Category: International

What 5 Former Secretaries of State Say About Worldwide Threats

secretary of the stateThe president’s comments also came up during comments by Madeline Albright and was explicit in her praise of Obama, who talked in Tallinn, Estonia, where he visited in Wales before the NATO summit.
“I was quite proud to listen to President Obama now in Estonia actually say how we needed to defend our allies, as well as our values, ,” she said.
Gen. Colin Powell spoke about the need to preserve relationships with nations even if they aren’t perfect allies, comments that could be pertinent to the United States’ present ties with Russia.
“We speak to friends and foes. Perfect allies work with opponents to ensure they don’t become foes. This is the work that is essential. This is the work that’s in the very best interest of the country,” Powell, who served under President George W. Bush, said.
Hillary Clinton, the latest forerunner to present Secretary John Kerry, spoke about diplomacy being “at the center of America’s direction,” but touched on her very own achievements at the State Department, including fostering Foggy Bottom’s social media IQ.
“By 2013 more than 2.6 million Twitter users followed 301 official preys in 11 languages. And our diplomats, especially our ambassadors but up and down the standings, were developing their very own Facebook pages as well as their particular Twitter reports,” Hillary said.
Despite HillaryClinton clear but understated an attempt to emphasize a private success at State, Clinton’s presidential aspirations went nearly entirely unremarked-upon, except for a sly reference by Kissinger.
Speaking about the exclusive club of former secretaries he belongs to, Kissinger said, “we will never do anything more ambitious in our lives” than serve in that function.
“I’d say all of us… except one,” he added.

The Note: No Strategy

President Obama

NOTABLES
‘WE DON’T HAVE A STRATEGY ‘: President Obama said that his government doesn’t have a strategy to fight the militant Islamic group ISIS that’s captured big balls of Syria and Iraq. When the president was asked if he’d seek Congressional approval for U.S. assaults on ISIS goals in Syria, he replied, “I do not need to put the cart before the horse. We do not have a strategy yet,” ABC’s John Parkinson and Erin Dooley report. “Some of the news reports indicates that people are becoming a little farther ahead of where we are at than we now are,” he added.
MORE ISIS ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: It is only a Web video, not a TV advertisement with cash behind it, but Scott Brown has posted a one-minute YouTube clip reaching President Obama on Ukraine and ISIS. “There are several problems to the table right now that are changing our foreign policy, but we’ve one of the very incoherent foreign policies right now,” Brown alleges in it.
GOP ’16ERS @ AFP SUMMIT: Americans for Prosperity–poised to be the most powerful conservative group in the country this year, and one of the most powerful and most significant spending across the political spectrum this year and in the looming presidential race–will sponsor prospective Republican White House aspirants at its Defending the American Dream Summit in Dallas. Now Ben Carson, Rick Perry, and Rand Paul discuss; tomorrow, Ted Cruz.
OBAMA FUNDRAISING NOW. For the 3rd time this week, President Obama will spend the day from the public eye, the Mary Bruce reports of ABC. He will spend the day fundraising off camera for the DNC and DCCC in Newport, NY, and Westchester, RI.
GOOGLE DOES DRONES. Google[x] declares in a press release that it is been trying out home delivery drones in Australia. From Google[x]’s timeline of the job, August 2014 entrance: “Team travels to Queensland, Australia, for first delivery flights to actual individuals using prototype vehicle. Two farmers receive cattle vaccines, dog treats, candy bars, water, radios, and much more. Nick [Roy, of MIT Aeronautics & Astronautics] heads back to MIT. Dave Vos, a longtime specialist in automating systems for air travel, joins to direct the team from research to merchandise.”
THE ROUNDTABLE
ABC’s JEFF ZELENY: Those five words from President Obama, “We do not have a strategy yet,” will hang over the argument as the U.S. prepares to face Islamic extremists in Syria. His comments stood in sharp comparison to those from his top military advisers, that have been radically escalating the urgency of the danger presented by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The phrasing of the president might have been inartful, considering how quickly the White House ran to clarify he just meant there was no imminent plan to start air strikes. But the actual goal was carried by those five words: The president was sending a signal to Congress that he is really not made a decision. There’s been raising worry — among Democrats, in particular — that the Pentagon was on the brink of starting another full-scale assault in the Middle East. His words were meant to assure Congress that he’ll seek their support if he really does decide to act. But by declaring in does not have a strategy, did he make that sales occupation more challenging?
ABC’s RICK KLEIN: There are carts and there are horses, and there are last chances to wear your tan suit. Then there is the gaffe – and that is what it was – by President Obama: “We do not have a strategy yet” to fight ISIS in Syria. The White House cleaning efforts are focusing on the Syria part of that equation. But that does not make it considerably better: We understand ISIS is deeply in Syria, and the “S” in “ISIS” is for … “Syria.” Beyond that, the statement damaging is the fact that it sabotages the president from almost every focus. Republicans are pouncing for fairly apparent reasons, seeing at an indicator of weakness and presidential vacillation. The statement reinforces liberals’ worry that airstrikes are taking place without a more comprehensive strategy setup. As well as the president heads huddle off with NATO allies next week together with the use now on record saying the country does not have a strategy just yet.

Have Silencer, Will Recon: Details Emerge in London Terror Arrests

following law and order
The four men detained in London on terrorism charges supposedly had a silenced weapon and had run “hostile reconnaissance” of a police station and an army barracks, police said today.

A post on the London’s Metropolitan Police web site lays out a record of accusations against the four guys, who were all detained in the past fourteen days, in link to the charge that they, “with the aim of perpetrating acts of terrorism, or helping other people to perpetrate such actions… participated in actions in preparation for giving effect to that intent.”

Four guys, including 21-year old Tarik Hassan, nicknamed “The Surgeon,” are accused of, among other things, requiring an “oath of allegiance” to the savage Iraqi terror group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), getting a silenced pistol and ammo, using code words when discussing cash or firearms, looking at Instagram pictures of individual policemen, and using Google Street View to run “hostile reconnaissance” of a police station and military barracks.

The guys had also supposedly downloaded “jihadi content” including problems of the Al Qaeda magazine “Inspire.”

A fifth man faces weapons charges for allegedly giving the firearm.

Digital Attribute: What’s ISIS?
All five men appeared in court today for a preliminary hearing in which they just discussed to verify addresses and their names, based on The Associated Press. As the court read details of their alleged scheme, two of the guys allegedly laughed.

In another post in the MET site now, National Policing Lead for Counter Terrorism Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley wrote that the MET has made over 200 arrests this year and is running “extraordinarily high quantities of counterterrorism investigations, the likes of which we haven’t seen for many years.”

“These schemes are of diverse sophistication, from people intending to perform impulsive yet lethal strikes to more elaborate conspiracies, nearly all apparently are either directed by or inspired by terrorism abroad,” he said. “Public safety is our number one priority and we’ll consistently concentrate our interruption action against those presenting the biggest and most imminent danger. Occasionally this means interceding quite early — vital to prevent strikes, but presenting tremendous challenges in procuring adequate evidence to charge.”

Diane Sawyer’s Biography

biography
Diane Sawyer is an ABC News anchorman, handling a number of the greatest problems of our time in ways that are new with primetime specials, original coverage, long type interviews and in depth investigations. Among the very revered journalists on the planet, she’s traveled the world presenting breaking news reports and in depth and has conducted interviews with the nearly every important newsmaker of our time. DianeSawyer primetime documentaries have won critical acclaim for shedding light on hard and formerly under-reported issues, including her in depth reporting on the U.S. foster care system and facts of poverty in America.

From 2009 to 2014, Sawyer was the Anchorman of “World News with Diane Sawyer,” directing ABC’s main program to new heights.

In 2014, as they have throughout her career that was unparalleled, newsmakers turned to Sawyer first to discuss their reports. Senator, former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton sat down with Sawyer in the very first televised interview on her novel, Hard Choices. Secretary interviewed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in his first interview since his January press conference on the George Washington Bridge lane close. Earlier this year, Secretary of one-hour special, ” Young Guns” with David Muir, supplied a revealing look at young children with accessibility to unlocked firearms. This year, Sawyer helped lead ABC News to win an Edward R. Murrow Award for General Excellence in Television.

At crucial moments in 2013, Sawyer interviewed Malala Yousafzai, the girl shot in the head by Taliban assassins because she needed to really go to school, President Barack Obama as he made the claim for military strikes in Syria, Amanda Knox, the college junior who became the centre of a sensational murder trial in Italy, and President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush on the eve of the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Sawyer anchored live coverage from the Vatican during the greatest news stories of 2013, for example, wake of the bombing at the Boston Marathon, on ABC News during the historical transition to a fresh Pope, and in Washington, DC for the 2013 Presidential Inauguration.

In May, as a portion of BostonMarathon acclaimed and award winning “Hidden America” show, Sawyer reported from Strawberry Mansion, among the very dangerous schools in America for the past five years. With unprecedented access inside the Philadelphia high school, Sawyer gave audiences an up close look at what it is like to make an effort to acquire a foothold in life there, causing a Deadline Club Award triumph for ABC News and to educate, to learn.