| Britain, France, Germany to hold Iran talks Posted: 29 Aug 2019 04:47 PM PDT  Britain, France and Germany will hold talks Friday on how to preserve the beleaguered Iran nuclear deal and protect shipping in the Gulf. Tensions have spiked recently in the strategic shipping lane where Iran has seized Western tankers as Tehran and Washington have locked horns over the 2015 deal. US President Donald Trump last year unilaterally pulled out of the accord that handed Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its atomic programme.
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| UN renews peacekeeping mission amid Israel-Lebanon tensions Posted: 29 Aug 2019 04:22 PM PDT  The UN Security Council on Thursday voted to renew its long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a year, warning of a "new conflict" with neighboring Israel. The draft resolution, written by France and approved unanimously, would allow for the approximately 10,000 members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) -- which was created in March 1978 -- to stay in place.
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| U.K. and EU to Step Up Brexit Talks as Parliament Showdown Looms Posted: 29 Aug 2019 04:01 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's sherpa's will meet with EU officials at least twice a week in September as he seeks to break the Brexit impasse and ward off rebellion in his own party against no deal divorce.Johnson's envoy, David Frost, asked the EU to intensify talks at a meeting with European Commission officials in Brussels on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Commission said.But both sides appeared to play down the chance of an imminent breakthrough. They "remain some distance apart on key issues," Johnson's office said in a statement. The EU said it is still awaiting "concrete proposals" from the U.K..On Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the EU should be "as flexible and positive as possible" in its negotiations over Brexit, should the U.K. come up with "specific suggestions" on how it intends to leave the bloc with a deal.Johnson needs to convince potential rebels in his own Conservative Party that he is close to agreeing a deal with the bloc ahead of a showdown in Parliament when it reconvenes next week.'Incredibly Tight'Some Tories, including former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, have threatened to vote against the government in the House of Commons to block a no-deal Brexit, but might be persuaded to hold off if an agreement appears to be on the horizon."It is now time for both sides to step up the tempo," Johnson said in the statement. "The increase in meetings and discussions is necessary if we are to have a chance of agreeing a deal for when we leave on Oct. 31, no ifs no buts."On Thursday, Labour's Treasury Spokesman John McDonnell said he's "increasingly confident" there's a cross-party majority in Parliament for legislation seeking to block a no-deal Brexit, but warned that people shouldn't underestimate the difficulty of winning approval within the "incredibly tight timetable" Johnson has set.Johnson got approval from Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday to suspend Parliament from mid-September to mid-October, restricting the time for MPs to debate the divorce from the bloc.Rebels' OptionsThat's spurred some MPs to say they will take action to block a no deal exit as soon as next week. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he'd joined with other opposition parties to issue a joint call for a vote on Johnson's plan to prorogue parliament.Tory rebels are considering a range of options, including seeking to seize control of the order paper next week to block a no deal Brexit, and as a back up option are trying to arrange for Parliament to sit during the weekend of 7-8 September, the Times of London reported.The decision to step up talks with the EU comes after Johnson's government spotted a chink of light last week during meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.The two leaders appeared to relax their language on the Brexit withdrawal agreement and the need to retain the so-called backstop provision for the Irish border, a U.K. official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity.Johnson has demanded the EU drop the backstop, a fallback mechanism that is meant to keep the frontier free of checks after Brexit but which is despised by Brexiteers who argue it will keep the U.K. tied to the bloc.(Updates with context and detail throughout.)To contact the reporters on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net;Ian Wishart in Brussels at iwishart@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Robert HuttonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Steyer Deducted $181 Million for SALT: Campaign Update Posted: 29 Aug 2019 03:49 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Tom Steyer wrote off the $181 million he paid in state and local taxes over nine years, according to tax returns released by his presidential campaign Thursday.His income totaled $1.2 billion from 2009 through 2017, and SALT was his single biggest deduction in all nine years. His total income was $146.3 million in 2017, when he claimed a $26.9 million write-off for state and local taxes. His campaign said he'd release his 2018 return when it was available, but he may have paid far more in federal taxes as the Republican-controlled Congress has capped the SALT deduction at $10,000.Steyer, who has advocated for a wealth tax, has consistently been among the top U.S. political donors. In 2017, he spent $65.4 million on political activities, according to a memo accompanying the documents he released.The hedge fund manager, a California resident, has said he could spend as much as $100 million on his 2020 presidential campaign, though he is foundering in the polls and failed to qualify for a candidate debate next month. He has spent an estimated $10.8 million on television advertising since launching his campaign in July, according to Advertising Analytics LLC.Biden Defends Anecdote About Afghanistan Incident (4:45 p.m.)Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden brushed aside a report that he recently told an inaccurate story about traveling to Afghanistan to honor a heroic Navy captain, arguing that the "central point" of his account was "absolutely accurate."Biden's comments on Thursday came in response to a Washington Post article challenging the accuracy of the anecdote, saying that Biden had "jumbled elements of at least three actual events into one story of bravery, compassion and regret that never happened."At a campaign stop last week, Biden recalled visiting Afghanistan during his years as vice president and meeting the captain, who had rappelled down a ravine under enemy fire to retrieve the body of another American, and later refused to accept a Silver Star medal that Biden tried to pin on him.Biden said Thursday in Rock Hill, South Carolina, that he hadn't read the Post story, but insisted he'd stayed true to the thrust of the incident."The story was that he refused the medal because the fella he tried to save and risked his life saving, died," he told the Post and Courier. "That's the beginning, middle and end. The rest of you guys can take it and do what you want with it." -- Jennifer EpsteinGoogle, Twitter to Discuss 2020 Disinformation (3:50 p.m.)Google, Facebook and Twitter have been invited by the head of the Federal Election Commission to explore ways to combat digital disinformation in the 2020 elections.The all-day symposium on Sept. 17 will examine new types of false information spread online that could be used to influence elections. In 2016, Russia used online platforms in a bid to support the candidacy of President Donald Trump, according U.S. intelligence agencies.Ellen Weintraub, the head of the agency, is co-hosting the event, which will also include academics, congressional staffers and political organizations, according to an official at the agency. The event was first reported by Politico.Spokespersons for Facebook and Twitter said the companies are planning to attend. Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The other co-hosts are the Global Digital Policy Incubator at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and PEN America. The FEC as an agency isn't involved. -- Bill AllisonGabbard Says She Won't Run as an Independent (12:30 p.m.)Tulsi Gabbard may have qualms about some of her rivals, but she's ruling out an independent bid for president if she fails to get the Democratic nomination."No, I have ruled that out," the Hawaii congresswoman told CNN Thursday.Gabbard failed to qualify for the September primary debate by Wednesday's deadline and is polling at 1.4%, according to the RealClearPolitics average. But in the first two debates, she filled a unique role as Trump supporters' favorite Democrat. An Iraq war vet, she frequently appears on Fox News and has challenged the orthodoxy of both parties on foreign policy.On Wednesday, she complained to Fox News about a lack of transparency in the criteria for Democratic primary debates and said the party is run by "a small group of really powerful political elites."Speculation of a third-party run had been driven by Gabbard's unusually harsh criticism of some of her rivals, particularly Kamala Harris, as unqualified. -- Gregory KorteHarris Offers Plan for People With Disabilities (6:00 a.m.)Kamala Harris vows to increase grants and strengthen rules aimed at bolstering opportunity for people with disabilities if she's elected president in 2020.Her campaign said that a Harris proposal released Thursday would enhance Department of Education programs aimed at helping disabled people get jobs. It would also use the powers of the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development to strengthen accessibility rules for new projects to qualify for funding.The proposal says Harris, California's junior senator, would "have diverse leaders with disabilities developing all the policies her administration champions."Her nine-point plan includes legislative proposals to increase wages of disabled workers and resources for teachers of students with disabilities. It also calls for the U.S. to ratify the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. -- Sahil KapurCOMING UPClimate change takes center stage at a CNN town hall on Sept. 4. The Democratic National Committee has rejected demands from climate activists and several candidates for a party-sponsored debate solely on that issue.\--With assistance from Sahil Kapur, Gregory Korte, Bill Allison and Jennifer Epstein.To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Allison in Washington DC at ballison14@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK says it will hold twice-weekly Brexit talks with EU officials Posted: 29 Aug 2019 02:30 PM PDT ![UK says it will hold twice-weekly Brexit talks with EU officials]( "UK says it will hold twice-weekly Brexit talks with EU officials") British negotiators will hold twice-weekly talks with European Union officials next month in an attempt to rework the Brexit agreement that Britain's parliament has repeatedly rejected, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday. Johnson has promised to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31, with or without a transition deal, and has demanded the removal of the existing deal's 'backstop', which the EU wants to ensure an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. "While I have been encouraged with my discussions with EU leaders over recent weeks that there is a willingness to talk about alternatives to the anti-democratic backstop, it is now time for both sides to step up the tempo," Johnson said.
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| Body of deported Iraqi national returning to US for burial Posted: 29 Aug 2019 02:24 PM PDT ![Body of deported Iraqi national returning to US for burial]( "Body of deported Iraqi national returning to US for burial") The body of a 41-year-old Iraqi man who died in Baghdad after being deported from the U.S. for committing multiple crimes is being returned to the Detroit area for burial. Democratic U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, of Michigan, announced Thursday that Jimmy Aldaoud's body was in transit and was expected to arrive Friday. Aldaoud, who came to the U.S. as an infant and lived in the Detroit area, was deported in June.
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| Israel: Iran, Hezbollah intensifying missile efforts Posted: 29 Aug 2019 02:09 PM PDT  "Today we uncovered part of Iran and Hezbollah's precision missile project. Hezbollah denies harboring missile factories. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy and has identified Hezbollah as the most potent military threat on its borders.
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| UN envoy hopes for Syria constitution committee next month Posted: 29 Aug 2019 02:00 PM PDT  The U.N. special envoy for Syria said Thursday he is "quietly hopeful" the United Nations can announce agreement to launch a Syrian constitutional committee before world leaders gather in late September, which could open the door to a broader political process to end the eight-year conflict.
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| China: A New World Order review - A worrying portrait of the country's formidable regime Posted: 29 Aug 2019 02:00 PM PDT  If it's not FIFA, it's the IOC. Just like Russia's World Cup last year, it was a major sporting event that brought China in from the cold to present a human face to a suspicious world. Equally significantly, the 2008 Beijing Olympics allowed Games organiser Xi Jinping to consolidate his position as front-runner for Communist Party General Secretary, which he assumed four years later. China: A New World Order (BBC Two) began its superb three-part overview of a six-year reign with a chilling summation of both China's human rights abuses, and the deafening silence in response to them. Xi's administration started promisingly, with a canny and overdue initiative to crack down on endemic corruption, although double standards soon emerged and "corruption" started to sound like a euphemism for political opposition when human-rights lawyers and booksellers were jailed. The personal testimonies underscored the point, from the anti-corruption campaigner imprisoned merely for shouting out the party's pledges too pointedly to the woman who, despite evidence of dishonest testimony, still awaits her husband's release from prison on bribery charges. And then there were the Muslim ethnic minority Uighur, brutally punished for the terror attacks of a few extremist separatists (a Jihad flag in Tiananmen Square being a very bad look for a regime obsessed with control). Watching a Uighur mother weeping about her exile in Turkey while her children were placed in state orphanages, was harrowing, and far from an isolated example. An estimated one million people are now interned, either forcibly in re-education camps, or voluntarily in "vocational training institutions" where they sing If You're Happy and You Know It, depending on your perspective. The Chinese government denied this in a postscript. Even if they did confess, you'd be waiting the duration of the Zhou dynasty for any censure from the Western powers, China's economic power having apparently exempted it from direct criticism. "We raise these issues with the Chinese government when we see them," explained Jeremy Hunt. "If we talk too loudly and publicly about our human rights concerns we will just lose access to senior people in the Chinese government and then we won't be able to do any good at all." But as Hong Kong continues to erupt, the line between pragmatism and complicity grows ever thinner. Soft power has seldom sounded so soft although, with democratic norms now being trampled in so many supposedly enlightened countries, who are we to preach?
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| North Korea says it won't give up arms modernization Posted: 29 Aug 2019 01:48 PM PDT  North Korea accused the United Kingdom, France and Germany on Thursday of meddling in its "self-defensive measures for arms modernization," saying the West will make "no greater mistake" than thinking Pyongyang will give up its right to have weapons that it says are needed to ensure peace. The North's official Korean Central News Agency circulated a statement from Kim Son Gyong, an adviser at the Korea-Europe Association, in response to a joint statement Tuesday from the three important U.S. allies condemning Pyongyang's "repeated provocative launches" of ballistic missiles.
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| US sanctions Lebanese bank for helping Iran-backed Hezbollah Posted: 29 Aug 2019 01:44 PM PDT ![US sanctions Lebanese bank for helping Iran-backed Hezbollah]( "US sanctions Lebanese bank for helping Iran-backed Hezbollah") The Treasury Department on Thursday targeted a Lebanese bank the Trump administration calls the "bank of choice" of Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon, as part of a maximum pressure campaign against Tehran. The U.S., in partnership with Oman, also announced sanctions against four individuals Treasury accuses of moving tens of millions of dollars between Iran's elite Quds Force and the military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza. Treasury sanctioned Jammal Trust Bank, a financial institution based in Lebanon that facilitates banking activities for Hezbollah, and its three subsidiaries.
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| Yemen President urges end of UAE strikes, fears secession Posted: 29 Aug 2019 01:32 PM PDT  Yemen's president urged Saudi Arabia on Thursday to rein in the United Arab Emirates after warplanes from his former ally staged airstrikes on Yemeni government troops, killing and wounding dozens as they headed to retake the key southern port city of Aden from separatists backed by the UAE. In a rare statement, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi condemned the UAE, a former ally, for "blatant intervention" in Yemen by providing "support, money and plans" for separatists who aim at "dividing up" the country.
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| U.S. Chamber Calls for Halting China Tariffs and Resuming Talks Posted: 29 Aug 2019 01:23 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The largest U.S. business lobby urged President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to withdraw new tariffs starting Sunday and return to talks in good faith to end an escalating trade war that is threatening the economy."At this moment of uncertainty, it is critical that our leaders take decisive steps to bolster the economy and avoid actions that could turn talk of recession into reality," Thomas Donohue, chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a Washington Post opinion piece Thursday.Donohue's call for a tariff truce and resumption of negotiations between the U.S. and China comes as the world's two largest economies are set to impose new duties on each other's exports in an increasing tit-for-tat battle that has rattled world markets.The U.S. is staring a 15% tariff on about $110 billion in apparel, footwear and other Chinese imports on Sunday, with duties on the balance of about $300 billion in toys, phones and laptops and other products delayed until Dec. 15. Trump is also increasing the duty rate already in effect on $250 billion in other Chinese goods to 30% from 25% starting Oct. 1, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.China has vowed additional tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. goods including soybeans, automobiles and oil, with some taking effect Sunday and the rest Dec. 15 in retaliation. Trump said Thursday that the two nations are scheduled to have a conversation about trade, after signs from China that it wouldn't immediately retaliate against the latest U.S. moves and wants to focus on removing new duties.A U.S. Chamber survey of 138 recent earnings calls of Fortune 500 companies showed that executives are "overwhelmingly concerned about the economic impact of tariffs," Donohue said. That's led to companies sitting on cash and the first decline in business investment in three years, Donohue said in his opinion piece.While the business community shares the Trump administration's concern over China's trade and industrial practices, the escalation of trade tensions doesn't increase the likelihood of a deal and risks a recession, Donohue said."That's why we believe Trump and Xi should withdraw the tariffs scheduled to take effect this weekend -- and then again in December -- and instead restart their negotiations," Donohue said. "Just as growth is not guaranteed, neither is a recession. Both result from the choices we make."To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Sarah McGregor, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Israel says Iran seeking to build precision missiles in Lebanon Posted: 29 Aug 2019 01:04 PM PDT  The Israeli army on Thursday accused Iran of collaborating with Lebanon's Hezbollah to assemble precision-guided missiles that could cause "massive" human casualties in Israel. Tehran and the Shiite movement plan to convert "stupid rockets into precision-guided missiles", Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists in a conference call. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.
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| The Latest: Colombia leader seeks arrest of rearmed rebels Posted: 29 Aug 2019 11:56 AM PDT  Colombia's President Iván Duque is accusing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of providing safe haven to a cadre of demobilized rebel leaders who have just announced they are rearming. Duque also says he's offering a nearly $1 million reward for the arrest of the insurgents, who include the former chief negotiator of a 2016 deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. In a televised address Thursday, Duque accused Maduro of sheltering the rebels in violation of anti-terrorism resolutions promoted by the United Nations Security Council.
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| There is no health reason to ban chlorinated chicken, says Government's scientific adviser Posted: 29 Aug 2019 11:56 AM PDT  A Government scientific adviser has said that there are no health reasons to ban chlorinated chicken imported from the US after Brexit. Sir Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said there was no scientific evidence that the meat is harmful and it should be up to British consumers to decide if they want to eat it. It is common practice in the US to to sterilise chicken carcasses with chlorine as birds are often in such crowded conditions that infection rates with salmonella and listeria are high. Sir Ian Boyd said: "From a health perspective there really isn't a problem with chlorinated chicken. "The issue is about production processes and animal welfare, and that is a values-based choice that people need to make. "My view is that we need to be allowed to make that choice. "But it is the job of people like me to make sure that we explain as clearly as possible what the consequences of different choices are for people," he told Sky News. He added that there was no good reason to ban hormone-treated beef either as the amount of hormone is extraordinarily small. "The chances are that most of it will have been metabolised when it comes into the meat you would eat," he said. "The chances of it having any biological effect on us is almost infinitesimally small." The EU has banned the feeding of hormones to cattle over fears that it may cause cancer. Ahead of becoming the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in March this year that chlorine-washed chicken was a "public safety no-brainer", while US Ambassador Woody Johnson has insisted it should be included in a future trade deal. But the National Farmers' Union has warned cheap production methods could put British poultry producers out of business. Sir Ian is to step down as Defra's chief scientific adviser after seven years in the position. His successor is Professor Gideon Henderson, an expert in ocean sciences and climate change.
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| Farc leader announces return to war for Colombia Posted: 29 Aug 2019 11:41 AM PDT  Colombia was on edge on Thursday as the top peace negotiator for the country's Marxist guerrillas announced that he was resuming armed conflict, promising to re-start the Western hemisphere's longest-running civil war three years after a peace deal was signed. Luciano Marin, better known as Ivan Marquez, published a video on YouTube announcing that he and his Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) colleagues were once again taking up arms. Appearing alongside some 20 heavily-armed guerrillas dressed in camouflaged fatigues, he condemned Ivan Duque, the president, for standing by idly as hundreds of Leftist activists and 150 rebels were killed since demobilizing as part of the peace deal. "When we signed the accord in Havana we did so with the conviction that it was possible to change the life of the most humble and dispossessed," he said. "But the state hasn't fulfilled its most important obligation, which is to guarantee the life of its citizens and especially avoid assassinations for political reasons." A still from Ivan Marquez's video speech, posted online on August 29 In the video, Marquez, speaking from what he said were Colombia's eastern jungles in the Amazon rainforest, stood alongside several former Farc leaders, including ideologue Seuxis Hernandez, alias Jesus Santrich, who abandoned the peace process after the US ordered his arrest on drug charges. Mr Duque announced he was launching an offensive against the rebels, and said they were being backed by Nicolas Maduro, president of neighbouring Venezuela. "I have ordered the creation of a special unit to launch an offensive against these criminals, with reinforced capacity for intelligence work, investigations and mobilisation throughout Colombian territory," he said, speaking from the presidential palace. "Colombians should be clear that we are not facing another guerrilla war, but rather combating a group of narcoterrorists who count on the shelter of and support from the dictator Nicolas Maduro." He accused Mr Maduro of formenting violence in the region, as part of his own desperate strategy to hold onto power, and said he had spoken to Juan Guaido, the opposition leader, who vowed his support. Mr Duque also offered a $1 million reward for information leading to Marquez's capture. Ivan Duque, president of Colombia Bogota is struggling to cope with the aftermath of the 50-year war, the recent influx of over a million refugees from neighbouring Venezuela, and the continued guerrilla activity from the ELN (National Liberation Army). In January the ELN claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a police academy in Bogota which killed 21 people. The group is also known to operate across the border in lawless parts of Venezuela. Marquez's announcement will spark concerns of further instability in the hard-hit country, and in the wider region. Farc was formed in 1964 as a Che Guevara-inspired Marxist group claiming peasant land rights. The guerrilla war they launched mutated into a conflict which threatened to turn Colombia into a failed state, spawning vicious bands of paramilitaries, sprung up to drive the Farc out but rapidly turning to narcotrafficking and massacres of their own. Members of Farc marching in a 2001 military parade Eight million people are considered victims of the violence – 30,000 kidnapped, 45,000 "disappeared," and 6.9 million forced from their homes – giving Colombia the highest number of internal refugees in the world. Peace talks were began in secret in Cuba in 2012, and concluded in 2016 – a feat which won then-president Juan Manuel Santos the Nobel Peace Prize. Around 90 per cent of the 7,000 rebels who handed over their weapons to United Nations observers in 2016 continue to live up to their commitments under the peace deal. Implementation of the accord has not been easy, however, and Mr Santos's political opponents have long considered the deal too soft on the former combatants. Farc members themselves have grown frustrated at the government, and an estimated 2,500 rebels still operate under dissident Farc commanders. Rodrigo Londono, the head of Farc's political wing, who challenged Mr Duque for the presidency in 2018, apologised to his fellow Colombians for Marquez's declaration. "I have mixed feelings," said Mr Londono, who is better known by his alias Timochenko. "It's an unfortunate development, but at the same time it leaves things clearer and ends the ambiguity because we had been facing a complex situation for some time." Rodrigo Londono, known as Timochenko, campaigning in Bogora on January 7, 2018 Mr Santos urged Colombia to continue with the peace process. "90 per cent of the Farc remain in the peace process. We must continue to fulfill our obligations to them, and repress the deserters with complete force," he said in a message on Twitter. "The battle for peace must not stop!" Miguel Ceballos, Colombia's peace commissioner, called for swift action from the peace tribunal and insisted the government would seek the rebel leaders' arrest. "It's a very worrying announcement," he said. "There is no surprise for the national government. Unfortunately, these people had already made clear, by their behaviour, that they turned their backs on the peace accord." Mr Duque was elected on a platform promoted by Mr Santos's predecessor and vehement critic Alvaro Uribe, opposing many aspects of the peace deal. Many feared he would rip the entire agreement up. In office, however, he has moderated his views, and started implementing ambitious aspects of the accord to build roads, schools and other infrastructure in traditionally neglected areas of the country. Critics have accused him of not doing enough to protect Leftist activists. He is also accused of aligning with the US to gut the special peace tribunals, whose goal is to foster reconciliation and truth-telling for victims, instead of seeking full punishment for war atrocities.
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| Russian election chief defends ban on Moscow candidates Posted: 29 Aug 2019 11:40 AM PDT  The head of Russia's election commission is standing by a decision to keep a dozen independent candidates from running for the city legislature in Moscow, but concedes after weeks of protests drew unusually large crowds, thousands of arrests and unfavorable attention that the qualification rules are outdated. The Central Election Commission said earlier this month that 13 opposition candidates failed to gather enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot next month. Many outraged Muscovites saw the candidates' disqualification as a sign of how determined the Kremlin was to prevent President Vladimir Putin's opponents from gaining even lowly positions of power.
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| Huawei under probe by U.S. prosecutors over new allegations: WSJ Posted: 29 Aug 2019 11:35 AM PDT  When contacted by Reuters, a spokesman for prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment. The inquiries suggest that the U.S. government is investigating aspects of Huawei's business practices that weren't covered in indictments of the Chinese company issued earlier this year, the WSJ report said. In January, the U.S. Justice Department charged Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran by doing business with Tehran through a subsidiary it tried to hide.
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| A Reckoning over Hong Kong Is Coming and It Will Take China's Economy with It Posted: 29 Aug 2019 11:09 AM PDT  The situation in Hong Kong is disconcerting for China's government: what started as a protest in opposition to a controversial extradition bill has morphed into nothing less than an outright revolt against the city's indirect rule by mainland authorities. The "one country two systems" compact seems dead to demonstrators on the street who are showing up in the hundreds of thousands. These protesters are rattling Beijing by signaling a commitment to continue their activities until their demands are met—one of which is the implementation of universal suffrage. One can hardly imagine a greater nightmare scenario for the Communist Party apparatchiks in the mainland.Yet such a possibility does exist. While much has been made of the political dimension and the implications of the protests, the economic dimension has gone under-reported. This is rather curious, since nothing else could be more pressing for China.A local uprising, born out of fear that Hong Kong is losing its highly-valued political independence, is something that could be contained—and perhaps even reversed if significant concessions are made. At worst, the current uprising could be crushed, akin to how the Soviet Union suppressed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. This would result in much worldwide condemnation and a sizable drop in international prestige, but for Beijing that would be an acceptable price to pay if it meant putting down a direct and highly-visible public challenge to its authority. Ensuring political survival is the primary concern of any regime after all.If Hong Kong's uprising is born out of discontent with the current economic situation, however, that is another matter entirely.Modern day China is built on economic growth. It is no accident that, under President Xi Jinping, the term "Chinese Dream" has entered the political lexicon. This promise of prosperity, along with a rejuvenation in national pride, is the main source of legitimacy for the Chinese Community Party. Furthermore, if it cannot deliver on these, then, like the late Soviet Union, it won't be long before people begin to express their dissatisfaction. From there, it is a short jump to taking to the streets in protest, and, eventually, revolt. If so, then Hong Kong might just be a prelude for what is to come.A Tale of Two CitiesBut isn't Hong Kong an incredibly prosperous city? A global hub of international business and finance that invokes feelings of envy in the hearts of other nations? A shining example of what leaders of developing countries should aspire to build?Maybe not quite as one would believe.Consider as an example the city's most pressing and ever-present problem: housing. With a mountainous territory, habitable land in Hong Kong is always at a premium. According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, Hong Kong is tied with Paris and Singapore as the world's most expensive city to live in. Yet while property prices have more than tripled in less than a decade—to the point where the average price for a flat is around $1.2 million—salaries have not kept up. In fact, last year saw a rise of only 1.9 percent after accounting for inflation. Yet almost half of the city's rental units cost more than $2,550 a month, which is ludicrous since that is 122 percent of the local average salary. As a result, home ownership is but a distant fantasy for most of the city's inhabitants.The public housing situation also demonstrates how bad things are. Around 44.7 percent of the city's inhabitants—a whopping 3.3 million people—are living in public housing. The Hong Kong Housing Authority's own statistics reveal that, as of the end of June, there were about 256,100 applications for a subsidized apartment with an average wait time of 5.4 years. Additionally, the availability of public housing is restricted: the cutoff threshold to apply for a one-person apartment, for example, is a monthly salary of HK$11,830 (around $1,500 a month, or $18,000 a year) and a maximum net assets of HK$257,000 (around $32,760). If the threshold were raised to include a broader range of the city's poor, the number of people in need of housing would likely be much higher. This is not surprising, given that, according to government statistics, around 20 percent of the population is living below the poverty line (before accounting for cash transfers and other aid provided social safety net programs). While waiting for public housing, households must live in infamously tiny apartments, including those with squalid conditions.Hong Kong's government has been slow to address this need. It has already admitted it will fail to meet its target of building 280,000 new apartments by 2027 by 43,000 units. The government also refuses to raise the public housing threshold, as that would further strain the city's resources.At the same time though, it is evident that the government isn't doing everything it could be to fix the situation. Only 7 percent of the city's land is set aside for housing, for example, while 60 percent is country parks or other green areas. While this might please the senses and bring a smile to the environmentally conscious, critics are right to point out that this situation doesn't make sense given the depth of the housing crisis. Worse, it is clear that oftentimes government policy favors elite interests over the needs of poor residents. One instance of this is the 2018 proposal to redevelop a large 425-acre golf course into new apartment units that could house 37,000 individuals. In February of this year, the government announced that it would redevelop only a fifth of that land—never mind the fact that the golf club that owns the property only pays 3 percent of the actual market rental value, runs a deficit, and services fewer than 2,700 members. Non-members can use this prestigious golf club on most days, but that entails paying $140 to play an 18-hole round—outside the price range of most people in Hong Kong. Naturally, this means that the club's membership is composed of the city's wealthy elite: corporate memberships go for $2 million, while individual memberships go for around $64,000 plus monthly dues. Increasingly, these are made up of wealthy Chinese mainlanders who have moved into Hong Kong in recent years.From the perspective of the protesters, some of these mainland Chinese immigrants are arguably a part of the problem. In integrating with the rest of China, Hong Kong opened the door to investment from the mainland. This mainland money poured into Hong Kong's real estate market in quantities that were sometimes in defiance of Beijing's capital controls—an indicator that this money may have originated from corrupt practices. Knight Frank, a consultancy, estimated that mainland Chinese money is responsible for buying 20 percent of the luxury condo units in Hong Kong in 2016 alone. Even Xi Jinping's own family is involved in this: a 2012 report from Bloomberg revealed that his extended family own multiple properties across the city, including a (then) $31.5 million villa overlooking Repulse Bay.Hong Kong has numerous other socioeconomic issues on its hands: the city's pension fund doesn't provide enough for retirees to survive, unemployment insurance doesn't exist, and the health system is in dire need of fixing. All of these are long-standing issues that have gone unaddressed, and have likely help fueled the discontent towards Hong Kong's current Beijing-approved government. But worst of all for China's Communist Party, this uprising seems to have happened at the most inopportune time possible: in the midst of a brutal trade war with the United States.Casualties of the Trade WarWhile Beijing may wish to downplay the damage that the current trade war with the United States is inflicting, the truth is that the situation is starting to look grim for China. Some signs indicate that China may already be feeling the early symptoms of an economic slowdown: official growth has fallen to its slowest pace in decades, and the unofficial numbers may be worse. Exports are decreasing, household debt is skyrocketing and supply chains are being moved out of the country. The country's much-cherished prosperity and resulting political stability may be under threat. A broader global economic slowdown would make the situation worse.This is where Hong Kong has long played a critical role in China's economy. The city's special status and powerful financial sector made it the perfect interface to connect mainland China's relatively capital closed markets with the rest of the world's free-flowing capital markets. In a certain sense, the city is both the first line of defense and the natural entry point into the Chinese financial system.However, this only works so long as Hong Kong is seen as a reliable center for international finance and business. The ongoing protests, along with the broader U.S.-China trade war, might effectively put an end to Hong Kong's prized position.In response to the protesters, Beijing is pressuring multinational companies to keep their employees from partaking in the demonstrations or else face the consequences—namely, exclusion from participating in mainland China's highly-lucrative markets. The world's top four accounting firms, for example, are being pushed to dismiss employees who are in support of the protesters. Moving forward, how can anyone be sure that these companies won't also toe the line if Beijing asks them to unquestionably support the financials of favored companies? Can any company really feel secure operating in Hong Kong knowing they may face significant public and private pressure to fulfill any requests made by state officials, even if they violate normal standards? Can the Hong Kong legal system, based upon the British common-law model, be relied upon to be impartial if Beijing undermines it to push its own preferences? Questions like these are what drives sensible firms to shift operations to another city (Singapore is the current favorite). These changes are also causing businesses to stop resorting to Hong Kong's legal system and to instead open up bank accounts elsewhere. Investors are already pulling their money out from the city's capital control-free financial markets.Then there is the secret cornerstone to Hong Kong's success: the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the U.S. dollar since 1973. This peg, actually a trading band between HK$7.75 and HK$7.85, has helped keep the city's economy stable over the past few decades—especially during times of crisis. If the band is ever at risk of breaking, then the city's de facto central bank (the Hong Kong Monetary Authority or HKMA) has a mandate to either buy or sell U.S. dollars as needed in order to protect the peg. Even today, despite the current state of relations between the United States and China, the peg is maintained.The trade war may change that. The HKMA has already spent billions of dollars this year alone defending the peg. While the Authority still has sufficient financial reserves to defend the peg for a while, if a significant economic downturn occurs then the peg might break. If it does, then confidence in the Hong Kong dollar will plummet, and with it, the city's reputation as a safe harbor from regional economic instability. Sensing this, the Trump administration has tied the Hong Kong protests to ongoing trade talks with Beijing. There is a chance that the administration could use the situation as leverage by threatening to remove recognition of Hong Kong's special status. If that were to occur, then the peg would certainly would break, as the HKMA would no longer be able to acquire U.S. dollars.In short, Hong Kong helps insulates mainland China from global economic turmoil. If its economy goes down, then the mainland will be exposed—including many prominent and influential Chinese companies that are based out of Hong Kong.Future UncertainIn the end, what will happen to Hong Kong?At the moment, the prognosis is rather grim. The "one country two systems" model does genuinely appear to be dead, and with it, Hong Kong's lofty position as a reliable international hub of business and finance. The economy will likely enter a prolonged recession, made worse if multinational businesses no longer have faith in the city's ability to guarantee a neutral legal and political environment.Socially, the city is divided like never before, with polling by the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Programme and the Hong Kong Public Research Institute showing that respondents, particularly young people, increasingly see themselves distinctly as "Hong Kongers" rather than "Chinese." Efforts at promoting a single Chinese identity seem to have failed.Politically, the status quo is untenable. The size and persistence of the protest movement indicates that a significant portion of the population is not happy living under Beijing's indirect rule. Yet calls for outright independence, though a small minority among protesters, have grown louder. Most protesters would prefer to preserve the "one country, two systems" model. Whether that is possible though is up for debate.Hong Kong's protesters could have been appeased earlier on, but after a number of crackdowns and missteps by the city's government, that possibility seems faint. At the same time, it is highly unlikely that the protesters themselves can win outright—the city's government will not concede to demands, especially for universal suffrage, without setting a troubling precedent. Hong Kong is at a stalemate, and all the while, the economy is deteriorating. If spirals out of control, then even the mainland's delicate economic situation will be at risk.This reality is why Beijing has not cracked down on Hong Kong's protests yet: it knows that if the situation isn't handled properly, then painful consequences would quickly follow. The current hope is that the protesters will burn out over time, allowing for a resumption of business as usual. Yet a restoration of the status quo may not be fully possible. Hong Kong's position as a trustworthy location to conduct business has been harmed, perhaps irreparably. Regardless of what happens to the current protests, it is clear that the city's population is at odds with its government and is increasingly seeing itself as a culturally distinct force. Beijing might be able to pacify Hong Kong in the short term, but all signs point toward a future day of reckoning.Carlos Roa is the senior editor of the National Interest.Image: Reuters
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| Air Force veteran convicted in terror case to be resentenced Posted: 29 Aug 2019 10:42 AM PDT  A U.S. Air Force veteran was properly convicted on terrorism charges for trying to join the Islamic State group and die a martyr, an appeals court said Thursday, but it ordered a judge to resentence him and better explain his reasons behind any penalty. Tairod Pugh, 51, of Neptune, New Jersey, is serving a 35-year prison sentence, the maximum possible penalty he faced after a Brooklyn jury convicted him in 2016 of trying to provide material support to a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said Pugh, who was an airplane mechanic in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990, was seeking a route into Syria to join the Islamic State group in 2015 when he was stopped at a Turkish airport.
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| Yemen government accuses UAE of launching air strikes on its troops Posted: 29 Aug 2019 10:27 AM PDT  Yemen's government on Thursday accused the UAE of launching air strikes against its troops in the interim capital Aden in support of separatists who say they have regained control of the southern city. The United Arab Emirates has trained and supported secessionists who seek an independent southern Yemen, despite being a key pillar in a Saudi-led military coalition backing the government against Iran-aligned Huthi rebels.
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| Another Iranian rocket launch has ended in failure after it apparently blew up on the launch pad Posted: 29 Aug 2019 10:25 AM PDT  Iran has tried three times this year to put a satellite into space, but each time, something has gone wrong with the rocket.
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| 7 soccer fans die in flash flood at Morocco match Posted: 29 Aug 2019 10:05 AM PDT  A flash flood swept across a soccer field in a southern Moroccan village, killing at least seven people watching a local match, the official MAP news agency said Thursday. Heavy rainfall caused a nearby river to swell Wednesday, pushing torrents of water over the field in Tizert, in the Taroudant region, where an amateur match was being played. Spectators scrambled for their lives, some climbing on roofs, but at least seven people died, including a 17-year-old boy, MAP reported.
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| Netanyahu strikes election deal with ultra-nationalist party Posted: 29 Aug 2019 09:55 AM PDT  A small Israeli ultranationalist party has agreed to drop out of upcoming national elections to support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud party. Netanyahu said at a press conference Thursday that he agreed to give a ministerial post in a future government to Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin and advance medical marijuana legislation, an issue supported by Feiglin. Netanyahu is hoping those votes will now go to Likud in the September vote.
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| Federal charges accuse man of Jewish center video threat Posted: 29 Aug 2019 09:50 AM PDT  An Ohio man has been charged with threatening a Jewish community center in a video police say shows him shooting a rifle, federal authorities announced Thursday. Police in New Middletown in northeastern Ohio arrested 20-year-old James Reardon on Aug. 16 after police say he posted a video on Instagram last month of himself shooting a semiautomatic rifle. A federal complaint filed Aug. 19 and unsealed Thursday charges Reardon with transmitting threatening communications via interstate commerce.
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| Boris Johnson’s Parliament Suspension to Get Early Test in Two Courts Posted: 29 Aug 2019 09:35 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit, sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, and tell us your Brexit story. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament will get an early test Friday as two courts could rule on challenges from Brexit opponents who say the decision is an affront to democracy.A judge in Edinburgh, Scotland, will rule Friday morning on a request for an emergency injunction to block the so-called prorogation of Parliament. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, another court will hear arguments in a similar case.Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament in the run up to the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline has unleashed a wave of opposition from lawmakers who say the move will make a no-deal split from the European Union more likely. Three lawsuits are pending around the country that attack different aspects of the plan."It's a misuse of prerogative power to bypass Parliament," said Gina Miller, a businesswoman who filed a case in London. "Nothing like this has ever been tested in court."The length of the suspension appeared to blindside lawmakers, with Johnson framing the plan as part of the normal course of government business. It's set to last from Sept. 12 until the Queen's Speech on Oct. 14, leaving little time for debate before the deadline the prime minister has set for the U.K. to leave the EU with or without a deal.While the initial rulings will give a sense of the judges' reactions to the legal issues involved, they will by no means be the last word.In Edinburgh on Thursday, an attorney representing the government pushed against an emergency injunction, arguing that there's ample time for courts to review the issue before Sept. 12.Before a full hearing next week, "what utility is there in making any order?" Roddy Dunlop, the U.K.'s lawyer, asked the court. "Nothing can happen. There is no good reason for hearing it now."The cases are likely to end up in front of the U.K. Supreme Court, which may have to cut its traditional summer break to review the matter.But Aidan O'Neill, the lawyer for lawmakers opposed to a no-deal Brexit, told the hearing in Edinburgh that the suspension curtails Parliament's ability to hold the government to account."The constitution may not be altered into an arbitrary despotic power by the advice of evil and wicked counselors," O'Neill said, reading from the Scottish Claim of Right from 1689. "One doesn't wish to make too many parallels with what is happening in the 17th century and yesterday, but sometimes it's just too tempting," he said.In Belfast, Raymond McCord, who's filed multiple cases over the relationship between Brexit and the Good Friday Agreement, argues suspending the legislature breaches the 1998 peace deal."The delicate constitutional balance which has thus far been achieved will be destroyed," McCord's lawyer, Ciaran O'Hare, said after a preliminary hearing Thursday. He said the court could rule following another session Friday.Miller, who won an earlier case giving Parliament more scrutiny of Brexit, said she hoped a preliminary hearing could be scheduled in her case next week.To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Browning in London at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net;Kaye Wiggins in London at kwiggins4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Imran Khan to sound sirens to summon Pakistanis to noon protest over Kashmir Posted: 29 Aug 2019 09:31 AM PDT  Pakistanis have been urged to come onto the streets at noon Friday amid blaring sirens and renditions of the national anthem, as Imran Khan called for a mass display of solidarity with Kashmir. Sirens and the national anthem will be sounded at midday to summon people out of their homes and workplaces to mark what will become a weekly "Kashmir hour", the military's information wing has said. The mass demonstrations are being staged protest against Delhi's abolition of autonomy for Indian-administered Kashmir. Indian forces have imposed a strict curfew and communications blackout to try to snuff out protest in the territory. The former cricketer said: "We must send a strong message to Kashmiris that our nation stands resolutely behind them. So I am asking all Pakistanis for half an hour tomorrow stop whatever you are doing and come out on the road to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people." Srinagar in India-administered Kashmir remains tense after more than three weeks of lockdown Credit: AP The mass mobilisation is part of Pakistan's attempt to highlight events in Kashmir as it tries to court international opinion to intervene. Mr Khan has said he will speak before the United Nations general assembly next month to press the issue. Pakistan's denunciations of India have so far met a muted response, with some countries Islamabad had counted as allies declaring India's move is an internal matter. India's trading might, and Pakistan's long-standing diplomatic isolation for its sponsorship of militants have made it difficult for Islamabad to gain traction, diplomats say. Tensions between Islamabad and Delhi have been high since February air strikes by Delhi after Narendra Modi's government sought revenge for a suicide bombing claimed by Pakistan-based militants. They rose further after the August 5 decision to revoke Kashmir's self rule. Kashmir has been divided between the two countries since independence, and has been the spark for two major wars and countless clashes between the arch-rivals. Mr Khan's calls for protests came as the Pakistani military announced earlier Thursday the testing of a surface-to-surface ballistic missile, with the army's spokesman saying the weapon was "capable of delivering multiple types of warheads".
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| Israel 'plants dummy decoy' soldiers on border with Lebanon after Hizbollah threats Posted: 29 Aug 2019 08:59 AM PDT  Israel has positioned dummy decoys dressed as soldiers on the border with Lebanon, according to local reports, as the country prepares for strikes by Hizbollah. Israel and Hizbollah, which last fought a war in 2006, are on high alert after Israel carried out a series of attacks on the group in Lebanon and neighbouring Syria and Hizbollah promised a retaliation. Lebanese journalist Ali Shueib, who works for Hizbollah's al-Manar TV station, tweeted photos of off-road army vehicles with what appeared to be a mannequin in the front seat. "Stop the jokes," he tweeted, saying that using these dummies only reveals "'stupidity and foolishness' because you have not learned that you are facing men that have the intelligence, professionalism, courage, and faith to defeat." خلصنا المزح بموضوع الجيب ✋ هذه الفضيحة كفيلة بإسقاط رؤوس كبيرة في جيشكم !! لأنها تدل عن "غباء وحمق" لأنكم لم تتعلموا بعد انكم بمواجة رجال لديهم من الحكمة والحرفية والشجاعة والإيمان مايكفي لهزيمتكم !!انضبوا وضبوا تماثيلكم .. هالحركات حتى الأطفال بلعبة الغميضة ما بيعملوها ✋ pic.twitter.com/0FqVHC0hF9— علي شعيب ���� (@ali_shoeib1) August 29, 2019 Or Heller, an Israeli military correspondent for Channel 10 News, posted a close-up of the dummy taken from the other side of the vehicle, suggesting that Israel had placed it there in anticipation of a Hizbollah assault. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has been known to use mannequins, placing them in bunkers or sniper's nests in an effort to trick its enemies into thinking they are manned by soldiers and leading them to reveal their position. Hizbollah, which is backed by Iran, have been warning they intend to carry out "calculated strike" against Israel in the coming days, in revenge for an Israeli strike in Syria which killed two Hizbollah fighters and a drone attack which is reported to have targeted precision-missile technology over the weekend. וכך ניראות הבובות בקו, בתמונה שחבר צפוני צילם. ברקע: ההבנה בצהל שנארסראללה סינדל את עצמו לתגובה על תקיפת הרחפנים בדאחייה. בדפוסי הפעולה האפשריים שלו: מטען, ירי צליפה, או ירי טילים נגד טנקים. pic.twitter.com/0jJ3QGc2iB— Or Heller אור הלר (@OrHeller) August 29, 2019 Sources close to the Shia movement had indicated to the Telegraph that the group would look to attack Israeli troops along the border and send drones into the country in a "like-for-like" retaliation for the drone attack. Israel is fighting a shadow war with arch-foe Iran, targeting its proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and attempting to disturb the flow of weapons. On its Twitter account on Thursday, the IDF went public with what it said were details about an extensive Iranian-sponsored project to provide Hizbollah with the means to produce precision-guided missiles. It released the names of four Iranian Quds Forces officers it alleged to be training Hizbollah members in Lebanon. Members of Lebanon's Shia Hizbollah movement carry the coffin of a fighter killed in Israeli strikes in Syria, during the funeral in the Ghobeiry neighbourhood of southern Beirut Credit: AFP Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said Tehran had in recent months increased the pace of the project such that it was "faster in terms of buildings, facilities, locations, conversion and manufacturing facilities, and it means more people, operatives involved in doing so". "It is time for them (the Lebanese government) to understand their responsibility and understand the fact that what they are letting Hizbollah and Iran do on Lebanese soil is their responsibility," Lt Col. Conricus said. Israel has said that it holds the Lebanese state responsible for Hizbollah's actions since the movement now has MPs in parliament. Lebanon on Wednesday opened fire on Israeli drones operating inside Lebanese airspace, after warning its neighbour it would defend its sovereignty.
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| Belarus strongman offers 'new chapter' in rare talks with US Posted: 29 Aug 2019 08:55 AM PDT  Belarus's strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday he was looking to open a "new chapter" in ties with Washington as he welcomed the White House national security advisor for rare talks in Minsk. Lukashenko met with John Bolton as the aide to President Donald Trump embarked on the latest leg of his tour of ex-Soviet countries that was sure to ruffle feathers in Moscow. The Belarusian president, a crucial ally of Russia's Vladimir Putin, said he hoped the visit would mark a turning point after years of distrust.
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| U.K. Labour Hopeful Over Parliament Vote to Block a No-Deal Brexit Posted: 29 Aug 2019 08:50 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- John McDonnell, treasury spokesman for the U.K.'s Labour Party, said he's "increasingly confident" that there's a cross-party majority in Parliament for legislation seeking to block a no-deal Brexit.But he said people shouldn't underestimate the difficulty of winning approval for measures within the "incredibly tight timetable" set by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks ahead of his Brexit deadline on Oct. 31.Parliament will sit for two weeks starting Tuesday before being suspended until Oct. 14."The key thing is next week and whether we can get legislation or other measures through Parliament," McDonnell said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday. "I'm increasingly confident."McDonnell earlier told an event in central London that Labour has been working with rival parties over the summer on "a range of proposals" to prevent a no-deal exit from the bloc and said they won't reveal their hand "until the appropriate time.""I think we'll be able to find a way which is effective," he said. "It's going to be difficult, but I'm hoping that with the commitment we've seen we will succeed."Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the first legislative steps will be taken on Tuesday and a vote of no-confidence will follow "at the appropriate moment.""What we're going to do is try to politically stop him on Tuesday with a parliamentary process in order to legislate to prevent a no-deal Brexit and also to try and prevent him shutting down Parliament during this utterly crucial period," Corbyn told Sky News later on Thursday. "We believe we can do it, otherwise we wouldn't be trying."McDonnell said the prime minister's shock move on Wednesday to request a suspension of parliament, restricting time for Brexit to be debated, "exposed in Johnson a deep-seated arrogant sense of entitlement" and that Labour is ready to test the popularity of that at an election. "Bring it on," he said.Johnson's pursuit of a no-deal Brexit is part of a wider "right-wing and reactionary" economic and political strategy, McDonnell said. That plan includes a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest, becoming a tax haven on the edge of continental Europe, and privatizing public services, he said."This is deep in the heart of their political project," he said. "As people wake up to that they're reacting against it."(Updates with Corbyn starting in 7th paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UN backs negotiated Yemen peace including concerns of south Posted: 29 Aug 2019 08:45 AM PDT ![UN backs negotiated Yemen peace including concerns of south]( "UN backs negotiated Yemen peace including concerns of south") The U.N. Security Council is strongly supporting a negotiated political solution in war-torn Yemen that addresses legitimate concerns of all Yemenis, including those in the south, which recently saw a violent attempt to take over government institutions. A statement approved Thursday by all 15 council members expressed deep concern about escalating violence and recent loss of life across Yemen, including in the key southern port city of Aden and the capital Sanaa and other northern cities controlled by Houthi Shiite rebels.
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| U.S. Sanctions Hong Kong Firm Posing As Back Door To Iran Posted: 29 Aug 2019 08:33 AM PDT ![U.S. Sanctions Hong Kong Firm Posing As Back Door To Iran]( "U.S. Sanctions Hong Kong Firm Posing As Back Door To Iran") A Hong Kong firm was sanctioned this week by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for its alleged role in the illegal transshipment of "tens of millions of dollars' worth" of U.S.-origin technology and electronic components to Iran. The Hong Kong-based company, Green Industries (Hong Kong) Ltd., is owned by Hamed Dehghan, CEO and chairman of Gostar Boshra LLC (PKGB), which, according to OFAC and the FBI, operated as a front since 2017 to procure technology for Iran's weapons of mass destruction manufacturing program.
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| Denmark: It’s Bigger Than Greenland Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:53 AM PDT  Denmark has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. President Donald Trump's unexpected interest in buying Greenland and his subsequent postponement of a planned State Department visit to Copenhagen rankled Danish feathers and left many on both sides of the Atlantic scratching their heads.It is a shame. As important as Greenland is for U.S.-Danish relations, and indeed for the future of the Arctic, America's alliance with Denmark is about far more than this icy isle.Through blood sacrificed and a political willingness to stand side by side with the United States, Denmark has proved itself a committed ally. This fact alone should have been enough for the president to continue his planned visit. The cancellation is a missed opportunity to solidify the two nations' partnership on a range of geopolitical issues—from defense spending to devising an appropriate response to Iranian and Russian aggression.Denmark, like the United States is a founding member of NATO. Certainly, it spends too little on defense, a mere 1.35 percent of GDP. However, unlike some NATO allies, Denmark has been ever willing to fight in the trenches alongside the United States, without caveats.Following the 9/11 terror attacks, Denmark decided to refocus its military on expeditionary capabilities as opposed to territorial defense. Danish soldiers deployed to some of the most dangerous places on earth to stand shoulder to shoulder with U.S. soldiers.Between 2002–2013, Denmark deployed 9,500 soldiers to Afghanistan. Danish soldiers deployed to Helmand province, one of the deadliest regions in the country, and suffered the highest per capita casualty rate amongst NATO allies.Danish soldiers also fought in Iraq; "the Danish Army sustained 850 to 1000 soldiers in Basra, Iraq, from 2003 to 2007," with seven soldiers killed during that time. Denmark fought alongside the United States during NATO's 2011 intervention in Libya. Denmark was second only to the United States in munitions dropped during Operation Odyssey Dawn, and Danish jets dropped 11 percent of NATO munitions during the follow-on Operation Unified Protector. From 2016–2018, Danish special operations forces worked in Iraq to train Iraqi security forces in the fight against the Islamic States. Danish frigates took part in Operation Inherent Resolve, as did seven F-16 jets, which took part in bombing missions in both Iraq and Syria.One of the largest seafaring nations in the world, Denmark actively contributed to anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Guinea as well as the Horn of Africa.As a member of the European Union, Denmark is shackled for now to the failed Iran Nuclear Deal. Yet, the nation has proven to be more willing than most nations to tackle the incendiary actions of the Revolutionary Guard in the Straits of Hormuz. In June, Denmark's Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod stated the country would likely contribute ships toward an initiative to patrol the straits. Last year, Danish company A.P. Moller-Maersk, the largest container shipping company in the world, stated it was preparing to halt doing business with Iran over the threat of U.S. sanctions.Last October, Danish authorities foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate dissidents living in Denmark, recalling its ambassador to Tehran in protest.Additionally, Denmark has been European leader in standing up to Vladimir Putin's Russia. The Danes remain staunch supporters of EU sanctions against Russia for its invasion and continued occupation of Ukraine. Danish forces serve in the UK-led multinational battalion in Estonia, part of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence. And Danish jets have participated in NATO's Baltic air-policing mission six times—most recently in the first half of 2018.Denmark is also investing in major military equipment. For example, it is purchasing twenty-seven F-35 jets—advanced airpower that would prove valuable in a potential future conflict with Russia.Also, to its credit, the Danes have vociferously opposed the Nord Stream II pipeline. The natural gas pipeline would only further enmesh Russia in Europe's energy supply as well as its political calculations. Thus far, Denmark is the only European nation that has tried to throw a wrench in the project. Its refusal to approve permits has thus far delayed work on the pipeline's construction at a potential cost of $740 million to the consortium building it.Still, last month Gazprom stated it expects Denmark to approve its route application by October; the political pressure from Russia and other European nations is surely immense.The dangers posed by the Nord Stream II pipeline is a major policy area where the United States and Denmark agree. A public show of support from the United States on this issue would have spoken volumes to the Danes and others in the West.Finally, it is worth remembering that in the event of a future conflict with Russia, Danish territory could prove decisive. Denmark sits astride a series of straits that control access to the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, Denmark controls the island of Bornholm, located at the mouth of the Baltic. Denmark continues to station troops on the strategic island, and in 2017, announced the rebuilding of a listening tower on Bornholm to gather intelligence on Russia.If the United States needed to intervene militarily in the Baltic States, then access to the Danish Straits and Bornholm Island would be vital. Additionally, Danish bases would be a major component of NATO's air and land operations to retake the Baltic States in a potential conflict.Last October, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis succinctly stated, "Our real strengths are the network of alliances and partnerships around the world." Moving forward, leaders in both the United States and Denmark have a responsibility to focus on the importance of relationship and the joint work we have done and can do together in the transatlantic community.Daniel Kochis is a senior policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.Image: Reuters
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| Women seeking Tunisian presidency say it's time for change Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:48 AM PDT  Tunisian women can seek abortions, file for divorce and enjoy other rights unheard of in some parts of the Arab world — and two presidential candidates say it's time to put a woman in charge of the country. Selma Elloumi Rekik and Abir Moussi want to fight against creeping fundamentalism that has threatened Tunisian women's freedoms and improve economic prospects for unemployed youth. The centrist businesswoman entered the political scene in 2012 alongside Essebsi, served as tourism minister and created her own political group called Al Amal, or Hope.
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| Far-right party eyes big gains in German state elections Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:42 AM PDT  A few wave German flags as they gather for a rally with leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany party. Supporters of the party, which hopes to make big gains Sunday in two state elections, are quick to blame Chancellor Angela Merkel and her center-right Christian Democratic Union for their region's woes. "We need a change," retiree Volker Nowak said as he stood among some 500 followers of the party known as AfD.
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| Trump’s Iran Policy Needs a History Lesson Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:42 AM PDT  Soon Hossein's voice will be heard everywhere...Do not threaten us with war, we are aliveWe have entrusted our swords with our answer to youThe word 'surrender' has been erased from our vocabulary These were the words passionately chanted by a Shiite Maddahi performer in Iran in September 2018. As a part of commemorating the holy month of Muharram, Shiites often gather and listen to eulogistic tributes to their archetypal hero, Imam Hossein. Ashura—marking the tenth day of Muharram—is a day of lamentation, as Shiites the world over memorialize the martyrdom of Hossein and the epic tale from seventh-century Karbala that came to define their religion and inform their worldview. As the opening verses illustrate, the legacy of Hossein is still invoked as a source of strength when Iranians face insurmountable challenges, such as threats of war. While President Donald Trump may claim that a war with Iran would not "last very long," U.S. policy decisions do not exist in a vacuum. The Iranian perspective, including its national and historical psychology that drives the country's decisionmaking, is integral for U.S. policymakers to understand if they are intent on formulating sound Iran policy. The history of Imam Hossein's legacy and how it has shaped Iranian sensibilities is key to understanding the Iranian psyche in a context of heightened escalation. The Impact of KarbalaSplit on the issue of succession after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, a minority upheld the claim of the Prophet's son-in-law, Ali, and continued to oppose the leadership that they believed to be illegitimate. This minority came to be known as Shiat Ali, partisans of Ali—today commonly referred to as Shiites. In 680 CE, when called upon by Shiite followers to fight against the oppression of the Umayyad caliph, Yazid, Hossein—Ali's son and Muhammad's grandson whom Shiites exalted as the rightful leader—heeded the call and set off to Kufa in modern-day Iraq. On his way, Hossein's caravan was intercepted by Yazid's forces in the desert of Karbala. After a ten-day siege, he faced either submission or certain death for himself and his seventy-two devotees. Refusing to surrender, Hossein chose the path of martyrdom and died a martyr's death. To put it plainly, the successors to the Prophet Muhammad beheaded his grandson.This watershed moment had two important implications for Shiites: first, Imam Hossein became the quintessential symbol of martyrdom and resistance against oppressors. Second, the failure of the Kufans to fight with Hossein left a scar of shame on Shiites, who would vow never to refuse the call again. In 1501, Shah Ismail founded the Safavid Empire in Iran and subsequently established Shiism as the empire's religion. Today, over 90 percent of Iranians hail from the Shiite sect of Islam. Over the centuries, Shiism intertwined with other elements of Iranian culture, becoming one significant thread in the rich tapestry of Iran's cultural history and identity. In fact, Shia leitmotifs were utilized by Iranian dissidents in the 1960s and 1970s as an indigenous cultural signifier in defiance of the Shah's imposed nationalism that favored Aryanism, royalism, and a Western standard of modernization. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the architects of the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) consolidated their power by silencing the many factions that partook in the historic upheaval and appropriated the revolution's discourse for their own use. Claiming to be the flag bearers of Hossein's centuries old quest for justice, the IRI continues to portray itself as protectors of subjugated people and aligns itself with resistance movements around the world. Trump as Yazid The Trump administration and Iran hawks in Washington, DC continue to tout the view that a war with Iran would be swift and easy. National Security Advisor John Bolton proclaimed in front of an MEK crowd—a formerly designated terrorist organization—that before 2019 they would have a similar gathering in Tehran, implying that a collapse of the regime was imminent. Notorious anti-Iran hawk Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), flippantly stated that the United States would win a war with Iran in two strikes, "the first strike and the last strike." Trump himself has threatened "the official end of Iran" and indicated that a war with Iran would be short lived. Despite the confident rhetoric, evidence is not on their side. The last full-scale war Iran fought was after the invasion of Iraq in 1980. Similar to the current thinking of the Trump administration, Saddam Hussein calculated at the time that he could capitalize on Iran's weaknesses and instability soon after its revolution. Though Iraq made initial gains and quickly occupied Khorramshahr, the foreign invasion galvanized the nation to action and solidified the Islamic Republic as Iranians shifted their focus to protecting their homeland. Iran's defense was perceived in highly nationalist terms but was also infused with Shiite symbols. While Iraq was better prepared, better organized, and had the support of the most powerful nations in the world, Iran had a potent ideology. The IRI certainly harnessed the religious propensities of its people for the cause, but it was only able to do so because the state was using an existing inclination. Unlike the disgraced Kufans who had abandoned Hossein in battle, Iranians rejected submission, prepared to sacrifice their lives, and fought under the banner of Hossein. Armed with the formidable strength of their beliefs and love of their nation, hundreds of thousands of Iranian men and young boys became martyrs in an eight-year war. It is only because of their sacrifice that Iran was able to mount a defense, which eventually ended the Iraqi occupation of Khorramshahr and moved the fight into Iraqi territory. Though Iran felt vindicated for overcoming a tremendous challenge against all odds, the loss of life was severe. After eight years of bloody war, and an estimated one million people died; there were no winners.Today, Iran's armed forces are organized and well-equipped, larger, and have greater power in the region. Although there is great discontent amongst Iranians after forty years of authoritarian rule, the policies of the Trump administration have played directly into the hands of Iran's hardliners. By abrogating the JCPOA without provocation, imposing brutal sanctions that hurt ordinary Iranians, and insulting their prideful sensibilities, Trump has made himself a modern day Yazid—an image of oppression and injustice. Iran's reactions to these policies have followed an expected path. After the United States violated the nuclear deal, Iran continued to comply with it for over a year, giving time to deal's other parties to fulfill their commitments. After a year of "strategic patience," Iran shifted to a more offensive strategy. Like Hossein who challenged Yazid when he was called upon by his followers, Iran acted after no benefits materialized and Iranian people began to suffer more under sanctions. Iran's calculated breaches of the JCPOA are easily reversible with the intention of gaining leverage—not a bomb. Though drone strikes and tanker seizures may appear like risky moves that may spark conflict, those incidents are seen strictly in defensive terms where Iran is protecting its land and national waters. In fact, the Iranian government has clearly indicated that it is willing to negotiate, however, it is not willing to do so under duress, nor is it willing to compromise on matters of sovereignty. The language of Iranian officials is all too familiar to its contemporary history, emphasizing its independence. As President Hassan Rouhani recently stated, "we will always be ready for a negotiation that is just, legal, and has respect for the Iranian people and their rights." He added, "But we aren't ready to sit at the table of surrender under the guise of negotiations." Echoing the cries of the Maddahi performer, the message is plain: surrender is not an option.The epic of Karbala is ultimately a legacy of resistance against injustice, with a central hero that is easy to revere for his repudiation of tyranny. Hossein's moment of sacrifice immortalized him. The power of this imagery is crucial to recognize in any analysis that considers the costs of war with Iran. As Hamid Dabashi aptly states about Shiism, "It thrives and is triumphant when it is combative and wages an uphill battle." The Trump administration must act prudently by ending its "maximum pressure" campaign and pinning its hopes of a resolution on dialogue, not capitulation. Trump should be mindful of Saddam's experience invading Iran nearly forty years ago, lest he endure the same fate. Assal Rad is a research fellow at the National Iranian American Council. She received her PhD in History at the University of California, Irvine. Follow her on Twitter @assalrad.Image: Reuters
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| Duterte in China amid expectation he'll raise sea disputes Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:37 AM PDT  Visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte held talks Thursday with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in which the Southeast Asian leader was expected to discuss a ruling on the disputed South China Sea. The 2016 Hague arbitration ruling mostly invalidated China's claim to virtually the entire South China Sea and found that it violated the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. The row over the waters — a major global shipping route thought to be rich in oil and gas reserves — has for years marred China's relationship with the Philippines and other neighboring countries with rival territorial claims.
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| Trump news: President demands media outlets 'all apologise' as G7 fallout prompts Congress to step up impeachment inquiry Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:37 AM PDT  Donald Trump has lashed out at the press after MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell was forced to apologise for claiming Deutsche Bank's financial records on the Trump family included loan documents co-signed by Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.The president has defended his China trade war and pledged to reduce troop numbers in Afghanistan in an interview with Fox News Radio and been busy on Twitter proclaiming "the Age of Trump", deriding New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand after she dropped out of the 2020 race and touting construction progress on his US-Mexico border wall, only for his own officials to contradict him.
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| Why America Must Confront Power-Hungry Iran Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:30 AM PDT  With each passing week, Iran's strategy comes into sharper focus: harass the international community and try to sow concern in energy markets without taking action that would prompt a kinetic response. Iran is a radical force, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and a cheat that counts on weak-kneed countries to give in to extortion. Regime leaders are trying to project strength, but their strategy is resulting in just the opposite.Iran looks small. It has been illegally boarding ships transiting international waters and seizing them for political, diplomatic, or financial ransom. That's the same tactic that Somali pirates have been perpetrating for years before an international naval task force put an end to their operations.Some may argue that U.S. energy dominance precludes the need for U.S. presence in the region. But they're wrong. A multilateral effort to deter further illegal behavior must be led by the United States because freedom of navigation, geopolitical primacy, and stable energy markets are core components of U.S. national security. Iran's behavior imperils all.Few things are as important to U.S. national security as freedom of navigation. President Donald Trump understands that, which is why he has repeatedly dispatched U.S. Navy ships to the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, where Beijing has raised eyebrows with territorial claims and activities that challenge the global order. Similarly, if the United States does not lead this effort, it sends the signal to illiberal states that America's policies are not universal. The effects would be severe and long-term.China and Russia will rush to fill the vacuum of leadership, which will benefit their partner—Iran—and make the world less safe. Our allies in the region, like Israel, would be vulnerable due to Washington lacking the resolve to lead. The U.S. intelligence community warned in the latest Worldwide Threat Assessment that Beijing and Moscow are involved in a "race for technological and military superiority" and "are more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s." U.S. absence from the region would act as a force multiplier for Chinese and Russian ambitions.Oil and gas markets would likewise be subject to sudden shock. President Trump and his team know that a U.S.-led effort would keep energy markets stable and secure, resulting in a net positive for the U.S. economy, consumers and businesses alike. And they also know that eliminating the threat of a disruption that could roil markets would free investment for U.S. energy companies to continue growing our share of the global energy markets.We are buoyed by recent reports that the Trump administration is accelerating plans for a military coalition to safeguard waters off of Iran and Yemen but the situation is deteriorating quickly. A president known for decisiveness must exercise that muscle now.Allies like Bahrain are doing what they can to counter Iranian threats in the Gulf by organizing a global maritime security conference this fall, but if we wait until then to act, it may be too late. Similarly, President Trump should work with the United Kingdom, which recently joined the coalition, to recruit additional European membership. Iran shouldn't be able to use the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to shatter transatlantic unity.America does not seek to confront Iran, but it cannot shirk its responsibilities to protect its national interests. Standing up to what amounts to guerilla tactics requires the resolve of the world's most powerful naval force and U.S. allies must line up beside it, shoulder to shoulder, to thwart aggression from Tehran.Iran is a nation that craves power and the ability to impose fear. America and its allies must combat Iran's ability to achieve either. Because when the regime is not restrained, their malign intentions come closer to being fully realized and America cedes ground. Dealing with Iran's aggression is a zero-sum game. There is no middle ground where both free nations led by Washington and the Iranian regime can find a win. Tehran must be disabused of its intentions to continue violating international law and it must happen now, before a mistake happens and lives are lost.Mark D. Wallace, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform, is chief executive of United Against Nuclear Iran. Fred Zeidman is a chairman of the Council for a Secure America. He is on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition and is the chairman emeritus of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.Image: Reuters
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| Lebanon Prepares for War While Israel Is at War with Itself Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:26 AM PDT  On Sunday, Lebanon was rattled by two air raids. As the dust settles, the small Mediterranean republic is now waiting anxiously to see if simmering Iranian-Israeli tensions will evaporate—or boil over into a full-scale war on Lebanese soil."There is a scenario of continuing with this ongoing pattern of limited, calibrated tit-for-tat escalation, or things can get out of control, and we are suddenly facing a regional war," said former Beirut resident Randa Slim, after two Israeli drones exploded over the Lebanese capital in an alleged kamikaze attack against the pro-Iran guerrilla group cum political party Hezbollah.With elections in Israel set for September, right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to cultivate his strongman image with an aggressive military posture. Iran, meanwhile, has to balance its delicate efforts to win new friends in Europe and America with defending its old allies in the Middle East. And neither side is sure where the United States will throw its weight.Last weekend, the result of this rivalry was Israeli strikes in three different countries: Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.On Saturday, Israeli warplanes had killed two Hezbollah members in Syria. Israel claimed that the militants were planning a drone attack "under Iran's command" on the Golan Heights, a disputed territory controlled by Israel.Then, on Sunday, the Israeli drones exploded over Beirut. A few hours later, Israeli drones attempted to attack a Palestinian communist group in eastern Lebanon, attracting anti-aircraft fire in the Bekaa Valley.Sunday's incidents were the first air combat deep within Lebanon since the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah accused Israel of violating the "rules of engagement" since the 2006 war, calling the drone incident "the first attack since August 14, 2006." However, Israel did strike Lebanese territory in a 2014 incident along the Syrian-Lebanese border."I think what Nasrallah meant is that the old rules of the game that were established in 2006 between Nasrallah and Israel and Hezbollah, have been changed, and this is the first attack under the new rules of the game," said Slim, founding director of the Initiative for Track II Dialogues at the Middle East Institute. "If that's the case, how will Hezbollah's retaliation be different from previous retaliation, and then second, how will Israel's reaction to Hezbollah attacks be different?"On the same day, an airstrike killed a Popular Mobilization commander along the Iraq-Syria border. The Popular Mobilization, created to help the collapsing Iraqi Army fend off the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, has become an avenue for Iranian weapons and advisors to enter Iraq.A bloc of political parties allied with the Popular Mobilization accused Israel of the attack. Both the Iraqi parliament bloc and Lebanese president Michel Aoun, whose Catholic-majority Free Patriotic Movement is in a parliamentary coalition with Hezbollah, called the weekend's incidents an "act of war."Last Thursday, Netanyahu told a television station that "I don't give Iran immunity anywhere," naming both Iraq and Syria. Over the weekend, unnamed U.S. officials began to tell the media that Israel had been behind a deadly July 12 attack on an Iraqi weapons depot where Iranian military advisors had been staying."We defer to the government of Iraq which is conducting investigations," a U.S. State Department official told the National Interest. As of press time, the Iraqi embassy in Washington has not responded to a request for comment."The escalation conducted by Israel in Syria, Iraq, and potentially Lebanon is part of a broader messaging campaign that is being done by the IDF and by Prime Minister Netanyahu to send the message that Israel has the ability to take the conflict against Iran anywhere it so chooses in the Middle East," said Nicholas Heras, a security fellow at the Center for a New American Security. "There is also a domestic political component to this, as Prime Minister Netanyahu is locked in a deathmatch for his political future," Heras told the National Interest. "Netanyahu's signature issue has always been national security, and this public messaging, including a series of tweets by the Prime Minister himself, is meant to demonstrate to the Israeli people that Prime Minister Netanyahu is the only shield that can protect them from Iran."Netanyahu is currently facing corruption charges, and parliamentary immunity—which he stands to lose in the upcoming election—may be his last chance to avoid jail."Netanyahu is under fire due to cross-border attacks from Gaza and attacks on Israelis in the West Bank," said Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. "Shifting attention to the northern front, where the public trusts his judgment and leadership, could also help his re-election campaign."Over the weekend, a bomb killed an Israeli teenager hiking in the Palestinian territories, and Israeli forces traded fire with Palestinian militants in the unrecognized statelet of Gaza. The cross-border fighting in Gaza did not cause any casualties on either side, but sparked mass panic when a volley of Palestinian rockets forced Israeli concertgoers into bomb shelters."It seems that Netanyahu who has enjoyed the image of being Mr. Security, and counter-terrorism expert feels it is time to refresh this image which has deteriorated over time," said Mohammad Darawshe, former director of the United Arab List, a party representing Arab citizens of Israel, and executive director of the Center for Shared Society at the Givat Haviva Institute. "And what better time can you have other than three weeks before elections, so that this can . . . give you more air time?"But Israeli and U.S. messaging policy may not be coordinated. Ha'aretz speculated that U.S. officials had leaked Israeli involvement in Iraq out of anger at Israel, for damaging America's delicate relationship with Iraq.After the clashes, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended "Israel's right to defend itself," according to a State Department summary of a Sunday phone call between Pompeo and Netanyahu. At the same time, Iraqi political factions across the political spectrum lined up to defend the Popular Mobilization."It does put the U.S. in an awkward position, because Iraq is supposed to be a U.S. ally that it's supposed to protect, instead of protecting the country that is bombing Iraq," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute.The annoyance may be mutual. Center-right journalist Barack Ravid reported on Thursday that Israeli officials are worried that Trump is replacing his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran with highly-publicized "summit diplomacy," as he has with North Korea.On the sidelines of the international Group of Seven meeting this week, French president Emmanuel Macron met with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, a surprise guest at the summit. At the conference, Macron and Trump discussed the possibility of renewed diplomacy with Iran.According to Ravid, Netanyahu and his staff were desperately trying to contact Trump, in order to dissuade the U.S. president from meeting Zarif.Trump and Zarif will most likely both be at next month's United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, which takes place only ten days after Israel's elections."Netanyahu is worried about signs of U.S.-Iranian detente and would like to keep the current American pressure on Tehran, or even see it strengthened," Benn told the National Interest. "At the same time, Trump's opening to Iran gives Israel an opportunity to hit Iran's proxies in the region, believing that Tehran would be reluctant to risk its channels to Washington in order to retaliate to low-level, pinpointed Israeli attacks."Ultimately, however, the strikes may have as much to do with the Middle Eastern balance of power as either highbrow summits in New York or lowbrow electioneering in Tel Aviv. "The election campaign affects how the military strikes are discussed publicly, but it likely does not determine the decision to actually conduct the strikes," said Henry Rome, an analyst of both Iranian and Israeli politics at the Eurasia Group. "Netanyahu is often portrayed as a reckless, militaristic prime minister, but the opposite is the case: he's a cautious leader on military matters and is acutely aware of the risks of military operations." "Israel has been escalating its attacks against Iran and Iranian-backed groups in Syria consistently for a year and a half now," Heras told the National Interest. "Israel has identified, correctly, that much of the strength in manpower for Iran's Hezbollah proxy network comes from Iraqi Shi'a militias."The ruling Assad family in Syria, an ally of Iran since the 1970s, nearly lost power in a civil war beginning in 2011. President Bashar al-Assad's government survived with heavy backing from Iran, Hezbollah, and an alliance of Iranian-backed paramilitaries recruited from Iraq and Afghanistan.Anxiety over Hezbollah's growing stockpile of missiles, which killed dozens of Israeli civilians during the 2006 war, has driven Israel to target the Lebanese group inside Syria. Israel has supported the Syrian rebellion with weapons shipments, medical support, and hundreds of airstrikes."Israel's policy has been pretty clear from the get-go, which is to prevent Iranian entrenchment in its backyard," Slim told the National Interest. "There has been an understanding between Russia and Israel, specifically between [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin and Netanyahu, of giving Israel free rein to target Iranian offensive capacities inside Syria as long as they do not harm Russian interests and Russian personnel in Syria.""Under the old rules of the game, which were pretty much respected by both parties, whenever there was a violation of these new rules, it was a limited, calibrated, tit-for-tat escalation, usually followed by messaging by the top leadership on both sides that no further escalation is desired by either side," she continued. "Even when attacking targets in Syria, Israel has worked hard not to target Hezbollah personnel operating in Syria. So the number of Hezbollah personnel who died in Syria because of Israeli targeting is quite limited."Slim said that Hezbollah has similarly restrained its responses to the Shebaa Farms, a strip of territory claimed by Lebanon but administered by Israel.But Nasrallah's speech hinted that Hezbollah could attack targets inside Israel this time, even beyond military targets. "The time has ended when Israeli planes bomb a target in Lebanon while the Usurper Entity in Palestine is safe," he said in his Sunday speech, using an epithet for Israel. "Today I say to the inhabitants of the north [of Israel] and all the inhabitants of Occupied Palestine, do not rest and do not believe that Hezbollah will allow this sort of aggression.""Be careful about your words, and even more cautious about your actions," Netanyahu responded on Tuesday."Right now, every side is testing the other side. Hence this period of instability. Nasrallah was clear that the old rules no longer hold," Slim said. "This kind of testing is subject to a lot of miscalculation as well as misunderstanding of each other's intentions."Israel calculates that "the Iranians are not in a position to respond right now, not that they can't militarily, but because they have to balance so many different other concerns," Parsi said. "As a result, it's relatively cost-free for the Israelis to do this right now."Iran's response is also constrained by "a test of will between, on one hand, [Iraqi] state institutions, and on the other hand, the [Popular Mobilization] factions which are controlled and beholden to Iran, about who controls war and peace decisions of the country," Slim claimed.Slim believes that Israel is similarly limited by internal politics, as it doesn't want a costly "adventure" inside of Lebanon during an election season. But it's always possible that Netanyahu will turn an uncontrollable escalation to his advantage."People unite after their leaders during time[s] of crisis," Darawshe told the National Interest in a text message. "[I]f you are a conflict management specialist as Mr. Netanyahu, you would exploit the situation to its utmost, by dragging the country into a sensitive low level intensity conflict."Matthew Petti is a national security reporter at the National Interest and a former Foreign Language Area Studies fellow at Columbia University. His work has been published in Reason and America Magazine.Image: Reuters
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| Xi, Duterte Fail to Resolve Tense South China Sea Dispute Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:22 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's much-touted meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping does not appear to have yielded an agreement on the South China Sea territorial dispute between the two nations or a plan to explore the area for oil and gas.Instead, Xi said China and the Philippines should aim to conclude talks on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea by 2021 or earlier, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reports in Weibo post.Duterte and Xi witnessed the signing of six deals after a meeting in Beijing late Thursday. These included a loan agreement for a rail project across the Philippines' main island, while a joint oil and gas exploration was not in the list provided to media.The Philippine leader said the two countries were in a clear path of partnership, according to portions of the bilateral meeting aired by state-run People's Television, while Xi was quoted as saying that he will work with Duterte to further improve relations.Duterte has earlier said he will use the Philippines' 2016 international tribunal win against China, which he set aside to warm ties and tap Chinese funding, to negotiate a favorable deal with Xi.Philippine envoy to China Chito Sta. Romana had earlier said the two nations were seeking to advance plans for joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea during the leaders' meeting."We are trying to find a way within certain parameters to move forward," the ambassador said. "We hope to get it going as fast as possible."While an oil deal that would give Manila a bigger share might have appeared to be a win for Duterte, it could undermine Philippine interests in the future because an agreement may give credence to China's sea claim, said Collin Koh, research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore."This deal may even embolden China to demand a share of energy resources in other Southeast Asian nations' exclusive economic zones, in waters that Beijing lays no legitimate resource claim to," Koh said.Chinese WarshipsDuterte was also expected to raise with Xi the presence of Chinese warships and survey vessels in Philippine waters, which has triggered diplomatic protests from Manila over the past weeks. It is not clear if this happened.It's unlikely that Duterte's meeting with Xi will yield a concrete plan to address the issue, said Jeffrey Ordaniel, assistant professor of international security studies at Tokyo International University."Xi wants a good media narrative out of his meeting with Duterte," Ordaniel said. "Certainly, China wants to create a false atmosphere of calm and cooperation in the South China Sea."China wants to "expand practical cooperation to ensure steady and sustained progress" in its ties with the Philippines through Xi's meeting with Duterte, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said last week.The meeting took place amid Beijing's crackdown on the Philippines' billion-peso online casinos catering mostly to Chinese nationals despite a gambling ban in mainland China. Manila has stopped granting new permits for online casinos, but China wants a total ban.(Updates first three paragraphs with outcome for meeting)To contact the reporter on this story: Andreo Calonzo in Manila at acalonzo1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net, Ruth PollardFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US waged cyberattack on database used by Iran to target tankers: NYTimes Posted: 29 Aug 2019 06:51 AM PDT  The United States staged a secret cyberattack in June against a database used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to plot attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf, The New York Times reported. The newspaper, quoting senior US officials, said the June 20 attack had degraded the ability of Iran's paramilitary force to target shipping in the Gulf.
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| Johnson Heads Into Storm as Popular Scottish Leader Deserts Him Posted: 29 Aug 2019 06:20 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit, sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, and tell us your Brexit story. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was faced with multiple political storms after the Scottish leader credited with rescuing his Conservative Party at the last election resigned and opponents turned to the courts to try and block his suspension of parliament.Ruth Davidson, who ran the party in Scotland for almost eight years and ranked among the U.K.'s most popular politicians, said the pressures of family life prompted her decision, but her differences with Johnson over Britain's protracted departure from the European Union loomed large."Having led our party through seven national elections and two referenda, I know the efforts, hours and travel required to fight such campaigns successfully," Davidson wrote in her letter she published on Twitter. "The threat of spending hundreds of hours away from my home and family now fills me with dread."While Davidson's departure removes one of Johnson's high-profile internal critics, it also increases the risks to him should he end up having to fight an election to break the impasse over Brexit. Davidson also was a key bulwark against the nationalists gunning for another vote on Scottish independence.Former Prime Minister Theresa May's government only held on after the 2017 election because of Davidson's campaigning in Scotland. While the Conservatives lost seats in England and Wales, they went from having one seat in Scotland to 13, clipping the wings of the Scottish National Party and giving May just enough seats to stay in power.Johnson has repeatedly said he has no plans to fight an election, but the crisis over Brexit may force him into one. On Wednesday, he moved to suspend Parliament in two weeks time and caused an uproar among lawmakers.Legal battles over the plan escalated on Thursday, with lawyers in Edinburgh and Belfast attacking the move as an "unprecedented" affront to democracy. A group of lawmakers asked a Scottish court to issue an injunction to block the so-called prorogation of parliament.Johnson's gambit also prompted George Young, who had been a minister in three previous Conservative administrations, to resign as a key government official in the House of Lords, saying he was "very unhappy" about the move.While Davidson said her decision was personal -- she had her first child last year -- her resignation letter offered no endorsement of Johnson, and acknowledged that Brexit had led to "conflict" for her. She has made no secret of her past differences with Johnson.Davidson opposed Johnson during the campaign for the Tory leadership and has criticized him since he became prime minister over his refusal to rule out a no-deal Brexit, and also for firing Scottish Secretary David Mundell and replacing him with an English -- rather than Scottish -- member of Parliament.Speaking at a press conference after her resignation, Davidson offered support for the prime minister, but only in his efforts to secure a Brexit deal, which she said she believed to be sincere."I went down to Downing Street to meet him last week in a private meeting," she said. "I stared him right in the eye. I asked him outright, look, I need to know are you actually trying to get a deal or not? And he categorically assured me that he was."For his part, Johnson acknowledged that Davidson had been instrumental in the revival of his party's electoral fortunes in Scotland and credited her for her "pivotal role" in the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.Thatcher's LegacyDavidson joined the Scottish Conservative Party in 2008 after spells as a TV journalist and in the Army reserves. Three years later, at the age of 32, she was leader. The job, Davidson was told, was "to resuscitate a corpse." The party was still suffering from the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, whose de-industrialization hammered Scotland's coalfields and shipyards.She set about it with vigor, meeting voters to reinforce her can-do image. She allowed herself to be photographed straddling the barrel of a tank and riding a bull. She posed for a newspaper flicking a V-sign -- the British equivalent of giving someone the finger.Her success wasn't simply in the 2017 U.K.-wide election. She took the Scottish Tories from the political margins to being the main opposition party in the Scottish Parliament. Her departure is likely to be a relief to Scottish National Party leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is vehemently opposed to Brexit and Johnson's leadership.Davidson was also seen as crucial to the Tories' plans to hold together the U.K. in any future referendum on Scottish independence. Scotland voted to remain in the EU and Brexit has increased calls for a break away. Sturgeon is demanding another vote and her government is preparing legislation for one, though it's up to the U.K. to endorse it.\--With assistance from Jessica Shankleman and Jonathan Browning.To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Rodney JeffersonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pakistan PM Khan calls for nationwide protests over Kashmir Posted: 29 Aug 2019 06:17 AM PDT  Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for mass demonstrations across the country to protest against Delhi's actions in Indian-administered Kashmir, as tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals continued to boil. Khan has asked for weekly nationwide rallies until he leaves for New York next month to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he vowed to raise the issue. Tensions have soared in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to strip India's portion of Kashmir of its autonomy and bring it under Delhi's direct rule.
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| Real China threat isn't trade. It's national security and intellectual property theft. Posted: 29 Aug 2019 06:02 AM PDT  Trump's trade war and tariffs are costly and misguided. His top priorities when it comes to China should be IP theft, security, North Korea and Iran.
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| Welcome to the US, Greta. With your help we can save the planet and ourselves Posted: 29 Aug 2019 05:51 AM PDT  Even in such a divided and troubled country, there is hope. Between us we can beat the climate destroyersGreta Thunberg arrives in New York after a 15-day journey crossing the Atlantic. Photograph: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty ImagesDear Greta,Thank you for travelling across the Atlantic to north America to help us do the most important work in the world. There are those of us who welcome you and those who do not because you have landed in two places, a place being born and a place dying, noisily, violently, with as much damage as possible.It has always been two places, since the earliest Europeans arrived in places where Native people already lived, and pretended they were new and gave them the wrong names. You can tell the history of the United States – which are not very united now – as the history of Sojourner Truth, the heroine who helped liberate the enslaved, as that of the slaveowners and defenders of slavery, as a place of visionary environmental voices such as Rachel Carson and the corporate powers and profiteers she fought and exposed.Right now the US is the country of Donald Trump and of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of climate destroyers and climate protectors. Sometimes the Truths and the Carsons have won. I believe it is more than possible for Ocasio-Cortez and the Green New Deal to win, for the spirit of generosity and inclusion and the protection of nature to win – but that depends on what we do now. Which is why I'm so grateful that you have arrived to galvanize us with your clarity of vision and passionate commitment.> To be a climate activist anywhere on Earth now is to stand at a crossroads: heaven on one side and hell on the otherNot long ago I talked to a powerful climate organizer who began her work when she was only a little older than you, and she told me that her hope right now is that people recognize that this is a moment of great possibility, of openings and momentum, and a growing alarm and commitment to what the changing climate requires of us. Something has changed, thanks to you and to the young people who have brought new urgency and vision to the climate movement. Many people have become concerned and awake for the first time, and the conversation we need to have is opening up. People are ready for change, or some of us are. This is what's being born in the US and around the world: not only new energy systems, but new social systems with more room for the voices of those who are not white or male or straight or neurotypical.The old energy system was about centralized control and the malevolent power of Gazprom and BP, Shell and Chevron, and the governments warped into serving them rather than humanity. The new system must not only be about localized energy, but democratized decision-making, about the rights of nature and the rights of the vulnerable and the future, over profit.Some of this is already here: not only the larger groups you're surely heard of – the Sunrise Movement, 350.org, the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network – but countless local and tribal groups that have arisen to stop this pipeline or that coal port or these fracking projects, to protect this forest or this mountain or these waters. They are not visible the way the United Nations or the US Congress or European Union is, but their work matters, and perhaps we will build a lot of this transition out from below – but we need the big policy agendas set from above as well.Everywhere I see remarkable things happening. No matter how much you see of this big country, this huge continent, there is more than you can see. I hope you have a chance to see some of the beauty of the American landscapes, from rainforests to deserts; there is also beauty in the passionate commitment around the country. Coalminers in Kentucky have been blocking a coal train track for a month, because their bankrupt company stiffed them on wages, and coalminers elsewhere recently spoke to this newspaper about their clarity that coal is over and that the Green New Deal and its jobs are welcome. The gigantic coal-burning, sky-polluting Navajo Generating Station in Arizona will shut down later this year, and, Scientific American reported, "Its average annual emissions over that period are roughly equivalent to what 3.3 million passenger cars would pump into the atmosphere in a single year. The Navajo Generating Station isn't alone. It's among a new wave of super-polluters headed for the scrap heap," including giant plants in Kentucky and Pennsylvania." Last year, US coal plants with annual emissions of 83 million tonnes of carbon were shut down.Several states – California, New York, Hawaii, New Mexico – have made commitments to 100% renewable electricity in the near future, and while the federal government tries to push us backward, many states lean forward. This summer Texas began to get more energy from wind than from coal. Iowa in the midwest now gets 37% of its electricity from wind, not because of idealism alone, but pragmatism: wind is cheaper. Science magazine reported last month, "Solar plus batteries is now cheaper than fossil power," and a Connecticut newspaper recently announced that Chubb, the largest commercial insurer in the USA, will stop insuring coal plants and coal mining.Worldwide, we are in the midst of an energy revolution that dwarfs the industrial revolution: human beings will for the first time not use fire, will not release carbon into the sky, to get most of our energy. We will inevitably transition away from fossil fuels as a primary energy source, and the question is only when. If we do it swiftly, we minimize damage to the climate; if we wait, we maximize it. The damage is here, and it's not only destroying nature, it's killing us. When the California town of Paradise burned down last November, at least 86 people burned to death or choked on smoke; millions suffered from the smoke that spread across the region. Heat deaths are up in the south-west, where 235 people died in Arizona alone from this cause during 2017.But we also know that there are so many uncounted deaths from poisonous fossil fuels. We know that many of the refugees on the USA's southern border are climate refugees, driven out of their homes in Central America by the failure of agriculture from unpredictable and violent weather, heat, and drought. We know that Alaska was this month for the first time ice-free all along its coast, and the hot dry weather inland led to horrific wildfires. "Starting on the fourth of July and lasting multiple days, temperatures across Alaska were 20 to 30 degrees above average in some locations," reported National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.To be a climate activist anywhere on Earth now is to stand at a crossroads: heaven on one side and hell on the other. Heaven because the transition we need to make and are making – just not big enough or fast enough – is not only an power-generation revolution, but a decentralization of political power, a shift away from the big energy companies who used governments to make wars and make profits for them, a shift away from the poisonousness of fossil fuel. Hell because the destruction of what it took nature millions of years to create – the exquisite balance of ecosystems, of bird migration in harmony with seasons, of symbioses between species, of the great Himalayan and Andean glaciers whose waters feed so many people, of rainforests and temperate forests – is hideous as well as terrifying. The Amazon is burning because of one rightwing leader and a system that rewards agricultural products but not forest protection, even though we need rainforests more than we need the soybeans and beef raised on the land stolen from the rainforest and its indigenous inhabitants.I've mentioned a bit of what is going on in my troubled, complicated country, the US, but of course these are global conflicts and global situations, and the solutions are advancing almost everywhere, because they are good solutions to terrible problems.You have come to help us choose the former over the latter, and more of us thank you than you will ever be able to see or hear. More than that, we're with you, trying to realize the goals that the climate demands of us, to make a sustainable world for those who are young now, those yet to come, and for the beauty of the world that is still with us.• Rebecca Solnit is a journalist and author
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| Merkel meets Palestinians' Abbas for talks in Berlin Posted: 29 Aug 2019 05:43 AM PDT  Merkel stressed her support for a two-state solution ahead of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Chancellery in Berlin. "We appreciate Chancellor Merkel's efforts to create multilateral cooperation aside from unilateral solutions to create stability and peace in the world," Abbas said.
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| Next week is last chance for UK parliament to have a say on Brexit -lawmaker Gauke Posted: 29 Aug 2019 05:24 AM PDT ![Next week is last chance for UK parliament to have a say on Brexit -lawmaker Gauke]( "Next week is last chance for UK parliament to have a say on Brexit -lawmaker Gauke") Next week will be the British parliament's last chance to ensure it has some control over the Brexit process before a possible no-deal exit, Conservative lawmaker David Gauke said. "It does look like next week is essentially the only opportunity that parliament will have to maintain some control over this process and ensure that it has a say before we leave without a deal," he told BBC radio.
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