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Saudis close to crown prince discussed killing other enemies a year before Khashoggi’s murder

Saudis close to crown prince discussed killing other enemies a year before Khashoggi’s murder

The New York Times reports: Top Saudi intelligence officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked a small group of businessmen last year about using private companies to assassinate Iranian enemies of the kingdom, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The Saudis inquired at a time when Prince Mohammed, then the deputy crown prince and defense minister, was consolidating power and directing his advisers to escalate military and intelligence operations outside the kingdom. Their discussions, more than…

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Iranian jet crash has eerie historical parallel

Iranian jet crash has eerie historical parallel

The New York Times reports: The timing of the jet crash near Tehran on Wednesday — coming just hours after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American troops — immediately led to suspicion that the plane had been downed by a missile. Those suspicions were confirmed on Saturday, when Iranian officials accepted responsibility for the downing of the jet, a Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukraine International Airlines, saying it was an accident caused by human error. The 176…

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Trump’s rationale for killing Soleimani is falling apart

Trump’s rationale for killing Soleimani is falling apart

Jonathan Chait writes: Why did the United States kill Iranian general Qasem Soleimani? President Trump, in remarks to the nation the morning after the attack, gave a clear rationale. Soleimani “was planning new attacks on American targets, but we stopped him.” That information has not been made public. But the glimpses behind the curtain have not inspired confidence that Trump’s story is on the level. The most damning assessment is indirect. When the administration shared its intelligence with select members…

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Trump’s talent for telling the masses on the right what they want to hear

Trump’s talent for telling the masses on the right what they want to hear

Michael Kruse writes: Sometime soon, Donald Trump, the third president in the history of the United States to be impeached, is expected to face a trial in the Senate, charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Traced back to its roots, this is a crisis entirely of his own creation: He came across a sketchy scrap of information, a debunked piece of Russian propaganda relating to Ukraine, and he saw it as something he could use, to help…

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Michael Bloomberg is open to spending $1 billion to defeat Trump

Michael Bloomberg is open to spending $1 billion to defeat Trump

The New York Times reports: Michael R. Bloomberg on Saturday did not rule out spending a billion dollars of his own money on the 2020 presidential race, even if he does not win the Democratic nomination, and said he would mobilize his well-financed political operation to help Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren win in November if either is the party nominee, despite their sharp policy differences. Mr. Bloomberg’s plans would effectively create a shadow campaign operation for the general election,…

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Rick Wilson on how to dump Trump

Rick Wilson on how to dump Trump

Martin Pengelly writes: Democratic voters should read Rick Wilson’s new book, he says, and heed his advice about how to beat Donald Trump. Why? “Unless your candidate is a generational superstar like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton” – and it’s not a push to say there is no such Democrat this year – “we know all the tricks to beating them and we’ve used them over and over again.” By “we” he means the Republican party. Wilson is a top…

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Could invisible aliens really exist among us? An astrobiologist explains

Could invisible aliens really exist among us? An astrobiologist explains

They probably won’t look anything like this. Martina Badini/Shutterstock By Samantha Rolfe, University of Hertfordshire Life is pretty easy to recognise. It moves, it grows, it eats, it excretes, it reproduces. Simple. In biology, researchers often use the acronym “MRSGREN” to describe it. It stands for movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion and nutrition. But Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut and a chemist at Imperial College London, recently said that alien lifeforms that are impossible to spot may be living…

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At Davos we will tell world leaders to abandon the fossil fuel economy

At Davos we will tell world leaders to abandon the fossil fuel economy

Greta Thunberg and others write: We have just entered a new decade, a decade where every month and every day will be absolutely crucial in deciding what the future will look like. Towards the end of January, chief executives, investors and policymakers will gather in Davos for the 50th anniversary of the World Economic Forum. Young climate activists and school strikers from around the world will be present to put pressure on these leaders. We demand that at this year’s…

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On day Soleimani was killed, U.S. forces launched another secret operation targeting a senior Iranian official in Yemen

On day Soleimani was killed, U.S. forces launched another secret operation targeting a senior Iranian official in Yemen

The Washington Post reports: On the day the U.S. military killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad, U.S. forces carried out another top secret mission against a senior Iranian military official in Yemen, according to U.S. officials. The strike targeting Abdul Reza Shahlai, a financier and key commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force who has been active in Yemen, did not result in his death, according to four U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The unsuccessful operation may indicate that…

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U.S. dismisses Iraq request to work on a troop withdrawal plan

U.S. dismisses Iraq request to work on a troop withdrawal plan

The Associated Press reports: Iraq’s caretaker prime minister asked Washington to work out a road map for an American troop withdrawal, but the U.S. State Department on Friday bluntly rejected the request, saying the two sides should instead talk about how to “recommit” to their partnership. Thousands of anti-government protesters turned out in the capital and southern Iraq, many calling on both Iran and America to leave Iraq, reflecting their anger and frustration over the two rivals — both allies…

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Trump is starting to fixate on Bernie

Trump is starting to fixate on Bernie

BuzzFeed reports: President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is beginning to aggressively attack a rising threat to his power: Bernie Sanders. The Trump campaign put out two statements centered on Sanders this week, and the Vermont senator was at the top of the list of people the president attacked at his first rally of the year in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday night. “Bernie Sanders — crazy Bernie! — has condemned the US military strike on Soleimani, the world’s top terrorist,” Trump…

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Bloomberg will continue campaign operation to defeat Trump even if he’s not the nominee

Bloomberg will continue campaign operation to defeat Trump even if he’s not the nominee

NBC News reports: Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s massive campaign apparatus and an army of some 500 staffers will march on through the general election in November even if he loses the Democratic nomination, campaign officials tell NBC News, shifting their efforts toward working to elect whomever the party selects to face President Donald Trump. Bloomberg’s vast tech operation will also be redirected to help the eventual nominee, as Democrats struggle to compete with the vaunted digital operation built…

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U.S. probes if Russia is targeting Biden in 2020 election meddling

U.S. probes if Russia is targeting Biden in 2020 election meddling

Bloomberg reports: U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are assessing whether Russia is trying to undermine Joe Biden in its ongoing disinformation efforts with the former vice president still the front-runner in the race to challenge President Donald Trump, according to two officials familiar with the matter. The probe comes as senior U.S. officials are warning that Russia’s election interference in 2020 could be more brazen than in the 2016 presidential race or the 2018 midterm election. Part of the…

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In these bleak times, imagine a world where you can thrive

In these bleak times, imagine a world where you can thrive

Gary Younge writes: As a child my mother used to put on the song Young, Gifted and Black, by Bob and Marcia, put my feet on hers and then dance us both around the living room. “They’re playing our song,” she’d say. It was the early 1970s, she was barely 30 and I was the youngest of three children she was raising alone. Struggling to believe there was a viable future for her children in a country where racism was…

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Trump’s Mideast allies know he can’t be trusted

Trump’s Mideast allies know he can’t be trusted

Politico reports: For years, they urged America to take a harder line on Iran, dissed its decision to ink a nuclear deal with Tehran and cheered when a tough-talking Donald Trump won the presidency. Now, America’s closest Middle East allies are practically ducking for cover. In recent days, as the U.S. killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iran fired back with a missile barrage in Iraq, Gulf Arab states and Israel were expressing second thoughts about what they’d helped unleash….

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