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State Department Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 22, 2018 23 Comments
Ismail Kowsari, a senior officer in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, lashed out at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's vow to impose strong sanctions on the regime. From NBC News:
"The people of Iran should stand united in the face of this and they will deliver a strong punch to the mouth of the American secretary of state and anyone who backs them," said Kowsari, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also mocked Pompeo, asking, "Who are you" to make decisions for Iran while a member of parliament insisted the regime shouldn't play into "U.S. radicalism."

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 02, 2018 79 Comments
President Donald Trump tweeted that failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's former aide Huma Abedin should face jail after reports have emerged she sent State Department passwords to her personal Yahoo account. The Daily Caller reported on Monday that Abedin sent these passwords to the account before every single Yahoo email account was hacked.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 06, 2017 31 Comments
Donald Trump is set to give a speech later today recognizing that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which of course it is. According to reports based on news pool briefings by the White House, Trump will not declare Jerusalem the "united and undivided" capital of Israel, which is how Israelis refer to it. Rather, Trump will leave open that the parties could, as part of a final peace settlement, provide for some part of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state or political entity.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 25, 2017 18 Comments
If history proves one thing, it's that giving in to Palestinian threats only leads to intransigence and more threats. Unfortunately, for the second time the Trump administration has walked back an announced policy in just such a circumstance. The first walk back had to do with moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is Israel's capital. That was a core Trump campaign promise, reiterated during the transition. As Prof. Miriam Elman explained in a prior post, locating the Embassy in Jerusalem would have a profoundly positive impact on the prospects for peace, since it would signal that Arab and Muslim threats of violence against the Jewish presence in Jerusalem would be futile, Move U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, for peace sake:

Posted by Mary Chastain on November 22, 2017 35 Comments
FINALLY. As I've been covering and tweeting for months, the Myanmar army has been committing atrocities on the Rohingya minority, basically to the point to eliminate the people from the planet. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has finally declared these atrocities as ethnic cleansing, which is exactly what is going on.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 20, 2017 28 Comments
Monday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released a statement commemorating Transgender Day of Remembrance. "On Transgender Day of Remembrance, the United States honors the memory of the many transgender individuals who have lost their lives to acts of violence," said Tillerson in an official statement.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 23, 2017 9 Comments
Judicial Watch announced today that the State Department told a federal court that officials still need to process 40,000 out of 72,000 emails that belonged to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The watchdog organization filed a lawsuit to receive her emails in May 2015. The department has only processed 32,000 and released a small amount of those.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 03, 2017 4 Comments
President Donald Trump's administration has expelled 15 diplomats from the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., due to the mysterious attacks on U.S. diplomats that have caused major health problems. From Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:
On October 3, the Department of State informed the Government of Cuba that it was ordering the departure of 15 of its officials from its embassy in Washington, D.C. The decision was made due to Cuba’s failure to take appropriate steps to protect our diplomats in accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention. This order will ensure equity in our respective diplomatic operations.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 01, 2017 10 Comments
We blogged about the Kurdish Independence vote held last week and about the resulting international threats and tensions, including the closing of Kurdish airports. Pro-western Iraqi Kurds are disappointed by the lukewarm European response to their overwhelming victory, and can't be too happy with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's statement that the U. S. does not recognize their independence referendum. Turkey, Iran, and Iraq are stepping up their disapproval of the referendum and moving to isolate the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 29, 2017 9 Comments
The left rejoiced when President Barack Obama decided to normalize relations with the Cuban regime, reopened our embassy, and allowed travel to the island. But most of that has come to a screeching halt after mysterious attacks on our diplomats, which have caused serious health problems. The State Department has decided to recall all non-essential personnel from the embassy and urged Americans not to travel to Cuba.

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 20, 2017 2 Comments
I have been documenting the horrors the Rohingya minority are facing in Myanmar and their cries for help as they face genocide and ethnic cleansing. 421,000 Rohingya have escaped to Bangladesh with next to nothing and aid groups doing as much as they can to help these people. The U.S. has answered the call. Right before the UN General Assembly kicks off its second day of speeches, the State Department announced the U.S. will send $32 million in aid to help the Rohingya minority.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 31, 2017 9 Comments
The State Department has told Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, CA, by September 2. Yes, in only two days. The order also stated Russia must close a chancery in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City. This is a direct response for Russia demanding the US to reduce its diplomats in Russia to 455 by September 1.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 24, 2017 29 Comments
The dramatic resignation of the Obama-era holdovers from President Trump's administration continue, as a UC Berkeley professor who was the science envoy for the State Department officially gave his notice.
A prominent UC Berkeley energy professor resigned his post with the U.S. State Department on Wednesday in response to President Donald Trump’s “attacks on the core values” of the country. “Your actions to date have, sadly, harmed the quality of life in the United States, our standing abroad, and the sustainability of the planet,” wrote Professor Daniel Kammen in his resignation letter to Trump on Wednesday.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 29, 2017 34 Comments
Joe Scarborough has an explanation for the way Rex Tillerson has reportedly said he's been thwarted as Secretary of State. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough said he would "testify under oath" that Trump administration members said that Jared Kushner "will be the de facto Secretary of State." Scarborough later said, "I've been told by four people in the administration over the past six months that Jared Kushner was going to be the de facto Secretary of State."
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