Message to President Trump, Dear MR. Trump April 24 is coming soon 102 years of Turkish Crime against humanity gone un punished. you have the choice follow caward Obama and Bush or have a backbone recognize Christian Armenian Genocide, Thank you.
Trump’s ex-adviser Flynn admits Turkey lobbying
U.S. President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was fired from his prominent White House job last month, has registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for $530,000 worth of lobbying work before Election Day that may have aided the Turkish government, AP reported.
Paperwork filed Tuesday with the Justice Department’s Foreign Agent Registration Unit said Flynn and his firm were voluntarily registering for lobbying from August through November that “could be construed to have principally benefited Turkey.”
In February Flynn left the post and admitted that he gave the White House incomplete information on contacts with the Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at the end of December.
Flynn was known to have spoken with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak several times by phone in December. Flynn denied that he and Kislyak had discussed U.S. sanctions and Vice-President Mike Pence also denied the claims on his behalf. Later, Flynn told the White House that the topic of sanctions could be discussed.
Trump signs revised travel ban excluding Iraq
WASHINGTON,— U.S. President Donald Trump signed a revised executive order on Monday banning citizens from six Muslim-majority nations from traveling to the United States but removing Iraq from the list, after his controversial first attempt was blocked in the courts.
The new order, which takes effect on March 16, keeps a 90-day ban on travel to the United States by citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It applies only to new visa applicants, meaning some 60,000 people whose visas were revoked under the previous order will now be permitted to enter.
Immigration advocates said the new ban still discriminated against Muslims and failed to address some of their concerns with the previous order. Legal experts said it would, however, be harder to challenge because it affects fewer people living in the United States and allows more exemptions to protect them.
Trump, who first proposed a temporary travel ban on Muslims during his presidential campaign last year, had said his original Jan. 27 executive order was a national security measure meant to head off attacks by Islamist militants.
It sparked chaos and protests at airports, where visa holders were detained and later deported back to their home countries. It also drew criticism from targeted countries, Western allies and some of America’s leading corporations before a U.S. judge suspended it on Feb. 3.
“As threats to our security continue to evolve and change, common sense dictates that we continually re-evaluate and reassess the systems we rely upon to protect our country,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters after Trump signed the new order.
Le Pen blasts EU, NATO, praises Trump
(DW) French National Front leader Marine Le Pen has sharply criticised multi-lateral governance and praised the new Trump administration. She also called for a new approach towards Russia, Syria and African nations.
France’s far-right presidential front runner Marine Le Pen sounded a full-throated rejection of global trade deals and multilateral governance, defending in soaring terms Thursday the importance of cultural identity and national independence.
In a keynote foreign policy speech in Paris, Le Pen offered withering criticism of the European Union and NATO and decried what she essentially described as Western meddling in countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya, Russia and Turkey that she claimed have increased instability, broken bilateral promises and betrayed the wishes of the people.
“I don’t want to promote a French or a Western system. I don’t want to promote a universal system,” Le Pen told a packed audience of reporters, diplomats and supporters in an elegant conference hall near the Champs Elysees. “To the contrary, I want to promote a respect of cultures and peoples.”
Le Pen’s lofty discourse offered a stark counterpoint to the Front National’s more abrasive grassroots image as an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, populist party. She described France under her governance as a champion of “oppressed people, which speaks out for the voiceless and carries something powerful and great.”
She also took no questions and continued calmly on after a bare-chested Femen protester sought to interrupt her before being carried, still shouting, out of the room.
Scandal over EU funds
A pair of polls out Thursday confirmed Le Pen remains the favored candidate in a presidential race that has been full of surprises, despite being mired in an ongoing scandal over the alleged misuse of European Union funds to pay for several Front National staff. Still, almost every survey to date shows her winning the first round of presidential elections in April, but failing to prevail in a May runoff.
For 48-year-old Le Pen, Thursday’s speech was the second chance in a week to burnish her foreign policy credentials. European leaders have snubbed her, but she had better luck earlier this week in Lebanon, where she met with the country’s president and prime minister. She also stirred controversy by cancelling a meeting with the Lebanese grand mufti after refusing to wear a headscarf.
“Going to Lebanon showed she could look presidential,” says Philippe Moreau Defarges, senior fellow at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris. Noting the country was both a former French colony and held an important Christian community – a key theme for the National Front – he added, “it allowed Mrs. Le Pen to look like both a patriot and a Christian.”
Old and new themes
Le Pen’s address touched on some familiar themes, as she railed against the European Union, NATO and free trade. But she also waded into new territory – or at least offered new nuances – as she described forging a new relationship with Africa based on “frankness, respect and mutual cooperation.”
The Swamp Strikes Back ” Deep State
By Pepe Escobar
The tawdry Michael Flynn soap opera boils down to the CIA hemorrhaging leaks to the company town newspaper, leading to the desired endgame: a resounding victory for hardcore neocon/neoliberalcon US Deep State factions in one particular battle. But the war is not over; in fact it’s just beginning.
Even before Flynn’s fall, Russian analysts had been avidly discussing whether President Trump is the new Viktor Yanukovych — who failed to stop a color revolution at his doorstep. The Made in USA color revolution by the axis of Deep State neocons, Democratic neoliberalcons and corporate media will be pursued, relentlessly, 24/7. But more than Yanukovych, Trump might actually be remixing Little Helmsman Deng Xiaoping: “crossing the river while feeling the stones”. Rather, crossing the swamp while feeling the crocs.
Flynn out may be interpreted as a Trump tactical retreat. After all Flynn may be back — in the shade, much as Roger Stone. If current deputy national security advisor K T McFarland gets the top job – which is what powerful Trump backers are aiming at – the shadowplay Kissinger balance of power, in its 21st century remix, is even strengthened; after all McFarland is a Kissinger asset.
This call won’t self-destruct in five seconds
Flynn worked with Special Forces; was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA); handled highly classified top secret information 24/7. He obviously knew all his conversations on an open, unsecure line were monitored. So he had to have morphed into a compound incarnation of the Three Stooges had he positioned himself to be blackmailed by Moscow.
What Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak certainly discussed was cooperation in the fight against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, and what Moscow might expect in return: the lifting of sanctions. US corporate media didn’t even flinch when US intel admitted they have a transcript of the multiple phone calls between Flynn and Kislyak. So why not release them? Imagine the inter-galactic scandal if these calls were about Russian intel monitoring the US ambassador in Moscow.
No one paid attention to the two key passages conveniently buried in the middle of this US corporate media story. 1) “The intelligence official said there had been no finding inside the government that Flynn did anything illegal.” 2) “…the situation became unsustainable – not because of any issue of being compromised by Russia – but because he [Flynn] has lied to the president and the vice president.”
Recap: nothing illegal; and Flynn not compromised by Russia. The “crime” – according to Deep State factions: talking to a Russian diplomat.
Vice-President Mike Pence is a key piece in the puzzle; after all his major role is as insider guarantor – at the heart of the Trump administration — of neocon Deep State interests. The CIA did leak. The CIA most certainly has been spying on all Trump operatives. Flynn though fell on his own sword. Classic hubris; his fatal mistake was to strategize by himself – even before he became national security advisor. “Mad Dog” Mattis, T. Rex Tillerson – both, by the way, very close to Kissinger — and most of all Pence did not like it one bit once they were informed.
A “man of very limited abilities”
Flynn was already compromised by his embarrassingly misinformed book co-written with neocon Michael Ledeen, as well as his juvenile Iranophobia. At the same time, Flynn was the point man to what would have been a real game-changer; to place the CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff under White House control.
A highly informed US source I previously called “X”, who detailed to Sputnik how the Trump presidency will play out, is adamant “this decision makes Trump look independent. It is all going according to script.”
“X” stresses how “the NSA can penetrate any telephone system in the world that is not secure. Flynn was a man of very limited abilities who talked too much. You never hear from the real powers in intelligence nor do you know their names. You can see that in Flynn’s approach to Iran. He was disrupting a peace deal in the Middle East relating to Russia, Iran and Turkey in Syria. So he had to go.”
“X” adds, “the Russians are not stupid to talk among themselves on unsecured lines, they assumed that Flynn controlled his own lines. Flynn was removed not because of his Russian calls but for other reasons, some of which have to do with Iran and the Middle East. He was a loose cannon even from the intelligence perspective. This is a case of misdirection away from the true cause.”
In direct opposition to “X”, an analytical strand now rules there’s blood on the tracks; the hyenas are circling; a vulnerable Trump has lost his mojo; and he also lost his foreign policy. Not yet.
In the Grand Chessboard, what Flynn’s fall spells out is just a pawn out of the game because the King would not protect him. We will only know for sure “draining the swamp” – the foreign policy section – is doomed if neocons and neoliberalcons continue to run riot; if neoliberalcons are not fully exposed in their complicity in the rise of ISIS/ISIL/Daesh; and if the much vaunted possibility of a détente with Russia flounders for good.
What’s certain is that the fratricide war between the Trump administration and the most powerful Deep State factions will be beyond vicious. Team Trump only stands a chance if they are able to weaponize allies from within the Deep State. As it stands, concerning the Kissinger grand design of trying to break the Eurasian “threat” to the unipolar moment, Iran is momentarily relieved; Russia harbors no illusions; and China knows for sure that the China-Russia strategic partnership will become even stronger. Advantage swamp.
LA-bound Armenian Christians held up in travel ban’s wake
When President Donald Trump signed his executive order halting refugee admissions last month citing national security, he made it a point to say that religious minorities, especially Christians, would be given priority.
But some Christian refugees have been unable to enter the U.S. in the aftermath of the presidential order, even though the travel ban has been suspended for now by federal courts.
One family bound for Los Angeles is among the refugees held up in Iran, Southern California Public Radio reports.
George Haratoonian, a business owner who lives in Glendale and arrived himself as a refugee nearly three decades ago, was expecting his brother’s family to fly into Los Angeles on February 4. They were planning to live with him until they got settled.
But just as the president’s order took effect in late January, the family received disappointing news: their visas to Austria, the first leg of their journey, had been canceled. Haratoonian was with them in Tehran when they got the news.
“We had hoped that this thing was a rumor,” he said. It wasn’t.
The Haratoonians are Armenian Christians, a religious minority in Iran. The family was traveling to the U.S. through what is known as the Lautenberg program, which benefits religious minorities. The program was originally enacted in 1990 to assist refugees from the former Soviet Union. Today, the program mostly benefits Christian, Jewish, Baha’i and other religious minority refugees from Iran.
Under the program, refugees transit from Iran to Austria, then on to the United States. Because the U.S. has no embassy in Iran, they must complete their paperwork in Austria before they continue on to the U.S. In order to get to Austria, they receive what’s known as a “D visa” from the Austrian government.
An Austrian government official confirmed in an email to KPCC that the visas of Iranian refugees in the program were canceled “following a procedural modification on the part of the United States.” The action occurred just ahead of the ban taking place. Refugee agencies believe that the Austrian government anticipated a policy change and didn’t want refugees stuck in transit.
The U.S. State Department had no comment on the refugees’ status.
The president’s executive order issued on January 27 temporarily halted travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations and suspended refugee arrivals. The ban created chaos at airports around the country, including at Los Angeles International Airport. Those arriving from the affected countries were detained for hours and at least two people at LAX were put back on planes.
A federal district judge in the state of Washington placed a temporary stay on the president’s ban and the suspension was upheld by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week.
Administration officials are now weighing their options, which could include a revision of the travel ban to address legal issues and a request for the full Ninth Circuit to review the stay of the ban.
Flynn Saga, Trump Foreign Policy Have been Hijacked By nefarious “hawks” in Effort To Thwart Improved Russia Ties
(rferl) A popular Russian daily said the key issue in Michael Flynn’s downfall was not his conversations with Sergei Kislyak but his participation in a gala celebration of Russian state broadcaster RT’s 10th anniversary in Moscow in 2015, sitting at the same table with Vladimir Putin.
Unofficially, however, leading Kremlin-connected politicians and analysts have been nearly unanimous in attributing the resignation to nefarious efforts by U.S. “hawks” to derail a possible improvement in U.S.-Russian relations. They attribute the efforts variously to the “mainstream media,” the Democrats stung by freshly inaugurated President Donald Trump and his Republican Party’s electoral victories, the U.S. intelligence community, and Republicans they label as “Russophobes.”
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on February 14 that “we are not going to comment on this in any way…. It is not our business.” The Foreign Ministry issued a similar statement.
But top figures in Russia’s foreign-policy establishment outside the executive branch were actively commenting on the development, nearly unanimously arguing that the pressure on Flynn was really aimed at preventing warmer relations between Moscow and Washington.
Federation Council member Aleksei Pushkov, who was formerly the chairman of the State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, posted on Twitter a photograph of the front page of the New York Daily Mail with the blaring headline: Russian For The Exit. He said it was a telling example of the “aggressive campaign by U.S. mainstream media” targeting “not Flynn, but relations with Russia.”
Pushkov’s successor heading the lower house’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, told Interfax the same thing.
“A pretext was selected — [Flynn’s] contacts with the Russian ambassador, although this is a normal diplomatic practice,” Slutsky said. “In these circumstances, one comes to the conclusion that the target was Russia-American relations and undermining confidence in the American administration.”
Sergei Kislitsyn, a specialist in North American affairs with the Russian Academy of Sciences, also said contacts such as those between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak were “normal.” “If Flynn had been speaking with the British ambassador or the French, or whomever, there would not be so much attention,” he said.
Flynn, Kislitsyn said, “is just a victim of a struggle going on between Trump’s supporters and his opponents.” In general, he said, “anti-Russian rhetoric” is “a major problem” in the United States and will hamper any efforts to improve bilateral relations.
Federation Council member Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the upper house’s International Relations Committee, charged that in the United States “even a willingness to engage in dialogue with Russians is seen by the hawks in Washington as a thought crime (in the words of the immortal George Orwell).”
The pressure against Flynn, Kosachyov said, “is more than just paranoia, but something immeasurably worse.”
Flynn’s willingness to engage in dialogue with Moscow, Kosachyov said, “is definitely better than whatever is being pushed about Russia by [Republican Senator John] McCain and Republicans like him.”
McCain has been vocal in his warnings that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted and staunch in his public defense of Russian neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine, each of which has territory outside its control due to Russian military invasion.
Vladimir Batyuk, an expert with the Institute of the United States and Canada, described the Flynn incident as “a very serious blow to Moscow’s trust in the new [U.S.] administration.”
“When Kislyak was communicating with Flynn, he was absolutely convinced he was communicating with a representative of Trump,” Batyuk said. “Now it turns out that this was not the case.” He argued that the loss of trust “will have negative consequences for the future of the Russian-American dialogue.”
The WikiLeaks website, which has been accused of being a tool of alleged Russian efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in favor of Trump, tweeted an argument similar to that put forward by the Russian experts, saying Flynn resigned because of a “destabilization campaign by US spies, Democrats, press.”
The popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets said the key issue in Flynn’s downfall was not his conversations with Kislyak but his participation in a gala celebration of Russian state broadcaster RT’s 10th anniversary in Moscow in 2015, sitting at the same table with Putin.
“It is hard not to remember the famous words of [18th-century] French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, who said of a similar situation in his day: ‘It was worse than a crime. It was a mistake.'”
Relations between Washington and Moscow have been particularly strained since Russia’s 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its alleged active political and military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow was also irked after Washington adopted individual sanctions targeting Russian officials believed to have been involved in human rights abuses, the so-called Magnitsky List — named after whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody.
Trump campaigned on pledges to try to improve bilateral relations and work with Moscow to combat the threat from “radical Islamic terrorism.”
Robert Coalson covers Russia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe. Send story tips to coalsonr@rferl.org
Canadian PM Trudeau at White House for 1st face-to-face meeting with Trump
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., Monday. The pair are expected to discuss a range of issues including trade and jobs. Follow along in our live blog for up-to-the-minute updates.
Trump new CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to Turkey
Pompeo’s visit was decided during a 45-minute telephone conversation between Presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Tuesday, according to officials from Erdogan’s office. They briefed a group of journalists Wednesday on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.
The officials said Pompeo would also discuss the issue of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, who the Turkish government considers to be terrorists because of their affiliation with outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
It was not surprising to see Turkish pro-government newspapers stressing that Ankara had delivered a warning that the U.S. should stop its cooperation with – or at least to limit the involvement of – the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the upcoming Raqqa offensive. But amid the standard coverage of the CIA chief’s first visit to Turkey, it is worth noting that some columnists were sticking to their conspiracy-minded rhetoric ongoing since the July 2016 coup attempt, openly putting the CIA at the center of alleged support for the movement of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.
As expected, new CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s recent visit has made the headlines of the Turkish press. Pompeo is not only the head of world’s most famous spy agency, but he is also a perfect example of U.S. President Donald Trump’s favorite kind of operator.
The extradition of Gülen was possibly one of the discussion topics between Pompeo and his Turkish counterparts. In this context, one lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was quoted in the pro-government press as saying that Washington would never extradite Gülen but kill him and make it look like a suicide.
Trump CIA Pompeo honors Saudi Crown Prince for efforts against terrorism
The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo after the Crown Prince received him in Riyadh. (SPA)
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, received a medal on Friday from the CIA for his distinct intelligence-related counter-terrorism work and his contributions to ensure international peace and security.
The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo after the Crown Prince received him in Riyadh on Friday in the presence of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
The Crown Prince said in a press statement after receiving the medal that he appreciated the CIA honor, stressing that his efforts were guided by the leaders of Saudi Arabia headed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, as well as the efforts of the Kingdom’s security forces.
With regards to terrorism in the region, the Crown Prince said all religions are separate from the beliefs and actions of extremist groups, noting that religious, political and social groups who have used religion as a tool throughout history do not reflect the absolute truths about the religion which it is affiliated to, or attributes its actions to.
He said Saudi Arabia has played a key role in the fight against terrorism and condemns all forms and manifestations of terrorism. “We, God willing, continue to confront terrorism and extremism everywhere, and with thanks to God we have managed to thwart many terrorist plots from occurring,” he said.
The Crown Prince also stressed that the fight against terrorism is a shared international responsibility that requires international efforts at all levels to confront it militarily and intellectually, as well as financially. This must be done within the framework of international law and the principles of the United Nations.
With regards to the relations between Saudi Arabia and the US, the Crown Prince said: “Our relationship with the United States is historical and will continue to succeed.”
Addressing the issue of possible future attacks, the Crown Prince said: “We are surrounded by areas of conflict, and we were the first affected by terrorism from various sources, but we are equipped to combat terror in any place and under any circumstances.”
During his meeting with Pompeo, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef discussed a number of topics of common interest between the two countries and ways of enhancing them, particularly with regard to strengthening cooperation in security, especially the fight against terrorism.
The reception was attended by senior, civil and military, officials and the US Charge d’Affaires to the Kingdom Christopher Hensel.
source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/02/10/CIA-awards-Saudi-Crown-Prince-for-efforts-against-terrorism-.html
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