Today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson highlighted events over the past six months.  T-Rex takes another stroll around the globe discussing regional policy, specific state policy, and ongoing challenges.  Secretary Tillerson then takes questions from the media at the conclusion of his remarks.
Very informative. Very well worth watching (T-Rex Begins at 03:40):

Reports surface today that President Trump has cancelled the 2012/2013 covert CIA program giving weapons to ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria.  [Washington Post Link]

Various news organizations frame the issue as cancelling the program to “arm the moderate opposition to Bashir Assad”.  However, those news reports are entirely false.

We know the Obama administration was arming ISIS as part of the larger Syria strategy because Secretary of State John Kerry went on record admitting the Obama Syrian strategy was actually to arm ISIS and extremist Islamic groups (al-Nusra) against Assad.
We also know Secretary Kerry was being truthful in that media-hidden, albeit recorded, admission because CTH specifically tracked and investigated the CIA weapons shipments as an accidential outcome of the finalized Benghazi Briefing material in 2013/2014.
The Washington Post might be claiming today that President Trump is discontinuing a covert CIA plan that armed “moderates”.  But we know, if Trump is actually canceling this program, the actual recipients of the covert weapons plan were ISIS, al-Qaeda and al-Nusra in Syria – By their own damned admissions.
There simply is no doubt of that truth.   The Washington Post is lying, and despite their earnest efforts we can actually prove their framework is a substantive and factual falsehood.    Here’s some of the proof, including Kerry’s recorded admission:
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Good grief these insufferable beltway pundits are stuck echo-chambering their cocktail party conversations on ‘muh Russia’, and just can’t put it down to even begin to discuss more important issues du jour. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley proposed an emergency set of U.N. security council resolutions last week to deal with the North Korean aggression, but John Dickerson wants to discuss ‘Muh Russia’.
Seriously, this continual Russian drum-beating is the absolute personification of how media has detached itself from any semblance of normalcy, and presents themselves as factually incapable of advancing any discussion beyond that espoused by their own tribe of like-minded media associates.  It took more than half the interview to get to the important stuff.   Sheeesh…
Eventually, Dickerson gets to an issue that matters with China enabling North Korea, and that part is the only part that provides value.

Exactly as predicted.  President Trump is aboard AF1 headed to the EU.  After discussions with the President this morning, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley delivers prepared remarks  at the United Nations on the topic of North Korea’s continued military escalation.

Her full remarks are below.   Note she discusses speaking with President Trump this morning about trade with China.  Specifically note her comments about trade:

[02:59] “We have other methods of addressing those who threaten us, and of addressing those who supply the threats; we have great capabilities in the area of trade.  President Trump has spoken repeatedly about this, I spoke with him at length about it this morning.”

“There are countries that are allowing, even encouraging, trade with North Korea, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.  Such countries would also like to continue their trade arrangements with the United States, that’s not gonna happen.  Our attitude on trade changes when countries do not take international security threats seriously.”

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The U.S. State Department has released it’s 2017 ‘Trafficking in Persons Report” (TIP report), as annually mandated by U.S. law.   Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Senior Counselor to the President Ivanka Trump discuss the ongoing initiatives to combat human smuggling, sex trafficking and modern slavery.

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You can read the full Trafficking in Persons Report HERE.

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There is a long-worded Washington Post story gaining lots of attention as the definitive article outlining the ‘vast Russian election conspiracy‘.  However, anyone who walks in the deep weeds of DC propaganda constructs will immediately note the Ben Rhodes styled fingerprints of obfuscation and disingenuous nonsense.

The article is transparently presented for several aligned purposes; all of them political, including the intensely political objectives of John Brennan and James Clapper, and all of them transparently spreading the truth-sauce way too thin.

As a deep weeds walker myself, and having inoculated against the nonsensical -albeit fashionable to believe- infection, here’s my take. [All emphasis mine]

(WaPo) Early last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried “eyes only” instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides.

Ah yes, the “just four people” dispatch from CIA Director John Brennan.  The small circle makes fiction much more difficult to disprove, and simultaneously stops the larger circle from refuting the entirety of the inherent false and political claims.  See how that works?

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Men of consequence – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis hold a joint statement and press availability to discuss ongoing constructive discussions with China and the current efforts to deal with an increasingly unstable North Korea.

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

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Ten days ago the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Mali warned every American to avoid any travel to Mali and specifically to avoid any resort, hotel or venue without high security: “Avoid vulnerable locations with poor security measures in place, including hotels, restaurants, and churches.”

The U.S. State Department specifically warned of al-Qaeda (AQIM) attacks and kidnapping: “In the border regions shared by Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, extremist groups and linked criminal networks have targeted Westerners for kidnapping.”

Today, a holiday resort in Mali popular with Western tourists has been stormed by gunmen, with hostages taken.

(Via Daily Mail) […] Shots were heard by local residents near Le Campement Kangaba, to the eastern edge of the Malian capital Bamako, with plumes of smoke also seen billowing into the air.

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Jordan’s King Abdullah III becomes the latest Arab leader to denounce Qatar and join the growing diplomatic boycott of the Islamic extremist sympathizers.

Jordan will downgrade its diplomatic representation with Qatar, it said on Tuesday, standing with several Arab powers that have cut ties with the tiny Gulf state.

The decision was made after Amman examined the “cause of the crisis” between Doha and the other Arab states, government spokesman Mohammed al Momani said.

He added that Jordan also revoked the TV license for Al Jazeera, Qatar’s influential state-owned satellite channel.  (link)

What we are seeing unfold is a seismic shift in Arab sentiment away from the extremist Muslim Brotherhood.  This action is 100% the result of months of careful diplomacy between the Trump Administration and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council in a modern coalition to confront political Islam and the extremist messaging that results in terrorism.

The U.S. and Western Media never reported on the frequency of high diplomatic engagement by President Trump in the lead-up to his historic visit to Saudi Arabia.  It is specifically because of this willfully blind and intentional void in prior diplomatic understanding that most media are missing how this approach was constructed.

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Showcasing a unique aspect of the President Trump common sense approach toward coalition building, today the United Nations security council voted unanimously, in public, to increase sanctions against North Korea.   Yes, ‘unanimously’.

China and Russia voted in alliance with the permanent security council members the U.S., France and the United Kingdom to support increased sanctions.  They voted in alignment publicly.  Don’t look for the anti-Trump media to make note of this critical point.

(Via Reuters) […] Adding names to the U.N. blacklist – a global travel ban and asset freeze – was the minimum sanctions measures the Security Council could have taken and comes after five weeks of negotiations between Washington and Beijing.

“The Security Council is sending a clear message to North Korea today – stop firing ballistic missiles or face the consequences,” Haley said.

The resolution, adopted unanimously by the 15-member council, sanctions four entities, including the Koryo Bank and Strategic Rocket Force of the Korean People’s Army, and 14 people, including the head of Pyongyang’s overseas spying operations.

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