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Great Britain
10 Jul 2019 Trump yesterday exploded at Sir Kim and Theresa May as he attacked her "foolish" Brexit plans as a "disaster". He tweeted: "The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy. He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was handled. I told @theresa_may how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way - was unable to get it done. A disaster! I don’t know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool. Tell him the USA now has the best Economy & Military anywhere in the World, by far and they are both only getting bigger, better and stronger.....Thank you, Mr. President!" Several MPs have now blamed Boris for the decision to step down. Chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Tugendhat tweeted: "Leaders stand up for their men. They encourage them to try and defend them when they fail." Labour MP Bradshaw said on Twitter: "The shameful forcing out of Darroch after Johnson failed to back him shows Johnson as PM would be nothing more than Trump's lap dog. What a humiliating prospect for our United Kingdom." Tory MP Duncan said Johnson “threw our top diplomat under the bus”. Lib Dem leadership candidate Davey MP commented: "Under Johnson, an Ambassador will have to be a dishonest poodle sent abroad to be bullied for his country. It is unacceptable that a senior civil servant has been forced out in such a highly politicised manner, for the crime of doing his job." (Source: TheSun)
July 06, 2019 The Washington Files leak: 'Do not write him off; the President has been mired in scandal most of his life but has always survived'. Confidential memo – marked 'Official Sensitive.' It was summer 2017, and Britain's National Security Council was convening to discuss a problem: President Trump. Prime Minister May and her Cabinet colleagues were still struggling to get a handle on his chaotic Administration. They needed advice. Britain's National Security Adviser Sir Sedwill had asked the British Ambassador, Sir Darroch to put together some thoughts on the President's personality and leadership style, and he was compiling a briefing note. His confidential letter was sent to Sedwill, who is now also the Cabinet Secretary, on June 22, 2017. Copied to a 'strictly limited' number of senior figures in Downing Street and the Foreign Office, it ran to six pages of highly unflattering observations about the President's character and political record. 'This 'America First' Administration could do some profoundly damaging things to the world trade system: such as denounce the WTO, tear up existing trade details, launch protectionist action, even against allies. It could further undermine international action on climate change, or further cut UN funding.' He said that Trump's 'spontaneous' missile strike on a Syrian airbase in April 2017 had won him 'the best headlines of his brief time in the Oval Office' but warned that 'a less well judged military intervention is not inconceivable.' He accused Trump of 'radiating insecurity', filling his speeches with 'false claims and invented statistics' and achieving 'almost nothing' in terms of domestic policy. The UK needed America: as an export market; for defence and intelligence cooperation; and for a post-Brexit trade deal. He compiled a three-point guide for how Britain's politicians and officials should handle this most unpredictable of Presidents. His first suggestion was to 'flood the zone', which meant influencing as many of the President's key advisers as possible to give him the same answer. He said Trump spends his days in the Oval Office asking his White House team, Cabinet members and senior Republicans for their opinions 'on the business of the moment'. He also highlighted how the President spends his evenings phoning his friends outside the administration 'seeking reinforcement or a different take'. Many of these friends have been 'cultivated' by the British, he boasted. His second recommendation was for May to call Trump more often, stressing 'there is no consistently reliable substitute for the personal phone call from the Prime Minister.' 'In a perfect world, they would be speaking two or three times a month, if not more. His third pointer was to urge Britain's politicians and officials to use flattery and to pander to the President's ego when they come into contact with him. 'You need to start praising him for something that he's done recently,' he advised. 'You need whenever possible to present them as wins for him.' He advised his bosses to make their points 'simple' and 'even blunt', adding: 'there is no upside with this President in being subtle, let alone ambiguous.' The President's big election pledges – building a wall between the US and Mexico; stopping Muslims from certain countries coming to America and reforming tax and healthcare – had all hit the buffers. He privately advised his bosses in London to believe what they were reading in the newspapers. 'The stories about White House knife fights are, we judge, mostly true.' 'And we could also be at the beginning of a downward spiral, rather than just a rollercoaster: something could emerge that leads to disgrace and downfall.' Coming just weeks after the Queen welcomed Trump and his family with a 41-gun salute and a State banquet at Buckingham Palace as part of a diplomatic drive to secure a post-Brexit free-trade deal, Sir Darroch, Britain's Ambassador to Washington has described Trump as 'inept', 'insecure' and 'incompetent' in a series of memos to Downing Street, warning London that the White House was 'uniquely dysfunctional' and that the President's career could end in 'disgrace'. In the memos he describes bitter conflicts within Trump's White House – verified by his own sources – as 'knife fights'; warns that Trump could have been indebted to 'dodgy Russians'; claims the President's economic policies could wreck the world trade system; says the scandal-hit Presidency could 'crash and burn' and that 'we could be at the beginning of a downward spiral... that leads to disgrace and downfall'; voices fears that Trump could still attack Iran. He writes: 'We don't really believe this Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept.' He also says that he doesn't think Trump's White House will 'ever look competent'. In reference to Trump's ability to shrug off controversies in a life which has been 'mired in scandal', he says that the President may nonetheless 'emerge from the flames, battered but intact, like Schwarzenegger in the final scenes of The Terminator'. The Washington Files span the period from 2017 to the present, covering everything from Trump's policy in the Middle East to his 2020 re-election plans. It says that there is a 'credible path' for Trump to win a second term in the White House – but describes the crowd as 'almost exclusively white'. Officials in London are told that in order to deal with Trump effectively 'you need to make your points simple, even blunt'. In a letter to National Security Adviser Sir Sedwill sent on June 22, 2017 – 150 days into the Trump administration – he describes a 'strictly limited' number of senior figures in Downing Street and the Foreign Office. The document, sent ahead of a National Security Council discussion on the UK-US relationship, paints a damning picture of the President's personality and leadership style. It says media reports of 'vicious infighting and chaos' inside the White House – dismissed by Trump as 'fake news' – are 'mostly true'. In his memo, written at 12.39am UK time on June 22, referring to allegations of collusion between the Trump camp and Russia – since largely disproved – the memo says: 'The worst cannot be ruled out.' Updating Downing Street on political events in the US and providing commentary on Trump's foreign policy decisions, he reveals details of highly sensitive negotiations over efforts to curb Iran's nuclear weapons programme, as well as the disarray surrounding the President's handling of recent attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The memo, sent on June 22, refers to 'incoherent, chaotic' US-Iran policy, adding: 'Its unlikely that US policy on Iran is going to become more coherent any time soon. This is a divided Administration'. As Trump unexpectedly aborted the attack he said the episode illustrated Trump's 'aversion to new military adventures'. But he warned that the President could still trigger a conflict with Iran, noting that he is now 'surrounded by a more hawkish group of advisers'. 'The loss of a single American life would probably make a critical difference'. A memo, sent on June 10, warns of tensions ahead over Brexit: 'As we advance our agenda of deepening and strengthening trading arrangements, divergences of approach on climate change, media freedoms and the death penalty may come to the fore.' Darroch, who became British Ambassador to Washington in January 2016, is a former UK Permanent Representative to the EU and widely regarded as a europhile. He studied zoology at Durham University and joined the Foreign Office in 1977. He was Blair's top Europe adviser from 2004 to 2007 and then became Britain's Permanent Representative to the EU from 2007 and 2011. Knighted in 2008, he became Cameron's National Security Advisor, from January 2012 to September 2015. He landed the most prestigious diplomatic post in the Foreign Office – British Ambassador to the United States – in 2016. The residence hosts almost 800 breakfasts, lunches, dinners and cocktail parties a year. Days after winning the Presidential election in November 2016, Trump was tweeting that he'd prefer his friend Farage, the former Ukip leader, to be Britain's Ambassador to the US. He is mistrusted by Brexiteers. (Source: DailyMail)
Italy
Stromboli volcano in violent eruption off Sicily. Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said there were two huge explosions on the central-southern side of the volcano's crater at around 14:46 GMT today. The explosions were preceded by lava spills "from all the active mouths of the crater terrace", prompting a two-kilometre high plume of smoke. (Source: France24)
Poland
05/07/2019 Polish lawmakers have approved a measure that would exonerate most workers under the age of 26 from income taxes as the country seeks to stem the flow of its young people to other EU nations in search of better paying jobs. The lower house of parliament approved the measure. The bill would exonerate workers under the age of 26 from Poland's 18 percent personal income tax for those whose gross earnings don't surpass 85,500 zlotys (20,000 euros) per year. Some two million people could benefit from the measure, which should enter into force from August 1. The measure was one of the campaign promises made by the ruling Law and Justice party ahead of the European parliamentary elections in May, which it won, and legislative elections scheduled for later this year. (Source: France24)
European Union
July 2, 2019 Ms. Lagarde, 63, a former French finance minister, would be effective building consensus. International Monetary Fund chief Lagarde is likely to become the first woman to run the European Central Bank, putting an experienced crisis fighter in charge and paving the way for a continuation of easy-money policies. Ms. Lagarde also would be the institution’s first president without a pedigree in central banking. Her nomination comes as central bankers face challenges on a number of fronts. Inflation has weakened below target in many developed economies including the eurozone, while trade conflicts have crimped economic growth. But central bank rates are already super low or - in the case of Europe and Japan - negative, which spurs lending by reducing borrowing costs and making it unattractive to hold deposits. The ECB operates under tremendous scrutiny in Europe because the 19-member eurozone doesn’t have a common finance ministry, making the bank the region’s dominant voice on economic and monetary affairs. Leaders of the EU’s 28 countries also nominated Spain’s foreign minister Borrell to become the bloc’s foreign-policy representative. Prime Minister Michel of Belgium was elected president of the European Council, the grouping of national leaders who together steer the EU’s activities. (Source: TheWallStreetJournal)
Russia
July 8, 2019 Stricken Russian nuke sub crew prevented ‘planetary catastrophe’. Captain Pavlov, an aide to the commander of Russia’s navy, praised the heroism of the men, who died as they battled to stop the fire from spreading in the submersible. “With their lives, they saved the lives of their colleagues, saved the vessel and prevented a planetary catastrophe,” he said at the funeral yesterday, Sunday, attended by the navy chief.. (Source: msn)
July 4, 2019 The nuclear reactor on one of the Russian navy’s research submersibles hasn’t been damaged in a fire that killed 14 seamen, Defense Minister Shoigu said, adding that the vessel would be put back into service after repairs. Shoigu said the blaze erupted at the vessel’s battery compartment and spread further. The men were apparently poisoned by toxic fumes from the fire that spread through the ship’s ventilation system. Analysts suggested that one of vessel's possible missions could be disrupting communication cables on the seabed. Such sensitive missions required an elite crew made entirely of officers, most of them senior. (Source: AP)
July 4, 2019 The NATO code name for the vessel is NORSUB-5. In April, Moscow announced the launch of a very large nuclear-powered research submarine called the Belogorod that will carry nuclear drones. A report in the state-run Izvestya in April 2017 said the Belogorod would also carry Losharik submersibles with a different designation than the AS-12. The report quoted Kozyulin, with the Academy of Military Sciences, as saying the Belogorod beginning in 2018 will carry "the AS-31 Losharik autonomous deep-sea station." "It will transport and install on the seabed autonomous underwater nuclear modules for charging unmanned underwater vehicles," Kozyulin said. "The submarine will support the deployment of a global underwater environment monitoring system which the military is building at the bottom of the Arctic seas." The submarine was said to have taken part in undersea intelligence operations in the arctic and Sea of Japan. The secret Losharik submarine may be involved in Moscow's effort to tap into or sever some of the 550,000 miles of underwater fiber-optic cables that span the Atlantic and Arctic sea lanes. (Source: TheWashingtonFreBeacon)
2019/7/4 Some crew members have survived a fire that killed 14 sailors onboard one of the Russian navy’s deep-sea research submersibles, the nation’s defense minister said yesterday. He praised the vessel’s crew for “heroic” action, saying they sacrificed their lives to rescue a civilian expert and save the ship after the fire erupted. Shoigu said those who died were “high professionals” and “unique experts.” The accident happened while the ship was at the depth of 300 meters. The victims included two sons of Russian navy admirals. Few images and details have emerged about the vessel. Its interior hull has unique design, reportedly made of a chain of titanium spheres capable of withstanding colossal pressure at great depths. In 2012, the Losharik was involved in research intended to prove Russia’s claim on the vast Arctic seabed. It collected samples from a depth of 2,500 meters, according to official statements at the time. Regular submarines can typically dive only to depths of up to 600 meters. Some observers speculated the Losharik was even capable of going as deep as 6,000 meters, but the claims couldn’t be independently confirmed. Analysts suggested that one of its possible missions could be disrupting communication cables on the seabed. Russian media identified some of the victims, including the ship’s captain, Dolonskiy, who was awarded the Hero of Russia medal for the 2012 Arctic seabed research mission. (Source: JapanTimes)
July 3, 2019 Russia accused of cover-up over lethal submarine fire. An unnamed military source: the submarine was an AS-12, which is powered by a nuclear reactor and designed to carry out special operations at extreme depths. That vessel, nicknamed the “Losharik”, was launched in 2003 and is one of the most secret submarines in the Russian fleet. (Source: Reuters)
July 02, 2019 For the wider public, the shadowy world of undersea surveillance, and even sabotage, has regained attention over the past two years with the spotting of Russian military research vessels lurking off U.S. coastlines. U.S. intelligence and military officials have publicly voiced concerns that Russian forces might be developing new, secretive ways to tap - or even cut - undersea fiber-optic cables that carry transatlantic Internet traffic. Others have pointed to new Russian efforts to go after the network of undersea acoustic arrays that the United States and NATO have deployed for years to track submarines, or even classified naval cables. GUGI, the navy’s leading experimental research division, has been behind several eye-catching weapons systems in recent years, including a nuclear-powered torpedo. It's also responsible for a research vessel known as the Yantar, which was launched in 2015 with the ability to carry two manned submersibles and a remotely operated underwater vehicle. In 2017, Russia's official government newspaper, Rossiiskaya gazeta, boasted of the surveillance capabilities of the ship, which, like the AS-12, calls the Kola Peninsula port of Severomorsk its home. "Yantar has devices aboard intended for deep-sea tracking, as well as equipment for connecting to top-secret communications cables," the paper wrote. In 2018, the United States went so far as to accuse Moscow of "tracking undersea communications cables" and imposed economic measures on the Russian company that was allegedly providing underwater diving equipment to Russia's Federal Security Service. On July 2, there were conflicting reports about what may have sparked the fire, whether the dead sailors may have asphyxiated due to noxious fumes or for other reasons, and whether the fire occurred on the submarine itself or on another submersible launched by the AS-12. (Source: RadioFreeEuropeRadioLiberty)
July 2, 2019 A fire that broke out on a secret Russian submarine has killed 14 sailors. The incident is believed to have occurred off Russia’s northern shore in the Barents Sea yesterday. Russian President Putin said seven captains of the first rank and two Heroes of Russia have died in the incident. Losharik (AS-12), a nuclear-powered submarine is widely believed to be a key asset for the Russian Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, also known as GUGI which develops and operates a fleet of specialized submarines that Russia uses for deep sea and Moscow’s most covert operations. The organization reports directly to Russian military intelligence - the GRU - rather than the Russian Navy. It’s estimated to carry a crew of about 25 and can dive to thousands of feet below the surface. The about 2000-ton boat can travel slung under the belly of a specially modified Delta III nuclear ballistic missile submarine. Losharik is one of a “range of special missions boats based at the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet’s Olenya Guba base. This base is one of several set up by the Soviets during the Cold War on the inhospitable but strategically important Kola Peninsular. It’s suspected the Russian government has used the sub’s deep-sea diving capability to extened Russia’s territorial claims to the sea floor under the Arctic Ocean. In 2012, Losharik was part of a large Russian naval exercise in the Arctic, collecting samples to prove the Lomonsov and Mendeleyev Ridges on the sea floor are part of the Russian continental shelf. For several years, China has sent research vessels to the Arctic as part of its push to claim its status as a “near Arctic-state.” Only Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the U.S. – the world’s eight Arctic nations – are members of the Arctic Council which establishes standards for protecting the environment and sustainable development the region. The council’s mandate excludes military security. (Source: USNI): https://tinyurl.com/y2dh6qcd
July 2 (2019) On July 1, fourteen submariners - sailors died in Russian territorial waters as a result of inhaling combustion products aboard a research submersible vehicle designated for studying the seafloor and the bottom of the World Ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy after a fire broke out during bathymetric measurements. The submersible is currently staying at the Severomorsk naval base. (Source: Tass)
China
July 3, 2019 China's far-reaching security network is targeting tourists, with border guards secretly installing a surveillance app onto the phones of visitors to Xinjiang, the heavily-repressed region, where the US State Department has estimated up to two million Muslim-majority Uyghurs are being held in detention camps. According to media reports, visitors arriving in Xinjiang from neighboring Kyrgyzstan have been forced to unlock their phones for border officials, who then install an application called Fengcai. The name is a combination of the characters for "bee" and "to gather," conjuring the image of a bee gathering pollen from a flower. People whose phones had been confiscated said they were given no warning of or explanation for the app's installation. Once installed, the app allegedly scans the device's text messages, call records, contacts, calendar entries and saved data for a list of more than 73,000 red-flag items. The app was only installed on Android phones, according to the media reports. For Apple devices, police allegedly attached a hand-held device by a USB cable, the purpose of which was unclear. The app was examined by journalists from a number of international publications, including the Guardian, the New York Times, Motherboard, German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and the German broadcaster NDR. (Source: CNN)
1 July 2019 Hong Kong police fired tear gas to try to disperse protesters, some of whom stormed the legislature, destroyed pictures and daubed walls with graffiti, on the anniversary of the city's 1997 return to Chinese rule. Tens of thousands marched in temperatures of around 33 degrees Celsius from Victoria Park in an annual rally. Many clapped as protesters held up a poster of Lam inside a bamboo cage. Organisers said 550,000 turned out. Police said there were 190,000 at their peak. More than a million people have taken to the streets at times over the past three weeks to vent their anger. (Source: Reuters)
Turkey
Jul 5, 2019 Russia will deliver its S-400 air-defense missile system to NATO-member Turkey in the coming days. President Trump has publicly shown sympathy for Turkish President Erdogan’s position on the Russian missile purchase. Secretary of State Pompeo, however, has warned of tough measures that could include canceling the sales of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. For the wider NATO alliance, the Turkish deal strikes at the heart of military coordination. NATO has expressed worry that the S-400 is incompatible with its possession of the U.S.-made F-35s, and would give Russia access to secrets of its stealth technology. (Source: EndTimeHeadlines)
United States Egyesült Államok
07/10/2017 Chinese security cameras banned for potential spying. The National Defense Authorization Act included an amendment for fiscal 2019 that would ensure federal agencies don’t purchase Chinese made surveillance cameras. Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. are two companies named specifically because they have both raised security concerns in the US. Hikvision is 42% controlled by the Chinese government and Dahua was found in 2017 to have cameras with software backdoors that allowed unauthorized people to view them and send information back to China. Sales of security video cameras are expected to climb to $705 million in 2021 from $570 million in 2016. Hikvision is the world's largest video surveillance provider and has cameras installed in places like US businesses, banks, airports, schools, army bases and government offices. The cameras produce sharp images and use artificial intelligence and 3-D imaging to power facial recognition systems. These cameras can also be sold under brands like Panasonic and Honeywell. (Source: Bloomberg)
July 7, 2019 The Purell presidency. Trump’s germaphobia. When guests he knows come to the Oval Office, Trump sometimes hesitates to initiate a handshake, leading people to extend their hands to get one. Trump’s personal aide, or “body man,” carries a bottle of hand sanitizer at all times. Before Trump eats or after shaking hands during meet-and-greets, Trump sticks out his hand to get a squirt of it. (Source: Politico)
6 July 2019 A powerful earthquake has rocked Southern California for the second time in as many days. The yeterday magnitude 7.1 earthquake at 03:19 UTC hit about 11 miles from Ridgecrest, the town in Kern County which was very close to the epicenter of the magnitude 6.4 quake felt on day before yesterday. The United States Geological Survey measured 7.1. Here is about a one-in-10 chance that another 7.0 quake could hit within the next week, and the chance of a 5.0-magnitude quake 'is approaching certainty'. (Source: DailyMail)
2019/7/4/ Mysterious flying object resembling an orange fireball streaked across the Florida sky. They were just pieces of a Chinese rocket as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. The rocket, launched in January, weighs over 2 tons and is roughly 30-feet long. (Source: JapanTimes)
3 Jul 2019 CNN death spiral continues. The far-left fake news outlet CNN came in 15th place in primetime during the previous quarter and lost nearly 20 percent of its already pathetic viewership. (Source: Breitbart)
July 3, 2019 Trump says US should start manipulating the dollar. He accused China and Europe of playing a “big currency manipulation game.” He said the United States should match that effort, a move that directly contradicts official U.S. policy not to manipulate the dollar’s value to gain trade advantages. A country manipulates its currency when it drives down the value to make its exports cheaper and foreign imports more expensive. As a candidate in 2016, Trump repeatedly charged that China was manipulating its currency and as president he would immediately label China as a currency manipulator. However, after taking office, Trump’s Treasury Department has issued five reports on the subject, required by law every six months. In each report it said no country met the criteria to be labeled a currency manipulator. U.S. administrations for decades have pledged in international communiques not to intervene in currency markets for the purpose of influencing trade flows. A weaker dollar would boost U.S. exports but could run the risk of causing foreign investors who are helping to finance the federal government’s $22 trillion national debt to move their investments elsewhere to avoid the risk of currency depreciation lowering their returns. (Source: AP)
2019. VII. 2. Szövetségünk még erősebb lesz az eljövendő hónapok és évek során, amint Magyarország egyre közelebb kerül a védelmi kiadások terén a NATO-nak tett kötelezettségvállalásai teljesítéséhez, és előmozdítja haderejének modernizálását NATO-kompatibilis felszerelések vásárlásával, beleértve az Egyesült Államokból származó korszerű technológiát. (Forrás: USEmbassy)
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