Trump era: Fascist dawn, or road to liberation?

[angelburst29]

Three people injured when car smashes into Trump Plaza lobby in New York suburb
Three people injured when car smashes into Trump Plaza lobby in New York suburb

Police officers stand near a car after it crashed into the lobby of the Trump Plaza in New Rochelle, New York, U.S., September 17, 2019.

September 18, 2019 - A car plowed into the main hall of a Trump Plaza in suburban New York on Tuesday night, causing minor injuries to two bystanders and the driver, news media reported.

The luxury residential property in New Rochelle is not where US President Donald Trump and his family have a residence, but was widely reported by national media nonetheless.

A local ABC affiliate said the driver casually got out of his Mercedes-Benz C300 coupe and sat on the sofa in the building’s main hall after the crash at 9 pm in the city north of New York. The crash appeared to be an accident and the driver was being questioned by the police early Wednesday, NBC and other media reported.

There was nothing suspicious about the crash, New Rochelle police told local media. “We would like to thank the first responders for their swift attention to this evening’s incident,” a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in an emailed statement to ABC News. “We are truly grateful to them for their service.”

 

[angelburst29]

PressTV-‘Trump must break with US policy of Israel first’ (Video)

Drum-roll - PLEASE ... ... In snub to Netanyahu, Trump says: ‘Our relations are with Israel’

In snub to Netanyahu, Trump says: ‘Our relations are with Israel’

September 20, 2019 - US President Donald Trump has distanced himself from his old political ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after his Likud party failed to win the election this week.

Speaking to reporters on his way to California on Wednesday, Trump took a reserved attitude toward Netanyahu, who relied on his personal relationship with the White House president in his campaign for re-election.

Trump mentioned that after the Knesset election, he had not spoken to Netanyahu and played down the latter’s importance to the US-Israeli alliance, saying: “Our relations are with Israel, so we’ll see what happens.”

Former US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, said this showed that Trump “felt Netanyahu’s weakness” and wanted to give distance himself from the “loser” in the elections.

Aaron David Miller, a former US adviser on Israel and Palestine, said Trump is more interested in bolstering his popularity within the United States, especially among Jewish voters, than Netanyahu’s election chances, adding: “Trump only cares about one election, and it’s not Netanyahu’s.”

The Washington Post quoted current and former administration officials as stressing that the US president had been troubled in recent months by Netanyahu’s strong opposition to his plans to soften his tough approach to Iran with a view to sign a possible deal.

“Yes, he [Trump] is friends with Bibi [Netanyahu, but he also likes winners and he wants to move his peace plan forward no matter who the prime minister in Israel is,” the paper quoted an Israeli official saying.

Though final election results have not been released, votes counted so far show Netanyahu has little hope of leading a new coalition government.

Sep 20 2019 - Tillerson: Netanyahu 'Played' Trump with Misinformation

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a Tuesday interview with a panel of Harvard professors that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “played” President Donald Trump numerous times, according to The Harvard Gazette.

Tillerson stated that Netanyahu was “a bit Machiavellian” and cultivated relationships with world leaders he anticipated would be useful later, The Hill reported.

Tillerson added that Israeli officials would use misinformation if they believed it was necessary to win US officials over to their side of an issue. “They did that with the president on a couple of occasions, to persuade him that ‘We’re the good guys, they’re the bad guys’. We later exposed it to the president so he understood, ‘You’ve been played’,” Tillerson said, adding, “It bothers me that an ally that’s that close and important to us would do that to us.”

In a tweet Thursday, the official Twitter account of the prime minister tweeted "Israel *is* the good guy" in response to Tillerson's quote.

Tillerson noted that when he first entered office he was optimistic about the potential for peace in the region.

“I did believe that we were at a moment in time where perhaps we could chart a way where the Arab world could support an outcome that the Palestinians might not think was perfect — and in the past, if it wasn’t perfect, it didn’t happen — but with enough encouragement, pressure from the Arab world, that we could get it close enough that the Palestinians would finally agree,” he told the panel.

But Tillerson stated that his lack of a relationship with Trump kept the State Department from making progress on this front during his time in office. Tillerson also conceded being “a little too aggressive” in a push to overhaul the department.

“The level of change was so dramatic for a lot of people in what was already a very significant change from the Barack Obama administration to the Trump administration, which was also dramatic and traumatic,” he said, adding, “I didn’t have a full appreciation probably for just how emotional it would become for some people.”

Tillerson left office in March 2018 and has made mild criticisms of Trump since then, prompting the president to call him “dumb as a rock” and “lazy as hell” in December 2018.

A typical Reuters "incident" report ...

One dead, five hurt in shooting in US capital

Local media reported multiple people have been shot in Washington, DC. (Google Street View)

WASHINGTON: September 20, 2019 - One person was killed and five others wounded on Thursday in a shooting on the streets of Washington, D.C., not far from the White House, police said.

It was not immediately clear if a suspect had been taken into custody in the incident, but a law enforcement source told Reuters it was not considered an “active shooter” situation.

The source said the five wounded victims of the shooting were expected to survive their injuries.

The gunfire erupted in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, about three kilometers from the White House on Thursday night.

ABC affiliate WJLA-TV posted images on Twitter of ambulances carrying victims from the scene and said there had been a “massive” police response at the intersection of 14th Street and Columbia Road.

Trump welcomes Australia's PM, cementing strong trade, security ties

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Australia's prime minister on Friday for only the second state visit of his administration, signaling the close bond between the two allies as Washington takes on Beijing and Tehran.

Russia criticizes U.S. general over plan to destroy Kaliningrad air defenses
September 20, 2019 - MOSCOW - Russia on Friday accused the United States of brazenly threatening it after a senior U.S. general said Washington had drawn up a plan in case it needed to destroy air defenses in Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave in Europe.

U.S. General Jeffrey Harrigian said on Tuesday that “If we have to go in there to take down, for instance, the Kaliningrad IADS (Integrated Air Defense System), let there be no doubt we have a plan to go after that,” the Breaking Defense magazine reported. Kaliningrad is a Russian region that lies on the Baltic Sea between EU members Lithuania and Poland. Moscow captured the region from Germany toward the end of World War Two.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the comments by Harrigian, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, at her weekly briefing in Moscow.

“Firstly we consider this a threat. Secondly, we consider such statements to be absolutely irresponsible,” she said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence rejected Harrigian’s assertion and said the region was well defended.

“The region of Kaliningrad is reliably protected from any aggressive ‘plans’ developed in Europe by U.S. generals passing through,” it said in a statement.

 

[angelburst29]

Kommersant: Russian experts lay out new notion dubbed ‘multilateral strategic stability’

Kommersant has obtained a new report on Russia’s relations with the United States and strategic stability, drawn up by leading Russian experts and rolled out at the Russian Foreign Ministry. The authors came to conclusions, which run counter to Moscow’s current foreign policy. They believe that Russia’s traditional strategic stability concept is outdated and branded the country’s highly valued mechanisms of limiting armaments as inefficient. This is reminiscent of a modern US approach to the problem, Kommersant says. The authors of the report are convinced that the situation in strategic stability is facing a deep crisis, which is rooted in a radical shift in the military and strategic landscape, making traditional mechanisms of limiting armaments ineffective and even senseless.

Experts suggest coining a new term - "multilateral strategic stability": this implies that nuclear powers must prevent any military confrontation between each other - both deliberate and unintended - since any standoff could spark "a global nuclear war."

Russia's "Multilateral Strategic Stability" Proposal Could Bring "Balance" To South Asia - Eurasia Future

September 12, 2019 - Russian media reported that the “multilateral strategic stability” proposal by some of the country’s leading experts to actively prevent a military confrontation between nuclear powers runs counter to Moscow’s current foreign policy, though its possible promulgation would represent a victory by the “Progressive” faction of its “deep state” over the “Traditionalists” and potentially return Russia to its originally envisioned “balancing” role in South Asian affairs.

The “Multilateral Strategic Stability” Model
Russia’s publicly financed international media outlet TASS reported in its recent press review on Kommersant’s article about the proposal put forth by some of the country’s leading experts to promote the new concept of “multilateral strategic stability” (MSS), which the outlet noted runs counter to Moscow’s current foreign policy. The gist of the idea is that “Russia’s traditional strategic stability concept is outdated”, thus making “the country’s highly valued mechanisms of limiting armaments…ineffective and even senseless.” The document that they presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs importantly states that “today the nature of strategic stability is multilateral – involving China and other nuclear states, while a non-nuclear conflict and its consequences can be compared with a nuclear one and there are higher chances than before that it may trigger the use of nuclear weapons.” That’s why the “experts suggest coining a new term – ‘multilateral strategic stability’, [which] implies that nuclear powers must prevent any military confrontation between each other – both deliberate and unintended – since any standoff could spark ‘a global nuclear war’.”

“Deep State” Drama
By all indications, it appears as though the “Progressive” faction of the Russian permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies (“deep state”) is lobbying hard to counteract the revived influence of their “Traditionalist” rivals after the latter succeeded in returning their country’s foreign policy back to its historic roots last week following through the informal alliance that was sealed with India during Modi’s participation in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok as President Putin’s guest of honor. The author wrote two years ago about how “Russia’s Foreign Policy Progressives Have Trumped The Traditionalists” after Moscow began to actively pursue its 21st-century grand strategic vision of becoming the supreme “balancing” force in Afro-Eurasia, which later led to “Russia’s ‘Deep State’ Divisions Over South Asia Spilling Over Into The Public” in the aftermath of Russia “Returning To South Asia” through its proposal to host Indo-Pak peace talks earlier this year. Those plans were nearly scuttled after India’s “Israeli”-like unilateral moves in Kashmir last month compelled Russia to extend its full support to New Delhi and seemed to spell the end of the “Progressive’s” brief reign.

The “deep state” struggle for influence isn’t over, though, at least if the latest MSS proposal is anything to go by. Its possible promulgation would represent a marked departure from Russia’s “Traditionalist” position of staying out of bilateral disputes between nuclear powers such as India and Pakistan and instead encourage a more active effort to mediate or “balance” between them in pursuit of peace and the avoidance a military confrontation that could spark “a global nuclear war”. That’s not at all what India would want to see happen after it invested billions of dollars in military-technical and energy deals with Russia in the hopes of “buying off” Moscow and preventing the “Progressives'” return to power there. Nevertheless, the MSS proposal is extremely pragmatic and will likely be received very well by Russian diplomats, even if their positive reaction to it isn’t made public given how sensitive of a foreign policy shift it would be, especially regarding Russian-Indian relations if ever enters into practice. One possible indication that this could be the case comes from former Ambassador and current Vice President of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs Gleb Ivashentsev.

E-CPEC+
Mr. Ivashentsev told Nezavisimaya Gazeta earlier in the week (as reported by TASS in the context of their daily press review) that “Russia cannot act as an intermediary (in Kashmir)…however, we must promote a rapprochement between the two countries”, which was an extremely bold statement to make given his country’s official position on the matter. That strongly hints that there’s serious interest in the Russian “deep state” to “recalibrate” their recent foreign policy “adjustment” in full-fledged partisan favor of India in order to make it more “balanced”, which would by default work out to the “Progressives'” advantage. Such a change wouldn’t be just for the strategic sake of it either, but could possibly be driven by Iran’s reported plans to build a CPEC-parallel pipeline (E-CPEC+) to China, a game-changing megaproject that Russia could participate in if it allows its offshore reserves in Iran to be transported through this pipeline and/or uses its world-class technical expertise to construct it. Any move in that direction could help Russia retain “balance” in its new relations with India but also just as importantly promote peace in South Asia too.

The MSS speaks about the need to actively “prevent any military confrontation between [nuclear powers] – both deliberate and unintended – since any standoff could spark ‘a global nuclear war'”, and while Russia isn’t able to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, it could “balance” out its regional investments in the former through its prospective leading participation in the latter’s E-CPEC+. The more economically connected that Russia becomes with the global pivot state of Pakistan (including through the RuPak rail proposal via Central Asia & Afghanistan that could become the main component of N-CPEC+), the less likely it is that India will seriously consider behaving aggressively against Islamabad out of concern that its informal ally’s investments might be impacted as “collateral damage”. The greater the tangible stake that Russia has in Pakistan, the more involved it would naturally become in promoting peace between this nuclear power and India in accordance with the strategic precept guiding the MSS proposal. Without any “skin in the game” in Pakistan, Russia’s efforts to prevent a military clash in the region would be unconvincing and ultimately futile.

Overcoming The Kashmiri Obstacle
India is powerless to prevent Russia from investing in a purely apolitical project such as E-CPEC+ if its partner is sincerely interested in doing so and desires the resultant aforementioned strategic gains that this would entail, but it might try to wage a low-intensity infowar out of desperation to pressure it against doing so, though going too far with this could risk undermining the hard-fought trust recently built between the two by amounting to blatant interference in its affairs. The most likely narrative approach that could be relied upon in this scenario is to emphasize how the Russian Ambassador to India explicitly said that his country recognizes India’s recent moves in Kashmir to be an “internal matter” and that “our views are exactly the same as India’s”, which implies full endorsement of New Delhi’s maximalist claims towards the Kashmir Conflict. That said, such an interpretation is merely an assumption, since Russia has the narrative leeway to assert that it set a “balanced” precedent and also therefore regards Gilgit-Baltistan (through which E-CPEC+ would traverse) as Pakistani territory, thus settling any Indian concerns over the legality of this move.

So long as Russia has the political will to defy Indian pressure (however direct or indirect it may be), it can return to its original plans of “balancing” South Asian affairs instead of privileging India over the rest of the region. The odds of this happening would become even more likely if the “Progressives” succeed with their plan to get the Foreign Ministry to promulgate the MSS proposal as its official policy, as this would then become the structural framework through which their active “balancing” efforts as practiced by the “energy diplomacy” of participating in E-CPEC+ would become institutionally justified. It might still take a while for the “Progressives'” vision, which may have actually been “ahead of its time” when it first began being practiced a few years ago, to catch on with the rest of Russia’s “deep state” and convince them of the useful flexibility of their MSS model as compared to the extant rigid one being defended by the “Traditionalists”, but the very fact that it’s being so prominently reported on by Russia’s publicly financed international media strongly suggests that there’s some degree of behind-the-scenes support for at least floating the idea in the public domain at this time.

Concluding Thoughts
The author previously wrote about how Russia is in the midst of two systemic transitions in the political (Post-Putin 2024, PP24) and economic (“Great Society”/”National Development Projects”) spheres, but now one can say that it’s also experiencing a similar systemic transition in the diplomatic one as well seeing as how the MSS is the natural evolution of Russian foreign policy in the emerging Multipolar World Order, especially if it intends to indefinitely remain the leader of the fledgling new Non-Aligned Movement (Neo-NAM) that it wants to lead throughout this century (whether by itself or jointly with India). Although the diplomatic transition was recently suspended in the South Asian sense out of financial considerations stemming from the planned multibillion-dollar deals that Russia later clinched with India in exchange for its partisan support of New Delhi’s actions in Kashmir, most of those agreements have been finalized after last week’s Eastern Economic Forum so India can no longer use them as “blackmail” leverage for pressuring Russia not to invest in E-CPEC+. Simply put, India already moved so close to Russia that it can’t disengage, thus leaving it no choice but to accept Moscow’s will.

 

[angelburst29]

The Vice Pence's struggled with "social media" for the weekend - scoring "negative interest" rate's, on their "grandiose plans" for notoriety!

Pence arrives on Mackinac Island with motorcade. Cars are generally banned on the island.
Pence arrives on Mackinac Island with motorcade. Cars are generally banned on the island.

September 23, 2019 - MACKINAC ISLAND — Vice President Mike Pence arrived at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in an eight-vehicle motorcade Saturday, prompting cries of "sacrilege" on social media.

Cars are generally banned on the island, and that century-old ban is integral to its charm.

When President Gerald Ford visited the island in 1975 — the only sitting president to make such a visit — he and first lady Betty Ford traveled by horse-drawn carriage.

Pence, who spoke at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, is the first sitting vice president to visit the island. He traveled to and from the airport with a cluster of monster SUVs shipped to the island Friday night.

It was the first-ever motorcade on Mackinac.

To some, the Pence motorcade on the bucolic island is the latest outrage of the Donald Trump presidency. To others, it's mostly a sign of how much has changed since 1975.

Ron Fournier, a Detroit native who covered Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama during a journalism career that included stints as Washington bureau chief for The Associated Press and editor-in-chief of the National Journal, said the motorcade was "obscene."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1175485632883363842

"It's both the existence and size," said Fournier, now president of the Michigan public relations firm Truscott Rossman. "No security expert would claim it's necessary."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1175491379042164738

"It's the nature of the security these days," said state Sen. Wayne Schmidt, whose district includes Mackinac Island and who said he stood by the road to wait for the motorcade mostly because a vehicle on the island is such a rare site. "Any time we can get a high-ranking official, of any political stripe, up here, I welcome him," Schmidt said.

But the views on social media were weighted heavily against Pence, with "snowflake" being among the kinder labels used by his critics. Many said that if he could not go to Mackinac without a motorcade, he should have stayed. home.

Even former Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, the host of the syndicated TV program Full Court Press, weighed in.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1175488758449352706

Pence flew to Michigan Saturday morning before taking a helicopter to the small Mackinac Island airport. He then traveled by motorcade to and from the hotel.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pence arrives on Mackinac with eight-vehicle motorcade

A Motorcade on Michigan's Mackinac Island? Some Call Vice President Mike Pence's Flouting Vehicle Ban 'Disrespectful'
A Motorcade on Michigan's Mackinac Island? Some Call Vice President Mike Pence's Flouting Vehicle Ban 'Disrespectful'

September 23, 2019 - Michigan’s Mackinac Island is a historic community of strong traditions. It’s best known for its Victorian cottages, fudge shops — and a firm ban on driving.

Although residents can receive a temporary vehicle permit, and the police own at least one vehicle, residents and visitors traverse Mackinac on bicycles, snowmobiles or on foot. The only sitting President to visit the island, Gerald Ford, traveled by horse-drawn carriage.

Now, Vice President Mike Pence is under fire for traveling in what might be the first motorcade in the island’s history. This weekend Pence traveled via SUV, and was reportedly accompanied by seven other vehicles, to the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference.

The vehicle ban has been in place on the island for about 121 years.

A ferry s service that provides transportation to the island, Shepler’s Ferry, tweeted photos of its boat transporting the Vice President’s vehicles.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1175588391888592896

While some wrote on social media that the community was honored to host the Vice President, others characterized Pence’s mode of transportation as disrespectful.

“For those not from MI, you should understand what a huge transgression this is. Our #MackinacIsland has been a car-free haven forever, a piece of history frozen in time. Tell anyone from MI @VP just drove not 1 but 8 CARS on this island & watch their blood boil,” wrote Julia Pulver, a former Michigan State Senate Candidate, on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1175474035259564032

Mark Brewer, the former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, called the decision “disrespectful” and “unnecessary” on Twitter.

Mark Brewer on Twitter


Karen Pence Vows To Tell Trump’s Story On Twitter And It’s Not Going Well
Karen Pence has joined Twitter to help with President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. And it’s not exactly going well.

The wife of Vice President Mike Pence created the account last month, and over the weekend shared a video announcing her intentions to help the 2020 campaign. After first revealing her likes ― painting, bike riding and reading ― she declared that she will be on the campaign trail “to help tell the story of what President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are accomplishing in the Trump administration.”

She then called on Twitter users to “follow along to KEEP AMERICA GREAT!” and shared some photos from campaign events as well as the Pence family pets:

People on Twitter weren’t impressed. Some listed things they’d rather do than ”follow along to KEEP AMERICA GREAT!” Others called her out for the vice president’s longtime hostility toward gay rights and reproductive health, among other issues:

Karen Pence on Twitter

 

[angelburst29]

Explainer: What it would take for Congress to impeach Trump

Some of U.S. President Donald Trump's critics in the House of Representatives are calling for an impeachment investigation following a whistleblower complaint that has roiled Washington.

Lavrov says he never met with alleged CIA spy Smolenkov

MOSCOW, September 10, 2019 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday he had never met former staff member of the Russian presidential administration Oleg Smolenkov, whom media reports refer to as a possible CIA agent.

"I have never seen him, I have never met him, and I have neither kept track of his career nor his movements", Lavrov said, stressing that he could only comment on the facts.

Russia formally declares alleged CIA mole missing, says search underway: RIA
Russia has officially declared a former Kremlin official alleged to have been a CIA informant missing and is looking for him,
according to an entry in the Interior Ministry's database, the RIA news agency reported on Monday.

Sep 23 2019 - Russia Declares Alleged CIA Agent Missing, Search Underway
Russia formally placed an alleged CIA agent on a list of missing individuals after US media reports claimed he had been evacuated to America.

Pushback with Aaron Maté September 15, 2019

Published on Sep 15, 2019 (17:08 min.)

Outing of CIA’s Kremlin mole echoes Iraq WMD hoax
The outing of a CIA informant inside of the Kremlin raises new questions about the Russia investigation and the intelligence officials behind it.

The informant, identified as Oleg Smolenkov, disappeared from Russia in June 2017 and turned up in the US living under his own name, in a luxury home in the Washington, DC suburbs. Former CIA analyst John Kiriakou says that all of this points to Smolenkov being less valuable an asset than he’s been portrayed – and, just as we saw during the Iraq war — to the possible manipulation of the intelligence he provided by then-CIA head John Brennan.

Guest: John Kiriakou, former CIA analyst who was imprisoned after blowing the whistle on the agency’s torture program.

The outing of a CIA informant inside of the Kremlin raises new questions about the Russia investigation and the intelligence officials behind it. The informant has been identified as Oleg Smolenkov, a mid-level Kremlin official. CNN first reported that the CIA removed Smolenkov from Russia in 2017 amid concerns President Trump could expose his identity. “The removal of the Russian was driven in part by concerns that President Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence, which could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy,” CNN’s Jim Sciutto reported.

That turns out to be false. Reports from the New York Times and Washington Post strongly suggest that it was in fact leaks to the media that forced Smolenkov’s departure. According to Russian media, Smolenkov disappeared during a visit to Montegero in June 2017. After that, he turned up in the US living under his own name, in a luxury home in the suburbs of Washington, DC.

“I was astounded when I read that he was living openly under his own name,” former CIA analyst John Kiriakou tells Pushback. “I didn’t have a lot of experience at the CIA with defectors or people who had been resettled, but I had some, and they were, never ever resettled in their own names and they were almost never resettled in the Washington area.”

“The fact also that he was living openly under his own name tells me a couple of things: one, this source wasn’t as sensitive as we may have been led to believe; or, two, even if he was sensitive the information that he provided either has been overtaken by events or isn’t really that important in the long run.”

If Smolenkov is not the valuable asset that he was portrayed as, this would undermine a core element of the Russia investigation.“The Moscow informant was instrumental to the C.I.A.’s most explosive conclusion about Russia’s interference campaign: that President Vladimir V. Putin ordered and orchestrated it himself,” the New York Times reported. “As the American government’s best insight into the thinking of and orders from Mr. Putin, the source was also key to the C.I.A.’s assessment that he affirmatively favored Donald J. Trump’s election and personally ordered the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. The informant, according to people familiar with the matter, was outside of Mr. Putin’s inner circle, but saw him regularly and had access to high-level Kremlin decision-making — easily making the source one of the agency’s most valuable assets.”

Kiriakou also notes that the way Smolenkov’s intelligence was handled raises echoes of the CIA’s manipulation of intelligence to help justify the Iraq war. The information from Smolenkov was handled personally by then-CIA Director John Brennan. Brennan reportedly sidelined other CIA analysts and kept the Smolenkov information out of the Presidential Daily Briefing –
instead delivering it personally to President Obama and a small group of officials.

“That is a highly highly unusual thing to do, but I think [Brennan] did it because he knew that the source wasn’t well placed, he knew that the source was lying about his access to Putin — or information coming from Putin — and I think that for whatever reason John Brennan really wanted the president to run with this narrative that the Russians were trying to somehow impact the 2016 election,
when the intelligence just simply wasn’t there,” Kiriakou says.

According to the book “The Apprentice” by the Washington Post‘s Greg Miller, Brennan sequestered himself in his office to pore over the CIA’s material, “staying so late that the glow through his office windows remained visible deep into the night.” Brennan “ordered up,” not just vetted, “‘finished’ assessments – analytic reports that had gone through layers of review and revision,” Miller adds, but also “what agency veterans call the ‘raw stuff’ – the unprocessed underlying material.”

Kiriakou says that raises “a very big red flag.”

“As a matter of practice, you never ever give the raw data to the policymaker,” he says. That was something that was done during the George W. Bush administration where Vice President Cheney demanded the raw intelligence. But more often than not raw intelligence is just simply incorrect — it’s factually incorrect, or it’s the result of the source who’s a liar, or it’s the result of the source who has only part of the story. And so you can’t trust it. You have to vet it and compare it to the rest of your all-source information to see what’s true, what’s not true, and then only the true information you use in your analysis. For the director of the CIA to be using the raw data is highly unusual because that’s what you have a staff of thousands to do for you.”

“So the notion that the director of the CIA would be holed up in his office into the middle of the night with the raw data… just makes no sense to me unless John Brennan had his own narrative and was trying to figure out a way to convey that narrative to the White House, and use the data to support his analysis, rather than the analysis of his experts.”

 

[aragorn]

Even if we've seen this before, it's mind boggling to observe this latest impeachment-hysteria. Everything is upside-down; Joe Biden and his son are as corrupt as they get, but nobody cares about that...all they want is to impeach Trump. Some have even suggested he should be executed for treason! These people are completely insane, and I sense that we're reaching some kind of tipping point. What on earth is this obsession?

If, as I hope, Trump has a recording and transcript of the Ukraine-conversation that proves his innocence, that would be a nice 'trump card' for him to throw in at this point.

 

[aragorn]

Well, well, well...looks like Trump is timing his release of the transcript quite nicely. Was this a trap for the Dems all along?

Stocks are bouncing back hard and impeachment odds tumbling after President Trump announced he has "authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript..." someone stealing the jam out of Nancy Pelosi's Democratic Party plans later this evening...

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176559966024556544

 

[angelburst29]

Well, well, well...looks like Trump is timing his release of the transcript quite nicely. Was this a trap for the Dems all along?

Ahhh - Trump is such a party-crasher! The Dems were soooo ... busy while Trump was in New York - they actually put-in a full days work!
Yeah, I know - hard to believe - isn't it? Such motivation, such group idiot-syncrasy ... and it all comes crashing down, like a "house-of-cards" in one little tweet from Trump! Well, now, we all know how unpredictable he is? Just get over it!

Pelosi to announce impeachment inquiry on Tuesday: Washington Post

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will announce later on Tuesday that the House is launching a formal inquiry into the impeachment of President Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported.

Pelosi to make statement on Trump investigations later on Tuesday

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would make a statement Tuesday evening regarding investigations into Republican President Donald Trump.

House begins Trump impeachment inquiry over call to Ukraine leader

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, accusing him of seeking foreign help to smear Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of next year's election.

Text: House Speaker Pelosi's remarks announcing Trump impeachment inquiry

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday the House would open an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump over reports he sought foreign help to smear a political rival.

House will start impeachment probe of Trump: Pelosi
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday the House of Representatives will launch a formal inquiry into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached, declaring that no one is above the law.

Pelosi says Trump asking for Ukraine election-related help 'is not right'

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday it would be wrong if President Donald Trump asked Ukraine to launch an investigation into a political opponent, even if he did not tie the request to the release of millions of dollar in U.S. aid.

Trump lashes out as House launches impeachment inquiry'
President Donald Trump lashed out on Tuesday at the decision of Democrats in the House of Representatives to launch a formal impeachment inquiry, calling it "Witch Hunt garbage."

Two of Trump's Republican challengers support impeachment effort

Two of the three Republicans challenging Donald Trump for their party's presidential nomination backed an effort to impeach the U.S. president during a debate on Tuesday.

House Republican leader opposes House impeachment inquiry

U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday he did not back the House of Representatives' launch of a formal inquiry into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached.

Senate calls for whistleblower complaint to be sent to intelligence panels
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a resolution calling on the Ukraine whistleblower complaint to be submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees.

U.S. House to proceed with formal Trump impeachment inquiry: senior lawmaker

The U.S. House of Representatives will move forward with a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, the head of a powerful House committee said on Tuesday.

U.S. Senate intelligence committee leaders expected to get whistleblower briefing: aide
Acting U.S. Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire and Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson are expected to brief the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee this week on the Ukraine-related whistleblower situation, a Senate aide said.

Schumer to Trump on whistleblower: We need the complaint

The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Chuck Schumer, on Tuesday said that President Donald Trump's recent promise to release the transcript of a phone call believed to be at the heart of a whistleblower complaint about Trump was not enough.

Explainer: What it would take for Congress to impeach Trump
Some of U.S. President Donald Trump's critics in the House of Representatives are calling for an impeachment investigation following a whistleblower complaint that has roiled Washington.

U.S. House intelligence chairman says whistleblower to testify on Trump Ukraine call
U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff says his panel is communicating with an attorney representing the whistleblower who came forward to raise concerns about President Donald Trump's phone call with Ukraine's president and that the intelligence staffer would like to testify this week.

Biden backs impeachment if Trump does not cooperate with Congress

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden said on Tuesday he would support opening impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump if the Republican president fails to comply with congressional requests for information on Ukraine and other matters.

In Trump's Ukraine flap, risks and opportunities for Biden

The growing flap over whether President Donald Trump used his office to seek re-election help from his Ukrainian counterpart poses political risks, and some opportunities, for Democratic White House front-runner Joe Biden.

Senator Grassley warns Democrats: Don't use impeachment proceedings to delay USMCA

Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley on Tuesday urged Democrats not to use impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump to delay action on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement.

Trump denies pressuring Ukraine, will not commit to transcript release
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday denied trying to coerce Ukraine into investigating his Democratic rival Joe Biden, but wavered about whether he would release a transcript of a phone call that some Democrats say is grounds for his impeachment.

Trump's ‘transcript’ of Ukraine call unlikely to be verbatim
Details from a phone call made by Donald Trump that has led the U.S. House of Representatives to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against the president isn't likely to come from a recording or be verbatim, former White House and national security officials say.

White House preparing to release whistleblower complaint: Politico

The White House is preparing to release a whistleblower complaint about U.S. President Donald Trump's call with Ukraine's leader by the end of the week, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing a senior administration official.

White House will release whistleblower complaint to Congress: official

The White House is preparing to release a whistleblower complaint reportedly concerning a phone call President Donald Trump had with his Ukrainian counterpart, an administration official said on Tuesday.

Factbox: Burisma, the obscure Ukrainian gas company at the heart of U.S. political row
Some U.S. Democrats are calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump over reports that he asked his Ukrainian counterpart to launch an investigation that could damage his Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

 

[Joe]

Even if we've seen this before, it's mind boggling to observe this latest impeachment-hysteria. Everything is upside-down; Joe Biden and his son are as corrupt as they get, but nobody cares about that...all they want is to impeach Trump. Some have even suggested he should be executed for treason! These people are completely insane, and I sense that we're reaching some kind of tipping point. What on earth is this obsession?

If, as I hope, Trump has a recording and transcript of the Ukraine-conversation that proves his innocence, that would be a nice 'trump card' for him to throw in at this point.

Proves his innocence? He's guilty of nothing other than trying to expose the corruption of Joe Biden and his son, albeit with an eye to taking him down as a potential challenger for next year's elections. So there's nothing illegal about that, far from it, the only illegal activity here is on the part of Biden and his son.

This is pretty much the same situation as the Russiagate hoax, where Trump was accused of wrong-doing (obstruction of the Mueller probe) and threatened with impeachment for attempting to expose wrong-doing (the illegal and unconstitutional hit job that was "Russian collusion")

This latest attempt will, like the last, go nowhere (for obvious reasons) and can only be described as more evidence of the desperation and delusion of many members of the Democratic party who think that they can both 'impeach' Trump by attempting to cover up the crimes of their own favorite for next year's election (Biden), when in fact Biden is probably the LEAST electable of all Democrat candidates.

This latest attempt will, like the last, go nowhere (for obvious reasons) and can only be described as more evidence of the desperation and delusion of many members of the Democratic party who think that they can both 'impeach' Trump by attempting to cover up the crimes of their own favorite for next year's election (Biden), when in fact Biden is probably the LEAST electable of all Democrat candidates and this maneuver will simply increase the chances that Trump gets 4 more years.

Amazing lunacy.

See the video below for evidence, from the horse's mouth, that Biden essentially blackmailed Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk (President and PM of Ukraine at the time) by threatening to withhold $1billion dollars of US taxpayers' aid money to Ukraine unless they fired the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Biden's son's illegal activities in Ukraine.

And Trump's the bad guy, apparently.

 

[Joe]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176575651031072768

 

[Joe]

Supposed "impeachment inquiry" against Trump follows the same theme as everything that the US establishment has attempted to do since Trump's election campaign: Defame Trump for attempting to expose the massive corruption at the heart of US politics. 3 major corruption scandals BY THE DEMS:

Hillary's email and corruption in the DNC. Trump exposes it.

Dem Response: IMPEACH TRUMP!

Made up claims of "Russian collusion" and illegal Mueller investigation. Trump exposes it.

Dem Response: IMPEACH TRUMP!

Joe Biden using the office of the VP and US govt. aid to Ukraine to get a Ukrainian prosecutor fired because he was investigating Biden laundering money from Ukraine for himself and his son. Trump asks Ukrainian Pres. to investigate.

Dem Response: IMPEACH TRUMP!

 

[angelburst29]

The White House‏Verified account @WhiteHouse 46m46 minutes ago

As President Trump promised, here is the full, unredacted transcript of his call with the Ukrainian President:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf

 

[angelburst29]

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/20...nd-jim-comeys-spies-in-the-trump-white-house/

September 25, 2019 - Earlier this month President Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow reported that Comey’s FBI inserted spies into the White House. These spies left the FBI and went to work for FTI Consulting, the same firm that represented Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian Gas firm Burisma!


Rudy Giuliani wants Joe Biden to 'release records to see if he flew Hunter to China in Dec. 2013...'; But we don't need records. Here's a photo of them landing in Beijing
September 25, 2019 - Rudy Giuliani wants Joe Biden to “release records to see if he flew Hunter to China in Dec. 2013 on AF 2 to facilitate Hunter’s sale of his office to China for a total of $1.5 billion”:

But we don’t need records. Here’s a photo of them landing in Beijing:



Here’s the caption for the photo. Note the update in 2014 to cover Hunter’s new work in Ukraine:

FILE – This Dec. 4, 2013, file photo shows U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, arriving on Air Force Two in Beijing, China, with his son Hunter Biden, right, and his granddaughter Finnegan Biden. As the Vice President travels to Ukraine Saturday, June 7, 2014, his youngest son, Hunter, 44, has been hired by a private Ukrainian company that promotes energy independence from Russia, but is commercially active in the breakaway Russian-backed state of Crimea and owned by a former government minister with ties to Ukraine’s ousted pro-Russian president. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, Pool)

Oh, and from that New Yorker article in July titled, “Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father’s Campaign?,” we know that the deal got signed one month before Hunter and Joe flew to Beijing:

In June, 2013, Li, Archer, and other business partners signed a memorandum of understanding to create the fund, which they named BHR Partners, and, in November, they signed contracts related to the deal. Hunter became an unpaid member of BHR’s board but did not take an equity stake in BHR Partners until after his father left the White House. (Article continues.)

Note: Trump mentioned Crowdstrike and the Server in his phone call transcript with the Ukrainian President.

What Is CrowdStrike? Firm Hired By DNC Has Ties To Hillary Clinton, A Ukrainian Billionaire, And Google
Fri, 03/24/2017 - In yesterday’s post, Credibility of Cyber Firm that Claimed Russia Hacked the DNC Comes Under Serious Question, I examined how CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm hired by the DNC to look into its hacking breach, had been exposed as being completely wrong about a separate attack it claimed originated from the same group it claimed broke into DNC systems, and supposedly works for Russia’s military intelligence unit, GRU. Here’s some of what we learned: (Article continues.)

Trump pressed Ukraine president to probe political rival: call summary (Video)

President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine's president to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in coordination with the U.S. attorney general and his personal lawyer, according to a summary of an explosive July phone call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday.

House Judiciary chief call on Barr to recuse himself from Ukraine probes

U.S. Attorney General William Barr must recuse himself from any Ukraine-related investigations after a memo showed President Donald Trump in a July call told the Ukrainian president he would have the head of U.S. Justice Department contact him, the House Judiciary Committee chairman said.

Pentagon chief says he emphasized anti-corruption in call with Ukrainian counterpart

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Wednesday that he had told his Ukrainian counterpart in a recent call that it was important for Kiev to deal with corruption, but declined to comment on a dramatic political showdown in Washington that threatens President Donald Trump's presidency.

 

[angelburst29]

Sep 24 2019 - Trump Says Republicans Would Get ‘ELECTRIC CHAIR’ If They ‘Did What Joe Biden Did’ in Ukraine

US President Donald Trump called for an investigation into Democratic 2020 hopeful Joe Biden over alleged corrupt conduct during his time as VP, arguing a Republican in the same position would “get the electric chair”.

Speaking to reporters on Monday after a meeting with Polish President Andzej Duda, Trump lashed out at what he said was politically slanted news coverage that ignores scandals in the Democratic Party, RT reported.

“They probably know that Joe Biden and his son are corrupt,” the president stated, adding, “But the fake news doesn’t want to report it, because they’re Democrats.”

"If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair right now," Trump noted.

Trump has accused the former VP of abusing his power in Ukraine during his time in the Barack Obama administration, allegedly threatening to withhold over $1 billion in US loan guarantees to Kiev unless the government fired a prosecutor then investigating Burisma Holdings, an energy company Biden’s son worked for at the time.

“I think it was $1.2 billion he wasn’t going to give unless they get rid of a prosecutor who is investigating his son and the company that his son works for,” Trump stated, describing the allegation.

House chairmen threaten subpoeanas after 'damning, shocking' call

The chairmen of four of the U.S. House of Representatives committees involved in the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump called a summary of his call with Ukraine's president "an unambiguous, damning, and shocking abuse" of office on Wednesday.

Explainer: Impeachment depends on 'high crimes and misdemeanors' - what are they?

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday announced a formal impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump, accusing him of enlisting foreign help to damage political rival Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.

Ukraine president says was not pushed by Trump to act on Biden

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday he was not pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and does not want to involved in the U.S. elections.

In seeking Ukraine favor, Trump was vulnerable to foreign spies: watchdog

U.S. President Donald Trump potentially exposed himself to "serious national security and counter-intelligence risks" when he pressed his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate a leading political rival, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, and his son, the intelligence community's inspector general warned.

Seeking favors, Trump asked Ukraine president to investigate Biden

President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine's president to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in coordination with the U.S. attorney general and Trump's personal lawyer, according to a summary of a momentous telephone call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday.

Schumer calls for Senate intelligence panel to probe Trump's handling of Ukraine

The U.S. Senate intelligence panel should probe President Donald Trump's handling of Ukraine, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters on Wednesday following the release of a memo outlining Trump's July call with the Ukrainian president.

U.S. House Intelligence chairman: Trump's Ukraine call far more damning than expected

The chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, on Wednesday said President Donald Trump's phone call with Ukraine's president was far more damning than expected.

Record High Military Suicides Continue - What's The Real Cause?
Streamed live on Sep 3, 2019 (21:30 min.)

The Pentagon has unveiled a new plan to combat record high military suicides, including more government bureaucracy and record-collecting. But is the US government missing the real point on military suicides? Are they so determined to treat the symptoms that they are blind to the cause?

Sep 25 2019 - Three US Navy Sailors Assigned to Aircraft Carrier Commit Suicide in One Week

Three sailors on the US aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush committed suicide last week, according to a post on the ship’s official Facebook page, bringing the total number of active-duty sailors who took their lives in 2019 to 49.

“It is with a heavy heart that I can confirm the loss of three Sailors last week the loss of three Sailors last week in separate, unrelated incidents from apparent suicide. My heart is broken,” commanding officer Captain Sean Bailey wrote in the post, Sputnik reported.

In his post, Bailey also encouraged sailors struggling with mental health issues to seek help, noting that there is “never any stigma or repercussions from seeking help”.

“Chaplains, psychologists, counselors, and leadership are engaged and available on board at all times to provide support and counseling to those grieving,” Bailey noted, also encouraging sailors to keep an eye out on anyone who appears to be struggling with relationship problems, personal or professional loss, career transitions, financial problems or legal issues.

According to data from Navy Personnel Command, 68 active-duty sailors committed suicide last year, an increase from 2017’s total of 65. In fact, the number of suicides among active-duty sailors increased from 13.1 per 100,000 sailors in 2015 to 20.7 per 100,000 in 2018.

“Help is always available. If you find yourself in need, call the Suicide Hotline number at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or Military OneSource at 1-800-342-9647. You can also text ‘home’ to the Crisis Hotline at 741741. Asking for help and supporting those who reach out is a sign of strength and resilience and never viewed negatively,” Bailey concluded in his post.

 

[angelburst29]

Activity at the 74th UN General Assembly at UN Headquarters, in New York, starting on September 24, 2019 - Russia sits this month in the position of President. Included in the links, for first and second day UN Plenary Sessions - *speeches, *debates, *photos, *tweets and *video.

As it happened: UN General Assembly day one

September 24, 2019 - The first day of debates at the 74th UN General Assembly is under way at UN headquarters in New York.

As it happened: Day two at UN General Assembly, Iran's ‘malign activity’ in focus

September 25, 2019 - Day two of the plenary sessions at the UN General Assembly is under way on Wednesday. (AFP)

Sep 25 2019 - Moscow Rebukes Washington for Failure to Grant Visas to Russian Diplomats

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova castigated the US for its failure to grant visas to some Russian delegates to the UN General Assembly in New York as a 'shameful' move, recalling that the US delegation to Sochi had been issued 200 visas.

Zakharova published on her Facebook page a comment by a US State Department official in connection with the latest visa row, TASS reported.

The official stated that the US took its obligations under the UNHQ Agreement "seriously" and evaluated each visa application "on a case by case basis", and data on this was confidential.

"Do you know what "taking obligations seriously" means along with "evaluating visa applications on a case by case basis"? This is when the US delegation led by Mike Pompeo was issued 200 visas for a visit to Sochi [in May 2019]," Zakharova wrote.

Several members of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament), including Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev, were not issued US visas and won’t be able to take part in the UN General Assembly session in New York.

Kosachev told TASS that 10 Russian delegates had failed to receive their visas. According to him, the documents were at the US Embassy and they had not been prepared by the departure on Tuesday.

In his turn, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the situation as unacceptable, calling for a tough response by Moscow and the United Nations, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has slammed the incident as a shameful act.

Sep 25 2019 - Russian Envoy: UN Must Look into US Failure to Issue Visas to Russian Senators

Moscow will retaliate to the US failure to issue visas to members of the Russian delegation taking part in a session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky told TASS on Tuesday.

"This will have consequences, we will think about how to retaliate," he pledged.

"Apparently, it’s time for the UN to look closer into Americans’ non-compliance with their commitments as the host of the UN headquarters," Polyansky said.

Several Russian senators, including Chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev, were scheduled to take part in the UN General Assembly’s annual session this week. However, some of them have failed to obtain visas and will be unable to attend the session, due from September 24 to September 30.

Sep 24 2019 - Moscow Summons US Envoy over Visa Denial to Russia's UN Delegation
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned on Tuesday the US envoy to Moscow after it turned out that Washington had failed to provide several members of the Russian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly with visas timely.

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/09/25/2104780/jcpoa-joint-commission-meeting-held-in-new-

September, 25, 2019 - Iran and the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), held a ministerial meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

“A Ministerial meeting of the E3/EU+2 and Iran on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will take place in New York on September 25," the official website of the EU reported earlier today.

The meeting would be chaired by Mogherini and attended by the foreign ministers of Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the UK, the report said.

Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the deal.

However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments, including an unlimited rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Kamalvandi recently said that the country’s enriched uranium stockpile has reached 360 to 370 kilograms.

US President Upset Balance of JCPOA, Says Iran’s Larijani - Politics news - Tasnim News Agency

September, 24, 2019 - Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani deplored US President Donald Trump’s moves against the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and said he has upset the balance of the international accord.

In a speech during an open session of the parliament on Tuesday, Larijani reiterated the legislative body’s support for the administration’s “third step” in reducing its commitments under the JCPOA.

“Although certain governments made some unwise statements, Iran’s logic behind this issue is clear,” the parliament speaker stated.

“In the nuclear deal’s balance, we had some commitments in return for the commitments of the other party,” Larijani said, adding, “The president of the United States upset this balance and others did not make the right effort to restore the balance.”

Iraq, Saudi, Other PG States Part of Iran’s Peace Initiative: Zarif - Politics news - Tasnim News Agency

September, 23, 2019 - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said regional powers including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Yemen could join a broad regional coalition to ensure security in the Persian Gulf.

"Initially, this security coalition in the Persian Gulf should include Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and possibly Yemen," Zarif said, speaking to reporters at a working breakfast with journalists on the eve of the UN General Assembly, Sputnik reported.

According to Zarif, the coalition concept, set to be formally announced by President Hassan Rouhani later this week at the UNGA, would act under the auspices of the United Nations.

In his remarks, Zarif also indicated that Tehran was not opposed to working with Russia on a concept of maritime security in the Persian Gulf. "When I attended the Valdai Forum, I proposed that Russia be involved in our concept," Zarif said. "Many aspects of our concepts correspond to one another," the foreign minister said.

Rouhani departed for New York on Monday to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. The President is slated to deliver a speech at the 74th UN General Assembly meeting on Wednesday.

On Sunday, the Iranian president unveiled a new initiative for security of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, saying the "Coalition of Hope" scheme will be put forward in the forthcoming meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

"This year, we will be putting forward a plan at the United Nations, according to which the Islamic Republic of Iran --in cooperation with the regional countries-- can ensure security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman with the help of the region’s countries," the president added.

Trump Says Open to Hearing Rouhani’s Peace Initiative at UN - Politics news - Tasnim News Agency

September, 23, 2019 - US President Donald Trump said he is open to hearing his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani’s "Hormuz Peace Initiative" at the UN General Assembly in New York.

"I'm always open. I have no plans to meet with them, but I'm always open," Trump said Sunday in Houston, when asked if he was open to hearing Rouhani's plan.

Iran demands U.S. 'pay more' for a wider deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded on Wednesday that the United States "pay more" for any agreement that goes beyond the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Washington abandoned.

Trump says he doesn't like precedent of releasing details of calls with foreign leaders

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he decided to release a summary of a controversial phone call with Ukraine's leader because "horrible things" were being reported about it, but that he did not like the precedent of releasing details of such calls.