#U.S. State Department

  Today Palestinian top negotiators will meet with United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s team in Washington to go over the U.S. position on all the issues that will be a part of a framework agreement that Kerry aims to share publicly in a few weeks. A senior Palestinian source told Haaretz, “we want […]

Countdown to the February 2nd Issa-Grassley hearing into Operation Fast and Furious is underway, and one of the biggest questions still unanswered is whether Congress will offer former AUSA Patrick Cunningham immunity for his testimony, and if Cunningham, so immunized, will shed any light on the parentage of an ATF operation that allowed roughly 2000 military-grade weapons to walk across the US-Mexico border and disappear, without a trace, into cartel arsenals.

Nobody seems to be holding his or her breath, but if Congress does pull an ‘Ollie North’ with Cunningham, or any of the witnesses it seeks to depose on Fast and Furious, expect the narrative to change. The irony alone, in a case that so closely resembles Iran-Contra, may provide the MSM with a much-needed jolt: Cunningham reprises North’s role when Congress, challenged by his close hold on the 5th Amendment, compels him to testify by granting him use or (less likely) transactional immunity.

Don’t remember the way it worked with North? Consider the following, pulled from court documents…

The fact that government outrage continues to provide the international media with grist for its insatiable mill is one of the great ironies in this scenario: perturbed at the site’s revelation of embarrassing diplomatic discussions and fumblings–tales only mildly interesting to the average reader–government officials are now in the process of creating a better, and far more spectacular story over First Amendment rights and the ‘treasonable’ activities of a Dutch citizen accused of committing “sex by surprise” (in Sweden?).

Even worse, the official call from some quarters for draconian regulation of the internet has given Russia (which suggests nominating Assange for the Nobel Peace Prize) and China, a human-rights violator of mammoth proportion, opportunities to ‘prove’ to an already hostile world that when Washington suddenly finds itself looking out through wall-to-wall glass, this nation of stone-throwers is no better than anyplace else.

Per usual, the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer has provided, far and away, the best reportage on the flood in Pakistan.  Working with Saima Mohsin of the English-language channel Dawn News, the Newshour has aired some of the most arresting stories on Pakistan’s crisis.  The piece you will find below is no different. Mohsin lays […]

The U.S. government has made several related moves that now allows it go after the Pakistani Taliban with meat and muscle. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Hakimullah Mesud, the alleged leader of the Tehrik e-Taliban with conspiracy to murder  7 C.I.A officers.  Using a Jordanian physician as a double-agent the Tehrik-e-Taliban were able […]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released on Monday, on behalf of the State Department, the “Trafficking in Persons Report 2010.” It is billed as the most comprehensive worldwide report of government efforts to combat trafficking in persons, and covers 177 countries. And Clinton was quick to note that the United States ranked itself as well, […]

The U.S. State Department announced today that its highest-ranking envoy yet (under the Obama administration) will travel to Cuba to participate in fresh talks on migration issues. The spokesman’s office reported: U.S. and Cuban representatives will meet in Havana to discuss implementation of the U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords. The discussions will focus on how best to […]

This is “Upgrade Your Electric” week for the Obama Administration.  First, the President announced a $3.4 billion upgrade for the US electric power grid. Then yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the State Department had decided to help Pakistan upgrade its electricity to prevent the frequent outages. These electricity problems, according to the […]

Stories of soldiers murdering civilians, illegal wiretapping, targeted killings of indigenous people, assassinations of labor rights activists and other human rights abuses are troubling, but not troubling enough for the US State Department.  Last week the State Department certified Colombia as complying with basic human rights requirements, a necessary condition for releasing the remainder of […]