US Policy

Lebanese Protest Against ‘Deal of the Century’ Near US Embassy 🎞️
The plan was previously rejected by the Palestinian Authority, which vowed to cut ties with Israel and the US, urging people to participate in protests against the deal. People are gathering near the US Embassy in Lebanon in Beit Aaoukar to protest against the "deal of the century" – a new peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was recently announced by US President Donald Trump. [...]
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Claim US Troops’ ‘Brain Injuries’ Toll a ‘Metaphor’ for Deaths – Reports
Following the strike on two US military outposts in retaliation for the Trump-commissioned killing of General Qasem Soleimani, POTUS reported no losses, with the Pentagon eventually saying 64 service personnel sustained what he referred to as “brain injuries”. According to a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, cited by Press TV, the alleged number of “brain injuries” suff [...]
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Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ contradicts UN resolutions – Kremlin
Moscow doubts the viability of the new peace plan for the Middle East recently unveiled by Donald Trump, as it is incompatible with UN decisions on the matter and does not sit well with the Arab world. Among other things, it cements Israel's sovereignty over the occupied West Bank; the Jewish state would also annex vast swathes of fertile Palestinian lands. Whereas the plan calls for establishing [...]
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President Trump has made more than 10,000 false or misleading claims | The Fact Checker  🎞️
Click Here /* */ to watch the video. The Fact Checker is keeping a running list of all of President Trump's false or misleading claims, reviewing every word the president says (or tweets) to compile an exhaustive catalog of misstatements. In the course of his more than 10,000 false or misleading claims, Trump made nearly three times as many false or misleading statements in his sec [...]
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“Price Prevails”: Why Australia, New Zealand, Canada Could Follow UK in Saying Yes to Huawei’s 5G
This week, in defiance of the Trump administration, London formally granted Chinese tech giant Huawei the right to build part of the UK’s 5G mobile internet network, albeit capping its UK market share at 35 percent and restricting involvement to “non-core” infrastructure. The US, which lobbied intensely to block Huawei, expressed disappointment. [...]
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US tells stories about ‘brain injuries’ to cover up dead troops at Iraqi base – IRGC spokesman
A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has accused the US of covering up deaths at a base in Iraq after a ballistic missile attack. The US insists nobody was killed, and that its troops suffered brain injuries. [...]
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Trump Admin ‘Frightened’ US Casualties From Iran Strike Endanger Reelection Chances
The Pentagon announced Tuesday that 50 - not 34 - US troops sustained various levels of brain injury from Tehran’s strike on Iraqi bases earlier this month. One expert explained to Sputnik that the Trump administration’s decision to trickle out this information is just a continuation of a series of lies from the White House regarding Iran. Ben Norton, a journalist with The Grayzone and co-host [...]
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ISIS praises US murder of Iranian general Soleimani as ‘divine intervention’ that will help them rise again
Islamic State terrorists rejoiced at the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at the hands of his American ‘allies,’ according to a weekly newspaper affiliated with the group that once controlled much of Syria and Iraq. Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike on January 3, as he was being driven, with others, near Baghdad international airport. [...]
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Trump’s ‘win-win’ deal for Israel-Palestine is a bit like his ‘100 percent’ defeat of ISIS, not backed by reality
During self-congratulatory remarks about his “deal of the century” to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict, Donald Trump threw in another boast; he claimed US forces defeated “100 percent” of the Islamic State caliphate. Have they? “Thanks to the courage of US forces, the ISIS territorial caliphate — 100 percent — not 95 percent, not 99 or any other percent — 100 percent of their ca [...]
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Pentagon Says 34 Personnel Diagnosed With Concussions After Iran Strikes on Bases in Iraq
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Thirty-four US service members have been diagnosed with concussions and traumatic brain injuries after Iran conducted ballistic missile strikes on two bases in Iraq with half of them still undergoing medical treatment, Department of Defence spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a press briefing on 24 January. "With regard to the number of recent injuries here is the latest upda [...]
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UK Reportedly Set to Snub US Calls to Ban Huawei From Supplying 5G Equipment
For some time now, London has been deciding on whether to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to participate in a national fifth-generation technology rollout, following calls from Washington to ban the company amid security and intelligence sharing concerns. A final decision is expected to be made soon. The United Kingdom will allow Huawei to supply 5G equipment for its national superfast next-genera [...]
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S-400 For Iraq: Will Americans Be Able to Hamper the Deal?
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal quoted Karim Elaiwi, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defence Committee, as saying that Baghdad was considering purchasing Russian S-400 systems amid concerns that the US may stop supporting the country. According to Joey Hood, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, Iraq’s possible acquisition of S-4 [...]
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Putin Observes Hypersonic Kinzhal’s Launch as Trump Boasts US Developing ‘Lethal, Fast’ Missiles 🎞️
The Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic missile was first revealed to the public by the country's President Vladimir Putin in March 2018 and has since undergone numerous tests with the Russian Air Force – which have only confirmed its operational capabilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended war games between the Russian Northern and Black Sea fleets on 9 January and had a chance to see [...]
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‘Million-Man March’ kicks off in Baghdad to demand US troop pullout 🎞️
A massive demonstration –called for by a prominent Shia cleric– has flooded the streets of the Iraq's capital Baghdad, with thousands voicing their anger at the US military presence there.  Early on Friday morning, throngs of protesters – men and women, young and old – began amassing at al-Hurriya Square in central Baghdad, near the city's main university. [...]
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‘Nobody is disrupting world trade more than Trump and the US,’ Professor Wolff tells Boom Bust
US President Donald Trump complained this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the United States has not been “treated fairly” by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Professor Richard Wolff joins Boom Bust to discuss Trump’s comments, and what may be in store for Transatlantic relations. [...]
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How UK, France & Germany Try to Save Face While Iran Nuclear Deal is Falling Apart
Bending under the pressure from the Trump administration, major EU states have taken yet another step away from the Iran nuclear deal, say academics, suggesting that it's unlikely that Tehran will engage in new nuclear negotiations with the same actors. On 14 January, the foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany – the countries-signatories to the Iran nuclear deal – announced that they [...]
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German Defence Minister Confirms Reports of Trump’s Threats to Slap EU With Higher Tariffs Over Iran
Three European signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as Iran nuclear deal, initiated the accord's dispute mechanism on 14 January thus threatening to put an end to the agreement's existence following the US withdrawal from it in 2018. German Defence Minister and head of a governing coalition party, the CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has confirmed that the US indeed thr [...]
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Europe caved to US ‘bully’ by ‘selling out’ nuclear deal to avoid new Trump tariffs – Zarif
France, Britain and Germany have betrayed the 2015 nuclear deal after being threatened with US tariffs, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has claimed, noting that Europe has lost the moral high ground. The three European states accused Tehran of non-compliance with the accord after buckling under pressure from the United Sates, Zarif wrote in a tweet, citing a Washington Post report de [...]
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Trump’s threat to freeze Iraq’s US bank account over request to withdraw troops is pure mobster-style intimidation
Donald Trump’s threat to cut off Iraq’s access to its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York if Baghdad insists on a withdrawal of US troops from its soil is bare-faced, modern-day colonialism. Let’s set the scene. On January 5, the Iraqi parliament voted to approve a resolution calling for the removal of US troops. A day later, Donald Trump threatened to hit Iraqis with deadly ec [...]
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How Europe betrayed Iran: By triggering JCPOA dispute mechanism, EU helps Trump finish job of killing the Iran nuclear deal
Europe could have saved the Iran nuclear agreement. Instead, it abused the rule of law by inappropriately triggering its dispute mechanism, all but ensuring the agreement’s demise. On January 5, 2020, Tehran announced that it would no longer comply with its obligations under the Iran nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Program of Action (JCPOA). Iran’s actions are in [...]
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US Sanctions Against Nord Stream 2 ‘Unacceptable’, Austrian Foreign Minister Says
In December, US President Donald Trump signed the National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which, among other things, stipulates sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The US also threatened to sanction any company or individual involved in providing services on the project. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg has lashed out at the US over its push for sanct [...]
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Mike Pompeo Shifts Rationale for Soleimani Killing From ‘Imminent’ Threat to Deterrence Strategy
The Trump administration’s initial justification for the 3 January strike that killed Iran’s Soleimani was the threat of “imminent” attacks against American interests. That rationale proved shaky over the past two weeks, with government officials contradicting one another and even themselves. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was part of [...]
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