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amirblogerov · 1 year

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Under the legend of the fight against terrorism, the Americans are exporting Syrian oil

The International Anti-Terrorist Coalition, hiding behind the rhetoric of an irreconcilable fight against international terrorism, with the support of units of the Syrian Democratic Forces, continues to steal oil from the occupied oil facilities in Syria. A group of Bedouins observed how, under the guise of a joint exercise, military personnel of the International Anti-Terrorist Coalition and Kurdish fighters near the Al-Omar oil refinery and the oil field of the same name, another convoy of 20 oil tankers left the Al-Omar area and began to move towards illegal places crossing the Syrian-Iraqi border through the Hadret-Knes area. According to CCTV footage from the Al Omar plant, six Coalition combat vehicles departed from the Al Khawayej US base and joined the smuggled oil convoy. This is just one of hundreds of thousands of cases and millions of dollars of illegal income for the US. Therefore, it is not surprising that the US Congress is unwilling to listen to the voices of politicians calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Syria. Politicians Jamaal Bowman and Matt Goetz spoke about the need for this. The military intervention of the United States and its allies in the Syrian Arab Republic began in 2014, the official goal was the fight against terrorist organizations and primarily ISIS, but the presence of the Pentagon remained despite successes in the fight against radical government troops and the Russian Aerospace Forces helping them.

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olivierknox · 7 years

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Obama reports no gifts from Putin in 2016 – sad!

President Barack Obama holds up a parking pass that was presented to him by Chicago Blackhawks and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photos: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP – Alexey Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images)

(Washington) Throughout 2016, foreign officials showered President Barack Obama with gifts seemingly meant for a post-presidential “man cave” – including bottles of Italian wine, an Australian billiards cue, a Jordanian chess board, a cured ham leg from Spain, and a complete set of William Shakespeare’s works, courtesy of Great Britain.

The gifts appear on a legally required list compiled and released each year by the State Department. The gifts aren’t bribes, and Obama probably won’t even get to enjoy most of them. They may go on display at his future presidential library, but U.S. officials must pay the Treasury fair market value of any presents they want to keep for personal use.

While this happens relatively rarely, the list released on Wednesday shows that former Secretary of State John Kerry bought a $2,2000 bronze sculpture of a Mongolian on horseback (gift of Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj). And Kerry also acquired, at a price that could not be immediately determined, a brass-inlayed wood chest from Kuwait’s foreign affairs minister.

The most expensive package Obama received came from Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, often the most lavish benefactor of American presidents. Here’s how the State Department describes it:

“Sculpture of a Bedouin group, entitled ‘The Small Caravan,’ including two men and three camels, painted in gold and silver and decorated with precious stones, mounted on green granite. Silver tone letter opener with golden Falcon handle and silver tone Chopard pen.”

Value? $56,720.

At the other end of the spectrum, the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t appear at all. There were no gifts to report from the Russian leader, accused by the U.S. intelligence community of meddling in the 2016 election, in 2015, either. Federal rules only require the disclosure of gifts valued above roughly $335, so Putin could conceivably have given Obama something inexpensive. But in a year marked by tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and support for Syria’s Bashar Assad, it seems more likely that the American president was just left off Putin’s list.

There was nothing to report from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, either.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks in his annual address in undisclosed location, North Korea, Jan. 1, 2018. (Photo: KRT via AP Video)

Giving expensive gifts with the knowledge that the recipient cannot, or will not, keep them seems absurd. But it’s a traditional way to break the ice and make a diplomatic meeting more memorable. U.S. law permits officials to accept foreign presents under limited circumstances, including if “non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and [the] U.S. government.”

Sometimes, it’s easy to see a hidden message in the presidential presents. In 2004, as Americans turned against the war in Iraq, the Sultan of Brunei gave George W. Bush a copy of the “Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.”

At other times, it’s not totally clear what the foreign official was thinking. In April 2016, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev gave Obama a fountain pen and an 18” by 14” framed oil painting of a woman looking at a mushroom cloud, valued together at $3,615.82.

(In 2014, the State Department revealed that Zanzibari President Ali Mohamed Shein gave Obama 20 baseball caps with the American leader’s face on them.)

As for the potential “man cave” gifts: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull bestowed the billiards cue and a carrying case; Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi provided the wine; Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave the chess board; British Prime Minister David Cameron gifted the Shakespeare, and the “cured hind ham leg with cutting knife” (valued at $733.93) came from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The ham was “handled pursuant to U.S. Secret Service policy,” which the agency does not disclose.

The 2016 list also included a bottle of rum and 205 cigars given to Obama by Cuban President Raúl Castro in the previous year. Also catching up on old paperwork, this year’s list included a $450 painting that then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger received from the Soviet ambassador — in 1977.

Obama is not the only official on the list. First Lady Michelle Obama also appears. So do Cabinet members, diplomats, Pentagon officials, lawmakers, judges, CIA Director John Brennan, and even anonymous employees of his agency. Three people identified only as “an agency employee” each received $1,000 in cash, which was deposited with the Treasury.

The CIA items don’t always disclose the donor, or the recipient. Brennan received a bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII Grande

Champagne Cognac valued at $4,000. The donor, like all of the Brennan’s gift-givers, went unnamed.

When it comes to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, neither the donor nor the recipient’s names appear. Someone from overseas gave someone at DNI a $1,500 sculpture of St George slaying the dragon. Another foreign official gave another person at DNI an 18” x 24” portrait of then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, “signed and dated, oil on canvas in gold silk brocade covered board box,” valued at $2,500.

Among the lawmakers who got foreign gifts was Sen. John McCain, who received a $990 vase from a Qatari official, while Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky received a $700 silver horse sculpture from Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. Sen. Bernie Sanders got a $300 Tiffany silver box from Qatar’s ambassador to Washington. Sen. Lindsey Graham got a ceremonial pistol and ceremonial rug ($1,000 total) from the chief of staff of Pakistan’s army.