UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A U.N. expert panel has concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons that was seized by Israel came from Iran and represents a violation of the U.N. arms embargo on Tehran, according to a confidential report obtained by Reuters on Friday.
The finding comes just days ahead of the next round of negotiations in Vienna between Iran and six world powers aimed at securing a deal that would gradually lift international sanctions on Tehran — including the arms embargo — in exchange for curbs on the controversial Iranian nuclear program.
Despite Israel’s public statements that the seized arms were destined for Gaza — an allegation that Gaza’s governing Islamist militant group Hamas dismissed as a fabrication — the experts said the weapons were being sent to Sudan.
The experts do not speculate in the report about why the arms were being sent to Sudan, a country which Western diplomatic and intelligence sources have told Reuters has in the past been a conduit for Iranian arms shipments to other locations in Africa, as well as the Gaza Strip. (more…)
(MICHIGAN) United Nations experts said Wednesday that Detroit’s decision to cut off water to residents who haven’t paid their bills may violate international human rights.
The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights put out a press release from Geneva citing three experts in response to reports that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is cutting off water access to thousands of residents in the city.
“Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights,” said Catarina de Albuquerque, identified as an expert on the human right to water and sanitation.
“Disconnections due to non-payment are only permissible if it can be shown that the resident is able to pay but is not paying. In other words, when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections.” (more…)
We now have a pretty good understanding of who, what, where, and why surrounding the 9/11/12 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi Libya. We are also better positioned to understand why, or perhaps more importantly why not, certain actions were taken before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of the attack itself.
We know from the Bret Baier interview with Hillary Clinton that she was physically located at her 7th floor office in Washington DC on the night of the attack. Unfortunately we also know during the November 2012 Thanksgiving holiday a mysterious fire took place in that building. Well, actually directly above her exact office – cause undetermined.
A “fire” which preceded an unfortunate slip and fall for the Secretary, resulting in a concussion, which led to the discovery of a blood clot, that ultimately delayed her congressional testimony before a Senate Hearing into the events of the night in question.
We know the Libyan uprising began on February 10th of 2011, and we also know that sometime around the end of February 2011 President Obama signed a presidential directive authorizing the State Dept and CIA to begin a covert operation to arm the Libyan “rebels”.
We know the “rebels” were positioned in two strategic places. Benghazi, and the port city of Darnah, both located in Eastern Libya.
We know this covert operation came to be known as “Operation Zero Footprint“, and fell under the military command authority of NATO not (important to repeat), NOT, the U.S. Military. (more…)
WASHINGTON DC – The United States told the U.N. Security Council early Wednesday that the suspected ringleader of a deadly 2012 attack on its diplomatic compound in Benghazi was planning more terrorist attacks specifically targeting Americans.
That alone justified his capture, U.S. authorities said.
In a letter obtained by Reuters early Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, notified the council of the capture on Sunday of Ahmed Abu Khatallah by U.S. special forces in Libya after an investigation identified him as a key figure in the 2012 attack that killed four Americans. (more…)
VP/Kerry/Hagel/Holder/McDonough/Rice/Podesta/Power/Eggleston/Clapper/Brennan/Dempsey/Winnefeld/Blinken/Monaco/Rhodes/McGurk/Beecroft
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 17, 2014
• Vice President Joe Biden
• Sec. of State John Kerry
• Sec. of Defense Chuck Hagel
• Attorney General Eric Holder
• Chief of Staff Denis “fixer” McDonough
• Senior White House Foreign Policy Advisor Susan Rice
• Senior Advisor to the President John “skippy” Podesta (representing Hillary Clinton’s interests)
• UN Ambassador Samantha Power
• White House Chief Legal Counsel Neil Eggleston
• Direction of National Security James Clapper
• Director of CIA John Brennan
• Chairman of Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey
• Vice-Chair Joint Chiefs Admiral James Winnefeld
• National Security Advisor Tony Blinkin
• Asst. To the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco
• White House Communications Director Ben Rhodes
• Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq and Afghanistan, National Security Council Brett McGurk
• U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Robert Stephen Beecroft
That's the list of who was in POTUS's Iraq options meeting tonight.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 17, 2014
This video from yesterday shows the Iraqi Army being marched by ISIS out of Tikrit.
What fate awaits these Iraqi Troops?
Her accomplishments: To hear Clinton tell it, she helped rebuild the U.S. image in the world after the George W. Bush administration badly mangled it.
“The most important thing I did was to help restore America’s leadership in the world. And I think that was a very important accomplishment. We were flat on our back when I walked in there the first time.
“We were viewed as being untrustworthy, as violating our moral rules and values, as being economically hobbled. And we had to get out there and once again promote American values and pursue our interests and protect national security. Because of the eight years that preceded us — it was the economic collapse, it was two wars, it was the war on terror that led to some very unfortunate, un-American actions being taken. That was my biggest challenge. It was why the president asked me to be secretary of state.” (link)
Obviously she is totally forgetting THIS (more…)
Pres Obama offers congratulations in a phone call with Egypt's new Pres Abdelfattah al-Sisi. Conveys US commitment to work together.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 10, 2014
When Egypt held their 2011 “election” after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim brotherhood worked diligently to elect their President, Mohammed Morsi.
Upon hearing of the Brotherhood victory – President Obama promptly called Morsi.
Actually, he interrupted a vacation specifically to call Morsi on the day of his victory, offering congratulations and an immediate invitation to the White House.
But for Mohammed Morsi the actual trip to the White House would have to wait. There was another world leader he needed to meet first.
Indeed Morsi’s first official State Delegation, August 20th 2012, as the newly elected President of Egypt was to see an old friend: (more…)
One of the more comical aspects to watching Hillary Clinton say her most significant accomplishment was she “rebuilt the image of the U.S. around the world“, is the abject ridiculous nature of the proclamation. Intelligent folk will remember the 2010 State Dept WikiLeaks controversy which led to Hillary spending the better part of the following year apologizing to every head of State for the belittlement from her staff.
Then again, there’s always THIS little nugget she likes to keep tucked under the rug.
Apparently things haven’t changed much. Today Secretary John Kerry took to twitter to defend his peeps yet again.
Always proud of @statedeptspox; she deals in facts #attacksareabadgeofhonor
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) June 8, 2014
This stems from Jen Psaki being called out by the international EU community for absurd statements around Ukraine. Despite the New York Times rising to her defense, *cough* “she’s being misinterpreted” *cough*.
[Psaki] has also been criticized for using the phrase “carousel voting” to describe the alleged rigged elections in the east of Ukraine, but later admitted she did not know what the phrase meant. [Carousel voting is a term to describe the practice of bussing voters from polling station to polling station so they can vote multiple times]. Russian state TV has even coined the term “Psaking” to describe someone as stupid and incompetent, according to Buzzfeed. (link)
Doesn’t it just give you a warm and fuzzy feeling to know the visible image of U.S. foreign policy is now: (more…)