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Vice President Kamala Harris has begun to take calls on behalf of President Joe Biden, raising questions about his ability to do the job of President. The White House published a readout yesterday entitled “Readout of Vice President Kamala Harris Call with President Emmanuel Macron of France.” It states: Vice President Kamala Harris spoke today with President Emmanuel Macron of France, and expressed her commitment to strengthening bilateral ties between the United States and France and to revitalizing the transatlantic alliance. Vice President Harris and President Macron agreed on the need for close bilateral and multilateral cooperation to address COVID-19,...

Much to the shock of liberals, being tough on trade works better for American exports than being nice and hoping other nations will be “fair” to us in return. That works in kindergarten where a teacher is present to enforce the triumph of being nice. But in the real world, where politicians respond to domestic interests, it takes more than flowery rhetoric to get action. When President Trump threatened to slap heavy tariffs on European auto exports to the US unless they brought their tariffs down to equal our tariffs on them, he was lectured that this was “no...

I looked it up. The EU puts a 10% tariff on American cars. The United States puts a 2.5% tariff on EU cars. In what universe is that fair? Trump should address the nation, and hold up a poster with that data on it. People would come over to his side hugely. Why doesn't he do that? (And no, tweets don't count. The average American voter doesn't read political tweets.)

Russian officials are reportedly destroying the records of gulag prisoners under a secret order passed in 2014, Russian media have reported. An estimated 3-12 million victims of Soviet repression were imprisoned in the gulag network of prisons and forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union. Registration records kept by the Museum of the History of the Gulag, now threatened with destruction, include the permanent records of those killed, as well as archival files detailing those who survived the gulag and when they were released. A 2014 inter-agency order labeled “for internal use” instructs files to be destroyed once the...

“I am in agreement with President Trump,” Mr. Conte tweeted Friday. “Russia should reenter the G8. It is in everyone’s best interests.” Conte’s comment followed remarks by President Trump earlier on Friday regarding Russia’s role in the group of leading industrialized nations (G7). “With that being said, Russia should be in this meeting,” Trump said of the G7 summit, which begins Friday in Quebec. “Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?” “Whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run,” Trump said. “And in...

The Algerian Connection Why did Saddam financially support an al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria? by Thomas Joscelyn 08/03/2005 12:00:00 AM LATE LAST MONTH an Algerian-born terrorist named Ahmed Ressam received a commuted sentence of 22 years (prosecutors had recommended 35 years) in prison for his role in planning to blow up the Los Angeles airport. His sentence infuriated many since his involvement in the plot against LAX was immediately transparent. After all, he was captured in December 1999 after driving off a ferry from British Columbia in a vehicle laden with bomb-making explosives. Ressam received a commuted sentence after providing...

The début of the new printed newspaper in the era of the digital domination, which shrank or eliminated conventional centuries old media must come as a big surprise. Last Saturday the first issue of “Australian National Review” enriched the offer of the political magazines available in the Australian newsstands. The owner of the new title is the Australian “entrepreneur”, “financial advisor” and “educator” Mr. Jamie McIntyre, who now decided also took role of publisher. In his attempt to portray himself as pro-Russian Mr. McIntyre is ignoring views of significant percentage of Russian population. He seems to be satisfied with the...

You can see from the above that Russia has about twice as many homicides per hundred thousand as the United States, even though Russia has very restrictive laws on possession and carrying of firearms. The above chart was created from UNODC data. If you look at the chart below created by ABC, the United States seems to be an outlier.  No data is given for Russia, and the Y axis mentions that it is only for gun related homicides.   The large header leaves out the word "Gun".  These are serious clues that the chart is designed to mislead. Only...

AbstractOn February 28, Russian troops, aided by pro-Russian local militia, occupied important sites across the Crimean Peninsula under the pretext of “protecting Russian people.” Now Crimea is under Moscow’s de facto control and the Russian parliament has voted to annex the region into the Russian Federation. The failure of the Obama Administration’s Russian “reset,” the unilateral disarming of Europe, and the U.S. reduction of forces and disengagement from Europe have led Russia to calculate that the West will not respond in any significant way. The Administration can demonstrate America’s commitment to its NATO allies and support for the Ukrainian...

Today, the G8 minus 1 met in the Hague and, rather than kick out Russia outright, simply reformed as the G7, thereby punishing (in their minds) Russia for annexing part of the sovereign nation of Ukraine. ("Countries of the G7 end their membership in the G8," read the headline of the Soviet-era wire agency ITAR-TASS.)Really, though, it was the organization--and Russia--returning to a more natural state: The G8 just went back to being the organization it was until 1998, when Bill Clinton invited Russia in, hammering what he hoped would be the final nail in the Cold War coffin. Since then, Russia underwent...

The G7 club of wealthy nations has canceled a summit with Russia over its annexation of Crimea, but emerging economies have protested against its exclusion from a G20 meeting. […] For its part, US ally Australia had indicated Russia might also be excluded from a G20 summit in Brisbane in November. But Brazil, China, India, and South Africa rejected the idea. They said, together with Russia, also at The Hague, where almost 60 countries had sent VIPs to a Nuclear Security Summit, that “the escalation of hostile language, sanctions and counter-sanctions … does not contribute to a sustainable and peaceful...

The Group of 7 Nations (G7), formerly Group of 8 (G8) has suspended Russia from the alliance of leading industrialised nations, said the Whitehouse on Monday. This in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, formerly part of Ukraine. Leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom on Monday met at the Hague in the Netherlands where the group expressed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty. “We remind Russia of its international obligations, and its responsibilities including those for the world economy. Russia has a clear choice to make,” said the group in a statement on...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–Nev.) is facing a revolt among Republicans for adding controversial language to an aid package for Ukraine.The Senate is expected to vote on the Ukraine measure next week. The controversial provisions, which have support of the Obama administration and liberals from both parties, would increase U.S. financial support to the International Monetary Fund.A growing number of Republicans warn that attaching the IMF language would reduce U.S. power while expanding Russia’s influence on the global stage in the wake of its annexation of Crimea.>>> Q&A: Why Do Conservatives Oppose the IMF Reform Package?Yesterday, Sen. Ted Cruz...

THE HAGUE—Leaders of the world's largest economies agreed Monday to effectively remove Russia from the Group of Eight nations in response to Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine. The leaders, meeting in emergency session, also agreed that they would begin to exert punitive sanctions on Russia's energy, banking, finance and arms industries unless Moscow dialed back plans to seize the region of Crimea from Ukraine. "This group came together because of shared beliefs and shared responsibilities. Russia's actions in recent weeks are not consistent with them," the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Canada, Japan and Italy said in a joint statement. "We...

A “Special Report” panel today discussed how G7 leaders met today in The Hague and announced that they would be excluding Russia from the G8 and boycotting a planned summit in Sochi. Jason Riley, of the Wall Street Journal, said Russian President Vladimir Putin is rebuilding the Russian empire while President Barack Obama and our allies in Europe are sitting around discussing international law and “kicking Putin out of clubs he doesn’t care about in the first place.” Riley said Putin knows that the administration doesn’t have the stomach for confrontation and will continue to take advantage of that.

President Barack Obama and leaders of the world’s largest industrialized countries expelled Russia from the group until it “changes course” in Ukraine and formally canceled plans to attend an economic summit in Russia in June. The move was aimed at Russian President Vladmir Putin’s plan to host the G-8 group of economic powers at Sochi, Russia, which would have been its second starring role on the world stage after this winter’s Olympics. Instead, the G-7 leaders will meet in Brussels without Putin. At the same time, the group said it would not send its foreign ministers to a planned G-8...

The world's leading industrial powers threatened further sanctions to deter the Kremlin from invading other parts of Ukraine and boycotted what was to be a Group of Eight summit hosted by President Vladimir Putin. Meeting for the first time since last week's annexation of Crimea by Russia, Group of Seven leaders said they won't attend the planned G-8 meeting which was to have to been held in Sochi, site of the Winter Olympics, and will instead hold their own summit in June in Brussels. "We remain ready to intensify actions including coordinated sectoral sanctions that will have an increasingly significant...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared the G8 to be dead, thanks to Russia’s take over of the Crimea: German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared the Group of Eight leading nations defunct given the current crisis in Ukraine, in a clear message to Russia that the world’s seven other major industrialized countries consider its actions in Ukraine unacceptable. “As long as there is no political environment for such an important political format as the G-8, the G-8 doesn’t exist anymore, not the summit nor the format,” said Ms. Merkel, in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag. “Russia is widely isolated in all international...

The leaders of the Group of Eight have suspended Russia's participation in the body over Moscow's activities in Ukraine, the French foreign minister said Tuesday. In an interview with Europe-1 radio, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that "it is envisaged that all the other countries, the seven leading countries, will unite without Russia," The Associated Press reported. The other seven members had already pulled out of preparations for a G8 summit set to be held in June in the Russian city of Sochi. Fabius and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian earlier postponed a trip to Moscow to meet with...

Vladimir Putin running rampant in Ukraine showcases how the Obama administration's abdication of global leadership is making the world a more dangerous place. Instead of providing clarity to our nation and our allies, the Obama administration offers tortured semantics. "Kinetic action" glamorizes the failed policy of leading from behind in Libya. A "spontaneous protest" explains the coordinated al Qaeda attack on American officials in Benghazi. The interim agreement over Iran's nuclear program -- described by one of our closest allies as a "historic mistake" -- is in this universe referred to as a display of "international unity." And on Friday,...