FOREIGN AFFAIRS - page 20

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday bemoaned the lack of US involvement in planning and assisting Saudi Arabia’s newly-launched military campaign in Yemen. The head of the Armed Services Committee claimed that the fundamentalist government’s last-minute outreach to Washington about the attack on Iranian-backed groups “authenticates” the theory that “some people think it’s better to be an enemy of the United States than a friend.” McCain made the remarks while chairing a hearing, in a back-and-forth with Gen. Lloyd Austin, the leader of US Central Command. “Isn’t… Keep Reading

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani attempted to ingratiate himself to US officials on Wednesday by flipping the “Graveyard of Empires” metaphor—a succinct reminder that global powers have often found themselves bogged down in military campaigns in Afghanistan to the point of collapse. During a Wednesday address to a joint session of Congress, Ghani said that the US is on the domestic side of the foreign invasion dynamic; that the government in Kabul—installed by Washington in 2001—and American troops are in a joint grassroots fight against outside… Keep Reading

A Republican member of the House intelligence committee lent credibility to reports that Israel has been spying on nuclear talks between the permanent UN Security Council members and Iran, and then feeding members of Congress with the intelligence, even as fellow lawmakers and administration officials refuse to confirm or deny the allegations. “This is what countries do,” Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) said during an appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Wednesday morning, responding to a question about the Israeli espionage row. “How did we find out… Keep Reading

In a move that will complicate US-Japanese relations, construction on a key American military base in the Land of the Rising Sun was ordered to end, after a local governor, with the support of left-wingers, made good on anti-militarist campaign promises. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga demanded builders suspend work at the US installation along the island’s northeastern coast, citing a series of environmental and public safety concerns. Onaga had previously railed against the construction of the base during an electoral campaign last fall that led… Keep Reading

The White House is informing Israel that there will be consequences for the rhetoric Benjamin Netanyahu used to secure re-election this week, and suggested that the US veto against pro-Palestinian statehood UN resolutions isn’t as reliable as it used to be. “Steps that the United States has taken at the United Nations have been predicated on this idea that the two-state solution is the best outcome. Now our ally in these talks has said they’re no longer committed to that solution,” spokesperson Josh Earnest told… Keep Reading

Ecuador’s leading diplomat said Thursday that the US has refused to recognize the existence of an American criminal investigation into Wikileaks, after the South American country granted Julian Assange asylum and asked Washington about his case. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño also said that he and his American counterparts are not continuing to discuss the matter because the State Department said “Julian Assange should be addressed bilaterally between London and Quito.” “Two years ago we requested information from the US as to whether there were any pending trials and… Keep Reading

Pentagon officials testified on Wednesday before a House Armed Services Committee hearing, where they were poked, prodded, and begged by militaristic lawmakers to detail the alleged detrimental effects that sequestration is having on the nation’s military. But one dovish conservative, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), broke ranks with colleagues to admonish Pentagon brass about wasteful spending—particularly in Afghanistan—while arguing that critics of defense spending cuts are leaning on tortured logic and scaremongering tactics in debates. “Are you going to bring in John Sopko to tell you… Keep Reading

The Egyptian government—a military regime facing criticism for jailing political opponents and journalists, and violently suppressing peaceful protests—has another fierce defender in Congress. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who just returned from a self-financed trip to the country, adamantly defended Egyptian President, Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi on Tuesday—a move made on CSPAN’s Washington Journal that leaves him vulnerable to accusations of hypocrisy. King did appear unbothered by any such charge. When asked about proposed anti-terror laws that criminalize acts of free speech in Egypt, he said… Keep Reading

The State Department said that it has not received official word that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is looking into allegations that it interfered with Israeli elections. Spokesperson Jen Psaki said Monday afternoon that she asked in the morning, only to receive no confirmation about the existence of a probe. “I don’t think we’ve had any official notification of this investigation,” she said. The possibility of a inquiry was first reported on Saturday by Fox News. A reporter for the right-wing news organization said… Keep Reading

One former State Department employee has been under scrutiny these past few weeks for her email practices on the job. But while the punditry class is honed in on Hillary Clinton, there are thousands of other State Department employees whose online habits also deserve to be examined. That’s according to the department Inspector General, who released a report on Wednesday, finding that in 2011 alone, State employees sent “more than a billion” emails, but only flagged 61,156 of them as official records to be preserved… Keep Reading

The thought that practically the entire Republican Senate caucus could be charged with violating the Logan Act is hard to take seriously, even after Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and 46 of his colleagues penned a letter to the Iranian government on Monday with the intent of derailing President Obama’s ongoing nuclear negotiations with that country. But the State Department hasn’t ruled it out. “I’m not aware of any conversations within the United States government regarding whether Senator Cotton and the other signatories violated the Logan… Keep Reading