Tag: U.S. State Department

Biden Taps Coordinator of Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal to Lead Trump Transition at State Department

Tom Pappert
Stephen Mull

The Biden U.S. State Department announced on Thursday the agency’s transition to the Trump administration will be coordinated by Stephen Mull, a former longtime State Department official who most recently served as the lead coordinator for the Iran nuclear deal reached under former President Barack Obama, and who is now the provost for the University of Virginia (UVA).

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed Mull was appointed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to lead the agency’s transition in a press conference. He told reporters the agency views a “peaceful transition of power” as an “essential part of our democracy that is vital to our nation’s security.”

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Mike Benz Details How Donald Trump Could Dismantle the Global Censorship Machine in ‘Five Minutes’ If Elected

Kaitlin Housler
Mike Benz

Mike Benz, a former Trump State Department official and current executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, said the U.S. foreign policy establishment’s censorship complex aimed at censoring Americans and people across the globe would be able to be dismantled in a manner of “five minutes” if former President Donald Trump was elected in the November 5 general election.

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Commentary: The Human Tragedy in Haiti

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Haitian Refugees

Since late February, gang violence in Haiti has surged, overwhelming government and security forces and plunging the nation into further turmoil. The United Nations estimates that armed gangs now control 80 percent of the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

The recent wave of violence in the Caribbean nation’s ongoing gang wars erupted as multiple armed groups banded together, pledging to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who came to power after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and announced postponing Haiti’s elections again last year.

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Border Crisis: Water Scarcity Forces Texas’ Last Sugar Mill to Close

The Center Square
Sugar Cane Farmer

The border crisis has taken on many forms in Texas, from crime to fentanyl poisonings to farmers and ranchers losing their livelihoods.

Another casualty of the border crisis is the U.S. State Department’s failure to hold accountable Mexican government authorities to a 1944 Treaty of Utilization of Waters, resulting in Texas’ last sugar mill shut down, the industry contends. The Rio Grande Valley is bracing for an expected initial $100 million in economic losses as a result.

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Florida Moves to Fly Stranded Americans Out of Israel

The Center Square

After Hamas attacked Israel, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state would be advancing greater sanctions against Iran. He also declared a state of emergency and issued an executive order to activate the national and state guard and other agencies to help bring Americans home who are stranded in Israel. 

According to some news reports, there are roughly 20,000 Americans, including many, who are stranded in Israel. They are unable to get out because of commercial flight cancellations and other travel and logistics disruptions due to the ongoing war with Hamas. 

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UN Takes Cues from Organizations That Seek to Censor Conservatives

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by James Cohen   A United Nations (U.N.) policy proposal that outlines how to combat online “mis- and disinformation and hate speech,” including through demonetization, is informed by work from groups that actively push to censor conservative speech online. The policy brief, titled “Information Integrity on Digital Platforms,” is intended to help develop an online “code of conduct” that the U.N. plans to unveil during its Summit of the Future in 2024, calls for demonetization and suppressing the spread of what it considers “mis- and disinformation and hate speech.” As examples of effective strategies, the policy proposal routinely cites organizations that have explicitly worked to censor conservatives or have advocated for the censoring of conservative viewpoints.  “The American public should be skeptical of any attempt by the U.N. to monitor, regulate, or control speech,” Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, a government watchdog that among other things monitors state-directed censorship efforts, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It is not surprising that the organization that elevates the likes of Iran, North Korea, China, and other oppressive regimes would reference or partner with entities that participate in efforts to suppress speech that does not fit approved narratives.” The global organization’s brief…

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Texas, U.S. Officials Warn Americans Not to Travel to Mexico as Cartel Violence Escalates

The Center Square

The U.S. State Department and Texas Department of Public Safety have warned Americans not to travel to Mexico because of escalating cartel violence. While some news reports have suggested the warnings were for spring break, the warnings have been issued since at least last August and remain indefinite.

They’ve also been issued after more than 550 Americans have been reported and remain missing in Mexico.

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Commentary: Taxpayers Are Now Funding These 90 Plus ‘Equity’ Plans Across the Federal Government

RealClearWire

Under the Biden administration, more than 90 federal agencies have pledged their commitment to equity by adopting action plans that put gender, race and other such factors at the center of their governmental missions.

The Equity Action Plans, which have received little notice since they were posted online last month following a document request from RealClearInvestigations, represent a “whole of government” fight against “entrenched disparities” and the “unbearable human costs of systemic racism.”

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Biden Appoints Kenyon College Graduate as Ambassador to Ukraine

Peter D'Abrosca

President Joe Biden is expected to nominate a Kenyon College graduate to be the United States’ Ambassador to Ukraine, which is currently embattled in war with Russia. 

“Kenyon is proud that such an accomplished alumna has been selected for this critical diplomatic position,” Kenyon College Professor of Political Science David Rowe told The Ohio Star Monday. “Bridget Brink is being sent to one of the United States’ most important postings. How the Ukraine war is resolved will affect the fate of security and democracy in Europe and more broadly for a generation or more. We wish her all the best in what will likely be the challenge of a lifetime.”  

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U.S. to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Afghanistan

Admin
Afghan people

The U.S. will provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan but won’t recognize the Taliban as the country’s leaders, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.

U.S. and Taliban officials met for the first time since American forces left the county in August in Doha, Qatar, according to the Associated Press. U.S. officials said they would provide aid to Afghanistan, which faces an economic disaster, at the meeting’s conclusion.

U.S. officials said the leaders “discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people,” the AP reported. The aid was promised after officials agreed it didn’t mean the U.S. would officially recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government.

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State Dept. Won’t ‘Provide an Approval’ for Private Evacuation Flights from Afghanistan

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The U.S. State Department will not give official approval to any private evacuation flight from Afghanistan seeking to land in third countries, leaked emails obtained by Fox News show.

“No independent charters are allowed to land at [Al Udeid Air Base], the military airbase you mentioned in your communication with Samantha Power,” a State Department official said in a Sept. 1 email to Eric Montalvo, who organized a number of charter flights out of Afghanistan, Fox News reported.

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