Trump chooses former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker as NATO ambassador

Former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker waves as former President Donald Trump speaks at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 21 November 2024
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Trump chooses former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker as NATO ambassador

  • The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is in law enforcement and not in foreign policy

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as US ambassador to NATO, the bedrock Western alliance that the president-elect has expressed skepticism about for years.
Trump, in a statement, said Whitaker was “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.”
The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is in law enforcement and not in foreign policy. Whitaker had been considered a potential pick for attorney general, a position Trump instead gave to Matt Gaetz, a fierce loyalist seen as divisive even within his own party.
The NATO post is a particularly sensitive one given Trump’s regard of the alliance’s value and his complaints that numerous members are not meeting their commitments to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense.
Whitaker is a former US attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close.
He had been chief of staff to Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, before being picked to replace his boss after Sessions was fired amid lingering outrage over his decision to recuse from the Russia investigation. Whitaker held the position for several months, on an acting basis and without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed as attorney general in February 2019.
Whitaker has been a relentless critic of the federal criminal cases against Trump, which appear set to evaporate after Trump’s election win. Whitaker has used regular appearances on Fox News to join other Republicans in decrying what they contend is the politicization of the Justice Department over the past four years.
“Matt Whitaker obviously has strong political views, but he followed the rules when I served with him during his three-month tenure as acting Attorney General,” Rod Rosenstein, who was deputy attorney general during Whitaker’s tenure, wrote in an email Wednesday. “Many critics fail to give him credit for that. Matt didn’t drop cases against political allies, and he didn’t pursue unwarranted investigations of political opponents.”
Whitaker has little evident foreign policy or national security experience, making him an unknown to many in US security circles.
Retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, a former supreme allied commander of NATO, said the ambassador’s position was “incredibly important” within the US and NATO security framework, as the direct representative of US presidents in decision-making within the alliance.
“The bottom line is they are looked to have the credibility of the president when they speak,” Breedlove said.
Previous ambassadors to NATO have generally had years of diplomatic, political or military experience. Trump’s first-term NATO ambassador, former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, did not, although she had been involved in foreign policy issues while in Congress. Breedlove said a security background was not essential to the post, but being seen as having a direct line to the president was.
“They need to be seen as actually representing what the president intends. To have the trust and confidence of the president, that’s what’s most important in that position,” he said.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump alarmed Western allies by warning that the United States, under his leadership, might abandon its NATO treaty commitments and only come to the defense of countries that meet the transatlantic alliance’s defense spending targets.
Trump, as president, eventually endorsed NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, which states that an armed attack against one or more of its members shall be considered an attack against all members. But he often depicted NATO allies as leeches on the US military and openly questioned the value of the military alliance that has defined American foreign policy for decades.
In the years since, he has continued to threaten not to defend NATO members that fail to meet spending goals.
Earlier this year, Trump said that, when he was president, he warned NATO allies that he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to countries that are “delinquent.”
“‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump recounted saying at a February rally. “‘No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.’”
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general at the time, said in response that “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.”
NATO reported earlier this year that, in 2023, 11 member countries met the benchmark of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense and that that number had increased to 18 in early 2024 — up from just three in 2014. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has spurred additional military spending by some NATO members.
Trump has often tried to take credit for that increase, and bragged that, as a results of his threats, “hundreds of billions of dollars came into NATO,” even though countries do not pay NATO directly.
Whitaker, Trump noted in his announcement, is a former Iowa football player.
Whitaker has faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers.
The Wall Street Journal in 2018 published an email revealing an FBI investigation into the company, World Patent Marketing Inc. The July 10, 2017, email was from an FBI victims’ specialist to someone who, the newspaper said, was an alleged victim of the company. A Justice Department spokeswoman told the newspaper at the time that Whitaker was “not aware of any fraudulent activity.”
Those selected for the NATO job in recent years have included retired Gen. Douglas Lute, the current US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, former acting deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and diplomacy academics who previously served on the National Security Council such as Ivo Daalder and Kurt Volker.


Bangladesh police use tear gas to disperse Islamist march in Dhaka

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Bangladesh police use tear gas to disperse Islamist march in Dhaka

  • Police were unable to control the crowd and had to use tear gas and sound grenades to disperse them
  • The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had warned banned organizations against holding public meetings and rallies
DHAKA: Police in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka used tear gas and sound grenades on Friday to disperse hundreds of members of the banned militant group Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeking to march to demand the country’s secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate.
Hundreds of activists chanting “Khilafat, Khilafat” gathered for the ‘March for Khilafat’ procession at the Baitul Mukarram Mosque after Friday prayers, defying police barricades.
Police were unable to control the crowd and had to use tear gas and sound grenades to disperse them, witnesses said. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had warned banned organizations on Thursday against holding public meetings and rallies.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir, banned in Bangladesh since October 2009 for posing a threat to national security, has frequently organized protests and marches in defiance of a government ban on public gatherings.
The London-based Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeks to unite Muslims in a pan-Islamic state but says its means are peaceful.
The Muslim-majority country of 170 million people is one of the world’s largest and poorest democracies.
It has been grappling with political unrest since an interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, took over following protests that drove then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of the country.

Kumbh Mela: Massive clean up after India’s Hindu mega-festival ends

Updated 5 min 30 sec ago
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Kumbh Mela: Massive clean up after India’s Hindu mega-festival ends

  • Massive sanitation drive has been underway since the six-week gala drew to a close last week in the northern city of Prayagraj
  • The Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, staged every 12 years

PRAYAGRAJ, India: Thousands of sanitation workers were toiling on Friday to clean up 20,000 tons of waste left behind by hundreds of millions of Hindu devotees after India’s Kumbh Mela mega-festival.
The massive sanitation drive has been underway since the six-week gala drew to a close last week in the northern city of Prayagraj.
Hundreds of millions of people visited the city during the festival according to government figures, with mounds of discarded clothing, plastic bottles and other waste now littering the grounds.
“We have deployed 15,000 workers to clear up some 20,000 tons of waste generated from the festival,” Prayagraj municipal commissioner Chandra Mohan Garg said.
The Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, staged every 12 years at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
It is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.
Workers were also busy dismantling a temporary infrastructure, that includes 150,000 portable toilets.
In several places, open areas were used as makeshift toilets, posing a challenge to the army of sanitary staff.
“The dedication toward cleanliness... will continue to inspire efforts to keep Prayagraj, and its sacred rivers, clean for generations to come,” the government said in a statement this week.
The Kumbh Mela was also a testament to the “collective spirit of maintaining a cleaner and more sustainable environment,” it added.


Kremlin: Russia may need to act to respond to EU ‘militarization’ plans to ensure its own security

Updated 18 min 3 sec ago
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Kremlin: Russia may need to act to respond to EU ‘militarization’ plans to ensure its own security

  • ‘We see that the European Union is now actively discussing the militarization of the EU and the development of the defense segment’
  • ‘This is a process that we are watching closely, because the EU is positioning Russia as its main adversary’

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia may need to act to respond to what it called European Union plans to militarize the bloc that cast Russia as its main adversary.
European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defense and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump’s reversal of US policies.
“We see that the European Union is now actively discussing the militarization of the EU and the development of the defense segment. This is a process that we are watching closely, because the EU is positioning Russia as its main adversary,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“This, of course, could potentially be a topic of deep concern for us and there could be a need to take appropriate measures in response to ensure our security.
“And, of course, such confrontational rhetoric and confrontational thinking that we are now seeing in Brussels and in European capitals is, seriously at odds with the mood for finding a peaceful settlement around Ukraine.”


Zelensky to visit South Africa on April 10: presidency

Updated 26 min 12 sec ago
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Zelensky to visit South Africa on April 10: presidency

  • South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week invited Volodymyr Zelensky on a state visit
  • Zelensky thanked Ramaphosa for supporting ‘Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’

JOHANNESBURG: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit South Africa next month, the African country’s presidency announced Friday.
“President Zelensky will be visiting South Africa on the 10th of April,” presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya said.
The visit “is a continuation of ongoing engagements” on “an inclusive peace process” between Russia and Ukraine, he said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week invited Zelensky on a state visit, after heavy criticism of moves by Russia and the United States to negotiate an end to the war through a process to which neither Ukraine nor its European allies were invited.
“South Africa remains committed to supporting the dialogue process between Russia and Ukraine,” Ramaphosa said in a post on X.
The two leaders have a “constructive engagement” and agree on “the urgent need for an inclusive peace process that involves all parties,” Ramaphosa said.
Zelensky thanked Ramaphosa for supporting “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and said he hoped for peace this year.
“It is important that our countries share the same position: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X last week.


Impeached South Korea president still in detention despite court order

Updated 07 March 2025
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Impeached South Korea president still in detention despite court order

  • Impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol’s lawyers filed a request to cancel his arrest warrant last month
  • They argued his detention was unlawful because the prosecution had waited too long to indict him

SEOUL: A South Korean court canceled the arrest warrant of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, but he remains behind bars with the prosecution likely to appeal.
Yoon’s lawyers filed a request to cancel his arrest warrant last month, arguing his detention was unlawful because the prosecution had waited too long to indict him.
“It is reasonable to conclude that the indictment was filed after the defendant’s detention period had expired,” said a document from the Seoul Central District Court.
“To ensure procedural clarity and eliminate any doubts regarding the legality of the investigative process, it would be appropriate to issue a decision to cancel the detention,” the court added.
The president was impeached and detained for his December 3 declaration of martial law.
But his lawyers said the cancelation of his arrest does not necessarily mean that he will be released straight away.
“Even if the court decides to cancel the detention, the defendant is not immediately released,” Yoon’s lawyer, Seok Dong-hyeon, said Friday.
“The defendant will be released only if the prosecutor waives the right to appeal, or does not file an appeal within the prescribed period.”
Prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
The opposition Democratic Party slammed the court decision.
“The prosecution must immediately appeal, to ensure a ruling that aligns with the public’s sense of justice,” said opposition party floor leader Park Chan-dae.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, plunged democratic South Korea into turmoil in December by briefly suspending civilian rule and sending soldiers into parliament.
He has been charged with insurrection for his martial law declaration, which lawmakers voted down within hours before impeaching him.
The 64-year-old resisted arrest for two weeks, in a tense standoff between his security team and investigators at his official residence in Seoul. He was finally taken into custody on January 15.
He also faces an impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court, which will determine whether his removal from office is upheld.
The hearings for that case wrapped up last week, with the court’s eight judges to decide Yoon’s fate behind closed doors. A verdict is expected in mid-March.
South Korea must hold a fresh presidential election within 60 days if Yoon is removed.
Lawmakers at Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) hailed the court’s decision Friday.
“Although overdue, this is a very welcome decision,” said MP Kwon Young-se.
“The arrest itself raised numerous concerns, when considering the investigative process that led to it,” said Kwon.
“This is a crucial moment that reaffirms the rule of law and justice in South Korea,” he added.
Overjoyed supporters quickly gathered in front of Yoon’s house, waving Korean and US flags.
AFP reporters also saw at least 100 supporters in front of the detention center where Yoon is being held, chanting “dismiss the impeachment” and “for the president we voted.”
The court decision on Yoon’s detention is “entirely unrelated” to the ongoing impeachment trial, the opposition party spokesperson Han Min-soo said.
Friday’s ruling “will not affect the proceedings” regarding Yoon’s formal removal from office by the Constitutional Court, Han added.
Much of the impeachment trial has centered on whether Yoon violated the constitution by declaring martial law, which is reserved for national emergencies or times of war.
The opposition has accused him of taking the extraordinary measure without proper justification.
Yoon’s lawyers have said he declared martial law to alert the country to the dangers of “legislative dictatorship” by the opposition.