House conservatives strategize to challenge Biden’s victory with Trump and Pence
The discussion was centered on Trump Baseless claims Participants said that the election was stolen from them, and participants convinced that there would be........»»
Biden to host trilateral summit with Japan, Philippines on April 11
Washington, DC [US], March 19 (ANI): US President Joe Biden will host a three-way summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in Washington on April 11, as announced by the White House, as reported by Kyodo News. This historic summit, the first of its kind involving the United States, Japan, and the Philippines, aims to bolster defence cooperation in response to China's asse.....»»
US Officials Warn of New Axis of Evil With China at the Fore
WASHINGTON - U.S. military and defense officials are increasingly concerned that as China and Russia forge ever stronger ties, they might attempt to challenge Western unity and eventually alter the balance of power on the world stage.The commander of U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee that the evolving relationship between Beijing and Moscow is a "big portion" of.....»»
Trump passes major US election test with win in Iowa
Donald Trump swept to victory Monday in Iowa’s caucuses — the first vote in the US presidential race — cementing his status as the presumptive Republican standard-bearer to challenge President Joe Biden in November’s election. The former president has led polling for more than a year, but the Iowa contest was seen as the clearest.....»»
Prosecutors reject Trump claim of ‘absolute immunity’
Federal prosecutors on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to have election conspiracy charges dismissed on the grounds that he enjoys immunity for actions he took while in the White House. "No one in this country, not even the president, is above the law," special counsel Jack Smith's team wrote in a 54-page motion filed with the judge presiding over the landmark case. Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is to go on trial in Washington in March of next year for allegedly conspiring to subvert the results of the November 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden. The former president's lawyers, in a motion two weeks ago to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, argued that the charges should be thrown out because Trump is "absolutely immune from criminal prosecution." Prosecutors in the special counsel's office dismissed that argument and urged Chutkan to deny Trump's request. "He is subject to the federal criminal laws like more than 330 million other Americans," they said. "No court has ever alluded to the existence of absolute criminal immunity for former presidents. "The implications of the defendant's unbounded immunity theory are startling," they added. "It would grant absolute immunity from criminal prosecution to a president who accepts a bribe in exchange for a lucrative government contract for a family member," they said, or "a president who sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary." Trump's bid to invoke the presidential immunity defense is seen as a long shot by legal observers but it could result in a delay to the start of the trial as the argument potentially winds its way up to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court. Trump's attempts to use the "absolute immunity" defense in other cases have been rebuffed by judges, but the nation's highest court has never ruled directly on whether a former chief executive is immune from criminal prosecution. Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges. 'Unsettled question' Trump's attorneys, citing a Supreme Court case involving former president Richard Nixon, said the law provides "absolute immunity" to the president "for acts within the 'outer perimeter' of his official responsibility." As chief executive, they argued, Trump had a responsibility to "ensure election integrity" and was within his rights to challenge the results of the 2020 vote. "As President Trump is absolutely immune from criminal prosecution for such acts, the Court should dismiss the indictment," they said. While making the argument that Trump cannot be prosecuted, his lawyers acknowledged the Nixon case they cited involved the civil liability of a former president and not alleged criminal conduct. "The question remains a 'serious and unsettled question' of law," they said. The case before Chutkan accuses Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding -- the January 6, 2021 joint session of Congress that was attacked by a mob of Trump supporters. Other criminal cases against Trump include racketeering charges in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to upend the election results in the southern state and a trial in Florida in May 2024 on charges of mishandling top-secret government documents. Trump and his two eldest sons are also currently involved in a civil fraud trial in New York for allegedly inflating the value of their real estate assets to receive more favorable bank loans and insurance terms. The post Prosecutors reject Trump claim of ‘absolute immunity’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump says his problem with Biden is competence, not age
Joe Biden, America's oldest president, received support from an unexpected ally over his age: Donald Trump said the Democrat was "not too old" to seek a second term, while quickly adding: "I think he's incompetent." The former president's comments, made in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to be aired Sunday, come as America faces a profound debate over the aging of its political class, a major factor ahead of the 2024 elections -- when Biden will be just shy of 82 and Trump himself 78. Polls show that while the age gap between the two men is small, Americans worry more about Biden's age, with one survey finding that three in four people doubt his ability to last a second term. That Trump ended his own term in office as the second-oldest president ever (Ronald Reagan was 77 at the end of his term) presents the real estate magnate with a challenge, however, in repeatedly portraying Biden as too "sleepy" to do the job. But that hasn't stopped the Republican, who would be 82 at the end of a second term, from trying to thread that needle. "Some of the greatest world leaders have been in their 80s," he told NBC. "I'm not anywhere very near 80, by the way. "And Biden's not too old," Trump added. "But I think he's incompetent, and that's a bigger problem." Biden, who overcame a stuttering problem as a youth, has often been mocked for his verbal stumbles. But he remains trim, physically active, does not drink and is often seen riding his bicycle during weekends at his Delaware home. Democrats say he also fares well on the competency front, having overseen the passage of major legislation, including a massive infrastructure bill, the largest gun-safety bill in decades, and the Build Back Better social spending program. Biden has also been active on the global stage. Indeed, during his just-ended trip to Vietnam -- which analysts say was staged partly to highlight his vigor -- that country's 79-year-old Communist leader smilingly complimented Biden on his relative youth. Trump, for his part, has gotten mostly positive marks during annual physicals -- though he has been classed as overweight and does no exercise other than golf. Like Biden, he does not drink. Trump, too, has had his share of bizarre verbal moments, mangled pronunciations and physical stumbles. But in the NBC interview, he said his own age does not concern him, noting that his parents had long lives. "So genetically, that's a good thing." His insistence on his own competency was ridiculed during the 2020 presidential campaign when Trump said he had scored an "amazing" result on what he said was a test of mental acuity. He said he had to remember, in order, these words: "Person, woman, man, camera, TV." His proud and repeated recitation of those five words was ridiculed by political rivals and went viral on social media. Still, in an apparent reference to that test made in the NBC interview, Trump said, "I aced it. I got everything right." The post Trump says his problem with Biden is competence, not age appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump says his problem with Biden is competence, not age
Joe Biden, America's oldest president, received support from an unexpected ally over his age: Donald Trump said the Democrat was "not too old" to seek a second term, while quickly adding: "I think he's incompetent." The former president's comments, made in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to be aired Sunday, come as America faces a profound debate over the aging of its political class, a major factor ahead of the 2024 elections -- when Biden will be just shy of 82 and Trump himself 78. Polls show that while the age gap between the two men is small, Americans worry more about Biden's age, with one survey finding that three in four people doubt his ability to last a second term. That Trump ended his own term in office as the second-oldest president ever (Ronald Reagan was 77 at the end of his term) presents the real estate magnate with a challenge, however, in repeatedly portraying Biden as too "sleepy" to do the job. But that hasn't stopped the Republican, who would be 82 at the end of a second term, from trying to thread that needle. "Some of the greatest world leaders have been in their 80s," he told NBC. "I'm not anywhere very near 80, by the way. "And Biden's not too old," Trump added. "But I think he's incompetent, and that's a bigger problem." Biden, who overcame a stuttering problem as a youth, has often been mocked for his verbal stumbles. But he remains trim, physically active, does not drink and is often seen riding his bicycle during weekends at his Delaware home. Democrats say he also fares well on the competency front, having overseen the passage of major legislation, including a massive infrastructure bill, the largest gun-safety bill in decades, and the Build Back Better social spending program. Biden has also been active on the global stage. Indeed, during his just-ended trip to Vietnam -- which analysts say was staged partly to highlight his vigor -- that country's 79-year-old Communist leader smilingly complimented Biden on his relative youth. Trump, for his part, has gotten mostly positive marks during annual physicals -- though he has been classed as overweight and does no exercise other than golf. Like Biden, he does not drink. Trump, too, has had his share of bizarre verbal moments, mangled pronunciations and physical stumbles. But in the NBC interview, he said his own age does not concern him, noting that his parents had long lives. "So genetically, that's a good thing." His insistence on his own competency was ridiculed during the 2020 presidential campaign when Trump said he had scored an "amazing" result on what he said was a test of mental acuity. He said he had to remember, in order, these words: "Person, woman, man, camera, TV." His proud and repeated recitation of those five words was ridiculed by political rivals and went viral on social media. Still, in an apparent reference to that test made in the NBC interview, Trump said, "I aced it. I got everything right." The post Trump says his problem with Biden is competence, not age appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Clampdown and grief as Iranians remember Mahsa Amini
Iranians at home and abroad marked the first anniversary Saturday of the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, with activists speaking of a renewed crackdown to prevent any resurgence of the protests which rocked major cities last year. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died a few days after her arrest by religious police for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women in force since shortly after the 1979 revolution. Her family says she died from a blow to the head but this is disputed by Iranian authorities. Anger over her death rapidly expanded into weeks of taboo-breaking protests which saw women tearing off their mandatory headscarves in an open challenge to the Islamic republic's system of government under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But after several months, they lost momentum in the face of a crackdown that saw security forces kill 551 protesters, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), and arrest more than 22,000, according to Amnesty International. Iranian authorities say dozens of security personnel were also killed in what they describe as "riots" incited by foreign governments and hostile media. Seven men have been executed after being convicted in protest-related cases. Campaigners say the authorities have renewed their crackdown in the runup to the anniversary, putting pressure on relatives of those killed in the protests in a bid to stop them speaking out. New York-based Human Rights Watch said family members of at least 36 people killed or executed in the crackdown had been interrogated, arrested, prosecuted or sentenced to prison over the past month. "Iranian authorities are trying to impose a chokehold on dissent to prevent public commemoration of Mahsa Jina Amini's death in custody, which has become the symbol of the government's systematic oppression of women, injustice and impunity," said HRW's senior Iran researcher, Tara Sepehri Far. 'Repressive forces' deployed The two journalists who did the most to publicize the Amini case –- Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi who respectively reported from her hospital and funeral –- have been held in prison for almost a year. Another reporter, Nazila Maroufian who interviewed Amini's father Amjad, has been arrested repeatedly. Amjad Amini has told Persian media based outside Iran that he plans to hold a commemoration for his daughter in their hometown of Saqez in Kurdish-populated western Iran later Saturday. Outlets, including Prague-based Radio Farda, said he was summoned by intelligence officials after his announcement. He was not arrested but one of Amini's uncles, Safa Aeli, was detained in Saqez on 5 September. According to Kurdish-focused news outlet Hengaw, the government has sent additional security forces to Saqez and other towns in western Iran that could become flashpoints. On Saturday, Hengaw said, "repressive forces" were deployed around the Amini family residence in Saqez. It posted photos on X, formerly Twitter, showing armed men in fatigues on the streets of Saqez, as well as video of shops shuttered and on strike to mark the anniversary in Saqez, Sanandaj and other cities of Kurdistan province. 'Doubling down' While some women are still seen walking in public without headscarves, particularly in wealthy, traditionally liberal areas of north Tehran, the conservative-dominated parliament is currently considering a draft law that would impose far stiffer penalties for non-compliance. "The Islamic republic is doubling down on repression and reprisals against its citizens and seeking to introduce new and more draconian laws that severely restrict further the rights of women and girls," said Sara Hossain, the chair of the UN fact-finding mission set up to investigate the crackdown. Under the slogan "Say her name!", Iranian emigres are expected to hold commemorative rallies, with large demonstrations expected in Paris and Toronto. Amnesty International accused Iran's authorities of committing a "litany of crimes under international law to eradicate any challenge to their iron grip on power" and lamented that not a single official had been even investigated over Amini's death or the crackdown. "The anniversary offers a stark reminder for countries around the world of the need to initiate criminal investigations into the heinous crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction," said Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director, Diana Eltahawy. On the eve of the anniversary, Iran's arch-foe the United States and its Western allies including Britain and the European Union imposed new sanctions on the Islamic republic over its protest crackdown. Announcing the measures, US President Joe Biden led international calls in solidarity with Iranians on the anniversary of Amini's death. "Iranians alone will determine the fate of their country, but the United States remains committed to standing with them," he said. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani slammed the Western countries' "illegal and undiplomatic actions" in a statement late Friday. The post Clampdown and grief as Iranians remember Mahsa Amini appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Politically divided Chile marks 50-year coup anniversary
Chile on Monday marked 50 years since the coup d'etat that brought Augusto Pinochet to power, with political divisions over the legacy of his brutal dictatorship on stark display. Commemorations of the violent US-backed ouster of Marxist leader Salvador Allende still evoke strong emotions, and police fired teargas and water cannons at protesters who vandalized the presidential palace on the anniversary's eve. Leftist President Gabriel Boric led an event at the palace, known as La Moneda, to mark the historic date, and stressed the need to condemn those who violate human rights "without any nuance." "The coup cannot be separated from what came after," he said, referring to the 17-year Pinochet dictatorship under which more than 3,200 people were killed or "disappeared" and tens of thousands tortured. The far-right UDI party issued a statement Monday defending the coup as "inevitable" due to the failures of Allende's political left. The presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, and Uruguay were at the emotional ceremony in Santiago, also attended by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica. No right-wing representatives attended Monday's event at La Moneda. Poetry readings and musical performances were interrupted by a minute of silence to mark the moment the bombs started dropping on the palace. Allende committed suicide while troops and tanks closed in. As night fell, thousands arrived at the national stadium in the capital -- once used by Pinochet's regime as a torture center -- to place candles in memory of the victims. Elsewhere, protesters on the outskirts of town prevented the passage of vehicles. The 1973 coup, in a country seen until then as a bastion of democracy and stability in Latin America, reverberated around the world and underscored covert interference by the United States. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday that President Joe Biden's government "has tried to be transparent about the US role in that chapter of Chilean history by recently declassifying documents from 1973 as the Chilean government has requested us to do." 'Never again' Chileans remain deeply divided between those who defend the coup and those who repudiate it, while many feel the anniversary is irrelevant amid economic woes and concerns over rising crime. A survey conducted by Cerc-Mori in May found that 36 percent of people believe Pinochet "liberated Chile from Marxism" -- the highest figure measured in 28 years of polling. On Sunday, Boric became the first president since the end of the dictatorship in 1990 to attend a commemorative march through Santiago for Pinochet's victims. But the procession was marred by vandals causing damage to the exterior of La Moneda and the general cemetery that houses a victims' memorial. Six police officers were injured and at least 11 people were arrested, officials said. Boric blamed the acts on "adversaries of democracy." On Sunday night, some 6,000 women dressed in black held a peaceful vigil in the capital under the slogan: "Never again will democracy be bombed," in reference to the 1973 air raids. Politics 'a little toxic' Led by Boric, Allende's leftist political heirs are in power in Chile today. But the far-right Republican Party -- Pinochet apologists -- emerged the strongest from elections in May for a body tasked with drafting a new constitution to replace the one that dates from the dictatorship era. Pinochet died of a heart attack on 10 December 2006, aged 91, without ever stepping foot in a court. Michelle Bachelet, a former leftist president of Chile, told a local radio station Monday the country must "learn from the lessons of the past" at a time when politics "is a little toxic." She herself was tortured during the dictatorship, as was her father, an air force general who had opposed the coup. Chile's right-wing opposition has abstained from signing a document affirming a commitment to "defend democracy from authoritarian threats" that has been signed by four living ex-presidents of the South American country. On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the 1973 coup "was an institutional breakdown that ruptured the bonds of coexistence and marked generations of Chileans, but also inspired many to fight for justice and freedom." He added: "Today's strong Chilean democracy gives us hope that humanity, united in its diversity, can solve any global challenge." The post Politically divided Chile marks 50-year coup anniversary appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump arrested in Georgia racketeering case
Former US president Donald Trump was arrested at a Georgia jail on Thursday on racketeering and conspiracy charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in the southern state. During a brief session lasting less than 30 minutes, the 77-year-old Trump was booked on 13 charges at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail, according to records published by the sheriff's office. Trump's height was listed by the jail as six foot three inches (1.9 meters), his weight as 215 pounds (97 kilograms) and his hair color as "Blond or Strawberry." Other defendants in the racketeering case who have surrendered to the Georgia authorities in recent days have had a mugshot taken. The billionaire has been criminally indicted four times since April, setting the stage for a year of unprecedented drama as he tries to juggle multiple court appearances and another White House campaign. In posts on his Truth Social platform shortly before leaving his New Jersey golf club for the flight to Atlanta, Trump said he was being arrested for "having the audacity to challenge a RIGGED & STOLLEN (sic) ELECTION." "This is yet another SAD DAY IN AMERICA!" he added. Trump was able to dodge having a mugshot taken during his previous arrests this year: in New York on charges of paying hush money to a porn star, in Florida for mishandling top secret government documents, and in Washington on charges of conspiring to upend his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. But Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said standard procedure in Georgia is to take a defendant's photograph before they are released on bond -- set at $200,000 in Trump's case. The arrest comes one day after Trump spurned a televised debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination -- all of whom lag well behind him in the polls. He still stole the spotlight, though, with all but two of the candidates saying they would support him as the party's nominee even if he were a convicted felon. During a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson -- which aired on social media at the same time as the debate -- Trump dismissed the criminal cases filed against him as "nonsense." Trump said the Justice Department had been "weaponized" under Biden to hamstring his White House bid. Court dates in election race A tight security perimeter was set up for Trump's booking at the Fulton County Jail, which is under investigation for a slew of inmate deaths and deplorable conditions. Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who filed the sweeping racketeering case, had set a deadline of noon (1600 GMT) on Friday for Trump and the other 18 defendants to surrender. Trump and 11 others have turned themselves in so far. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrendered on Thursday and was released on $100,000 bond. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump's personal lawyer when he was in the White House and vigorously pushed the false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election, was booked and released on Wednesday. John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who is accused of drawing up a scheme to submit a false slate of Trump electors to Congress from Georgia instead of the legitimate Biden ones, has also been booked and released. A few dozen supporters of the former Republican president gathered outside the jail, including Sharon Anderson who spent the night in her car. "I think this is a political persecution and now that's turned into a political prosecution," Anderson told AFP. Trump is the first US president in history to face criminal charges. His various trials, if they take place next year, may coincide with the Republican presidential primary season, which begins in January, and the campaign for the November 2024 White House election. Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed a January 2024 start date for Trump's trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the last election with a lie-fueled campaign that culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. Trump's attorneys have countered with a suggested start date well after the election -- April 2026. Willis, the Georgia district attorney, initially proposed that the racketeering case begin in March next year, the same month Trump is scheduled to go on trial in New York on charges of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels. On Thursday, after one of the defendants asked for a speedy trial, she proposed that it begin for all 19 in October of this year, a move met with an immediate objection from Trump's lawyers. The Florida case, in which Trump is accused of taking secret government documents as he left the White House and refusing to return them, is scheduled to begin in May. The post Trump arrested in Georgia racketeering case appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Biden widens web of US alliances faced with China, Russia, Trump
With a historic three-way summit with Japan and South Korea, President Joe Biden has further deepened the web of US partnerships in a determined signal to adversaries despite question marks on the political climate at home. Since Biden took office in 2021, NATO has expanded and mostly closed ranks over Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- and, in clear if unstated responses to an assertive China, the United States forged a new three-way defense pact with Australia and Britain and ramped up work through the four-way Quad involving Australia, India and Japan. The United States already has security alliances with Japan and South Korea, together the bases for some 84,500 troops, but will now also plan three-way, multi-year military exercises across all domains along with real-time information-sharing and a crisis hotline. Jon Alterman, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that alliances were "baked" into the mindset of Biden, who was a senator at the end of the Cold War. Partnerships can increase other countries' faith in the direction of the United States, Alterman added. "This administration believes deeply in the centrality -- not the importance, the centrality -- of partnerships," he said. "The challenge is, all of our partners remember the previous administration, they look at the polling numbers, and they have absolutely no confidence in where the US is going to be in two years' time, five years' time or 10 years' time," he said. Previous president Donald Trump loudly questioned the value of alliances, insisting that countries such as Germany and South Korea were not paying enough for the US troop presence and scoffing at NATO's commitments of mutual defense to all allies. Trump is again seeking the White House and recent opinion polls have also shown softening support for US military assistance to Ukraine, which has totaled $43 billion since Russia's attack. Asked about Trump at a news conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Camp David presidential retreat, Biden said that his predecessor's "America First policy, walking away from the rest of the world, has made us weaker, not stronger." "America is strong with our allies and our alliances, and that's why we will endure," Biden said. Tougher task in Asia Whereas in Europe the United States has led a common defense for decades under NATO, in Asia -- seen by Biden as the critical region -- Washington has navigated individual alliances with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and Thailand. One reason for the hodgepodge has been historical animosity between Japan and South Korea, with the Camp David summit until recently unthinkable. Yoon has turned the page by resolving a dispute over Japan's wartime forced labor of Koreans. Yoon, Kishida and Biden said they shared the same vision of a "rules-based international order" -- a nod to China's muscle-flexing in Asia but also to Ukraine, of which Japan and South Korea have been prominent non-Western supporters. China denounced the Camp David initiative, with state media saying the United States was raising tensions by creating a "mini-NATO," although there was no three-way mutual defense promise. Shihoko Goto, acting director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center, doubted that the three countries were even aspiring to collective self-defense but said their new cooperation was part of an "interweaving" with existing alliance arrangements. "As a single thread it may be weak, but because it is going to be part of that fabric and making it into a multi-layered approach, it would actually be really strong," she said. Risks await Biden has also moved bilaterally with countries concerned about Russia and China. He has said he plans to travel shortly to boost ties with Vietnam, whose tensions with Beijing run deep. But one of his big bets, India, has stood firm on its historic refusal to join alliances and is also taking part this week in a summit with Russia and China of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies. Trump is not the only wild card for the future. In South Korea, Yoon is only allowed a single term, which ends in 2027. "If an ultra-leftist South Korean president and an ultra-right wing Japanese leader are elected in their next cycles, or even if Trump or someone like him wins in the US, then any one of them could derail all the meaningful, hard work the three countries are putting in right now," said Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. The post Biden widens web of US alliances faced with China, Russia, Trump appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump indicted for racketeering over 2020 election interference
Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday on charges of racketeering and a string of election crimes after a sprawling, two-year probe into his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden in the US state of Georgia. The case -- relying on laws typically used to bring down mobsters -- is the fourth targeting the 77-year-old Republican this year and could lead to a watershed moment, the first televised trial of a former president in US history. Prosecutors in Atlanta charged the Republican leader with 13 felony counts -- compounding the legal threats he is facing in multiple jurisdictions as a firestorm of investigations imperils his bid for a second White House term. Eighteen co-defendants were indicted in the probe, including Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who pressured local legislators over the result after the election, and Trump's White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. "Trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump," the indictment read. "That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the state of Georgia, and in other states." With Trump already due to go on trial in New York, south Florida and Washington, the latest charges herald the unprecedented scenario of the 2024 presidential election being litigated as much from the courtroom as the ballot box. The Trump campaign released a statement as the charges were being processed calling Fulton County's chief prosecutor Fani Willis, who is a Democrat, a "rabid partisan" who was "persecuting" the former president with "bogus indictments." The twice-impeached Trump was charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as six conspiracy counts over alleged efforts to commit forgery, impersonate a public official and submit false statements and documents. He is also accused of lying in statements and filing fake documents, as well as soliciting public officials to break their oaths. - Most serious threat - Georgia, which Biden won by fewer than 12,000 votes, presents perhaps the most serious threat to Trump's liberty as he leads the field comfortably for his party's nomination to bid for reelection. Even if he is returned to the Oval Office, he would have none of the powers that presidents arguably enjoy in the federal system to pardon themselves or have prosecutors drop cases. The harsh penalties associated with RICO cases can be an incentive for co-defendants to seek cooperation deals, and the statutes are usually used to target organized crime. Under federal law, anyone who can be connected to a criminal "enterprise" through which offenses were committed can be convicted under RICO. The broader Georgia law doesn't even require the existence of the enterprise. Atlanta-area authorities launched the probe after Trump called Georgia officials weeks before he was due to leave the White House, pressuring them to "find" the 11,780 votes that would reverse Biden's victory in the Peach State. Meadows, who is accused of trying to get a public official to violate his oath, was on the call. Willis empaneled a special grand jury that heard from around 75 witnesses before recommending a raft of felony counts in a secret report in February. She alleges that Trump's team worked with local Republicans on a scheme to replace legitimate slates of "electors" -- the officials who certify a state's results and send them to the US Congress -- with fake pro-Trump stand-ins. - Criminal intent? - Giuliani, who faces 13 felony counts, was being investigated over accusations of harassment of two Fulton County poll workers while other Trump allies were charged over the accessing of sensitive data from an election office in a rural county south of Atlanta, one day after the 2021 Capitol riot. Trump is already facing dozens of felony charges after being federally indicted over the alleged plot to subvert the election, and further prosecutions over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and keeping allegedly fraudulent business records. Authorities in Atlanta installed security barricades outside the downtown courthouse in anticipation of a potential influx of Trump supporters and counter-protesters in the latest case. Lawmakers investigating Trump's efforts to cling to power heard evidence in a series of congressional hearings last summer that would challenge his potential defense that he genuinely believed he had been cheated of the election. ft/sst © Agence France-Presse The post Trump indicted for racketeering over 2020 election interference appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Dangerous escalation: U.S. troops in Hormuz
US President Joe Biden sent 3,000 soldiers to the Red Sea last 6 August in what TV Vantage News viewed as a step towards responding to “Iranian aggression.” Washington justified the move by saying Iran had captured around 20 tankers in the Gulf in the last 20 years. The US fears that continued “Iranian aggression” will worsen with the currently high global price of oil. The US soldiers are aboard two warships, the USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, and the USS Carter Hall, used for docking. The goal is for the rapid deployment of troops on oil tankers which are considered potential targets for capture by the Iranian navy. The idea is for the presence of US soldiers to act as a “deterrence” against an Iranian assault. They are thus being placed up front as possible sacrificial lambs if Iran insists on assaulting the troop-laden tankers. Biden’s move is essentially a psychological tactic. It is similar to terrorists using civilians as shields against an assault. Soldiers have no value or role in a naval confrontation of missiles and drones. In fact, Iran’s undeterred response to the US troop initiative is to arm its warships with the new Abu Mehdi missiles, which have a range of 1,000 kilometers. How can soldiers face missiles? It is like the children sent by the Church as crusaders, in the hope the Muslims would not harm children. They were instantly massacred without hesitation. Who drew first blood? Actually, the original aggressor, the one that drew first blood, was the US, consistently capturing Iranian vessels, prior to the troop initiative, on the pretext of its almighty sanctions. For a long time, Iran had no response for fear of derailing the ongoing nuclear deal negotiations, which was a thorn in its throat, until finally they could not take it anymore. They also must have felt that the negotiations were not going anywhere. Iran’s Defense Minister Nasser Kenaani, in response to the US troop initiative, said the US troops were not necessary and that the region can handle local security by themselves without foreign interference. Indeed, the US move may be seen as an invitation to a confrontation rather than a “deterrence.” The presence of US troops in Hormuz has “massive implications both for the US and for the rest of the world,” according to Vantage. The US, in its military initiative in Hormuz, is actually a multi-tentacled octopus spreading itself too thin across the planet, such as in the protracted war in Ukraine, and in the Taiwan Strait. The US is worried that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are shifting towards relations with China. US carriers are tied down in the West Philippine Sea, especially following the recent Philippine diplomatic protests over China harassing its Coast Guard. The Philippines may invoke mutual defense if push comes to shove. The US maintains 17 military bases throughout the breadth and length of the Philippine archipelago. The Hormuz chokepoint, where about 20 percent of global oil supplies pass through, is a mere 39 kilometers wide between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. It is considered one of the most dangerous powder kegs in the entire Middle East, capable of evolving into a full-scale war in the blink of an eye. History of US-Iran conflict In 1988, a tanker war ensued wherein the US attacked Iranian oil rigs and sank many Iranian vessels. All these happened after the US lost control of Iranian oil and gas with the fall of the Shah, the greatest single tragedy of the US in its search of gulf energy. Since then, the Pentagon had been planning the future invasion of Iran, staging the most expensive and ambitious $250-million war game called 2002 Millennium Challenge. In 2011, the sinking of the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain was predicted by military experts. Admiral William Fallon, ex-US Centcom Commander and head of the Fifth Fleet, in fear of Iranian underground hypersonic missiles, said, “There will be no attack on Iran on my watch.” He was sacked instantly and replaced by Gen. David Petreaus. Pentagon initiatives are deterred by 1) an Iranian underground air force with hypersonic missiles and killer drones (now being used by Russia in Ukraine); 2) Iran being an ally of Russia (an attack on Iran instantly involves Russia), and 3) a more sober civilian government opposing Pentagon brinkmanship. In his frustration, Biden, worried about his reelection and his dwindling charisma, is sending US troops to Hormuz, a dangerous catalyst to all-out war. The post Dangerous escalation: U.S. troops in Hormuz appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Momentary freeze sparks health concerns over US senator McConnell
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell sparked health concerns Wednesday when he appeared to physically seize up at a press conference in Congress. McConnell, 81, froze in mid-sentence and stood motionless at a microphone for about 20 seconds before aides and fellow senators walked him away. But the veteran Kentucky politician returned several minutes later and told reporters "I'm fine" before taking questions on various political issues. McConnell has been the top Republican in the US Senate since 2007, and wielded unflinching power as Senate majority leader from 2015 to 2021. In that role he stifled policies of the Democratic administration of president Barack Obama and bolstered Republican president Donald Trump when he took office in January 2017. He most notably helped engineer conservatives taking a majority on the Supreme Court by stalling a hearing for Obama's progressive appointed nominee in 2016. He also ensured that Trump was not convicted at trial after his unprecedented two impeachments, though he was critical of Trump's behavior. In March McConnell was hospitalized after he tripped and fell during a private dinner. He suffered a concussion and a fractured rib, and spent six weeks away from the Senate, undergoing physical therapy. The incident Wednesday highlighted the challenge of the aging leadership in the US Congress. Three other senators are older than McConnell, including Republican Chuck Grassley, 89, and Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who is 90. Another two-dozen senators are 70 or older. Age is also a central issue in the looming 2024 presidential battle: incumbent Joe Biden is 80 while Republican front-runner Donald Trump is 77. pmh/tjj © Agence France-Presse The post Momentary freeze sparks health concerns over US senator McConnell appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
EU tries again with new framework for data flows to US
The European Commission said Monday it has adopted a new legal framework to protect Europeans' personal data in exchanges with the United States -- its third attempt to get past legal challenges. "Today we take an important step to provide trust to (EU) citizens that their data is safe, to deepen our economic ties between the EU and the US, and at the same time to reaffirm our shared values," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said. The announcement was made possible after US President Joe Biden last year issued an executive order updating US intelligence agencies' rules when it came to snooping on international data flows to give "safeguards" to European Union citizens and residents, the EU executive said. Biden on Monday said the deal reflected a "joint commitment" by both the EU and the US to guaranteeing privacy for citizens. It would also deepen transatlantic ties that were "founded on our shared democratic values and vision for the world," a statement said. Umbrella groups representing tech companies, whose business models depend on transatlantic data exchanges, hailed the announcement of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework It was "good news for thousands of businesses," one of them, DigitalEurope, said in a statement. A US grouping, The Software Alliance (BSA), said it would "bolster the management of data across borders –- a cornerstone of our modern economy –- and improve safeguards for citizens of the EU and US alike". Challenge looming But Max Schrems, an Austrian legal activist whose challenges led to EU courts shooting down two previous EU-US attempts on data transfers, said this one, too, would fail to satisfy EU law. The latest framework still has "the fundamental problem" that the United States "takes the view that only US persons are worthy of constitutional rights" protecting them from American electronic snooping, he said. He vowed to challenge the latest effort, predicting the case "will be likely back at the Court of Justice (of the EU) in a matter of months". EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders told journalists he had "no illusion" about the coming likely legal challenge. "But it's maybe useful to test the new US system before to challenge such an adequacy decision," he said. Reynders added, in an apparent swipe at Schrems's non-profit European Centre for Digital Rights, that "maybe the access to the court of justice is a small part of the business model of some civil society organizations". Presidential order The European Commission argued that the new framework offered "significant improvements" over the previous data-transfer mechanism, called Privacy Shield, which the EU court deemed inadequate. The commission said US companies signing onto the EU-US Data Privacy Framework would be required to delete Europeans' personal data when it was no longer needed for the purpose it was collected. Its scope applies to citizens of the 27-nation EU and of associated countries Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, as well as residents in all those countries. They would have the right to redress if they found their data was wrongly handled by US companies. Under US law, Americans are protected from electronic spying by US intelligence agencies by their constitution, but all other nationalities are fair game. While Biden's October 2022 executive order does not extend that same protection to Europeans, it does oblige US intelligence agencies to show that data collection on foreigners is "proportionate" to a specified US national security objective. It also adds oversight to the handling of personal data collected and offers a path to "redress" for citizens of "qualifying states", which is meant to include those of the EU. A new US Data Protection Review Court made up of experts from outside the American government, would be able to review data decisions made inside the US office of the Director of National Intelligence. The European Commission said the US measures would underpin standard contractual clauses that so many online platforms, including those run by Meta, Amazon, and Google, rely on to transfer Europeans' data to the United States. The post EU tries again with new framework for data flows to US appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Look to Japan
Largely ignorant sniping seems to be the favored pastime of those reluctant to go along with Mr. Marcos Jr.’s re-warming of our relations with the United States. Often framed as risking a fatal nuclear apocalypse if the US-China rivalry comes to a head, the sniping is obviously meant to scare the gullible. Of the more recent sniping, notable was Mr. Rodrigo Duterte’s warning two weeks ago that the Philippines could be drawn into a “Third World War” if more Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA sites were built in the country. Right after, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile advised “pontificating” conservative critics to first do their homework before whipping up public outrage. Mr. Enrile didn’t name anyone in particular. But he was obviously disgusted with the political framing of Mr. Marcos Jr.’s notable move of making it easier for the United States to maintain a presence in the country. We, of course, do know where the “pontificating” ex-Philippine leader and his cohorts are coming from. We can ascribe their anxieties to what geopolitical analysts often tell us about smaller states aligned with more powerful hegemons — smaller states face the vexing dilemma of entrapment in conflicts they do not seek when moving too close to a larger power. Such an entrapment predicament — observed long ago by ancient Greek historian Thucydides — was what drove Mr. Duterte, under the guise of neutrality, to keep his distance from the US and experiment with embracing China. But the ex-leader’s experiment, as we all know by now, backfired badly, forcing him near the end of his term — after years of avoiding “entrapment” in US strategies containing China — to reaffirm the country’s long-standing defense alliance with the United States. This is largely because hegemonic China had openly demonstrated our country’s inability to stop its illegal incursions in the West Philippine Sea. In a sense then, Mr. Marcos Jr. is merely restating his predecessor’s belated realization that the challenge posed by China can only be blunted by reaffirming the Philippine-US alliance. Of course, Mr. Marcos Jr.’s embracing tighter security cooperation with the US means he has accepted the risk of entrapment in Asian conflicts that this entails. But to see Mr. Marcos Jr.’s renewing the Philippine-US alliance merely as reluctant hedging against China or as caving to American pressure is geopolitically naïve. In fact, the warming of the Philippine-US alliance can be said to be less about the US, but more about another regional powerhouse most concerned with China — Japan. Japan, as we know, presently has the strongest alliance with the US in the Asian region and has a strong, albeit quiet, influence on Philippine affairs. Yet, far too often, Japan is mistakenly seen as an adjunct to American geopolitical strategies when, in fact, Japan is at the forefront, more than the Americans, of confronting the challenge of China. As American Japanologist Michael J. Green put it, “At the time when the US was just beginning to debate a long-term strategy for competition with China, Japan had already defined its own.” “Japan has arguably the clearest conceptualization, consensus, and implementation of a grand strategy of any of the democracies confronting Chinese hegemonic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific,” Green said. The architect of such a grand strategy was the late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, whose vision provided solutions on how best to make use of a strategic alliance with a hesitant US to outflank China. In fact, the often cited strategic framework in current geopolitical circles of a “free and open Indo-Pacific” was Abe’s catchphrase, which US President Joe Biden recently fully embraced, as well as Abe’s original idea of the Quad, the Japan-US-Australia-India partnership. In short, for our own purposes of moving forward with the renewed Philippine-US alliance, it means lessening our fixation with the US and studying more closely Japan’s unique proactive efforts vis-à-vis the US and China. *** Email: nevqjr@yahoo.com.ph The post Look to Japan appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Wagner chief to leave Russia in deal to ease crisis
The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will leave Russia and won't face charges after calling off his troops' advance on Saturday, Moscow said, easing Russia's most serious security crisis in decades. The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia's military brass came to a violent head in the past day, with his forces capturing a key army headquarters in southern Russia and then heading north to threaten the capital. Within hours of Prigozhin's about-face, the Kremlin announced he would leave for Belarus and Russia would not prosecute either him or the group's members. It had been a dramatic day of developments, with President Vladimir Putin warning against civil war, Moscow telling locals to stay off the streets and Kyiv revelling in the chaos engulfing its enemy. The tide shifted suddenly when Prigozhin made the stunning announcement that his troops were "turning our columns around and going back to field camps" to avoid bloodshed in the Russian capital. Prigozhin, who has feuded bitterly with Moscow's military leadership even as his outfit led parts of Russia's Ukraine offensive, said he understood the importance of the moment and did not want to "spill Russian blood". - Wagner troops cheered - By early Sunday Wagner had pulled fighters and equipment from Rostov-on-Don, where they had seized the military headquarters, said the regional governor. But before they left, dozens of residents were cheering and chanting "Wagner! Wagner!" outside the military headquarters they had captured. Authorities in the southern Lipetsk region announced the lifting of restrictions after earlier reporting Wagner fighters in their territory, where the local capital is just 420 kilometres (260 miles) south of Moscow. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he had negotiated a truce with Prigozhin, drawing thanks from Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters that the "criminal case against him (Prigozhin) will be dropped. He himself will go to Belarus." Peskov also said that members of Wagner who had taken part in what authorities termed an "armed rebellion" will not be prosecuted. "Avoiding bloodshed, internal confrontation, and clashes with unpredictable results was the highest goal," Peskov added. Kyiv revelled in the chaos that engulfed its enemy. "Prigozhin humiliated Putin/the state and showed that there is no longer a monopoly on violence," presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. While Russia claimed the rebellion had no impact on its Ukraine campaign, Kyiv said the unrest offered a "window of opportunity" as the nation pressed its long-awaited counter-offensive. - Moscow's warning - The United States and its allies publicly stayed on the sidelines as officials waited to see how the revolt would play out. US President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain amid concerns that Putin's control over the nuclear-armed country could be slipping. Moscow issued a stiff warning to the United States and allies to stay back. "The rebellion plays into the hands of Russia's external enemies," the foreign ministry said. Before Prigozhin's climbdown, Russian regular forces had launched what one regional governor called a "counter-terrorist operation" to halt the Wagner advance northwards up a main highway towards Moscow. In the capital, the mayor urged Muscovites to stay indoors and declared Monday a day off work. Security was tightened in the city centre, with armed men in flak jackets guarding the parliament building and Red Square closed off to the public. "I don't know how to react. In any case it's very sad this is happening," 35-year-old Yelena told AFP, declining to give her last name. The measures came after Prigozhin announced his troops had taken control of the military command centre and airbase in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the nerve centre of Russia's offensive in Ukraine. - 'A blow to Russia' - Responding to the challenge in a televised address, Putin accused Prigozhin of a "stab in the back" that posed a threat to Russia's very survival. "Any internal turmoil is a deadly threat to our statehood and to us as a nation. This is a blow to Russia and to our people," Putin said, demanding national unity. "Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason," Putin said, referring to Prigozhin, who began building his power base as a catering contractor. Another Putin ally, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, declared that he had dispatched his own units to help quash the Wagner rebellion. Armed Wagner fighters deployed around administrative buildings in Rostov and tanks were seen in the city centre. As the insurrection force headed north through Voronezh and Lipetsk towards Moscow, the capital's mayor announced that "anti-terrorist" measures were being taken. Critical facilities were "under reinforced protection", TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source. While Prigozhin's outfit fought at the forefront of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, he repeatedly blamed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, for his fighters' deaths. bur-jmm/jj © Agence France-Presse The post Wagner chief to leave Russia in deal to ease crisis appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Blinken on rare Beijing visit in bid to lower temperature
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday began the highest-level trip by a US official to China in nearly five years as the two powers looked to notch down the temperature in an escalating rivalry. Both sides have voiced guarded hope of improving communication and preventing conflict, with the world's two largest economies at odds on an array of issues from trade to technology and regional security. Officials though have played down hopes of a major breakthrough during Blinken's two days in Beijing. Blinken was originally scheduled to visit in February but abruptly scrapped his plans as the United States protested -- and later shot down -- what it said was a Chinese spy balloon flying over its soil. US President Joe Biden played down the balloon episode as Blinken was heading to China, saying: "I don't think the leadership knew where it was and knew what was in it and knew what was going on." "I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional," Biden told reporters Saturday. Biden said he hoped to again meet President Xi Jinping after their lengthy and strikingly cordial meeting in November on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Bali, where they agreed on Blinken's visit. "I'm hoping that, over the next several months, I'll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have but also how there's areas we can get along," Biden said. The two leaders are likely to attend the next G20 summit, in September in New Delhi, and Xi is invited to travel to San Francisco in November when the United States hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Blinken will see top Chinese officials including over a banquet at the state guesthouse in the ancient Diaoyutai gardens. He has said he would seek to avoid "miscalculations" and to "responsibly manage" relations with the country identified by US policymakers across party lines as the greatest challenge to Washington's global primacy. "Intense competition requires sustained diplomacy to ensure that competition does not veer into confrontation or conflict," Blinken said Friday in Washington. - Array of disputes - The United States and China are at odds over a slew of issues including trade, technology and Taiwan. Beijing has not ruled out seizing Taiwan by force and has conducted military drills twice since August near the self-governing democracy, in response to top US lawmakers' actions. Ahead of Blinken's visit, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the United States needed to "respect China's core concerns" and "give up the illusion of dealing with China 'from a position of strength'". Beijing has been especially irritated by Biden's restrictions on the export of high-end semiconductors to China, with the United States both fearing their military application and eager to prevent the communist state from dominating next-generation technologies. In a rising domestic priority for the United States, Blinken is expected to press China to curb precursor chemicals sent to Latin America to produce fentanyl, the powerful painkiller behind an addiction pandemic that kills tens of thousands of Americans a year. "We're going to discuss this issue directly, and we're going to be looking for steps to reduce the scale of the problem," said a US official traveling with Blinken. Washington has also lashed China over human rights, with Blinken's visit the first by a cabinet member since the United States formally accused Beijing of genocide against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority. - Keeping allies close - As part of the Biden administration's focus on keeping allies close, Blinken spoke by telephone with his counterparts from both Japan and South Korea during his 20-hour trans-Pacific journey. Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, traveled to Tokyo for separate three-way meetings involving Japan and both South Korea and the Philippines. In recent months the United States has reached deals on troop deployments in southern Japan and the northern Philippines, both strategically close to Taiwan. Blinken before departure also met in Washington with his counterpart from ally Singapore, who voiced hope that the United States would stay as a power but also find ways to coexist with a rising China. Blinken's "trip is essential, but not sufficient", Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said. "There are fundamental differences in outlook, in values. And it takes time for mutual respect and strategic trust to be built in." Blinken is the first top US diplomat to visit Beijing since a stop in 2018 by his predecessor Mike Pompeo, who later championed no-holds-barred confrontation with China in the final years of Donald Trump's presidency. The Biden administration has gone further than Trump in some areas, notably semiconductors, but has remained open to cooperation in limited areas such as climate. Experts say China sees more predictability with Biden than with Trump, who is running for president again next year. Danny Russel, the top diplomat on East Asia during Barack Obama's second term, doubted Blinken's brief trip would resolve fundamental differences. "But his visit may well restart badly needed face-to-face dialogue and send a signal that both countries are moving from angry rhetoric at the press podium to sober discussions behind closed doors." sct/je/leg © Agence France-Presse The post Blinken on rare Beijing visit in bid to lower temperature appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Blinken urges open lines of communication with China
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Wednesday for open lines of communication as he spoke with China's foreign minister, ahead of planned face-to-face discussions in Beijing. Relations between the world's two largest economies have tanked in recent years over Taiwan, trade and human rights, among a litany of other issues. Blinken is due in Beijing on Sunday for talks aimed at calming nerves, after a previous planned visit was abruptly cancelled in February. In his call with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, which took place Wednesday Beijing time, Blinken said they "discussed ongoing efforts to maintain open channels of communication as well as bilateral and global issues". State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also said Blinken had stressed "the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage the US-PRC relationship to avoid miscalculation and conflict". Blinken "made clear the US would continue to use diplomatic engagements to raise areas of concern as well as areas of potential cooperation", Miller said. A Beijing readout of the call struck a more confrontational tone, reporting that Qin had warned that relations between the two countries had faced "new difficulties and challenges" since the beginning of the year. "It's clear who is responsible," Qin said, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. "China has always viewed and managed China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by President Xi Jinping," he added. - Blinken in Beijing - Blinken's planned visit to Beijing would be the first trip by a top US diplomat to China since his predecessor Mike Pompeo in October 2018. Presidents Joe Biden and Xi met in Bali in November and agreed to try to prevent tensions from soaring out of control, including by sending Blinken to Beijing. But Blinken abruptly cancelled a trip scheduled in early February after the United States said it detected -- and later shot down -- a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the US mainland. The two sides have more recently looked again to keep tensions in check, including with an extensive, closed-door meeting between Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, and senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Vienna last month. Biden has sought limited areas for cooperation with China, such as climate change, in contrast with the more fully adversarial position adopted at the end of the administration of his predecessor Donald Trump. But two countries remain at deeply at odds over many issues. The White House last week accused China of operating an intelligence unit in Cuba for years and upgraded it in 2019 in an effort to enhance its presence on the Caribbean island. A base in Cuba, which lies 90 miles (150 kilometers) off Florida's southern tip, would be viewed in Washington as a direct challenge to the continental United States. Asked about the base at a regular press briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he was "unaware of the situation" before criticising US policy on Cuba. bur-oho-ehl/je/kma © Agence France-Presse The post Blinken urges open lines of communication with China appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
China operating intel unit in Cuba for years
China has been operating an intelligence unit in Cuba for years and upgraded it in 2019 in an effort to enhance its presence on the Caribbean island, a White House official said Saturday. "This is well-documented in the intelligence record," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in confirming China's intelligence presence. US media in recent days had reported that Beijing was planning to set up a spy base on the island, which is located just off American shores. When President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, "we were briefed on a number of sensitive PRC efforts around the world to expand its overseas logistics, basing, and collection infrastructure globally," the administration official said, using an acronym for the People's Republic of China. "This effort included the presence of PRC intelligence collection facilities in Cuba," the official said. "In fact, the PRC conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019." The developments come as Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pushed a rapid expansion of the country's security presence around the world. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to China next weekend, rescheduling a visit that was canceled in February after a tension-filled incident involving a suspected surveillance balloon passing over the United States. A base in Cuba, which lies 90 miles (150 kilometers) off Florida's southern tip, would present the most direct challenge yet to the continental United States. China warned the United States Friday against "interfering in Cuba's internal affairs," in response to the media reports on a planned base. When asked about the base at a regular press briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he was "unaware of the situation" before criticizing US policy on Cuba. "As we all know, spreading rumors and slander is a common tactic of the United States, and wantonly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries is its patent," said Wang. The US official said the administration believes that diplomatic efforts "have slowed the PRC down" in developing its activities in Cuba. "We think the PRC isn't quite where they had hoped to be," the official said. Earlier this year, China sent what the US called a high-altitude surveillance balloon across the United States. It floated from west to east above sensitive military installations before it was shot down by a US fighter jet. The post China operating intel unit in Cuba for years appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump indicted in classified documents probe
Donald Trump said Thursday he has been indicted over his handling of classified documents after leaving office, the US ex-president's most serious legal threat yet as he pursues a second White House term. "The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform as he broke the bombshell news of a historic moment for the United States: the first time a sitting or former commander-in-chief has faced federal charges. There was no immediate confirmation from the Justice Department. Trump attorney Jim Trusty told CNN that his client has been indicted on seven charges including the willful retention of documents in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements, obstruction of justice and a count of conspiracy. Though the precise details of the charges were not immediately clear, people familiar with the matter told The New York Times the conspiracy charge was related to obstruction of justice. In his post, Trump, who is running for president again, said he has been summoned to a federal courthouse in Miami next Tuesday -- the day before his 77th birthday. His announcement came a day after US media said federal prosecutors had informed his lawyers that he is the target of the probe into his handling of classified documents. Trump was already the first former or sitting president to be charged with a crime -- in his case over election-eve hush money payments to a porn star who said she had an affair with him. That indictment was handed down by Manhattan's district attorney in March. In a statement after his initial online posts, the Trump campaign lashed out at what it called an "unprecedented abuse of power," and called for the indictment to be thrown out. 'Dark day' In a defiant video released after he shared the news, Trump repeatedly declared his innocence and framed the indictment as a form of election interference by a Justice Department "weaponized" by the Biden administration. "They come after me because now we're leading in the polls again by a lot against Biden," Trump said in the clip. "Our country is going to hell and they come after Donald Trump... We can't let this continue." Fellow Republicans swiftly stood by him, including Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who has had a rollercoaster relationship with Trump. "Today is indeed a dark day for the United States of America. It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him," McCarthy said in a statement. "I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump." Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a rival for the GOP presidential nomination, echoed Trump's claims of a "weaponized" DOJ, adding on Twitter that he would "excise political bias" if elected president. The Twitter account of Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee posted a repeated Trump slogan: "WITCH HUNT." Special counsel Jack Smith, named by US Attorney General Merrick Garland, has been looking into a cache of classified documents that Trump had stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving the White House. The FBI carted away some 11,000 papers after serving a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago in August, and obstruction-of-justice charges could be a result of his resisting efforts to recover the trove. Trump eventually turned over 15 boxes containing almost 200 classified documents to the National Archives in January 2022 but was subpoenaed for any outstanding records in his possession. When asked about the charges Thursday night, Smith's spokesman Peter Carr told AFP: "We are declining to comment." The White House said it learned of the indictment from media coverage and a spokesperson declined to comment on the news, noting that the DOJ "conducts its criminal investigations independently," CNN reported. Mounting legal woes Some Democratic lawmakers spoke out following Thursday's revelation. Trump's indictment "is another affirmation of the rule of law," House Democrat Adam Schiff said. "For four years, he acted like he was above the law," he added. "But he should be treated like any other lawbreaker. And today, he has been." Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the documents case, telling a Fox News town hall event on June 1 that "everything I did was right." But he has openly acknowledged taking and storing the documents, undermining his lawyers' suggestion that he took the stash inadvertently in the confusion of a chaotic departure. "This evidence just adds to the mound of stuff that already exists, and no one piece is the 'be all and end all,' but when you put them all together, the case is so strong," former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks told MSNBC. "You cannot imagine his getting away with this." The latest indictment comes with Trump facing numerous other probes as he bids to be the Republican nominee to challenge Joe Biden for the presidency in 2024. Smith is also looking at whether Trump should face charges over the 2021 US Capitol riot, and Georgia prosecutors are investigating whether Trump illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election outcome there. Trump has already been charged with dozens of financial crimes as part of the alleged hush money scheme to silence the porn star, and is due to go on trial next March, in the middle of primary election season. The post Trump indicted in classified documents probe appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»