FOREIGN AFFAIRS - page 14

The State Department said Monday it didn’t want to speculate on the details of an Egyptian military attack that on Sunday killed a dozen civilians. Department Spokesperson John Kirby said he wasn’t prepared to comment on the incident, which left eight Mexican tourists dead, and could impact already-scrutinized aid to the authoritarian government of Egypt. “The Egyptians have said they’re going to investigate this, this tragic accident,” Kirby said. “So we need to let the investigation proceed before we jump to any conclusions about exactly what… Keep Reading

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) accused his Republican colleagues of scheduling Friday votes on the Iran nuclear agreement to “exploit” the attacks of September 11, 2001. Doggett said the timing of the ultimately symbolic procedures—the 14th anniversary of the attacks–only lends credence to the idea that conservatives are glaringly bereft of credibility when it comes to issues involving weapons of mass destruction and the Middle East. “The justifiable fear of another terrorist attack and the justifiable outrage about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have been exploited… Keep Reading

The Obama administration announced Thursday that next fiscal year the US will be accepting at least 10,000 Syrian refugees. The cohort will be derived from the overall number of refugees admitted by the US in the 12 months after Oct. 1, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said. The sum of all refugees slated to be admitted could also increase. The AP reported on Wednesday that the US will plan on accepting 75,000 refugees next fiscal year. This year, it took in about 70,000. Kirby noted that the… Keep Reading

State Department spokesperson John Kirby compared conflict of interest charges leveled at the department’s new transparency coordinator to undemocratic actions allegedly undertaken by the Turkish government. “This is the United States of America. It’s a democracy people are allowed to do this sort of thing,” John Kirby told reporters Wednesday, defending Janice Jacobs who was hired as an “email czar” by the department this week to oversee Freedom of Information Act requests with a focus on Hillary Clinton’s much sought-after cache of correspondences. On Tuesday… Keep Reading

Despite numerous inquiries putting the blame for the majority of ongoing civilian misery in Yemen on the shoulders of a US ally, floundering Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday said that “Iran was taking down the government of Yemen” and “set the entire Middle East on fire.” Graham cited the conflict in the Arabian Peninsula as a reason to oppose the Iranian nuclear deal during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. “President Obama can’t get this deal,” Graham said.… Keep Reading

The Government of Afghanistan must prove it has drastically changed before American officials enlist its help in stemming a flow of refugees that is fueling a European political crisis, according to a US government watchdog report published Thursday. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said that the country’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MORR) had been so decimated by “corruption and a lack of capacity” throughout the past decade that the State Department should wait and see if it improves before “assist[ing] the new… Keep Reading