“Innocent people got caught in a terrible #war unable to feed their families, & you saw the response when they tried to get aid in. & we need to do more, & the #UnitedStates will do more,” #Biden said before meeting w/PM #GiorgiaMeloni of #Italy.
Biden said that the US would work w/ #Jordan, which has been at the forefront of #airdrop efforts to #Gaza, as well as other #allies to deliver #aid by air & that supplies could, eventually, also be delivered by sea.
Queen Raina of #Jordan spoke at the Qatar #web summit about Palestinian citizen journlaists, advocates, and allies keeping the #FreePalestine cause alive and showing the world the reality of what is going on in #Gaza
I just found out in addition to being a badass and loading aid onto French planes to drop into #Gaza, that the King of #Jordan once guest starred on #StarTrek. Neat.
„They must ... lift the 16-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. Collectively punishing the civilian population of the Gaza Strip is tantamount to a war crime. As an occupying power, Israel has a clear obligation under international law to provide basic services to the civilian population of Gaza," said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.“ [own translation; original source below:)
The Jordanian army on Monday said it had carried out a series of humanitarian aid drops of food and other supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip, one of them by a French army plane. Jordanian forces made "four air drops carrying aid for the people of Gaza", under the directive of Jordanian King Abdullah II, a statement said....
'The Republicans—and all their comrades at Fox and other right-wing media outlets that trumpeted Smirnov’s allegation against the Bidens—have been useful idiots for Moscow. The Smirnov case has generated plenty of headlines and has caused the leading Republican impeachers—namely, Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan—to look foolish.'
The #Smirnov case has generated plenty of headlines and has caused the leading Republican impeachers—namely, Reps. James #Comer and Jim #Jordan—to look foolish.
But it’s important to view the Smirnov affair in this wider context: Republicans and the MAGA right have eagerly participated in Kremlin scheming to undermine Biden
This Moscow plot has been a matter of public record for years. In February 2020, intelligence officials briefed House lawmakers that Moscow was interfering in the election to assist Trump’s reelection.
(This briefing, of course, angered Trump, who had refused to acknowledge that a covert program authorized by Russian leader Vladimir Putin helped him win the White House four years earlier, and he replaced the acting director of national intelligence.)
Months later, William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, issued a statement declaring that Russia “is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden…Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media and Russian television.”
That was related to #Giuliani’s endeavor.
The NCSC statement noted that a pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian named Andriy #Derkach, the son of a former KGB official, was “spreading claims about corruption…to undermine former Vice President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party.”
In September 2020, Derkach was sanctioned by Trump’s Treasury Department, which called him “an active Russian agent for over a decade” and declared he was one of a group of “Russia-linked election interference actors.”
Treasury said Derkach had maintained “close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services” and had “directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
Trump’s own Treasury secretary, Steve #Mnuchin, remarked, “Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world.”
And who was working with Derkach to spread the false story that Joe Biden had blocked an investigation of Burisma? #Giuliani.
At one point, Derkach staged press conferences in Kyiv and played secretly recorded tapes of Biden speaking by phone with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Derkach insisted the recordings supported Giuliani’s allegations about Biden.
Yet the tapes revealed no misconduct. This was a disinformation stunt.
Ukrainians critical of Russia speculated that the tapes originated with Russian intelligence.
Giuliani never expressed shame for hooking up with a Russian agent. He publicly admitted he was in touch with Derkach and called him “very helpful.” He said that he and Derkach had spoken about Ukraine many times.
The bottom line: According to Trump administration officials, the Biden-Burisma allegations were in part (if not wholly) the work of Russian operatives.
Yet Trump, the MAGA right, and their media allies have been beating this drum for years, and once the GOP won back the House in 2022, it became impeachment fodder.
Then Comer, Jordan, and the rest of their crew embraced Smirnov’s charges, even though they were not substantiated and even though they were in sync with a known Russian disinformation plot that targeted Biden to aid Trump.
Moreover, it was highly suspicious that Smirnov shared his allegations with his FBI handler in June 2020
—after not mentioning them for years
—just when Giuliani and other Trumpers were striving to tar Joe Biden with this false tale.
But none of that matters for the Party of Trump and its leader.
They seem unconcerned about collaborating—colluding?—with a Kremlin operation.
After all, it worked for Trump in 2016, and since then he and his cult have demonstrated no reluctance to be exploited by Russia or to exploit Russian disinformation, even as Putin wages a horrendous war in Ukraine and intensifies his repressive and murderous reign at home.
The Smirnov case—of which there is much more to learn—shows not only that Trump and the GOP are Putin dupes;
they are willing dupes.
"A thumb drive handed by a foreign national to an aide traveling with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019 suggests that efforts by Russia-linked actors to influence the 2020 US presidential election with Hunter Biden disinformation began earlier and were broader in scope than has previously been reported."
Now
about the fake #MAGA#whistleblower
if
MAGA knew it was a #Russian Kompromat and still used the false information...
It's... SERIOUS
Really serious
and there should be heavy legal consequences
for both #Jordan and #Comer.
'Despite the apparent holes in Smirnov’s story, James Comer and Jim Jordan either failed to vet it and fell for it hook, line, and sinker, or actively took part in something more nefarious. Whether their actions were merely reckless or malevolent, it’s clear that Russia’s unceasing threat to democracy is more active than ever.'
"Hunter Biden's lawyers argued that the 'rabbit hole of lies' allegedly told by the indicted FBI informant have infected the investigation into the president's son..."
The European Union announces 10-million-Euro funding to UNICEF for the learning and protection of children in Jordan
The European Union has announced €10million in funding for UNICEF over the coming two years to help improve the inclusion, learning and wellbeing of vulnerable children and youth across Jordan in Makani centres, as well as schools in refugee camps.
...captured and annexed the West Bank during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War until it was occupied by Israel in 1967. "
The kingdom's independence predates the #UN resolution in question by a year. The resolution about the carve-out of an #Arab nation would not have made any sense anymore in 1947 if #Jordan really were that nation.
Jordan air-drops aid into Gaza with help of French plane (www.pdclarion.com)
The Jordanian army on Monday said it had carried out a series of humanitarian aid drops of food and other supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip, one of them by a French army plane. Jordanian forces made "four air drops carrying aid for the people of Gaza", under the directive of Jordanian King Abdullah II, a statement said....