FOREIGN AFFAIRS - page 22

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed Friday that House Republicans are only seeking temporary funding for the Department of Homeland Security to avoid embarrassment during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the US. The House Minority Leader said at a press briefing, in response to a reporter’s question, that the only possible political benefit to Republicans she can see of quickly passing a continuing resolution on keeping DHS running for three weeks is to ensure that “government is open, and not closed” during Netanyahu’s visit. Funding… Keep Reading

Allegations made by a controversial group that has been used by hawkish Americans to push for regime change in Iran are figuring in US diplomats’ ongoing nuclear negotiations with Tehran. The accusations, leveled by the Mujahhedin-e-Khalq (MEK), about a “secret nuclear facility” in Iran are being considered by the Obama administration during the multilateral nuclear talks with the Islamic Republic and all five permanent members of the UN Security Council. “On this secret facility, we’re well aware of the allegations regarding that facility,” Secretary of State John… Keep Reading

At an annual budget hearing before the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry was asked to provide clarity on the administration’s recently proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against the Islamic State (ISIL). Many lawmakers worry the bill sought by the administration is too broadly written, and could lead to another decade of costly and counterproductive US military commitment in the Middle East. Acting as their de facto spokesperson, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) asked Kerry to explain what… Keep Reading

A Republican lawmaker who has been a thorn in the side of the Israel lobby said Tuesday that he will not be attending Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress next month, but claimed that his decision to skip the controversial address is not political. “I will not go, but it’s not to protest,” Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said on CSPAN’s Washington Journal. Jones, one of a handful of House Republicans who looks askance at his party’s enthusiasm for overseas military adventurism, said that he isn’t singling… Keep Reading

For more than 30 years, a group of activists have kept watch over a tiny shrine outside the gates of the White House, dedicated to calls for peace and a world without nuclear weapons. It has become a fixture in the nation’s capital – a tiny, tarp-covered hut surrounded by signs depicting graphic consequences of nuclear war, adorned with pithy quotes like, “LIVE BY THE BOMB DIE BY THE BOMB.” Its central message to “BAN ALL NUCLEAR WEAPONS OR HAVE A NICE DOOMSDAY,” has been… Keep Reading

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) took to Twitter on Thursday to boast about Washington’s support for forces accused of committing some of the worst human rights abuses in the Western Hemisphere. The Senate Majority Whip posted a photo of law enforcement officials in Honduras on the social media network, with the caption: “Random checkpoint w Honduran police (w US support) looking for weapons, drugs and migrants.” As The Sentinel has noted, Honduran police officers are routinely accused of violating civil rights in a pattern of behavior… Keep Reading

Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) warned the White House that it risks fanning the flames of anti-American militancy by cutting off remittances to Somalia. The first Muslim lawmaker in Washington told a White House summit on countering violent extremism that, by enacting the policy, the administration is playing into the hands of terrorist groups. “The violent extremist makes the case that America is at war with Islam and Muslims, and we have to assert that this is not true; not just in… Keep Reading

In a significant policy shift that’s guaranteed to pay dividends to US defense contractors, the State Department released new guidelines that will formally allow the sale and transfer of armed drones from American companies to international partners. Under the new policy announced Tuesday, future sales of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) will be made through a “government-to-government Foreign Military Sales Program,” and will be reviewed by the Department of Defense. The guidelines also claim that each recipient nation of US drone technology will be “required to… Keep Reading