Tag: Ned Price

US Says Approach to Venezuela’s Maduro ‘Not Changing,’ Will Maintain Sanctions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

US Says Approach to Venezuela’s Maduro ‘Not Changing,’ Will Maintain Sanctions

While Price insists it’s business as usual when it comes to Venezuela, the US has eased sanctions very slightly. After Maduro resumed talks with the opposition in November, the US granted a license to Chevron to resume pumping oil in Venezuela and agreed to release $3 billion in Venezuelan funds that were frozen by US and European banks. Under the deal, the funds will go toward humanitarian and economic development projects.

Previously:

Venezuela: Opposition Parties Oust Guaidó as ‘Interim President’

Journalist [Bolot Temirov] In Moscow After UN Envoy, Rights Groups, Embassies Decry Kyrgyz Deportation Order

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Journalist In Moscow After UN Envoy, Rights Groups, Embassies Decry Kyrgyz Deportation Order

[Bolot] Temirov and traditional bard singer Bolot Nazarov, who performed his anticorruption songs on the YouTube channel Temirov LIVE, were arrested in January for allegedly possessing illegal drugs, which the two men say were planted by police.

H/T: Jimmy Dore

Related:

New U.S. Award Names Kyrgyz, Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Figures Among Its 12 Recipients

FactCheck and open-source investigative organization Bellingcat probed Raimbek Matraimov, the controversial former deputy chief of the Customs Service, and his relatives, who are at the center of an alleged corruption scandal involving the funneling of close to a billion dollars out of Kyrgyzstan.

Research on Factcheck.kg’s (Bolot Temirov):

Read More »

Ben Gvir demands death penalty for Palestinians as condition to join Netanyahu’s govt

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

On 15 November, far-right Israeli member of the Knesset (MK) Itamar Ben Gvir sought to implement the death penalty for Palestinians guilty of killing Israelis. He has set this as a condition for his faction to join former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.

Ben Gvir demands death penalty for Palestinians as condition to join Netanyahu’s govt

U.S. unlikely to work with Jewish supremacist expected to be made Israeli minister

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

U.S. unlikely to work with Jewish supremacist expected to be made Israeli minister

Behind the scenes: U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan hinted at the possibility of not working with Ben-Gvir and other right-wing extremists during their meetings last week with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

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State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in the daily briefing Wednesday that the relationship between Israel and the U.S. is strong because it is based on shared interests and values.

Doubt it! They’ll still get $3.8 billion+ military aid, every year!

Army launches coup in Burkina Faso amid mass protests against France

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Army launches coup in Burkina Faso amid mass protests against France

The ousted junta leader, [Paul-Henri Sandaogo] Damiba, was widely seen as too closely linked to France. Late Saturday, there were protests outside the French embassy in Ouagadougou and the French Institute in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the French embassy, and other images showed part of the compound ablaze. The crowds also vandalised the French Institute.

Related:

Burkina Faso: Another Coup Led By U.S-Trained Soldier

[Paul-Henri Sandaogo] Damiba is a highly trained soldier, thanks in no small part to the U.S. military, which has a long record of training soldiers in Africa who go on to stage coups. Damiba, it turns out, participated in at least a half-dozen U.S. training exercises, according to U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM.

Ousted coup leader leaves Burkina Faso for Togo

Blinken heads to Latin America after Venezuelans and Colombians Celebrate the ‘Historical’ Reopening of Border

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head next week to Colombia and Chile to forge ties with new left-leaning leaders elected in the historic US allies, the State Department announced Friday.

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The secretary will later travel to Peru for a meeting of the Organization of American States and separately meet with President Pedro Castillo and other top officials.

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In Colombia, Blinken will discuss “supporting strong democratic governments and respect for human rights throughout the Western Hemisphere,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

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On his last visit to Colombia in October 2021 and later at a US-led summit in Los Angeles, Blinken has encouraged regional cooperation to address migration, a key political issue in the United States for Biden.

Blinken heads to Latin America to see new left-leaning leaders

Related:

Venezuelans and Colombians Celebrate the ‘Historical’ Reopening of Border