Tag: Politico
Intoxicating Hemp Product Ban Included in Deal to Reopen Government +
Everything for war: resources, sanctions and historical references
From Bromance to Bombshells: Trump & Graham’s Russia Ultimatum
He’s still repeating the lie about Ukraine’s nuclear weapons. They never had operational control of them!
Related:
Graham, Blumenthal hail Trump’s new Russia sanctions plan
The Truth About Ukraine’s Decision to Give Up Its Nukes in the ’90s
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Ansar Allah triumphant: US facing Red Sea defeat again
The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did
The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did (archived)
Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE’s Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn’t exist.
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As WIRED has reported, Elez was granted privileges including the ability to not just read but write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government: the Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), an agency that according to Treasury records paid out $5.45 trillion in fiscal year 2024. Reporting from Talking Points Memo confirmed that Treasury employees were concerned that Elez had already made “extensive changes” to code within the Treasury system. The payments processed by BFS include federal tax returns, Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits [Social Security Disability Insurance], and veteran’s pay.
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On February 4, WIRED reported that Elez did, in fact, have admin access to PAM and SPS. Talking Points Memo reported later that day that Elez had “made extensive changes to the code base for these critical payment systems.” In a letter that same day that did not mention Musk or DOGE, Treasury official Jonathan Blum wrote to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, “Currently, Treasury staff members working with Tom Krause, a Treasury employee, will have read-only to the coded data of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.” (Krause is the top DOGE operative at Treasury and CEO of Cloud Software Group.) The letter did not say what kind of access the staff members actually had.
Previously:
Cloud Software Group: As Elon Musk Begins Shutting Down Payments to Federal Contractors, a Strange Money Trail Emerges to His Operatives Inside the U.S. Treasury’s Payment System
76 days to get it right in Ukraine
76 days to get it right in Ukraine (translation)
With less than two weeks to go until the US presidential election, and with polls showing a tie that will make the result depend on a small number of swing states, states that could fall to one side or the other and change the course of events, the electoral issue marks the global political agenda and represents a special element of uncertainty in the case of Ukraine. All the certainties that have existed until now under the leadership of Joe Biden, who has managed relations with Kyiv for two terms, since he was in charge of the White House during the years of the Obama administration, will disappear the moment it is announced who will come to power next January. Although, without a doubt, a victory for Trump would be more worrying for Zelensky, who apparently did not get the desired support from the Republican candidate at the meeting held during the Ukrainian president’s last visit to the United States, neither would a victory for Kamala Harris mean the end of concerns. The scant presence of the war in Ukraine in the campaign is compounded by speculation about the candidate’s cold relationship with Zelensky, despite the fact that it was Harris who attended the peace summit in Switzerland representing the White House. However, beyond slogans such as “support Ukraine as long as necessary,” the candidate has not at any time suggested what specific policy she would pursue with regard to the war or the relationship with Russia. Electoral needs are marked by issues of national policy and neither the Republican nor the Democrat candidate are making long speeches detailing their proposals.
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Ukraine: Gas and regional geopolitics
“Ukraine and Slovakia will create an energy hub for Eastern Europe,” headlined Ukrainska Pravda on Monday , citing the words of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal after his meeting with Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has recovered and returned to his post after the assassination attempt that put his life in danger. Although the Ukrainian media mainly focused on news about energy cooperation, the Slovak president did not hesitate to repeat to Shmyhal his position regarding Ukraine’s geopolitical position. As Politico stated on Monday, the Slovak president said on Sunday in an appearance in a Slovak media that “as long as I lead the government, I will direct the deputies under my control as chairman of the party [Smer] to never accept Ukraine’s accession.” According to Strana, Fico insisted on his “100%” support for Ukraine’s entry into the European Union, but not into NATO. This “no” attitude towards Ukraine’s entry into the military bloc is compounded by Fico’s intention to resume normal relations with Russia if the war ends during his term in office. However, as his meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister shows, this position is not in contradiction with cooperating with Kyiv on issues affecting both countries, including energy.
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What 10 Years of U.S. Meddling in Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler Alert: Not Democracy)
The Gaza Maritime Route Was Netanyahu’s Idea, Maritime Aid Corridor Will Advance the Overthrow of Hamas, & When Will US boots be on the Ground in Gaza?
Diplomatic source to ‘Post’: Gaza maritime route was Netanyahu’s idea
According to the source, on October 22, two weeks following the war’s outbreak, Netanyahu discussed with President Biden the concept of “delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza via the sea, contingent on an Israeli inspection in Cyprus.”
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Years before the Gaza war, Israel Katz, now the Foreign Minister, had drawn up plans for a maritime route via Cyprus involving a floating island.
The project was never executed. But he revived it after the war began on October 7.
Related:
Gallant: Maritime Aid Corridor Will Advance Overthrow of Hamas
“The process is designed to facilitate aid directly to civilians and in this way, it advances [our goal] of overthrowing Hamas’ rule in Gaza,” the minister said.
“We will facilitate aid via the maritime route that is coordinated with the United States (security and humanitarian aspects), with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates on the civilian side,” he said. “It will include the appropriate inspections in Cyprus, and the goods will be brought by international organizations with American assistance.”
Air, sea, and land: When will US boots be on the ground in Gaza? Authored by Yonah Jeremy Bob*
Then suddenly, last Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced that the US would also supply maritime aid to Gaza, including building a makeshift artificial port off the coast.
This already imposes a long-term US military footprint in Israeli-Gaza territorial waters rather than a “mere” series of fly-throughs.
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How hard would it be for a small complement of US Marines accompanying the aid deliveries to travel a kilometer or so into Gaza and to place themselves squarely in the middle of where Israel
does notwant them?…
Moreover, US forces have been and are already on the ground.
US generals and counter-terror experts have been in and out of Israel since the start of the war, including visits to Gaza.
There are also a variety of US military personnel regularly in Israel on military and intelligence exchange programs.
US attempts to reform the PA
Speaking of intelligence, multiple times when a decision was made to try to improve and reform the Palestinian Authority security forces, it was the CIA and US special forces who came to the West Bank and Gaza to help train and prepare these forces.
It seems quite likely that the Jewish state, at some point, will ask Washington to perform the same service again in Gaza.
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A broader version could involve a US-led peacekeeping force handling internal Gaza security for an indefinite period until enough Gazan Palestinians disconnected from Hamas can be convinced that taking on this role will not lead to them being slaughtered later by a resurgent Hamas.
From this perspective, the question about US forces on the ground in Gaza seems less of an if than it does a when, how many, and under more or less coordinated circumstances with Israel.
*Yonah Jeremy Bob was raised in Baltimore and graduated from Columbia University and Boston University Law School, respectively. He previously worked for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli Military International Law Division, and the Israeli Justice Ministry. – Wikipedia
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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