Design for Taller Fence Around White House OK'dby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
A planning agency has approved the design of a taller, stronger fence around the White House. The Secret Service says Thursday's approval by the National Capital Planning Commission means the agency can move forward with contracting to build the new fence. The changes were proposed after a series of people managed to scale the current 7-foot-tall barrier. In the most serious security breach, a man got over the fence in 2014 and ran deep inside the White House while carrying a folding knife before he was caught. No one was injured. The new metal fence will be 11 feet, 7 inches tall, and the Secret Service says it will have "anti-climb and intrusion detection technology." The agency has not disclosed its cost. Construction is expected to begin next year.
Chicago Tribune |
Monee shooting kills 1, injures 1 — and suspect is found dead, police say
Chicago Tribune A 40-year-old Monee man fatally shot his wife and wounded their teenage daughter Wednesday night at their Monee home before he later was found dead about a mile away with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Monee police said. and more » |
police officers shootings - Google News
Крым является частью Украины, и антироссийские санкции будут сохранятся до тех пор, пока Россия не вернет контроль над полуостровом киевским властям. Об этом заявила постоянный представитель США при ООН Никки Хейли, выступая на заседании СБ ООН по Украине.
ВЕСТИ
ВЕСТИ
John Davenport Professor teaching Political Philosophy, Global Justice, Ethics and Moral Psychology
John Davenport is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University in New York City (Ph.D. Notre Dame, 1998; B.A. Yale, 1989). He teaches and writes on ethics and political philosophy (including human rights, democratic theory and global governance), moral psychology and agency, existentialism, and philosophy of religion. He regularly teaches courses on rights and global justice, environmental problems, and property and social justice. His recent articles include • Two Moral Grounds for the Wide Distribution of Capital Goods,” Quaestiones Disputatae 8 no.2 (2017) • “In Defense of the Responsibility to Protect: A Response to Weissman,” in Criminal Justice Ethics 35.2 (2015) • "Just War, Human Rights, and A Federation of Democracies" (Journal of Religious Ethics, 2011), • "For a Federation of Democracies: A Response to Stephen Schlesinger,” Ethics and International Affairs 23 no.1 (Spring 2009), Online Roundtable supplement: <a href="http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/journal/23_1/roundtable/006" rel="nofollow">http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/journal/23_1/roundtable/006</a> • “A Global Federalist Paper” (Journal of Value Inquiry 42, 2008), and books and essays on free will, norms, existential thought, and personal autonomy. He is working on a book about global governance, and another book on the errors in arguments for political libertarianism (neo-conservativism). Davenport has a webpage on the need for a constitutional convention to fix deep structural problems with our federal government: see <a href="http://faculty.fordham.edu/davenport/convention.html" rel="nofollow">http://faculty.fordham.edu/davenport/convention.html</a> He has published several editorials on Assad’s mass atrocities in Syria, and also maintains a webpage on the History of the Syrian Civil War with political commentary: see <a href="http://faculty.fordham.edu/davenport/Syria/Syria-History.html" rel="nofollow">http://faculty.fordham.edu/davenport/Syria/Syria-History.html</a> His books include a recent monograph on self and autonomy titled Narrative Identity, Autonomy, and Mortality (Routledge 2012), a monograph on motivation and goals titled *Will as Commitment and Resolve*, and a collection of essays on choice and virtue titled *Kierkegaard After MacIntyre* (co-edited with Anthony Rudd).
Introduction
At five in the morning on Thursday, February 27th, 2014, unidentified gunmen stormed the Supreme Council of Crimea in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine’s semi-autonomous Crimea region. A local pro-Russian activist camped outside the Supreme Council told journalists that the gunmen “didn't look like volunteers or amateurs, they were professionals. This was clearly a well-organized operation . . . Who are they? Nobody knows. It’s about 50-60 people, fully armed.” The unknown gunmen took down the Ukrainian flag that flew over the Supreme Council and raised a Russian flag in its place. All across the Crimean peninsula, taking advantage of the early morning light, dozens of teams of unidentified, heavily armed soldiers seized key government, military, and infrastructure sites, raised Russian flags, and rebuffed all questioners. Soon, the world had a name for these uniformed but unidentified soldiers who had materialized to take control of Crimea in just a matter of hours: “little green men.”
They didn’t come from Mars but from Russia, on the direct order of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Analysts who have observed Putin’s decade-long pattern of aggressive interference in Ukraine quickly recognized his hand in Crimea’s seizure. The rapid and violent escalation of Russian military and political involvement in Ukraine opened a new chapter in Putin’s bloody project to reestablish Russia as a regional and global power.
Soon, it became clear to the world that the little green men were Russian Spetsnaz forces, and Putin himself would eventually admit as much. Putin moved quickly to consolidate control of Crimea and annex it to Russia. Within a month, Crimea had switched its clocks to Moscow time. Putin’s illegal invasion and annexation of Crimea would be followed by Russian sponsorship of a violent separatist movement in Eastern Ukraine. As of this writing, Russian-backed separatists continue to do battle with the Ukrainian military in and around Donetsk and Lugansk, costing thousands of lives and threatening to plunge Ukraine into political, economic, and social catastrophe.
While Putin’s forces were still establishing control of Crimea, before most media or politicians had fully acknowledged or grasped the seriousness of Russia’s speedy land grab, Poland’s then-Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, warned prophetically that “this is how regional conflicts begin. This is a very dangerous game.”
Sikorski is right. By invading Ukraine, Putin has plunged Europe into a perilous state of conflict and turmoil not witnessed since the darkest days of the Cold War. Since seizing Crimea and starting the war in eastern Ukraine, Russia has conducted cross-border raids into the Baltic States, ordered its fighters to buzz U.S. Navy ships, and sent nuclear-capable bombers into the airspace of neighboring countries. Indeed, Putin has become so aggressive that he risks pushing Russia into a full-blown nuclear confrontation with NATO. During the Cold War, the world was lucky to avoid nuclear war between America and the Soviet Union. We may need to be that fortunate again.
Putin’s ambitions are not limited to the territory of the former Soviet Union, though he has begun to question whether former Soviet states are even legally independent of Russia. Putin has targeted countries like Bulgaria and Slovakia for expanded Russian influence as well. Never one to miss an opportunity, Putin has taken advantage of the long-running feud between Greece and its European creditors to position Russia as an alternative ally and potential financial savior for the beleaguered, bitter Greeks. Putin’s vision extends beyond Europe, too: he has provided arms to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and nuclear technology to Iran’s ayatollahs, and he has cut trade deals with North Korea’s lunatic Kim dynasty.
To some, Putin may seem like an unpredictable madman, obsessed with power, violence, and conquest, who lashes out at neighboring countries impulsively and spasmodically. But we believe the truth to be more complicated than that, though also more sinister: Putin is a calculating master of geopolitics with a master plan to divide Europe, destroy NATO, reestablish Russian influence in the world, and most of all marginalize the United States and the West in order to achieve regional hegemony and global power. And his plan is working.
While many observers are now waking up to Putin’s single-minded hostility in Europe and the threat he poses to a free and prosperous world, no one has yet documented and analyzed Putin’s far-reaching plan, why it is so dangerous, and why the United States and its allies must take decisive steps to roll back this agenda. Putin still has defenders in Europe and America, some of whom are bought and paid for by Kremlin petrodollars but others who simply don’t believe that Putin is an existential threat to the West. In this book, we intend to make it clear to any observer just how pernicious Putin’s plan is, and why he must be stopped.
To their everlasting discredit, American and European leaders have failed to respond adequately or forcefully to the threat Putin poses. They propose weak half-measures—like storing American tanks in Polish warehouses —while Putin builds more nuclear missiles and opens military bases on conquered Ukrainian territory. Western politicians, particularly in Europe, have submitted to Putin and chosen to ignore the threat he poses. But the warning signs are readily apparent. No less an authority than former U.S. national security advisor and grizzled Cold Warrior Zbigniew Brzezinski says flatly that “we are already in a Cold War” with Russia. Yet our politicians equivocate and explain away Russia’s blatant pattern of internationally destabilizing military aggression.
Until now, Putin’s unified strategy and vision for Europe has not been thoroughly discussed or articulated in any meaningful way. This book is the first comprehensive attempt to explain systematically Putin’s global strategy, which could inevitably and inexorably lead to the breakup of the NATO alliance and potentially to war with the West. The West has no strategy, no plan, and no tactics to confront Putin’s offensive other than limited economic sanctions and token gestures.
We are neither alarmists nor alone in our concern over Putin’s aggression and the damage he has done to Europe’s future. Thomas Friedman, remarking on how quickly the situation in Europe has deteriorated, asks rhetorically, “Did someone restart the Cold War while I was looking the other way?” The Economist goes further: “Nearly a quarter-century after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West faces a greater threat from the East than at any point during the cold war.” Edward Lucas provides a chilling laundry list of Putin’s most egregious behavior: “The Kremlin provokes and intimidates its neighbors with aggressive espionage, corruption of political elites, propaganda onslaughts, cyberattacks, economic sanctions, coercive energy policies, surprise military exercises, and violations of airspace, territorial waters and even national borders.”
There is no shortage of evidence that Russia poses a clear and imminent threat to the West and the world. To be sure, the Poles and Lithuanians understand it, which is why they’re urging America to station heavy military equipment on their territory, along with Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Romania. But we can and should do much more. It can’t be reassuring that Yevgeny Lukyanov, deputy secretary to the Russian Security Council, recently made clear that if the Baltic States voluntarily host NATO missile defense sites, “they become our targets.” No warehoused battle tank or unused artillery piece will deter a Russian strike on these countries. Only real consequences for Russia, a more robust American presence in Eastern Europe, and clear-headed, decisive Western leadership can halt Russian aggression.
Unfortunately, Western leaders haven’t gotten the message. The European Union has shown no spine, failing to stand by its Eastern neighbors or take on Putin. America has done no better. Walter Russell Mead is right when he observes that “the Obama administration failed to understand just how important Europe is to the United States, and it has never appreciated how important the United States is to Europe . . . not since the 1930s has America been this absent when its vital interests were this critically engaged.” Whether by intent, ignorance, or incompetence, Western leaders have simply failed to understand or address the storm clouds gathering over Europe. Scholar Stephen Blank has correctly diagnosed “a continuing Western and U.S. failure of nerve” when it comes to recognizing, confronting, and defeating Putin’s master plan.
The Plan
By fracturing the transatlantic relationship between America and its European allies, undermining or even destroying the NATO alliance, dividing the European Union, and establishing Russian hegemony in Europe both within and beyond the former borders of the Soviet Union, Putin seeks to usher in a multipolar world order—one in which America will be unable to defend or promote, either rhetorically, diplomatically, or militarily, our core Western values of human rights, liberal democracy, and free markets. Putin and his network of loyalists will establish absolute power within Russia and continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the Russian people and the economies of neighboring countries. Russia will continue to collaborate with the worst authoritarians and tyrants, from Iranian theocrats to Chinese bureaucrats to Latin American autocrats. The global expansion of rights and commerce that followed the end of World War II and the Cold War will cease and begin to reverse. America and the West, cowed into isolationism, will give up the global fight for a freer world.
Russia’s neighbors, especially Ukraine and Georgia, have been living with the reality of Putin’s master plan since at least 2008. The countries of the former Soviet Union, militarily weak and economically vulnerable, have been easy targets as well. But Putin has set his sights on larger prizes. NATO itself is under threat. The EU is growing more wobbly by the day. Western values are under constant assault by the Kremlin’s “weaponized propaganda.” Russian submarines slip into Swedish waters as easily as Russian hackers crack into President Obama’s email. It is vitally important to connect the dots and recognize the narrative that makes Putin’s pattern of outrages and provocations a carefully crafted plan, and not just repetitiously bad behavior.
A thorough accounting of Russian aggression illustrates how dangerous Putin’s regime has become. Russia has purposefully provoked a series of wars and crises in neighboring countries, including Georgia, Ukraine, the Baltics, and Moldova. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, in the midst of the Beijing Olympics, with Putin violently peeling off the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, issuing Russian passports to their residents, and beginning a soft annexation of Georgian territory into the Russian Federation. In 2014, as noted above, thinly disguised Russian forces seized Crimea and began an ongoing war against the Ukrainian government in the eastern Donbas region, where the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics continue to fight and kill Ukrainians with Russian arms and assistance. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania suffer frequent interference in the form of massive cyberattacks, airspace violations, and even the 2014 cross-border abduction of an Estonian Internal Security Service official. In Moldova, more than 1,000 Russian combat troops prop up the tiny separatist state of Transnistria, which is unrecognized by any member of the United Nations. This arrangement has not benefited Moldovans or the residents of Transnistria, who must live under effective Russian occupation.
Now Western and Central Europe are learning just how expansive Putin’s plan might be, as he fans the flames of Euroskepticism and backs radical far-left and far-right parties that have become “Putin’s fifth column in the EU.” These parties include the National Front (France) and the Northern League (Italy) to the National Democratic Party (Germany) and Jobbik (Hungary), [and] Hungarian Jobbik. “Pro-Russian parties currently hold 76 of 751 seats in the European Parliament,” according to a report in the Ukraine magazine Novoye Vremya. A senior Western diplomat frankly admitted that “The Russians are looking for ways to break the unity of Europe, and they are targeting the weaker states.” Just as worrisome as Putin’s growing political influence is that Europe’s economy has proven unable to free itself from its addiction to Russian oil and gas. Indeed, Europe has inadvertently bankrolled much of Russia’s military expansion and rearmament. Separatist bullets and artillery shells in Ukraine are paid
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Trump's Bizarre Assault On NATO Is Highly Suspicious
Huffington Post Our national leaders should also consult Douglas Schoen's well-documented work, Putin's Master Plan: to Destroy Europe [i.e. the EU], Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power andInfluence (Encounter Books, 2016). ... Eastern Europe; and by keeping Assad ... |
Russia influence in Eastern Europe - Google News
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is testing President Donald Trump with a surge of violence in eastern Ukraine and the U.S. president should give Ukraine the lethal aid it needs to defend against the attacks, Senator John McCain said in a letter to Trump on Thursday.
The White House appointed a career intelligence officer Thursday to be deputy director of the CIA, assuaging concerns that a second outsider would be brought into the agency as part of a housecleaning.
Gina Haspel, a 31-year veteran of the agency with extensive overseas experience, will serve as the deputy to CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who left his congressional seat to lead the agency, the White House said. She will be the first career female officer appointed to the position.
Retired intelligence chiefs praised the choice of Haspel, a former chief of staff and deputy director of the clandestine service, the undercover arm of the spy agency.
Haspel is “a wonderful choice” who will guide Pompeo through the “sometimes opaque corridors of American espionage,” said Michael Hayden, a former Air Force general who headed the agency from 2006 until 2009 under a Republican White House.
A CIA chief under a Democratically held White House, Michael Morell, who was deputy or acting director on several occasions from 2011 to 2013, called Haspel “simply exceptional” and someone who “appreciates the work of all CIA officers – analysts, scientists and support specialists – as much as she appreciates operations officers.”
Morale at the agency took a beating during the presidential campaign, and following President Donald Trump’s election. Trump repeatedly accused intelligence directors of leaking to the media allegations of Russian influence in his campaign, declaring the allegations “fake news” and referring to “intelligence” always in quotes.
Seasoned spymaster Gina Haspel named deputy CIA director
Fox News-2 hours ago
CIA Director Mike Pompeo announced Thursday that he has selected Gina Haspel as deputy director, noting her more than 30 years at the ...
Gina Haspel is an American intelligence officer. She joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1985.[1] In February 2017, she was selected as Deputy Director of the CIA by President Trump.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Gina Haspel Selected to be Deputy Director of CIA". Central Intelligence Agency. February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The new deputy director of the CIA is a career spymaster who once ran a CIA prison in Thailand where terror suspects were waterboarded - a harsh interrogation technique President Donald Trump has supported....
В этом году Фил порадовал любителей холодов
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/groundhog-day/3703941.html
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/groundhog-day/3703941.html
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is expected to impose sanctions on multiple Iranian entities as early as Friday following Tehran's recent ballistic missile test, but in a way that will not violate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Cold-calling criminals are getting increasingly creative.
By Jane Wardell and Roberta Rampton| SYDNEY/WASHINGTON
SYDNEY/WASHINGTON U.S. ties with staunch ally Australia became strained on Thursday after details about an acrimonious phone call between its leaders emerged and U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal between the two nations on refugee resettlement was "dumb."
During a 25-minute phone call last Saturday with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Trump accused Australia of trying to export the "next Boston bombers" under the agreement, the Washington Post reported.
The Post, which cited unidentified senior U.S. officials, said that Trump abruptly ended the call and told Turnbull that it was the "worst call by far" he'd had with a foreign leader.
The description of the call and a subsequent tweet from Trump promising to study what he called a "dumb deal" caused concern among lawmakers from Republican and Democratic parties.
"We always have reason to be concerned with respect to anytime our relationship with an ally might go sour. My hope is that it won't," Republican Senator Mike Lee told CNN.
"My hope is that we can achieve whatever objectives the president's willing to pursue in a way that won't damage the trade relationship or won't damage other aspects of our relationship," Lee said.
Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives, urged Trump to apologize, while Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he called Australia's U.S. ambassador to express his support.
During former President Barack Obama's administration, the United States agreed to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held in offshore processing camps on Pacific islands in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. In return, Australia would resettle refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The rift between Washington and Canberra that has developed over the resettlement deal could have serious repercussions. Australia and the United States are among five nations that make up the Five Eyes group, the world's leading intelligence-sharing network.
Later on Thursday, Trump told reporters at the White House he would "respect" the refugee agreement with Australia.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
But Trump made it clear he was not pleased, saying it was an example of countries taking advantage of the United States.
"Why are we doing this, what's the purpose? So, we'll see what happens," Trump said.
REFUGEES AT ISSUE
The call between Trump and Turnbull came at the end of a day of widespread protests and confusion over Trump's order for a 120-day halt of the U.S. refugee program and a 90-day suspension on visits from people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Many of the people being held in the Australian detention centers, which have drawn harsh criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups, fled violence in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump was "unbelievably disappointed" and "extremely, extremely upset" with the deal, but said it would go ahead.
Spicer said all refugees presented to the United States would be subject to "extreme vetting" to ensure they do not pose security risks.
Turnbull told reporters he was surprised and disappointed that details of the call with Trump had been leaked but gave few particulars other than to deny reports Trump had hung up on him.
"As far as the call is concerned, the report that the president hung up is not correct. The call ended courteously. And as far as the nature of the discussion, it was very frank and forthright," he told a Sydney radio station on Thursday.
UNPRECEDENTED ACRIMONY
Political analysts said the acrimony between the two countries was unprecedented, surpassing even the difficult relations between former U.S. President Richard Nixon and then-Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who withdrew the country's troops during the Vietnam War.
"Even that was always done in the language of foreign policy niceties," said Harry Phillips, a political analyst of 40 years experience at Edith Cowan and Curtin universities in Perth.
Australia, New Zealand and the United States have been allies under a formal security treaty since 1951. They co-operate on military matters in the Pacific region, although today the treaty is taken to relate to conflicts worldwide.
The United States plans to send extra military aircraft to Australia's tropical north this year as part of a U.S. Marines deployment that will bolster its military presence close to the disputed South China Sea.
Australia is also one of 10 U.S. allies purchasing Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet program.
(Additional reporting by Eric Walsh, Susan Heavey and Ayesha Rascoe in Washington and Colin Packham in Sydney; Writing by Jane Wardell and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Paul Tait, Jeffrey Benkoe and Grant McCool)
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Four people were initially taken hostage on Wednesday.
After US president puts Tehran ‘on notice,’ Iranian general says ‘missiles, warships and defense missile launchers growing every day’
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German lender posts big operational loss in fourth quarter sending shares lower
Trump puts Iran 'on notice' after ballistic missile testby By VIVIAN SALAMA and JOSH LEDERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Thursday his administration has put Iran "on notice," echoing comments from his top national security adviser that the U.S. will act against Iran unless it stops testing ballistic missiles and supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen....
US eases sanctions on Russian intelligence agency
Reuters Russian intelligence agency FSB put in place by former President Barack Obama last year over accusations that Moscow launched cyber attacks to try to influence the U.S. presidential election. The Treasury Department said in a statement it would allow U ... |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday eased sanctions on
Служба безопасности Украины проводит следственные действия с задержанным в Авдеевке корректировщиком огня террористов.
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 The Hill (blog) |
What keeps Putin awake at night?
The Hill (blog) -Alexander Pushkin, The Captain's Daughter. Russian President Vladimir Putin presents himself as the champion of the Russian people worldwide, the embodiment of Russian nationalism, but this is a fraud. The nationalists believed his claims that he ... |
По его словам, страна агрессор, которая является постоянным членом СБ, должна еще раз почувствовать солидарность мира с Украиной
В Черновцах утром "на горячем" были пойманы 2 мужчин, пытавшихся ограбить банкомат. Полиция установила их причастность к другим подобным преступлениям
Председатель сенатского комитета призвал президента США осуществить полномочия, предоставленные ему американским законодательством
Аренда украинского нападающего из "Бетиса" в "Райо Вальекано" завершилась большим скандалом
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Donald Trump named Stephen K. “Steve” Bannon to be his presidential “chief strategist”, and top White House adviser on Sunday. Trump hired his longtime friend to run his campaign in August, and the millionaire executive chairman of Breitbart News Network turned the Trump campaign around and guided the former reality TV star to the White House.
Bannon’s ruthless and uncompromising style is reflected in Breitbart, an ultra-conservative online media group which has been called “the go-to destination for conservatives who consider Drudge and Fox News a little too restrained and statesmanlike.”
So who is Steve Bannon, and what would he bring to the Trump campaign? Below is a CNN video in which former Breitbart News reporter Ben Shapiro discusses his former boss, whom Shapiro has called “a vindictive, nasty figure, infamous for verbally abusing supposed friends and threatening enemies,” and “a smarter version of Trump,”
Below the video are five facts that voters should know about the man with Donald Trump’s ear in the White House.
Steve Bannon Is A Former Goldman Sachs Investment Banker
Though his unkempt and bare-knuckles style might not suggest it, Steve Bannon began his career as part of the Wall Street establishment, as a banker at the firm whose name became synonymous with the financial industry corruption and arrogance that led to the 2008 crash — though Bannon left the firm in 1990 to start his own smaller Wall Street firm.
While at Goldman Sachs during the 1980s, according to a profile by Bloomberg News, Bannon became part of that decade’s boom in corporate “hostile takeovers,” working mainly in defense of companies which had been targeted by corporate raiders like Michael Milken. That decade also had its own major financial crash, also spurred by the often illegal activities of investment bankers.
But Bannon was also part of several major takeovers himself, including one deal involving a company known as Bain Capital, spearheaded by a rising executive named Mitt Romney.
Bannon’s Hiring Was Seen As A Victory For White Supremacists — By White Supremacists
According to a report in the online Daily Beast news magazine, numerous racist organizations are celebrating the elevation of Steve Bannon to Trump campaign boss, because Breitbart News, they say, has long been sympathetic to their white supremacist cause, sometimes known as the “Alt-Right.”
“Latterly, Breitbart emerged as a nationalist site and done great stuff on immigration in particular,” Peter Brimelow, of the white supremacist site VDARE, told The Daily Beast, adding that he met personally with Bannon in July and the two “exchanged pleasantries about each other’s work,” according to the report.
“Breitbart has elective affinities with the Alt Right, and the Alt Right has clearly influenced Breitbart,” added Richard Spencer, head of the white supremacist National Policy Institute. “In this way, Breitbart has acted as a ‘gateway’ to Alt Right ideas and writers.”
Former Breitbart writer Ben Shapiro also says that “under Bannon’s leadership, breitbart openly embraced the white supremacist Alt-Right.”
Steve Bannon supposedly took a leave of absence from his post at the head of Breitbart News to run the Donald Trump campaign, but will return to the company the day after the election, according to a statement from the site.
Bannon Has Been Accused of Being an Anti-Semite
Bannon’s ex-wife said that when she and Bannon were deciding on a private school for their daughters, Bannon complained about one of the schools they were considering, annoyed by “the number of Jews that attend. He said that he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiny brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.”
At another school, Bannon, the ex-wife said, asked a school official, “why there were so many Chanukah books in the library.” And at a third, she said, Bannon “asked me if it bothered me that the school used to be in a Temple. I said no and asked why he asked…he did not respond.”
But the anti-Semitic remarks are not the extent if Bannon’s alleged dislike for Jews. His Breitbart News Network — one of the first conservatuve media outlets to openly back Trump’s candidacy, “has not only chummed the internet’s waters with endless fodder for racists, but has also explicitly worked to normalize a set of white-nationalist and anti-Semitic ideas,” according to New York Magazine.
Under Bannon’s leadership, the Trump campaign itself veered into anti-Semitic territory, unveiling a TV ad just days before the election that the Anti-Defamation League said exploited “subjects that anti-Semites have used for ages,” including the idea that a secret conspiracy of wealthy Jewish people rules “the system.”
Bannon Produced And Wrote The Film Clinton Cash
Donald Trump has spared nothing in his attacks on his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton — accusing her of being the “MVP” of the terrorist group ISIS, and even referring to her as “the devil” — only to see Clinton’s poll numbers rise while his own fall.
But the hiring of Bannon appears to signal that Trump believes he can right the ship of his campaign with more attacks on Clinton, not fewer. Bannon is the financial and creative force behind the pseudo-documentary film Clinton Cash, which purports to document how Hillary and Bill Clinton have allegedly traded political favors for money from foreign governments.
Critics have slammed the film as thin on evidence and sourcing, and even the conservative Fox News called one the film’s key claims “incredibly misleading.”
But with Steve Bannon at the helm, the Donald Trump campaign is expected to ramp up attacks on Clinton based on allegations made in the film.
Gannon also wrote, produced, and directed numerous other, similar documentaries, including a film praising Sarah Palin, and one attacking the Occupy Wall Street movement.
MORE DONALD TRUMP COVERAGE FROM THE INQUISITR:
Bannon Owns A Piece Of The Legendary Sitcom Seinfeld
As an investment banker, Steve Bannon was instrumental in negotiating a deal that sold the independent Hollywood production company Castle Rock Entertainment to billionaire media mogul Ted Turner. One benefit from his involvement in the deal was that Bannon ended up owning a percentage of Castle Rock’s most valuable property, the massively popular, and profitable, sitcom Seinfeld.
Reportedly, the millions Bannon collects in royalty dividends from Seinfeld has not only bolstered his own personal fortune but helped finance many of his conservative media projects, including numerous “documentary” films.
[Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images]
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Опровергнуто: Был ли Еровинкин информатором по "досье ...
PolitonLine.Ru-Jan 28, 2017
"Олег Еровинкин действительно скончался, но это случилось перед Новым годом. У него было слабое сердце, он перенес тяжелую ...
The Telegraph сообщила о причастности экс-сотрудника КГБ к ...
Телеканал ДОЖДЬ (Регистрация)-Jan 28, 2017
Телеканал ДОЖДЬ (Регистрация)-Jan 28, 2017
В центре Москвы в служебном "Лексусе" нашли мертвым Олега Еровинкина – руководителя аппарата главы "Роснефти" Игоря Сечина. При этом его биография примечательна не только работой в аппарате Сечина – и в бытность последнего вице-премьером, и после его перехода в "Роснефть".
61-летний Еровинкин был генералом ФСБ и служил в органах госбезопасности с 1976 года.
Из открытых источников известно, что Еровинкин родился родился 7 ноября 1955 года в селе Никольском Оренбургской области. В 1980 году он окончил Высшую школу КГБ СССР им. Дзержинского.
С 1973 по 1974 год Еровинкин работал помощником инспектора приемника-распределителя Управления внутренних дел в Павлодаре Казахской ССР. Позже, в 1974-1976гг. проходил срочную службу в Вооруженных силах Советского Союза.
C 1976 по 1994 год Еровинкин работал в органах государственной безопасности, а с 1994 по 1996 год занимал должность заместителя начальника отдела контроля за защитой государственных секретов Управления кадров Администрации президента РФ.
Именно с 1994 года начинается период непрерывной работы Еровинкина в сфере обеспечения секретности и сохранности гостайны при администрации президента России - на то время Бориса Ельцина.
В 1996 году он возглавил отдел контроля за соблюдением законодательства о государственной службе и государственной тайне управления кадров Главного управления президента РФ по вопросам государственной службы и кадров. Так, в 1996-1997 гг. Еровинкин – заместитель начальника контрольно-инспекторского отдела Управления кадровой политики президента РФ.
С 1997 по 1998 год он возглавил уже Отдел секретного делопроизводства Администрации президента РФ.
В 1998 году Еровинкин стал заместителем начальника Управления – начальником отдела по работе с секретными документами и защите государственной тайны Управления информационного и документационного обеспечения президента РФ.
Его должность не изменилась и с приходом к власти нынешнего президента России Владимира Путина.
С 2004 по 2008 год Еровинкин был заместителем начальника Управления информационного и документационного обеспечения президента РФ.
В 2008 году президентом РФ становится Дмитрий Медведев, а Путин занимает кресло главы правительства России. Еровинкина в этот период также ждет смена должности.
С 22 мая 2008 по май 2012 года он занимает пост руководитель секретариата заместителя председателя правительства РФ Игоря Сечина.
22 мая 2008 года Путин назначил Еровинкина руководителем секретариата вице-премьера Игоря Сечина.
Вице-премьер Сечин в то время курировал в кабинете министров РФ промышленность, за исключением оборонки, а также энергетику, природопользование, охрану окружающей среды, экологический, технологический и атомный надзор.
В мае 2012-го, в связи с переходом Сечина из правительства в "Роснефть", Еровинкин был освобожден от должности.
Должность руководителя аппарата Сечина – уже в "Роснефти", – Еровинкин занял в том же 2012 году, работая на этой должности до самой смерти.
Ранее сообщалось, что генерал Еровинкин был найден мертвым сегодня, 26 декабря, согласно разнящимся версиям СМИ, или за рулем, или на заднем сиденье служебного автомобиля Lexus в Китайгородском проезде в Москве.
Пресс-секретарь "Роснефти" Михаил Леонтьев предположил, причиной смерти Еровинкина стала сердечная недостаточность.
При этом многие российские издания изначально опубликовали материалы о его смерти с заголовками, в которых фигурировала версия убийства. Позже заголовки были изменены, а в тексте сообщений СМИ отсутствуют любые упоминания о неестественных причинах смерти генерала Еровинкина.
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Mystery surrounds death of former KGB chief linked to lurid Trump ...
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In-Depth-Huffington Post-Jan 29, 2017
Oleg Erovinkin
Military officer
Oleg Erovinkin, a former general of the soviet-era KGB and later FSB, was found dead on 26 December in mysterious circumstances. thenews.pl
Oleg Erovinkin is suspected of being Brit spy Christopher Steele's key source behind widely discredited allegations against President Trump
A FORMER KGB spy chief suspected of helping Brit spook Christopher Steele compile the Trump ‘dirty dossier’ has been found dead in mysterious circumstances.
Oleg Erovinkin, described as a key source behind the widely discredited document, was found dead in the back of his car in Moscow on Boxing Day.
Media reports in Russia suggest his death was the result of foul play, reports the Telegraph.
A former general in the intelligence agency the KBG and its successor the FSB, Erovinkin was reportedly a key aide to former deputy prime minister Igor Sechin.
Erovinkin acted as a ‘go-between’ for Russian Presdident Vladimir Putin and Sechin who is now head of the state-owned oil company Rosneft, it has been reported.
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Sechin was named several times in the dossier which contained lurid and unverified allegations against President Donald Trump.
Former MI6 spy Steele reportedly claimed that he had a source close to Sechin in an intelligence report from July last year.
Erovinkin’s death has prompted speculation that it was linked to the sensational document, reports the Telegraph.
Russian news agency RIA Novosti news agency reports his body was “found in a black Lexus… a large-scale investigation has been commenced in the area.
“Erovinkin’s body was sent to the FSB morgue”.
Ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele in hiding after Donald Trump dossier
Gone to ground
While no cause of death has been confirmed, some reports have claimed he died as a result of a heart attack.
Christo Grozev, an expert in Russian espionage, writes in his blog that he believes Erovinkin was the key source in Steele’s dossier.
He also claims he has “no doubt” that Putin would have had the document on his desk at the time of Erovinkin’s death.
Steele, 52, is still in hiding after being revealed as the author of the explosive dossier which was published in full by Buzzfeed earlier this month.
The former spook was reportedly hired by a US political research firm to investigate Trump on behalf of ‘unidentified Republicans’ who wanted to derail his White House bid.
He then allegedly wrote a 35-page report consisting of memos compiled before and after the November 8 election – which was later partly funded by Democrats as well as the anti-Trump Republicans.
A furious Trump let rip at his first press conference since his shock election victory, slamming the dossier as “fake”.
Father-of-four Steele reportedly fled his £1.4million Surrey mansion 'fearing for his life' after giving his pet cat to his neighbour.
Media gather at firm of ex-MI-6 agent, who authored Trump Russia dossier
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U.S. European Command called for an immediate cease-fire in eastern Ukraine as heavy fighting threatens a larger humanitarian crisis in a country where U.S. forces continue a mission aimed at beefing up the nation’s military forces.
Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes
U.S. European Command called for an immediate cease-fire in eastern Ukraine as heavy fighting threatens a larger humanitarian crisis in a country where U.S. forces continue a mission aimed at beefing up the nation’s military forces.
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And most certainly he likes President-elect Trump's views on Russia.” ... And neither did the FBI/James Comey intrusion. ... It is, in the words of former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, who briefed George W. ... lobbyists — had pro-Russian factions as clients; his name with multimillion amounts beside it ...
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U.S. President Donald Trump (L-R), joined by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, senior advisor Steve Bannon, Communications Director Sean Spicer and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
"U.S. Central Command said in a statement that an investigating team had "concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely killed" during Sunday's raid. It added that children may have been among the casualties.
Central Command said its assessment "seeks to determine if there were any still-undetected civilian casualties in the ferocious firefight."
U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.
As a result, three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists.
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USA TODAY
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Clarification: An earlier version of this op-ed stated that no political advisers to the president had ever served on the National Security Council before the appointment of Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor. Edwin Meese, when he was counselor to the president, served on the NSC during President Ronald Reagan’s administration. This version has been updated.
As nationwide protests against President Trump’s immigration mandate rage on, he reshuffled the National Security Council and put chief strategist and former Breitbart News chair Stephen Bannon in an unprecedented national security role. As nationwide protests against President Trump’s immigration mandate rage on, he put chief strategist Stephen Bannon in an unprecedented national security role. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
While demonstrators poured into airports to protest the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies, another presidential memorandum signed this weekend may have even more lasting, wide-ranging and dangerous consequences. The document sounds like a simple bureaucratic shuffle, outlining the shape the National Security Council will take under President Trump. Instead, it is deeply worrisome.
The idea of the National Security Council (NSC), established in 1947, is to ensure that the president has the best possible advice from his Cabinet, the military and the intelligence community before making consequential decisions, and to ensure that, once those decisions are made, a centralized mechanism exists to guarantee their effective implementation. The NSC is effectively the central nervous system of the U.S. foreign policy and national security apparatus.
Trump’s memorandum described the structure of his NSC — not unusual given that the exact composition shifts in modest ways from administration to administration. The problem lies in the changes that he made.
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First, he essentially demoted the highest-ranking military officer in the United States, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the highest-ranking intelligence officer in the United States, the director of national intelligence. In previous administrations, those positions or their equivalent (before the creation of the director of national intelligence, the CIA director occupied that role) held permanent positions on the NSC.
White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon attends the swearing-in of Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Washington on Jan. 25. (Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)
Now, those key officials will be invited only when their specific expertise is seen to be required. Hard as it is to imagine any situation in which their views would not add value, this demotion is even harder to countenance given the threats the United States currently faces and the frayed state of the president’s relations with the intelligence community. A president who has no national security experience and can use all the advice he can get has decided to limit the input he receives from two of the most important advisers any president could have.
The president compounded this error of structure with an error of judgment that should send shivers down the spine of every American and our allies worldwide. Even as he pushed away professional security advice, Trump decided to make his top political advisor, Stephen K. Bannon, a permanent member of the NSC. Although the White House chief of staff is typically a participant in NSC deliberations, I know of few other instances in which a political adviser has been a formal permanent member of the council.
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Further, Bannon is the precisely wrong person for this wrong role. His national security experience consists of a graduate degree and seven years in the Navy. More troubling, Bannon’s role as chairman of <a href="http://Breitbart.com" rel="nofollow">Breitbart.com</a>, with its racist, misogynist and Islamophobic perspectives, and his avowed desire to blow up our system of government, suggests this is someone who not only has no business being a permanent member of the most powerful consultative body in the world — he has no business being in a position of responsibility in any government.
Worse still, it is an omen of other problems to come. Organizing the NSC this way does not reflect well on national security adviser Michael Flynn — whether the bad decision is a result of his lack of understanding of what the NSC should do or because he is giving in to pressure from his boss.
Moreover, elevating Bannon is a sign that there will be more than one senior official in Trump’s inner circle with top-level national security responsibility, an arrangement nearly certain to create confusion going forward.
Indeed, rumors are already circulating that Bannon and senior adviser Jared Kushner are the go-to people on national security issues for the administration, again despite the lack of experience, temperament or institutional support for either. Kushner has been given key roles on Israel, Mexico and China already. History suggests all this will not end well, with rivalries emerging with State, Defense, the Trade Representative and other agencies.
Combine all this with the president’s own shoot-from-the-lip impulses, his flair for improvisation and his well-known thin skin. You end up with a bad NSC structure being compromised by a kitchen cabinet-type superstructure and the whole thing likely being made even more dysfunctional by a president who, according to multiple reports, does not welcome advice in the first place — especially when it contradicts his own views.
Here's what you need to know about the man who went from Breitbart News chairman to Donald Trump's campaign CEO before his appointment as chief White House strategist and senior counselor. Here's what you need to know about the man who went from being Breitbart News's chairman to Trump's campaign CEO and now to chief White House strategist. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
The executive order on immigration and refugees was un-American, counterproductive and possibly illegal. The restructuring of the NSC, and the way in which this White House is threatening to operate outside the formal NSC structure, all but guarantees that it will not be the last bad decision to emerge from the Trump administration.
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U.S. President Donald Trump dellivers remarks after attending a swearing-in ceremony for Defense Secretary James Mattis (R) at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2017.REUTERS/Carlos Barria
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was looking into whether more civilians were killed in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen on the weekend, in the first operation authorized by President Donald Trump as commander in chief.
U.S. Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens died in the raid on a branch of al Qaeda, also known as AQAP, in al Bayda province, which the Pentagon said also killed 14 militants. Medics at the scene said, however, that about 30 people, including 10 women and children, were killed.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that an investigating team had "concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely killed" during Sunday's raid. It added that children may have been among the casualties.
Central Command said its assessment "seeks to determine if there were any still-undetected civilian casualties in the ferocious firefight."
U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.
As a result, three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists.
The Pentagon directed queries about the officials' characterization of the raid to U.S. Central Command. The latter pointed only to its statement on Wednesday.
The U.S. officials said the extremists’ base had been identified as a target before the Obama administration left office on Jan. 20, but then-President Barack Obama held off approving a raid ahead of his departure.
A White House official said the operation was thoroughly vetted by the previous administration and that the previous defense secretary had signed off on it in January. The raid was delayed for operational reasons, the White House official said.
The military officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said "a brutal firefight" took the lives of Owens and at least 15 Yemeni women and children. One of the dead was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant killed by a 2011 U.S. drone strike.
Some of the women were firing at the U.S. force, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L-R), joined by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, senior advisor Steve Bannon, Communications Director Sean Spicer and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The American elite forces did not seize any militants or take any prisoners offsite, but White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday the raid yielded benefits.
"Knowing that we killed an estimated 14 AQAP members and that we gathered an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil – is something that I think most service members understand, that that’s why they joined the service,” Spicer said.
A senior leader in Yemen's al Qaeda branch, Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, and other militants, were killed in the gunbattle, al Qaeda said.
One of the three U.S. officials said on-the-ground surveillance of the compound was “minimal, at best.”
“The decision was made ... to leave it to the incoming administration, partly in the hope that more and better intelligence could be collected,” that official said.
As Sunday's firefight intensified, the raiders called in Marine helicopter gunships and Harrier jump jets, and then two MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to extract the SEALs.
One of the two suffered engine failure, two of the officials said, and hit the ground so hard that two crew members were injured, and one of the Marine jets had to launch a precision-guided bomb to destroy it.
Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday in an unexpected visit to meet with the family of Owens, who had been a chief special warfare operator.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)
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More than 84 percent of people in the Netherlands think it is very important to speak Dutch to be Dutch.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said the United States was officially putting Iran on notice on Wednesday over its "destabilizing activity" after it test-fired a ballistic missile over the weekend.
Russia’s main domestic security agency has established controls on the border with Belarus in response to that country’s decision to abolish visas for short-term travelers.
