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Tag: John Kerry

  • Elisabeth Hasselbeck Argues With White House Press Secretary Over President’s Reaction to Paris Attacks

    Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host of Fox and Friends, entered into a heated debate with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday, over President Obama’s reaction to last week’s Paris attacks. She summed up the president’s attitude as “aloof, apathetic … and quite cavalier,” and Earnest wasn’t having it.

    Speaking from Manila, Earnest was also asked to explain Secretary of State John Kerry’s comment about seeing a “rationale” for the Charlie Hebdo attacks, but not last week’s Paris massacre. Elissabeth Hasselbeck also insisted he explain President Obama’s remark that the latest Paris attacks were a “setback” in the ongoing worldwide battle against extremists.

    “Would you go back and ask for that language to be changed at this point, to reflect some sort of solidarity and intentional aggression against ISIS? I mean, to call this understandable as it relates to Charlie Hebdo and call this a ‘setback’ seems awful, at least to the American people,” Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked Josh Earnest.

    The Press Secretary’s reply was that people must focus on what President Obama does and not so much on the language he used. He told Hasselbeck that American people need to look at a “transcript of Obama’s remarks” in which he describes last week’s massacre as “sickening” and expresses his sorrow.

    “I would encourage you to spend just as much time focusing on the president’s actions as you do his words,” he said.

    “Josh, I will stop you there,” Elisabeth Hasselbeck interrupted, much to the chagrin of Josh Earnest.

    “Let me finish my answer,” he responded. “If you have me on your show to talk about a serious issue, give me an opportunity to answer the question.”

    “I would love for you to answer it,” she fired back.

    “Elisabeth, if you want to have me on the show to talk about something serious as national security, ask me a question and I’ll answer it,” the press secretary reiterated.

    Elisabeth Hasselbeck continued arguing and talking over her guest.

    “Josh, we’ve played fair before,” she said, cutting off Earnest as he began to respond. “I would let you know the president’s words matter to me, not just to the American people but to those around the globe who are very concerned now. Our president’s words matter. He called it a ‘setback’ why? Just a ‘setback’ seems cavalier. Go ahead and answer the question.”

    “Elisabeth, if you would consider the president’s remarks, you will note that he called the attacks ‘sickening’ and expressed profound sorrow of what precisely had occurred. But I would encourage you to spend time to focus on the president’s actions,” Earnest said, trying his best to outline the steps the president has made since the attacks.

    “Hours after this terrible terrorist attack took place, the president was on the phone with the president of France to offer any support that they needed in conducting the investigation, carrying out any responses they choose to carry out,” he went on. “Hours later, the president convened a meeting of his national security team. The president invited the attorney general, secretary of defense and other leaders to discuss exactly what the U.S. response should be. The first question that the president asked in that meeting was to make sure, to verify that all of the necessary steps were being taken inside the United States to ensure the safety and security of the American people and the U.S. homeland. After that, there was an extended conversation about the intelligence and about what sort of military steps we could take to ramp up our efforts inside of Syria and make sure we can support our French allies if they chose to ramp up their efforts inside of Syria. That’s what they’ve done and we’ve supported them as they’ve done that.”

    Did you catch Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday? What’s your take on her insistence that President Obama was “aloof, apathetic … and quite cavalier,” as opposed to Earnest’s urging that Americans regard the president’s actions over his words?

  • Tea Leoni: I Work As Many Hours As John Kerry

    Tea Leoni may have a hit television show on her hands with Madam Secretary, but she is very clear about where her priorities lie.

    “My job security is really as a parent,” Leoni told Emmy Magazine recently. “This show is the icing on the cake.”

    Tea Leoni laughs about hos much she dotes on her kids, even to the point that it makes them uncomfortable.

    “I am just staring at my children all the time,” Leoni tells the magazine. “The other day they said, ‘Mom, it’s creepy.’ I’m like, ‘I just want to watch you watch TV – I’m desperate for this time.’ And they’re like, ‘Seriously, knock it off.’

    Between playing Secretary of State on television and being a mom, Leoni burns the candle at both ends.

    “I actually believe my job and John Kerry’s job are comparable in terms of the hours,” Tea Leoni says. “I’m sure he spends more time on a plane, but I’d kill for a plane ride right about now. I would love for somebody to say, ‘It’s a 13-hour flight, and all you have to do is sit back in a reclining seat with a cell phone that can’t ring.’ Hallelujah!”

    Her kids are teens now, but Leoni says that does not necessarily mean that her job is any easier.

    “It was easier when I could fit them into a backpack,” she says. “Now, around 10:15 at night, I wonder just how much they’re destroying the kitchen. What kind of slick goo am I going to walk into when I get home? But I’m lucky I have two extremely rational, fair, hilarious children who don’t seem to need to inflict a lot of pain on me, as I did to my mom.”

    As any parent, Tea Leoni wears the badges of honor of being a mom, the scars and marks of raising children.

    “I earned every line on my face,” Leoni says. “Every mistake, every sunburn, every stress, every beautiful moment, every minute of a 30-hour labor – that was the first one – I’m wearing it. And I wonder why that isn’t considered, in its own way, gorgeous.”

    She does stay in shape, but not to look glamorous.

    “Now I don’t exercise for my ass, but so my heart doesn’t stop,” she says. “Things change.”

  • Xi Jinping Meets with US; Talk Economy & Security

    When Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the President of the People’s Republic of China, came into office a little over one year ago, he faced several monumental challenges as the leader of the world’s largest and potentially most powerful country. The main issue plaguing Xi was China’s economy, which had gone into quite a slump despite being the world’s second largest. Over the past two years, Xi has made every decision to expand China’s influence and grow its global market – a decision which has been at odds with the intentions and wants of the world’s largest economy, the United States. On Wednesday, Xi Jinping met with several US diplomats, including Secretary of State John Kerry, at the sixth round of the United States-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) to discuss the ongoing issues between the world’s two economic juggernauts.

    This year marks the 35th year of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the US and China, going back to the Nixon administration. While relations have improved over time, recent decisions by Xi have increased tensions between the US and China.

    Xi has given orders to allow China to become more aggressive in the South Pacific, pushing against US allies such as South Korea and Japan, reaffirming his notion that “The vast Pacific Ocean has ample space to accommodate two great nations.”

    While Xi’s statement may be true, his unilateral decision making (powers granted to him by being both the General Secretary and President of China) has led the US to question the ideas of state sovereignty and the intentions of China in the near future.

    On Tuesday, President Obama released a statement concerning the upcoming S&ED meeting in which he acknowledged the differences between the two nations, but also the need to create some similarities:

    The United States and China will not always see eye-to-eye on every issue. That is to be expected for two nations with different histories and cultures. It also is why we need to build our relationship around common challenges, mutual responsibilities, and shared interests, even while we candidly address our differences.

    President Obama is not attending the S&ED, but Secretary of State Kerry reiterated the President’s message on Wednesday with his opening remarks: “Let me emphasize to you today: The U.S. isn’t seeking to contain China.” Instead, Kerry emphasized that the US is simply seeking to make the South Pacific and China a more stable place, enabling the global market to continue to operate without hinderance or strife.

    At first glance, Xi seemed to agree with Kerry and the US on Wednesday, saying, “A conflict between China and United States will definitely be a disaster for the two countries and the world.” However, Xi would go on to add that “We should respect and treat each other equally, and respect the other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect each other’s choice on the path of development,” seemingly hinting at the fact that he thinks the United States and China should stop interfering in each others’ affairs and just let it be.

    With recent comparisons to Mao Zedong’s ideological warfare against his own people and China’s aggressive actions in the South Pacific, the US need be wary of its communications with China in the near future. While China is still currently the world’s second largest economy, it is projected to surpass the United States in the very near future. With increased economic power and its ownership of much of the US economy, any disruption in peaceful relations could end in much more disaster for the US than China.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • John Kerry Assures Iraqis Of U.S. Support In Fighting ISIS

    Secretary of State John Kerry visited Baghdad on Monday to meet with Iraqi leaders while Islamist militants were in the middle of seizing sections of Iraq.

    Kerry said that the future of Iraq is dependent on the decisions that will be made within the coming weeks.

    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed to start building a new Iraq government by July 1. If the Prime Minister keeps his word, the U.S. will provide support to Iraqis in fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “Our support will be intense, sustained,” Kerry said.

    Kerry had a closed-door meeting with al-Maliki for a little over 90 minutes. The meeting was held in the same location where an Iraqi journalist flung a shoe at ex-President George W. Bush in order to insult him in 1998.

    Kerry was in Egypt on Sunday and said that ISIS continues to be a “threat to all the countries in the region.” The militants have already taken over the cities of Tikrit and Mosul, and they also promised to seize Baghdad.

    In addition, Kerry dismissed allegations that the U.S. is to blame for all the unrest in Iraq. “What’s happening in Iraq is not happening because of the United States, in terms of this current crisis,” he said. Kerry said that the unrest is caused by ISIS’ terrorism.

    On Monday, Kerry also mentioned that President Barack Obama already has a set of options for Iraq. Some of them are a steady supply of munitions, military advisers, joint operations centers, and enhanced intelligence.

    The U.S. believes that Iraqi military divisions that are situated outside Baghdad have dissolved because of problems with equipment, training, leadership, and morale. The U.S. said that around 10,000 people in Baghdad are members of ISIS or affiliated with the group and they are steadily gaining control of the area.

    Image via YouTube

  • Katie Couric’s Gig At Yahoo Breaks All The Rules

    How the world gets its news is changing every day. Remember having to wait to hear about details of a story until the morning paper? For better or worse, now the latest scoop is up on the web in seconds.

    Longtime and respected news anchor Katie Couric recently did an interview with Secretary of State John Kerry. She acknowledged that if she was still at her gig at the Today show, the interview would have probably lasted five minutes. If she had been at her other former job at CBS, the interview would have been about 3-1/2 minutes.

    But things are different now. The internet doesn’t have to deal with structured one-hour telecasts that cater to network advertisers and rigid schedules. Katie Couric works at Yahoo News, where she holds the title of chief global anchor. She doesn’t do “a show” per se.

    Her recent interview with Kerry covered a lot more ground, because she had a lot more time. “To be able to sit down and talk to him for 30 minutes about a very complicated topic that people needed a refresher course on, I can’t tell you how liberating and exciting it was,” said Couric. “It’s such a multi-faceted story. I could have talked to him for another half hour, but I didn’t want to press my luck.”

    Kerry also acknowledged the medium shift during the interview, “I am sitting here with you doing it on Yahoo—the landscape has shifted dramatically.”

    Howard Kurtz, who is a Fox News analyst, noted how different Couric conducted the interview with not having to fluff it up for television, “To my eye, Couric conducted the interview very differently than she would have on TV. She was all business, wearing her glasses, asking policy questions and feeling no need to inject a lighter moment or two.”

    You can find complete analysis of the Kerry interview and see it in its entirety by clicking here.

    We can expect Couric to conduct interviews with specialists in everything from science innovators to celebrities. She has already done interviews with several prominent figures including former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer described Couric’s role at Yahoo, “Katie will lead a growing team of correspondents at Yahoo News who will cover the world’s most interesting stories and newsmakers.”

    It was a big weekend for Couric personally as well. She wed financier John Molner on Saturday in a small intimate ceremony in the backyard of her house in the Hamptons.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • John Kerry Seeks to End Sexual Violence in Warfare

    Speaking before the largest such convention of all time, John Kerry called for the end of sexual violence in warfare at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, an event co-hosted by British Foreign Secretary William Hague and special envoy of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie.

    The four-day long summit in London had four explicit goals: 1) Institute practical training for soldiers and peacekeepers to help protect women from abuse; 2) End the culture of impunity surrounding sexual violence within the context of warfare by instituting consistent and effective legal protocols; 3) Increase support given to survivors of sexual assault; and 4) Eradicate the culture of acceptance surrounding sexual violence in warfare through a paradigm shift in beliefs.

    While most people believe the feat to be impossible, stating that rape is ingrained in warfare, Kerry and others believe quite the opposite, with Kerry likening the banning of sexual violence to the Chemical Weapons Convention, stating that, after World War I, “people, particularly veterans, were so horrified that, except for the most depraved exceptions we’ve seen once or twice since, chemical and biological weapons were banned from battlefields within a decade of that war. That speaks to possibilities.”

    In order to “write a new norm, one that protects women, girls, men and boys, from these unspeakable crimes,” Kerry envisions a five-part plan:

    1) Institute the use of a “mobile court” in order to bring swift and immediate justice to perpetrators.

    2) Increase funding for “Safe from the Start”, a program which educates refugee workers and others in how to prevent violence.

    3) Expand the “Together for Girls” program, whose goal is to end violence against young girls through education.

    4) Increase the amount of money US Embassies have to help people during times of emergency.

    5) Hold other countries to the standards of the United States and encourage them to stop giving visas to those accused of sexually violent crimes.

    “Thousands of years after rape was written into the lexicon of warfare, we know that it is time to write it out and to banish sexual violence to the dark ages and the history books where it belongs,” stated Kerry.

    In her opening remarks on Tuesday, Angelina Jolie had a very similar message to send to those in attendance: “It is a myth that rape is an inevitable part of conflict. There’s nothing inevitable about it. It is a weapon of war aimed at civilians. It has nothing to do with sex, everything to do with power.”

    Along with Kerry, Jolie, and Hague, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former US President Jimmy Carter sent video messages to be shared at the conference, a conference which was attended by representatives from more than 100 countries.

    Kerry ended his speech by reading “Still I Rise”, a poem by the late Maya Angelou: “We came here to send a message: We rise, we rise . Let’s get the job done,” Kerry announced before leaving to a standing ovation.

    Image via Twitter

  • John Kerry Regrets Calling Israel An ‘Apartheid State’

    John Kerry is not an envious position. As Secretary of State, he has to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without the appearance of taking sides. He did that previously when he said that Israel would become an “apartheid state” if an agreement wasn’t reached. As you can imagine, comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa got Kerry plenty of criticism and how he’s taking a little step back.

    Politico reports that Kerry recently said that he chose poor words when he said Israel was an apartheid state. Interestingly enough, he didn’t apologize for the meaning of what he said. Instead, he blamed conservatives for blowing his comments out of proportion. After all, Kerry loves Israel for the “vibrant democracy” that it is.

    Here’s his full statement:

    “I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don’t believe. First, Israel is a vibrant democracy and I do not believe, nor have I ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one. Second, I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word to describe my firm belief that the only way in the long term to have a Jewish state and two nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is through a two-state solution.”

    In short, Kerry wanted a way to describe what Israel would look like if a two-state solution wasn’t reached. It’s not far out to say that Palestinians are treated unfairly as it currently stands. While it’s debatable over whether or not things are as bad as they were for South Africans under apartheid, the sentiment is the same. Without a two-state solution, Palestinians will feel like second-class citizens.

    Despite apologizing for his poor word choice, pro-Israel senators will use Kerry’s comments against the Obama administration. Sen. Ted Cruz has already called for Kerry’s resignation over the comments and it may well be used as ammunition when criticizing the administration’s thus far failed attempts at brokering a peace deal between Israel and Palestine:

    Speaking of the peace deal, it has seemingly failed for now. The deadline to reach a deal was today with no deal in sight. The U.S. has also called back its envoy to the region and has no immediate plans to see him return.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Ukraine and Russia Make Plans to Ease Tensions

    Thursday morning, a four-party meeting was held in Geneva between the United States, the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine, with the intention being to create a plan which would lead to decreased overall hostilities between Ukraine and Russia and the end of the current violence in Eastern Ukraine. After six hours of talks, the four parties have come to an agreement as to how to alleviate the Ukrainian crisis, for now.

    The agreement the parties came to had three key criteria toward ending the current hostilities:

    1) All “illegally armed groups” in eastern Ukraine must lay down their weapons and cease violent activities.

    2) All government buildings and belongings which have been seized by insurgents must be returned to their proper owners.

    3) All pro-Russian insurgents will be given amnesty by the Ukrainian government as long as no capital crimes have been committed.

    The meeting came after Ukraine launched an anti-terror campaign on Tuesday to nullify the pro-Russian hostilities taking place in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. The move was made in response to pro-Russian sympathizers seizing governmental buildings in ten eastern Ukrainian cities.

    In spite of the peace-talk meeting on Thursday, violence from the insurgents did not cease, with 300 pro-Russians attacking a military base in Mariupol, Ukraine. This attack was coupled with a message from the chairman of the people’s council in Donetsk asking for an early referendum to occur in May to decide if the Donetsk region of Ukraine wants to be annexed to Russia as Crimea did previously.

    Perhaps of more import, however, were the statements made by Russian president Vladimir Putin Thursday morning on national television.

    Until Thursday, Putin had denied any Russian troop involvement in Crimea prior to the vote for annexation. On Thursday, Putin’s tone changed completely.

    “Of course we had our servicemen behind the self-defense units of Crimea. We had to make sure what is happening now in eastern Ukraine didn’t happen there,” Putin defended.

    Putin would go on to add, “In Crimea, the threats to the Russian-speaking population were quite real, palpable. They turned to Russia for help. Russia never planned any annexation or military actions in Crimea… But when this situation came up, when people said they wanted self-determination, that’s when we knew what we had to do. Everyone in the National Security Council agreed. Everything was done quickly and decisively. There have been no analogues in global history.”

    Despite stating that the reason for Russian troops being deployed to Crimea was to ensure a fair and proper vote, Putin condemned Ukraine’s military presence in the east and warned that Russia would not deem Ukraine’s elections for a new president valid unless their current hostilities against the Russian-sympathizers in Ukraine changes.

    If Russia does not help bring about the end of the hostilities in eastern Ukraine, the United States is prepared to enact more sanctions against the Russian government. When asked if this Geneva agreement was the last of talks between the four-parties, Secretary of State John Kerry remained pragmatic: “All of this we are convinced represents a good day’s work, but on the other hand, this day’s work has produced principles, and it has produced commitments and it has produced words on paper. And we are the first to understand and agree that words on paper will only mean what the actions taken as a result of those words produce.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Mahmoud Abbas and John Kerry Talk Canceled

    Secretary of State John Kerry canceled a talk planned for today with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to The New York Times. The meeting would have extended negotiations set to expire April 29th into 2015.

    It seems Kerry canceled the talks due to Abbas breaking the terms of the peace negotiations before the scheduled meeting. In the past month, Abbas began the process of joining 15 international agencies, a move strictly prohibited during negotiations. It appears Abbas was seeking statehood outside of U.S. talks.

    The loss of these talks is a loss for both sides. They were expected to lead to the release of an American citizen held for twenty-five years on suspicion of spying for Israel by Palestine, as well the release of many Palestinian soldiers by Israel.

    Abbas justified his actions, saying Israel had broken their promise to release soldiers as scheduled. Indeed, a fourth group of Palestinian soldiers were slated for release on March 29th but were not. He also cited the lack of progress made in significant negotiations.

    Abbas stated “We don’t want to collide with the U.S. administration. We want a good relationship with Washington because it helped us and exerted huge efforts. But because we did not find ways for a solution, this becomes our right.”

    Despite Abbas’ statement, it has become trying for the U.S. to stay involved in peace talks with Palestine and Israel. Kerry still stressed that this was not the end of U.S. attempts, but the fatigue was evident in Kerry’s recent remarks to NATO.

    He stated “The United States is proud and ready and willing to be a facilitator in this process. But the leaders on both sides have to make the decisions, not us. It’s up to them to decide what they’re prepared to do with each other, for each other, for the future, for the region, for peace.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • John Kerry Meets with Russian Foreign Minister

    Upon meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday in Paris to discuss a diplomatic solution to the situation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that their positions are “getting closer” in alignment.

    Kerry had left a trip to the Middle East, but touched down in Ireland to refuel his plane, and turned around to head to Paris. Kerry arrived at Lavrov’s Parisian residence, the two posed for a picture, and then commenced a meeting to devise a strategy to help ease the most significant East-West standoff since the end of the Cold War. The meeting took place behind closed doors.

    Today’s meeting is said to be a followup to the phone call Russian President Vladimir Putin made to President Obama on Friday to discuss a plan concerning how to peacefully resolve the international standoff over Ukraine, which was an unexpected move by Moscow to attempt to tone down the escalating situation that has unnerved Europe and much of the world.

    U.S. officials have said that the plan Kerry took to Paris includes the disarmament of irregular forces, international watchdogs to protect minority rights, direct communication between Russia and Ukraine and Ukrainian political and constitutional reforms. Kerry’s meeting with Lavrov reportedly lasted four hours, though the results are yet unknown.

    Kerry and Lavrov have been on the phone almost daily and have met several times in person since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, but have not yet agreed on how to move forward. The two met last week in The Hague, where Kerry presented Lavrov with the proposal, as a response to a plan Lavrov had mapped out during a March 10th meeting in London.

    Lavrov had told Russia’s Channel One television station Sunday that “We have absolutely no intention of, or interest in, crossing Ukraine’s borders.”

    Moreover, the Kremlin stated Putin had directed Obama’s attention to a “rampage of extremists” in Ukraine and suggested “possible steps by the international community to help stabilize the situation” in the region.

    Image via YouTube

  • Mikhail Gorbachev: Crimea Annexation is ‘Happy Event’

    Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union, has proclaimed Crimea’s vote to join Russia as a “happy event.”

    In comments published on Russian news website Slon.ru, Gorbachev supported the referendum vote that will lead to the annexation of Crimea, saying it was a just and accurate reflection of Crimean residents’ free will.

    Indeed, Gorbachev sees the vote and its repercussions as the righting of a Soviet-era wrong.

    “Earlier Crimea was merged with Ukraine under Soviet laws, to be more exact by the [Communist] party’s laws, without asking the people, and now the people have decided to correct that mistake. This should be welcomed instead of declaring sanctions,” he said on Monday.

    Gorbachev added that the Crimean referendum may set a precedent for Russian-speaking residents of eastern Ukraine.

    Crimea’s Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev has said the same thing: “I think the second step will be east Ukraine.”

    “I think that in the east of Ukraine approximately 70 percent, 75 percent want to join to Russia,” Temirgaliev added, referencing studies performed by unnamed sociologists.

    Not everyone is as enthusiastic about the so-called resolution to the Crimean crisis. Some world leaders, including many in the United States, see the vote as one that was carried out under intimidation and the threat of violence.

    On Tuesday, while speaking to a group of university students at the State Department, Secretary of State John Kerry said the situation has generated a “nationalist fervor which could, in fact, infect in ways that could be very, very dangerous. All you have to do is go back and read in history of the lead up to World War II, and the passions that were released with that kind of nationalistic fervor.”

    Kerry’s predecessor Hillary Clinton had equally strong words about the Crimean situation and Moscow’s actions:

    “What Putin did is illegal; it is against international law,” the former Secretary of State said in an address to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal on Tuesday.

    “This is a clash of values, and it’s an effort by Putin to rewrite the boundaries of post-World War II Europe. And if he’s allowed to get away with that, then I think you’ll see a lot of other countries either directly facing Russian aggression or suborned with their political systems — so they’re so intimidated that, in effect, they are transformed into vassals, not sovereign democracies.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Newt Gingrich Eyeing Sec. of State Position?

    In a Twitter rant last month, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sounded-off against current Secretary of State John Kerry for comments he made in a speech to students in Jakarta, Indonesia, going as far as to ask John Kerry to resign from his position as Secretary of State. So what was the subject of the comments that got Gingrich in such a tissy? None other than the Republican Party’s greatest enemy: climate change.

    In speaking to Indonesian students, Secretary of State Kerry stated that climate change is “the greatest challenge of our generation” and that “climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.”

    Gingrich took great exception to both comments, going to Twitter to speak his disapproval:

    One could debate the validity of Kerry’s or Gingrich’s statements all day and wind-up achieving zero progress. Thus, perhaps the more interesting question is, “Why in the world would Gingrich care so much about what Kerry has to say?”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfktxYF5x4Q

    While Gingrich was a presidential candidate in 2012, he has been irrelevant on the political scene for quite some time. He now spends his days hanging out as the lone out-spoken Republican at CNN.

    His position at CNN allows him the perfect opportunity, though, to have a national media outlet serve as his personal soap-box and campaign platform. Gingrich took full advantage of this situation yesterday by publishing an essay at CNN.com entitled “Beyond empty symbols, a serious strategy for dealing with Russia.”

    In his scathing critique, Gingrich states that the United States needs to do something more than spout “liberal symbolism” in order to deal with the threat of Russia: “What we have so far is symbolic liberalism offering words, symbolic liberalism flying around the world from capital to capital having meetings, and symbolic liberalism targeting narrowly a handful of people in a way that will have no impact on Putin. What we could have is serious, robust action that would have a genuine and immediate impact and would weaken Russia’s ability to act aggressively toward its neighbors.”

    What is Gingrich’s plan to for action, you ask? Well, it’s fairly simple, actually. All Gingrich wants to happen if for President Obama to create multiple executive orders which lead to the construction of the Keystone Pipeline and also opens up the exportation of natural gas to Eastern Europe. Through this plan, Gingrich hopes to lower the international price of natural gas so much that it will cripple Russia’s economic stranglehold on Eastern Europe and thus save the day…. Just like Gingrich’s good ol’ pal Reagan did in order to bring down the Soviet Union….

    One can only think that by lambasting John Kerry on Twitter and by releasing his plan of action to solve an international crisis that no one has been able to properly assess and address yet that Gingrich is prepping himself to become the next Secretary of State for whichever Republican presidential candidate wins the 2016 election.

    Or perhaps Newt is just being Newt. Who knows? It’s American politics, after all.

    Image via YouTube

  • U.S. Imposes New Sanctions in Ukraine Crisis

    The U.S. State Department imposed a ban on visas and a freezing of U.S. assets for officials and other individuals considered to have threatened the territory of Ukraine, the White House announced Thursday.

    According to a statement issued by Jay Carnay, the White House spokesman, the ban is significant because it will apply to both Russian and Ukrainian citizens who are responsible “responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

    President Obama also issued an executive order that provides a legal basis for imposing penalties on such “individuals and entities” who have undermined the territory of Ukraine, misappropriated Ukraine’s assets or have asserted authority over parts of Ukraine without the approval of the Ukrainian government.

    The White House said the measures were a response to Russia’s “ongoing violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, a reference to its intervention in the southern peninsula of Crimea.

    The ban “is a flexible tool that will allow us to sanction those who are most directly involved in destabilizing Ukraine, including the military intervention in Crimea, and does not preclude further steps should the situation deteriorate,” the White House statement said.

    The penalties could involve the freezing of U.S. assets of such people or entities, as well as a ban on travel to the U.S. and doing business with Americans.

    These measures are in addition to visa restrictions that have already been imposed on parties considered responsible for causing political oppression and human rights abuse in Ukraine territory.

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet with Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov on Thursday.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

     

  • Hilary Clinton Backs Up Putin-Hitler Comparison

    Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton drew fire from many recently for her statements equating Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his country’s actions in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi invasions of Europe in the 1930s. Despite the criticism, Clinton is not backing down from the comments.

    Clinton defended her assertion of the similarities between the two leaders during a question and answer session at UCLA:

    “What I said yesterday is that the claims by President Putin and other Russians that they had to go into Crimea and maybe further into eastern Ukraine because they had to protect the Russian minorities … is reminiscent of claims that were made back in the 1930s when Germany under the Nazis kept talking about how they had to protect German minorities in Poland, in Czechoslovakia and elsewhere throughout Europe.”

    Clinton also characterized Putin as someone who is keenly aware of Russia’s former pace on the world stage and is seeking to restore the nation’s greatness, saying that he “believes his mission is to restore Russian greatness.” All of this was during a session that saw Clinton, a possible presidential candidate in 2016, field questions about everything from the Affordable Care Act to Girl Scout Cookie preference.

    While all of the talk of similarities between Putin and Hitler may stir up some discomfort, don’t start digging a bomb shelter to wait out WWIII just yet. Clinton was sure to mention that all parties are working toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis: “So it’s a real nail-biter, right now, but nobody wants to up the rhetoric. Everybody wants to cool it in order to find a diplomatic solution and that’s what we should be trying to do.”

    Such a solution may prove difficult given the opposite views of Russia on the one hand and the European Union and United States on the other. Current Secretary of State John Kerry is in Kiev working on bringing the two sides together, although no major news has broken about the prospective talks.

    Clinton’s remarks have drawn the usual strong reactions from the internet, ranging from the negative:


    To the positive:


    To the undecided:

    Whether or not Putin’s actions prove to be on a level with that of the Nazis, you can rest assured that Clinton’s comparison will be around at least until the next presidential election.

    [Image via UCLA]

  • Obama’s Approval Rating Suffers

    How’s that approval rating these days, Mr. Obama? Well to use Politician Speak, one might answer this question with,” What that question depends on entirely what you mean by an ‘approval rating.’” Although the ratings haven’t changed much since the recent State of the Union address- which is usually thought to be the main point of those things- the president has enjoyed an steady approval rate no lower than 40 since September 2013. Now currently sitting at a comfortable 48 percent/50 percent this week, it looks as if the country is relatively pleased with the president.

    This is in America, however. Time has recently told us that there is a totally different perspective of Obama in Israel. A new poll has revealed that 70% of Jewish Israelis do not trust having Obama with their country’s relations. Last year in March, Obama left the country with glowing reviews of promises to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and most of the country believed in him. Since then, however, Obama has participated in agreements with Iran that have been met with general Israelis disapproval. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministered protested the initial pact, and accused Obama of being naive.

    Further negotiations have lead to more strong sentiment from both Israel as well as retaliating stern reprimands from the State Department of Defense. Since the Secretary of State, John Kerry, has the most active role in these slow-moving negotiations, he has received a lot of the Israeli blows– Israeli Defense Minister was admonished to publicly apologize for calling Kerry “obsessive and messianic.”

    It’s safe to say until negotiations are settled and everyone is satisfied with the agreements (when does that ever happen?) Obama along with his administration will be seen as The Bad Guys in Israel. Here’s to an effective and expedient resolution between the volatile countries.

    Image via NDN

  • Baghdad Brothel Shooting Leaves 12 Dead

    January is shaping up to be a violent month in Iraq. According to Agence France Presse (AFP), the death toll rose by at least 12 on Tuesday when gunmen attacked an apartment that served as a brothel in the Zayouna area of Baghdad.

    Liquor stores and brothels seem to be a popular target. On December 7, gunmen attacked 12 liquor stores in Baghdad, killing nine people.

    In May 2013, an attack on liquor stores in Baghdad left at least 10 dead. In that attack, gunmen allowed customers to leave the stores unharmed. The dead were all store employees and were reportedly of the Christian faith.

    A week later, gunmen attacked a brothel in the Zayouna area, killing 12.

    Although no major US news agencies have picked up the report of Tuesday’s brothel killing – and it sounds suspiciously similar to the May attack – there is no denying that violence in Iraq has escalated alarmingly in the past year.

    According to Shashank Joshi, a Research Fellow at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London and Harvard doctoral student, the increase in violence can be explained by three trends:

    1. The increasingly authoritarian stance of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
    2. The rise of protest – both peaceful and violent – among the Sunni minority that comprises 1/5 of Iraq’s population
    3. Increased sectarian tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims

    On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden made a phone call to Prime Minister al-Maliki to express US concern over the increasing violence and to convey support for Iraq’s fight against the local arm of al-Qaida.

    Biden also spoke to Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi who is a Sunni leader and frequent and outspoken critic of al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government.

    Presumably, Biden made contact with both leaders in an attempt to bolster collaboration between the two opposing denominations of the Muslim faith.

    According to a White House statement, “Prime Minister Maliki affirmed the importance of working closely with Iraq’s Sunni leaders and communities to isolate extremists.”

    Meanwhile, as Iraqi government forces battle al-Qaida for control of key cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi, Secretary of State John Kerry has said that no new US troops will be deployed to the region.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • South Sudan Receives Stern Warning From Washington

    After thousands have died in three weeks of fighting between warring factions in South Sudan, U.S. Secretary John Kerry said peace talks have to come with sincere intentions to stop the violence, and not just be a way for either side to buy time.

    “Negotiations have to be serious, they cannot be a delay [or] gimmick in order to continue the fighting and try to find advantage on the ground at the expense of the people of South Sudan,” said Kerry. “Both parties need to put the interests of South Sudan above their own. The beginning of direct talks is a very important step, but make no mistake, it is only a first step. There’s a lot more to do.”

    The two opposing sides–those who back South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and those who back former vice president Riek Machar–have been involved in a bloody conflict since Dec. 15, and on Friday, Jan. 3, the U.S. embassy in South Sudan pulled out additional staff members, because it felt the amount of security it had subsided in recent days.

    But Kerry said obtaining political power through force will not be tolerated and any side that does so will be on the receiving end of a strong global backlash. “[Washington] will deny support and we will work to apply international pressure to any elements who attempt to use force to seize power,” he said. The world will be “watching very closely to see that a halt to the fighting on the ground takes place.”

    Michael Makuei, South Sudan’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, said his country’s government will not be strong armed by the international community to release prisoners who allegedly staged a recent coup.

    “We thought the international community would come in support of us,” he said to reporters in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. “There is no way we can be asked to release people who are arrested and charged. It would set a “bad precedent.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Kerry Says No U.S. Troops Will Return to Fallujah

    Iraqi forces are planning a “major attack” against al Qaeda militants in Fallujah, and while Washington has said it would assist, Secretary of State John Kerry has made it clear that no new U.S. troops will be redeployed to the region.

    The al Qaeda occupation of Fallujah and parts of the Anbar provincial capital Ramadi marks the first instance of militants exacting such open control in major urban areas since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

    Secretary of State Kerry told reporters in Jerusalem on Sunday that the U.S. would assist Iraqi forces that are mostly posted up on the outskirts of Fallujah, commenting that it was “their fight.” Baghdad already has special forces troops conducting small operations inside the city. Kerry added that Washington is “very, very concerned” about the al Qaeda resurgence, but asserted that no new U.S. ground troops would be redeployed after their withdrawal in December 2011.

    “We are not obviously contemplating returning, we are not contemplating putting boots on the ground, this is their fight,” Kerry said, adding, “But we’re going to help them in their fight. We are going to do everything that is possible to help them.”

    Fighting intensifies for control of Fallujah:

    Fallujah is presently under the control of members of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has also claimed the village of Bubali near Ramadi on Sunday. Iraqi ground forces commander Staff General Ali Ghaidan Majeed commented, “we do not know what is happening in Fallujah,” but said the city should “wait for what is coming.”

    On Friday and Saturday, more than 160 people were killed in the Anbar province. In 2013, violence in the region reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was just recovering from a brutal period of sectarian slayings.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.

  • John Kerry: North Korea’s Leader Is Reckless And Ruthless

    U.S. Secretary of  State John Kerry has described North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, 30, as reckless and insecure following the arrest and execution of the North Korean leader’s powerful uncle, Jang Song Thaek.

    Kerry said Kim’s actions were “ominous” to the country’s stability. In an exclusive interview with Martha Raddatz of ABC, Kerry said Kim’s “ruthless, horrendous dictatorship” can only be compared to Saddam Hussein.

    “It really reminded me of a video that we saw of Saddam Hussein doing the same thing, having people plucked out of an audience, and people sitting there sweating, and nobody daring to move or do anything,” Kerry told ABC,  “It tells us a lot about, first of all, how ruthless and reckless he is. And it also tells us a lot about how insecure he is, to a certain degree.”

    North Korea reported the execution of Jang Song Thaek on Friday. Earlier, the state had said it had stripped Thaek of his position and powers after accusing him of a number of criminal acts including financial crimes, alcohol abuse and womanizing. The Communist nation is known for its secretive politics and Thaek could have been executed because of a fall-out with the Korean leader as well as other personal reasons.

    Following the execution, Kerry lamented that it was not the first time this had happened under Kim’s administration. He called for urgent attention on North Korean nuclear plans. Kerry believes that this act demonstrates that North Korea is not ready to embrace stability.

    North Korea has already carried out two long-range missile tests and tested its nuclear weapons despite U.N. sanctions. The U.S. is already working with China and the U.K. to tame North Korean nuclear ambitions. Other countries that support U.N. sanctions include Russia, South Korea and Japan.

    Kerry, in the interview, said having someone like Kim with “a nuclear weapon potentiality” is out-rightly dangerous and unacceptable.

    (image via YouTube)

  • George Stephanopoulos On ‘This Week’

    George Stephanopoulos On ‘This Week’

    George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC News’ This Week, a political interview and commentary program, interviewed Secretary of State John Kerry recently about the nuclear deal with Iran, as well as Senator Saxby Chambliss.

    Secretary Kerry told Stephanopoulos on This Week Sunday, “Israel and the United States absolutely share the same goal here. There is no daylight between us, with respect to what we want to achieve at this point, We both want to make it certain Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And Iran cannot be in a place where they can breakout and suddenly get that nuclear weapon.”

    Stephanopoulos also interviewed the head Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) on the show that he doesn’t have much hope that this deal will make much difference whether Iran builds a nuclear weapon or not.

    “They’re going to destroy uranium enriched to 20 percent, but irrespective of what [Kerry] just said, they’re going to be able to continue to enrich uranium to 3.5 percent,” Chambliss argued. “They’ve got six tons now. They’re going to allow them to go to seven tons, and then they’ll come back down to six tons within the next six months, but they’ll still have that capability.”

    Senator Chambliss then added, “I just don’t see this movement in the direction of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon at all.”

    Main image courtesy @KayeFoley and @ThisWeekABC via Twitter.

  • Benjamin Netanyahu: Iran Agreement Is A “Historic Mistake”

    As Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama celebrated a series of resolutions on nuclear proliferation that they supposedly reached with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the complete opposite tone.

    In a speech today before Israel’s cabinet, CNN and the Washington Post report Netanyahu reiterating Israel’s desire to completely dismantle Iranian uranium enrichment programs, and halt any nuclear developments by Iran.

    “What was achieved last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, but a historic mistake… Today the world has become a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world has taken a significant step toward attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world,” he told he cabinet.

    Iran, meanwhile, claims that the nuclear program is a peaceful one, that it is simply exercising a right to enrich uranium like other nations, and that only the medical research and energy industries will benefit. Not everyone in the international community agrees with Iran’s assessment, even though the country has yet to officially enrich weapons-grade uranium.

    If Iran makes the effort to start, then Israel appears prepared to preemptively strike. Israel’s intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz, compared Iran to North Korea: “The last-second amendments put into the agreement are far from satisfactory. The current deal, like the 2007 failed deal with North Korea, is more likely to bring Iran closer to having a bomb.”

    Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, believes the deal “brings us to a nuclear arms race… The world has to understand that this is the biggest diplomatic victory Iran has had in recent years. There’s no doubt the agreement recognizes Iran’s right to enrich uranium.”

    White House descriptions of the deal seem a bit tamer than Israel’s. A fact sheet from D.C. called the deal “the first meaningful limits that Iran has accepted on its nuclear program in close to a decade.” It went on to say that, “With respect to the comprehensive solution, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed…Put simply, this first step expires in six months, and does not represent an acceptable end state to the United States.”

    The White House acknowledged Iran’s official concessions in the agreement: all enrichment of uranium above 5 percent is to be halted; the stockpile of 3.5 percent enriched uranium is to be frozen; any uranium enriched to 20 percent is to be neutralized or diluted; and all activity at the Arak nuclear reactor (which has the potential to produce weapons-grade plutonium) is to be halted.

    Netanyahu had been attempting to convince world leaders that Iran would be producing a “bad deal.” After making his case to French President François Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin, relations between the White House and Israel seemed strained.

    Isaac Herzog, the leader of Israel’s opposition Labor party, called out Netanyahu, saying “Netanyahu must do everything in order to fix the damage that was caused from the public clash with the U.S. and return to an intimate relationship with President Obama and other world leaders.”

    The most dramatic quotation came from Israel’s economic minister, Natfatli Bennett, who said “If a nuclear suitcase blows up in New York or Madrid five years from now, it will be because of the deal that was signed this morning… There is still a long campaign ahead of us [and] we will continue to act in every possible way.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]