"Trump approves strikes on Iran, but then abruptly pulls back" by Michael D. Shear, Eric Schmitt, Michael Crowley and Maggie Haberman New York Times, June 20, 2019
What did he do, watch Tucker last night?
Later we are told he said he stopped Iran strike after being told 150 people could die, and that he called the strikes off 10 minutes before they were to be carried out, said he’s in no hurry, and that he is adding more sanctions.
Whew!
Did we ever dodge a bullet, huh?
WASHINGTON — President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing a US surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.
As late as 7 p.m. Thursday, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.
Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries, but the action was then abruptly called off for the evening, putting a halt to what would have been the president’s third military action against targets in the Middle East. Trump had struck twice at targets in Syria, in 2017 and 2018.
I can just imagine the scene, do it, Mr. President!
May Netanyahu forgive him.
It was not clear whether Trump simply changed his mind on the strikes or whether the administration altered course because of logistics or strategy. It was also not clear whether the attacks might still go forward.
Asked about the plans for a strike and the decision to hold back, the White House declined to comment, as did Pentagon officials. No government officials asked The New York Times to withhold the article.
The retaliation plan was intended as a response to the shooting down of the unmanned, $130 million surveillance drone, which was struck Thursday morning by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, according to a senior administration official who was briefed on the military planning and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential plans.
The strike was set to take place just before dawn Friday in Iran to minimize risk to the Iranian military or to civilians, but military officials received word a short time later that the strike was off, at least temporarily.
My printed article's second paragraph after the overnight update:
The possibility of a retaliatory strike hung over Washington for much of the day. Officials in both countries traded accusations about the location of the drone when it was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile launched from the Iranian coast along the Gulf of Oman.
Trump’s national security advisers split about whether to respond militarily. Senior administration officials said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; John Bolton, the national security adviser; and Gina Haspel, the CIA director, had favored a military response. But top Pentagon officials cautioned that such an action could result in a spiraling escalation with risks for US forces in the region.
Congressional leaders were briefed by administration officials in the Situation Room.
The destruction of the drone underscored the already tense relations between the two countries after Trump’s recent accusations that Iran is to blame for explosions last week that damaged oil tankers traveling through the strait, the vital waterway for much of the world’s oil. Iran has denied that accusation.
Iran’s announcement this week that it would soon breach one of the key limits it had agreed to in a 2015 pact intended to limit its nuclear program
The turn in directs me to IRAN, Page A6:
has also fueled tensions. Trump, who pulled the United States out of the 2015 pact, has vowed that he will not allow Tehran to build a nuclear weapon.
On Thursday, Trump insisted that the United States’ unmanned surveillance aircraft was flying over international waters when it was taken down by an Iranian missile.
“This drone was in international waters, clearly,” the president told reporters Thursday afternoon at the White House as he began a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada. “We have it all documented. It’s documented scientifically, not just words.”
Asked what would come next, Trump said, “Let’s see what happens.”
Iran’s government fiercely disputed the president’s characterization, insisting that the drone had strayed into Iranian airspace. Iran released GPS coordinates that put the drone 8 miles off the country’s coast, inside the 12 nautical miles from the shore that Iran claims as its territorial waters.
Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a letter to the Security Council that the drone ignored repeated radio warnings before it was downed. He said that Tehran “does not seek war” but “is determined to vigorously defend its land, sea and air.”
In his public appearance, Trump initially seemed to be looking for a way to avoid a potentially serious military crisis. Instead of directly accusing the leaders of Iran, Trump said someone “loose and stupid” in Iran was responsible for shooting down the drone.
The president said he suspected it was some individual in Iran who “made a big mistake,” even as Iran had taken responsibility for the strike and asserted that the high-altitude drone was operating over Iranian air space, which U.S. officials denied.
Trump said the episode would have been far more serious if the aircraft had been a piloted vehicle, and not a drone. It made “a big, big difference” that an American pilot was not threatened, he told reporters.
Both Washington and Tehran said the downing of the drone occurred at 4:05 a.m. Iranian time on Thursday, or 7:35 p.m. on Wednesday in Washington. The drone “was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz,” US Central Command said in a statement. “This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace.”
Iran’s ability to target and destroy the high-altitude drone, which was developed to evade the very surface-to-air missiles used to bring it down, surprised some Defense Department officials, who interpreted it as a show of how difficult Tehran can make things for the United States as it deploys more troops and steps up surveillance in the region.
I'm now thinking Iranian intelligence was aware of an imminent attack, and that this preemptive action gave the American aggressors pause.
Lieutenant General Joseph Guastella, the Air Force commander for the Central Command region in the Middle East, said the attack could have endangered “innocent civilians,” even though officials at Central Command continued to assert that the drone was over international waters. He said that the closest that the drone got to the Iranian coast was 21 miles.
That's a pretty sick discrepancy, 8 miles against 21 miles. Somebody is lying, and given the track record of the US military.... sigh!
Late Thursday, the Defense Department released additional imagery in an email to support its case that the drone never entered Iranian airspace, but the department incorrectly called the flight path of the drone the location of the shooting down and offered little context for an image that appeared to be the drone exploding in midair.
That's the kind of "evidence" we put out. Garbage.
Iran’s foreign affairs minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in a post on Twitter that he gave what he said were precise coordinates for where the U.S. drone was targeted.
“At 00:14 US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace,” he said in a tweet that included coordinates that he said were near Kouh-e Mobarak. “We’ve retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down.”
According to Iranian news media, a foreign ministry spokesman there said that flying a drone into Iranian airspace was an “aggressive and provocative” move by the United States.
Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said crossing the country’s border was “our red line,” the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported.
“We are not going to get engaged in a war with any country, but we are fully prepared for war,” Salami said at a military ceremony in Sanandaj, Iran, according to a translation from Press TV, a state-run news outlet. “Today’s incident was a clear sign of this precise message, so we are continuing our resistance.”
Iranian news media said the drone had flown over Iranian territory unauthorized, and reported that it had been shot down in Hormozgan province, along the country’s southern coast on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Both the United States and Iran identified the aircraft as an RQ-4 Global Hawk, a surveillance drone made by Northrop Grumman.
What was cut to make room for the above was, and I quote:
Trump's comments reflected the longstanding tension between his desire to be seen as tough on the world stage and his campaign promise to make sure that the United States did not get tangled in more foreign wars.
There they go again, trying to goad him into stumbling into a war for you-know-who.
The president has embraced a reputation as someone who punches back when challenged, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned, "Let's make sure that we don't have a beating of the drum for something without the clarity of fact involved. Let's get the facts as to how we got to this place."
Then go to war, right?
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One of the fallouts of this is higher oil prices, cut bono?
Related:
"The Peace Cross, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, was and is a symbol of unity, noting that it included the names of both black and white soldiers at a time when the military was segregated. “We can never know for certain what was in the minds of those responsible for the memorial,” Alito wrote....."
That's just living in the past, and ble$$ed are the peacemakers:
"Senate votes to block Trump’s arms sales to Persian Gulf nations in bipartisan rebuke" by Catie Edmondson New York Times, June 20, 2019
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted to block the sale of billions of dollars of munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, in a sharp and bipartisan rebuke of the Trump administration’s attempt to circumvent Congress to allow the exports by declaring an emergency over Iran.
In three back-to-back votes, Republicans joined Democrats to register their growing anger with the administration’s use of emergency power to cut lawmakers out of national security decisions, as well as the White House’s unflagging support for the Saudis despite congressional pressure to punish Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the killing in October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
No other foreign policy issue has created as large a rift between President Trump and Congress, and the vote to block the arms sales deepens the divide. It is the second time in just a few months that members of Trump’s party have publicly opposed his foreign policy, with both the House and Senate approving bipartisan legislation this spring to cut off military assistance to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen using the 1973 War Powers Act, only to see it vetoed in April.
Why don't they just cut off the money, period, full $top?
While the Democratic-controlled House is also expected to block the sales, Trump has pledged to veto the legislation, and it is unlikely that either chamber could muster enough support to override the president’s veto.
The this is already a dictatorship if he can do that, and seven Republicans senators broke ranks.
“This vote is a vote for the powers of this institution to be able to continue to have a say on one of the most critical elements of US foreign policy and national security,” said Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and lead sponsor of the resolutions of disapproval. “To not let that be undermined by some false emergency and to preserve that institutional right, regardless of who sits in the White House.”
FINALLY!
The White House announced the sales late last month and invoked an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act to allow US companies to sell $8.1 billion worth of munitions in 22 pending transfers to the three Arab nations. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are waging an air war in Yemen that has come under sharp criticism from Congress and human rights organizations.
Members of Congress from both parties have been holding up arms sales from US companies to Persian Gulf nations and trying to end US military support for the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has resulted in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster.
By declaring an emergency over Iran, the administration was able to override those holds.
“If we let this emergency declaration go without protest, without a vote, I don’t know that we’re ever getting the power to oversee arms sales back as a body,” said Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut and one of the authors of the resolution.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had pushed hard for the emergency designation, over the objections of some career Foreign Service officers and legislators, arguing that the sales would support allies to counter Iran and its partner Arab militias — though some of the munitions would take years to produce and deliver. In the weeks after the declaration was announced, lawmakers have scrutinized the role that a former Raytheon lobbyist played in the decision, but the administration’s argument ultimately fell flat even for some of the president’s closest allies, including Graham, who cosponsored the legislation with Menendez.
The concern about conspiracy turned out to be a flop.
“The reason I’m voting with Senator Paul and others today is to send a signal to Saudi Arabia that if you act the way you’re acting, there is no space for a strategic relationship,” he said. “There is no amount of oil you can produce that will get me and others to give you a pass on chopping somebody up in a consulate.”
Graham was referring to the grisly death of Khashoggi, the dissident Virginia-based columnist. A UN report released Wednesday made the most authoritative case to date that responsibility for the killing and its cover-up lies at the highest levels of the Saudi royal court.
What bothers me is they are more concerned with their CIA asset over at the Washington ComPost than they are the thousands of innocent victims in Yemen.
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Related:
"The UN food agency has begun a partial suspension of food aid to areas of Yemen controlled by the rebels amid accusations they were diverting aid from the war-torn country’s hungriest people, the group said Thursday. The move came less than a week after the head of the World Food Program accused the rebels, known as Houthis, of diverting food aid. The Houthis denied the accusation. ‘‘The decision was taken as a last resort after lengthy negotiations stalled on an agreement to introduce controls to prevent the diversion of food away from some of the most vulnerable people in Yemen,’’ the agency said. The WFP said it failed to reach an agreement with the Houthis on introducing ‘‘a biometric registration system that would prevent diversion and protect the Yemeni families we serve, ensuring food reaches those who need it most.’’ The agency said it has repeatedly appealed to the rebels for ‘‘space and freedom to operate . . . impartiality’’ and with operational independence. WFP said it would maintain nutrition programs for malnourished children, and pregnant and nursing mothers throughout the period of suspension. On Monday, David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, told the UN Security Council that his agency has insisted on — and the Houthis finally agreed to — registration and biometric identification of beneficiaries and monitoring in December and January, but the WFP has faced roadblocks ever since in implementing the agreements....."
The biometric condition sure reeks of something the Antichrist would do!
The U.N. may be impotent now, but it can still cause a lot of harm.
Of course, crimes will have been committed:
"In stunning testimony that may upend the war crimes trial of Navy SEAL Chief Edward Gallagher, a SEAL medic told the court Thursday that he and not the chief had killed a wounded captive in Iraq. The medic, Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, testified that he watched Gallagher stab the prisoner, a teenage Islamic State fighter, in the neck, but that the stab wound did not appear to be life-threatening. After the chief walked away, Scott told the court, he pressed his thumb over the captive’s breathing tube until he died. “I knew he was going to die anyway and wanted to save him from waking up to whatever would have happened to him,” Scott said, adding that he had seen other captives tortured and killed by Iraqi forces. Gallagher, 40, is charged with premeditated murder in the death of the Islamic State captive, as well as the attempted murder of Iraqi civilians and other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty and denied all the charges. The medic’s testimony Thursday drew an angry response from prosecutors, who said he changed his story after being granted immunity (New York Times)."
He was going to get a pardon anyway, and this will spare Trump the embarrassment of a pre$$er:
"Facing simmering domestic discontent, Putin tells Russians he feels their pain" by Anton Troianovski Washington Post, June 20, 2019
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing simmering domestic discontent, took to national television on Thursday with one of his trademark messages: I feel your pain, but I’m the only one who can ease it.
The Bill Clinton trick?
In his annual call-in show, Putin fielded questions — at least some prescreened — from citizens across the country concerned about low incomes and poor medical care. He responded as he has in the past: yes, things are hard, but the Kremlin is working to make them better.
I'm kind of tired of the pot-hollering-kettle hypocrites in the pre$$, sorry.
Asked at the top of show on whether life in Russia had gotten harder, Putin said: ‘‘This is indeed the case.’’ Lower oil prices had contributed to a shock to the Russian economy, but then came Putin’s twist. Incomes were starting to grow again, he claimed, and that the government was taking measures to improve households’ bottom line.
Oil prices are on the upswing, too, thanks to the tension in the Gulf.
The raw numbers suggest Russia’s economy is, in fact, climbing out of a hole. The International Monetary Fund predicts modest GDP growth of 1.6 percent this year, but other measures show Russia is still gripped by corruption and fiscal mismanagement. The civil society watchdog group Transparancy International ranked Russia in the bottom third of countries, saying ‘‘cronyism remains a cornerstone of Russian social and political processes.’’
Here, too.
In another segment, reporters for state TV were shown fanning out across the country to investigate claims of long lines at medical clinics. They showed a brand new dentist chair in a small village and a town hospital with modern equipment, but hospital officials and patients told the reporters that it was hard to attract skilled workers to rural areas.
Was it at least affordable?
Putin’s annual ‘‘Direct Line’’ call-in show has been a core element of his image-making since 2001, sometimes lasting more than four hours. Russians are invited to send in questions to the president. He responds to dozens of them — often about granular, local matters, accompanied by on-the-ground TV reports. His immediate directives to officials to look into those problems paint a picture of a president who is attuned to regular Russians’ lives.
Unlike ours!
Asked about a New York Times report that the United States had mounted a cyber incursion into Russia’s power grid, Putin said he had seen President Trump’s reaction to the article accusing the newspaper of ‘‘treason.’’
I'm a little indifferent to that story now because I think it is bull, and I think I caught a whiff right from the start. The Times is nothing if not a conduit for U.S. government propaganda.
‘‘I don’t understand how we are supposed to interpret this,’’ Putin said. ‘‘Does this mean they published existing, real information or that they put out a fake? In any case, we need to react somehow and understand what this is all about.’’
Look at that measured, thoughtful response. What a leader!
Putin touched on geopolitics, but it was largely a sideshow. He urged Russians not to worry about international sanctions, claiming that the European Union had suffered more from its sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis than Russia itself did.
He also promised to examine the cases of 24 Ukrainian sailors and other Ukrainians behind bars in Russia, but only in conjunction with the cases of what he said were Russians wrongfully imprisoned in Ukraine.
Responding to another question, Putin said he was prepared to meet with Trump, but that the US president faces domestic head winds in improving ties with Russia. Trump has said he expects to meet Putin on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Japan next week, but the one-on-one hasn’t been officially confirmed.
‘‘If the president wants to take steps in our direction, wants to talk about something, there is a massive amount of limits from other centers of power, especially now that the current head of state will be looking at the demands of the election campaign,’’ Putin said, repeating a frequent gripe in Moscow about US checks and balances tying Trump’s hands.
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There were protesters outside:
"Thousands of protesters, calling for the government’s resignation, attempted to storm the parliament building Thursday evening in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Police turned back surges of the crowd several times. Some demonstrators were seen hoisting shields that apparently had been seized from riot police. The unrest was sparked by the appearance Thursday of Russian legislator Sergei Gavrilov in the building as part of an assembly of legislators from Orthodox Christian countries. Gavrilov has supported independence for the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, over which Georgia lost control in a 2008 war with Russia. He is also a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a figure despised by many Georgians. Georgia and Russia broke diplomatic relations after the war, and although steps have been made to restore normal relations, animosity toward Russia is strong, and many Georgians resent any sort of official visit by Russians. The visit of the Russian delegation of the Orthodox assembly already had prompted complaints, but the anger turned into a street protest after Gavrilov sat in the chair of the Georgian parliament speaker during a session of the assembly."
The message is clear -- and in English!!?!
Related: American accused of spying in Russia pleads for help from Trump
Paul N. Whelan shouted to reporters from inside a glass cage at the Moscow City Court. Whelan, 49, is a Trump supporter who is a citizen of the United States, Britain, Canada, and Ireland, has repeatedly denied being a spy, and again declared his innocence in court Thursday. Trump and his top officials have stayed mostly silent about Whelan, a former US Marine and law enforcement officer who in late December was arrested on a spying charge while at a luxury hotel near the Kremlin while in Moscow to attend a wedding.
The silence says it all, and is near confirmation of his intelligence function (not like my pre$$ is going to tell me that), and last I knew he was in weapons sales.
He better be careful or he will end up like Morsi.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Turning to the Far East, there is only so much the Fed can do to contain the damage from Trump’s trade war, but cut him a little $lack because in angling for benefits and financial incentives, virtually all of America's largest businesses drive a hard bargain with governments.
The Chinese are going to make up for WWII and chew up the Japanese this time, and this last move into Korea is just enough to keep the U.S. off balance:
"North Korea’s Kim meets China’s Xi, says awaiting US actions" by Ken Morisugu Associated Press, June 20, 2019
BEIJING — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, meeting in Pyongyang with Chinese President Xi Jinping, said Thursday that his country is waiting for a desired response in stalled nuclear talks with the United States.
‘‘North Korea would like to remain patient, but it hopes the relevant party will meet halfway with North Korea to explore resolution plans that accommodate each other’s reasonable concerns,’’ he said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Xi’s trip to North Korea, the first by a Chinese president in 14 years, raises the possibility that China could help break a monthslong impasse in talks between the United States and North Korea over the North’s nuclear weapons.
Describing the issue as ‘‘highly complex and sensitive,’’ Xi said his government is willing to play a constructive role in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
‘‘The international community expects the US and North Korea to continue to talk and achieve results,’’ he said, according to CCTV.
Man, they really spun the tables on the US war hawks.
The summit comes as both countries are locked in separate disputes with the United States — China over trade and North Korea over its nuclear weapons.
With Xi due to meet President Trump next week in Japan, analysts say Kim may ask the Chinese leader to pass on a message that could revive the talks with the United States.
Xi’s two-day state visit to North Korea, announced just three days ago, began with the synchronized pomp of all major events in the country.
About 10,000 cheering people and a 21-gun salute greeted Xi and senior Chinese officials at an arrival ceremony at Pyongyang’s airport.
The CCTV evening news showed Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, waving to the crowd after emerging from their Air China plane, then being greeted by Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, before receiving flowers and watching goose-stepping troops march by.
The crowd stood in tight formations, waving flowers and chanting slogans to welcome Xi. Other people lined the roads and cheered from overpasses as Xi’s motorcade traveled to central Pyongyang, where he joined Kim in an open-top vehicle.
I guess they don't have to worry about anyone taking a leader's head off over there.
Nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea reached an impasse over a fundamental difference in approach. The United States is demanding that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons entirely before international sanctions are lifted. North Korea is seeking a step-by-step approach in which moves toward denuclearization are matched by concessions from the United States, notably a relaxation of the sanctions.
Xi is expected to endorse North Korea’s calls for an incremental disarmament process.
A commentary in China’s official Xinhua news agency said China could play a unique role in breaking the cycle of mistrust between North Korea and the United States but that both sides ‘‘need to have reasonable expectations and refrain from imposing unilateral and unrealistic demands.’’
The North Koreans seem perfectly reasonable to me.
A former North Korean diplomat who defected in 2016 said he thinks Kim wants to give Xi a message to deliver to Trump when the two meet at the upcoming G-20 summit in Japan.
Thae Yong Ho said Kim may offer to abandon some of his nuclear facilities in a bid to set up a third summit with Trump, but he cautioned that such a move would be only to buy time and not to denuclearize fully.
‘‘The main purpose for the Kim Jong Un regime in negotiating is to keep North Korea as a new nuclear state in this region, there is no doubt about that,’’ he said at a news conference in Tokyo, where he is promoting the Japanese translation of his book, ‘‘Password From the Third Floor,’’ an inside look at North Korean diplomacy and the Kim regime.
China is North Korea’s most important foreign partner, though their relations grew somewhat rocky as Kim’s efforts to build his country’s nuclear weapons capabilities threatened regional stability.....
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting in North Korea's capital Pyongyang Thursday. (CCTV)
Wish we could get leaders like that.
Instead, we get to choose from boobs like this:
"Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt begin the battle to lead the UK" by Stephen Castle New York Times, June 20, 2019
LONDON — After more than a week of campaigning, intriguing, and infighting among Conservative Party lawmakers, Britain’s foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, won the right Thursday to take on his more famous and charismatic predecessor, Boris Johnson, in the final phase of the race to become the next prime minister.
Johnson, whose optimistic, bombastic, and entertaining speeches at party conferences have made him a favorite of activists, is supremely well placed to win the vote. The party members are disproportionately older, whiter, and more male than the general population and appear to favor Brexit at any cost, something that Johnson has championed since a 2016 referendum that he helped win.
According to the rumor mill, the mild-mannered Hunt was the candidate that Johnson most wanted to face in the runoff, and all day Thursday there was speculation in Parliament of tactical voting by his supporters to eliminate Michael Gove, the environment secretary.
Be careful what you wish for.
Gove was Johnson’s nemesis in 2016, the last time the Conservative leadership was contested, and in the first of two votes held Thursday, Hunt had fallen slightly behind Gove, yet, it was Gove who had sunk Johnson’s push for the top job in 2016, and some lawmakers feared the consequences for the party of a vicious fight between the rivals. By early evening it was announced Hunt had pushed Gove into third place in the final ballot, with 75 votes, eliminating him from the contest.
Though Hunt opposed Brexit in the 2016 referendum campaign, he now supports it, but lingering suspicions about the depth of his commitment, coupled with his decided lack of charisma on the campaign trail, have led opponents to call him “Theresa May in trousers.”
Hunt’s public utterances have not always been as vanilla as his critics claim. He once likened the European Union to the Soviet Union and caused some astonishment when he accidentally described his Chinese wife as Japanese, but foreign policy analysts say that he performed significantly better in his post than Johnson, who never looked comfortable at the Foreign Office and whose careless language was widely blamed for worsening the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman who is being held in prison in Iran.
Hunt will now have the opportunity to make his pitch for the top job and subject Johnson to some scrutiny in a series of debates for party members around the country.
Under Britain’s parliamentary system the prime minister is not directly elected but is the leader of the party with a majority in Parliament. This means that if the dominant party’s leadership changes, so does the prime minister.
A businessman before he went into politics, Hunt argues that he is well equipped to negotiate a new Brexit agreement with the European Union, and he showed his soothing manner and political skills by surviving a long stint as the health secretary — a difficult job for a Conservative politician, particularly at a time of tight public spending.
One big question is how tough Hunt will be on Johnson and whether he will raise doubts about his honesty, reliability, and competence for the position of prime minister. Although Hunt criticized Johnson for ducking out of one TV debate, it was another candidate, Rory Stewart, the international development secretary, who was the most vocal in attacking the front-runner.
Is it tea time yet?
The other central focus of the next few weeks will be what Johnson says about Brexit, given that he is very likely to emerge as the next prime minister.
Although hard-line Brexit supporters believe that he has promised them Britain will leave the European Union, with or without an agreement on the next deadline of Oct. 31, Johnson has been less explicit in public.
During a BBC debate Tuesday, Johnson described that timeline as “eminently feasible,” a phrasing that left significant room for maneuver.
Senior Conservatives hope that the next phase of the contest will not expose too many internal divisions. The prospect of a race between Johnson and Gove, reviving one of the most treacherous and poisonous rivalries of recent British political history, had sent shudders through the party ranks.
The two were friends as students at Oxford, and both campaigned for Brexit during the 2016 referendum and, when David Cameron resigned as prime minister in its aftermath, Gove supported Johnson as the successor.
Cameron got pushed aside because his decision to allow a referendum kick-started this whole me$$.
Gove then changed his mind, ran himself and justified his betrayal by arguing that Johnson was not equipped to be prime minister.....
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We all know who calls the shots in British politics:
"Netanyahu awards Patriots owner Kraft with Israel’s Genesis Prize" by Aron Heller Associated Press, June 20, 2019
JERUSALEM — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft accepted Israel’s prestigious Genesis Prize, known as the ‘‘Jewish Nobel,’’ at a lavish ceremony on Thursday, where he pledged $20 million to establish a foundation dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel.
The feting and gala ceremony in his honor in Jerusalem offered Kraft a welcome reprieve four months after he was charged with soliciting a prostitute at a Florida massage parlor. The 78-year-old billionaire businessman has vigorously battled the charges, and the case against him faces judicial headwinds. He has pleaded innocent but also issued a written apology, expressing sorrow for hurting his family, friends, and fans.
It looks like the authorities in Florida botched the case, and the surveillance video will be thrown out.
Still, the scandal was unlikely to tarnish the celebration of Kraft, a longtime supporter of Jewish and Israeli causes.
He was awarded the 2019 Genesis Prize in recognition of his philanthropy and commitment to combatting anti-Semitism. Organizers said his foundation would continue to address anti-Semitism.
The $1 million award is granted each year to a person recognized as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through professional achievement and commitment to Jewish values.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Kraft’s ‘‘stand against anti-Semitism and efforts by our enemies to undermine the State of Israel’’ on Thursday, saying, ‘‘Israel does not have a more loyal friend than Robert Kraft.’’
Kraft told the crowd he was ‘‘humbled and blessed’’ as he accepted his prize, and mentioned the 27 missions he had led to Israel over the years in his keynote speech at the ceremony hosted by comic Martin Short.
Accompanying Kraft were 15 active and former Patriot players, including kicker Stephen Gostkowski and Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman, along with former greats Drew Bledsoe, Ty Law, Vince Wilfork, Kevin Faulk, and Andre Tippett.
Kraft and the delegation were hosted beforehand at the prime minister’s office, where they presented Netanyahu a signed Patriots helmet and posed for a joint picture along with the Vince Lombardi Trophy they won at this year’s Super Bowl. Netanyahu thanked Kraft for his friendship and his longtime support and for boosting American football in Israel, where it has resonated with native-born Israelis.
‘‘Everything you need in your game, Israel needs in its game,’’ Netanyahu told the players. ‘‘You need strategy and courage and ingenuity, we have that too.’’
By way of deception, thou shalt do war, and we are seeing it play out in the Persion Gulf right now.
Kraft is the sixth winner of the prestigious prize, following former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, actor Michael Douglas, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and sculptor Anish Kapoor. Last year’s winner, Natalie Portman, snubbed the event because she did not want to appear to be endorsing Netanyahu. The saga was troubling for the foundation, which says it works hard to prevent its philanthropy from being politicized.
As they politicize everything else!
Kraft’s selection in January seemed like a safe bet to avoid repeat awkwardness, given his years of philanthropic activity and deep ties to Israel, but the following month, Florida authorities announced the misdemeanor solicitation charges as part of a widespread crackdown on sex trafficking.
Don't worry, he is going to get off -- pun intended -- after the Globe cleaned him up and wrapped him in a Jewi$h towel.
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Different country, different game:
"After a rash of mysterious deaths and the Ortiz shooting, will tourists still flock to the Dominican Republic?" by Deanna Pan Globe Staff, June 19, 2019
Millions of American tourists flock to the Dominican Republic every year, chasing 1,000 miles of palm-studded coastline, shimmering turquoise waters, and a relaxing, sun-dappled retreat, but fears are mounting over the safety of the Caribbean nation in the wake of the mysterious deaths of at least nine American tourists over the past 12 months, several of whom reported falling ill before their bodies were discovered in their hotels.
It has been alleged that tainted alcohol was the cause.
The shooting of legendary Red Sox slugger David Ortiz in the capital of Santo Domingo on June 9 has done little to quell tourist unease.
Now, some travelers are reconsidering their vacation plans, while Dominican officials scramble to contain a public relations nightmare in a country that relies heavily on American tourist dollars.....
Globe finally reported after months.
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Oh, boy, they are now saying it was the other guy that was the target.
Related: Globe Living in the Past: Drug War
You might want to hedge your bets:
Many expected Rhode Island to legalize recreational marijuana this year
So what happened?
"The Democratic-controlled House voted 267 to 165 to block the Justice Department from interfering with states that have legalized recreational marijuana. The bipartisan vote was a breakthrough for advocates of legalization, who had unsuccessfully pressed the idea in the past under GOP control of the House. Eleven states have legalized marijuana for personal use, but possessing and selling it remains a federal offense. Lawmakers had already enacted protection for the 47 states where medical marijuana is legal. Attorney General William Barr said at his confirmation hearing in January that Justice would not go after marijuana companies in states where cannabis is legal. He vowed not to use limited government resources to target cannabis businesses that comply with state laws. Many had relied on guidance from the Obama administration that kept federal authorities from cracking down, but those guidelines were rescinded by the former attorney general, Jeff Sessions. ‘‘We are watching the growth of this industry — a multibillion-dollar industry,’’ said Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon. ‘‘We are watching state after state move forward.’’ The amendment passed over the opposition of conservative Republicans. The amendment “sends the wrong message about widely abused drugs in the United States,’’ said Representative Robert Aderholt of Alabama....."
I guess Barr ain't all bad, and you can even have a beer with him at his favorite watering hole -- even if they still consider you a criminal while others just get their space.
"Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey on Thursday announced a plan to offer clemency to more than 17,000 inmates who are serving time for nonviolent drug-related offenses on the first day of his presidency — an expansive use of executive power that would be the broadest clemency initiative since the Civil War. The plan focuses on those serving sentences for marijuana-related offenses, as well as those with disparate sentences because of old distinctions between crack and powder cocaine. It also addresses inmates whose sentences would have been reduced had the First Step Act, a bipartisan bill that was cosponsored by Booker and signed by President Trump late last year, been applied retroactively. The announcement came a day after Booker made a rare direct criticism of a fellow Democratic candidate for president, calling on Joe Biden, the former vice president, to apologize for his comments about how he in the past worked with segregationist senators to pass legislation....."
Looks like a Civil War within the Democrat Party.
Related: Millions of dollars’ worth of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin seized; 12 arrested in drug raids
Of the 14 apprehended, 12 were arrested on Wednesday and arraigned Thursday in Lawrence District Court, while two others were arrested on Monday, and arraigned in Ayer District Court (no names), and “these drug trafficking organizations have one goal in mind and that is to make money with no regard whatsoever for the safety and well-being of those that they distribute to, they just don’t care.”
Did they get the lab results back on Stoner and Cloutier yet?
Boston police arrest man who allegedly fled from officers in Mattapan
Thank God he only had a gun.
Galvin, Healey advocate for same-day voter registration on Beacon Hill
Vote fraud doesn't concern him because he is looking in the weeds, and, hey, you dropped your wallet:
"It’s obvious: Someone finding a lost wallet is less likely to return it if money is inside, right? That’s what top economists usually predict, given what most assume about human nature, but according to a clever new study involving thousands of people in 40 countries, what most of us assume about human nature is wrong....."
$peak for your$elf, NYT, and you can $ee where their eliti$t mind$et and those of the economi$ts re$ts.
Related(?):
"How scammers used a silicone mask and Skype to impersonate a French minister and steal $90 million" by Tamer El-Ghobashy Washington Post, June 20, 2019
WASHINGTON — French investigators are probing whether a con man who became known as the “Fake Chairman” for scamming banks out of millions of dollars by posing as a top-ranking executive gave himself a promotion — to government minister.
Gilbert Chikli, a 53-year-old French-Israeli citizen, is at the center of an investigation into a caper that may have netted some $90 million by convincing heads of state, clergy, business figures, large charities, and other luminaries that they were working with France’s defense minister to free French citizens kidnapped by Islamists in the Middle East and Africa, according to the BBC.
It's not a $eriou$ crime, it's a "caper!"
Just fun and hijinks, 'eh?
The ruse was as outlandish as it was elaborate.
‘‘This is not an ordinary case but one with great international sensitivities that has caused a diplomatic incident between our two countries. This case is being investigated around the clock in both Israel and France,” a member of Israel’s fraud police told a judge after the arrests of three Israeli citizens in March, according to the Times of Israel.....
Why?
Did he hold a position within the Israeli government, or do they not want to extradite him?
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