| Defiant Trump doubles down on threat to Iran cultural sites Posted: 05 Jan 2020 05:38 PM PST  US President Donald Trump doubled down Sunday on a threat to attack Iranian cultural sites despite accusations that any such strike would amount to a war crime. After his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, had insisted that any military action would conform to international law, Trump said he would regard cultural sites as fair game if Iran resorted to deadly force against US targets. Tehran's foreign minister had reacted to those initial comments by drawing parallels with the Islamic State group's destruction of the Middle East's cultural heritage.
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| Iraq Tells Trump GTFO After Soleimani Strike Posted: 05 Jan 2020 05:20 PM PST  On Sunday, just days after the U.S. strike that killed the powerful Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the Trump administration got its first real taste of international pushback. The Iraqi parliament voted to oust American troops from the country and Tehran announced that it would pull completely out of its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal. The pushback didn't come in the form of a targeted strike on a major American outpost or U.S. service member, but combined, the two events served as a wakeup call for officials in Washington who for days had tried desperately to manage the fallout of the Soleimani strike, with some describing it as an act to "advance the cause of peace."President Donald Trump's truculent response? Threaten Iraq with sanctions if it expels U.S. troops: "If they do ask us to leave, if we don't do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame."Tehran's announcement about its nuclear program Sunday indicated that the efforts Iran and the United States made in recent months to discuss the possibility of negotiations had all but evaporated. And the Iraqi vote in parliament, although nonbinding, worried officials in the State Department who for days had tried to convince officials in Iraq that backing America's presence in the country was still the best bet for a continued partnership. In response to Sunday's events Trump threatened "disproportionate" strikes against Tehran and indicated he would not be constrained by anyone on the Hill."These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!" the president raged on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. Sunday's maelstrom and new developments were not entirely unexpected by Trump's national security brass or his war planners. Shortly before he ordered Thursday's fateful, potentially world-altering attack, the president was briefed on a menu of possible consequences if Soleimani were slain. According to two administration officials, one of the listed potential consequences was attacks on U.S. military personnel abroad—and another was the Iranian regime deciding to amp up its nuclear program.For senior Iraqi officials who have worked closely with the United States, including Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Hadi, fears that their country will become the proxy battleground for a war between the U.S. and Iran have combined with a sense of betrayal by their American allies. Last week, as Abdul-Hadi worked to calm an increasingly explosive confrontation, he turned to Soleimani for help. An American contractor had been killed by a militia, Kataeb Hezbollah, that is part of the Iraqi government's forces but which answered to Soleimani. Then came retaliatory U.S. airstrikes against Kataeb Hezbollah, killing at least 24 people. The militia's supporters responded by trying to batter their way into the fortress-like U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad's Green Zone.The Iraqis had known that Soleimani could make the violence worse—or he could rein in the many Iraqi militias over which he held de facto command, and thus ease the tensions. When the embassy siege ended, Abdul-Mahdi got a phone call from Trump thanking his government, and Trump asked him "to play the mediator's role" between the U.S. and Iran. But Trump already had ordered the drones and helicopters set in motion to terminate the Iranian general in a fiery blast early last Friday morning near Baghdad airport.Trump claims he ordered the hit to stop a major attack on Americans. But Abdul-Mahdi told Iraq's parliament Sunday, "I was supposed to meet Soleimani the day he was killed." He had come to deliver "a message from Iran responding to the message we delivered from Saudi [Arabia] to Iran."Abdul-Mahdi and other Iraqi officials, framing this as duplicity by Trump, apparently feel they have little choice at this point but to demand American forces withdraw. Indeed, as the vote approached on the non-binding resolution Sunday, Abdul-Mahdi offered parliament only two options: that the U.S. pull out deliberately and slowly or that it do so as quickly as possible. And Abdul-Mahdi, long considered friendly by Washington, said he favored the second option.In the hours after Soleimani's fiery demise, senior officials in the State Department were tasked with reaching out to officials throughout Iraq to try to ease fears that the country would yet again become an American battlefield. But the more pressing concern for the State Department and the White House, according to two senior U.S. officials, was convincing politicians in Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, that they should continue to support the presence of U.S. troops in the country. Axios was the first to report that the U.S. reached out to Iraqi officials to try and stop the vote in parliament.For more than a year, leading Iraqi politicians have called on the U.S. to withdraw, saying their presence was only inflaming tensions on the ground with Iran-backed militias. And the most important push by the State Department was to shore up Kurdish support—to ask that Kurd members of parliament not show up for a vote that would oust American troops from the country. The outcome wasn't 100 percent predictable, sources said. For months American diplomats in Iraq have privately raised concerns that the Kurds were unhappy with the U.S., that they felt they could not rely on a Trump White House. The Kurds, and many Sunni members of parliament, did not show up for the vote, which can be construed as a de facto show of support for the U.S. position. But parliament still voted for the removal of American troops from the country. The vote cannot be implemented by Abdul-Hadi's caretaker government, so technically the U.S. forces have some breathing room. But the writing, as they said in ancient Babylon, is on the wall. Senior officials at the Pentagon and State Department have discussed the possibility of moving American troops to the Kurdish region of Iraq. But with Kurdish support somewhat shaky, that option isn't clear, either.On Sunday night, Trump told reporters Air Force One he would sanction Iraq "like they've never seen before" and that they would "make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame." "We're not leaving unless they pay us back," Trump said, apparently referring to a U.S. air base in the country.To much of the Iraqi government, Soleimani's killing was a final straw. To the Iranian leaders and scores of the Islamic republic's citizens, it was an act of war and a rallying cry to vengeance. To Trump's stateside critics, it was yet another disastrous decision made by a spectacularly unfit commander in chief. But to Trump's base and power centers of his party—MAGA faithful, conservative war hawks, religious right leaders—it was a cause for elation.Robert Jeffress, a Dallas megachurch pastor and an outside adviser to Trump, said that as he watched the news early on Friday, the morning after the strike, he quickly rewrote the address he was set to deliver at an "Evangelicals for Trump" event to thank God "for a president like Donald Trump who is willing to confront evil and take action."And on Friday, President Trump went before the news cameras, shortly before his trip to that "Evangelicals for Trump" gathering in Florida, to insist to the world, "We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war."Senior Iraqi officials are only too aware that American political considerations that could determine the fate of their nation are based largely on Trump's re-election strategy at this point. The result, they suggest, is counterproductive."You are strengthening the guys"—the Iranians—"you want to weaken," said one Iraqi official friendly to the United States. "But the question is what to do now." Then he added ominously, "How do you avoid further escalation with the understanding that the Iranians have to do something?"Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Maduro Forces Oust Guaido from Congress and Spark Day of Chaos Posted: 05 Jan 2020 05:11 PM PST ![Maduro Forces Oust Guaido from Congress and Spark Day of Chaos]( "Maduro Forces Oust Guaido from Congress and Spark Day of Chaos") (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan politics descended into disarray on Sunday when security forces barred opposition leader Juan Guaido and his backers from entering the National Assembly, allowing loyalists to President Nicolas Maduro to choose an assembly president instead of Guaido.His suit torn from scaling a fence, Guaido and his supporters went elsewhere and re-elected him anyway, drawing backing from Washington and Latin American and European powers that consider Maduro illegitimate and condemned his actions."This is a farce," said lawmaker Stalin Gonzalez, a Guaido lieutenant after the assembly chose a new leader. "Where is the vote, the list of attendees or the quorum necessary for a vote like this?"Michael Kozak, an acting U.S. assistant secretary of state, said the vote in the assembly didn't meet minimum constitutional standards. But with Washington preoccupied over threats of retaliation from Iran, this could prove an opportune time for Maduro to pressure Guaido with relative impunity.Maduro's Growing ConfidenceThe move certainly illustrated growing confidence by Maduro that, despite the country's spiraling poverty, hunger and dysfunction, Guaido's yearlong attempt to oust him is losing steam.A year ago, when Guaido, 36, announced that, as president of the National Assembly, he was interim president of the country since Maduro's election was rigged and illegitimate, he was greeted with hundreds of thousands of citizens backing him in rapturous rallies. His popularity topped 60%.On Sunday, the streets didn't ring out with support for him. They were largely empty. He is polling now in the high 30s, according to Datanalisis. He is still the most popular politician in the country and when guards barred him, he shouted, "Does your girlfriend or your mother agree with what you're doing? What do they say to you at home?"After being re-elected by his colleagues, Guaido said they'd go to the assembly on Tuesday to meet. It seems unlikely to occur without a struggle. He added, "Today we defeated the dictatorship again. They did not succeed. 2020 is a second opportunity for Venezuela. We have no doubt that we have the majority, we will use it, we must pressure the dictatorship."Three LegislaturesBut Maduro controls all the key institutions, including the military, electoral council and judicial system. In 2017, he also set up an alternative legislature, the National Constituent Assembly. As of now, there appear to be three legislative bodies in an increasingly authoritarian system.On Sunday, Maduro said new assembly elections were coming this year -- and Guaido and his backers will have to decide whether to take part in them. By doing so, they risk losing in a rigged process; by staying away, they lose the only body they still control. Even if they have little power to do much, they have the moral suasion of having been elected.The man who has now declared himself president of the assembly is Luis Parra, a deputy ensnared in a corruption scandal. While officially a member of the opposition, he has abandoned Guaido. Maduro saluted Parra on television, declaring that the nation's legislature now has new leadership.Luis Vicente Leon, head of Datanalisis, called Sunday's events "the equivalent of a coup against the only legitimately elected institution" in the country. "For an opposition that was already very weak, this is not good news."Guaido and the rest of the opposition went to the eastern Caracas headquarters of El Nacional newspaper to hold their vote. Inside a cramped room, a large flag framed Guaido and his deputies, who sat on plastic chairs and listened as lawmakers announced their votes, yelling out "traitor" and "sellout" when Parra and his supporters' names were called. He won with 100 votes.Agents in Ski MasksFrom dawn on Sunday, the streets around the National Assembly were dominated by the National Guard and National Police. They closed vehicular access with check points and anti-riot trucks. The information ministry barred a number of journalists. Nearby, intelligence agents armed with rifles patrolled wearing ski masks.Several opposition lawmakers who spent the night in a hotel said agents knocked on their doors claiming there was a bomb threat, checked around and left.Carlos Romero, a political analyst at Central University of Venezuela, said, "Tomorrow Maduro's government will undergo even more criticism than before. What happened went beyond what anyone could have predicted. Maduro's government feels strong enough to carry this out right now because they have succeeded over Guaido's failed plan to end his government. Maduro was able to forge international allies and divide the opposition."While the U.S., most of Europe and most Latin American countries have backed Guaido, Maduro has maintained the support of Russia, China, Cuba, Iran and Turkey, evading U.S. oil and other key sanctions by trading through those countries.To contact the reporters on this story: Patricia Laya in Caracas at playa2@bloomberg.net;Alex Vasquez in Caracas Office at avasquez45@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net, Ethan BronnerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China Finds No Human-to-Human Spread in Widening Pneumonia Cases Posted: 05 Jan 2020 04:38 PM PST ![China Finds No Human-to-Human Spread in Widening Pneumonia Cases]( "China Finds No Human-to-Human Spread in Widening Pneumonia Cases") (Bloomberg) -- A pneumonia outbreak in China that's infected 15 more people doesn't appear to be spreading from human to human, officials said, after ruling out SARS as a potential cause of the mysterious disease.As of Sunday morning, 59 people had been diagnosed with pneumonia, the cause of which is unknown, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement late Sunday. That's up from 44 on Friday. Seven people are in serious condition. Some of the infected people were linked to a fresh seafood and produce market in the central Chinese city."As of now, preliminary investigations have shown no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission and no medical staff infections," the commission said in the statement in Chinese.Cases involving health-care workers would be a worrying sign that the infectious agent is capable of spreading between people, potentially touching off an epidemic like the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, that killed almost 800 people about 17 years ago.Pathogen IdentificationRespiratory pathogens such as influenza, avian influenza, adenovirus, SARS and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or MERS, have been excluded, authorities in Wuhan said. Pathogen identification is still under way, they said.Among the 59 patients, the first developed symptoms on Dec. 12 and the latest on Dec. 29. Some 163 people who have been in close contact with cases have been followed up for medical observation, the commission said.The situation is being monitored by the World Health Organization, which said it's in active communication with its counterparts in China.Increased PrecautionsThe United Nations agency activated its incident-management system at the country, regional and global level and is standing ready to launch a broader response if it's needed, the WHO's regional office in Manila said in Twitter posts Saturday.Authorities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore increased precautions at airports to prevent any possible spread of the infections.Singapore's Ministry of Health said Saturday it hospitalized a 3-year-old girl with pneumonia and a history of travel to Wuhan. Preliminary tests on the child were positive for Respiratory Syncytial Virus, a common cause of childhood pneumonia. Investigations are continuing to confirm this as the cause, the ministry said.To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Melbourne at j.gale@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Rachel Chang at wchang98@bloomberg.net, Jeff Sutherland, Soraya PermatasariFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| CBP Denies Reports Of Iranian-Americans Detained At Ports Of Entry Posted: 05 Jan 2020 04:24 PM PST  Lawmakers in Washington state said they're looking into reports that dozens of citizens had trouble entering the U.S. amid escalating tensions with Iran.
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| Iran will forego 'limit' on centrifuges as tensions with US soar Posted: 05 Jan 2020 04:12 PM PST  Iran announced a further rollback of its commitments to the troubled international nuclear accord Sunday amid anger over the US killing of a top commander which also prompted Iraq's parliament to demand the departure of American troops. While vast crowds gathered in Iran's second city of Mashhad as Qasem Soleimani's remains were returned home, the Tehran government said it would forego the "limit on the number of centrifuges" it had pledged to honour in the 2015 agreement which was already in deep trouble. The announcement was yet another sign of the fallout from Friday's killing of Soleimani in Baghdad in a drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump, which has inflamed US-Iraqi relations and among the rival camps in Washington.
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| Trump Vows Possible Disproportionate Strikes on Iran Targets Posted: 05 Jan 2020 03:19 PM PST ![Trump Vows Possible Disproportionate Strikes on Iran Targets]( "Trump Vows Possible Disproportionate Strikes on Iran Targets") (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump told U.S. lawmakers on Sunday he was prepared to strike Iran "in a disproportionate manner" if the Islamic Republic hits any U.S. target, and that his Twitter posts are sufficient to notify Congress of his intentions.The Democratic-led House Foreign Affairs Committee responded within hours with a tweet of its own that mirrored the president's language and reminded Trump that "you're not a dictator." Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said earlier there were no doubts within the Trump administration about the intelligence behind the decision to kill a top Iranian general last week, and that any moves taken by the U.S. against Tehran will be "lawful.""We'll behave inside the system," Pompeo said in an interview with ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, one of six appearances on political talk shows.Pompeo spoke days after the U.S. killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and hours after sharply ratcheted up his rhetoric against the Islamic Republic and after saying on Friday that the U.S. wasn't seeking to start a war.Fallout from Soleimani's targeted killing widened on Sunday. An Iranian military adviser warned of retaliation against U.S. military sites, Iraqi lawmakers voted to expel U.S. forces, and Tehran said it was no longer bound by the terms of the 2015 multilateral nuclear pact.Iraqi Parliament Asks Government to End Foreign Troop PresenceThe knock-on affects of the U.S. move continued to build on Sunday as Iraq's parliament asked the government to work toward ending the presence of foreign forces in its territory, SkyNews Arabia reported. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Pompeo insisted U.S. troops will remain in Iraq.On CNN's "State of the Union," Pompeo was pressed about administration claims that an attack orchestrated by Soleimani against U.S. interests had been "imminent" -- the rationale behind the deadly drone strike on the general as he was driven on an access road leaving Baghdad International Airport.'Not Relevant'It was "not relevant" whether such an attack was days or weeks away, Pompeo said, adding that the U.S. needed to protect its intelligence "sources and methods."The New York Times reported on Saturday that Pentagon officials had been "stunned" that Trump chose to kill Soleimani, the most extreme option of several courses of action offered to the president.Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said administration officials had "provided no evidence" of an imminent threat when they briefed congressional aides on Friday."Everybody knows that Soleimani was a very bad, despicable guy," he said on Fox. "We don't go around killing all the bad people in the world."Pompeo was asked about Trump's threat on Saturday to hit "52 Iranian sites," including cultural targets, if Tehran retaliates for Soleimani's killing, as it has promised. The tweet raised concerns because attacks against cultural property are prohibited under the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Defense Department's rules of engagement."I've seen what we're planning," Pompeo said on ABC. Every target "is lawful."On CNN, though, Pompeo wouldn't specifically commit to not targeting cultural centers, and said Trump's tweet referencing such targets in Iran didn't deviate "one iota" from the rule of law."We will respond with great force and great vigor if the Iranian leadership makes a bad decision. We hope that they won't," Pompeo said.Before Trump's tweets, sent from his Florida resort and which continued until the early hours of Sunday, Pompeo had stressed that the U.S. was committed to de-escalating tensions with Iran in a series of phone calls with his counterparts in Middle East and elsewhere.Read more: Trump Ramps Up Iran Rhetoric as Thousands Hit StreetsSenator Marco Rubio of Florida, a senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, defended Trump's actions and his ramped-up Twitter threats against Iran."This president has shown -- he's not getting enough credit for it -- tremendous restraint," Rubio said in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation."Asked whether the administration had articulated evidence to Congress of a clear, imminent threat to the U.S. immediately before the Baghdad airstrike, Rubio responded: "I understand it, and it's called self defense." On Thursday Rubio tweeted, without evidence, that Iran's Soleimani had been "plotting a coup in Iraq."Senior Pentagon officials briefed staff members from the House Armed Service Committee and Senate Armed Service Committee on Friday about recent threats and attacks on U.S. personnel and interests, including the 11 attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq since October and attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Dec. 27.Pompeo said more congressional briefings would come this week. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on ABC that that the White House's formal notice to Congress on the Soleimani hit, delivered on Saturday, had been "very unsatisfying" on the reasoning behind the strike."I think Congress, and I will do everything I can to assert our authority," Schumer said. "We do not need this president either bumbling or impulsively getting us into a major war."A top Iranian military adviser said Sunday that Tehran's response to Soleimani's killing would be focused on U.S. military sites."It might be argued that there could be proxy operations. We can say America, Mr. Trump, has taken action directly against us -- so we take direct action against America," Iranian Major General Hossein Dehghan, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, told SNN.On Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump's classified War Powers Act notification "raises more questions than it answers" and "prompts serious and urgent questions about the timing, manner and justification of the Administration's decision." The U.S. response, Pelosi said, was "provocative, escalatory and disproportionate.House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said the U.S. is already seeing significant national security setbacks after Soleimani's killing.He pointed to a call Sunday by Iraq's prime minister to expel U.S. troops from their country. Also on Sunday, the U.S.-led joint task force against Islamic State has suspended operations against the terror group in Iraq to focus on protecting bases that have recently come under attack."That's going to impede our fight against ISIS," Schiff said on CNN. "That would be a real coup for Iran, to force the United States out of Iraq. We're going to have to take our eye off the ball when it comes to fighting ISIS in Syria, because we're not going to be able to, I think, protect a small number of forces there."(Updates with House Foreign Affairs tweet in second paragraph.)\--With assistance from Steve Geimann, Tony Capaccio and Billy House.To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;Danielle Moran in New York at dmoran21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Germany, Britain, France urge Iran to abide by nuclear pact Posted: 05 Jan 2020 03:08 PM PST ![Germany, Britain, France urge Iran to abide by nuclear pact]( "Germany, Britain, France urge Iran to abide by nuclear pact") The leaders of Germany, France and Britain called Sunday for Iran to abide by the terms of a 2015 nuclear deal that Iranian state television reported the country will abandon amid heightened tensions with the United States over the killing of Iran's most powerful general. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018 and stepped up economic sanctions on Tehran, even as other world powers stuck by the agreement.
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| Pompeo sees 'real likelihood' Iran will try to hit US troops Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:38 PM PST  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that Iran will probably try to attack American troops after a US strike killed a top Iranian commander. "We think there is a real likelihood Iran will make a mistake and make a decision to go after some of our forces, military forces in Iraq or soldiers in northeast Syria," he told Fox News in remarks aired Sunday.
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| Ex-leftist PM wins Croatia presidential poll Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:28 PM PST  Leftist former prime minister Zoran Milanovic, who has pledged to make Croatia a tolerant country turning the page on its wartime past, won Sunday's presidential run-off vote, defeating the incumbent conservative leader. Milanovic took 52.7 percent of the vote while President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who had tried to unite a fractured right-wing, garnered 47.3 percent, according to results based on vote count at nearly all polling stations released by the electoral commission. The second-round election was held just days after Croatia took over the European Union's helm for a six-month period, which will be dominated by Brexit and the bloc's enlargement.
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| Trump says doesn't need Congress's OK for even 'disproportionate' strike Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:22 PM PST  President Donald Trump thumbed his nose Sunday at critics angered at being kept in the dark over the US killing of a top Iranian general, saying he didn't need Congressional approval -- even for a "disproportionate" strike. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been leading the backlash against Trump's decision to authorize a drone strike against Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, an operation that Trump only officially informed Congress about on Saturday -- nearly 48 hours after the event. Two Democratic lawmakers announced on Sunday that they would introduce a new resolution before the House of Representatives that they said would prevent Trump from unilaterally leading the United States into a war against Iran.
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| Pompeo scrambles to defend Trump claim killing Suleimani will save US lives Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:18 PM PST  * Secretary of state attempts to defend legality of air strike * Pete Buttigieg: 'Pompeo did not prove strike prevented attack'The Trump administration was scrambling on Sunday to justify its claim that the killing of Iran's most powerful general was about stopping a war rather than starting one, as tensions spiralled by the hour.Amid growing scepticism over the intelligence behind the lethal strike against Qassem Suleimani, the US president and Iranian officials hurled increasingly dire warnings at each other. Opponents cautioned that if Donald Trump carries out a tweeted threat to attack dozens of Iranian sites including non-military cultural targets, he would be guilty of a war crime.The president went to his golf course in Florida and left secretary of state Mike Pompeo to defend the assertion that the drone strike against Suleimani in Baghdad prevented an imminent attack on US interests."We would have been culpably negligent had we not taken this action," Pompeo said on NBC's Meet the Press. "The American people would have said that we weren't doing the right thing to protect and defend American lives. President Trump has been crystal clear."Qassem Suleimani, killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad, had become well known among Iranians and was sometimes discussed as a future president. Many considered Suleimani to have been the second most powerful person in Iran, behind supreme leader of Iran Ali Khamenei, but arguably ahead of President Hassan Rouhani. He was commander of the Quds Force, the elite, external wing of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the Trump administration designated as a terror organisation in April last year. He was born in Rabor, a city in eastern Iran, and forced to travel to a neighbouring city at age 13 and work to pay his father's debts to the government of the Shah. By the time the monarch fell in 1979, Suleimani was committed to the clerical rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and joined the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary force established to prevent a coup against the newly declared Islamic Republic.Within two years, he was sent to the front to fight in the war against the invading Iraqi army. He quickly distinguished himself, especially for daring reconnaissance missions behind Iraqi lines, and the war also gave him his first contact with foreign militias of the kind he would wield to devastating effect in the decades to come.By the the time the Iraq government fell in 2003, Suleimani was the head of the Quds force and blamed for sponsoring the Shia militias who killed thousands of civilian Iraqis and coalition troops. As fighting raged on Iraq's streets, Suleimani fought a shadow war with the US for leverage over the new Iraqi leadership.Once described by American commander David Petraeus as 'a truly evil figure', Suleimani was instrumental in crushing street protests in Iran in 2009. In recent months outbreaks of popular dissent in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran were again putting pressure on the crescent of influence he had spent the past two decades building. Violent crackdowns on the protests in Baghdad were blamed on militias under his influence. Eighteen months before his death, Suleimani had issued Donald Trump a public warning, wagging his finger and dressed in olive fatigues. "You will start the war but we will end it."Michael SafiThe secretary went on the claim that "there were in fact plots that [Suleimani] was working on that were aimed directly at significant harm to American interests throughout the region, not just in Iraq".But he was unable to provide specifics.When host Chuck Todd asked if retaliation against US citizens should now be expected, Pompeo admitted: "It may be that there's a little noise here in the interim."It was a remark that could come to be seen as flippant if American lives are lost.Suleimani, Iran's top military commander held responsible for thousands of deaths, was killed on Friday in a drone strike at Baghdad airport, a stunning attack analysts said brought the US and Iran closer to war than at any point in the past 40 years.Critics fear Trump has opened Pandora's box. On Sunday the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution calling on the government to expel US troops. Around 5,000 remain in Iraq, most in an advisory capacity.Wendy Sherman, a former under secretary of state for political affairs, tweeted: "The Iraqi parliament vote to expel US troops is a major win for Iran. Just one piece of fallout against our interests by [Donald Trump's] decisions."Iran also announced it would no longer meet its commitments under the international nuclear deal Trump left in 2018.US media reports have suggested that the evidence Suleimani was plotting an attack was circumstantial at best and that a strike was among several options presented to Trump that few expected him to take. Pompeo, however, insisted the action – taken without congressional authorisation – was both lawful and necessary.On ABC's This Week, he said there had been "no scepticism" among senior leaders."The intelligence assessment made clear that no action – allowing Suleimani to continue his plotting, his planning, his terror campaign – created more risks than taking the action that we took last week. We reduced risks."Pompeo was pressed on CNN's State of the Union about how "imminent" the attacks were."If you're an American in the region, days and weeks – this is not something that's relevant," he said. "We have to prepare, we have to be ready, and we took a bad guy off the battlefield."Democrats seized on the lack of details. Pete Buttigieg, a military veteran and candidate for president, told CNN: "The secretary of state just now, when asked whether this strike prevented directly an attack, he did not prove, he did not demonstrate, he did not even claim that the answer was yes."Buttigieg added: "Now, let's be clear – Qassem Suleimani was a bad figure. He has American blood on his hands. None of us should shed a tear for his death. But just because he deserved it doesn't mean it was the right strategic move. This is about consequences."The jarring intervention by Trump – who is facing an impeachment trial and tough re-election campaign – seemed to fly in the face of his "America first" policy and pledge to pull troops out of the Middle East.After Tehran promised retaliation, Trump threatened to hit 52 sites – "some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture" – if Iran attacked Americans or US assets. Such an action would almost certainly result in civilian deaths.On Sunday, he followed up with a tweet he claimed was sufficient to notify Congress "that should Iran strike any US person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner."The word "disproportionate" was sure to raise alarm.Hossein Dehghan, military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, told CNN that if Trump went ahead with an attack, "he should accept that he is a war criminal and must be tried in a relevant court".Dehghan warned that Iran's response to the airstrike "for sure will be military and against military sites", adding: "The only thing that can end this period of war is for the Americans to receive a blow that is equal to the blow they have inflicted. Afterward they should not seek a new cycle."Iranian information minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi tweeted: "Like Isis, Like Hitler, Like Genghis! They all hate cultures. Trump is a terrorist in a suit. He will learn history very soon that NOBODY can defeat 'the Great Iranian Nation & Culture'."Targeting cultural sites is a war crime under a 1954 Hague convention. In 2017, the United Nations security council passed unanimously a resolution condemning the destruction of heritage sites.Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, tweeted: "Targeting civilians and cultural sites is what terrorists do. It's a war crime. Trump is stumbling into a war of choice. A war entirely of his making. A war that will get thousands of Americans killed. Congress must stop him."
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| Rockets were launched at the US Embassy in Baghdad for the second night in a row Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:08 PM PST  US entities have been increasingly under fire in recent weeks and the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani stoked fiery responses from Iraq and Iran.
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| Turkish troops deploy to Libya to prop up embattled government Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:05 PM PST  Move follows deadly air strikes in Tripoli by war lord in bid to oust UN-backed governmentTurkish troops have begun deploying to Libya in a bid to prop up the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has announced.The move followed a vote in the Turkish parliament backing deployment and further deadly attacks in Tripoli by an airforce under the control of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the warlord who has been trying to oust the government since April.Erdogan told CNN Turk on Sunday that Turkish forces were already on their way to Libya. "Our soldiers' duty there is coordination. They will develop the operation centre there. Our soldiers are gradually going right now," he said.The Turkish deployment, likely to take many weeks, risks a military confrontation between Turkey and other regional actors supporting Haftar, notably the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.Russian mercenaries, believed to have the backing of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, are also operating in Libya in support of Haftar. Putin has urged Erdoğan not to send troops.Erdoğan has been signalling his support for the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) ever since he signed a memorandum of understanding with Libya's prime minister, Fayez al-Serraj, in which the two sides agreed to carve out drilling rights in the Mediterranean and to cooperate militarily.European powers for years have failed to mediate an end to the conflict in Libya between the east and the west of the country, leaving a vacuum that Turkey is eager to fill. The latest European effort is to be a conference in Berlin, but its date has been repeatedly postponed as regional powers dispute the conference's purpose and attendance list. Attention to the rise in violence in Libya has been reduced due to the focus on north-east Syria and the US conflict with Iran.The speed of Turkish actions has been prompted by signs that Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) is stepping up its attacks on Tripoli, including a deadly air raid on the Hadaba military academy at the weekend that left 30 dead and 33 injured.The GNA called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to denounce the strikes, describing them as a war crime.But Turkey already has forces engaged in northern Syria, and the Turkish political opposition has opposed the deployment to Libya, fearing that the Erdoğan government is overstretching itself militarily.The US embassy in Libya at the weekend called for an end to "the toxic foreign interference in Libya", citing "the arrival of Syrian fighters supported by Turkey as well as the deployment of Russian mercenaries". The embassy added: "All Libyan parties have a responsibility to end this dangerous involvement of foreign forces, which is contributing to civilian casualties and damaging civilian infrastructure to the detriment of all Libyans."The statement made no mention of the role of the United Arab Emirates, which has been supplying air support to the LNA for months, if not years.The UAE believes that Islamist militia, regarded as terrorists by the UAE, form the backbone of the GNA's military support. The Tripoli government, furious at the lack of European support, insists that it is a democratic force fighting Haftar, who is a proven war criminal and authoritarian.
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| 'Revenge, revenge': black-clad Iranians mourn general killed by US Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  Black-clad mourners packed Iran's second city Mashhad on Sunday as the remains of top general Qasem Soleimani were paraded through the streets after he was killed in a US strike. "Iran's wearing black, revenge, revenge," they chanted as darkness fell and they followed a truck carrying Soleimani's coffin towards the floodlit Imam Reza shrine. Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, was killed in a US drone strike Friday near Baghdad airport.
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| Germans who live near wind turbines should be paid compensation, says government minister Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:13 PM PST  Germans who live near wind turbines could be paid compensation by the government under a proposal to boost supplies of renewable energy. Matthias Miersch of Germany's Social Democrat party (SPD) said his scheme would encourage Germans to move near the controversial wind farms as well as rewarding those who already do. The payments would either be made to community organisations and municipalities, or directly to home-owners. Mr Miersch told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung "those who accept windmills in their neighbourhood make the expansion of renewable energy possible and should be rewarded". The proposal has not met with widespread approval, however, with Uwe Brandl of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities saying the payments were effectively "hush money". "If we start paying people to keep quiet, it'll start with windmills and then go on with roads and other infrastructure," Mr Brandl said. Wind farm growth has slowed in Germany, with 2020 having the fewest planned new turbines for 20 years, potentially undermining the country's efforts to achieve its renewable energy goals set under the Paris Agreement. Germany plans to draw 65 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. While Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats - the larger part of Germany's governing coalition – did not respond on Sunday, the Greens have welcomed the plan. The scheme does not indicate the amount of compensation or potential cost to the taxpayer. Despite widespread support for renewable energy across Germany, residents living near wind farms have frequently complained about noise and visual pollution. Conservationists have also criticised wind farms for posing a deadly threat to birds, bats and insects. While the scale of the project is novel, the idea of compensating those who live near wind farms in Germany is not new. The northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2016 required that companies building wind farms needed to offer 20 percent of their shares to residents and municipalities within five kilometres of the proposed farms. Similarly, local authorities in the eastern state of Brandenburg receive a payment of €10,000 (£8,500) per wind turbine per annum.
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| Iowa: Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg in three-way tie as caucuses loom Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:11 PM PST  * New poll puts Vermont senator top in New Hampshire * Art Cullen: On the phone with Elizabeth WarrenLess than a month from the Iowa caucuses, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg are in a three-way tie for first place in the first state to vote in the Democratic presidential primary.The same CBS News/YouGov poll, released on Sunday, put Sanders first in New Hampshire, the second state to vote.The poll showed a group of five candidates breaking from the pack and continued a key primary narrative: the rise of Sanders, even after a heart attack, at the expense of Elizabeth Warren.Iowa votes on 3 February. New Hampshire follows eight days later.In Iowa, CBS/YouGov found Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg level on 23%, with Warren fourth on 16% and Amy Klobuchar fifth on 7%.All other candidates in the sprawling field failed to pass 3%.In New Hampshire, Sanders attracted 27% support to 25% for Biden, 18% for Warren, 13% for Buttigieg and 7% again for Klobuchar.National polling averages still put Biden well clear of Sanders, with the tech investor Andrew Yang and the billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg – who is not competing in the early voting states – ahead of Klobuchar.This week saw the candidates reveal how much money they raised in the final quarter of 2019. Sanders led with $34.5m, from Buttigieg with $24.7m, Biden with $22.7m and Warren with $21.2m. Klobuchar raised $11.4m, nearly $5m behind Yang.Donald Trump raised $46m, an ominous number as the president amasses a huge war chest for a re-election effort under the shadow of impeachment.The CBS/YouGov poll also included telling data regarding which Democrat, whether a progressive (Sanders, Warren) or a moderate (Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar), voters thought most likely to beat Trump in November.In Iowa, 38% backed Biden to beat the president, to 29% for Sanders, 24% for Warren and 21% for Buttigieg.In New Hampshire, 36% backed Biden while 33% thought Sanders could do the job, 22% had confidence in Warren and 15% liked Buttigieg's chances.Though the Sunday talk shows were dominated by Trump's strike against Iran and his looming impeachment trial, the Democratic campaign was still an issue.On CNN's State of the Union, for example, Warren was questioned about her Medicare for All proposals in comparison with those offered by Sanders and pressured over whether she wants to outlaw private health insurance, a risky bet with moderate voters.Buttigieg, meanwhile, was asked about his contention that his midwestern roots – until the turn of the year the 37-year-old was mayor of the small city of South Bend, Indiana – make him well placed to beat Trump in key Rust Belt states."I'm big on the idea of midwesterners running for president," he said. "What I'm offering is a midwesterner who has executive experience building an administration, leading a government, guiding a population, in addition to the military experience and other experiences I bring to the table."Klobuchar, who is from Minnesota and also trades heavily on the fact, has pointed out that Buttigieg is running for the White House having contested only one statewide race in his life, for Indiana state treasurer in 2010, a contest he lost by 25 points."You know," Buttigieg said, "one thing that most presidents and most of our nominees have had in common in modern times is losing an election or two."
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| Russian government to 'use the advantages' of climate change Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:07 PM PST  Russia is planning to "use the advantages" of warmer temperatures brought about by climate change, according to a document published by the government at the weekend. The report notes increased opportunities for navigation and trade as ice melts in the Arctic, an area where Russia has also boosted its military presence in recent years. The two-year, "first stage" plan lists other advantages including decreased spending on heating over the winter and the possibility of new areas available for farming. But the 30-point paper also focuses on the risks of climate change and the dangers it poses to public health, animal environments and the Russian permafrost. "The consequences of (climate change) are having a significant and increasing impact on the economic and social development of the country, its conditions for life and people's health," according to the document signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Russia is warming on average 2.5 times quicker than the rest of the planet, the report said, adding that the country's industry, transport and agriculture would have to adapt to these changes. The government said it would plan for crisis scenarios including evacuations in the case of natural disasters, and make sure climate change was taught in schools. The publication comes after Moscow experienced its warmest December on record, with authorities dumping artificial snow in Red Square ahead of New Year celebrations. Normally the capital spends millions of pounds a year and employs tens of thousands of people to keep roads and pavements free of snow. President Vladimir Putin has questioned the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by human activity, saying at a recent press conference that "nobody knows the origins of global climate change". But he said that rising temperatures could have "very serious" consequences from Russia. Moscow has formally adopted the Paris climate accord and criticised the US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal
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| Croat President Ousted in Vote by Leader Who Won Entry to EU Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:04 PM PST ![Croat President Ousted in Vote by Leader Who Won Entry to EU]( "Croat President Ousted in Vote by Leader Who Won Entry to EU") (Bloomberg) -- Croatians shot down President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic's bid for a second term, electing the prime minister who led the nation into the European Union to rebalance politics in the bloc's newest member.Zoran Milanovic, who ran the Adriatic state's government from 2011 to 2015, won 52.7% of votes in Sunday's presidential runoff, according to partial results with almost 100% counted. Kitarovic, a former NATO executive whose popularity unexpectedly plummeted in the last weeks of the campaign after she was tied to the scandal-plagued mayor of Zagreb, got 47.3%.Kitarovic's defeat could spell trouble for her ally Andrej Plenkovic, the current prime minister, before general elections in the fall and just after his government took over the EU's rotating presidency. While she reached out to voters embracing anti-immigrant positions seen in fellow EU states Poland and Hungary, Milanovic vowed to reject extremism, fight graft, and stop the outflow of young people who have left Croatia to seek better lives in western Europe."This is the victory for everyone, not only for those who are ethnic Croats, but for all citizens," Milanovic told cheering supporters in Zagreb. "In my term, I'll try to listen to everyone, and try not to hurt anyone, because we're all different."While the president's role is largely ceremonial, the office commands the armed forces and decides over foreign-policy appointments with the premier. It also provides a political platform and Milanovic's opposition-leading Social Democratic party is looking for any edge it can get over Plenkovic's conservative Croatian Democratic Union."The result is a big blow to right-wing voters," said Nenad Zakosek, political science professor at the University of Zagreb.Parliament VoteThe rivals also differed on who the nation's biggest ally is. While Kitarovic said it was the U.S., and touted when she met President Donald Trump, Milanovic said Croatia depended most on ties with the EU.But the main issue before the presidential vote was corruption, and Kitarovic's campaign suffered after she was filmed singing Happy Birthday and giving a cake to Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic. He's fighting graft accusations over the granting of preferential access to stalls at Zagreb's Christmas market.The accusations, which Bandic denies, come at a sensitive time for former Yugoslav republic of 4.2 million, which joined the EU in 2013 and took over the EU's six-month rotating presidency on Jan. 1. During the term, it will organize meetings that may decide important issues including Brexit and the bloc's next seven-year budget.The bloc is scrutinizing Croatia's readiness to adopt the euro and join Schengen, the EU's passport-free travel zone. Graft concerns delayed similar efforts in nearby Bulgaria, adding pressure to Croatia, which is ranked fifth-worst in the EU by Transparency International."Milanovic's victory means all bets are off now for parliamentary election in the fall," said Zarko Puhovski from the University of Zagreb. "For the rest of the year we will have an unclear picture of where the real power in the country is situated."(Updates with Milanovic quote in fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| German grandmothers protest broadcast of song calling elderly 'environmental pigs' Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:54 PM PST  German grandmothers protested outside the offices of state broadcaster WDR in Cologne on Saturday after the station posted a satirical video about old people's environmental carelessness. The demonstrations, which police estimate attracted more than 1,000 protesters and counter protesters, follow several days of death threats against prominent journalists from the German network who have spoken out in support of the video. On Saturday a man, who was later found to be carrying a knife, was arrested for attacking counter protesters, while on Sunday five members of far-Right groups were detained after climbing onto the roof of the WDR building. The video, which is set to the tune of a well-known children's song, satirises older generations' attitude to the environment and climate change, including the provocative refrain "my grandma is an environmental pig". The video, which features a group of around 30 children from the Dortmund Children's Choir singing the satirical lyrics, was taken down just days after being posted – but not before attracting more than 40,000 social media comments which were mainly critical of its content. In the video, the children also sing that their environmental-pig grandma cooks discount meat every day, drives an SUV and takes frequent cruise trips. The song closes with a sample of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg saying "we will not let you get away with this". Members of Germany's post-Second World War generation have been particularly critical of the video, arguing that it criticises the country's 'rubble women' (Trümmerfrauen) who rebuilt the country after the conflict. They argue that the video should not have been made with public funds. Armin Laschet, the Minister President of Germany's largest state of North-Rhine Westphalia and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said that the video "used" children for political purposes. Mr Laschet said the video sought to drive a wedge between younger and older generations. "The debate about the best way to protect the climate is increasingly being escalated by some into a generational conflict," he said. Also prominent in the furore have been members of Germany's far-Right, who say that the video attacks traditional German values and is an example of the public broadcaster's political brainwashing of children. Counter protesters have argued that the video's removal shows the tenuous nature of freedom of speech in the country. They have been particularly critical of WDR director Tom Buhrow, who took down the video and apologised 'unreservedly' to those who had been offended. Mr Buhrow told Germany's Der Spiegel that he did not buckle to far-Right threats, but instead realised the widespread negative impact of the video. "We were able to distinguish between what is orchestrated (by far-Right groups) and what are the real expressions of emotions from otherwise well-meaning listeners," he said. "We really had hundreds of senior citizens and their grandchildren on the phone. It was immediately obvious to us that these people were not part of an orchestrated campaign." WDR journalist Danny Holleck has been widely criticised for tweeting "grandma isn't just an environmental pig but a Nazi pig". Mr Holleck removed the tweet and apologised, but has since been the subject of protests outside his home. The head of the choir who sang the song said protesters who focused on the age or gender of the 'grandma' were missing the point as "the oma in the song, that's all of us".
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| Warren Says People Wonder if Iran Strike Meant As a Distraction Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:52 PM PST ![Warren Says People Wonder if Iran Strike Meant As a Distraction]( "Warren Says People Wonder if Iran Strike Meant As a Distraction") (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren questioned the timing of the U.S. drone strike on a top Iranian military leader, saying people question if it was a bid to distract from President Donald Trump's impeachment.In a rare appearance on a Sunday talk show, Warren said on CNN's "State of the Union" that it was fair to wonder if Trump's order to kill Iran's Qassem Soleimani was an attempt to turn attention away from the ongoing impeachment debate in Washington."People are reasonably asking, why this moment? Why does he pick now to take this highly inflammatory, highly dangerous action that moves us closer to war?" the Massachusetts senator said."There was a reason that he chose this moment, not -- not a month ago, not a month from now, not a less aggressive, less dangerous response," she said, adding that the administration had presented shifting rationales for Soleimani's killing.Trump ordered the strike shortly after the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was attacked by protesters led by Soleimani-backed militias.Administration officials have described the threat to U.S. interests posed by Soleimani as "imminent," although Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Sunday on CNN that it wasn't relevant if that meant days or weeks.Separately, 2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg discussed what he would do as commander in chief, and the impact unending wars have had on his generation. The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is the only major candidate seeking the nomination with military service.If elected, Buttigieg said he would "never hesitate to use force if it was necessary in order to protect American lives" but questioned the need for an escalation in Iran now."Was it necessary, and was it better than the alternative?" he said.Trump in the past -- including in October -- has vowed to stop "endless wars" and bring U.S. troops home from global hot-spots. Yet the U.S. is building up its presence in the Middle East with thousands more troops on the way in an emergency deployment."We are in a season of endless war. And I have been shaped by that experience," said Buttigieg, 37. "My judgment is also informed by belonging to that generation that has lived through conflicts that we were told would be over in days or weeks, and are continuing to this day."To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Moran in New York at dmoran21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Campbell at ecampbell14@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump warns US may strike back in ‘disproportionate manner’ if Iran attacks American people or targets Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:46 PM PST  Donald Trump has threatened to "quickly and fully strike back" if Iran attacks any American citizens or targets in retaliation for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani.The president also warned the US could respond in a "disproportionate manner" to any potential attack in a post on Twitter, which he suggested served as a "legal notice" to congress.
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| Germany seeks early meeting of EU diplomats over Mideast Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:39 PM PST  Germany's foreign minister said Sunday that he has proposed bringing forward a regular meeting with counterparts from other European Union countries to the coming week amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Germany has about 130 soldiers in Iraq as part of an international assistance and training mission.
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| Here's what's in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that the country withdrew from amid heightened tensions with the US Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:22 PM PST  Since Trump withdrew the US from the deal, tensions between the US and Iran have steadily risen and reached a boiling point in recent months.
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| Trump returns to Washington to face a pair of challenges Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:17 PM PST  His 17-day holiday stay at his Florida resort over, President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Sunday night facing twin challenges: the fallout from the strike he ordered to kill an Iranian general and his looming impeachment trial in the Senate.
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| US government website hacked to show pro-Iranian messages and bloodied image of Trump Posted: 05 Jan 2020 11:51 AM PST  Hackers have hijacked a US government website and posted an image portraying a bloodied Donald Trump receiving an Iranian fist to the face, captioned with pledges for revenge.Visitors to the Federal Depository Library Program's website on Saturday were greeted instead by a message purporting to be from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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| Pompeo Spins Soleimani Assassination And Further Military Action On Sunday Talk Shows Posted: 05 Jan 2020 11:38 AM PST  The secretary of state was the Trump administration's most visible advocate for military conflict with Iran.
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| Iran's plans to leave nuclear deal might not be as dramatic as they sound Posted: 05 Jan 2020 11:33 AM PST  Things are happening quickly in the wake of the Trump administration's decision to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike this week.Not long after the Iraqi parliament voted to compel the government to kick the U.S. military out of the country, Iran announced Sunday it will no longer adhere to any limits set by the 2015 nuclear deal, which the likes of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom had been committed to salvaging after the United States unilaterally backed out of the agreement in 2018. But much like the move by Iraqi lawmakers, Iran's announcement leaves a little more wiggle room than initially appears.Seemingly, the announcement leaves those European states with their hands in their pockets, but in a state television broadcast, Tehran said it was open to negotiations with the continental powers. The announcement also reportedly did not indicate Tehran would attempt to build a nuclear weapon, despite scrapping provisions that blocked them from acquiring enough material to do so. Instead, Iran will reportedly continue uranium enrichment based on their "technical needs."That vague language does leave the door open for a few options, but Iran is also apparently still going to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and would be willing to recommit to the nuclear agreement's obligations if sanctions are listed. So, it looks like another wait-and-see moment.> We will need to wait for the next IAEA report to see what's actually happening and to what extent Iran is accelerating its enrichment operations> > — Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) January 5, 2020Read more at The Associated Press.More stories from theweek.com America is guilty of everything we accuse Iran of doing 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's Iran provocation An introvert's guide to parenting an extroverted child
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| Solidarity march against anti-Semitism, acts of hate Posted: 05 Jan 2020 11:20 AM PST  Throngs of demonstrators joined by elected officials walked solemnly across the Brooklyn Bridge in a solidarity march Sunday against anti-Semitism and all acts of hate. The "No Hate, No Fear" march was organized by New York's Jewish community in the wake of recent anti-Semitic attacks, including a knife attack at a Hanukkah celebration north of New York City that left five people wounded and a fatal shootout at a kosher grocery in Jersey City, New Jersey. "It is wonderful that we are doing this and sad that we still have to do it," said Claudia Stoller, 31, of Manhattan.
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| Turkey’s President Erdogan Urges Restraint Between U.S. and Iran Posted: 05 Jan 2020 11:10 AM PST ![Turkey's President Erdogan Urges Restraint Between U.S. and Iran]( "Turkey's President Erdogan Urges Restraint Between U.S. and Iran") (Bloomberg) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death of an Iranian general in a U.S. drone strike has raised tensions in the Middle East and he urged restraint between Washington and Tehran."Tensions between the U.S. and Iran should be controlled and defused," Erdogan told CNNTurk television in an interview on Sunday. "The U.S.'s targeting of Soleimani has increased tensions in the region. I think killing a senior commander of a country won't remain unanswered."The government in Ankara has stepped up diplomatic contacts in the region after Soleimani, one of Iran's most venerated leaders, died in Baghdad in the U.S. attack.Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey on Wednesday to discuss developments in the region, Erdogan said.To contact the reporter on this story: Asli Kandemir in Istanbul at akandemir@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China's Belt And Road Is Not About Going Green Posted: 05 Jan 2020 10:57 AM PST  President Xi Jinping stated in 2019 that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) must be green and sustainable, but much of what Beijing is providing to the countries that form part of the BRI is just the opposite.
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| Republican, Democratic senators offer clashing views on Iran tensions Posted: 05 Jan 2020 10:55 AM PST  In a not-so-shocking development, Democratic lawmakers had some harsh words for President Trump's actions in Iran, while their Republican counterparts offered some hefty praise Sunday.Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) questioned the White House's stance that killing Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani made the U.S. safer, arguing the fatal airstrike last week might open a "Pandora's box" and possibly expose American officials to assassination. Ultimately, he said, it's likely more Americans will be killed because of the decision.In an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Murphy's colleague Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) went beyond questioning the strategy and focused on the validity of the intelligence that reportedly prompted Trump to order the airstrike, citing the Iraq War as an example of what could happen if governments hang on faulty, or even manipulated, reports.> Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) reacts to some Democrats criticizing President Trump's action to take out Soleimani without congressional approval. Sen Van Hollen weighs in: "administrations sometimes manipulate and cherry-pick intelligence to further their political goals." FNS pic.twitter.com/JZ6plscy4g> > — FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) January 5, 2020But Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) doesn't see things that way. Instead, he told CBS' Margaret Brennan he thinks Trump has routinely shown great restraint when it comes to Iran, having opted not to make a move after several other incidents. Eventually though, Rubio argued, something had to be done to protect American interests.> .@marcorubio's response to criticism over Trump's order to carry out airstrikes: "It's called self-defense", adds Soleimani's death should send a message to Iran: "Iran needs to understand that if we're attacked...we will respond." pic.twitter.com/UG1B9nQVqX> > — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 5, 2020Trump's stalwart domestic supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), meanwhile, was happy with how things played out, too. Graham doesn't always approve of Trump's foreign policy decisions, but he said he was "glad" Soleimani is dead and that "we finally got a president who understands Iran is the cancer of the Middle East."More stories from theweek.com America is guilty of everything we accuse Iran of doing 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's Iran provocation An introvert's guide to parenting an extroverted child
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| Iran is withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal after Trump ordered deadly strike on its top general Posted: 05 Jan 2020 10:46 AM PST  Iran is withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, a move that could be perceived as the country taking a big step toward obtaining a nuclear weapon.
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| Iran news – live: Tehran abandons 2015 nuclear deal as Boris Johnson finally breaks silence over Soleimani killing, saying 'we will not lament his death' Posted: 05 Jan 2020 10:27 AM PST  Donald Trump has prompted further condemnation after he threatened to strike 52 targets, some apparently civilian sites, if Iran retaliates over the US assassination of military commander Qassem Soleimani.As bombs fell near the US embassy in Baghdad, the US president was labelled a "monster" and accused of plotting war crimes after promising swift retribution at high level targets "important to Iranian culture".
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| 3 important moments from Mike Pompeo's Sunday interviews Posted: 05 Jan 2020 10:01 AM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the rounds on Sunday, appearing on several news shows to defend and explain the rationale behind the Trump administration's decision to launch an airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani this week. Here are three moments that stand out:1\. President Trump caused a furor Saturday when he tweeted that sites culturally important to Iran could be targeted in retaliatory attacks, suggesting that he was willing to ignore the Geneva Convention. Pompeo told ABC's George Stephanopoulos he wanted to assure the American people that any Iranian target they strike will be lawful.> "Why is the president threatening Iran with war crimes?" @GStephanopoulos asks Pompeo as Trump tweets cultural sites in Iran could be targeted. > > Pompeo: "We'll behave lawfully" > > Stephanopoulos: Is Trump's tweet inaccurate? > > Pompeo: Targets will be "lawful" https://t.co/A4OkoecSHW pic.twitter.com/2Jp2IyrGNV> > -- This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 5, 20202\. Pompeo told NBC's Chuck Todd that the U.S. is "definitely safer" after the death of Soleimani, arguing that people who are worried about Iran's retaliation are focusing too much on the current moment. The Trump administration, he said, is focused on reducing the long-term risk.> WATCH: @chucktodd follows up with @SecPompeo on his statement that America is "absolutely" safer today after the killing of Soleimani. > > "We do expect retaliation on American citizens, correct?" > > "It may be that there's a little noise here in the interim." MTP IfItsSunday pic.twitter.com/UsGSeTJm2r> > -- Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 5, 20203\. Despite the fact that the U.S. is sending more troops over to the Middle East after recent events and maintaining "maximum pressure" on Iran, Pompeo said the Trump administration is still committed to reducing the military's footprint in the region, as the president has promised in the past. > President Trump has pursued a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. Has the strategy worked? Or has Iran become more aggressive? Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reacts on FOX News Sunday: "The strategy is working. We are gonna stay the course." FNS foxnews pic.twitter.com/v5Hf9Fv6SL> > -- FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) January 5, 2020More stories from theweek.com America is guilty of everything we accuse Iran of doing 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's Iran provocation An introvert's guide to parenting an extroverted child
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| Trump’s 2020: Rallies, Twitter and an expected Super Bowl push Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:37 AM PST ![Trump's 2020: Rallies, Twitter and an expected Super Bowl push]( "Trump's 2020: Rallies, Twitter and an expected Super Bowl push") Trump kicks off an election year with no shortage of high-profile events designed to disparage impeachment and trumpet his actions on Iran and the economy.
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| Biden Defends Foreign Policy Record Amid Trump Iran Threats Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:30 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden defended his foreign policy record as he campaigns on the argument that he's best suited to be commander-in-chief amid President Donald Trump's escalating threats against Iran."It's not to suggest I haven't made mistakes in my career but I would put my record against anyone in public life in terms of foreign policy," Biden said Saturday at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, when a voter asked him how he could be trusted given his past positions.The voter cited Biden's 2002 vote to authorize the use of military force in Iraq and how he reportedly discouraged President Barack Obama from moving ahead with a raid on the Afghan compound where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding.The former vice president polls far ahead his Democratic opponents on foreign policy but some of his rivals -- especially Bernie Sanders -- have questioned his history, particularly the Iraq war vote, as evidence of holes in his national security record.Biden's own accounts of his advice on the bin Laden raid have changed over time. Talking up Obama's decision-making skills to House Democrats in 2012, Biden said his advice had been "Mr. President, my suggestion is, 'Don't go.'" In 2015, he said he'd been less definitive, telling Obama "my opinion: I thought he should go, but to follow his own instincts," CNN reported.Biden on Saturday acknowledged that his advice while in the White House Situation Room with other senior officials was, "I would vote for you to do another pass to determine whether he's there," but said he was more bullish once he was alone with Obama."As we walked out of the room – it's not public knowledge – I went up to the Oval Office, said, 'Mr. President, follow your instincts, go,'" Biden said. "But if I said that to the president in front of everyone else and he didn't go, then in fact it would have been in the news."Iraq VoteBiden also offered a rare defense of his Iraq war vote, suggesting he'd been misled by President George W. Bush."He looked me in the eye in the Oval Office and promised me all he was doing was wanting to get the authority to be able to send in inspectors" to determine whether Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons, Biden said. "The president then went ahead with 'Shock and Awe' and right after that and from the very moment he did that, I opposed what he was doing and spoke to him."Biden's explanations came after he called on Trump to further justify his threats against Iran.Trump "has no authority to take us into a military conflict with Iran. Period," Biden said. "Any further action against Iran requires congressional authorization."Biden said earlier Saturday that Trump hasn't made public any intelligence to support the decision to kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and that he had no idea whether Trump had secured the support of NATO allies."It just seems to me to be he's going off on a tweet storm on his own. And it's incredibly dangerous and irresponsible," he said.Trump tweeted Saturday that the U.S had picked 52 Iranian targets if Tehran takes military action. Trump said any strikes on Americans or U.S. assets would be met with "VERY FAST AND VERY HARD" attacks on Iranian targets.The White House sent a notification to Congress on Saturday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "raises more questions than it answers," and that the administration's unusual move of keeping the information classified means that Americans are "being left in the dark about our national security."Biden said that was an inappropriate move. "It can't be classified – it has to be informed," he said.He drew applause as he asserted that "the last thing we need is another war in the Middle East."(Adds detail about Biden's changing position in fifth paraagraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Des Moines, Iowa at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iraqi protesters denounce twin 'occupiers' US and Iran Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:21 AM PST  Iraqi protesters flooded the streets on Sunday to denounce both Iran and the US as "occupiers", angry that fears of war between the rivals was derailing their anti-government movement. For three months, youth-dominated rallies in the capital and Shiite-majority south have condemned Iraq's ruling class as corrupt, inept and beholden to Iran. For protesters who were hitting the streets, Iran was also a target for blame.
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| Democrat fooled by Russian prankster posing as Greta Thunberg in phone call Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:17 AM PST  Congresswoman Maxine Waters latest target of Vladimir 'Vovan' Kuznetsov and Alexey 'Lexus' Stolyarov prankThe California congresswoman Maxine Waters has become the latest US politician to be fooled by Vladimir "Vovan" Kuznetsov and Alexey "Lexus" Stolyarov, Russian pranksters alleged to have ties to security forces.In a 10-minute phone call carried out late last year and posted to the prankster's YouTube page this week, the senior Democrat thinks she is speaking to the 17-year-old Swedish climate crisis protester Greta Thunberg as part of a series called "Stars Save the Earth".Posing as Thunberg's father Svante, Stolyarov tells Waters the pair are in North Carolina to discuss a threatened island called "Chongo-Chango".Waters praises Thunberg for making "quite a big, big, big, big thunder on this issue".Stolyarov also promises to tell Waters something "confidential" about the famous moment when Thunberg crossed paths with Donald Trump at the United Nations climate summit in New York in September.A Thunberg impersonator says: "It is terrible what Trump is doing. I can't eat or sleep when I see him on TV. It was terrible to meet him at the UN building. I have nightmares about it."She then details a supposed exchange with Trump, though in fact the encounter only involved Thunberg staring at Trump as he passed by.According to the pranksters' version of the event, Trump told Thunberg: "You'll never achieve your goals, like those congressional fools who accuse me."I'll tell you the truth: I really wanted to push the Ukraine president to put my competitor on trial. And he will go to trial with you, with [a bunch of] Democrats. … I would have a separate cage for all of you."Waters takes the bait, responding: "Oh my god, he mentioned the Ukrainian president?"Offered an audio recording of Trump's remarks, Waters says Democrats are working towards an impeachment case, a signal that the call took place before hearings into Trump's approaches to Ukraine were held in Washington in November."If the public knew he talked to Greta like that," Waters says, "… that will go against him, too."In a statement to the Washington Post, Waters, who in fact has the dubious distinction of twice being taken for a ride by the Russian pranksters, dismissed the latest episode."This was just another stupid prank," she said, "by the same Russian operatives who have targeted many US elected officials, including Adam Schiff, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and John McCain, and international heads of state such as Emmanuel Macron. The end."It seems unlikely, however, that she will be the last such victim. Kuznetsov and Stolyarov have been at work since 2014, trolling figures including Elton John and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. US politicians have been regular targets, strengthening claims the Russian pair are connected to political interference programs backed by the Kremlin.The pranksters' calls sometimes come with the offer of false but potentially compromising information. According to the Atlantic, a 2017 call to Schiff – the Democrat who last year led the impeachment inquiry as chair of the House intelligence committee – was supposedly from Andriy Parubiy, speaker of Ukraine's parliament, and came with an offer to provide nude photos of Trump."We will try to work with the FBI to figure out, along with your staff, how we can obtain copies," Schiff reportedly responded.A spokesperson for the Californian congressman told the Atlantic they immediately suspected the call was not genuine and informed law enforcement.Still, on the opening day of the impeachment hearings, Trump ally Devin Nunes used the Schiff call to accuse Democrats of seeking compromising material on the president."It might be time to ask yourself if you've gone out too far on a limb," Nunes said.Kuznetsov and Stolyarov deny ties to Russian security."We work for ourselves, for nobody else," Stolyarov told the Guardian in 2016.
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| President Trump 'has made a mess of foreign policy': Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:11 AM PST  President Trump 'has made a mess of foreign policy': Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer originally appeared on abcnews.go.comThe top Democrat in the Senate said on Sunday that he is worried the U.S. strike on Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani has brought the U.S. closer to a war in the Middle East.MORE: World is safer because of Iranian commander's death: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo"Let's face it, this president has made a mess of foreign policy. North Korea, they're much stronger than they were when he started. ...
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| Iran abandons nuclear deal commitments as Iraq parliament votes to expel US troops Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:56 AM PST  Iran has said it will no longer abide by any limits of an international nuclear deal after the US assassination of top general Qassem Soleimani.In a statement broadcast on state TV, the government said it would no longer respect restrictions on enrichment of uranium, or research and development, representing another major blow to any hopes of restoring relations between the Washington and Tehran on a day that saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets of cities and towns across Iran to mourn Soleimani and demand retaliation.
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| A Volatile President With Few Restraints and Growing Power Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:47 AM PST  WASHINGTON -- The powers of an American president to wage war have grown stronger for nearly two decades, ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks led the United States into an era of perpetual conflict.Those powers are now in the hands of the most volatile president in recent memory.President Donald Trump's decision to authorize the killing of a top Iranian military leader could be the match that sets off a regional conflagration, or it could have only marginal geopolitical impact like so many of the targeted killings ordered by Trump and his predecessors. But it is just the latest example of the capricious way in which the president, as commander-in-chief, has chosen to flex his lethal powers.From his dealings with Iran, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, Trump has shown little evidence over the past three years that his decisions about war and peace are made after careful deliberation or serious consideration of the consequences.In June, Trump shocked his vice president, his national security adviser and his secretary of state when he reversed himself and called off a strike against Iran with only 10 minutes to spare. That decision, days after Iran downed an American reconnaissance drone, came in part after Trump consulted Tucker Carlson, the Fox News personality, who reminded the president that he had pledged to get out of foreign conflicts rather than begin new ones. A strike on Iran, Carlson said, could anger the president's political base.A little more than six months later, Trump ordered the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led the powerful Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. It was a move -- set in motion after a rocket attack on Dec. 27 by forces linked to Iran killed an American contractor in Iraq -- that Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama considered too provocative to authorize.The war-making powers that Congress granted to the president in the years since the Sept. 11 attacks, combined with stunning advances in the technology of man-hunting, have given the inhabitant of the Oval Office the power to track and kill individuals practically anywhere on earth. Soleimani was not even a particularly difficult target at Baghdad International Airport on Friday, when his convoy was hit by missiles fired by an American MQ-9 Reaper drone.There have been attempts by lawmakers in recent years to limit the president's abilities to wage new or expanded wars based on the authorities Congress granted in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks. But with little support from leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill, those efforts have generally gone nowhere."Our country has, quite self-consciously, given one person, the President, an enormous sprawling military and enormous discretion to use it in ways that can easily lead to a massive war. That is our system: one person decides," Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law professor and former Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration, wrote Friday on Twitter.Trump's suspicions about the national security and intelligence bureaucracy he inherited have guided his unorthodox decisions on other aspects of foreign policy, like writing flattering personal letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and outsourcing much of his policy toward Ukraine to his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. There has been a dizzying turnover in his national security team: In three years, the president has had four national security advisers, two secretaries of state, two defense secretaries and one acting defense secretary.How Trump sees the killing of Soleimani as advancing his broader agenda on Iran is unclear, and Friday he seemed to portray the operation as something of a one-off: a necessary step to ensure that tensions between the U.S. and Iran do not spiral out of control. Soleimani was plotting "imminent and sinister attacks" before "we caught him in the act and terminated him," the president said from his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, although administration officials did not describe any threats that were different from what they said the general had been orchestrating for years."We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war," Trump said. The president's decision to kill the general at this time appeared to many military experts as a potentially reckless escalation. But his policy toward Iran, what administration officials call a "maximum pressure" campaign, has long underestimated how the country would respond to economic sanctions that have crippled its economy.When Iranian operatives blew holes in oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in June and launched drone strikes on Saudi oil facilities in September, Trump opted in both cases against a direct, immediate, military response. Still, one day after the drone strike targeting Soleimani, the Pentagon announced it was sending around 3,000 more troops to Kuwait as a precaution against growing threats to U.S. forces in the region.Lindsay P. Cohn, a professor of political science at the Naval War College, said that Trump appears to be convinced that Soleimani's death will not lead to a significant surge of violence in the Middle East. It satisfies two imperatives for him: appearing to look tough without taking on, at least for now, any new commitments."He doesn't want to get entangled. But he doesn't want to look weak," said Cohn, adding that her opinions did not necessarily represent those of the Defense Department.The president's mercurial approach to Iran has left a trail of alienated allies -- including European NATO allies angry about his decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and Arab nations in the Persian Gulf region uncertain about Trump's resolve to support them in the face of direct attack from Iran.Trump's blunt language about the folly of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan led some to conclude that he was shy about using force. The evidence shows the opposite, said Micah Zenko, a national security expert who writes frequently about U.S. presidents and the use of military power.During the three years of the Trump administration, airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia have sharply increased, as have civilian casualties, Zenko said. But rather than centralizing decisions about lethal force inside the White House, Trump has often devolved authority to military commanders.Zenko described the president as a "passive hawk," wanting to appear tough without making decisions about military force that could incite long-term commitments.Less than 10 days in office, Trump authorized a risky commando raid in Yemen that killed several civilians and one Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens. Amid criticism for the botched raid, Trump put the blame on military commanders who, he said, "lost Ryan."Twice Trump ordered cruise missile attacks against the government of President Bashar Assad in Syria in retaliation for chemical attacks on civilians there, something that Obama decided against. Administration officials said that Trump was particularly impressed by the success of the Special Operations raid in October that killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, something that may have led the president toward approving the killing of Soleimani.One of Trump's former national security advisers, John Bolton, who was pushed out in September because the president considered him an irritant and too much of a hawk, was suddenly praising Trump on Friday.The killing of Soleimani was the type of strike that Bolton had long advocated -- and Trump had once rebuffed -- and the former aide tweeted that he hoped it would be the "first step toward regime change in Iran."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Right-Wing Views for Generation Z, 5 Minutes at a Time Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:45 AM PST  BERKELEY, Calif. -- Will Witt walked through the University of California campus doing what he does professionally, which is trolling unwitting young liberals on camera.He approached students who seemed like good targets: people with political buttons on their bags, androgynous clothing, scarves. It was safe to say that the vast majority here in the heart of progressive culture would be liberal. Witt, whose bouffant and confident smile make him look like a high school jock from central casting, told the students that he had a question for them. If they agreed to answer, and they usually did, the game was on."How many genders are there?" Witt asked before turning and staring deadpan at the camera. Some people laughed and walked away. Most, knowing the camera was rolling, engaged."As many as you want?" a recent doctoral student responded, a little confused to be confronted with this question.After some of the footage was edited in the back of an SUV in a parking lot nearby, the video headed to Prager University, a growing hub of the online right-wing media machine, where Witt is a rising star and the jokey, Ray-Ban-wearing embodiment of the site's ambitions.Last year PragerU videos racked up more than 1 billion views, the company said. The Prager empire now has a fleet of 6,500 high school and college student promoters, known as the PragerForce, who host on-campus meetings and gather at least once a year for conventions. And this year, the company is expanding its scope. PragerU executives are signing stars of the young new right to host made-for-the-internet shows to fuel 2020 content, including a book club and a show geared to Hispanics called Americanos.The goal of the people behind all of this -- Dennis Prager, the conservative talk show host and impresario of this digital empire, and the venture's billionaire funders -- seems simple: more Will Witts in the world. More pride in U.S. history (and less panic over racism), more religion (specifically in the "Judeo-Christian" tradition), less illegal immigration, more young people laughing at people on the left rather than joining them.Witt, 23, said he was raised in a relatively liberal home by his mother, and when he arrived at the University of Colorado in Boulder, he was already leaning conservative. But he found his zeal for the culture war on campus. One of his classes offered students extra credit for going to a political protest. Witt submitted that he would go to a nearby speech hosted by right-wing star Milo Yiannopoulos. The teaching assistant told him that would not count, he said.He was frustrated, feeling lonely and at home watching videos on YouTube. The site prompted him with a bright animation made by PragerU. He can't remember the first video he saw. Maybe railing against feminism, he said."I must have watched every single one that night," Witt said. "I stopped going to class. Pretty much all the time, I was reading and watching."He did not graduate from college.The videos are five minutes each, quick, full of graphs and grand extrapolations, and unapologetically conservative. Lessons have titles like: "Why Socialism Never Works" (a series), "Fossil Fuels: The Greenest Energy," "Where Are the Moderate Muslims?" and "Are Some Cultures Better Than Others?"To the founders and funders of PragerU, YouTube is a way to circumvent brick-and-mortar classrooms -- and parents -- and appeal to Generation Z, those born in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.Prager sees those young people as more indoctrinated in left-wing viewpoints than any previous generation, but also as more curious about the right. For these teenagers, consuming conservative content is a rebellion from campus politics that are liberal and moving left."We find more of them are open to hearing an alternative voice than many of their elders," Prager wrote in an email. "Many suspect they have been given only one view and suspect that view may often be absurd."The way PragerU presents that "alternative voice" is in the measured tone of an online university, carefully avoiding the news cycle and President Donald Trump. That is part of its power."They take old arguments about the threat of immigration but treat them as common sense and almost normative, wrapping them up as a university with a neutral, dispassionate voice," said Chris Chavez, doctoral program director at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication.PragerU's website has a fine-print disclaimer that it is not an actual academic institution."PragerU's '5 Minute Ideas' videos have become an indispensable propaganda device for the right," the Southern Poverty Law Center warned on its blog, citing videos like "Blacks in Power Don't Empower Blacks," hosted by Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley, who is black.Lawrence Rosenthal, chair of the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies, said he has noticed an impact from PragerU's content. "It sits at this border between going off a cliff into conspiracy thinking and extreme kinds of prejudices in the name of anti-political correctness," he said.On PragerU's website, there is little differentiation between its video presenters. So the late Pulitzer-prize winning Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer appears on the same page as Michelle Malkin, the commentator who has defended overtly racist elements of the right. There's Bret Stephens, The New York Times op-ed columnist; Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host; George Will, the anti-Trump conservative commentator; and Nigel Farage, the Brexit Party leader. For a teenager approaching the site, each headshot in the same size circle, it would be hard to tell the difference between them all.'Give Us Five Minutes'PragerU began in 2009 as a nonprofit to promote the conservative religious values of Prager, a popular talk radio host and author of books on Judaism. Originally, the idea was to build an actual physical university. Allen Estrin, his producer, would spearhead it.But a physical building was prohibitively expensive."Just to get started would be $250 million," Estrin said recently while driving through Los Angeles. "You have to buy property, a building, do a faculty, years to start, years to raise money, and then at the end, what do you have? One thousand students in the first graduating class?"Estrin had another idea. He was obsessed with internet video. Estrin taught screenwriting, but the conservative content he saw online was rambling and baggy. The sets were bad (a lot of old men at whiteboards). He pitched the early PragerU group: They could make a right-wing university online, in tight five-minute courses."We used to say in the early days, 'Give us five minutes, and we'll give you a semester,'" Estrin said.Marissa Streit, who had been a Hebrew tutor for another PragerU backer, joined as the company's chief executive in 2011, and videos started going out."We released a video and had 35,000 views," Streit said, "and I still remember Allen looked over to Dennis and said, 'Can you imagine a classroom of 35,000 people?'"Dan and Farris Wilks, hydraulic-fracturing billionaires from Texas, came in with donations. The conservative-leaning Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation joined, too; their goal in funding education is, in part, to "promote the teaching of American exceptionalism."PragerU started to spend on marketing on Facebook and YouTube."We just kept throwing more coal into the furnace," Estrin said. "And we realized that we had created a distribution platform."In 2019, PragerU raised $22 million; next year, it estimates it will raise $25 million. Its budget comes almost entirely from donor contributions.The 'Macro Values' of TrumpPragerU has expanded Prager's reach, but it has not fundamentally changed his days.One recent morning, Prager was recording an "Ultimate Issues Hour" radio segment. He's written eight books (one is "The Ten Commandments: Still the Best Moral Code") and since 1999 has hosted "The Dennis Prager Show" on the conservative Christian radio syndicate Salem.Prager is 6 feet, 4 inches and imposing, in a white button-down shirt, hunched over the microphone.He read some promos for his sponsor Blinds.com. He took calls from listeners. He talked about the importance of children respecting parents (very important) and about how parents should not want their children to be the smartest in the class but rather the most moral.He carefully threaded the needle for listeners as he made the argument for Trump as a values leader. There are two types of values, micro and macro, he argued. One seems to do with the minutiae of one's life (marital fidelity, religiosity, respect); the other, he said, is more important and relates to the general effect of one's life."Donald Trump may not have terrific micro values, but I think he has terrific macro values," Prager said.When it comes to politicians, he said he marks a sharp divide between political life and personal life, and he argues that the president's personal behavior is irrelevant to his public message.This is a new line of argument for Prager, who spent much of his career focusing on those micro values. He is a longtime opponent of same-sex marriage, which he considers an effort to "destroy the foundation of our Judeo-Christian civilization." An episode in his "Same Sex Issues" collection is titled, "Love Is Not Enough."Former fans of Prager's work said they are confused by his Trumpist turn."In terms of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' of watching people become more Trumpian, these moral icons becoming shills, he is way up there," said Charlie Sykes, author of "How the Right Lost Its Mind" and a former radio host who used to occasionally substitute on Prager's show. "Now you have to put PragerU in the category of other very successful meme machines and low-rent conservative grifting."Prager's desk is stacked with items including a refrigerated lunchbox, open and showing a slice of lemon cake, but he cannot eat it. He often fasts 20 hours a day. His back is bad, and he is in considerable physical pain as he moves through the world.As he prepared to leave, he unzipped a large rolling suitcase. It was almost entirely full of old newspapers. He added the day's Wall Street Journal and headed to the airport. He does not want to do an interview in person. He wants to email, and so he does. His answers are long and lucid and full of biblical references.Prager, who is Jewish, sees his mission as spreading the message of one God, which he articulates as a cure for humans who are "basically not good." He measures success in how well he spreads this cure."Radio, writing, and now the internet have made making this cure known beyond my dreams," he wrote. "Only God knows how successful I will have been; Moses did not get into the Promised Land, nor will I. But I am not naive. I obviously recognize that a billion views a year means more influence than a million views."A Billion ViewsThe people chasing those billion views are in the PragerU headquarters in Los Angeles.The office is typical millennial chic, full of midcentury modern sofas, standing desks and just a few hints at what's made there, including a portrait of Ronald Reagan.The team is about 50 people. The average staff member is about 30 years old. The site's rapid growth puts desk space at a premium, but with a reporter visiting, few people were in the office."A lot of people stayed home because they were scared of being identified as working for Prager," said the company's chief marketing officer, Craig Strazzeri, laughing as he showed off another empty room.By the reception desk is a bowl of Prager-themed buttons. One features the outline of a man's hair, glasses, wide tie and cigar -- enough to indicate it is Prager. Another features a small American flag. These few in the bowl are the last of the pins."The pin maker won't make more," said Streit, the chief executive. "Economic protest."This is an example of what the staff would call the intolerance of the left, a common theme of PragerU videos. But Prager leaders maintain that they are unfazed by it. For them, the work happens online, and it happens with people younger than the pin makers, younger even than their staff's friends. The target audience is Generation Z."I feel somewhat sorry for millennials," said Estrin. "They truly were indoctrinated. Now kids have access to a different point of view. It's as close as their computer or their phone."He is right that Generation Z is a wary group. Young people are significantly less trusting of institutions and one another than older generations. About half are categorized broadly as "low trusters," according to a 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center, while only 19% of adults 65 and older fall into that category."Our generation is whiny," said Candace Owens, who is 31 -- a millennial -- and one of the right-wing stars who has found a home with PragerU. "We're constantly complaining. Our generation is suffering from peace. We create meaningless problems."Gen Z has a better sense of humor," she said. "They love the memes."And the meme battle -- the culture war -- is where Owens sees her chance."If conservatives don't jump into culture headfirst, we're not going to make much of a difference," she said, "and PragerU understands that."How Prager WorksPrager leaders said many of their young fans come from liberal homes, and the key for their mission is to reach these people and rescue them from what they describe as liberal indoctrination.Leaders in the Prager universe describe the current landscape like this: Young people in the U.S. today are being told that they need to learn to "check your privilege" -- a phrase popularized by progressives. They are taught the bad parts of American history before the good parts.The PragerU viewer is a young American who is vaguely annoyed by all of this -- the trigger warnings or the female "Star Wars" heroine -- and is sick of being told to apologize. PragerU validates those feelings."What they're trying to do is get away from this narrative that's really out there that America's bad, and it's just this negative thing," said Trevor Mauk, a 19-year-old Cal-Berkeley sophomore from Barstow, California, and a fan of PragerU. "They give the reasons why it's good to be proud of the country and proud of where you're from and who you are."He added, "They're talking about things I was never taught."Until PragerU came along, some of the biggest platforms for young conservatives looking for content were Fox News and online message boards, where fringe conspiracy theorists reign.PragerU's own experience with Big Tech has only fueled its fans' perceptions that conservatives are the losers of the culture war. The company is suing Google, which owns YouTube, arguing that the platform is suppressing its content by marking some of its videos as restricted -- and in doing so, lumping videos about the Ten Commandments in with violent or offensive content.In PragerU's corner is Zach Vorhies, a former YouTube employee turned whistleblower who said liberal employees at YouTube had the ability to censor conservative content creators.Vorhies has promoted conspiracy theories like QAnon and spread anti-Semitic messages, a pattern first reported by The Daily Beast. He is not an employee of PragerU, but they count him as a supporter, an example of the soft barrier between PragerU's mainstream conservative allies and fans and the vast land of right-wing conspiracy."PragerU was one of the reasons I blew the whistle on Google," said Vorhies, who attended a recent hearing in PragerU's ongoing court battle against Google, which has said the allegations in the suit are without merit.The Campus FightIn the physical world, the battlefront of the culture war is almost always the quad. PragerU's leaders hope to turn the PragerForce, their college clubs, into an on-the-ground college outrage content machine, making videos and working to organize on-campus conservative counterprogramming.Those on the left at a place like Berkeley are largely unfazed by these skirmishes. "Billionaires have spent a fortune to promote this group, and yet it's completely marginal, at most an annoyance," said James Kennerly, the Cal Young Democratic Socialists of America co-chair.But PragerU is gaining traction. Cody Thompson is a 26-year-old undergraduate at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. He considered himself such a strong social-justice-oriented leftist, he said, that when he once saw someone walking around campus wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat, he alerted student affairs, saying he felt unsafe.As he tells it, Thompson was with a conservative childhood friend who showed him a 2017 PragerU video, "The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party," hosted by Carol Swain, who at the time was a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and is now retired."The Democratic Party defended slavery, started the Civil War and opposed Reconstruction," Swain, who is black, said in the video. She speaks slowly and straight to the camera as graphics flash by in the usual Prager style."I don't know what it was, but when I watched that video, I wanted to watch more," Thompson said.He talks about PragerU videos like a religious revelation. He said they opened his mind and repaired his relationship with his parents, and made him anti-abortion and supportive of a border wall. And when he went to see Witt speak, that sealed his new politics.A few days after the Prager journey through Berkeley, the student Witt had buttonholed -- the one who said there could be as many genders as he wanted -- was still confused about the encounter."I was just hanging out on campus, getting the Berkeley energy," said Pau Guinart, a 36-year-old from Barcelona, Spain, who recently completed a doctorate in Latin American literature at Stanford. "When I started to sense what they were getting at, I was like, 'Dude, you're in the wrong place.'"He hoped he had said the right thing, then asked, "Do you know where the video goes?"This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Trump was reportedly given a 'menu' of options for the Iran strike that included ships, missile facilities, and militia groups Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:45 AM PST  The New York Times reported that Pentagon officials offered Trump options for dealing with tensions in Iran. Targeting Soleimani was the most extreme.
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| As 3,500 Soldiers Deploy, a 'Whirlwind' Whips Through Fort Bragg Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:44 AM PST  FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Organizers of a monthly storytelling gathering for the children of soldiers are planning to spend part of their next meeting making yellow ribbons. A doughnut shop owner who often donates his fried goods to troops who are shipping out has spent the last few days rushing a batch of hundreds.And Jade Morales, a young military wife, welcomed the new year feeling deeply unsettled as her husband, so close to retirement from the U.S. Army, hurried off to an uncertain situation with far less warning than usual."We weren't prepared for this," said Morales, 20. "And so, it's just been a whirlwind, especially because I'm not used to being alone."In a community long accustomed to the daily rhythms of military life, the flare-up in tensions between the United States and Iran in recent days reverberated immediately: At Fort Bragg, some 3,500 soldiers in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division were ordered to the Middle East in one of the largest rapid deployments in decades. Regarded as the nation's rapid-response force, the division is trained to take off in large numbers in as few as 18 hours after orders arrive.Still, the frenetic pace of the past few days has delivered a jolt even to a community familiar with the stresses stirred by a deployment -- and its rippling consequences."It's America's 911," said Brian Knight, the director of the area's United Service Organizations, repeating a dictum often spoken around the base as a testament to its significance as one of the largest military installations in the world and an economic and cultural backbone for the area. "The president picks up the phone and it rings at Fort Bragg."The tide of the community, in many ways, ebbs and flows based on the gravitational pull of conflicts a world away: When a deployment comes, a barber's regular customers disappear, and their sons are brought in by their mothers. When troops flood back, just as more than 20,000 did after a pivotal moment during the Iraq war, the subsequent baby booms overwhelm hospitals and deplete the stock in the maternity sections of department stores.The base is on constant alert, with troops always positioned to spring into action. But two decades of war that have followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has made stints abroad routine and planned well in advance. Now, the "no-notice" deployment has rocked families as soldiers were given very little time to pack up and leave.On Facebook, the wife of a recently deployed soldier confessed, "I'm slowly losing my sanity," noting that she was pregnant and 12 hours away from the rest of her family. At a local brewery, Ashley Thompson, a teacher, wondered whether any of her students would return to class next week with altered family situations."I'll find out whether any of my kids had any parents that had been deployed," she said. "That'll be hard."Fort Bragg, which sprawls across more than 160,000 acres and into six counties in the sandhills of North Carolina, is the base for airborne and special operations forces, housing more than 50,000 active military personnel. About 10% of the Army's forces are anchored there, just outside of Fayetteville, a city of about 200,000 people.The base's size and history have made it a defining force even in communities beyond its boundaries: Advertisements for military tactical gear hang in the Fayetteville airport; close-cropped hair is always in fashion; and war is never an abstract discussion about geopolitics but a personal conversation about the potential fallout close to home.The deployment comes after Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a powerful Iranian commander, was killed in an airstrike that President Donald Trump said he had ordered in an effort to "stop a war." But it has also heightened friction with Iran, as its leaders have vowed to retaliate."I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm the most up-to-date on politics and all of that stuff," said Zachary Winn, 29, whose father served in the 82nd Airborne and whose friend was in it now and just deployed. "But it seems to me, just as soon as we think things are starting to slow down, it's like we are right back over there again."In the past, the deployments have had an impact on local businesses, with fewer customers going into restaurants and entertainment venues. Families often delay large purchases until their relative has returned."Any time soldiers leave Fort Bragg, you definitely see it," said Travis Fowler, a barber who has worked for 17 years in a shop that sits near the base's perimeter. "The guy you normally see on a Friday, you don't see for a while."Military officials said that an infantry battalion of roughly 650 soldiers were deployed after protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper called the American response "an appropriate and precautionary action." The troops are likely headed to Kuwait.Now, many more were preparing to join them, with some 2,800 others leaving in the coming days. Army officials said that was likely the largest rapid deployment for military purposes since 1989, when troops invaded Panama to oust dictator Manuel Noriega. But soldiers also swiftly shipped out for humanitarian missions, to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010 and to the Gulf Coast in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina.Troops rotate through turns being on "two-hour recall," meaning they have to be able to report within the limited window. Reserves of munitions, as well as water and food, are stored on base. But families are not as familiar with this kind of rapid deployment, sending them rushing to prepare."That's a whole lot of getting yourself in order," said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a public affairs officer for the 82nd Airborne. "It's a surprise for a lot of people, but the soldiers are happy and proud to do it."On a rainy Saturday morning, carrier planes on a tarmac at Fort Bragg were loaded with supplies. And in a warehouse of a building, men and women waiting to head out napped on wooden benches, their backpacks repurposed as pillows. Copies of the Bible and Quran had been set out on a table, along with rosaries and prayer cards.One soldier was rounding up others to get breakfast from the USO, telling them to put away the snacks they had brought themselves.The heft of the distress over the deployment has come from the uncertainty over what awaits the soldiers and, in turn, their families and friends.Morales, who arrived at Fort Bragg in September, said that her husband's last duty station had been in Alaska, where he did not have rapid deployments. In the past, he usually had about a four-month notice. This time, the heads-up came hours before he needed to report on base.She said she planned to temporarily move to Las Vegas to stay with her mother. She will dive into her studies to be a veterinary technician, she said. And she will try to remain calm. "Just trying to keep my head away from the news," she said, "and, you know, not looking at Facebook as much."Knight, the USO director, said that he cautioned families to brace themselves for a marathon of waiting."With something like this, you don't know," he said. "What I tell any of the family members, 'Hey, bank on nine months.' Just think worst-case scenario is nine months, and if they come home a day earlier, you've already won."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| White House Notifies Congress of Soleimani Strike Under War Powers Act Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:41 AM PST  The White House sent Congress on Saturday a formal notification under the War Powers Act of the drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Friday, two congressional officials said Saturday.The notification, required by law within 48 hours of introducing American forces into armed conflict or a situation that could lead to war, has to be signed and then sent to Congress, according to the officials with knowledge of the plan.Lawmakers expected the document to publicly lay out the White House's legal justification for the strike on Soleimani, Iran's top security commander, who officials have said has been behind hundreds of American deaths over the years. But the notification first sent to Congress late Saturday afternoon contained only classified information, according to a senior congressional aide, likely detailing the intelligence that led to the action. It is unclear whether the White House will send a separate, unclassified document.Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Saturday evening that the notification "raises more questions than it answers," including "serious and urgent questions about the timing, manner and justification of the administration's decision to engage in hostilities against Iran.""The highly unusual decision to classify this document in its entirety compounds our many concerns, and suggests that the Congress and the American people are being left in the dark about our national security," Pelosi said.The document itself was brief, a senior Democratic aide said. But its contents are all but certain to animate a fierce debate among lawmakers about the reach of presidential war powers and Congress' role in matters of military conflict. Many Democrats have called the strike against Soleimani, which threatens to escalate tensions between the U.S. and Iran and reverberate throughout a violent and volatile region, illegal and unauthorized. They are already searching for ways to curb Trump's ability to strike Iran in the future.Trump's advisers have maintained that they were operating on credible intelligence showing that Soleimani was involved in imminent plans to attack U.S. interests in a handful of countries. They have not detailed that intelligence, and Democratic lawmakers, among others, have raised questions about its veracity.Briefing reporters Friday, Robert C. O'Brien, the White House national security adviser, pointed to Trump's "constitutional authorities as commander in chief to defend our nation" as justification for the strike. He also cited the measure Congress approved in 2002 granting President George W. Bush the legal authority to wage war on Saddam Hussein and the government of Iraq.While Republicans praised the action against Soleimani as a definitive blow against a longtime enemy, Democrats voiced concern that the president was risking a new war in the Middle East, and argued that the White House exceeded its legal authority by conducting the strike without explicit authorization from Congress.A small group of lawmakers Friday were already preparing efforts to cut off any further military confrontation with Iran without Congress' express approval, setting up an array of legislative vehicles Democrats may use to try to rein in the president's war powers.A number of bipartisan resolutions similar to those measures had already been considered last year, but lawmakers declined to take them up or ensure their survival in pieces of must-pass legislation.Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced a resolution Friday invoking the War Powers Act that would a force a debate and vote in Congress to prevent further escalation of hostilities with Iran.Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a statement that they would resurrect legislation to prohibit any funding for offensive military force in or against Iran without prior congressional authorization.That measure was passed in the House last year along bipartisan lines, with nearly two dozen Republicans voting in support of it, but was later stripped from the must-pass annual defense bill. The political dynamics of taking such a vote after the strike, however, may change the calculus for Republicans and a number of Democratic lawmakers in conservative districts who initially backed the measure.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Cries of 'Revenge Is Coming' at Funerals for Slain Commanders in Iraq Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:41 AM PST  BAGHDAD -- As Iraq held joint funeral services on Saturday for two revered military leaders killed in an American drone strike near the Baghdad airport this past week, tens of thousands of pro-Iranian fighters marched through Baghdad, waving flags and chanting that "revenge is coming" to the United States.The surprise killing on Friday of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran's regional security strategy, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a powerful Iraqi militia commander and government official, threatened to shift fault lines across the Middle East.Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed "forceful revenge" as the country mourned the death of Soleimani and calls have accelerated to eject the United States from Iraq. Across the region, fears are rising that the shadow war that had been building between the United States and Iran could suddenly escalate into a wide-ranging conflict.Soleimani, 62, spent much of his life building Iran's network of ties with militant groups across the Middle East, including in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.The extent of that network added to the uncertainty about how Iran might respond to his killing. If it chose to, Tehran could do so by relying on allied forces in any of those places to target American troops, or allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia or other countries in the Persian Gulf.On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security updated its National Terrorism Advisory System to warn that Iran "is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States." The system's bulletins, which are shared among law enforcement across the country, also reiterated that there was no current, specific, credible threat against the U.S.But experts said it remained unclear how, when and even whether Iran would make good on its threats of vengeance. They noted that the country had to balance its need to show resolve against a staunch enemy and its reluctance to thrust itself into a full-scale war with the United States, a much stronger power. That led some scholars to suggest that Iran's response could end up being underwhelming."Technically, Iran could attack U.S. bases in Syria or in Iraq, but that would drive an even greater retaliation from the United States that I don't think even Iran would wish to happen," said Lina Khatib, the head of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, a London-based research institute."I may be in the minority here, but I think with this new development, despite Iran's outlandish statements, ultimately Iran has been pushed into a corner," she added.The funeral services were held against a backdrop of extreme regional tension as Iran and the United States signaled they could be on the brink of a potentially catastrophic war. Since the killings of Soleimani and al-Muhandis, neither side has made another move -- although both have made threats.At the joint funerals, as close to a state ceremony in Iraq as any since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a key pillar of Iran's regional reach was on display in Baghdad. Many of the mourners were members of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, militias that came together to fight the Islamic State and are now overseen by the Iraqi security forces.The most powerful of those militias are affiliated with Iran; their fighters wore somber faces and black clothes as they marched carrying the flags of their groups. They chanted: "The blood of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis will not be spilled in vain. Revenge is coming."The loss of al-Muhandis was a profound one for the Iraqi fighters, who saw him not just as a militia leader close to Iran but also as someone who had helped rally the armed groups when they first formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group as it threatened to sweep toward Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.The militias have since been brought under the umbrella of the Iraqi military, and al-Muhandis was their deputy head.Many declared: "Our men do not fear America; each man dies on his day. Your voice, Abu Mahdi, remains the loudest one."Iran can count on a range of assets in the region, including the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen and a range of fighting groups in Iraq and Syria that operate close to small contingents of American troops.In recent months, Iran and its allies have struck oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and targeted tanker traffic in some of the world's busiest shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. A senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard raised the prospect of possible attacks on ships in the Gulf, saying that Iran would retaliate against Americans wherever they were within reach of the Islamic Republic.Gen. Gholamali Abuhamzeh, the commander of the Guard in the southern province of Kerman, said on Friday in comments reported by the Tasnim news agency on Saturday: "The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West, and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there."He said Iran had long ago identified "vital American targets in the region," and added, "Some 35 U.S. targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv are within our reach."His comments were echoed Saturday by Brig. Gen. Ismail Qaani, the newly appointed head of Iran's Quds Force, who said Iran's counterattack on American targets would have "a large geographic reach."Another warning was issued by Abu Ali al-Husseini, special operations chief of Khataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia whose bases in Iraq and Syria the United States bombed a week ago. He said the Iraqi military should stay at least a half-mile away "from the American enemy bases" starting on Sunday evening. Any Iraqi military personnel who stayed with the Americans, he suggested, were acting as "human shields."A number of Iraq's Shiite militia leaders are expected to travel to Tehran on Sunday to meet with Quds Force commanders, according to several militia leaders.While the killing of Soleimani was a blow to factions aligned with Iran, his death was not mourned in other parts of the Middle East. Many others in the Arab world hated him for marshaling militias to help President Bashar Assad in Syria, expand Iran's leverage in Iraq and boost the ability of Yemen's Houthi rebels to inflict pain on Saudi Arabia."He will kill no more," read a front-page editorial in Saudi Arabia's Arab News."Let there be no tears shed for Qassem Soleimani; he must have known that he could not get away with these crimes forever, and that he would not die in his bed," wrote Faisal Abbas, the newspaper's editor.Soleimani's body will be taken to Najaf, Iraq, a prominent Shiite burial place, then flown to Mashhad, Iran, on Sunday for a funeral service. A large state service is expected in Tehran on Monday, and the general is expected to be buried in his hometown, Kerman, on Tuesday, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported.Amid the tensions, the United States has called on its citizens to leave Iraq, shuttered its embassy in Baghdad, sent additional Marines and on Thursday deployed 700 members of the 82nd Airborne Division to the region. American contractors who train Iraqi troops have begun returning home.After the strike, President Donald Trump said the attack had been intended "to stop a war" and warned Iran that the United States military had already identified targets for further strikes "if Americans anywhere are threatened."But critics have called the strike essentially a political assassination that could further destabilize the region.On Saturday, China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, said in a telephone call with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, "The risky military action by the United States violates the fundamental norms of international relations and will worsen regional tensions and turmoil.""China urges the United States not to recklessly misuse armed force and to seek solutions to problems through dialogue," Wang said, according to a summary of the call issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also spoke with Zarif, telling him that "such actions by the United States grossly violate the norms of international law," according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement.In a telephone call with France's foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Wang also indicated that China hoped to salvage the international agreement curtailing Iran's nuclear capabilities. He told Le Drian that the deal was a hard-won "pillar for safeguarding the peace and stability of the Middle East," the Chinese foreign ministry reported on its website.Among those attending the funeral on Saturday were Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq and a number of senior Shiite leaders, including Ammar al-Hakim; Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister; Falih Al Fayad, the national security adviser; and Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Organization, which is both a political party and has one of the largest and oldest militias.Abdul Mahdi looked upset as he walked surrounded by security officers in a sea of militia fighters. As Iraq's leader, he has been caught between Iran, its neighbor, and the United States as the two have ratcheted up their confrontations.The latest round of violence started with a rocket attack a week ago that killed an American contractor working at an Iraqi military base in the north of the country. That was followed by an American attack on five Popular Mobilization militia bases in western Iraq and Syria that killed more than 24 people and set in motion the events that led to a nearly two-day siege of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.After the funerals on Saturday, some mourners tried to again enter the Green Zone, which holds the seat of the Iraqi government and the embassies of the United States and other countries. But they were pushed back.In Iran, the news media flooded its broadcasts and front pages with coverage of Soleimani's death, and even news outlets perceived to be more moderate called for revenge.When President Hassan Rouhani of Iran paid his condolences on Saturday during a visit to Soleimani's home, he, too, spoke of revenge -- but with an open-ended timeline."The Americans did not realize what a great mistake they made," Rouhani said. "They will see the effects of this criminal act, not only today, but for years to come.""Retaliation is definite," Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, a leader of the Revolutionary Guard, said on Iranian state television. "The U.S. should not waste time sending us messages, letters and liaisons."He said American officials had "mobilized everyone" to seek an intervention to avoid an Iranian retaliation. "If you weren't man enough, why did you do it?"The killing of Soleimani was likely to further fuel anti-Americanism in Iran, as well as empower the country's hard-liners over those who called for diplomatic efforts with the United States, said Hamidreza Azizi, assistant professor of international relations at Shahid Beheshti University in Iran."This will erode the face of the moderate camp inside Iran, and it will even turn the moderates into hard-liners," he said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| As Tensions With Iran Escalated, Trump Opted for an Extreme Measure Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:37 AM PST  WASHINGTON -- In the chaotic days leading to the death of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran's most powerful commander, top American military officials put the option of killing him -- which they viewed as the most extreme response to recent Iranian-led violence in Iraq -- on the menu they presented to President Donald Trump.They didn't think he would take it. In the wars waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon officials have often offered improbable options to presidents to make other possibilities appear more palatable.After initially rejecting the Soleimani option on Dec. 28 and authorizing airstrikes on an Iranian-backed Shiite militia group instead, a few days later Trump watched, fuming, as television reports showed Iranian-backed attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, according to Defense Department and administration officials.By late Thursday, the president had gone for the extreme option. Top Pentagon officials were stunned.Trump made the decision, senior officials said Saturday, despite disputes in the administration about the significance of what some officials said was a new stream of intelligence that warned of threats to U.S. embassies, consulates and military personnel in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Soleimani had just completed a tour of his forces in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, and was planning an "imminent" attack that could claim hundreds of lives, those officials said."Days, weeks," Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday, when asked how imminent any attacks could be, without offering more detail other than to say that new information about unspecified plotting was "clear and unambiguous."But some officials voiced private skepticism about the rationale for a strike on Soleimani, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops over the years. According to one U.S. official, the new intelligence indicated "a normal Monday in the Middle East" -- Dec. 30 -- and Soleimani's travels amounted to "business as usual."That official described the intelligence as thin and said that Soleimani's attack was not imminent because of communications the U.S. had between Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Soleimani showing that the ayatollah had not yet approved any plans by the general for an attack. The ayatollah, according to the communications, had asked Soleimani to come to Tehran for further discussions at least a week before his death.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence were two of the most hawkish voices arguing for a response to Iranian aggression, according to administration officials. Pence's office helped ride herd on meetings and conference calls held by officials in the run-up to the strike.Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Milley declined to comment for this article, but Milley's spokeswoman, Col. DeDe Halfhill, said, without elaborating, that "some of the characterizations being asserted by other sources are false" and that she would not discuss conversations between Milley and the president.The fallout from Trump's targeted killing is now underway. On Saturday in Iraq, the U.S. military was on alert as tens of thousands of pro-Iranian fighters marched through the streets of Baghdad and calls accelerated to eject the U.S. from the country. U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said there were two rocket attacks near Iraqi bases that host American troops, but no one was injured.In Iran, the ayatollah vowed "forceful revenge" as the country mourned the death of Soleimani.In Palm Beach, Florida, Trump lashed back, promising to strike 52 sites across Iran -- representing the number of American hostages taken by Iran in 1979 -- if Iran attacked Americans or American interests. On Saturday night, Trump warned on Twitter that some sites were "at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD."The president issued those warnings after U.S. spy agencies Saturday detected that Iranian ballistic missile units across the country had gone to a heightened state of readiness, a U.S. official said Saturday night.Other officials said it was unclear whether Iran was dispersing its ballistic missile units -- the heart of the Iranian military -- to avoid an American attack or was mobilizing the units for a major strike against U.S. targets or allies in the region in retaliation for Soleimani's death.On Capitol Hill, Democrats voiced growing suspicions about the intelligence that led to the killing. At the White House, officials formally notified Congress of a war powers resolution with what the administration said was a legal justification for the strike.At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, some 3,500 soldiers, one of the largest rapid deployments in decades, are bound for the Middle East.Soleimani, who was considered the most important person in Iran after Khamenei, was a commanding general of a sovereign government. The last time the U.S. killed a major military leader in a foreign country was during World War II, when the U.S. military shot down a plane carrying Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto of Japan.But administration officials are playing down Soleimani's status as a part of the Iranian state, suggesting his title gave him cover for terrorist activities. In the days since his death, they have sought to describe the strike as more in line with the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, who died in October in an American commando raid in Syria.Administration officials insisted they did not anticipate sweeping retaliation from Iran, in part because of divisions in the Iranian leadership. But Trump's two predecessors -- Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- had rejected killing Soleimani as too provocative.Soleimani had been in Trump's sights since the beginning of the administration, although it was a Dec. 27 rocket attack on an Iraqi military base outside Kirkuk, which left an American civilian contractor dead, that set the killing in motion.Milley and Esper traveled Sunday to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach resort, a day after officials presented the president with an initial list of options for how to deal with escalating violence against U.S. targets in Iraq.The options included strikes on Iranian ships or missile facilities or against Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq. The Pentagon also tacked on the choice of targeting Soleimani, mainly to make other options seem reasonable.Trump chose strikes against militia groups. On Sunday, the Pentagon announced that airstrikes approved by the president had struck three locations in Iraq and two in Syria controlled by the group, Kataib Hezbollah.Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said the targets included weapons storage facilities and command posts used to attack American and partner forces. About two dozen militia fighters were killed."These were on remote sites," Milley told reporters Friday in his Pentagon office. "There was no collateral damage."But the Iranians viewed the strikes as out of proportion to their attack on the Iraqi base, and Iraqis -- largely members of Iranian-backed militias -- staged violent protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Trump, who aides said had on his mind the specter of the 2012 attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, became increasingly angry as he watched television images of pro-Iranian demonstrators storming the embassy. Aides said he worried that no response would look weak after repeated threats by the U.S.When Trump chose the option of killing Soleimani, top military officials, flabbergasted, were immediately alarmed about the prospect of Iranian retaliatory strikes on U.S. troops in the region. It is unclear if Milley or Esper pushed back on the president's decision.Over the next several days, the military's Special Operations Command looked for an opportunity to hit Soleimani, who operated in the open and was treated like a celebrity in many places he visited in the Middle East. Military and intelligence officials said the strike drew on information from secret informants, electronic intercepts, reconnaissance aircraft and other surveillance tools.The option that was eventually approved depended on who would greet Soleimani at his expected arrival Friday at Baghdad International Airport. If he was met by Iraqi government officials allied with Americans, one U.S. official said, the strike would be called off. But the official said it was a "clean party," meaning members of Kataib Hezbollah, including its leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Trump authorized the killing at about 5 p.m. on Thursday, officials said.On Friday, missiles fired from an American MQ-9 Reaper blew up Soleimani's convoy as it departed the airport.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Was attack by Soleimani 'imminent' before U.S. killed him? Pompeo dodges the question. Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:37 AM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday defended President Trump's order to launch a drone strike that killed Iran's charismatic Gen. Qassem Soleimani, escalating the tension between Washington and Tehran.
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| Iranians Close Ranks Behind Leaders After Killing of Soleimani Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:36 AM PST  In cities across Iran, tens of thousands packed the streets to mourn Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Black-clad women and men beat their chests and clutched photos of him. A black flag went up on the golden dome of Imam Reza shrine in the city of Mashhad, one of the holiest sites of Shiite Islam.Just a few weeks earlier, the streets were filled with protesters angry with their leaders over the flailing economy and the country's international isolation.But at least for now, Iran is united -- in anger at the United States.For years, it has been a divided nation led by aged revolutionaries determined to impose their will on a predominantly young population with no memory of the shah, who was deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and with a thirst to live in a more normal nation integrated into the world.Suddenly, with one targeted assassination, the nation rallied behind its leaders.Young and old. Rich and poor. Hard-liner and reformer. Soleimani, Iran's most powerful military leader, was almost universally admired and had near cult figure status. After being killed in Baghdad on Friday in a drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump, his image is now plastered across Tehran, shrouded in black drapes."Without doubt, the people of Iran will take revenge for this horrific criminal act," tweeted the president, Hassan Rouhani, a leader who once advocated diplomacy and integration with the West.In Iraq on Saturday, tens of thousands of pro-Iranian fighters marched through the capital, Baghdad, vowing to exact revenge on the United States at a funeral procession for two revered Iraqi military figures who were also killed in the attack on Soleimani.And back in Iran, politicians and ordinary people of all stripes voiced support for the vow by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that "severe revenge awaits those criminals" who killed the general.The assassination appears to have solidified the hard-liners' grip on power, neutralizing at least for the moment those who had called for talks with the West, experts inside and outside of Iran said.Iran's relative moderates like Rouhani have been on the defensive since Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed an array of sanctions, contributing to Iran's sharp economic decline.That reversal bolstered hard-line critics who said it discredited those who had accepted American assurances. Moderates had nurtured fading hopes of renewed talks with Washington -- possibly between the two presidents.Any talk of outreach or liberalization seems more dangerous than it has in years and is likely to fade from public debate for the time being. The prospect of negotiations with the United States, tweeted Sara Masoumi, a prominent reformist journalist, is now "below zero.""At least in the short term, this will create a rally to the flag; Soleimani was personally popular," said Vali Nasr, a Middle East scholar and former dean of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. He predicted "an outpouring of emotion," both organic and whipped up by the government.Iran is bestowing honors on Soleimani as if he were a combination of statesman and saint. His body will circulate around shrines in all the holy cities of Shiite Islam from Samarra, Kadhimiya, Karbala and Najaf in Iraq to Mashhad and Qom in Iran.As his body makes its way to four Iranian cities over the next few days, large crowds are expected to attend and display their solidarity and defiance. This show of unity, however, could be short-lived.The deep grievances that ignited protests against the government in November still remain in place: economic hardship, international isolation and social oppression. Some Iranian opposition supporters have praised the assassination and are in favor of Washington increasing its maximum pressure policy on Iran's rulers.Just last month, mass anti-government protests shook Iran, showing deep discontent -- which only grew with a brutal crackdown that killed as many as 1,000 people. Fury at the United States is now expected to deflect attention from the country's economic suffering and the recent protests.And the assassination may well provide Iran's leaders with an excuse to intensify its repression of dissenters and critics.Soleimani's killing "was the worst thing that could happen to civic movements in Iran and Iraq," said Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity expert based in New York."It means more pressure on people who are already being squeezed politically and economically."In just a few days, the conflict between the United States and Iran has escalated drastically. A rocket attack on a military base in Iraq killed an American on Dec. 27; the United States blamed it on an Iran-backed militia and that weekend carried out airstrikes that killed some two dozen militia fighters. Then, last Tuesday, militias swarmed the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad, breached the outer wall and set fire to some structures.Soleimani led the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which conducts Iran's foreign military operations. He commanded Iranian forces battling the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. He also headed Iran's role in arming, training and directing anti-ISIS Shiite militias; the American attack that killed him also killed the powerful leader of Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.In addition, the general directed Iran's involvement with forces like the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and others that are in conflict with the United States and its regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The United States had labeled him a terrorist since 2007 and imposed economic sanctions on him.But in Iran, the government built up his public image as the person keeping the country safe. He went from a commander in the shadows to a household name, regularly seen in news videos directing troops in battle, meeting with allied leaders and reciting poetry about martyrdom."Qassem Soleimani has been seen as the public face of Iran's regional policy," said Sanam Vakil, a senior research fellow and leader of the Iran Forum at Chatham House, an international affairs institute based in London. "Since the fight against ISIS, you've seen this surge of support for him."Iranians who are usually outspoken in support of human rights have turned to national solidarity and sorrow at his death."How soon we forget how close ISIS was to us and who defeated this monster," actress Bahareh Rahnama posted on her Instagram account. One of Iran's biggest celebrities, she is well known for her support of women's rights.Soleimani was broadly thought of as a conservative, but he took care not to align himself with any political faction in Iran or take sides in domestic disputes, allowing him to be seen as above politics."He's someone who had a depth and breadth of relationships within the Iranian system that allowed him to work with all key players," said Ariane Tabatabai, an associate political scientist at the RAND Corp. focused on the Middle East and Iran. She cited his close working relationship with Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is seen as a moderate."Every major political actor within Iran, from reformist to hard-liner, is saying this is a great loss," she said.Iran announced a three-day funeral procession for Soleimani, which began Saturday in Baghdad and now moves to other cities in Iraq and Iran. The procession will continue in Mashhad on Sunday and Tehran on Monday, where Khamenei will pray over the general's body at Tehran University.Then on Tuesday it will go to his hometown, Kerman, for burial. Iranian media reported that he left a will asking for a simple burial there.An enormous turnout is expected, and leaders of militant groups from across the region are expected to attend the services, several people with knowledge of the planning said."Many Iranians, whether they like the regime or not, did consider Soleimani as a sort of national symbol," said Raz Zimmt, an Iran specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and they see his assassination "as something that hurts national pride. "Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, a prominent Iranian author who has spoken out for artistic freedom, wrote that "Iran once again lost one of its most honorable children."Since Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran has revived its nuclear program in stages, amid escalating conflicts with the United States. The European signers of the agreement promised to find a way to offset the effects of the sanctions, but so far have failed. Hints at renewed negotiations with Washington have gone nowhere."The moderates were already on life support" before the killing of Soleimani, Nasr said, and Iran will hold legislative elections next month. "I would guess the hard-liners are going to do very well. This kind of pressure on Iran, just like in any country, plays into the hands of the security forces."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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