| Netanyahu Lost. His Enemies Won. But Who Can Govern Israel? Posted: 18 Sep 2019 05:30 PM PDT  Jack Guez/AFP/GettyThe strangest episode of Israel's raucous election—the second in six months—flickered by almost unnoticed, one clip among the 30 videos Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted to his YouTube channel in the final two days before Tuesday's vote.Lush with images of sleek Israelis surfing off Tel Aviv beaches and sipping coffee and cocktails in a succession of inviting bars and cafés, it almost looked like a product of the tourism ministry— until the part where you see a woman's toes peek beyond a blanket, reaching out to tease the toes of the man sharing the bed with her, and those manly toes turning away."Right-wing voters have to wake up!" the caption blared. "On Tuesday, you have to go out to vote Likud, and bring family and friends!"The Likud is Netanyahu's party, and the ad was meant as a counter-incentive. Netanyahu's pitch can be summed up thus: Don't sleep with your hot girlfriend. Don't go to the beach. Don't enjoy Tel Aviv's great cafés. Go out and vote for me!If Netanyahu was concerned about voter fatigue, he needn't have worried.Turnout was a few points higher than it was in the April 9 vote, despite fresh memories of the night six weeks later in which Netanyahu acknowledged he'd failed to form a coalition government and—instead of returning the mandate to Israel's President, Reuven Rivlin—dissolved the parliament and sent Israel into second elections.On first glance it looks like Israelis returned a second inconclusive verdict, this time with gusto.The apparent draw between Netanyahu's Likud and the main opposition party, Blue and White, led by former army chief of staff Benny Gantz, with each claiming about 33 seats out of the parliament's 120, seems to indicate that Israelis have no idea what they want.On second glance, it is clear that Netanyahu, who has dominated Israeli politics for decades and has served as prime minister for the last ten years, lost—if only because all of his perceived enemies won.Netanyahu ran his campaign as if he was besieged in a bunker, regularly taking aim at sham nemeses.He deemed Avigdor Lieberman, a hardline secular nationalist best known for advocating the death penalty for terrorists, "a leftist."Lieberman, Netanyahu's former defense minister, triggered both the elections of 2019, first by resigning in December 2018, and then by refusing in May to join a coalition beholden to the demands of ultra-orthodox Jewish parties. Lieberman's wager paid off, and he has come close to doubling the number of seats his party holds in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to a projected eight or nine.Yohanan Plesner, the president of the Israel Democracy Institute, in Jerusalem, said "Lieberman is the ultimate kingmaker. Netanyahu does not have a government without Lieberman. Lieberman can really dictate the makeup, to a certain extent, of the next government."Official elections results are expected on Sept. 25, after the certification of the ballot counts, which is conducted by hand.Netanyahu attacked the media from the start to the end of his campaign, complaining, in his 3 a.m. Wednesday not-concession speech delivered before a largely empty hall, that the press had forced him to contend with "the most difficult, the most biased campaign ever."But the press got it right this time, forecasting that he would be left without room to maneuver ahead of the Oct. 2 hearing at which his attorney general, who announced his intention to indict Netanyahu on a raft of corruption charges last February, will lay out the evidence against him. Netanyahu, Facing Indictments, Rains Scorn on His Political EnemiesSuch is Netanyahu's predicament that on Wednesday, he canceled his participation in next week's United Nations General Assembly, one of his favorite events of the year.Gantz vows to pursue peace with the Palestinians, to institute term limits, and, has unrelentingly promised his supporters that he will never join a government including Netanyahu while he remains a criminal suspect.This stance seems to rule out a possible government of national unity, in which Blue and White would sit together with the Likud.This electoral dead end is leading observers to envisage what was once unthinkable: a unity government in which Likud would be led by someone else.In the event the party, hungry to hold on to power, ousts Netanyahu as its leader, "a new chairman of the Likud might be able to form a government with Blue and White, and then we will probably witness an outcome of a rotation of the position of the Prime Minister between Mr. Gantz and whoever the Likud will elect," Plesner says, predicting that Israel is "about to enter a period of political uncertainty."Throughout his campaign, Netanyahu reserved his most vicious, most uncompromising, and finally most unhinged attacks for Israel's Arab minority, 20 percent of the population and about 16 percent of the voting public, whose participation in the last vote sunk to an historic low. He accused Arab politicians of supporting terrorism. He accused his opponent, Gantz, a decorated general, of conspiring with Arab leaders to name them ministers.Netanyahu also accused Gantz of concealing the fact that Iran had hacked his phone, obtaining sleazy photographs proving sexual misbehavior—an accusation that appears to have been invented out of whole cloth.In the campaign's frenzied final week, Netanyahu tried to rush through the Knesset a law allowing his party to hide cameras in Arab polling places—as it did, illegally, in April, causing an uproar. The bill failed. And he became the first head of government to be sanctioned by Facebook for hate speech, when his page sent out messages warning that "Arabs want to annihilate us all – women, children and men."The Joint List, a majority-Arab party, that ran as several disparate factions in April, mobilized a major get-out-the-vote operation, apparently surging to 13 seats and becoming Israel's third largest party, after the Likud and Blue and White.With an Arab, Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh, who exulted late Tuesday that "incitement didn't work!" and a "leftist," Avigdor Lieberman, poised to play kingmakers, the election results constitute a Netanyahu nightmare. "Netanyahu was defeated," Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister and Likud elder, told The Daily Beast in an interview, "he lost, and as far as we can see, there is no feasible way he could form a new coalition."But since it looks "doubtful that any possible coalition would achieve the support of 61 Knesset members," Olmert said, "it is likely there will be another round of elections in early 2020."For Israel to once again have a stable government, the only solution Olmert sees is another round of elections "very soon." But unlike Netanyahu's opponents, who have spent the past year admonishing the public about the danger the prime minister poses to Israeli democracy, Olmert is sanguine."The country's democratic foundations are very stable," he said, "and there is no real fear they are being undermined." Not only that, he said, mentioning the United Kingdom, "the difficulty of ruling a state is not just an Israeli phenomenon… These are relatively common phenomena and Israel is no exception."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| UPDATE 1-UK's Johnson and Trump discuss need for united diplomatic response to Saudi attack Posted: 18 Sep 2019 05:30 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-UK's Johnson and Trump discuss need for united diplomatic response to Saudi attack]( "UPDATE 1-UK's Johnson and Trump discuss need for united diplomatic response to Saudi attack") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Donald Trump condemned last weekend's attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities and discussed the need for a united diplomatic response in a telephone call on Wednesday, Johnson's office said. "They condemned the attacks and discussed the need for a united diplomatic response from international partners," a statement said. A White House spokesman said in a statement the two leaders "reaffirmed the value of the special relationship in addressing shared security concerns, most notably Iran's destabilizing behavior".
|
| Pompeo says U.S. supports Saudi Arabia's right to defend itself -tweet Posted: 18 Sep 2019 03:43 PM PDT ![Pompeo says U.S. supports Saudi Arabia's right to defend itself -tweet]( "Pompeo says U.S. supports Saudi Arabia's right to defend itself -tweet") U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States supports Saudi Arabia's "right to defend itself" and said Iran's behaviour would "not be tolerated" in a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to a statement on his official Twitter account on Thursday. Pompeo condemned the attacks and supported Saudi Arabia's call for international experts to come to the country to further investigate, Saudi Arabia's state news agency SPA said in a separate report on the meeting. In the meeting, Prince Mohammed stressed that the attacks on state oil company Saudi Aramco were aimed at destabilising the region's security and damaging the global energy supply and economy, SPA reported.
|
| Sweeping US sanctions on Iran target leaders, oil and trade Posted: 18 Sep 2019 03:17 PM PDT  Ongoing US sanctions on Iran target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic republic's top brass, while also seeking to choke trade in a variety of goods from oil to carpets. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised details of new sanctions within 48 hours in response to a missile or drone attack on Saudi oil facilities that Riyadh has blamed on Iran. The United States also blacklisted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose US assets were frozen on August 1.
|
| 5 takeaways from attack on Saudi oil production Posted: 18 Sep 2019 03:16 PM PDT ![5 takeaways from attack on Saudi oil production]( "5 takeaways from attack on Saudi oil production") Donald Trump faces bad options, especially without Iran deal. Saudis are no innocents. Robot weapons are the new threat, not an oil crisis: Our view
|
| Judge blocks extradition of man accused of killing officer Posted: 18 Sep 2019 02:47 PM PDT ![Judge blocks extradition of man accused of killing officer]( "Judge blocks extradition of man accused of killing officer") A federal judge blocked the extradition of a man Wednesday accused of killing a police officer and injuring two others in the Dominican Republic in 2013 and ordered him released. U.S. District Court Judge for Rhode Island John McConnell ruled that extraditing Cristian Aguasvivas, a Dominican national, would violate the United Nations' Convention Against Torture, which prohibits the extradition of a person to a country where they are likely to be tortured.
|
| WRAPUP 10-Trump sees many options short of war with Iran after attacks on Saudis Posted: 18 Sep 2019 02:41 PM PDT ![WRAPUP 10-Trump sees many options short of war with Iran after attacks on Saudis]( "WRAPUP 10-Trump sees many options short of war with Iran after attacks on Saudis") LOS ANGELES/JEDDAH, Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday there were many options short of war with Iran after U.S. ally Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said were used in a crippling attack on its oil sites that was "unquestionably sponsored" by Tehran. "There are many options.
|
| AP Explains: A look at Judaism's place in Israeli politics Posted: 18 Sep 2019 02:22 PM PDT  While the country's Jewish majority is largely secular, parties representing the ultra-Orthodox minority have traditionally wielded considerable political power. Acting as coalition kingmakers, religious parties hold a monopoly on many areas of daily life, from the closure of stores and public transport on the Sabbath to Jewish burial and marriage rites. Israel has granted the ultra-Orthodox community sweeping exemptions from the country's mandatory military draft.
|
| Saudis couldn't stop oil attack, even with top US defenses Posted: 18 Sep 2019 02:13 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia spent billions to protect a kingdom built on oil but could not stop the suspected Iranian drone and missile attack, exposing gaps that even America's most advanced weaponry failed to fill. In addition to deciding whether that firepower should be turned on Iran in retaliation, the Saudis and their American allies must now figure out how to prevent a repeat of last weekend's attack -- or worse, such as an assault on the Saudis' export facilities in the Persian Gulf or any of the desalination plants that supply drinking water. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked Wednesday on his way to Saudi Arabia how it was possible that the kingdom could have dropped its guard, failing to stop any of the low-flying cruise missiles or armed drones that struck the Abqaiq oil processing center -- the largest of its kind in the world -- and the Khurais oil field.
|
| The Political Will to Avert a No-Deal Brexit Is Ebbing Fast Posted: 18 Sep 2019 02:05 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Brexit from afar is looking like a disaster about to happen. One European official, watching the situation up close, compared it to two cars driving at high speed toward each other with each expecting the other to swerve out of the way first.It's not the first time that the brinkmanship around the U.K.'s departure from the European Union has been compared to a game of chicken. Trust is in short supply and there's a sinking feeling that the desire to get a deal done to avert the potential economic catastrophe of a no deal is evaporating.Conversations with officials on the either side of the negotiating table paint a grim picture of the state of play as an Oct. 31 deadline looms. Across EU capitals, the question asked is if Prime Minister Boris Johnson has a plan up his sleeve and if so -- when can they see it.Will they have to wait for a crunch summit less than two weeks before the crash-out scenario? At a meeting in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron and Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne, agreed the U.K. must present a written proposal for a deal by Sept. 30.These deadlines are largely meaningless -- more a way of trying to exert pressure on the U.K. that under Johnson seems largely impervious to it. His predecessor, Theresa May, buckled at various points and asked for extensions.No DelayBut pushing back departure beyond Oct. 31 is a red line for a more combative leader who has framed success around just getting Brexit done. The political cost of backing down and compromising keeps getting higher -- on all sides -- and that makes it hard to see a way out even as talks are ostensibly ongoing.And while kicking the ball down the road is how many crises are dealt with in Brussels, more than two years of negotiations that keep going around in circles have taken its toll. Brexit fatigue is a thing not just with voters. Europe also wants to move on.Officials say reaching a successful conclusion is a long shot, and there is evidence of bad blood. Luxembourg's Xavier Bettel vented at a news conference about his frustration with the "nightmare" Brexit process, a view probably many leaders share behind closed doors. He may have been grandstanding, but he showed how patience is running out.While officials in Berlin, Paris and Dublin have revised their earlier assumptions that Johnson doesn't want a deal, they don't believe he knows how to get there. Over in London, a senior U.K. official said there isn't much sign the EU is prepared to give Johnson what he needs."The risk of no deal is very real," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday in comments that sent the pound falling. And while a deal is preferable, he's "not sure we will get there."The sticking point remains the backstop -- a series of measures the EU says is needed to prevent the return of customs infrastructure on the Irish border. In its existing form it would keep the whole of the U.K. in a customs union with the bloc until a future trade deal solved the border problem.The EU is willing to adapt that to apply to Northern Ireland only, leaving the rest of the U.K. to diverge from European rules, but the government has said that isn't acceptable either.Despite tough talking in public, Johnson's envoy to the EU and European Commission negotiators have discussed possible solutions, although the U.K. hasn't presented anything on paper. This is a deliberate attempt by the British side to prevent ideas becoming public only then to be immediately rejected, according to U.K. officials.While the EU is frustrated by this, it does understand the strategy and was always expecting British proposals closer to the EU summit scheduled for Oct. 17-18, one official said.The German government, for its part, hasn't thrown in the towel. "I'll say again now, just as I said during Boris Johnson's visit, that I continue to see the possibility of an orderly exit," Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin.The EU is keeping a close eye on U.K. domestic politics, too, which have shaped so much of the trajectory of negotiations. Parliament's victory in forcing Johnson to seek a Brexit delay -- if he hasn't got a deal after next month's summit -- is part of their calculus on when compromise might happen.Ireland, which out of the EU economies has the most to lose if the U.K. leaves without a deal, doesn't see a reason to compromise until the legal battle in London plays out. It's still waiting to see if Johnson will indeed defy the law as he's said he's prepared to.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, like Johnson himself, is on an election footing. Caving in to the U.K. would risk being seen as a sign of weakness. It's far from clear which, if either, leader will give way.\--With assistance from Thomas Penny, Dara Doyle, Patrick Donahue, Gregory Viscusi, Kati Pohjanpalo and Paul Tugwell.To contact the reporters on this story: Ian Wishart in Brussels at iwishart@bloomberg.net;Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-JacksonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Trump’s Replacement for Bolton Is Also a Hawk Posted: 18 Sep 2019 02:00 PM PDT ![Trump's Replacement for Bolton Is Also a Hawk]( "Trump's Replacement for Bolton Is Also a Hawk") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- In some ways President Donald Trump's new national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, seems like the opposite of the man he will replace, John Bolton.His current job in government is special envoy for hostage affairs, meaning he has had to negotiate with the sorts of rogues Bolton shunned. Last year he helped bring home the American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned by the Turkish government. Earlier this year he negotiated the release of U.S. citizen Danny Burch from Yemen. In April he said that a necessary (though insufficient) step for Syria to rejoin the international community would be for it to help find and free the journalist Austin Tice.O'Brien's personal style — quiet and lawyerly — also differs from Bolton's pugnacity. A senior administration official told me that O'Brien pitched himself to the president and his top advisers as someone who would make the National Security Council functional again and largely keep his head down. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was Bolton's biggest rival in Trump's cabinet, endorsed him for the post because of his understated approach.But O'Brien's low-key style should not be confused with a softness on foreign policy. Trump disagreed with Bolton on Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. His new national security adviser has a long history of conventional Republican Party hawkishness on all of those issues. He advised Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, and in 2016 worked with Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ted Cruz.And way back in 2005, the so-called "anti-Bolton" worked for the man himself when Bolton was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.To get a flavor for O'Brien's worldview, it's worth picking up a collection of his essays published in 2016. The title gives a good indication of what's inside: "While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis." Bolton himself blurbed the book, saying it should be "required reading" for all 2016 presidential candidates.It's easy to see why Bolton liked it. O'Brien's essay on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is titled, "Obama's Folly." In the preface, he writes about his experience in Afghanistan when "some young Afghan patriots, who chose to side with us after the 9/11 attacks, asked me if we would abandon their country as we had abandoned Iraq." O'Brien identifies "Russian aggression" as one of the primary threats Obama's successor must address to restore U.S. leadership in the world.This is good news for America. There was a real risk that Trump would choose a national security adviser who would indulge the president's worst instincts on foreign policy, arranging for flashy summits with the world's most loathsome leaders. That is the kind of guidance he gets from people like Senator Rand Paul, who has tried to be an intermediary for Trump with Russia and Iran. And it's the kind of advice he hears from Tucker Carlson of Fox News, who often sounds like a progressive activist when railing against neoconservatives.The danger, of course, is that Trump is capable of changing his mind in a flash. A year ago, it was Bolton who had the president's ear and trust. A year later, Trump announced his firing on Twitter. Now it will be O'Brien's turn to advise a mercurial president on how to lead a world in crisis.To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Trump’s Replacement for Bolton Is Also a Hawk Posted: 18 Sep 2019 02:00 PM PDT ![Trump's Replacement for Bolton Is Also a Hawk]( "Trump's Replacement for Bolton Is Also a Hawk") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- In some ways President Donald Trump's new national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, seems like the opposite of the man he will replace, John Bolton.His current job in government is special envoy for hostage affairs, meaning he has had to negotiate with the sorts of rogues Bolton shunned. Last year he helped bring home the American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned by the Turkish government. Earlier this year he negotiated the release of U.S. citizen Danny Burch from Yemen. In April he said that a necessary (though insufficient) step for Syria to rejoin the international community would be for it to help find and free the journalist Austin Tice.O'Brien's personal style — quiet and lawyerly — also differs from Bolton's pugnacity. A senior administration official told me that O'Brien pitched himself to the president and his top advisers as someone who would make the National Security Council functional again and largely keep his head down. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was Bolton's biggest rival in Trump's cabinet, endorsed him for the post because of his understated approach.But O'Brien's low-key style should not be confused with a softness on foreign policy. Trump disagreed with Bolton on Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. His new national security adviser has a long history of conventional Republican Party hawkishness on all of those issues. He advised Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, and in 2016 worked with Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ted Cruz.And way back in 2005, the so-called "anti-Bolton" worked for the man himself when Bolton was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.To get a flavor for O'Brien's worldview, it's worth picking up a collection of his essays published in 2016. The title gives a good indication of what's inside: "While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis." Bolton himself blurbed the book, saying it should be "required reading" for all 2016 presidential candidates.It's easy to see why Bolton liked it. O'Brien's essay on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is titled, "Obama's Folly." In the preface, he writes about his experience in Afghanistan when "some young Afghan patriots, who chose to side with us after the 9/11 attacks, asked me if we would abandon their country as we had abandoned Iraq." O'Brien identifies "Russian aggression" as one of the primary threats Obama's successor must address to restore U.S. leadership in the world.This is good news for America. There was a real risk that Trump would choose a national security adviser who would indulge the president's worst instincts on foreign policy, arranging for flashy summits with the world's most loathsome leaders. That is the kind of guidance he gets from people like Senator Rand Paul, who has tried to be an intermediary for Trump with Russia and Iran. And it's the kind of advice he hears from Tucker Carlson of Fox News, who often sounds like a progressive activist when railing against neoconservatives.The danger, of course, is that Trump is capable of changing his mind in a flash. A year ago, it was Bolton who had the president's ear and trust. A year later, Trump announced his firing on Twitter. Now it will be O'Brien's turn to advise a mercurial president on how to lead a world in crisis.To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Trump names hostage negotiator O'Brien national security advisor Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:41 PM PDT  US President Donald Trump on Wednesday named his pointman for hostage situations, Robert O'Brien, to replace his hawkish national security advisor sacked just as relations with Iran are entering a new crisis point. Last week, Trump abruptly fired John Bolton, a vigorous proponent of using US military force abroad and one of the main hawks in the administration on Iran.
|
| Iran may miss UN summit if US fails to issue visa to president Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:21 PM PDT  Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Javad Zarif have yet to receive US visas for next week's United Nations general assembly summitIran's president, Hassan Rouhani. Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty ImagesIran's president and foreign minister have yet to receive US visas to come to next week's United Nations general assembly summit in New York, putting their attendance in doubt.A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the UN said that if the visas are not issued by the end of the week, Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Javad Zarif would not be able to come to the summit, which is attended by heads of state and government from around the world.A UN spokesman said that under the host country agreement, the US is required to issue visas to representatives of UN member states who come to New York for official UN business.The UN general assembly comes at a time when the US and Iran are at a crisis point in their relations, after some brief optimism that Rouhani and Donald Trump might meet at the summit was swept away by a large-scale attack on Saturday on Saudi oil facilities, which US and Saudi officials have blamed on Iran.In the past, some of Washington's worst adversaries have addressed the general assembly, including Soviet leader, Nikita Krushkev, Rouhani's predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.The Trump administration gave mixed signals on Wednesday on whether the visas would be forthcoming for Rouhani and Zarif."It's not up to me. It's up to him," Trump told reporters, apparently unaware of the visa issue. "If it was up to me, I would let them come. I've always felt the United Nations is very important. I think it's got tremendous potential. I don't think it's ever lived up to the potential it has, but I would certainly not want to keep people out if they want to come."However, in answer to the same question while on the way to Saudi Arabia, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, was dismissive."We don't talk about the granting or absence of granting of visas," Pompeo told journalists. "I would say this: if you're connected to a foreign terrorist organization, it seems to me it would be a reasonable thing to think about whether they ought to be prevented to attend a meeting which is about peace."The actions that the Iranian regime took violated the UN charter," the secretary of state added, saying he had raised the issue with the UN secretary general, António Guterres on Tuesday.The US has imposed broad and far-reaching sanctions against Iran, including personal sanctions against Zarif, for his connection to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Rouhani has not been personally designated, but has said there can be no talks with the US until sanctions against Iran are lifted.The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, is also unlikely to attend the general assembly, in the wake of abdominal surgery. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has cancelled his appearance after elections put his political future in doubt.
|
| Mike Pompeo: Saudi Oil Attack Is An 'Act Of War' By Iran Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:18 PM PDT  The U.S. secretary of state said Iran was behind the missile strikes. Saudi officials said they had proof.
|
| Court Orders Johnson to Set Out Plan If He Loses: Brexit Update Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:17 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson's lawyer promised the Supreme Court the government will file a statement overnight on what it will do if it loses the landmark case over its suspension of Parliament. The second of three days of hearings has finished in the landmark case, which has the potential to derail Johnson's Brexit strategy and even curtail his premiership.Key Developments:Day 2 of court hearings has concluded; third and final day is Thursday, but the Supreme Court hasn't given a date for a rulingGovernment lawyer James Eadie promised written statement on Johnson's plans if he loses, after the court warned it would be "entirely inconvenient" if it wasn't provided before the hearings endPound drops as much as 0.5% after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the risk of a no-deal Brexit is "palpable"German Chancellor Angela Merkel hasn't given up a Brexit dealMorgan says government will heed Supreme Court VerdictMinister Says Government Will Heed Supreme Court (9 p.m.)Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan said the government will heed the verdict meted out by the Supreme Court after its third day of hearings Thursday."The government is clear: we comply with the law, we respect the independence of the judiciary," Morgan said in an interview on ITV's "Peston" show. "What they do say will be followed by the government."After saying at the weekend that she'd vote "remain" if there were a second referendum on EU membership, Morgan stressed on ITV that she wasn't calling for such a vote, because she believes the result of the 2016 plebiscite should be respected."I do not think that we should have a second vote on this," Morgan said. "We had a clear vote in 2016. It wasn't a position obviously that I had campaigned for, but I fully accept that we should now carry out that vote, and I think that Boris is completely right to set the 31st October, accept that as the deadline, not to be entertaining any extensions."Foster Says DUP Prepared to be 'Flexible' (8:15 p.m.)Democratic Unionist Party Leader Arlene Foster said her party -- which three times voted down Theresa May's Brexit deal -- is prepared to be flexible and countenance solutions to the Brexit impasse that apply only to Northern Ireland -- so long as there is an element of local consent."We are prepared to be flexible and look at Northern Ireland specific solutions achieved with the support and consent of the representatives of the people of Northern Ireland," Foster said in a speech in Dublin, according to extracts emailed by her office. "We want to have prosperous trading relationships across the island and allow businesses to get back to investing in the future with confidence."Foster said she wants Britain to leave the EU with a deal, and that a no-deal Brexit "is no-one's preferred outcome and is not of itself a final destination." But she also warned that no deal will be reached that involves a backstop -- whether U.K.-wide or Northern Ireland-specific. The EU so far has refused to countenance removing the backstop -- a fallback position that will apply if future trade terms can't be agreed -- from the deal.Day 2 Ends With Appeal to Judges' 'Better Nature' (4:30 p.m.)The second day of arguments in the Supreme Court case looking at whether Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament was lawful has ended.Aiden O'Neill, representing Scottish lawmakers, urged the judges to "listen to the angels of your better nature" and rule Johnson's suspension unlawful. He challenged the court to stand up for the U.K. constitution and the union between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.The third and final day of hearings is on Thursday, and judges have firmly asked the government to outline what it intends to do if it loses the case. The court will hear from leading Northern Irish and Welsh lawyers, as well as representatives of former Prime Minister John Major. There is still no indication when the judges will reach a decision.Testimony Veers to Shakespeare, Scottish Battles (3:20 p.m.)Aiden O'Neill, representing almost 80 Scottish lawmakers who won the case against the government in Edinburgh, opened with a rhetorical flourish, invoking "Macbeth" and taking the judges through ancient Scottish battles and fictional ones before laying out the importance of the symbolism of the union of the U.K. in the case.When he finally got to the crux of his argument, he said there is clear case law showing the top court can rule in this suit, and that the decision to suspend Parliament fundamentally changed the balance of the constitution because it allows Prime Minister Boris Johnson to alter the U.K.'s relationship with Europe without parliamentary scrutiny."That cannot be at this time, in this manner, a lawful use of the power," he said.The approach was unusual, and there was a sense he was talking to an audience beyond the court. But as lawyer and legal blogger Adam Wagner pointed out, the fact that the arguments had been made by Gina Miller's lawyers on Tuesday meant O'Neill had some freedom to go "a bit off grid."Merkel Still Holding Out for a Deal (2:45 p.m.)Asked about the fallout from Boris Johnson's visit to Luxembourg on Monday, when he skipped a planned press conference and the European Union complained about the lack of U.K. proposals in the prime minister's talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she's still holding out for a negotiated Brexit."I'll say again now just as I said during Boris Johnson's visit, that I continue to see the possibility of an orderly exit," Merkel told reporters in Berlin. "This was also the goal of the meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker. I didn't expect that the visit in Luxembourg would offer a solution."Merkel, who spoke with Johnson by phone Tuesday and plans to continue the conversation next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said she'll otherwise "wait to see how things develop.""We are prepared for a disorderly exit, but I prefer an orderly exit with an agreement," Merkel said.Coveney Warns Against Criticizing Johnson (2 p.m.)Criticizing Boris Johnson in public will not help to get a Brexit deal, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warned, days after Luxembourg leader Xavier Bettel did just that.Ireland and the EU are "in the business of trying to understand what are the limits of what Boris Johnson can offer" and whether the terms are "good enough to allow us to strike a deal," Coveney said during a visit to Carlow, south east Ireland.Separately, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told lawmakers in Dublin he may meet Johnson when they are both in New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week. He said he's also arranging to meet Arlene Foster, leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, "very soon."Court Demands Johnson's Plan If Defeated (1:30 p.m.)Just before finishing, Eadie turned to the question of what the court could order and how the government might respond if the ruling goes against it. It was an issue that concerned the judges on the first day of the hearing, with one asking if Boris Johnson might prorogue Parliament for a second time.The government must provide the court with its plan in the event of defeat and "it will be entirely inappropriate if you don't do it by the end of tomorrow," Judge Brenda Hale, the president of the court, said.Eadie responded that the government will work on its reply overnight as Judge Robert Reed spoke up to note that the issue could be a "very difficult question" for the judges.Judge Questions Lack of Government Witness (1:20 p.m.)Judge Nicholas Wilson asked James Eadie why no senior government official had come forward with a witness statement to back up the cabinet minutes outlining the reasons for the suspension of Parliament. Had that been done, the government's evidence would have more weight in the court's eyes."No one has come forward from your side to say that this is true," Wilson said. "Isn't it odd that nobody has signed a witness statement saying this is true?"Eadie countered: "My Lords, you have the witness statement you have," referring to the document from a government lawyer. It would be unusual for a senior official to be called to give evidence in a case like this, Eadie said, and any application for that to happen would "be resisted like fury."Denmark Ramps-Up No-Deal Preparations (12:35 p.m.)Denmark is ramping up preparations for a no-deal Brexit amid concerns at Boris Johnson's strategy and estimates that divorce without an agreement could cost the Nordic nation as much as 1.3% in lost growth over the next 5-10 years."The new British government's approach is worrying," Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod told reporters in Copenhagen as he announced the creation of an emergency task force of officials from eight ministries.The Foreign Ministry estimates that around 60,000 Danish jobs, or 2% of the labor force, relies on exports to the U.K.. Tax authorities have hired 50 new staff and the government will spend 10 million kroner ($1.5 million) on a new public awareness campaign.Judges Question 'Post Hoc' System of Control (12:20 p.m.)Two judges challenged government lawyer James Eadie's suggestion that Parliament could address any harm stemming from its suspension after it is recalled. Justice Brian Kerr called it a "post-hoc system of control," and Justice Jill Black also questioned the idea.But Eadie said that Parliament "can resume all the functions of control it had beforehand." Eadie effectively argued that the 17 days between Parliament is due to be recalled for a Queen's speech and the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline would be enough to address any issues."There is time, and it's up to Parliament and the government to legislate what they consider necessary," he said.Barnier: U.K. Must Provide 'Robust' Solutions (11:40 a.m.)Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, said the U.K. government must accept the need for "legally robust solutions" in any withdrawal accord, and said the two sides shouldn't be wasting time "pretending to negotiate.""We are building a treaty, we're not making a speech" Barnier told the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. "It's finding solutions that work, and that's something that we've communicated to Boris Johnson and his team."Barnier's comments echo those of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (see 8:40 a.m.), who demanded the U.K. provide its proposals for an alternative solution to the contentious backstop -- the fallback measure designed to keep the Irish border free of checks after Brexit -- as soon as possible. A British official said Tuesday the government is still sounding out the bloc on its ideas for the border before submitting written proposals.Tytti Tuppurainen, European affairs minister of Finland -- which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency -- said in the same debate that achieving the U.K.'s orderly withdrawal must remain the bloc's priority "until the very last moment, given the negative consequences of a hard Brexit."German Businesses Toughen No-Deal Tone (11:30 a.m.)The influential German BDI industry lobby group said it would rather have a hard Brexit on Oct. 31 than accept another delay that leads nowhere, even if -- as the group expects -- it trims economic growth by 0.5 percentage points and leads to the loss of nearly 100,000 jobs."With every delay, the cost of preparations increase," Director General Joachim Lang said Wednesday at a press briefing in Berlin. He accused Boris Johnson's government of "playing with fire," and said it shouldn't be given an extension without a plan in place to avoid a no-deal split with the EU.Despite the tougher tone, the BDI, which estimates German companies have spent billions of euros on preparations, said it still sees a no-deal Brexit as the "worst of all possible outcomes."Who Better Than Court to Protect Parliament? (11:15 a.m.)Justice Nicholas Wilson asked government lawyer James Eadie who was "better placed to protect the principle of parliamentary sovereignty" than the Supreme Court.Eadie replied: "It's no good simply turning up and shouting about parliamentary sovereignty, because parliamentary sovereignty can mean a number of things."The exchange goes to the heart of the case, which is trying to determine whether the government's five-week suspension of Parliament was unlawful.'Treasury Devil' to Open Day 2 for Government (10:15 a.m.)James Eadie, the government's go-to lawyer in major pieces of litigation -- a role known as the "Treasury Devil" -- is due to kick off the second day of hearings at the Supreme Court. Aidan O'Neill then presents on behalf of 80 Scottish lawmakers, who secured the ruling in Edinburgh that the government's suspension of Parliament was unlawful.The government's main contention is the issue has no place being decided by judges, and that Johnson has acted within his powers. The decision to prorogue Parliament was one of "high policy and politics, and not law," they argue."The appeals would also involve the courts identifying and enforcing a new constitutional convention as to the length of prorogation, which the courts have no jurisdiction to do," lawyers led by Eadie said in their written arguments.Both the Scottish and English challengers -- who lost their separate case in the High Court in London -- argue the issue falls squarely in the jurisdiction of the court to deal with and that Johnson abused his executive powers."It is not, and cannot be, right that the executive can exercise its powers so as to remove itself from accountability to Parliament in relation to decisions of high constitutional -- and potentially irreversible legal, economic and social -- impact," lawyers for Joanna Cherry in the Scottish case said.Sturgeon Doubts Johnson's Brexit Ideas (9:30 a.m.)Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon cast doubt on Boris Johnson's proposal to replace the so-called Irish backstop, and said the prospects of a Brexit deal "have to be slim.""We will have to see what unfolds over the next few weeks, but it's a very limited form of Northern Ireland-only backstop he appears to be talking about," Sturgeon told reporters in Berlin, where she is due to meet German officials. "It's very difficult to see how Boris Johnson can secure a deal that satisfies the European Union and commands a majority" in Parliament.On the Supreme Court hearings in London, Sturgeon said that a ruling for the government would effectively mean a "government can suspend Parliament at any time it wants." Conversely, a loss for Johnson would mean he "will have been found to have acted unlawfully" and would have to consider his position.Speaking at the German Council on Foreign Relations on the fifth anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum, Sturgeon predicted that "over the next few years," Scotland will become an independent member of the EU. "We are living in extraordinary and unprecedented times in the U.K," she said.Juncker: Sticking Point Is Still the Backstop (8:40 a.m.)In his briefing to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Monday's talks with Boris Johnson, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the main sticking point remains -- as it has for months -- the so-called backstop provision for the Irish border. He demanded the U.K. provide its proposals for an alternative solution in written form as soon as possible.Juncker said that while the discussions with Johnson in Luxembourg were "friendly, constructive and, in part, positive," the risk of the U.K. leaving the bloc without an agreement at the end of October is "palpable." The pound fell 0.3% after Juncker's comments.A British official said on Tuesday the government is sounding out the bloc on its ideas for the Irish border before submitting its plans in written form.Carney Could Be Asked to Extend Term on Brexit: FT (Earlier)Bank of England Governor Mark Carney could be asked to extend his term past Jan. 31 if Brexit is delayed again, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter it didn't identify.The newspaper cited a government official as saying the process of choosing Carney's successor is going "very slowly," while an expected election in the fall makes it likely that a decision would not be made until a new government was in place.Responding to the report, the Treasury said "the process is on track and we will make an appointment in due course."Earlier:Johnson Struggles in Supreme Court on Day One of Suspension CaseRecord Numbers Seek Debt Help With U.K. on Brink of BrexitEurope Hunts For Boris Johnson's Plan: Brexit Bulletin\--With assistance from Stuart Biggs, Thomas Penny, Alan Crawford, Ian Wishart, Chris Reiter, Jonathan Stearns, Morten Buttler, Peter Flanagan, Dara Doyle and Franz Wild.To contact the reporters on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net;Jonathan Browning in London at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Macron, Conte Stage Show of Unity in Rome, Signaling End to Feud Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:15 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Emmanuel Macron and his dinner host Giuseppe Conte made a warm display of unity in Rome, pledging to work together to boost flagging economic growth across Europe and share handling of migrant flows to turn the page on recent clashes between their two countries.The French president, after initial talks at Conte's official residence in the 16th-century Palazzo Chigi, described the France-Italy friendship as indestructible and underscored "our will to work together for the European project.""Sometimes we disagree, we can quarrel, we can sometimes fail to understand each other, but we always find each other again," Macron told reporters Wednesday, flanking Conte before a working dinner at the latter's apartment.Macron, who is gradually replacing Germany's Angela Merkel as Europe's leading player, is seeking warmer ties with Conte who now heads a more centrist, pro-European coalition. Conte's populist deputies in the previous administration had picked on France before European parliamentary elections, prompting Macron in February to briefly recall his ambassador to Rome.The newfound comity even extended into the potentially frought terrain of the menu: The leaders' meal twinned their nations' cuisine, with dishes including salad with codfish and foie gras, marinated amberjack with olive paste typical of Provence and pesto, and croissant-flavored ice-cream.'Historic Ties'Macron underscored his push for economic and fiscal stimulus in the European Union, paying tribute to the "courage and clear-sightedness" of the latest moves by Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank."Monetary policy since 2012 has done the maximum it could do to preserve the EU situation, avoid deflation and avoid the worst," Macron said. "It is now for the EU heads of state and governments to take their responsibility in their own budgets and at the EU level decisions for a real policy of stimulus policy and interior demand."The French leader warned EU countries that coordinated stimulus action is needed as the continent is in "stagnation."Conte, who is seeking more flexibility and more room for investments for the 2020 budget while at the same time avoiding tensions with the European Commission, said he and his guest awaited efforts from "all Europe" to relaunch investments and "improve European economic governance which is indispensable for stability and growth.""The historic ties of France and Italy are at the foundation of the European project, and we have a common responsibility to relaunch Europe with more growth, more jobs," Conte said.'Deeply Believe'Conte is also seeking French support to cope with migrant flows from across the Mediterranean. The Italian premier is under constant pressure from Matteo Salvini of the rightist League, who had ordered ports closed to migrant ships when he served as Conte's deputy in the previous coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.Conte won an early victory with Macron's backing for the automatic redistribution to EU states of migrants landing in Italy, although whether this should apply to both asylum-seekers and economic migrants is still under discussion. Italy wants possible fines for members who refuse.Macron, who has made limiting illegal immigration a priority to shore up his electoral base, said he wants to change an agreement that says asylum-seekers must make their request in the first EU country of arrival. "I deeply believe the response to the subject of immigration is not in looking inward or in nationalist provocations, but in building effective European solutions," Macron said.The two leaders agreed to hold a bilateral summit, including cabinet ministers, in Italy early next year.To contact the reporters on this story: John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.net;Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, ;Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Alessandro Speciale, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Junior official to represent US at UN climate summit Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:15 PM PDT  As world leaders head to New York for a climate summit called by the United Nations, the United States will be represented by a junior official. Marcia Bernicat, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, "will represent the United States at the UN Secretary General's Climate Summit," a State Department spokeswoman said. President Donald Trump is expected to be in New York, where he lives within walking distance of the United Nations, when the summit opens Monday.
|
| Trump names US hostage negotiator O'Brien as his new national security adviser Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:09 PM PDT  President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he was naming U.S. hostage negotiator Robert O'Brien as his new national security adviser, replacing John Bolton who left abruptly last week after long disagreements with Trump and his other advisers over Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan. "I am pleased to announce that I will name Robert C. O'Brien, currently serving as the very successful Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as our new National Security Advisor," Trump tweeted while traveling in California.
|
| Sudan's new PM meets with Egyptian president in Cairo Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:06 PM PDT ![Sudan's new PM meets with Egyptian president in Cairo]( "Sudan's new PM meets with Egyptian president in Cairo") Egypt's president on Wednesday met with Sudan's newly appointed prime minister before heading to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Abdalla Hamdok discussed bilateral relations, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency. Egypt is looking to start a new chapter since al-Bashir was ousted by his country's military in April following mass protests.
|
| Trump says he'd give Iranian leaders visas to attend UN Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:00 PM PDT  President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he thinks the Iranian president and foreign minister should be granted U.S. visas to attend next week's United Nations General Assembly. "If it was up to me, I'd let them come," Trump said on a tarmac in Los Angeles. The administration is required to issue the visas under the U.N. agreement with the United States, the host country of the organization.
|
| Analysts: Weapons in Saudi attack similar to Iranian ones Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:54 PM PDT  A cruise missile and drone fragments that Saudi Arabia says it recovered from an attack on its oil industry bear similarities to Iranian-manufactured weapons, though more information is needed to make a definitive link, analysts told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Particularly striking was the cruise missile, which they said resembled a Quds-1 missile previously displayed by Yemen's Houthi rebels during a televised weapons exhibition in July. "It did not come from Yemen," said Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
|
| Prison sentence for Russian actor caught up in protest arrests sparks popular backlash Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:32 PM PDT  A dubious prison sentence for a young actor arrested during demonstrations in Moscow has sparked a backlash from famous cultural figures who normally stay out of politics, raising pressure on the authorities over their crackdown on protesters. Hundreds of people including well-known actors waited hours outside the presidential administration on Wednesday to take their turn in a single-person picket in support of Pavel Ustinov, 24, who was given a three and a half year prison sentence on Monday for allegedly dislocating a riot policeman's shoulder during chaotic street protests in August. Single-person pickets are the only form of protest that doesn't typically result in arrests. The court refused to consider videos showing that Mr Ustinov, who has played small roles in films, was calmly waiting outside a metro station when a group of riot police officers ran up and tackled him to the ground, beating him with batons. "Our legal system is horrifying. There need to be reforms and investigations into why judges make these convictions and why security agencies act in this way," Alexander Pal, an award-winning actor who called the pickets, told the Telegraph. Pavel Ustinov listens to his lawyer from the defendant's cage on Monday Credit: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters More than a dozen men face dubious criminal charges in the "Moscow case" related to this summer's demonstrations against the barring of liberal opposition candidates from the city council election. Four have been given lengthy prison sentences, and a blogger received five years for a threatening tweet about riot police officers' families. A letter against political repressions in Russia started by former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has gathered signatures from actor Stephen Fry, the creators of the programme Game of Thrones and the former leaders of Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. But the brazenness of the accusations against Mr Ustinov has caused the biggest outcry within Russia and mobilised the television and movie industry, much like groundless drugs charges against investigative reporter Ivan Golunov angered journalists and set off protests in June. Mr Pal called on other actors to speak out against the "completely fabricated case" in an Instagram video, starting a flashmob of posts and signatures in Mr Ustinov's support by directors and movie stars including Sergei Bezrukov, Oleg Menshikov and Yelizaveta Boyarskaya. More than 100,000 have signed a petition by Mr Pal to rehear the case. Even some pro-Kremlin pundits and officials backed Mr Ustinov, such as reactionary talk show host Vladimir Solovyov and television and advertising personality Tina Kandelaki. Andrei Turchak, head of the ruling United Russia party, criticised the case as a "howling injustice". The queue for one-man protests by the Russian Presidential Executive Office stretched down the street Credit: Photo by Sergei Karpukhin\\\TASS via Getty Images Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Wednesday the Kremlin was aware of the demonstrations for Mr Ustinov and had watched video of his arrest, but said it wouldn't take a position until the appeal process was over. The Kremlin keeps close tabs on popular figures. Mr Pal was freed after being arrested during a demonstration this summer thanks to a phone call from the presidential administration, a situation he described on Wednesday as an "absurdity". Signs this week suggested a possible thaw over the city council protests. On Wednesday, a court returned for further investigation the case against software engineer Aidar Gubaidullin, who was accused of throwing a plastic bottle at police during a protest, and released him on his own recognisance. Mr Putin on Tuesday approved of a suggestion by the head of the communist party to meet with Kremlin-loyal opposition parties to discuss a "renovation of the electoral system". But a bizarre money laundering case against opposition leader Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption foundation continued to move forward, with a Moscow court reportedly awarding investigators another 47 search warrants. Law enforcement raided the homes and offices of more than 200 Navalny supporters last week. Also on Wednesday, it became known that environmental activist Andrei Khristoforov had fled Russia after a criminal case was opened against him for shocking a police officer who was detaining him with an electric prod. The incident happened at protests against a tip being built for Moscow rubbish 700 miles away in the Arkhangelsk region. At the picket on Wednesday, actors and directors denied that the support of pro-Kremlin figures had emboldened them to demonstrate. "We need to get our colleague out, but ideally we need to free all of them," said actor Roman Shalyapin, referring to those imprisoned in connection with the protests. A group of women who have been picketing for political prisoners outside the presidential administration almost every for the past year outside welcomed the attention to Mr Ustinov's case on Wednesday. Yet many still didn't understand the systematic problems behind it, they said. "People will unify for an actor, for a journalist, but there are other people in prison on fabricated cases," said pensioner Tatyana Tarvid.
|
| Israeli vote leaves Netanyahu's political future in doubt Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:31 PM PDT  After a decade of mesmerizing world leaders, subduing his rivals and eking out dramatic election victories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political future is suddenly in doubt. With near-final results from Israel's election on Tuesday, he has been left well short of the parliamentary majority he had sought — not only to continue in power but also to fend off a looming corruption indictment. With over 90% of the votes counted late Wednesday, challenger Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White party captured 33 seats in the 120-seat parliament, to 32 seats for Netanyahu's conservative Likud.
|
| A Rerun From the 1970s? This Economic Episode Has Different Risks Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:27 PM PDT ![A Rerun From the 1970s? This Economic Episode Has Different Risks]( "A Rerun From the 1970s? This Economic Episode Has Different Risks") History doesn't repeat, they say, but it often rhymes. And the latest economic headlines feature an uncanny tonal resemblance to those of the early 1970s.General Motors workers are on strike, seeking more of the spoils of their employer's successes. The president of the United States is pressuring the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, hoping for a booming economy as he seeks reelection. And now, violence in the Middle East is pushing up global oil prices.At first glance, at least, it seems similar to an era of gas lines and "stagflation."In each of these situations, though, there are big underlying differences between the early 1970s and now. Understanding those differences is important in properly understanding the world economy in 2019 and the risks posed by this combination of events.The GM strike, which began late Sunday with about 50,000 autoworkers walking off the job, could turn out to be the most important clash between labor and management in years.The early 1970s was also a period of labor strife: GM workers went on a major strike in 1970, demanding higher pay. But the context was different, and so were the economic implications.That was an era of rapid inflation and labor unions were at the height of their power -- two phenomena that were connected. The GM workers demanded pay increases that would outpace the already high rate of inflation, and with the strike, they got it. Over the three-year contract from September 1970 to September 1973, autoworkers' pay rose 6.5% a year, comfortably above the 4.5% annual inflation rate.Autoworkers and other powerful unions in that era fueled higher inflation economywide by demanding -- and getting -- ever-escalating pay increases, which fed into consumer prices.That is not what is happening in 2019. It's not just that union membership has fallen to 10.5% of the workforce in 2018 from about 25% in the early 1970s.The autoworkers striking today are essentially trying to claw back some of the compensation they have lost over a brutal decade. Average wages in the motor vehicle industry have fallen 2% since 2010, according to the Center for Automotive Research, amid an 18% rise in consumer prices over the same period.Instead of workers' salary demands fueling too-high inflation, as in 1970, this time the low pay of autoworkers has been a factor in too-low inflation, which the unionized workers are hoping to reverse.Similarly, the upside-down world of low inflation affects the unusual politics around the Federal Reserve.President Richard M. Nixon and his aides blatantly pressured Arthur Burns of the Federal Reserve to increase the money supply, despite rising inflation, viewing a strong economy as the key to Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign. They used both public and private pressure, and some underhanded moves like leaking false information that Burns had sought a large pay raise.Nixon didn't have Twitter.President Donald Trump has taken to assailing the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, by tweet and calling for steep interest rate cuts. In recent weeks, he called Fed leaders "boneheads" and suggested that Powell is an enemy of the United States.But the economic environment in which the Fed is operating means that the attacks have different implications than Nixon's did. In the 12 months ended in August, the Consumer Price Index rose only 1.8%; in the equivalent 12-month period ending in August 1971, it was up 4.4%.The Nixon-era pressure, in other words, came at a time when the downsides of excessively easy money were apparent. In 2019, the Fed is dealing with a different struggle. It has failed to get inflation consistently up to the 2% level it targets, and there is evidence that Fed interest rate increases in 2018 have slowed the global economy in 2019 in ways that are reinforcing these deflationary forces.Trump's methods and tone are unconventional, and the scale of the interest rate cuts he seeks is out of line with what most mainstream economists think would make sense. But his general idea -- that interest rates need to be adjusted downward to keep the economic expansion on track -- is relatively mainstream.And Powell and the Fed are likely to act on that logic Wednesday afternoon, delivering a second rate cut in two months.The latest tumult in the Middle East delivers further complexity for the Fed and other economic policymakers. An attack over the weekend that incapacitated much of Saudi Arabia's oil production infrastructure caused a 13% spike in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to start the week (prices fell some Tuesday, reflecting optimism that Saudi output would return to normal quickly).The stagflation -- stagnant growth combined with inflation -- of the 1970s was caused in large part by repeated disruptions to global oil supplies, which led to soaring prices and gasoline shortages in the United States.If a major conflict were to break out in the Middle East, such as between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the impact on the world economy would be severe. But the United States is well insulated from more moderate swings in energy prices like those evident so far, and could even benefit from them.First, on the demand side, the "energy intensity" of the U.S. economy has declined precipitously since the 1970s, meaning that each dollar of economic output takes less energy to create.Second, American oil and natural gas production has risen, especially in the last few years. That means that while higher energy prices may hurt consumers, they have a countervailing positive impact on oil-producing parts of the United States and the industries that serve it, like those that sell equipment for energy exploration.Third, the dynamics around inflation that also affect the GM negotiations and the Fed's options have a side effect: There is less reason now to think that a shock to energy prices would flow through to rapid inflation for all goods. Fewer workers have union contracts containing automatic cost-of-living raises, for example, and the Fed has become more savvy about disentangling the short-term effect of more expensive oil from a broader wave of inflation.None of this means that the economy is free from risks. The trade wars could bubble over into a broader slump. The Fed could miscalculate as it sets policy. Or the geopolitical situation could break down more quickly than now looks likely.But a changing world means a different set of risks, no matter the superficial similarities to the past.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
|
| UN says deal reached on committee for new Syria constitution Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:01 PM PDT ![UN says deal reached on committee for new Syria constitution]( "UN says deal reached on committee for new Syria constitution") United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced Wednesday that a long-sought agreement has been reached on the composition of a committee to draft a new constitution for Syria, an important step toward hopefully ending the more than eight-year conflict. At a Russian-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution.
|
| In World War II, Brazil Helped the Allies Seize Italy Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:00 PM PDT  The United Nations was born from the efforts of many Allies.
|
| Rockets fired from Gaza fall short, wound 7 Palestinians Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:54 AM PDT ![Rockets fired from Gaza fall short, wound 7 Palestinians]( "Rockets fired from Gaza fall short, wound 7 Palestinians") Seven Palestinians have been wounded after a rocket barrage from the Gaza Strip exploded near a house inside the coastal enclave. Palestinian eyewitnesses said Wednesday that two of the three rockets struck outside a home in the southern city of Rafah, and a third fell near the fence separating Israel and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it had identified "a failed launch attempt" from the Gaza Strip, but that no projectiles entered Israel.
|
| UPDATE 1-EU's Tusk, Britain's Johnson to discuss Brexit next week Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:44 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-EU's Tusk, Britain's Johnson to discuss Brexit next week]( "UPDATE 1-EU's Tusk, Britain's Johnson to discuss Brexit next week") European Council President Donald Tusk and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson are due to hold bilateral talks on Brexit on the sidelines of a U.N. session in New York next week, according to an official with the bloc. Both are due to attend the United Nations General Assembly gathering though the exact timing of their bilateral meeting is yet to be confirmed. The EU has pushed back this week against Johnson's assertions that a new Brexit deal was in the making and warned Britain was heading for a damaging, chaotic split as soon as Oct. 31.
|
| UPDATE 1-Iran to hold annual Gulf drills with 200 frigates, speedboats Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:44 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Iran to hold annual Gulf drills with 200 frigates, speedboats]( "UPDATE 1-Iran to hold annual Gulf drills with 200 frigates, speedboats") Iran will hold its annual military parade on Sept. 22 in the Gulf with 200 frigates and speedboats, the semi-official Iran Front Page website reported on Wednesday, at a time of soaring tension between Tehran and Washington. The parade will mark the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, the IFP said. The semi-official Fars news agency said it would be a joint manoeuvre with the participation of regular army and elite Revolutionary Guards' naval forces.
|
| Trump says 'many options' on Iran response Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:40 AM PDT  US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he has "many options" in addition to military strikes against Iran and that details of newly announced sanctions will come within 48 hours. Asked by reporters about a possible US attack on Iran, Trump said "there are many options. US ally Saudi Arabia says Iran was behind a missile or drone attack setting ablaze major oil facilities last weekend.
|
| Robert O'Brien replaces John Bolton as Trump's national security adviser Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:40 AM PDT  Elevation of the state department's chief hostage negotiator seen as a win for US secretary of state Mike PompeoRobert O'Brien arrives at a court in Stockholm in July to witness the trial of the US rapper A$AP Rocky, a mission that infuriated the Swedish government. Photograph: Michael Campanella/Getty ImagesDonald Trump has appointed the state department's chief hostage negotiator – whose most prominent international role until now was monitoring the Swedish trial of the US rapper A$AP Rocky – to be John Bolton's successor as national security adviser.Unlike his firebrand predecessor, Robert O'Brien is seen as a low-profile loyalist, and his appointment is widely viewed in Washington as a win for the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who had competed with Bolton for the president's ear.Trump named O'Brien, a California lawyer, on Twitter, just after a tweet announcing unspecified new sanctions on Iran in response to Saturday's attack on Saudi oil facilities.The president said he had been impressed with O'Brien's work on extracting Americans illegally held abroad."He's worked with me for quite a while now on hostages. And we've got a tremendous track record with respect to hostages," Trump said, adding that he had "brought a lot of people back home" without having to spend any money. O'Brien, who was in the president's plane on the way to California, said: "We look forward to another year and a half of peace through strength. We've had tremendous foreign policy successes under President Trump's leadership. I expect those to continue."O'Brien made a rare appearance in the headlines when Trump sent him to Stockholm to monitor the trial of A$AP Rocky, a political stunt that infuriated the Swedish government.When the court released the rapper and two of his associates, before finding them guilty, O'Brien declared it a "very good night for the United States of America and for the Kingdom of Sweden".O'Brien, a Mormon, was a campaign adviser to Mitt Romney, but has been unstintingly loyal to Trump, careful to credit him with any hostage successes.In April, Trump quoted O'Brien as saying: "President Donald J Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid."The White House later insisted the quote had come from O'Brien, who had said Trump had "unparalleled success" in bringing home hostages."Trump, after enduring the Bolton experience, clearly has no use for a strong personality or ideologue in the National Security Adviser position. Pompeo may not be dual-hatted as secretary of state and NSA, but he might as well be with this arrangement," a former national security council spokesman, Ned Price, said on Twitter.Before the Trump administration, O'Brien had a largely low-key government career. George W Bush sent him as a representative to the UN general assembly in 2005 and he was involved judicial reform in Afghanistan in the last year of the Bush administration.In 2016, he published a collection of hawkish essays on foreign policy, titled While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis, which was heavily critical of the Obama administration.It denounced the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran as appeasement, and O'Brien derided the Obama approach as "leading from behind". He claimed that "peak political correctness in the west" had held governments back in the fight against Isis."Being the leader of the free world does not mean being the policeman of the entire world," he wrote. "It does mean that America should use its moral authority to promote the idea of free men and women and free markets for the betterment of the world."The book's rhetoric positions O'Brien as a traditional Republican hawk – a straightforward match with Pompeo, but not necessarily an easy fit with Trump.The initial reaction among Washington diplomats is that O'Brien is likely to restore the interagency decision-making process that Bolton sought to destroy by cutting down "principals meetings" of department heads. In the new set-up, however, Pompeo is likely to have a dominant role.In contrast to the acerbic Bolton, O'Brien seems to be able to get along with people of different political stripes.Andrew Exum, a former senior official in the Obama defence department, tweeted that O'Brien "is a really, really good person and that I wish him all the best in what will certainly be a challenging role."
|
| Trump and Iran may be on the brink of a war that would likely be devastating to both sides Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:32 AM PDT  A war with Iran would likely be disastrous and further destabilize a region that's been consumed by conflict for years.
|
| Saudis say Iran 'sponsored' attack on oil facilities, Pompeo calls it an 'act of war' Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:27 AM PDT  The Saudi government on Wednesday publicly accused Iran of "sponsoring" the attack on its oil facilities over the weekend -- an accusation that will have serious consequences for a region already on edge, but that still stopped short of total blame. The Saudi charge comes days after the U.S. already accused Iran of responsibility. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia Wednesday, blasting Iran for "an act of war" and saying the attacks had the "fingerprints of the Ayatollah," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
|
| UK's Johnson says EU's Juncker shares determination to avoid no-deal Brexit Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:25 AM PDT ![UK's Johnson says EU's Juncker shares determination to avoid no-deal Brexit]( "UK's Johnson says EU's Juncker shares determination to avoid no-deal Brexit") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker have a "shared determination" to reach a deal over Brexit, Johnson's office said in a statement on Wednesday after the two leaders spoke by telephone. "The Prime Minister and President Juncker discussed the positive and constructive conversation they had in Luxembourg on Monday and their shared determination to reach a deal," Johnson's office said.
|
| Yemen rebels threaten strikes against Dubai and Abu Dhabi Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:24 AM PDT  Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Wednesday threatened to attack dozens of targets in the United Arab Emirates, including in the skyscraper-filled city states of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "We announce... that we have dozens of targets in the UAE, among them Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and that they can be targeted at any moment," Huthi military spokesman Brigadier Yahya Saree said. The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Huthis in Yemen in an intractable five-year conflict that has devastated the country.
|
| Iran's Rouhani may skip UN meet over US visa delay: state media Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:11 AM PDT  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and his delegation could be forced into skipping next week's UN General Assembly because the United States has yet to issue them visas, state media said Wednesday. Rouhani and his delegation had been scheduled to travel to New York for the annual UN gathering on Monday, but that was now looking unlikely, state news agency IRNA said. The delegation includes Iran's top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif, against whom the United States imposed sanctions on July 31.
|
| UPDATE 1-Iran's Rouhani may cancel U.N. visit if U.S. visa not issued soon - state media Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:07 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Iran's Rouhani may cancel U.N. visit if U.S. visa not issued soon - state media]( "UPDATE 1-Iran's Rouhani may cancel U.N. visit if U.S. visa not issued soon - state media") Iranian President Hassan Rouhani may cancel his trip to New York next week for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations if the United States fails to issue visas for him and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the next few hours, state media said on Wednesday. Longtime U.S.-Iran strains have worsened since U.S. President Donald Trump last year quit a 2015 international agreement for Iran to curb its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Tensions have escalated in recent months after attacks on tankers in the Gulf and Saudi oil facilities that the United States blames on Iran.
|
| Tight Israeli Election Puts Trump at Risk of Losing Key Ally Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:06 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The tight Israeli election -- and the weeks of debate it may fuel over the formation of a ruling coalition -- has put President Donald Trump on the brink of losing one of his closest foreign allies.Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the type of political gifts most leaders could only dream of, from his decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal to his order to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But now it's not clear if Netanyahu will be around much longer to return those favors.Israel's election rerun produced a dramatic deadlock, thrusting a key Mideast ally into further political turmoil just as Trump gears up to release his peace proposal and prepares for a re-election fight in which he is certain to boast about his pro-Israel credentials."Trump's view is 'I've been very good to this guy, we have a warm relationship, and I have an election year coming up, so he better help me the way I helped him'," said David Makovsky, director of the project on Middle East peace at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of a new book on Israeli leaders. "There's been no doubt who Trump was for in this election."Israel Heads Into Unknown as Netanyahu's Election Gamble FailsWhile initial exit surveys suggest Netanyahu stumbled in this election, having failed to muster a decisive victory after a hard-fought campaign, it is too early to say former military chief Benny Gantz won either. With most votes counted by midday Wednesday, Netanyahu's nationalist Likud slightly trailed Gantz's centrist Blue and White. Neither party has the backing of 61 of parliament's 120 lawmakers, leaving each to reach out to other potential governing partners.Trump acknowledged the tight race in comments to reporters in Los Angeles on Wednesday, saying the election is "very close." On Monday he had said he thought Netanyahu "has a good chance" to pull out a governing majority. But in the latest sign that the administration is starting to hedge its bets on who Israel's next prime minister will be, Trump said in Los Angeles that "our relationship is with Israel," not a specific leader. Vice President Mike Pence did not meet with Netanyahu earlier this month in London, despite the leaders both holding talks at 10 Downing Street within minutes of one another. Regardless, Trump has not been subtle about the outcome he'd like to see from the election.The administration has repeatedly delayed the release of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's long-awaited Middle East peace plan, sparing Netanyahu from having to grapple with potentially divisive proposals ahead of an election. The Trump administration was also quiet on Netanyahu's campaign pledge to annex West Bank settlements if he wins, a vow that previous U.S. presidents would have almost certainly castigated.Netanyahu Takes Cabinet to West Bank to Hammer Home Vote MessageAnnex West Bank? How an Idea Lost Its Taboo in Israel: QuickTakeNetanyahu and Trump, who've both enjoyed the backing of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, have built a relationship over the years based on mutual political expediency, leveraging their ties to score points against their rivals back home. Netanyahu repeatedly reminded voters during his campaign of his access to Trump, while the U.S. president encouraged Netanyahu to bar two freshmen Democratic House members from entering the country in an effort to paint the Democratic party as anti-Israel.Over the weekend, Trump said he and Netanyahu held a phone call to discuss a mutual defense treaty that could "further anchor the tremendous alliance between our two countries." Amos Yadlin, executive director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, said the issue was "deserving deep discussion, and not a quick draw shot from the hip on the eve of election."But after Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, closed the Palestinian representative office in the U.S., withdrew from the Iran deal, cut off funding to a United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees and later recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria during the 1967 war, there were few hanging fruits left to offer Netanyahu.The Most Undiplomatic of Diplomats Is Trump's Man in Middle East"There's not much left to give," said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations in Middle East peace negotiations. "I think this is a throwaway designed to create the sense that only Bibi has my ear and you Israelis should understand he's my guy."Yet while Trump may have a clear preference for Netanyahu, an inability by the sitting prime minister to form a governing majority wouldn't be "fundamentally injurious" to the U.S. president's own political standing, Miller said.Mud-Slinging Election Shows Nothing Splits Israel Like NetanyahuA center-right unity government led by Gantz could offer Trump some advantages as it would be more open to peace with the Palestinians, said Makovsky. Gantz would also be "very careful not to criticize Trump" and would work to "establish a functional working relationship" with the U.S. president, Miller said.In any case, the White House has already significantly dialed back expectations for a peace deal, and the chief architect of the proposal, Jason Greenblatt, recently signaled his intention to step down."A unity government is the best chance Trump has of getting his peace plan through," said Makovsky. "At this point, the administration has been calling it a vision, rather than a plan, and expectations are already quite diminished."(Updates to add Trump's comments on the election in seventh paragraph)\--With assistance from Jordan Fabian.To contact the reporters on this story: David Wainer in New York at dwainer3@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net;Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Donald Trump's new national security adviser Robert O'Brien will warn him not to 'appease' Iran Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:53 AM PDT  Donald Trump's new national security adviser will warn him not to engage in "appeasement" with Iran, and to become a "leader of the free world" in the manner of Ronald Reagan. Robert O'Brien, previously America's chief hostage negotiator, has compared the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex the Sudetenland. In his book "While America Slept," described as a "wake up call for the American people," Mr O'Brien lambasted Barack Obama's "lead-from-behind" foreign policy," which he said had made the world more dangerous. He urged a "return to President Reagan's 'leader of the free world' foreign policy and 'peace through strength' national security approach." The 2016 book featured an endorsement on the cover from the hawkish Mr Bolton. Mr Bolton departed abruptly last week after 17 months as national security adviser, following a series of disagreements with the president over North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia and Venezuela. Robert O'Brien is Mr Trump's fourth national security adviser Credit: REX As special envoy for hostage affairs Mr O'Brien has worked on releasing US prisoners in Iran, and helped to secure the return of Danny Burch, an American hostage in Yemen. He has worked closely with the families of US hostages, including in North Korea, and on justice reform in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, Mr Trump sent him to Sweden to monitor the assault court case of American rapper A$AP Rocky, in which the president took a personal interest. Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: "I have worked long & hard with Robert. He will do a great job!" Mr O'Brien has given all the credit for hostage releases he worked on to Mr Trump. He called the president "the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States." Mr O'Brien will become Mr Trump's fourth national security adviser, and the most senior Mormon in the administration. His hostage role had been overseen by Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, whose power within the administration is growing. However, Mr O'Brien also has long links to Mr Bolton. In 2005 President George W. Bush appointed him US Representative to the UN General Assembly. Mr Bolton was UN Ambassador to the UN at the time. Mr Trump was said to have been attracted to Mr O'Brien's personal style, which is a contrast to that of Mr Bolton, and to have concluded that he "looked the part" of national security adviser. US officials indicated the president wanted an adviser who would be less of a public figure, and cause less controversy. Mr O'Brien, a former lawyer from Los Angeles, was described by one US official as the "nicest guy on the planet," and someone who would not cause internal disruption at the Pentagon or state department. Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator and friend of Mr Trump, said: "He [Mr O'Brien] understands the world for the dangerous place it is. "He's got great negotiating skills as our hostage negotiator. He'll be a very sound policy adviser."
|
| UN sends experts to probe Saudi blasts, warns on escalation Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:31 AM PDT  UN experts have left for Saudi Arabia to probe weekend blasts at oil installations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday, as he warned of "devastating" consequences if the crisis escalates. The UN chief said that the experts were authorized to start a probe under the Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which the United States blames for the attacks. The UN experts "have already left for Saudi Arabia and obviously they will be doing their job according to the mandate that the Security Council has given them," Guterres told reporters.
|
| Spain Is Politically Unstable But Investors Don’t Seem to Care Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- With yet another election on the horizon, Spain feels like one of Europe's most politically fractured countries. But investors are not worried.Why? The markets sense a still-robust economy and a pro-European consensus. That wasn't the case in Italy and Brexit-battered Britain, two nations that also flirted with imminent elections but whose euroskepticism raised red flags.So even if Spaniards head back to the polling booths on Nov. 10 for the fourth time in as many years, who cares. Stocks rose and the spread between 10-year Spanish and German bonds narrowed.Spain's mainstream parties have been struggling to form governments since 2015 and while the stalemate is a cause of angst, the splintered politics have kept the more extreme populist fringes at bay. If anything, Spain feels more integral than ever to the European Union."This is not political instability as we see in Italy," said Alfonso Benito, chief investment officer at Spanish asset manager Dunas Capital. "Both parties with real chances to lead a government are mainstream parties, both pro-Europe and that's what markets care about."There is little reason to expect that any government that might emerge will do things such as raise taxes excessively or start over-regulating business -- the unresolved Catalan question remains the biggest headache. A climate of ultra-low interest rates helps keep things ticking along.King Felipe VI ruled on Tuesday that there was no chance of a government being formed, a decision that set the constitutional monarchy on course for elections in two months.Back in April, Pedro Sanchez's Socialists emerged as the biggest party but he was short of an overall majority in parliament. He is acting prime minister and talks to secure the support of the anti-austerity party Podemos led nowhere.The thinking now is that in a new election, he might be able to raise his standing and somehow manage to do without a pesky, unreliable ally that would force his hand into potentially market-unfriendly measures.That's not to say no one is worried about what's happening in Spain.The chairman of the country's main business lobby described the deadlock of the last four years as a "lamentable spectacle." One likely scenario is a new minority Socialist government emerges that can't pass a budget or enact basic economic reforms.To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net;Todd White in Madrid at twhite2@bloomberg.net;Macarena Munoz in Madrid at mmunoz39@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-JacksonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Saudi Arabia shows fragments of drones and cruise missiles as it declares Iran sponsor of attacks Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia has declared Iran was "unquestionably" responsible for the weekend attack on its two oil facilities that temporarily halved the country's production. Debris of drones and cruise missiles were presented to the media as proof of Iran's involvement during a briefing by the Saudi defence ministry. Spokesman Col Turki Al-Malki said the attack did not come from Yemen, as Iran has claimed, but from north of Saudi Arabia. He said that Iran "sponsored" the attack but fell short of alleging it had been launched from Iranian ground, noting the search to pinpoint the exact site continued. Iran has denied involvement, with the Houthi rebels in Yemen it backs claiming responsibility. An adviser to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani responded by saying Saudi Arabia "knows nothing" Strikes against Saudi oil plants Donald Trump announced new sanctions against Iran on Wednesday as he sought to build consensus with allies over responding to the attack on two Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Mr Trump talked to Boris Johnson and agreed the need for a "united diplomatic response" while Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, was dispatched to Saudi Arabia for talks. The US president said he was considering all possible responses, including "the ultimate option" of war, adding: "There's plenty of time to do some dastardly things." Mr Pompeo also called the attack "an act of war". However Mr Trump has repeatedly said he does not want a military conflict with Iran. A Saudi official pointedly did not promise a military response when asked in their press conference. The United Nations is now being drawn into the stand-off, with the Saudis promising the share what it has found with international investigators. French President Emmanuel Macron's office announced experts from his nation would travel to Saudi Arabia to help shed light on the "origin and methods" of the attack. The Saudi briefing, held before live TV cameras, escalated the stand-off between Saudi Arabia and Iran over Saturday's attack on its Abqaiq oil facility and Khurais oilfield. Eighteen drones and seven cruise missiles were launched in the assault, Mr Malki said, with three missiles failing to make their targets. He said the cruise missiles had a range of 700 kilometers (435 miles), meaning they could not have been fired from inside Yemen. I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019 Mr Malki played surveillance video he said showed a drone coming in from the north of Saudi Arabia. That raises the possibility that it was fired from Iran or Iraq. "The attack was launched from the north and was unquestionably sponsored by Iran," Mr Malki told reporters. He added: "This attack did not originate from Yemen, despite Iran's best effort to make it appear so." During the briefing Mr Malki declined to promise a military response once the exact launch site for the attack is located, saying only that there would be "accountability". Hesameddin Ashena, an adviser to Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, hit back at the claims on Twitter. "The press conference proved that Saudi Arabia knows nothing about where the missiles and drones were made or launched from and failed to explain why the country's defence system failed to intercept them," he wrote. Houthi rebels have claimed the strikes, but the Saudi Defence Ministry spokesman said they came from the north not the south Credit: Bloomberg The fallout from the Saudi oil attack, which had sent the world oil price soaring, has disrupted Mr Trump's hopes of meeting Mr Rouhani at the United Nations in New York next week. For months Mr Trump has talked up the chance of a handshake - the first between US and Iranian leaders for decades - amid reports he is seeking a deal with Tehran before the 2020 US presidential election. But earlier this week Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there would be no talks "at any level" and on Wednesday Mr Trump announced new sanctions. He tweeted: "I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!" No more details were provided, with Mr Trump saying they would come in the next 48 hours. Iranian state media reported that Mr Rouhani may not even attend the UN gathering at all, claiming that Iran's preparatory delegation had been denied visas. Smoke billows from an Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq about 60km (37 miles) southwest of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia Credit: AFP Speaking to reporters in California on Wednesday, Mr Trump did not rule out launching a military strike in retaliation to last week's attack. "There are many options. There's the ultimate option and there are options that are a lot less than that," Mr Trump said. Asked to clarify, he said the ultimate option was war. Mr Trump also talked to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, yesterday. A Downing Street spokesman said: "They condemned the attacks and discussed the need for a united diplomatic response from international partners."
|
| Pakistan: No talks with India until Kashmir status restored Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:20 AM PDT ![Pakistan: No talks with India until Kashmir status restored]( "Pakistan: No talks with India until Kashmir status restored") Pakistan's prime minister announced Wednesday that his government will not hold any talks with India until New Delhi lifts a curfew in Kashmir and reinstates the disputed region's special autonomous status. Imran Khan said told reporters that will expose human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York. New Delhi moved to strip the portion of Kashmir it controls of its limited autonomy on Aug. 5.
|
| Trump Names Hostage Envoy Robert O’Brien as National Security Adviser Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:20 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Wednesday he'll appoint Robert O'Brien as his White House national security adviser, elevating the State Department's top hostage envoy from relative obscurity to one of the most important jobs in U.S. government.O'Brien had the backing of Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, whose central role shaping the administration's foreign policy will be solidified by the appointment.Trump fired the former national security adviser, John Bolton, last week after disputes over the administration's foreign policy in Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere. On Tuesday, Trump named five finalists for the job, including O'Brien.O'Brien has no known experience managing an organization the size of the National Security Council, which has about 300 employees. By Trump's telling, he appeared to have won over the president in part by praising him in a job interview.Trump told reporters on Tuesday: "Robert O'Brien said Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator in history. He happens to be right." Trump also called himself the greatest hostage negotiator in an April tweet.Trump trusts O'Brien, and the two clicked when they spoke, according to a senior administration official.Law FirmBefore being named hostage envoy, O'Brien had been a partner at a California law firm and advised the 2016 presidential campaigns of Texas Senator Ted Cruz and former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. He was now-Senator Mitt Romney's senior foreign policy adviser when the Utah Republican ran for president in 2012."He's a very sharp guy," said Kent Lucken, who was a colleague of O'Brien's on two Romney campaigns. "A very sharp negotiator. Defense hawk. He'll be tough on China."O'Brien, considered by Trump for Navy secretary in 2017, supports the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other alliances, Lucken said.O'Brien has had a long involvement in international matters, Lucken said, including work on the State Department's Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan.O'Brien has led the department's efforts to secure the release of U.S. hostages held by foreign governments, including North Korea and Iran. Previously, he worked for Bolton when Bolton was United Nations ambassador in the George W. Bush administration. He also was a State Department official under former Secretary Hillary Clinton.But his foreign policy views largely align with Trump's. In O'Brien's book "While America Slept," which was published shortly before the 2016 election and highlights his own foreign experience, O'Brien railed against what he called Obama's "lead from behind" approach and accused the former president of emboldening "autocrats, tyrants and terrorists."'Long and Hard'Trump said in his tweet that he's worked "long and hard" with O'Brien. The negotiator's most visible role in the administration thus far engendered widespread derision: the president's decision to dispatch him to Sweden to monitor legal proceedings involving A$AP Rocky, an American rapper who was arrested after a Stockholm street fight.The rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was convicted and given a conditional jail sentence, but the Swedes released him after Trump took up his cause on Twitter.O'Brien has helped free U.S. hostages including Danny Burch, an engineer at an oil company who was taken hostage by a criminal gang in Yemen.O'Brien didn't answer a phone call on Wednesday or respond to an email seeking comment.Trump gave Pompeo a significant say in choosing the next national security adviser -- a position that doesn't require Senate confirmation -- after the secretary of state repeatedly clashed with Bolton. Bolton's departure left Pompeo unchallenged as Trump's closest foreign policy adviser.Pompeo had favored O'Brien or Ricky Waddell, a former national security official in the Trump administration.(Updates with book in 12th paragraph.)\--With assistance from Jordan Fabian.To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net;Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| UK Supreme Court told Boris Johnson is 'father of lies' Posted: 18 Sep 2019 09:49 AM PDT ![UK Supreme Court told Boris Johnson is 'father of lies']( "UK Supreme Court told Boris Johnson is 'father of lies'") Prime Minister Boris Johnson is the "father of lies" who shut down the mother of parliaments in the run-up to Brexit, Britain's Supreme Court heard Wednesday. In the second of three days of highly-charged arguments over whether Johnson's advice to Queen Elizabeth II to suspend the legislature was unlawful, Britain's highest court was told that his move was destroying parliamentary democracy. The lawyer representing around 75 parliamentarians who challenged Johnson's actions said the premier had unlawfully abused his power by closing parliament for five weeks until October 14 -- with Britain due to leave the EU on October 31.
|
| Boris Johnson Called ‘Father of Lies’ as Parliament Suspension Attacked Posted: 18 Sep 2019 09:45 AM PDT (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson's motives for suspending parliament came under sustained attack as the government claimed the prime minister's move was a political decision beyond the responsibility of Britain's most senior judges.James Eadie, the government's lawyer, said Johnson's decision isn't for the courts because it's "inherently and fundamentally political in nature," even if the prime minister would gain from the move.Eadie -- and Johnson -- were pressured to detail the government's plan should the court rule against the prorogation of Parliament, with President Judge Brenda Hale warning it'd be "entirely inconvenient" if the clarifying document was late. It was the second time in two days that the country's top justices asked for the plans.The three-day hearing ends Thursday, with the justices retiring to consider their verdict in a landmark case that not only threatens to undermine Johnson's position as prime minister, but could also curtail the British executive's longstanding power over when the legislature sits. Johnson could be forced to recall Parliament, giving opponents of a no-deal Brexit more room to try to thwart his "do or die" promise to leave the European Union with or without a divorce agreement on Oct. 31.Johnson's veracity was questioned by opponents, who allege the decision to suspend Parliament was an abuse of power to prevent oversight of his plans. The government's response, through Eadie, was that the court's don't have any jurisdiction over political moves."There is a political advantage to the government in having a clear space when it is not subject to the daily grind within which to prepare, not merely to do all the things that have to be done in relation to Brexit, but also to prepare a Queen's Speech," Eadie said.Aidan O'Neill, acting for a group of lawmakers that won a ruling from a Scottish court that the suspension had the effect of stymieing Parliament, said the lawmakers were "entitled to an effective remedy." He asked the court to quash the prorogation order.O'Neill said he'd assume a government wouldn't resort to "low, dishonest, dirty tricks, but I'm not sure we can assume that of this government given the attitude that has been taken by its advisers and the Prime Minister to the notion of the rule of law."Several judges expressed concerns about the lack of a signed witness statement from any senior government minister. Others questioned what controls Parliament has available to it, especially after the suspension had ended.A defeat might prevent any further suspension in the run up to the prime minister's deadline to leave the European Union on Oct. 31.Robert Hazell, a professor for constitutional law at University College London, said the court didn't "want to look foolish" if the government worked around an order forcing a return of Parliament.Father of Lies"The court's worry is that they may hand down a declaration that the advice is unlawful but the government may then simply construct a more tightly worded argument and advice justifying prorogation for what is left of the period," said Hazell.Eadie said the situation is complicated, and that lawmakers would still have time in the days before the end of October should they want to enact further controls on Johnson's plan."There is time, and it's up to Parliament and the government to legislate what they consider necessary," he said.In his summing up O'Neill questioned whether the judges could trust Johnson to abide with any of their rulings."Do not let the mother of Parliaments be closed down by the father of lies," he said.\--With assistance from Franz Wild.To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Browning in London at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net;Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Stuart BiggsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| The Latest: Defiant Israel PM seeks to lead ruling coalition Posted: 18 Sep 2019 09:36 AM PDT  Israel's prime minister says he will seek to lead a ruling coalition with his religious and nationalist allies, despite falling short of a parliamentary majority in Tuesday's elections. Neither Netanyahu's Likud party nor its main rival — the Blue and White party headed by former military chief of staff Benny Gantz — won enough votes to declare an outright victory. Gantz's centrist bloc, which could potentially include the Joint List of Arab parties, has a slight edge over Netanyahu and his longtime ultra-Orthodox and religious nationalist allies.
|
| Finnish Media Report a Sept. 30 Deadline for Written Brexit Plan Posted: 18 Sep 2019 09:33 AM PDT ![Finnish Media Report a Sept. 30 Deadline for Written Brexit Plan]( "Finnish Media Report a Sept. 30 Deadline for Written Brexit Plan") (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. must present a written proposal for a deal by Sept. 30 to avoid a hard Brexit, French President Emmanuel Macron and Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne agreed Wednesday, Finnish media reported.Rinne, whose country holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, said he intends to call European Council President Donald Tusk and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to discuss the deadline, according to reports.The idea of a deadline at the end of this month was agreed by Macron and Rinne, and isn't shared by the EU. "We need to know what the U.K. is proposing," Rinne said. "Loose talk about proposals for negotiations is irresponsible."Rinne and Macron met in Paris on Wednesday.To contact the reporter on this story: Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-JacksonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| David Cameron: I feared 'xenophobic' Trump could win after Brexit result Posted: 18 Sep 2019 08:59 AM PDT  * Ex-British PM dismayed by Trump's 'misogynistic interventions' * Criticizes president's 'bluster and boasting' over fighting Isis David Cameron's premiership ran from May 2010 to June 2016 and did not overlap with Donald Trump's presidency. Composite: RexDonald Trump won the nomination to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2016 because of his "protectionist, xenophobic, misogynistic interventions", the former British prime minister David Cameron has said.Writing in his memoir, published in the UK on Wednesday, Cameron said he found it depressing and was immediately concerned that Trump – whom he called a "maverick businessman" – could win in the wake of the Brexit referendum result.He said that "the rise of the far-left and hard-right parties in Europe [had] shown us that anti-establishment, divisive politics was the new normal."Cameron's premiership ran from May 2010 to June 2016 and did not overlap with Trump's presidency. Cameron's tenure ended with the result of the Brexit referendum that Trump himself has repeatedly said foreshadowed his defeat of Hillary Clinton five months later.Shortly after Trump won the Republican nomination, Barack Obama made a speech to Nato in Warsaw in which he compared Trump to the Russian president Vladamir Putin and warned of "the slippery slope that leads from criticizing, say, gay people or immigrants to the demonizing of whole nations, races and religions".Cameron, who was listening, wrote: "I couldn't have agreed more".Writing in his 732-page memoir, For The Record, Cameron also attacked Trump's criticism of "Islamic terrorism"."I always tried to speak about 'Islamist extremism' and 'Islamist extremist violence' rather than just use the label 'Islamist'," Cameron wrote. "Donald Trump doesn't bother with that distinction. Indeed, he goes in the other direction, frequently referring to 'Islamic terrorism' which in my view is extremely unhelpful."Cameron described how one of his biggest regrets was not to have been in power when Iraqi forces took back Mosul in Iraq from Islamic State in July 2017, or to see Raqqa in Syria taken by Kurdish fighters.When Isis appeared to crumble, Trump claimed responsibility by saying Isis was not on the run before because "you didn't have Trump as your president.""I totally changed rules of engagement," Trump said in a TV interview. "I totally changed our military, I totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job."Cameron, who was prime minister while British and American hostages were being beheaded by Isis fighters, remarked in his book: "For all the subsequent bluster and boasting of Donald Trump, he was given a war that was well on its way to being won."
|
