#national security advisers

[trendynewsnow]

Howard Lutnick's Role in the Trump Administration Transition

The financier Howard Lutnick has recently been entrusted with a significant responsibility by President-elect Donald J. Trump. This assignment not only highlights his prominence in the financial sector but also raises pertinent questions about the complexities of his dual role and the potential benefits it may bring him. As the co-chair of the transition team, Mr. Lutnick is tasked with the…

[workersolidarity]

🇭🇺🇸🇪🇺🇸 🚨

HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SLAMS U.S. ORDERS TO RATIFY SWEDEN'S ADMISSION INTO NATO

Hungary's Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, slammed the United States Thursday for giving orders to Hungary demanding the Hungarian parliament quickly ratify Sweden's admission into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Speaking on Wednesday, U.S. National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, warned the Hungarian authorities that American patience has its limits and that Washington is waiting for Hungary to ratify Sweden's ascension into NATO.

In response to Sullivan's comments, Szijjarto dismissed U.S. concerns and slammed Washington for interfering in Hungarian affairs, telling reporters with Russian news agency Ria Novosti, "First of all, I want to be clear: everyone must understand that Hungary is a sovereign country. And it is not only that everyone must understand this, but that everyone must respect it. Regardless of whether it's a superpower of the East, a superpower of the West or any other country, they must respect that Hungary is a state and the Hungarian parliament is a sovereign body," adding that Hungary will never act on instructions coming from another nation.

"These kinds of statements are completely unnecessary, they show disrespect for Hungary. We never criticize US decisions. We never criticize congressional decisions. We never interfere with what they put on the agenda or what they don't included in it. And we expect the same from others,” Szijjarto warned.

“So, to be honest, we are not concerned about such instructions. Because we are not the 51st state, but a very sovereign country,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister added.

Previously, the Hungarian parliament failed to pass Sweden's admission into NATO due to a "lack of quorum" resulting from a boycott by opposition parties in Hungary's main governing body.

Turkiye's Grand National Assembly previously ratified Sweden's bid to enter NATO in mid-January, meaning Hungary remains the last holdout for Sweden's ascension into the alliance.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[bitcoinversus]

Politics: Trump reportedly Appoints Marco Rubio as Secretary of State

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly set to appoint Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as Secretary of State, marking the first time a Latino would hold this position. The New York Times reported on that Trump appeared to have settled on Rubio for the role, though the decision is not yet final. Rubio, who has served as a U.S. Senator since 2011, brings extensive experience in foreign policy,…

[srebrenicagenocidecommemoration]

High-Level commemorative event to mark the First International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.

Srebrenica marks one of the darkest chapters in modern human history. The war that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia claimed more than 100,000 lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, mostly of Bosnian Muslims, and displaced more than two million others. The list of atrocities committed during that time is overwhelming, but Srebrenica, without a doubt, became its darkest chapter. Previously declared as the UN "safe area," 8,372 women, men, and children were systematically executed in July 1995 in and around the town of Srebrenica, the largest atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.

On 11 July, the people of Srebrenica will gather yet again around silent tombstones in Potočari to mark the 29th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide. This year, they will add 14 more to the 6751 already standing in the Memorial Centre Potočari. 14 families will finally have closure. Pain, however, will remain forever.

On this day, 11 July, International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, pursuant to the General Assembly Resolution 78/282, we will add our voice in remembering their names and commemorating all innocent lives lost. But we will also send a strong message of hope, the resilience of the human spirit, and the power of justice.

Organized by the Permanent Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN and cosponsored by the Permanent Missions of Albania, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sweden, Türkiye to the UN.

Related Documents

Resolution 78/282

Organizer's Concept Note   

Watch the High-level Commemorative Event on the occasion of the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica!

[saynaija]

President Tinubu Appoints New Coordinators For National Counter-Terrorism Centre, National Centre For Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons

President Tinubu Appoints New Coordinators For National Counter-Terrorism Centre, National Centre For Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Major-General Adamu Garba Laka as the new National Coordinator of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser. General Laka served in various capacities in…

[deadpresidents]

"What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 millions people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn't carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America's founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn't paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen."

-- "How Far Would He Go", TIME Magazine's interviews with Donald Trump, April 30, 2024.

I know we're saturated in coverage of Trump and it's easy (and probably better for our mental health) to usually ignore most of the articles when we see them, especially since he's so full of shit and infuriating. But it's also important to recognize that he is going to be the Republican nominee for President and he could absolutely be elected in November, and if you thought his first term was scary and dangerous, you need to understand that in a second term he's going to have people around him that are better prepared and VERY willing to do the crazy shit that he wants to do to this country. They aren't even hiding the fact that they are seeking vengeance against political opponents whom they feel have wronged them, and are ready to fundamentally dismantle the democratic foundations that are barely holding this country together after nearly 250 years.

Just look at what Trump says about the people who he incited to attack the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and halt the peaceful transfer of power that has happened every four years since 1789:

"Trump has sought to recast an insurrectionist riot as an act of patriotism. 'I call them the J-6 patriots,' he say. When I ask whether he would consider pardoning every one of them, he says, 'Yes, absolutely.' As Trump faces dozens of felony charges, including for election interference, conspiracy to defraud the United States, willful retention of national-security secrets, and falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments, he has tried to turn legal peril into a badge of honor."

Oh, and please note that Trump -- a former President of the United States and possible future President of the United States -- said on the record in these interviews with TIME: "There is a definite antiwhite feeling in the country and that can't be allowed either." We are at a point where political leaders are outright saying that in this country again, and it's because of Donald Trump.

So, take the time to recognize that Trump is straight-up telling us the country we're going to be living in if he wins again in November. And understand that your vote matters -- and WHO you vote for matters -- because, as I've been saying for years now, ELECTIONS HAVE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES.

[trendynewsnow]

Indictment of Netanyahu's Aide for Leaking Classified Information During Hamas Conflict

Indictment of Netanyahu’s Aide Over Classified Information Leak Israeli prosecutors have formally indicted one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close aides, Eliezer Feldstein, on charges of leaking classified information pertaining to Hamas. This incident marks a significant development in a series of legal controversies surrounding the Prime Minister’s administration. The allegations…

[itsnothingbutluck]

The following is a transcript of an interview with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that aired on Nov. 12, 2023.

[rhk111sblog]

United States (US) President Joe Biden practically begged Chinese Xi Jinping to meet him as per a former Ambassador of the US, and Biden now also wants to re-establish Military Ties with China. Does this mean the US are now dropping their Doggies in the Philippines like a Hot Potato?

[sayruq]

US State Department falsified report to claim Israel 'not blocking Gaza aid'

The state department falsified a report earlier this month to absolve Israel of responsibility for blocking humanitarian aid flows into Gaza, overruling the advice of its own experts, according to a former senior US official who resigned this week. Stacy Gilbert left her post as senior civil military adviser in the state department’s bureau of population, refugees and migration, on Tuesday. She had been one of the department’s subject matter experts who drafted the report mandated under national security memorandum 20 (NSM-20) and published on 10 May. The NSM-20 report found that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had used US weapons in a way that was “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law, but that there was not enough concrete evidence to link specific US-supplied weapons to violations. Even more controversially, the report said the state department did not “currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance” in Gaza. It was a high-stakes judgment because under a clause in the Foreign Assistance Act, the US would be obliged to cut arms sales and security assistance to any country found to have blocked delivery of US aid. Gilbert, a 20-year veteran of the state department who has worked in several war zones, said that report’s conclusion went against the overwhelming view of state department experts who were consulted on the report. She said there was general agreement that while other factors impeded the flow of aid into Gaza at a time when famine has begun to take hold of its 2.3 million population – such as lack of security, caused by Hamas, Israeli military operations and the desperation of Palestinians to find food – it was clear that Israel was playing a role in limiting the amount of food and medical supplies crossing the border into Gaza. “There is consensus among the humanitarian community on that. It is absolutely the opinion of the humanitarian subject matter experts in the state department, and not just in my bureau – people who look at this from the intelligence community and from other bureaus. I would be very hard pressed to think of anyone who has said [Israeli obstruction] is not an issue,” Gilbert said. “That’s why I object to that report saying that Israel is not blocking humanitarian assistance. That is patently false.”

[wilwheaton]

Reasons Trump is Unfit for Office, with Sources.

From this comment on Reddit:

Top reasons why Trump should not be president.

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Lost the election and lied about it.Source

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sent an armed angry mob to Congress and told them they need to fight like hell. Source

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Approved of the mob saying “hang Mike Pence”. Source

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Was found liable for sexual assault.Source

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Was found guilty of defrauding his university students. Source

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Was found guilty of inflating his assets to get favorable loans.Source

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Admitted to walking in on pageant contestants’ dressing rooms.Source

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Allegedly Raped and beat Ivana Trump. Source

⁠⁠ Stole from a kids’ cancer charity. Source

Received $413 million inheritance despite claims that he’s a self made man. Source

Blocked his chronically ill infant nephew from getting any of that inheritance. Source

Is the first president to receive votes against him from his own party during impeachment. Source

Led us into being one of the worst hit during Covid despite our head start and resources, leading to high inflation. Source

Said the Democrats do better with the economy.Source

Was ranked as the worst president in history by bipartisan presidential historians.Source

Pushed a plot to have fake votes created and then used to make him President despite losing the election.Source

Ordered republicans to block a bipartisan immigration billso Biden would not get a win before the election.Source

Is a convicted felon guilty of falsifying records to influence an election.Source

Told the Department of Justice to “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”Source

His VP, Mike Pence said Trump should never be president again, and that Trump asked him to put himself “above the Constitution”. Source

Got Fox News successfully sued for repeating/pushing his administrations election lies. A $787M settlement. Source

Said he’d be a dictator for one day Source

Trump lied to, or misled the public 30,573 times in the four years he held office. Source

Also, just regarding some of the Trump administration that have been convicted of crimes:

Donald Trump was charged, convicted, and is awaiting sentencing.

Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.

Trump’s former campaign vice chairman, Rick Gates, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.

Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.

Trump’s former adviser and former campaign aide, Roger Stone, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.

Trump’s former adviser and former White House aide Peter Navarro, was charged, convicted, and is currently in prison.

Trump’s former campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.

The Trump Organization’s former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.

Trump’s former White House national security advisor, Michael Flynn, was charged and convicted.

Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering, in addition to a conviction in a contempt case similar to Navarro’s. He’s currently awaiting sentencing.

Though he was later acquitted at trial, Trump’s former inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack, was charged with illegally lobbying Trump on behalf of a foreign government. (Elliot Broidy was the vice chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, and he found himself at the center of multiple controversies, and also pled guilty to federal charges related to illegal lobbying.)

Two lawyers associated with Trump’s post-defeat efforts, Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, have pleaded guilty to election-related crimes.

Source

And if your vote is based strictly on economic achievements, here is a TikTok video comparing Trumps economy by the numbers. Tiktok link

[heritageposts]

A week ago, US President Joe Biden claimed that a “ceasefire” deal in Gaza was imminent and could take effect as soon as March 4. “My national security adviser tells me we are close,” he told reporters while eating ice cream in New York City. But ice cream or not, Biden’s actual position was not nearly that sweet. A subsequent statement by a senior Biden administration official claimed Israel had “basically accepted” a proposal for a temporary pause in fighting. But as of March 4, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Mossad director were still refusing to send a delegation to Cairo, where talks with Hamas were under way. The Biden administration’s eagerness to claim victory in its search for some kind of temporary truce indicates how much it is feeling the heat of the rising global and domestic pressure demanding an immediate ceasefire, an end to the Israeli genocide, an end to the threat of a new escalation against refugee-packed Rafah, and an end to the siege of Gaza and immediate unhindered provision of massive levels of humanitarian aid. Despite Washington’s vain hopes for March 4 and the unofficial goal of a ceasefire by the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on March 10, the deal remains elusive. Media reports indicate Biden is telling the Qatari and Egyptian leaders that he is putting pressure on Israel to agree to a truce and a captives swap. But his claim of pressuring Israel is undermined by the continuing US vetoes of ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council, most recently on February 20, as well as the continuing flow of United States weapons and money to Israel to enable its assault.

And, on the alternative resolution the Biden admin has put forth after vetoing Algeria's resolution (which called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire," "forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population," and "unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza."):

[...] Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden’s ambassador to the UN, cast the sole veto against the Algerian resolution, and instead put forward an alternative US text, claiming it also supported a ceasefire. But the proposed US language does not call for an immediate or permanent ceasefire or an end to Israeli genocide; it does not prevent an attack on Rafah or end the Israeli siege. The proposed US resolution is not designed to end the murderous Israeli war against Gaza – nor is the deal that is currently being negotiated in Cairo. To the contrary, the provisions of the US draft resolution reflect the true intentions of the Biden administration vis-a-vis its continuing support of Israel, and reveal the limitations of the truce it is trying to orchestrate. While the US draft resolution does use the dreaded word “ceasefire” – which had been prohibited in the White House for months – it does not call for an immediate halt in the bombing, only “as soon as practicable”, with no indication of when that might be. It does not call for a permanent ceasefire either, leaving Israel free to resume its genocidal bombing – presumably with continuing US support. Virtually everything the US draft calls for is undercut by what is left out. The demand for “lifting all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale” in Gaza certainly sounds appropriately robust. But that’s only until you realise that the text’s failure to challenge or even name the principal barrier to aid getting in – Israel’s bombardment – means that this is not a serious plan to end Israel’s deadly siege. It should not surprise anyone that “the Biden administration is not planning to punish Israel if it launches a military campaign in Rafah without ensuring civilian safety” – as Politico reported – despite claiming it wants a credible plan to ensure Palestinian safety. No one in the Biden administration has even hinted at imposing consequences for Israel’s constant rejection of the insipid appeals for restraint – such as conditioning aid on human rights standards (as required by US law) or cutting US military aid altogether. That’s what real pressure would look like. A more accurate picture of Washington’s approach to Israel’s war against Gaza is the continuing US pipeline of weapons to make Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza more effective, more efficient, and more deadly. According to the Wall Street Journal, the “Biden administration is preparing to send bombs and other weapons to Israel that would add to its military arsenal even as the US pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza.” The arms the US intends to hand over to the Israeli army include MK-82 bombs, KMU-572 Joint Direct Attack Munitions and FMU-139 bomb fuses, worth tens of millions of dollars. It is more than likely that the administration will do another end run around US Congress to send the weapons without relying on congressional approval, as it did on at least two occasions last December.

. . . full article on Al Jazeera (4 Mar 2024)

[time-being]

Source:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/10/16/kamala-harris-israel-gaza-lebanon/

The headline says: "Israel complicates election’s final stretch, an issue Democrats hoped would fade"

The sub-hed continues: "Benjamin Netanyahu’s escalating assaults in Gaza and Lebanon have become a growing vulnerability for Kamala Harris amid her bid for the presidency."

But the framing makes no sense. Why did Democrats expect this issue to fade?

Towards the end of the article, we have this:

But Biden and his top advisers agreed with Netanyahu’s premise that the weakening of Hezbollah could be exploited to reshape Lebanon’s politics and appoint a new president. A limited incursion was backed by Blinken, Hochstein, Austin, Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, said officials familiar with the matter.

Biden and all his top advisors, including Lloyd Austin, Tony Blinken, and Trump superfan/Iraq puppet government operator Brett McGurk approved an invasion this month.

Again, why did Democrats think this issue would go away? They signed off on an invasion, attempting to install a puppet government in Lebanon, a couple of weeks ago. Invasions don't go away in a hurry.

Earlier in the article, even the Washington Post puts it in perspective:

Michigan has 300,000 people from the SWANA region and they strongly disapprove of the genocide and the Biden/Harris genocide and invasion strategy. This is not fresh news.

Politico reported on this in November 2023: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/11/biden-israel-michigan-support-00125320

You can find it in Vox in February of 2024: https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/2/27/24084168/michigan-gaza-primary-biden-ceasefire-arabs

This is political malpractice, in addition to being murderous policy.

It's like they're trying to lose.

[srebrenicagenocidecommemoration]

The genocide in Srebrenica.

The war that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia claimed more than 100,000 lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, mostly of Bosnian Muslims, and displaced more than two million others.

The massacre in Srebrenica marked one of the darkest chapters of that war.

In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb army overran Srebrenica - previously declared a safe area under UN Security Council Resolution 819 - and brutally murdered thousands of men and teenagers there. The remainder of the Bosnian Muslim population present in Srebrenica – approximately 25,000 women, children and elderly - were forcibly transferred out of the enclave.

This was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust.

To date, only a few events have been determined by competent judicial bodies to constitute genocide. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) recognized the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica by the army of Republika Srpska as an act of genocide.