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US and North Korea on brink of war

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A US bomber flies over the Korean peninsula (Image: REUTERS)

As Trump flies supersonic B-1B bombers from threatened island of Guam,

Fresh tensions between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have raised fears of a devastating nuclear war between the US and North Korea.

The US military this morning released pictures of supersonic B-1B bombers flying from Guam after North Korea threatened to strike an American airbase on the remote Pacific island.

Two US Air Force B-1B jets took part in 10-hour mission over the Korean peninsula just hours before Kim Jong-un revealed his plans.

On Monday, Trump warned any threat to America would be met with “fire and fury”.

US Secretary of State: Trump is using ‘language Kim Jong-un will understand’

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump is sending a strong message to North Korea “in a language Kim Jong-un would understand”.

He told reporters the North Korean leader does not understand diplomatic language.

Tillerson said while he doesn’t believe North Korea poses an imminent threat, Trump wanted to deliver message that would avoid any miscalculation in Pyongyang.

“Americans should sleep well at night,” he said.

Iraq eager to get back antiquities smuggled to US

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Recovered smuggled artifacts that have been handed back by the United States are seen at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq, July 15, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani)

By Adnan Abu Zeed,

BAGHDAD — Iraq is working to recover the thousands of ancient artifacts illegally imported into the United States by Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby.

“Iraqi and US officials are in constant contact, and the smuggled artifacts are in safe hands now with the US Homeland Security and the US judiciary, which will issue a final verdict on the case,” Maysoon al-Damluji, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Committee of Culture and Information, told Al-Monitor. “Meanwhile, the Iraqi Embassy is communicating with the US State Department to retrieve the artifacts.”

Hobby Lobby was fined $3 million in July for buying some 5,500 artifacts in 2010 that had been smuggled into the United States through a dealer based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the US Justice Department. The company paid $1.6 million for the items, which were sent to three different addresses of the company in Oklahoma City. The antiquities include clay cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals and ancient clay bullae that were used to place authenticating seals on documents.

Damluji said, “The course of things is in favor of Iraq to recover its archaeological pieces. It is only a matter of the time needed for administrative and legal procedures in the United States.”

She was confident when she told Al-Monitor, “There is an atmosphere of optimism regarding positive responses from the United States to this effect, given the existent law … whereby the trade in Iraqi artifacts and antiquities is not allowed, unlike the Gulf countries, including the UAE. A UAE-based dealer was involved in the [latest] smuggling operation because the UAE is not among the list of countries acceding to the UNESCO convention on smuggling of antiquities.”

The Iraqi Embassy in London and a legal team will work with the US Justice Department, “which has the final decision on the issue of returning the stolen artifacts to their rightful owners,” Damluji said. Moreover, under a 2015 UN Security Council resolution, countries are required to return smuggled or looted antiquities to their countries of origin.

The Justice Department said the Hobby Lobby acquisition “was fraught with red flags” and Hobby Lobby even ignored the warning of an expert it had hired who said the items might have been looted from Iraq. The company never met with the dealer who claimed to own the artifacts. Rather, a different dealer had the company wire payment to the personal bank accounts of seven other people, the Justice Department said.

Iraq has a history of fighting to retrieve its stolen antiquities and has recovered 4,300 artifacts smuggled out of the country since 2014 after Islamic State (IS) militants seized control of vast areas of the country’s north, east and west.

The United States pledged a year ago to protect and restore historic sites and museums in Iraq, according to the US State Department’s top adviser on Iraqi cultural heritage, John Russell.

A source at the US Embassy in Baghdad, who asked not to be named, said that “the embassy’s instructions regarding smuggling cases are very strict.”

Even before the Hobby Lobby case, government sources revealed that the Iraqi Embassy in Washington was following up on more than 5,000 antiquities smuggled from Iraq after 2003. The Iraqi Embassy in Cairo also has sought to restore manuscripts and other items smuggled to Cairo from Iraqi monasteries and churches in Mosul. In 2016, Iraq recovered the head of the King Sanatruq I statue, which is one the significant monuments registered in the Iraqi Museum of Antiquities. The statute was stolen in 2003.

Iyad al-Shammari, rapporteur of the parliamentary Committee of Antiquities, told Al-Monitor that the Public Authority for Antiquities in Iraq has contacted UNESCO “to urge the United States to hand over [any] stolen Iraqi artifacts,” and he expressed great hope of solving the issue soon. “Iraq has been preoccupied for years in trying to retrieve antiquities smuggled outside,” he said, adding that “some of the archaeological pieces were lost and sold on the black market.”

In 2016, artifacts smuggled from Syria and Iraq were being sold on eBay. Shammari stressed that the “Iraqi Ministry of Culture addressed the US Embassy in Baghdad to start the official and necessary procedures to recover the smuggled artifacts.”

Iraq also plans investigations to obtain the names of smugglers.

Adnan Abu Zeed is an Iraqi author and journalist. He holds a degree in engineering technology from Iraq and a degree in media techniques from the Netherlands.

Breaking News: Putin, Responding to Sanctions, Orders U.S. to Cut Diplomatic Staff by 755

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President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday in St. Petersburg. Credit Olga Maltseva/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR,

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin announced on Sunday that the number of workers at American diplomatic posts in Russia would be cut by 755 by Sept. 1, escalating the tensions between Washington and Moscow.

Although the reduction had been announced on Friday, in response to the new law passed in Congress last week expanding sanctions against Russia, the president’s statement was the first to confirm the large number of embassy personnel involved.

Speaking in a television interview on the Rossiya 1 network, Mr. Putin said that Russia’s patience in waiting for improved relations with the United States had worn out.

“We waited for quite some time that maybe something will change for the better, had such hope that the situation will somehow change, but, judging by everything, if it changes, it will not be soon,” Mr. Putin said in the interview, according to Interfax news agency.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/30/world/europe/russia-sanctions-us-diplomats-expelled.html?emc=edit_na_20170730&nl=breaking-news&nlid=49769097&ref=headline

Harut Sassounian: Azerbaijan’s US lobbying firm’s list of impressive accomplishments

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Azerbaijan lobbyBy Harut Sassounian

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the four lobbying and PR firms hired by Azerbaijan in the United States. One of these companies is the Tool Shed Group.

This week, I would like to present a sample of the impressive activities organized by the Tool Shed Group on behalf of the Consulate General of Azerbaijan which is getting a great bargain by paying only $9,000 a month for all of these pro-Azeri efforts, almost none of which could have happened without the Tool Shed Group.
Most readers are unaware that American lobbying and PR firms hired by foreign entities are legally required not only to register their clients with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), but also file the detailed list of activities on their behalf.

In order to know what efforts have been made by the Tool Shed Group on behalf of the Consulate of Azerbaijan, I have checked the website of the Justice Department where the Tool Shed Group has listed by date all of their activities for Azerbaijan’s Consulate in Los Angeles.

Tool Shed’s list of activities starts on April 1, 2009, but mysteriously ends on March 31, 2011. This must surely be a violation of the Justice Department’s requirement which has to be brought into the attention of the U.S. government. Nevertheless, the two-year report provides a detailed glimpse which I have summarized below as it is a dozen pages long:

1) Outreach to Universities:
Arranged meetings for Consul General Elman Abdullayev with the following University officials: Jolene Kester, California State University, Northridge, CA; the University of New Mexico; Geoff Cowan and Adam Clayton, USC; Chapman University, Orange, CA; Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA; Larry Greenfield, Vice President of the Claremont Institute, Los Angeles, CA; Jack Lewis, Associate Dean, USC Marshall School of Business, Los Angeles, CA; Gail Lapidus, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; David Lundberg, UCLA NanoSystems Institute; University of California, Irvine; and University of Las Vegas, Nevada; Lectures by the Consul General at UCLA; San Francisco State University; San Jose State University, San Jose, CA; USC; Scripps College, Claremont, CA; University of California, Santa Barbara, CA; California State University, Fullerton, CA; Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ; University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; and Stanford University, Stanford, CA; spoke at a conference on religious pluralism at USC; and conference call with USC Center for Public Diplomacy to discuss a lecture by the Consul General.

2) U.S. Politicians:
Consul General met with Darrell Steinberg, President Pro Tem, California State Senate, Sacramento, CA; Karen Bass, Speaker, California State Assembly, Sacramento, CA; Annette Porini, Chief of Staff, State Senator Joe Simitian, Sacramento, CA; Felipe Fuentes, Assemblyman, California State Assembly, Sacramento, CA; Councilor Chris Calvert, City of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Speaker Ben Lujan, New Mexico State Legislature, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Mayor Bob Foster, Long Beach, CA; Cong. Adam Schiff, Glendale, CA; Congresswoman Diane Watson; Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchins, Santa Ana, CA; Orange County Board of Supervisors; Mike Schneider, President Pro Tem, Nevada State Senate, Las Vegas, Nevada; Mayor Oscar Goodman, City of Las Vegas, Nevada; Asked Cong. Michael McMahon (NY) to join the Azerbaijani Caucus, Los Angeles, CA; Mayor Chuck Reed, City of San Jose, CA; Meeting with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to present a gift from Azerbaijan to the Governor, Los Angeles, CA; Mayor Coss, City of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Cong. Dana Rohrabacher, Huntington Beach, CA; and City Council Member Jan Perry, Los Angeles, CA.

3) Jewish and Israeli Representatives:
Consul General of Azerbaijan met with Consul General Jacob Dayan of Israel, Los Angeles, CA; John Fishel, Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, CA; Lecture at Temple Judea, Tarzana, CA; American Jewish Committee, San Francisco, CA; and met with Rabbi Leider and Prof. Reuven Firestone regarding a lecture by the Consul General at Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles, CA.

There are dozens of other meetings that Jason Katz, the owner of Tool Shed Group, had arranged for the Consul General of Azerbaijan. I must admit that for a paltry $9,000 a month Mr. Katz is underpaid for arranging such a wide array of access for Azerbaijan in several US States, something the Consul General of Azerbaijan could have never accomplished on his own.
The Armenian-American community makes up for its lack of lobbying and PR firms by the activism of its organizations and their members. However, a professional lobbying and PR firm can add a lot to the existing successes. Unfortunately, most Armenians do not have a proper appreciation for the work of lobbying and PR firms and therefore do not believe in funding such a valuable and much-needed effort!

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

US politicians want apology for brutal attack by Turkish President Erdogan’s bodyguards

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Erdogan bodyguards attackAmericans are incensed by a brutal attack by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards on protesters even now, months later. Politicians joined the victims to express their outrage at a rally in Washington.

Two months after bodyguards in the service of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan brutally attacked anti-Erdogan demonstrators in Washington, members of the US Congress joined victims of the attack in a “Stand for Free Speech” rally at Sheridan Circle in the capital. Five bipartisan members of Congress and about 50 protestors from Kurdish, Turkish and Armenian groups met in front of the Turkish ambassador’s residence to reaffirm their right to free speech and stand up for press freedom in Turkey.

“American soil is free soil,” Republican Congressman Ted Poe told the crowd. “The idea that a foreign tyrant can come to the USA and allow his goons to beat up Americans on American soil is preposterous. The Turkish government is responsible for this action.”

Read: Opinion: Germany is finally taking a tougher stance on Erdogan’s Turkey

Lucy Usoyan, founder and president of the Ezidi Relief Fund, a non-governmental organization that advocates for refugees in Kurdish regions of Turkey and Syria, is one of several anti-Erdogan protestors who were attacked on May 16. Usoyan was knocked unconscious, but was later able to identify a New Jersey man as one of her attackers. He has been charged with a hate crime, a classification of crime that increases penalties in sentencing.

Usoyan wants President Erdogan to apologize to US citizens for what his bodyguards did. “They must be held accountable,” said Usoyan. “They have to be extradited for prosecution and sentencing.”

Democratic Congressman John Sarbanes reiterated that freedom of speech is a fundamental part of democracy. “We want to remind Erdogan that in this country, we have a constitution that allows us to speak freely without fear of being beaten up,” Sarbanes said.

Attack made Americans take notice

“Freedom is something that people are born with, and Erdogan cannot simply take it away,” Usoyan added. Usoyan suffered a concussion and was hospitalized. She said she was glad the trials of the attackers were bringing attention to what she considered the bleak conditions of human rights and free speech in Turkey. She was shocked and horrified that this violent incident had to happen on US soil for people to notice.

In June, 18 arrest warrants were issued for alleged attackers, including a dozen for Turkish bodyguards, two for Turkish-Americans and two for Turkish-Canadians. In response to the May 16 melee, the German government indicated that Erdogan’s bodyguards would not be welcome at the G20 Summit in Hamburg.

One of the accused, a Turkish-American named Sinan Narin, is currently on trial in the District of Columbia for aggravated and misdemeanor assault. On his Facebook page, Turkish social media users have praised Narin as a “hero,” and said he was “defending” President Erdogan. The Turkish embassy’s Facebook page has since been filled with one-star reviews, with many users calling for expulsion of the Turkish ambassador to the United States.

The Turkish Embassy alleged that the demonstrators were associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Protestors denied this allegation.

This incident is not the first time that Erdogan’s bodyguards have found themselves in trouble in Washington. A Brookings Institute event in 2016 that featured Erdogan also ended with Erdogan’s bodyguards beating up Brookings staff and journalists.

Turkey’s relations with the US and the European Union have been strained for some time. Last year’s failed coup, the dire situation for journalists in Turkey, and Erdogan’s recent statement vowing to “behead” traitors, leave the country facing a turning point in its relationship with democracy, and with other nations.

Germany said on Thursday it was reorienting its relationship with Turkey after a court in Istanbul ordered six human rights activists, including a German man from Berlin, detained on suspicion of supporting terrorism. Turkey will face a further test next week, when parliament will vote on whether to authorize the death penalty.

The US Is Furious Turkey Published Location Of US Troops In Syria

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A senior State Department official tells BuzzFeed News that the US has raised “strong concerns” to senior Turkish officials after a report details the location and numbers of US troops in Syria.

John Hudson, BuzzFeed News Reporter

US officials accused Turkey Wednesday of putting US troops at risk after Turkey’s state-owned news agency published the locations of 10 previously secret US military outposts in Syria.

US military officials called the publication a security breach that could endanger US troops, and State Department officials said they’d expressed those concerns to Turkish officials.

“We’ve raised our strong concerns with publication of this information with senior Turkish government officials, as we do any time we have concerns about risks to US military or civilian personnel,” one official told BuzzFeed News.

The list, published Tuesday by the Anadolu news agency, detailed not just the location of US bases in Syria, but also provided the approximate number of US troops at each location – information the US has to date refused to divulge. It also provided information about French troops posted alongside them. Turkish officials verified the accuracy of the Anadolu list to The Daily Beast.

The report said Andalou reporters spotted the bases during reporting trips to Syria. The US military said it has not yet determined the source of the information.

US officials privately interpreted the publication as an expression of Turkey’s anger over the US conduct of its war against ISIS, in particular, the US alliance with Kurdish forces that Turkey says are aligned with separatists who’ve been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

The US denies working with the separatists, saying it’s providing support only to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-created force that consists of both Kurdish and Arab fighters but that is widely acknowledged to be led by the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia the Turks say is an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or the PKK, the Turkish separatist movement. The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union, and Turkey.

The Andalou report gave little credence to US assertions about the SDF’s independence. “Despite the fact that the militants were given SDF uniforms, some of them wear uniforms with banners of Abdullah Ocalan, jailed head of PKK terrorist organization in Turkey,” the report said.

The US has deployed more than 1,000 US troops across Syria to advise, train and provide artillery and aerial support to the SDF push to capture Raqqa, ISIS’s Syrian capital. US officials stressed that they already have robust security measures in place, but the US military has cited security precautions previously in declining to release details of the US deployment.

US Central Command, which is responsible for the US operations in the Middle East, made no effort to disguise its dismay that a supposed ally would release those details.

“We are deeply concerned with any information that exposes coalition forces to unnecessary risk being in the public domain,” Centcom spokesman Army Maj. Josh Jacques told BuzzFeed News. “We generally do not disclose the locations of coalition forces operating in Syria to defeat ISIS due to operational security. We remain focused on maintaining the momentum in the continued annihilation of ISIS.”

The publication marks the latest dip in US-Turkey relations that have been troubled for years over US strategy in Syria. Tens of thousands of ISIS fighters used Turkey as a way station in their journey to Syria, amid allegations that the Turkish government was not doing all it could to stanch the flow.

Additionally, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the US government of protecting a Pennsylvania-based Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan blames for last year’s failed coup attempt. Last week, Turkey’s ambassador in Washington told reporters that his government is increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of the US proceedings against Gulen.

“It’s not moving as fast as the Turkish public opinion would like it to move,” Serdar Kılıç said. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has given no indication that it intends to press for Gulen’s extradition to Turkey.

In mid-May, the nations exchanged angry statements over Erdogan’s bodyguards’ beating of demonstrators outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington. Local prosecutors in Washington eventually charged 12 members of Erdogan’s entourage with crimes in connection with the beatings, which were captured on widely viewed video. Nine people were injured in the melee.

Erdogan was in Washington for meetings with President Donald Trump.

US Congressman Schiff, colleagues support bill banning Turkish investments

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US Congressman Schiff

US Congressman Schiff

US Congress member Adam Schiff and nine of his colleagues from California sent a letter to California State Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin De León in support of California Assembly Bill 1597, which would divest California’s public pension funds from investment vehicles that are owned, controlled, or managed by the Turkish government.

“California has acted in the past to prohibit new investments by its pension funds in sectors that are inimical to our state’s values, such as the 2015 state law mandating divestment from coal companies,” the Congress members wrote in the letter. “The narrowly drafted AB 1597 proposal is an appropriate use of that authority, blocking future investments directly owned by the Turkish Government, such as government bonds.”

“Given the recent assault on peaceful protestors in Washington, D.C. by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s personal security forces, as well as Turkey’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide, divestment by California is an appropriate response,” the Congress members also wrote.

 

Washington, Secretive Global elites “Bilderberg” group gathers in US

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Secretive Bilderberg group gathers in USGlobal elites have gathered outside Washington, DC, to discuss Trump, transatlantic relations, globalization and the EU. The secretive Bilderberg meetings have spawned conspiracy theories.

Elite bankers, politicians, business leaders, academics and journalists huddle behind closed doors for meetings in Chantilly, Virginia, on Thursday to debate a range of global issues.

The four-day Bilderberg meeting this year gathers 131 elites from 21 countries for discussion, according to a statement from the group.

The group – two thirds from Europe and the rest from North America – have convened every year since 1954 to discuss major issues facing the world.

Key topics for this year’s meeting include a “progress report” on the Trump administration, transatlantic relations, Russia, the Middle East, China and the future of the EU, among other issues.

Discussions are designed to be private, according to the group, in order to allow a free sharing of ideas.  Some top media representatives attend, but are not allowed to report.

“As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights. There is no desired outcome, no minutes are taken and no report is written. Furthermore, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued,” according to a statement.

Joining this year’s group are several officials from the Trump administration, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and the hawkish Republican Senator Tom Cotton are also attending

Invitees also include sharp critics of Trump, including Eric Schmidt, executive director of Google’s parent company.

Nine people from Germany are attending from business, media and finance. They include the chairman of Bayer, Werner Baumann; the CEO of media giant Axel Springer, Mathias Döpfner; Airbus CEO Thomas Enders; and Deutsche Borse CEO Carsten Kengeter.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, former CIA head John Brennan and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger are among the other high-profile names attending.

As usual, anti-globalization protesters are expected to descend outside the venue. The secretive nature of the group has spawned a trove of conspiracy theories.

 

US representatives spearhead bipartisan Genocide prevention resolution

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US Representatives David Trott (R-MI) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Wednesday joined with their Congressional Armenian Caucus colleagues in introducing a bipartisan anti-genocide resolution calling on the United States to apply the lessons of the Armenian Genocide in seeking to prevent modern day atrocities across the Middle East, Asbarez reports, citing the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

This genocide prevention measure stresses that “proper commemoration and consistent condemnation of the Armenian Genocide will strengthen our international standing in preventing modern day genocides,” and, building upon the 2016 official U.S. designation of an ISIS genocide against Middle East minorities, specifically calls for the following: “[T]he United States, in seeking to prevent war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against Christians, Yezidis, Muslims, Kurds, and other vulnerable religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East, should draw upon relevant lessons of the United States Government, civil society, and humanitarian response to the Armenian Genocide, Seyfo, and the broader genocidal campaign by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Greeks, Pontians and other Christians upon their biblical era homelands.”
“We thank Congressmen Trott and Schiff, their colleagues in the leadership of the Armenian Caucus, and all the original cosponsors of this resolution – including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Engel – for their commitment to ensuring that the lessons of the US response to the Armenian Genocide are applied to help prevent modern-day atrocities taking place across the Middle East,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We look forward, in the coming days and weeks, to working with Members of Congress and all our coalition partners to see this genocide-prevention measure adopted by the U.S. House.”

In a letter inviting their House colleagues to co-sponsor this legislation, Reps. Trott and Schiff underscored that: “It is time for the United States government to officially take a stand for the truth, and against genocide denial.”
Joining Representatives Trott and Schiff as original cosponsors of the Genocide Prevention Resolution are House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Jackie Speier (D-CA), and David Valadao (R-CA) and Vice-Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), as well as, Representatives Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), James McGovern (D-MA), and John Sarbanes (D-MD).

The launch of this legislation takes place on the same day as the special Capitol Hill viewing of “The Promise,” the Armenian Genocide-era epic, starring Oscar-winner Christian Bale and directed by Oscar-winner Terry George.  Parallel to this legislative initiative, the Armenian Caucus is collecting Congressional signatures on a letter urging President Trump to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide, as a genocide, this April 24th.
In 2016, the House of Representatives and the Senate both passed legislation concluding that the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Secretary Kerry subsequently stated that ISIS was “responsible for genocide against Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.”

U.S. to build biggest $600m worth consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan: FM

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HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— In a sign of long-term commitment to its already thriving diplomatic mission in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, the US will soon lay the groundwork for its biggest consulate complex, Erbil, reiterating the strategic importance of the region for Washington.

The new US consulate building will cost $600 million, and will be built on 200,000 square meters on Erbil-Shaqlawa Road. The Erbil complex will be constructed by four American and some local companies and will finish in four years. The building will be bigger than the US’s second biggest embassy building which is in Yerevan, Armenia.

“We signed the project for the US Consulate General building in Erbil when Matthias Mitman was the Consul,” Falah Mustafa, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Foreign Relations Office, said. “The US relations with the Kurdistan Region are not new. The US has had a significant role in the making of today’s Kurdistan since 1991.”

The US initially opened a diplomatic office in Erbil in February 2007, which it later upgraded to a consulate general in 2011. US President Barack Obama declared in his first speech on the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) that Erbil was a “red line” for Washington. This show of support was decisive in preventing the ISIS from reaching the Kurdish capital.

The US consulate general building in Erbil is second only to the US Embassy’s building in Baghdad which is built on 420,000 square-meters. The US embassy in Baghdad was built in 2009 and is its biggest mission compound in the world which cost the country $750 million, a complex the size of the Vatican.

“The US moved forward to repel the ISIS attacks and showed its commitment to protect the Kurdistan Region when Erbil was under ISIS threat in 2014,” Mustafa added.

The US looked at the Kurdistan Region differently prior to the emergence of the ISIS threat. Mustafa expressed he believed this positive support from the US to Erbil will continue.

“Erbil is now a red line for the US because they believe in the future of Kurdistan. Relations between the Kurds and the US were not forged overnight,” Mustafa said.

The US has had a diplomatic and military presence in Erbil. Washington set up a military base in Kurdistan following the emergence of the ISIS threat.

“The US military base will remain here as long as the threat of terror remains and this threat will not vanish in a matter of days,” Mustafa explained.

There are currently 30 consulates, six honorary consulates, and six foreign trade offices in Erbil. The latest to open in Kurdistan was the Japanese consulate on Jan. 11.

The existence of the various different diplomatic missions in Erbil has upset neighboring Iran. A commander from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently expressed his concerns about the increasing number of foreign representations in the Kurdistan Region, claiming that they were aimed at destabilizing the security of Iran.

“Opening more than 30 consulates is not normal,” Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Rajabi criticized. Most of these consulates are used for espionage activities.”

“We hope that states do not take the problems or struggles they might have to the Kurdistan Region,” Mustafa said in response to the IRGC commander. “We find it strange for a neighboring country to meddle in our affairs and set paths for us. We respect relations with our neighbors. We hope for mutual relations and understanding with our neighbors.

“We are not a threat to any country. Our past shows this. We are open in doing politics and will not become part of any regional or international struggle.”

The United States’ biggest consulate building in the world is currently in the city of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. It is a four-story building that had a construction cost of $66 million. The mission was opened in 2008 and has 300 employees.