy, and the methods do not protect against sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV.Natural family planning methods have an up to 33% failure rate per 100 women per year, according to the most recent review in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.Nigerian women are among the world's most vulnerable to maternal mortality, HIV infection, sexual violence, forced child marriage and genital mutilation. Abortion is illegal in Nigeria under almost all circumstances. These laws are "a major contributor to the country's high levels of maternal death", according to the Guttmacher Institute.Halpine was introduced at the event by Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the permanent observerer of the Holy See to the United Nations, who said: "Various contemporary approaches to what is referred to as sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights do not respect this full dignity of the woman."There is another way, a way in line with her dignity, a way that treats femininity in all its aspects as a gift rather than an imperfection, a disease, or a curse … Femm is a method that does just this. It is a comprehensive women's health program," said Auza.The Guardian contacted Halpine by phone and email, but she did not respond to questions. The permanent observer mission of the Holy See at the United Nations referred the Guardian back to statements made by Auza.At the event, Halpine told an audience that the Femm Foundation offered reproductive health education in "the most vulnerable communities in rural Nigeria", including in camps for people displaced by the Boko Haram terror group.DHI describes itself as a non-profit organization working in displaced persons camps in places such as Edo state in southern Nigeria, and Femm describes DHI as a "partner".> The youngest member of our pro-life rally, he was really excited to be with us.... �� prolife MarchForLife pic.twitter.com/bxD6S8sjFr> > — DHI Nigeria (@DHI_nigeria) March 30, 2019DHI opposes abortion and birth control, according to the group's posts on social media. As recently as March 2019, DHI members marched in Lagos with signs reading, "Don't use contraceptive, drug abuse is dangerous" and "Abortion is murder", according to video footage. The group did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.The side event appears to be part of an ongoing relationship with the Catholic church, which co-sponsored an earlier event with Femm in 2016 called Investing to Expand Reproductive Health Programming.Reproductive rights groups in Nigeria called Femm's activities "disappointing and worrisome", and said the information it distributes falls in line with common myths about birth control and contraception."We can't just say this app is just dealing with fertility," said Olabukunola Williams, executive director of Education as a Vaccine, a leading health and education non-profit. "It's dealing with the fact we're not providing accurate information [to women] about decision-making power.""It's not just an app – it's feeding into more ways to deny power to young girls and young women," said Williams.In a statement, Halpine said Femm "works to ensure that women can know how their bodies work, and have access to health and fertility education to choose the options that work best for them."Femm is international, and cultivates partnerships and talent with researchers, providers, health educators and others in many countries around the world."The Roman Catholic church teaches that artificial contraception is a sin. More than 87% of Americans believe it is morally acceptable or not a moral issue, according to a 2016 Pew Research report. Modern birth control methods are used worldwide, are safe and effective, and were developed by a Catholic physician.Halpine is also founder and former CEO of World Youth Alliance, an anti-abortion organization whose work has often been cited by anti-abortion factions at the United Nations headquarters over the past two decades.An adviser to World Youth Alliance was recently appointed to the Trump administration's Commission on Unalienable Human Rights. Mary Ann Glendon is a prominent anti-abortion campaigner who has advised World Youth Alliance for years."Part of the way the Holy See exerts this influence is by using these organizations, like C-Fam, like this app organization, like World Youth Alliance," said Amanda Ussak, an expert in international Catholic relations at Catholics for Choice. Ussak said non-profits affiliated with the Holy See often use, "their exact talking points, their exact language, to make it seem more widely accepted"."Many women can't even control their sex lives," said Ussak. Fertility tracking, she said, "does nothing for areas of violence and war. It's not helping the vulnerable at the very least, and it's probably doing a lot more harm than that."
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| Can This Woman Tame Europe’s Game of Thrones? Posted: 14 Jul 2019 09:01 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- If she's confirmed as the new president of the European Commission this week, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen will have no shortage of pressing tasks on her agenda. Among the most urgent should be reforming the dysfunctional process that got her there.As the head of the European Union's executive branch, the commission presidency is a powerful office. Its occupant sets the EU's policy agenda, allocates key portfolios, and directs a civil service of more than 30,000. The next president will face challenges including a looming Brexit deadline, slowing EU economic growth, a trade dispute with the U.S., and widening disagreements about further integration — not to mention the possibility of another euro crisis.Deciding who fills this essential role, however, is a maddening game of thrones.To become the nominee, a candidate must win over a qualified majority of the national leaders who comprise the European Council. They, in turn, are supposed to "take account" of the most recent parliamentary elections in making their choice. Once nominated, the candidate must then win an absolute majority in the European Parliament to be confirmed.That's convoluted enough. But the process has also tended to get mixed up in continent-wide horse trading over the EU's other top jobs. National leaders wrangled behind closed doors over the right mix of geographic diversity, party representation, policy preferences, demographic attributes, and so on. It was not exactly a model of transparency.In 2014, the European Parliament sought to take this process out of the smoke-filled room and give voters a greater say. Under the so-called spitzenkandidat system, the main party groups are supposed to nominate candidates, who are then expected to publicly campaign for the job.This time, though, both major party groupings failed to get their candidates through, thanks to a more fragmented parliament. Thus it was back to the backroom: Weeks of haggling led to a surprise deal in which von der Leyen got the top commission job, Christine Lagarde of France was nominated to head the European Central Bank, and Charles Michel of Belgium was tipped as president of the European Council.All three picks were defensible. And the secretive process may have appealed to several member states. But it left the parliament weakened and was hardly open or democratic. Voters could be forgiven for wondering what just happened.Von der Leyen shouldn't shy from trying to bring this process into the light. Ditching the parliament-led system entirely would be a mistake; having candidates who articulate a vision and can be held accountable is preferable to having one parachuted in after an all-night summit. But truly engaging the electorate requires something more. Despite the recent campaigns, voters had little idea who the candidates were; just over a quarter of Germans knew that their own Manfred Weber was the choice of the largest parliamentary grouping, the European People's Party.The key is to strengthen the ties between national parties and the larger political families that sit in the European Parliament. The current system essentially amounts to 28 national elections, with candidates drawn from local parties who are then expected to represent EU citizens. Adding transnational party lists could make EU lawmakers accountable to a broader electorate and help ensure campaigns aren't simply used as domestic protest votes.Similarly, giving national parliaments a more substantive stake in EU policymaking — beyond their current consultative role — might also improve engagement and provide valuable feedback for EU legislators. That, in turn, could help ensure that the momentum of the last parliamentary elections — in which turnout reached nearly 51%, reversing recent declines — could be translated into broader support for the EU project.Such reforms would help make Europe's institutions less distant and bewildering to the voters they're meant to serve. If von der Leyen pushes them, she'll have proved an inspired choice despite the unseemly process that got her there.—Editors: Therese Raphael, Timothy Lavin.To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg Opinion's editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net, .Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Can This Woman Tame Europe’s Game of Thrones? Posted: 14 Jul 2019 09:01 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- If she's confirmed as the new president of the European Commission this week, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen will have no shortage of pressing tasks on her agenda. Among the most urgent should be reforming the dysfunctional process that got her there.As the head of the European Union's executive branch, the commission presidency is a powerful office. Its occupant sets the EU's policy agenda, allocates key portfolios, and directs a civil service of more than 30,000. The next president will face challenges including a looming Brexit deadline, slowing EU economic growth, a trade dispute with the U.S., and widening disagreements about further integration — not to mention the possibility of another euro crisis.Deciding who fills this essential role, however, is a maddening game of thrones.To become the nominee, a candidate must win over a qualified majority of the national leaders who comprise the European Council. They, in turn, are supposed to "take account" of the most recent parliamentary elections in making their choice. Once nominated, the candidate must then win an absolute majority in the European Parliament to be confirmed.That's convoluted enough. But the process has also tended to get mixed up in continent-wide horse trading over the EU's other top jobs. National leaders wrangled behind closed doors over the right mix of geographic diversity, party representation, policy preferences, demographic attributes, and so on. It was not exactly a model of transparency.In 2014, the European Parliament sought to take this process out of the smoke-filled room and give voters a greater say. Under the so-called spitzenkandidat system, the main party groups are supposed to nominate candidates, who are then expected to publicly campaign for the job.This time, though, both major party groupings failed to get their candidates through, thanks to a more fragmented parliament. Thus it was back to the backroom: Weeks of haggling led to a surprise deal in which von der Leyen got the top commission job, Christine Lagarde of France was nominated to head the European Central Bank, and Charles Michel of Belgium was tipped as president of the European Council.All three picks were defensible. And the secretive process may have appealed to several member states. But it left the parliament weakened and was hardly open or democratic. Voters could be forgiven for wondering what just happened.Von der Leyen shouldn't shy from trying to bring this process into the light. Ditching the parliament-led system entirely would be a mistake; having candidates who articulate a vision and can be held accountable is preferable to having one parachuted in after an all-night summit. But truly engaging the electorate requires something more. Despite the recent campaigns, voters had little idea who the candidates were; just over a quarter of Germans knew that their own Manfred Weber was the choice of the largest parliamentary grouping, the European People's Party.The key is to strengthen the ties between national parties and the larger political families that sit in the European Parliament. The current system essentially amounts to 28 national elections, with candidates drawn from local parties who are then expected to represent EU citizens. Adding transnational party lists could make EU lawmakers accountable to a broader electorate and help ensure campaigns aren't simply used as domestic protest votes.Similarly, giving national parliaments a more substantive stake in EU policymaking — beyond their current consultative role — might also improve engagement and provide valuable feedback for EU legislators. That, in turn, could help ensure that the momentum of the last parliamentary elections — in which turnout reached nearly 51%, reversing recent declines — could be translated into broader support for the EU project.Such reforms would help make Europe's institutions less distant and bewildering to the voters they're meant to serve. If von der Leyen pushes them, she'll have proved an inspired choice despite the unseemly process that got her there.—Editors: Therese Raphael, Timothy Lavin.To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg Opinion's editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net, .Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Merkel’s Ally Pushes for Last-Minute Votes to Take Top EU Job Posted: 14 Jul 2019 09:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Ursula von der Leyen's two-week dash to secure the most powerful policy-making job in the European Union may end with a photo finish.Unexpectedly tapped to head the European Commission after weeks of grueling negotiations by national leaders, the German defense minister and ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel is chasing support among left-leaning factions to put her over the top in a secret ballot Tuesday in the EU Parliament.At least half of the 153 Socialist members will probably support von der Leyen, which would help her surpass the needed majority of 376 votes, according to officials from the faction who asked not to be identified. Von der Leyen's aides expect her to receive about 400 votes, according to a person familiar with their thinking."If you vote her down, what's the alternative?" said Janis Emmanouilidis, director of studies at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.Von der Leyen's candidacy has ruffled feathers in the parliament because she was not one of the official contenders who campaigned in May's EU elections and because Socialists in the assembly felt they got a raw deal from the back-room dealing that saw her nominated. If her appointment were to be shot down it would mean an unprecedented standoff between lawmakers and heads of government and plunge the bloc into an administrative crisis."It's almost too awful to contemplate and, for her detractors, potentially counterproductive were EU leaders to nominate someone even less palatable," Emmanouilidis said.The 60-year-old polyglot is the centerpiece of a European top-jobs package that reasserts the authority of the EU's core countries -- particularly Germany and France -- as the bloc confronts Brexit, U.S. protectionism under President Donald Trump, renewed Russian muscle-flexing and growing Chinese economic heft.The commission's powers include proposing and enforcing EU laws on everything from car emissions to mobile roaming fees, negotiating trade agreements and acting as Europe's antitrust authority.Von der Leyen, who is backed by several political groups in the European Parliament, including her own Christian Democrats, would be the first female president of the commission, the 28-nation bloc's executive arm.The deal also puts International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde of France in the presidency of the European Central Bank, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel in the chair of EU summits and Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell in the bloc's top diplomatic post. All the positions are becoming vacant this year.Overcoming ObstaclesThe commission chief's nomination was complicated by the EU parliament's further fragmentation in elections in May, when the combined share of Christian Democratic and Socialist seats fell below 50% for the first time. The pro-EU Liberals and Greens posted gains along with euroskeptic forces, allowing the political center to hold.While she wasted no time reaching out to the EU Parliament, where she went the day after her nomination and has spent many of the past 12 days, von der Leyen has faced three impediments.She wasn't among the official candidates for commission chief who were put forward by Europe's main political parties and who the EU Parliament had said should form the pool for EU leaders to pick from.Europe's Socialists have been bitter because their candidate, Dutchman Frans Timmermans, came close to being chosen after Merkel herself lent him support. Timmermans was ultimately sidelined as a result of objections by other Christian Democratic party bosses, eastern European leaders and Italy's prime minister.Germany's Social Democrats, Merkel's junior coalition partner, felt stung by von der Leyen's nomination and pushed hard against her in the EU Parliament's Socialist group. Merkel hit back last week, demanding that von der Leyen be treated "correctly as a person."Aside from damage to the EU's institutional relations and its image that a veto of von der Leyen would have, she has two important advantages in her favor.No national leader objected to her, in contrast to current commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who faced opposition from two government chiefs in 2014. And the EU Parliament has long called for more women in the top jobs in Brussels.If she's elected, von der Leyen would assemble a team of commissioners proposed by national governments. The commission leadership is made up of one appointee from each EU country and the parliament would vote on the whole team in October.\--With assistance from Patrick Donahue.To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka, Flavia Krause-JacksonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| From crafts to Kalashnikovs: arms souk thrives in Yemen's Taez Posted: 14 Jul 2019 07:18 PM PDT  Once overflowing with handicrafts, the old Al-Shinayni market in Yemen's third city of Taez is now bursting with Kalashnikovs and bullets as traders scramble to scratch out a living in the war-wracked country. Yemen has been plunged into a devastating war since the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels swept into the capital Sanaa in a late 2014 offensive, sparking a military intervention months later by a Saudi-led coalition. The southwestern city of Taez is controlled by government forces but under siege by the Huthis, who have repeatedly bombarded the city of 615,000 people.
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| Note to Trump: Iran Would Need 1 Year to Build a Nuclear Weapon Posted: 14 Jul 2019 02:13 PM PDT  Iran is taking steps to shorten the time it would take to produce a nuclear warhead.The commission overseeing the 2015 deal limiting Iran's nuclear program is "treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves," said Jackie Wolcott, the U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency.Iran's effort to shorten the time to produce a nuke "does not pose an immediate risk," wrote Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association in the United States."Currently, due to restrictions put in place by the nuclear deal, the United States estimates that timeline at 12 months," Davenport explained in a July 2019 assessment.But the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal, a signature accomplishment of former U.S. president Barack Obama, is in danger of collapsing following current president Donald Trump's 2017 decision to withdraw the United States from the deal's oversight.Trump shortly thereafter reinstated economic sanctions targeting Iran that the Obama administration had lifted as an incentive for Iran to agree to limits on its nuclear program.Trump's sanctions made it more likely Iran would abandon diplomacy and develop an atomic bomb. Trump is not "deserving to exchange messages with," Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated in June 2019.Trump abandoned the Iran deal to spite Obama, according to a leaked memo written by the United Kingdom's former ambassador to the United States. Kim Darroch in 2018 described Trump's move as an act of "diplomatic vandalism."
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| Trump's DMZ Visit Was All Show No Substance Posted: 14 Jul 2019 02:02 PM PDT  President Donald Trump, accompanied by North Korea's Kim Jong-un, crossed the border at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone on June 30 and became the first sitting president to step onto North Korean soil. South Korean president Moon Jae-in was also present and keen to help mediate between the United States and North Korea in hopes of reviving denuclearization talks, which have stalled since the debacle of the abandoned February Hanoi summit.This unprecedented three-way summit appears to have been essentially a made-for-TV spectacular designed for Trump and Kim's domestic audiences. Trump's publicity machine constantly emphasizes the feel-good one-to-one personal relationship between Trump and Kim, but a fundamental question remains: Is there or will there be any actual progress on denuclearization? So, what did Chairman Kim get from the meeting? It seems he is closer to persuading Trump to accept the North Korean agenda: no pressure for regime change, and a freeze on North Korea's missile and nuclear program instead of a ban, thus tacitly recognizing North Korea as a nuclear power. It probably means that the dismantling of the Yongbyon nuclear facility will be traded for the partial lifting of sanctions against North Korea. If this is the outcome, then clearly Kim will be the big winner from the meeting. And what about President Moon? Despite his broad smiles during the photo session, he seems ready to make significant concessions to the United States. These may include joining in with sanctions against Huawei, participating in U.S.-led Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea, buying more U.S.-made weapons and systems, and agreeing to increased burden-sharing to support the U.S. military presence. Any such concessions would reveal Moon as a serious loser from the meeting.
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| The Tell-Tale Flaws in Trump's North Korea Strategy Posted: 14 Jul 2019 02:02 PM PDT  President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed in their impromptu meeting at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas on June 30 to revive working-level talks over North Korea's denuclearization. If the bilateral negotiations resume as scheduled later this month, then U.S. negotiators could face potential time constraints tied to the political calendar and a complex task.The meeting between Trump and Kim at the DMZ appears to have injected much-needed political momentum into diplomacy between the United States and North Korea, which has been stalled since the failed Hanoi summit in February. The two leaders emphasized their good personal relations in the DMZ meeting, which was high in symbolism even if limited in substance.
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| President Trump's War Power Delusions Posted: 14 Jul 2019 02:02 PM PDT  We should celebrate the fact that President Donald Trump stepped back from war with Iran. But he followed up with even more violent rhetoric and the claim that he wasn't even required to notify Congress of his plans, let alone to seek its authorization to launch military strikes. However, the decision for war is not his to make.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took a different approach. He claimed that war with Iran would be covered by the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force in response to Al Qaeda's attacks on 9/11. That argument may be even worse since it subverts the Constitution through misdirection and deception.The Islamic Republic of Iran is a malign actor but that hardly sets it apart in the Middle East. To the contrary, Washington has consistently allied and partnered itself with malicious regional governments with malicious governments. In 1953, the United States helped overthrow the democratically-elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, replacing it with the autocratic Shah. He had his own geopolitical ambitions, which he put before those of the United States. He also began the country's nuclear program. Thus, if Iran ever develops nuclear weapons, then it will be a Persian bomb rather than an Islamic bomb, and the United States should consider itself the midwife.By almost every standard, Saudi Arabia is worse than Iran.
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| America Should Rethink Its Commitments to Allies Posted: 14 Jul 2019 02:01 PM PDT  Washington's demands toward North Korea and Iran have one important feature in common. In both cases, U.S. officials in multiple administrations have insisted that America's adversary renounce any ambition to possess nuclear weapons or a significant ballistic missile capability. The underlying assumption is that if Tehran or Pyongyang possesses even a small nuclear arsenal, it would pose not only an unacceptable threat to regional peace but also a dire threat to America's own security.The worry about a menace to the U.S. homeland is improbable—unless Washington continues to put America's safety and well-being at risk to defend vulnerable allies and security clients. That caveat underscores a crucial distinction between direct deterrence (deterring an attack on one's own country) and extended deterrence (deterring an attack on a third party). The former has high credibility; the latter has significantly lower credibility.The United States successfully deterred the Soviet Union during the Cold War, even though that country possessed thousands of nuclear weapons and sophisticated missiles to deliver them. U.S. leaders had confidence in the doctrine of mutual assured destruction—that Moscow would never attack the American homeland, knowing that a U.S. retaliatory strike would be so devastating as to eliminate the USSR as a functioning society. Washington warned the Kremlin that such retaliation would occur not only if Moscow launched an attack on America, but also if Soviet forces attacked Washington's European allies or key U.S. security partners in East Asia.
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