LONDON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Britain on Wednesday to pitch a post-Brexit ‘special relationship’ as Iran said it may stop complying with some parts of the big-power nuclear deal that the United States withdrew from a year ago.
Pompeo arrived in London after an unannounced visit to Iraq where he set out US security concerns amid rising tension with Iran.
The US military said on Tuesday that B-52 bombers would be among the additional forces being sent to the Middle East to counter what President Donald Trump’s administration says are “clear indications” of threats from Iran to US forces there.
“The message that we’ve sent to the Iranians, I hope, puts us in a position where we can deter, and the Iranians will think twice about attacking American interests,” Pompeo said. US intelligence was “very specific” about “imminent” attacks, he said.
Iran announced on Wednesday it was relaxing curbs on its nuclear program under the 2015 deal with world powers, and threatened to do more — including enriching uranium to a higher level — if other countries did not shield it from US sanctions.
In London, Pompeo was due to meet Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been grappling for three years with a political crisis over Britain’s planned exit from the European Union.
Pompeo met Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the spiritual leader of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, to discuss religious freedom and the persecution of Christians, and was due to meet Hunt again later.
As Britain tries to extract itself from the EU after 46 years of membership, a divorce many diplomats say has already made Britain weaker, Pompeo will give a speech on America’s so-called special relationship with the United Kingdom.
Both Brexit and the sometimes unpredictable Trump presidency have strained relations between the world’s preeminent power and its main European ally. Trump is due to make a state visit to Britain in June.
Washington is at odds with London over how much access Huawei Technologies should be given to next-generation communication networks using 5G technology.
Britain will allow Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network, even though the United States had told allies to exclude Huawei for fear that it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.
“We know about the risks that the presence of Huawei and their networks present,” a State Department official said ahead of the visit.
“It makes it more difficult then for the United States to be present if equipment is co-located in places where we have American systems as well. It makes partnering more difficult.”
5G, which will offer much faster data speeds and become the foundation stone of many industries and networks, is seen as one of the biggest innovations since the birth of the Internet itself a generation ago.
Pompeo visits Brexit Britain as Iran reduces nuclear compliance
Pompeo visits Brexit Britain as Iran reduces nuclear compliance
- US secretary of state to meet PM May and Hunt
- Pompeo to address post-Brexit “special relationship”
Republicans push back against Democrats' claims that Trump intelligence pick Gabbard is compromised
- Democrats have cast doubts on Gabbard for her comments supportive of Russia and secret meetings, as a congresswoman, with Syria’s president, a close ally of the Kremlin and Iran
- Gabbard, a former US ational Guard officer and a former Democrat, also has suggested that Russia had legitimate security concerns in deciding to invade Ukraine, given its desire to join NATO
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida: Republican senators pushed back on Sunday against criticism from Democrats that Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s pick to lead US intelligence services, is “compromised” by her comments supportive of Russia and secret meetings, as a congresswoman, with Syria’s president, a close ally of the Kremlin and Iran.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and veteran of combat missions in Iraq, said she had concerns about Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice to be director of national intelligence.
“I think she’s compromised,” Duckworth said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” citing Gabbard’s 2017 trip to Syria, where she held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Gabbard was a Democratic House member from Hawaii at the time.
“The US intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes. And so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check,” Duckworth said.
Gabbard, who said last month she is joining the Republican Party, has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades. She was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait and, according to the Hawaii National Guard, received a Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.”
Duckworth’s comments drew immediate backlash from Republicans.
“For her to say ridiculous and outright dangerous words like that is wrong,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, said on CNN, challenging Duckworth to retract her words. “That’s the most dangerous thing she could say — is that a United States lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and is an asset of Russia.”
In recent days, other Democrats have accused Gabbard without evidence of being a “Russian asset.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has claimed, without offering details, that Gabbard is in Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s pocket.”
Mullin and others say the criticism from Democrats is rooted in the fact that Gabbard left their party and has become a Trump ally. Democrats say they worry that Gabbard’s selection as national intelligence chief endangers ties with allies and gives Russia a win.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat just elected to the Senate, said he would not describe Gabbard as a Russian asset, but said she had “very questionable judgment.”
“The problem is if our foreign allies don’t trust the head of our intelligence agencies, they’ll stop sharing information with us,” Schiff said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Gabbard in 2022 endorsed one of Russia’s justifications for invading Ukraine: the existence of dozens of US-funded biolabs working on some of the world’s nastiest pathogens. The labs are part of an international effort to control outbreaks and stop bioweapons, but Moscow claimed Ukraine was using them to create deadly bioweapons. Gabbard said she just voiced concerns about protecting the labs.
Gabbard also has suggested that Russia had legitimate security concerns in deciding to invade Ukraine, given its desire to join NATO.
Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said he thought it was “totally ridiculous” that Gabbard was being cast as a Russian asset for having different political views.
“It’s insulting. It’s a slur, quite frankly. There’s no evidence that she’s a asset of another country,” he said on NBC.
Sen. James Lankford, another Oklahoma Republican, acknowledged having “lots of questions” for Gabbard as the Senate considers her nomination to lead the intelligence services. Lankford said on NBC that he wants to ask Gabbard about her meeting with Assad and some of her past comments about Russia.
“We want to know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was. As a member of Congress, we want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context,” Lankford said.
Uruguay’s center-left Orsi leads presidential runoff, exit polls say
MONTEVIDEO: Early exit polls in Uruguay’s presidential election indicated on Sunday that the center-left opposition candidate Yamandu Orsi is ahead of his conservative rival Alvaro Delgado in a closely fought second-round race that promises to be a photo finish.
Orsi had secured 49.5 percent of the vote, according to an exit poll from Cifra, followed by 45.9 percent for Delgado for the ruling coalition. Equipos Consultores also predicted an Orsi win with 49.0 percent of the vote and 46.6 percent for Delgado.
Far-right populist surprises in Romanian presidential election appearing set to enter runoff
- Thirteen candidates ran for the presidency in the European Union and NATO member country.
- Hard-right Georgescu has questioned NATO commitment to collective defense
BUCHAREST, Romania: A little-known, far-right populist took the lead in Romania’s presidential election Sunday, electoral data showed, and will likely face leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in a runoff in two weeks, an outcome that rocked the country’s political landscape.
Calin Georgescu, who ran independently, led the polls with around 22 percent of the vote, while Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party, or PSD, trailed at 20 percent. Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party, or USR, stood at about 18 percent, and George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, took 14.1 percent.
After polls closed, 9.4 million people — about 52.4 percent of eligible voters — had cast ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau. The second round of the vote will be held Dec. 8.
Thirteen candidates ran for the presidency in the European Union and NATO member country. The president serves a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in areas such as national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments.
Georgescu, 62, ran independently and was not widely known. He outperformed most local surveys, sending shockwaves through Romania’s political establishment as he ascended to poll position.
After casting his ballot on Sunday, Georgescu said in a post on Facebook that he voted “For the unjust, for the humiliated, for those who feel they do not matter and actually matter the most … the vote is a prayer for the nation.”
Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, told The Associated Press that Georgescu’s unexpected poll performance appears to be a “large protest or revolt against the establishment.”
“The mainstream political parties have lost the connection with regular Romanians,” he said. “You don’t have strong candidates or strong leaders … there are weak candidates, weak leaders, and the parties in general are pretty much disconnected.”
Georgescu lacks an agenda, Andrei added, and has a vague and populist manifesto with positions that are “beyond the normal discourse.” His stances include supporting Romanian farmers, reducing dependency on imports, and ramping up energy and food production.
According to his website, Georgescu holds a doctorate in pedology, a branch of soil science, and held different positions in Romania’s environment ministry in the 1990s. Between 1999 and 2012, he was a representative for Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.
Videos posted to his popular TikTok account, where he has amassed 1.6 million likes, depict him attending church, doing judo, running around an oval track, and speaking on podcasts.
Ahead of Sunday’s vote, many had expected to see Simion, a vocal supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump, face Ciolacu in the second round. He campaigned for reunification with Moldova, which this year renewed a five-year ban on him entering the country over security concerns, and he is banned for the same reason from neighboring Ukraine.
Ecaterina Nawadia, a 20-year-old architecture student, said she voted for the first time in a national election on Sunday and hoped young people turn out in high numbers.
“Since the (1989) revolution, we didn’t have a really good president,” she said. “I hope most of the people my age went to vote … because the leading candidate is not the best option.”
Romania will also hold parliamentary elections on Dec. 1 that will determine the country’s next government and prime minister.
As the ballots were still being counted, Simion said he congratulated Georgescu and that he was “Very happy that approximately 40 percent of the votes of Romanians went toward the sovereign option” and would be in the second round.
Andrei, the political consultant, said Romania’s large budget deficit, high inflation, and an economic slowdown could push more mainstream candidates to shift toward populist stances amid widespread dissatisfaction.
Ciolacu told the AP before the first-round vote that one of his biggest goals was “to convince Romanians that it is worth staying at home or returning” to Romania, which has a massive diaspora spread throughout EU countries.
Other candidates included former NATO deputy general secretary Mircea Geoana, who ran independently and obtained about 6 percent; and Nicolae Ciuca, a former army general and head of the center-right National Liberal Party, which is currently in a tense coalition with the PSD — who stood at 9.3 percent.
Geoana, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, told the AP before Sunday’s vote that he believed his international experience would qualify him above the other candidates.
Lasconi, a former journalist and the leader of the USR, said she sees corruption as one of the biggest problems Romania faces and that she supports increased defense spending and continued aid to Ukraine.
15 Turkish-backed fighters killed in north Syria clashes with Kurdish-led forces
- SDF fighters “infiltrated positions of the Turkish-backed” troops in the Aleppo countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said
- The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded the fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019
BEIRUT: At least 15 Ankara-backed Syrian fighters were killed Sunday after Kurdish-led forces infiltrated their territory in the country’s north, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who controls swathes of the country’s northeast, “infiltrated positions of the Turkish-backed” fighters in the Aleppo countryside, said the Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria.
“The two sides engaged in violent clashes” that killed 15 of the Ankara-backed fighters, the monitor said.
An AFP correspondent in Syria’s north said the clashes had taken place near the city of Al-Bab, where authorities said schools would be suspended on Monday due to the violence.
The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded the fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019.
It is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by Ankara as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which claimed the attack on Ankara.
Turkish troops and allied rebel factions control swathes of northern Syria following successive cross-border offensives since 2016, most of them targeting the SDF.
Israel moving towards a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, Axios reports
BEIRUT: Israel is moving towards a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon with the Hezbollah militant group, Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted on X on Sunday, citing a senior Israeli official.
A separate report from Israel's public broadcaster Kan, citing an Israeli official, said there was no green light given on an agreement in Lebanon, with issues still yet to be resolved.
