Síntesis informativa - 7 de mayo 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
New Tensions With Iran Threaten Nuclear Deal and, White House Says, U.S. Troops
WASHINGTON — Tensions escalated between the United States and Iran on Monday as the Trump administration accused Iran and militias that it backs of threatening American troops, and Iran signaled it might soon violate part of the 2015 nuclear deal it reached under former President Barack Obama.
European diplomats in touch with senior officials in Tehran said Iran would most likely resume research on high-performance centrifuges used to produce nuclear fuel and put restrictions on nuclear inspections in Iran. It would be Iran’s most significant reaction to date as President Trump has steadily increased sanctions.
At the same time, three United States officials cited new intelligence that Iran or its proxies were preparing to attack American troops in Iraq and Syria, leading the Pentagon to send an aircraft carrier strike group and Air Force bombers to the Persian Gulf as a warning to Tehran.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/world/middleeast/us-iran-iraq-troops-.html
On Muslim Brotherhood, Trump Weighs Siding With Autocrats and Roiling Middle East
WASHINGTON — President Trump was only days into office in January 2017 when he first began considering a move with the potential to ignite a firestorm in the Middle East: designating the Muslim Brotherhood, a sprawling group that reaches from Morocco to Malaysia, a terrorist organization.
Mr. Trump’s hard-line national security adviser at the time, Michael T. Flynn, started a review of whether the United States should impose sweeping sanctions on millions of people across the Middle East. But only weeks later, after Mr. Flynn was fired, the proposal was quashed by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the next national security adviser.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/world/middleeast/muslim-brotherhood-trump.html
Russian Efforts to Exploit Racial Divisions in 2016 Found Firm Ground in U.S., Report Says
Russian disinformation operations to exploit racial tensions during the 2016 presidential election in the United States found firm ground in a country where legislators have long sought to suppress the black vote, according to a report released Monday.
The report, “State of Black America,” was released by the National Urban League, a civil rights organization based in New York. It underlined the Russian interference in particular but said that black voting rights were under attack from a wide range of actors, including domestic politicians.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/us/russia-disinformation-black-activists.html
How Chinese Spies Got the N.S.A.’s Hacking Tools, and Used Them for Attacks
Chinese intelligence agents acquired National Security Agency hacking tools and repurposed them in 2016 to attack American allies and private companies in Europe and Asia, a leading cybersecurity firm has discovered. The episode is the latest evidence that the United States has lost control of key parts of its cybersecurity arsenal.
Based on the timing of the attacks and clues in the computer code, researchers with the firm Symantec believe the Chinese did not steal the code but captured it from an N.S.A. attack on their own computers — like a gunslinger who grabs an enemy’s rifle and starts blasting away.
The Chinese action shows how proliferating cyberconflict is creating a digital wild West with few rules or certainties, and how difficult it is for the United States to keep track of the malware it uses to break into foreign networks and attack adversaries’ infrastructure.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/us/politics/china-hacking-cyber.html
THE GUARDIAN
US deploys aircraft carrier and bombers after 'credible threat' from Iran
The deployment of forces was first announced by the national security adviser, John Bolton, on Sunday, and confirmed by the acting defence secretary, Patrick Shanahan, on Monday. Neither official gave an explanation of the alleged Iranian threat. According to one report, information passed on by Israeli intelligence contributed to the US threat assessment.
The announced deployment comes in the midst of a week of particular high tension. On 2 May, the US ended waivers that allowed China, India and Turkey to continue to buy Iranian oil without US sanctions. Wednesday marks the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and both Donald Trump and Hassan Rouhani are expected to mark the day by raising the stakes.
China confirms vice-premier Liu He will visit US for trade talks
Beijing has been largely muted in its response to Donald Trump’s threat on Sunday to raise tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200bn (£153bn) of Chinese goods by the end of the week. On Monday, the US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, said China had gone back on commitments previously made in talks.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/07/china-liu-us-trade-talks-trump-tweets
Is Chinese-style surveillance coming to the west?
In a very short time, China’s surveillance capability has become immensely sophisticated and now extends beyond keeping tabs on political dissidents to developing a system for monitoring the behavior of the entire population.
Since the massacre that ended the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989, digital technology has given the Chinese government new, more stealthy modes of silencing, oppressing and disappearing dissidents, and stifling historical discourse.
This includes censoring online even mentions of 4 June, and an ever-changing catalogue of words and phrases that, depending on circumstances, are deemed threatening, including “feminism”, “1984”, “I disagree” and certainly anything that might draw attention to Uighur or Tibetan rights, or the independence of Taiwan.
Worse, the Chinese model is now being exported. Wired magazine has reported that China is “exporting its techno-dystopian model to other counties … Since January 2017, Freedom House counted 38 countries where Chinese firms have built internet infrastructure, and 18 countries using AI surveillance developed by the Chinese.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/07/chinese-style-surveillance-exported-west
AL JAZEERA
'Psychological warfare': Iran dismisses US naval deployment
Official says US announcement on sending carrier strike group to Middle East is 'clumsy use of an out-of-date event'.
The dismissal on Monday came a day after John Bolton, US national security adviser, said Washington was sending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force as a "clear and unmistakable message" that it will retaliate against any attack on its interests or its allies by Iran.
The deployment comes amid heightened tensions as Washington pushes forward with its campaign of "maximum pressure" against Tehran partly through punishing economic sanctions.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/190506204407960.html
The implications of a Trump war on political Islam
The White House should stop taking cue from Arab dictators on its foreign policy.
Marwan Bishara.— The White House has given the Israeli, Egyptian and the Saudi regimes and their allies carte blanche to do as they please domestically and regionally, as long as they purchase US weapons, invest in the US economy and support US initiatives in the Middle East, like the soon to be revealed "deal of the century".
The White House announced it was intending to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation soon after Trump met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi last month and praised him as a "great president" despite his dark human rights record.
Bahrain PM calls Qatar emir in rare contact amid Gulf dispute
State-run Bahraini news agency describes the phone call as 'restricted' to Ramadan greetings.
It described the call as "restricted" to Ramadan greetings, and according to Bahrain's cabinet affairs minister, it "does not represent the official position of the Kingdom of Bahrain and will not affect its commitments with Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt on the implementation of what Qatar has committed to in 2013 and 2014 and the just demands that had followed".
Since June 2017, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have imposed a diplomatic and commercial embargo on Qatar, accusing the latter of "supporting terrorism".
RUSSIA TODAY
Guaido blames coup backers for ‘failing to follow through’ in Venezuela
US-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido blames “people who failed to follow through” for the demise of last week’s attempt to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro’s government – but believes there’s still hope.
“There were people who failed to follow through,” Guaido told AFP on Monday, but “it doesn’t mean that they won’t do it soon.” The self-appointed interim president didn’t specify who his backers were, but they aren’t the only ones he has blamed for Maduro’s refusal to quietly go away.
https://www.rt.com/news/458533-guaido-blames-backers-failure-venezuela/
Ban Russians from US, sanction sports teams & target Putin, says ex-NATO commander
The US is too “weak” on Russia in the wake of Mueller’s report, a TIME article by former NATO commander James Stavridis claims, suggesting Washington go beyond sanctions to target Russian civilians, even President Putin himself.
The op-ed by the retired Navy Admiral-cum-private equity firm executive argues that unspecified “Russians” have engaged in a “direct attack on the heart of our democratic system.” To make matters worse, Washington has done “precious little”about it, responding with only “a few symbolic gestures.
Those “few symbolic gestures” admittedly include 2018’s retaliatory sanctions against numerous political and military figures accused of ‘meddling’ in the 2016 presidential elections, and pending sanctions which would target key industries in Russia’s economy. Stavridis believes, however, that even if the new measures are put in place, it would not be enough to deter Russia from attempting to interfere in the 2020 elections.
https://www.rt.com/usa/458527-sanction-russians-putin-stavridis/
US acted on vague Mossad tip-off when it sent strike group to Middle East – report
A US aircraft carrier group and bomber task force were deployed to the Middle East after a tip-off on a “credible threat” from Iran, which came, conveniently vague and timely, from Israeli spy agency Mossad, it has been reported.
At an April 15 meeting in Washington, Israeli National Security Council chief Meir Ben-Shabbat passed along a warning to US National Security Advisor John Bolton, senior Israeli officials told Axios. The information Bolton received was left vague: the attack could hit a US target in the Persian Gulf, or maybe Saudi Arabia, or maybe the UAE.
“It is still unclear to us what the Iranians are trying to do and how they are planning to do it,” one of the senior officials said, but added it was “clear” that an unspecified event would take place sometime in the future, which would have unstated consequences.
https://www.rt.com/news/458536-mossad-tip-iran-intelligence/
At least 8 states now pushing to outlaw non-medical vaccine exemptions
Amid the worst measles outbreak since the eradication of the disease, more US states are scrambling to amend the laws allowing for religious and other exemptions from vaccination. Oregon is the latest to join the push.
Faced with a health scare in the form of measles, a highly contagious and easily transmitted respiratory infection, lawmakers have been in a hurry to pass laws that would limit or outlaw any exemptions from vaccination that are not rooted in medical reasons.
https://www.rt.com/usa/458534-measles-religious-exemption-oulaws/
US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin refuses to give Trump's tax returns to Congress
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has officially refused to turn over six years of President Donald Trump’s tax filings to House Democrats, declaring their request lacked a “legitimate legislative purpose.”
The House Ways and Means Committee requested tax documents from Trump and several of his businesses for the years 2013 to 2018 last month, claiming they were necessary “to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials,” but Trump’s administration refused to comply with the demand.
https://www.rt.com/usa/458523-mnuchin-trump-tax-return/
Bolton’s battle cry shows US is preparing for ‘military scenario’ in Iran - top Russian MP
A top Russian MP has warned of an escalation in the US conflict with Iran after Washington announced that it is sending a carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East ‘to send a clear message’ to Tehran.
“We can’t be idle, we must beat the alarm and take a stand against such behavior from Washington in all international organizations, especially in BRICS,” Leonid Slutsky said, after the deployment of the naval force was announced by US National Security Advisor John Bolton.
https://www.rt.com/russia/458498-russia-mp-bolton-iran/
AL MAYADEEN
Informe secreto revela participación militar de Abu Dabi en la batalla de Trípoli, precisa AFP
Un informe secreto revela que expertos internacionales están investigando si Abu Dabi está involucrado militarmente en el conflicto en Libia, reportó AFP.
El documento se refiere a "cohetes lanzados en abril desde aviones no tripulados de fabricación china, y que el ejército de los Emiratos Árabes Unidos tiene ejemplares de ellos".
Bolivia: Oposición quiere injerencia de EE.UU. para impedir reelección de Evo Morales
La oposición de Bolivia asienta en Estados Unidos y en la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) su estrategia para evitar la reelección del presidente Evo Morales, denunció el politólogo Hugo Moldiz.
Moldiz refiere la iniciativa de una veintena de parlamentarios opositores, quienes enviaron al presidente Donald Trump una carta con la solicitud de que intervenga en las elecciones bolivianas, activando mecanismos que impidan la participación del primer estadista indígena del país altiplánico.
El analista precisa que los partidarios de la injerencia de Washington se animan en el papel de la Administración Trump contra Venezuela, Nicaragua y Cuba -ubicados en la primera línea de los objetivos políticos de la Casa Blanca-, y convierten esa intervención en una prioridad para frustrar la postulación del mandatario del país andino amazónico para los próximos comicios y así revertir el proceso de cambio.
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