Ecuador is set to replace its ambassador to the UK, denying claims the current envoy was being made to leave for allowing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to seek refuge from Sweden’s extradition demands at their London address. … Read More
Past US envoy in Sweden tipped for UK post
Matthew Barzun, who served as Barak Obama’s first US ambassador in Stockholm has been tipped to be the US president’s next ambassador in London, according to UK media reports. … Read More
Obama appoints UN envoy Rice to national security position amid controversy
President Barack Obama confirmed Wednesday that Susan Rice will walk away from her position as the United States envoy to the UN in order to take on a new role within his administration. The president made the remarks Wednesday afternoon from the Rose Garden outside of the White House just hours after Tom Donilon, Obama’s security advisor since October 2010, tendered his resignation. Rice was nominated by Obama to be the American ambassador to the UN only weeks after he was elected to office in late 2008 and previously served as assistant secretary of state for African Affairs under President Bill Clinton. Obama called the role of national security advisor “a herculean task” and “one of the most critical” in the government during Wednesday’s remarks, adding that Rice would be best fit for the role because she “exemplifies the finest tradition of American diplomacy and leadership.” The appointment is expected to generate more than just a little controversy, however, particularly in light of the comments Rice made last year about the Benghazi incident that made her a lightning rod for Republican criticism. In the wake of the September 11, 2012 assault on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Rice went on several American talk shows and described the event as a spontaneous response sparked by an anti-Islamic video produced in California. Rice blamed the storming of the building on a violent demonstration that erupted outside of the consulate after a similar one broke out in Egypt, but intelligence that later went public proved her assessment to be wrong. Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in the assault. More than one month after Rice first remarked publicly about the Benghazi tragedy, she blamed talking points handed to her from American intelligence officials for gaffe. She later admitted that a spontaneous protest never occurred in Benghazi, and today US officials attribute the attack to terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda. Even as criticism grew, however, Rice was rumored in late 2012 to replace outgoing secretary of state Hillary Clinton, only for reports to trigger a major backlash from Republicans livid about the Benghazi remarks. Nearly 100 lawmakers from the GOP opposed the possibility of Rice replacing Sec. Clinton, sparking the UN rep to withdraw her name from the pool of potential candidates in December. Obama would later name Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) as his new secretary of state. During Wednesday’s press conference from the Rose Garden, Obama said he was personally grateful for Donilon’s role as security advisor, and said, “I’m proud that this work will be carried on by another exemplary public servant.” “Susan understands that there is no substitute for American leadership,” Obama said, calling her “passionate,” “pragmatic” and “a fierce champion for justice and human dignity” who “puts her country first.” As the UN ambassador, Obama said Rice “reinvigorated American diplomatic efforts” and helped put tough sanctions in place against Iran and North Korea. Rice said she was “deeply honored and humbled” to be appointed by the president, but said “we have vital opportunities to seizes and ongoing challenges to confront.” “We have much more to accomplish on behalf of the American people, and I look forward to continuing to serve on your national security team to keep our nation strong and safe,” she said. Perhaps first on the agenda for Rice, though, will be battling the criticism that is already been delivered courtesy of her GOP foes. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) accused Rice of “misleading” the public regarding the Benghazi attack and questioned why the White House appointed her to such an important role in the wake of the actions that are still used by members of the Republican Party to target the Obama administration. “How are they going to have the authority for people to believe what they’re saying, when he’s promoting someone who directly and deliberately misled the public over Benghazi?” Paul asked Fox. “I can’t imagine that we would be keeping Ambassador Rice in any significant position, much less promoting her to an important position,” he said “Obviously I disagree [with Obama’s] appointment of Susan Rice as Nat’l Security Adviser, but I’ll make every effort to work [with] her on [important] issues,” Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) wrote on Twitter. Last month, Vice President Joe Biden praised Rice, adding that even after Benghazi she had “the absolute, total, complete confidence of the president.” Samantha Power, a former special assistant to the president and senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights at the National Security Council, has been asked to fill Rice’s shoes at the UN headquarters in New York. … Read More
American philanthropist honored for bolstering US-Russia cultural ties
Since 1991, public organization One to World has annually bestowed the Fulbright Award on individuals who make outstanding contributions to promoting international understanding in culture or education. This year, real estate investor and President of Lehrman LLC Susan Lehrman was chosen to be one of three nominees for the award.Washington socialite Lehrman was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Award for working to bridge the gap between Russian and American cultures.In her acceptance speech, Lehrman recalled the classic Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and his saying that beauty will save the world. She shared her belief that culture can break through the ice of negative stereotypes in Russian-American relations.Lehrman founded and chaired the Initiative for Russian Culture (IRC), an initiative of American University in Washington, DC, that promotes greater understanding of Russian culture among young Americans in the mid-Atlantic and Washington metropolitan area. The initiative specializes in cultural exchange programs, Russian art courses and also includes extremely popular discussion series on Russian cinema. The IRC brings old Soviet and modern Russian movies to the US that otherwise would likely never make it to American screens.“During different conversations that I had with [Russian] Ambassador [to the US Sergey] Kislyak over the time he shared with me his vision of young people working together on joint projects of interest. And I also knew people at the American University interested in expanding the programs on Russia so getting everyone together, the Initiative for Russian Culture was born,” Lehrman told RT.Earlier this year, Lehrman was awarded a prestigious Russian diplomatic medal, which previously had never been given to a US citizen. In April 2013, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak decorated Lehrmann with the Medal for Contribution to International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. “I’m very honored to receive this precious award, it was quite a surprise to me, but it is very nice to know that your efforts being recognized,” Lehrman explained.“I’m very happy and pleased to see that other organizations are thinking among the same lines,” she said. “To me true change comes through the heart and to reach hearts and minds of the young people you must go through culture. Cultural understanding is of critical importance to the younger generations so that they are not drawn into easy stereotyping that you see all of the time on television and Hollywood movies.”After the ceremony, Ambassador Kislyak stressed that Lehrman has no business interests in Russia, and that her activities are aimed at bringing Russians and Americans together through shared culture.Lehrman also has a great love of French culture, and works on cultural projects in France. Shortly before being decorated with the Russian medal, she became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in France – the country’s highest award for non-French citizens – for her contributions to developing cultural ties between the US and France. Lehrman has also supported the Kids Euro Festival in Washington launched by the French Embassy in 2008. … Read More
‘Counterproductive’: UN General Assembly votes to condemn Assad’s forces in Syria war
The 193-member world body voted on Wednesday to pass the Qatari-drafted resolution condemning Syrian government forces and the “gross violation” of human rights in the country.The final vote tally: 107 in favor, 12 against and 59 abstentions. Russia, China, Syria, Iran and North Korea were among 12 countries to oppose the resolution, while South Africa, India and Brazil were among the dozens who abstained.The draft resolution further welcomes the establishment of the Syrian National Coalition “as effective representative interlocutors needed for a political transition.”The document noted “the wide international acknowledgment” that the main opposition group is the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding and therefore cannot be enforced. The last Arab-sponsored General Assembly resolution regarding Syria was approved by an vote of 133-12 with 31 abstentions last August. UN diplomats said the decline in support for Wednesday’s resolution showed growing concern about the nature of Syria’s fractured opposition fighting against the president of Bashar Assad.Speaking before the vote, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’Afari said it was contradictory for the resolution to be tabled under the Assembly’s agenda item on “prevention of armed conflict.” Ja’Afari argued that the resolution would in fact escalate violence by legitimizing the provision of weapons to “terrorists” in Syria and “by recognizing one faction of the opposition as the Syrian people’s legitimate representative.” He further said Al-Qaida-linked terrorists who had committed “unprecedented savage crimes and human rights violations” were operating in Syria thanks to the “involvement of intelligence agencies of well-known States.” He concluded that Syria was in favor of “Syrian-led national dialogue” which would adhere to the will of “the great majority of the Syrian people.”Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin had sent letters in the run-up to the vote urging all member states to vote “no” on the new resolution. He called it “one-sided and biased” as well as “counterproductive” in light of the agreement reached between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Moscow last week to convene a follow-up international peace conference on a political transition in Syria.The Arab group decided to seek approval of a wide-ranging resolution on Syria in the General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, to express “international outrage” at the more than 2-year conflict which has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 people.The draft strongly condemns what it characterized as the continued escalation in the Syrian regime’s use of heavy weapons, including indiscriminate shelling from tanks and aircraft, as well as the use of ballistic missiles, cluster munitions and other weapons against populated areas.It further expressed “grave concern at the threat by the Syrian authorities to use chemical or biological weapons, as well as at allegations of reported use of such weapons,” demanding that Syria “strictly observe” international laws prohibiting the use of such weapons.While the draft resolution put the onus of chemical weapon’s use on Damascus, the United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria said earlier this month that no evidence had been uncovered implicating the Syrian government in a chemical weapon attack.In an interview to Swiss-Italian television, the lead commission member Carla Del Ponte revealed that the “investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated.”However, rather than government forces, Del Ponte concluded: “This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities.” … Read More
Rand Paul alleges CIA smuggled weapons through Benghazi
On Wednesday a Congressional committee heard testimonies from witnesses of the September 11, 2012 attack, but eight months after the fact many questions still remain unanswered. Sen. Paul weighed in on the event as well this week, but in doing so challenged the administration of US President Barack Obama and particularly Hillary Clinton, the former Department of State secretary at the helm of the agency at the time of the attack and another rumored candidate in the 2016 election.In an interview aired on CNN Thursday evening, Sen. Paul said he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that last year’s attack unfolded as a result of a secret arms trade. The confusion in the immediate aftermath of the event — including unfounded admissions from America’s United Nations envoy Susan Rice that contradicted what is known today about the attack — could actually be a cover-up, the senator said.“I never have quite understood the cover-up — if it was intentional or incompetence,” he told host Erin Burnett. “But something went on. I mean, they had talking points that they were trying to make it out to be a movie when everybody seemed to be on the ground telling them it had nothing to do a movie. I don’t know if this was for political reasons.”In the wake of the attack, then-UN ambassador Susan Rice said the storming of the consulate resulted after an anti-Islamic video produced in the US ended up on YouTube. The government has since admitted her statement was false, but conflicting reports among Washington’s elite has led in part to Paul’s questioning of the incident.“I’ve actually always suspected that, although I have no evidence, that maybe we were facilitating arms leaving Libya going through Turkey into Syria,” he said.“Were they trying to obscure that there was an arms operation going on at the CIA annex?” Paul asked. “I’m not sure exactly what was going on, but I think questions ought to be asked and answered, and I’m a little curious when employees of the State Department are told by government officials they shouldn’t testify and then they are sort of sequestered and kept away from testimony, so I think there may be more to this.”This is not the first time either that Senator Paul raised questions about possible arms supplies under the CIA umbrella. During her testimony in the Senate, Rand Paul asked then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whether the spy agency was sending weapons from Benghazi into other countries. Clinton replied that he would have to ask CIA officials about it. On Friday morning, Paul scolded the former State Department secretary in a Washington Times op-ed and said Clinton “should never hold high office again.”“My office is currently seeking out the witnesses and survivors of Benghazi to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. To date, the Obama administration has refused to let them testify. Too many questions remain unanswered. Now, there are too many new questions,” Paul wrote. “The evidence we had in January already suggested that Mrs. Clinton ignored repeated requests for more security in Benghazi. The new evidence we have today – and that continues to mount – suggests that at the very least, Mrs. Clinton should never hold high office again.”Paul said during a Thursday radio interview that he’s “considering” a run for president in 2016. A Quinnipiac University poll published earlier the week found that Clinton would dominate the Democratic race, winning perhaps 65 percent of the party’s vote if she decides to run. … Read More
Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice Honored for “Leadership and Progress” as Benghazi Hearing Confirms Lies
On Wednesday, May 8, we heard the testimony of three whistleblowers regarding the attack of our embassy in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012, and there were some pretty eye-opening moments. … Read More
