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Category: Politics

FBI probes whether Iran envoy Malley committed crimes in handling of classified info

FBI probes whether Iran envoy Malley committed crimes in handling of classified info

Politico reports: The FBI is investigating whether the Biden administration’s Iran envoy, Rob Malley, moved classified information onto his personal email, where it may have fallen into the hands of a foreign actor, according to a person briefed on the case and a letter from Republican lawmakers. Investigators are trying to determine if any crimes were committed, according to the person briefed on the case and another person familiar with the matter. But it is not yet clear if the…

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Biden admin sees Israel’s ‘total victory’ as neither likely nor even possible; Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to nuke Gaza

Biden admin sees Israel’s ‘total victory’ as neither likely nor even possible; Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to nuke Gaza

Politico reports: The Biden administration doesn’t believe Israel’s current strategy against the Hamas militant group will lead to “total victory,” a top U.S. official said Monday. Speaking at the NATO Youth Summit in Miami, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the U.S. has been “struggling over what the theory of victory is” in Gaza. “Sometimes when we listen closely to Israeli leaders, they talked about mostly the idea of some sort of sweeping victory on the battlefield, total victory,”…

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War on Gaza: First international staff member killed in Israeli attack on UN convoy in Rafah

War on Gaza: First international staff member killed in Israeli attack on UN convoy in Rafah

  The UN confirmed its first international staff casualty in Gaza after a UN vehicle was struck in Rafah. Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, stated during a news conference that the total number of UN staff killed in Gaza since October 7 has reached 190. Haq characterized the Rafah incident as an attack and confirmed that two individuals were in a UN-marked vehicle en route to the European Hospital as part of their duties. The UN…

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Cambridge University’s wealthiest college votes to divest from all arms companies

Cambridge University’s wealthiest college votes to divest from all arms companies

Middle East Eye reports: The college council of the University of Cambridge’s wealthiest constituent college, Trinity College Cambridge, has voted to divest from all arms companies, Middle East Eye can reveal. MEE learnt from three well-informed sources close to Trinity’s student union that the college council, responsible for major financial and other decisions, voted to remove Trinity’s investments from arms companies in early March. According to the sources, the college decided not to announce that it would divest from arms…

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Economist Joseph Stiglitz on rethinking freedom, Trump and pro-Palestine protests at Columbia

Economist Joseph Stiglitz on rethinking freedom, Trump and pro-Palestine protests at Columbia

  Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz is one of the most influential economists in the world, having advised multiple Democratic Presidents of the US and the World Bank, where he worked as Chief Economist and senior Vice President. His latest book, called “The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society,” argues that the economic right’s concept of “freedom” doesn’t take into account the necessary trade-offs, that one person’s freedom often comes at the expense of another’s. And that “free”…

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Trump wants to deport pro-Palestine protesters — and GOP lawmakers are filing bills to make it happen

Trump wants to deport pro-Palestine protesters — and GOP lawmakers are filing bills to make it happen

Mother Jones reports: At a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey on Saturday, former President Donald Trump made many questionable comments. He called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “Fat Alvin.” He claimed migrant children “don’t speak English.” And he said that, if he’s re-elected, he will deport pro-Palestinian, antiwar protesters. “When I’m president, we will not allow our colleges to be taken over by violent radicals, and if you come here from a violent country and try to bring jihadism, or…

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A wargame simulated a future Trump presidency. It concluded NATO would collapse

A wargame simulated a future Trump presidency. It concluded NATO would collapse

Business Insider reports: If Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House in November, NATO may fall apart, a recent wargame found. As a presidential candidate, Trump has threatened to quit NATO unless European allies contribute more, and should he carry it out Europe may decide to go it alone on defense, the game suggests. “A US policy of frustrating NATO has the potential to cause the alliance to collapse, with the EU as a candidate for eventually…

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Trump and social media have normalized public expressions of anger

Trump and social media have normalized public expressions of anger

The Observer reports: Last week a video showing 60-year-old Peter Abbott screaming abuse at TV producer Samantha Isaacs gained a viral audience, after Abbott was found guilty at Poole magistrates court of “using threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm, distress or fear of violence”. In the phone-filmed video, Abbott is seen snarling and shouting as he presses his face up against Isaacs’ car window. He looks as if he’s channelling the Harry Enfield character Angry Frank, so cartoonishly aggressive…

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Nathan Thrall on Israel’s ‘system of domination’ and Biden pausing bomb shipment

Nathan Thrall on Israel’s ‘system of domination’ and Biden pausing bomb shipment

  Jerusalem-based journalist and author Nathan Thrall has been awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. It tells the story of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank through one Palestinian father’s quest to seek answers and accountability after his 5-year-old son is involved in a deadly accident. We speak to Thrall about President Biden saying for the first time that he would not…

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Crackdown on campus protests reveal that America is sliding towards becoming a police state

Crackdown on campus protests reveal that America is sliding towards becoming a police state

Zeynep Tufekci writes: Two police cars idled across the street from the protest rally I was attending in front of the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, their red and blue lights flashing but their sirens silent. The police seemed more bored than annoyed. It was the early 2000s, and I had recently moved from Turkey to study at the University of Texas. My fellow protesters were outraged. “This is what a police state looks like!” they started chanting. I turned…

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South Africa asks World Court to order Israel’s withdrawal from Rafah

South Africa asks World Court to order Israel’s withdrawal from Rafah

Reuters reports: South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war in Gaza, the U.N.’s top court said on Friday. In the ongoing case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians, the World Court in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no…

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Haim Saban, a ‘virulently anti-Muslim’ mega-donor, slams Biden’s decision to halt weapons shipment to Israel

Haim Saban, a ‘virulently anti-Muslim’ mega-donor, slams Biden’s decision to halt weapons shipment to Israel

The Los Angeles Times reports: Democratic mega-donor and Hollywood media mogul Haim Saban slammed President Biden’s decision to put a shipment of weapons to Israel on hold because they could be used in an offensive against a densely populated city in southern Gaza. “Let’s not forget there are more Jewish voters who care about Israel than Muslim voters who care about Hamas,” Saban wrote in an email to senior Biden aides Steve Ricchetti and Anita Dunn, Axios reported Thursday. The…

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Georgia protest against ‘Russian law’ draws tens of thousands on Tbilisi streets

Georgia protest against ‘Russian law’ draws tens of thousands on Tbilisi streets

🇬🇪 World, are you still watching? Tonight might have just been the biggest gathering of Georgians marching in Tbilisi against the russian violations and law infiltrating the Georgian government! Please watch, share, stand with the brave people of Georgia!🇬🇪 #NoToRussianlaw https://t.co/D7P98pOqfM pic.twitter.com/BD9Q3XMWyd — Їne Back Їversen (@IneBackIversen) May 11, 2024 France 24 reports: Around 50,000 protesters marched through central Tbilisi on Saturday at a rally against a controversial foreign influence bill, dubbed “the Russian law”, and backed by the Georgian…

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IRS audit of Trump could cost former president more than $100 million

IRS audit of Trump could cost former president more than $100 million

By Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Russ Buettner, The New York Times This story was originally published by ProPublica. Former President Donald Trump used a dubious accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks from his troubled Chicago tower, according to an IRS inquiry uncovered by ProPublica and The New York Times. Losing a yearslong audit battle over the claim could mean a tax bill of more than $100 million. The 92-story, glass-sheathed skyscraper along the Chicago River is the tallest and,…

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For Biden, like Obama, every ‘red line’ turns to a shade of gray

For Biden, like Obama, every ‘red line’ turns to a shade of gray

Politico reports: After watching Israel flatten much of Gaza, President Joe Biden decided to draw the line at the city of Rafah. Now, he has to decide what to do if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crosses it. The president quietly directed his team last week to halt shipments of massive bombs to Israel to “deliver a message” to Netanyahu that no operation should move forward without a civilian protection plan in place, a U.S. official said. Then, after Netanyahu moved…

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Israel due to get billions of dollars more in U.S. weapons despite Biden pause

Israel due to get billions of dollars more in U.S. weapons despite Biden pause

Reuters reports: Billions of dollars worth of U.S. weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and a review of others by President Joe Biden’s administration, concerned their use in an assault could wreak more devastation on Palestinian civilians. A senior U.S. official said this week that the administration had reviewed the delivery of weapons that Israel might use for a major invasion of Rafah, a southern Gaza city where over 1 million…

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