Category Archives: US foreign policy

Manhattan DA ‘subpoenas eight years of Trump’s tax returns’ – as it happened

Posted on by

Subpoena seeks federal and state returns for US president and his accounting firm dating back to 2011, according to the New York Times

Kari Paul signing out for the night, thank you for sticking with me. Here’s the top news of the afternoon:

The White House counsel sent letters to the House Judiciary saying ex White House Aids Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn “may not be compelled” to testify about the Mueller report, according to Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs.

Trump is reportedly advising former advisers not to appear before the committee despite subpoenas.

WH says Corey Lewandowski can’t talk about conversations with the president not contained in Mueller report. Lewandowski was never a WH employee. pic.twitter.com/mBC4xEc5th

Continue reading...

Russia asks Interpol for help over alleged CIA mole’s whereabouts

Posted on by
  • Oleg Smolenkov reportedly taken to safety by US agents in 2017
  • ‘Interpol was presented with questions about his disappearance’

Russia has asked the United States via Interpol to provide information on the whereabouts of a former member of Vladimir Putin’s administration who is believed to have been a CIA informant.

The alleged CIA mole, named this week by Russian media as Oleg Smolenkov, was whisked to safety by US intelligence agents during a family holiday in Montenegro in June 2017, CNN reported earlier this week.

Continue reading...

Australia left with few diplomatic levers after three citizens detained in Iran

Posted on by

Canberra’s adherence to a hawkish US policy has undermined its ability to negotiate with the paranoid and sanctions-squeezed regime in Tehran

It was the trip of a lifetime, a globe-trotting adventure halfway across the world, chronicled online for family and friends back home and for followers online.

But in the eyes of the regime in Tehran – squeezed by sanctions and paranoid about the motives of outsiders – the act of flying a drone near a military installation on the outskirts of the Iranian capital appeared as an act of espionage.

Continue reading...

Rouhani says US ‘warmongering’ against Iran will fail

Posted on by

President Hassan Rouhani signals approval of firing of national security adviser

Iran’s president has urged the US to “put warmongers aside” as tensions roil the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis between Washington and Tehran after the collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.

Hassan Rouhani’s remarks signalled approval of Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton as national security adviser. Bolton had been hawkish on Iran and other global challenges.

Continue reading...

Donald Trump ousts top adviser John Bolton: ‘I disagreed strongly with him’

Posted on by

Donald Trump has fired his national security adviser, John Bolton, in a pair of tweets in which he laid bare searing internal divisions within his inner circle, saying he had “disagreed strongly” with his top aide.

The departure of such a resolute hawk raises the possibility that Trump’s foreign policy could now make a dovish turn in the run up to next year’s elections, in particular with respect to Iran.

Continue reading...

Trump wants to build a legacy, Bolton to break things – something had to give

Posted on by

No one expected Trump to pivot to diplomatic breakthroughs with someone as bellicose as Bolton by his side

John Bolton can at least boast that he lasted longer than his two predecessors, but few observers of Trumpworld expected him to cling on until 2020.

Donald Trump hired Bolton to break things, like the Obama administration legacy and the orthodox foreign policy establishment in general. Now, with the 2020 election coming, a downturn looming and a second presidential term in doubt, Trump is trying to build a foreign policy legacy of his own – or at least a reasonable impression of one.

Continue reading...

Why Netanyahu’s election threats could become real this time

Posted on by

Israeli PM is a master of fiery rhetoric but Trump’s support could embolden him to action

Benjamin Netanyahu is an old hand at Israel’s equivalent of the “October surprise”, reliably making incendiary remarks on election eve designed to both rally the faithful in his Likud party and undercut any rivals on the right and the far right threatening his grip on the prime minister’s office.

The successful formula, repeated over the last decade in office, has always followed a reliable pattern: scare any wavering supporters with the idea that Arab voters might come out in force while grabbing any nationalist votes by promising settlement building, annexation or refusal to withdraw.

Continue reading...

British-Iranian relations strained as oil tanker is seen off Syria

Posted on by

Adrian Darya, previously called Grace 1, photographed near Russian navy facility

Britain is seeking to establish whether Iran has sold oil to Syria in breach of written undertakings given by Tehran to authorities in Gibraltar.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that a tanker seized by British Marines on 9 July and released in August had reached its final destination “on the Mediterranean coast” and sold its oil – without identifying the country.

Continue reading...

Republicans and Democrats denounce Trump’s shock Taliban talks revelation

Posted on by
  • Amy Klobuchar: ‘This isn’t a gameshow. These are terrorists’
  • Liz Cheney says Taliban should never visit Camp David

Donald Trump’s shock announcement that he had canceled secret peace talks with the Taliban this weekend has prompted criticism and confusion, including from his own Republican party.

The Democratic presidential 2020 hopeful and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar ridiculed the president on Sunday morning, saying he approaches foreign policy like “some kind of gameshow”.

Continue reading...

Taliban warns of more US dead after Trump says he cancelled peace talks

Posted on by

President tweets that he called off planned Camp David meeting after Kabul attack killed US soldier

Donald Trump says he has cancelled secret peace talks on Afghanistan scheduled for Sunday that would have brought him face to face with Taliban leaders at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the hills of Maryland state – with the Islamist militant group warning on Sunday that the snub meant more American lives would be lost.

The US president made the remarkable claim in a series of tweets on Saturday evening declaring he had “called off” the negotiations after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a blast in Kabul that killed 12 people including a US soldier on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Kushner’s Middle East peace plan drifts further astray as envoy resigns

Posted on by

The ‘ultimate deal’ for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is due to come out after the Israeli elections on 17 September

Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Middle East peace, tasked with working on the “ultimate deal” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is to leave the post, it has been announced.

Greenblatt may stay in the role until the publication of the long-delayed plan, which is now due to come out some time after Israeli elections on 17 September. However, if those elections bring about the fall of Donald Trump’s close ally, Benjamin Netanyahu, the plan could be shelved indefinitely.

Continue reading...

Afghanistan: current US withdrawal plan risks ‘total civil war’, top envoys say

Posted on by
  • Nine ambassadors condemn US approach to negotiations
  • Letter says full withdrawal must come ‘only after real peace’

The majority of America’s ambassadors to Afghanistan since the removal of the Taliban government have condemned the US approach to negotiating a troop withdrawal, warning it risked a return to “total civil war”.

Writing the day after a draft agreement was announced, the nine men, including a former deputy secretary of state, said they supported peace talks in Afghanistan.

Continue reading...

Israel risks becoming the fall guy in Donald Trump’s ‘shadow war’ with Iran | Simon Tisdall

Posted on by
Benjamin Netanyahu is counting on fear of conflict with Iran to win crucial election votes

Donald Trump’s offer to talk peace with Iran sent a shiver of alarm through Israel’s political and security establishment last week. With a too-close-to-call general election looming on 17 September, Benjamin Netanyahu is counting on his hardline anti-Tehran alliance with Washington – and fear of conflict – to win him crucial votes. A North Korea-style Trump tryst with Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, was the prime minister’s “ultimate horror scenario”, one analyst noted.

Yet after a recent series of escalatory strikes against Iran-linked forces in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, Israel’s voters may reflect that if one thing is worse than peace with Iran, it’s war with Iran. Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran, strongly backed by Netanyahu and fellow Tel Aviv hawks, is placing Israel squarely in the firing line. The intensifying confrontation is also sucking in regional states, notably Iraq.

Continue reading...

G7: Trump’s demands for Russia’s readmission cause row in Biarritz

Posted on by

US president argues Putin should be included in discussions on Iran, Syria and North Korea

Donald Trump has rowed with his fellow G7 leaders over his demand that Russia be readmitted to the group, rejecting arguments that it should remain an association of liberal democracies, according to diplomats at the summit in Biarritz.

The disagreement led to heated exchanges at a dinner on Saturday night inside the seaside resort’s 19th-century lighthouse. According to diplomatic sources, Trump argued strenuously that Vladimir Putin should be invited back, five years after Russia was ejected from the then G8) for its annexation of Crimea.

Continue reading...

G7 summit: Iran foreign minister makes surprise Biarritz appearance

Posted on by

Visit comes during summit at which policy on Iran has been one of most contentious issues

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has made a surprise appearance in Biarritz meeting Emmanuel Macron, in the midst of a G7 summit where western policy towards Iran has been one of the most contentious issues.

On Sunday evening, Zarif posted a picture on Twitter of his meeting with the French president and the foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, reportedly in the office of the Biarritz mayor, across the road from a building where G7 leaders had been meeting. The Iranian foreign minister said he had also provided a briefing for British and German officials.

Continue reading...

‘Sure. Why not?’: Trump admits to second thoughts on China trade war – video

Posted on by

Donald Trump has admitted he may rethink his deepening trade war with China after criticism from fellow world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz. Asked at a working breakfast with Boris Johnson if he had had second thoughts about the standoff, the president replied: 'Yeah, sure. Why not? … I have second thoughts about everything'

Continue reading...

Troubled waters: Australia bets on Trump in Middle East deployment

Posted on by

Analysts say sending a warship to patrol the Strait of Hormuz risks binding Australia to an incoherent and inflammatory US foreign policy

Australia’s announcement this week that it will join US-led freedom of navigation operations patrolling the Strait of Hormuz brings the number of American allies willing to contribute to America’s latest Middle East sortie to just three.

The increasing tensions in the narrow, but critical, strait are almost universally regarded as an avoidable, US-created crisis, the result of Washington tearing up the Iran nuclear deal.

Continue reading...

Trump plans to open US consulate in Greenland despite row over offer to buy

Posted on by
  • State details plan to Senate foreign relations committee
  • President cancelled Denmark visit over notion of purchase

The Trump administration is planning to open a US consulate in Greenland for the first time in decades, amid increased strategic and economic interest in the Danish territory.

Related: Sorry, Mr Trump – Greenland’s no go. But can I interest you in our little island? | Jack Bernhardt

Continue reading...

Britain to be ‘energetic partner’ after Brexit, PM to tell G7 allies

Posted on by

Boris Johnson also expected to discuss Iran with Donald Trump at summit in Biarritz

Britain will continue to be an “energetic partner” to its international allies after Brexit, Boris Johnson has said, as he prepared to fly to Biarritz for the G7 summit – his first major appearance on the world stage as prime minister.

Fresh from Brexit discussions in Berlin and Paris this week, Johnson will use a string of bilateral meetings with world leaders in the French resort to underline Britain’s determination to remain internationalist.

Continue reading...

Here are the reasons for Trump’s economic war with China

Posted on by

On Friday the US president ‘hereby ordered’ companies to halt business with China, among other attacks – how did we get here?

Even by Donald Trump’s standards his Twitter rant attacking China on Friday was extraordinary. In a series of outbursts Trump “hereby ordered” US companies to stop doing business with China, accused the country of killing 100,000 Americans a year with imported fentanyl and stealing hundred of billions in intellectual property.

The attack marked a new low in Sino-US relations and looks certain to escalate a trade war already worrying investors, manufacturers and economists who are concerned that the dispute between the two economic superpowers could trigger a recession.

Continue reading...