US Politics

Biden releases $7bn in frozen Afghan funds to split between 9/11 families and aidMoney would go toward humanitarian efforts for Afghan people and to US victims of terrorism, keeping it out of hands of Taliban Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday releasing $7bn in frozen Afghan reserves to be split between humanitarian efforts for the Afghan people and American victims of terrorism, including relatives of 9/11.In a highly unusual move, the convoluted plan is designed to tackle a myriad of legal bottlenecks stemming from the 2001 terrorist attacks and the chaotic end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, which ignited a humanitarian and political crisis, the New York times reports.But critics warned that it could tip Afghanistan’s already-strained banking system over the edge into systemic failure and deepen a humanitarian crisis that has left millions facing starvation and almost the entire country – 98% – short of food.“You’re talking about moving toward a total collapse of the banking system,” Dr Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, a longtime member of the bank’s board and economics professor at Montgomery College in Maryland, told the New York Times. “I think it’s a shortsighted view.”Cash shortages have already led to strict weekly limits on how much of their savings people can withdraw, deepening the economic crisis as inflation soars.In August the Taliban seized control and the former government collapsed, leaving behind just over $7bn in central bank assets deposited in the US Federal Reserve bank in New York. As Afghanistan’s top officials, including the president and central bank governor, fled the country, the Fed froze the account as it was unclear who was legally authorised to access the funds.The Taliban took over the central bank – known as Da Afghanistan Bank – and immediately claimed a right to the money, but under longstanding counter-terrorism sanctions it is illegal to engage in financial transactions with the organisation. Furthermore, the US does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.As the Biden administration mulled over what to do with the funds, a group of relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks, who years ago won a default judgment against the Taliban and al-Qaida, sought to seize the Afghan bank assets. In a case known as Havlish, the plaintiffs persuaded a judge to dispatch a US marshal to serve the Federal Reserve with a “writ of execution” to seize the Afghan money.The Biden government has intervened in the lawsuit, and is expected to tell the court that the victims’ claims for half the money should be heard (several other victims’ groups have also asked for a share). If the judge agrees, Biden will seek to direct the remainder toward some sort of trust fund to be spent on food and other humanitarian aid in Afghanistan – while keeping it out of the hands of the Taliban.The process is likely to be long and messy, with advocates and some 9/11 victims arguing that the Afghan assets should all go to help the Afghan people who are facing mounting hardship.The money – which includes currency, bonds and gold – mostly comes from foreign exchange funds that accumulated over the past two decades when western aid flowed into Afghanistan. But it also includes the savings of ordinary Afghans, who are now facing growing violence and hunger with the economy and rule of law in freefall.“The 9/11 victims deserve justice but not from the Afghan people who themselves became pawns caught in the middle of the US-led ‘war on terror’ and an oppressive Taliban regime,” said Adam Weinstein, research fellow at the Quincy Institute, who also served as a US marine in Afghanistan.“The idea that overnight, the central bank reserves went from belonging to the Afghan people to being the transferable property of the United States is nothing short of colonial.”In another sign of the desperate humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, the World Health Organization said on Friday that a raging measles outbreak had infected tens of thousands and killed more than 150 people last month alone.The UN health agency said the outbreak was particularly concerning since Afghanistan is facing massive food insecurity and malnutrition, leaving children far more vulnerable to the highly contagious disease.“Measles cases have been increasing in all provinces since the end of July 2021,” a WHO spokesman, Christian Lindmeier, told reporters in Geneva.He said cases had surged recently, ballooning by 18% in the week of 24 January and by 40% in the last week of the month.In all, 35,319 suspected measles cases were reported in January, including 3,000 that were laboratory confirmed, and 156 deaths. Ninety-one per cent of the cases and 97% of the deaths were children under the age of five.Lindmeier stressed that the measles-related deaths were probably underreported and the numbers were expected to swell. “The rapid rise in cases in January suggests that the number of deaths due to measles is likely to increase sharply in the coming weeks,” Lindmeier said.TopicsAfghanistanJoe BidenSeptember 11 2001US foreign policyUS politicsFederal ReserveTalibannewsReuse this content More

‘Disgusting’: Republican Senate hopeful condemned over ‘showdown’ TV adJim Lamon’s ad depicts ‘shootout’ with Democrats including Mark Kelly, senator whose wife Gabby Giffords was shot in deadly attack A Republican Senate primary candidate in Arizona has been condemned for a “disgusting” campaign ad in which he shoots at lookalike actors portraying Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and the incumbent Arizona senator Mark Kelly.Biden says Americans in Ukraine ‘should leave now’ as diplomatic talks falter – liveRead moreJim Lamon, an energy executive, shared the ad on Twitter, saying it would be aired at this year’s Super Bowl.Lamon would face Kelly in a general election in the autumn should he secure the Republican nomination.Kelly is the husband of the former Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was shot in the head in 2011 while greeting constituents outside of a local grocery store.In Lamon’s ad, styled as a western, figures identified as the “DC gang” enter a town wearing cowboy boots and carrying firearms, their faces half-covered by bandannas. Onlookers are upset by their presence, with one declaring: “We’re tired of being pushed around!”Lamon enters, along with Mark Lamb, a real-life local sheriff, and Brandon Judd, the current president of the National Border Patrol Council. Lamon addresses the three actors playing Biden, Kelly and Pelosi, saying: “The good people of Arizona have had enough of you.”“It’s time for a showdown,” Lamon adds.When the Democrats draw their firearms, Lamon fires his own gun, shooting the weapons out of their hands as the rest of the town cheers. The three Democrats run away.Criticism towards the ad has been swift, with many people pointing out other recent instances of violent imagery used by members of the Republican party. Last November, Paul Gosar, Republican representative for Arizona, was officially censured by the House after sharing an animated video depicting him killing the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Biden.Shannon Watts, founder of the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, called Lamon’s ad “disgusting”.A spokesperson for the Lamon campaign refused to respond to the Washington Post about criticism of the ad, but said it “shows the DC gang drawing on Lamon and he merely shoots the weapons out of their hands”.“Unlike Kelly, Jim Lamon will shoot straight with Arizonans and take the fight to Biden – and he damn sure won’t let the left bully him into backing down,” the spokesperson said.TopicsRepublicansArizonaUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

Arresting Michael K Williams’ alleged drug dealers won’t solve the US addiction crisisAkin OllaAs a country we refuse to pursue policy reforms that might have saved the beloved actor and the many thousands of others who are dying of overdoses I cried the night Michael K Williams joined the over 100,000 Americans who died of an overdose in 2021. When I heard that Williams, the actor best known for his role as Omar, the queer, gun-toting rogue in The Wire, had suffered an accidental overdose in his apartment, I felt a deep sense of dread. The knowledge that another Black man not too dissimilar from myself had passed before his time mingled in my mind with my bitter memory of the moment when I learned that my best friend, Joseph Rodriguez, had overdosed at the age of 19.I am grateful, I suppose, that by the time Joe had died, in 2009, the public narrative around drug users had begun to evolve. Young suburban white kids had started dying, and the country quickly shifted to protect its most prized possessions. Teens were sent to rehab, and drug dealers, like those who allegedly sold Williams his final dose, were rounded up and blamed for what is clearly a broader societal issue.Last week four men in Brooklyn were charged with having sold fentanyl-laced heroin to Williams and others. This hollow act is part of the problem. The US has long chosen mass incarceration as the solution to substance abuse. Arresting people didn’t prevent Williams’ overdose, and arresting more now won’t prevent future ones. And given Williams’ stance on the war on drugs, it is doubtful he would have endorsed this action.There are many solutions that could have helped keep Williams alive. While it is unlikely that the US will rid itself of many of the underlying drivers of drug addiction – such as violence, systemic racism and the inequalities of capitalism – anytime soon, the country, and the federal government in particular, has long ignored policy reforms that could help address the worst of our current addiction epidemic. The most important reform, decriminalization, has gained steam in some places, like Oregon, but remains far away as a federal reform.Williams was a one-of-a-kind man and artist, but not unique in his struggles with drugs: according to the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 14.5% of Americans – roughly 40.3 million people – had a substance use disorder in 2020. A couple hundred of those people die of an overdose every day. This is a long-term trend that continues to explode over time; while over 100,000 Americans died of an overdose last year, the number was roughly 17,000 in 2000. As someone who has been involved with drug policy reform since 2010, roughly a year after my friend died, it is difficult to maintain hope as the bodies pile up, especially as solution after solution is ignored by the federal government.There are an embarrassingly large number of policies that could be backed by the federal government and implemented nationwide to save lives and nudge addicted people towards healing. Rather than concentrating power in the police through criminalization, most of these policies involve treating drug users like human beings worthy of love and care. One of the simplest ways to save lives is to make drug testing kits easily available for drug users. Williams was reportedly poisoned by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid mixed into cocaine and heroin as a means for illicit manufacturers to increase profits. Drug testing kits, like fentanyl test strips, let consumers ensure that they know what they’re putting into their bodies. While these strips are available for free in some places, such as New York City, they are still illegal in many states because they’re considered drug paraphernalia.Another potentially life-saving intervention? Supervised consumption sites. These are locations where people can consume drugs safely, with the support of medical staff that can ensure the purity of what is being used while being on call to intervene in the event of accidental overdoses. These locations can also connect people with treatment services and safer alternative drugs. If this all feels unfamiliar, think of bars as a crude version of these sites: bartenders administer doses to clients and can cut them off if they are too intoxicated. If anyone drinks too much, bartenders can call an ambulance and have them hospitalized. Creating robust supervised consumption sites could save lives, and destigmatizing those sites could save even more.All of these interventions would be made more effective and possible if the federal government took the important leap to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of all drugs. Total decriminalization may seem extreme, but there is evidence that it could save lives, reduce drug use, and prevent more unnecessary incarceration and harassment of those who use drugs, particularly Black Americans. Living in New York City, Williams did have access to some harm reduction resources but, like many drug users, may have felt too much stigma to seek help.Portugal decriminalized all drugs, in small amounts, in 2001. The country has also radically expanded its capacity to treat substance use disorders. According to the US-based Drug Policy Alliance, overdose deaths in Portugal decreased by more than 80% after decriminalization. By contrast, in 2017, “there were more than 72,000 overdose deaths in the US. If the US overdose death rate were on par with Portugal’s, there would have been fewer than 800 overdose deaths that year.” By 2008, three-quarters of those suffering from substance use disorder in Portugal were in treatment.The deaths of Michael K Williams and Joseph Rodriguez were perfectly preventable if we’d wanted them to live. Addiction is inevitable in our present society. Capitalism is a system that necessarily involves the commodification of human beings and the reduction of the individual into a tiny cog that exists to work and create profit. This dehumanization, exacerbated by racism, is probably why there are strong relationships between poverty and addiction, and why Black men are now the people most likely to overdose and die.The reality is that there will be many more deaths like Williams’. I expect to lose more friends; it would be naive to think that I won’t. In recent years both Democrats and Republicans have slowly shifted closer to the kind of drug reforms that could save lives. But for some of the people I love it is too little, too late and, without a comprehensive federal plan that includes decriminalization, we may as well brace ourselves for more tearful phone calls and funerals.
Akin Olla is a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian
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‘We have a project’: QAnon followers eye swing state election official racesAs part of a calculated assault on democracy, QAnon steered far-right candidates toward secretary of state contests QAnon, the extremist conspiracy movement whose followers believe Donald Trump is waging war against the “deep state”, appears to have instigated a nationwide effort to take control of the US election process in critical battleground states ahead of America’s 2024 presidential election.QAnon and on: why the fight against extremist conspiracies is far from overRead moreIn recent months concern has risen over the coordinated efforts of at least 15 candidates – committed to Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him – who are now running to serve as chief election officials in key swing states.At least eight of the candidates standing for secretary of state positions have formed an alliance in which they share tactics and tips for success, details of which the Guardian revealed last month.Should any of the candidates be elected, they would be in prime position to distort or even overturn election results in favor of Trump or another preferred presidential candidate in ways that could have a profound impact on or even determine the national outcome.All the big lie candidates vying to gain control of election counts at state level present themselves as Republicans. It is now emerging that QAnon played a critical role in steering far-right candidates towards the secretary of state races as part of what appears to be a calculated nationwide assault on American democracy.“This is the way that QAnon could trigger a constitutional crisis,” said Alex Kaplan, senior researcher at the watchdog Media Matters for America who is a close observer of the conspiracy theory. “QAnon is linked to an effort to recruit and elect candidates to positions directly controlling election administrations, and given their ties to harming democracy, that is very concerning.”QAnon emerged in 2017 when an unknown figure, “Q”, began to post on the 4chan message board that Trump, then in the White House, was secretly preparing to destroy a cabal of Satan-worshipping child traffickers. The conspiracy has become more overtly political in recent months, helping to spread baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged for Joe Biden.It was also implicated in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. The FBI has arrested more than 20 QAnon followers for violent acts on that day. Last June the agency released a threat assessment that warned that other adherents of the conspiracy could begin “accepting the legitimacy of violent action”.The links between QAnon and the coordinated push to control election counts was revealed by one of the big lie candidates himself. Jim Marchant, a former Republican lawmaker who is running to become chief election official in Nevada, disclosed the connection at “Patriot Double Down”, a QAnon-linked convention held in Las Vegas in October.Marchant told the convention that the idea that he should run for secretary of state was not his own. It was given to him by a prominent QAnon-influencer who goes by the alias Juan O Savin.The name is a phonetic play on the number 1-0-7. Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet.Marchant told the audience of QAnon advocates that he was approached by Savin the day after the presidential election on 3 November. Savin came to him in a suite he had rented in the Las Vegas Venetian hotel accompanied by “other President Trump allies” and told him that instead of running for Congress, which he was considering, Marchant should stand for the post of top election administrator in Nevada.“I said, ‘Absolutely’,” Marchant said in a recorded video of his speech to the convention.“I knew right then that they had figured out that we need to take back the secretary of state offices around the country. Not only did they ask me to run, they asked me to put together a coalition of other like-minded secretary of state candidates. I got to work, Juan O Savin helped, and we formed a coalition.”In an interview with the Guardian last month, Marchant confirmed that he had set up an alliance of at least eight far-right secretary of state candidates in states that are likely to determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. They include Arizona, Georgia and Michigan – states which were critical in the 2020 presidential election and which all now have big lie candidates running for secretary of state posts who have been endorsed by Trump.The Guardian contacted Marchant about the QAnon connection, but he did not respond.Marchant’s disclosure of the formative role played by Juan O Savin in the secretary of state candidates alliance, which was first reported by the Daily Beast and by Kaplan for Media Matters, has in turn been corroborated by Savin himself. Kaplan has monitored several recent instances where the QAnon-influencer has spoken about having backed the alliance.In January he told a QAnon show that “we have a project that we are doing helping candidates across the country that we started here in Nevada that has prospered pretty well, with a number of Trump endorsements”.In May he said in a video conversation that he had recently organized a meeting of about 50 people to look at “how we are going to get to a lawful election this time around and get to the right result. How we are going to coordinate between the different states to get to the right outcome.”In the most recent comment, on Sunday, he talked about “the secretary of state stuff”, boasting that “across the country we are gaining strength rapidly to get back into this game in an effective way. A lot of those offices that they thought they held and weren’t going to matter, we are going to flip those.”QAnon watchers say that Savin has been rising rapidly within the conspiracy theory in recent months. “He used to be a fringe figure, but has become a lot more prominent,” said Al Jones, founder of the Q Origins Project, a group of analysts who track the QAnon movement.Savin made a rare open public appearance at the Patriot Double Down convention. Normally, though, he hides his identity. He is often interviewed by QAnon followers as he is driving, showing only his hands on the steering wheel or his cowboy boots.He brags about having high-up contacts in the US intelligence services, though in fact he is believed to be a private insurance investigator living in the Seattle area. He claims to be friends with the actor Roseanne Barr, and in one of the wilder aspects of his influence, is believed by many QAnon followers to be John F Kennedy Jr.Savin’s recent efforts have been focused on spreading falsehoods about mass fraud in the 2020 election. He has also amplified apocalyptic conspiracy theories including that President Biden’s public appearances are broadcast with the use of a green screen to disguise his disabilities.Travis View, a leading QAnon watcher and host of the QAnon Anonymous podcast, told the Guardian that it would be “ruinous for democracy if people involved with QAnon got into positions of power where they have actual influence in determining the results or legitimacy of elections. QAnon is such an anti-reality way of thinking that it is entirely incompatible with the conventions that sustain democracy.”Several people close to Trump are known to have deep ties with the QAnon movement. Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser to Trump, spoke at a previous QAnon conference in Dallas and is thought to also have pushed a strategy of standing for local election among QAnon followers.Sidney Powell, who advocated for overturning the 2020 election result and who Trump at one point verbally agreed to appoint as special counsel on election fraud, also has ties to QAnon. Before Trump was removed from Twitter, he frequently disseminated comments from QAnon followers.TopicsQAnonUS politicsUS elections 2024featuresReuse this content More

Jonathan Freedland speaks to local Ohioan politics reporter, Andrew Tobias, about why the Senate and gubernatorial midterm races are shaping up to be a litmus test for the influence of Trumpism in Republican success

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Biden administration plans to spend $5bn to build EV charging network across USElectric vehicle stations to be placed every 50 miles along interstate highways to spur adoption of zero-emission cars The Biden administration has unveiled a plan to award nearly $5bn over five years to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations.The nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations would place new or upgraded ones every 50 miles (80km) along interstate highways as part of the administration’s plan to spur widespread adoption of zero-emission cars.Under Department of Transportation requirements, states must submit plans to the federal government and can begin construction this year if they focus first on highway routes, rather than neighborhoods and shopping centers, that can allow people to take their electric vehicles long distances.Start me up: ‘car guy’ Joe Biden accelerates push to turn America electricRead moreEach station would need to have at least four fast-charger ports, which enable drivers to fully recharge their vehicles in about an hour.Many technical details are to be worked out, and the administration acknowledges it will take work to persuade drivers accustomed to gas-powered cars, particularly in rural areas. The money is far less than the $15bn that Biden had envisioned to fulfill a campaign promise of 500,000 charging stations by 2030, and it may take substantial private investment to make the plan work.“A century ago, America ushered in the modern automotive era; now America must lead the electric vehicle revolution,” the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said.Buttigieg made the announcement in front of the transportation department along with White House officials, flanked by a pair of black Ford Mustang Mach-E SUVs in the federal government’s growing electric fleet that he and the energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, drive. The vehicle’s retail price starts around $44,000 and climbs to $60,000-plus including options, and they are currently made in Mexico.Electric cars on show in Washington as Biden pushes for green revolution Read moreButtigieg made a special appeal to rural drivers, suggesting that big wide open spaces of the US no longer need to be a “valley of death” for EV drivers.“Many might think of them as a luxury item,” he said. “The reality is nobody benefits more from EVs in principle than those who drive the longest distances, often our rural Americans.”The law provides an additional $2.5bn for local grants, planned for later this year, to fill remaining gaps in the charging network in rural areas and in disadvantaged communities, which currently are less likely to own the higher-priced electric vehicles. States failing to meet all the federal requirements risk delays in getting approval from the Federal Highway Administration or not getting money at all.Biden also has set a goal of 50% electric vehicle sales by 2030, part of a broader effort to become zero emissions economy-wide by 2050.Electric vehicles amounted to less than 3% of US new auto sales last year, but forecasters expect big increases in the next decade. Consumers bought about 400,000 fully electric vehicles.Amid the petrol crisis, is it time to switch to an electric car?Read moreBiden hopes to do even more to promote electric vehicles, including a provision in his stalled social and environmental bill for a $7,500 tax credit for people who buy electric vehicles.“It’s going to help ensure that America leads the world on electric vehicles,” Biden said this week about American companies expanding EV infrastructure.“China has been leading the race up to now, but this is about to change,” he said.“Because America is building convenient, reliable, equitable national public charging networks. So wherever you live, charging an electric vehicle will be quick and easy.”Granholm described the initial $5bn investment as creating “the spine” of the national network. Jessika Trancik, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies EV charging, called the administration’s approach a good first step. She said a successful strategy to spur wider EV use would require charging stations in a host of different locations, including faster charging along highways and slower charging near homes and workplaces.TopicsElectric, hybrid and low-emission carsMotoringPete ButtigiegUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

Havana syndrome has ‘dramatically hurt’ morale, US diplomats sayAmerican Foreign Service Association chief Eric Rubin says syndrome, which remains a mystery, has affected recruitment The spread of Havana syndrome has “dramatically hurt” morale in the US diplomatic corps and affected recruitment, according to the head of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA).Eric Rubin, whose association represents nearly 17,000 current and former diplomats and foreign aid workers, said it was getting harder to find young people to work abroad, because of concerns about Havana syndrome – and about whether the government would look after them if they got sick.Havana Syndrome could be caused by pulsed energy devices – US expert reportRead more“People have suffered real trauma and real injury, and it has dramatically hurt our morale, our readiness, our ability to recruit new members in the foreign service,” Rubin told the first medical symposium on the syndrome since it began affecting US diplomats and intelligence officers in 2016, organised by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.The cause of the syndrome, which involves long-term loss of balance and cognitive function, remains a mystery. A report by a US intelligence panel of experts last week found that pulsed electromagnetic energy and ultrasound were plausible causes in at least some cases.A CIA assessment made public last month however determined that the majority of the thousand possible cases reported were most likely not the result of a global campaign by a foreign power, while in some two dozen incidents the cause could not be explained.Rubin did not speculate over the cause, but said that the syndrome was having a potentially serious effect on US diplomacy.“It is getting harder when we recruit people,” the AFSA president said. “I’ve had young members of the cohort that’s coming into the foreign service ask me: ‘If I do this, what am I getting into? And is this going to get worse? Is this going to get solved? If I get attacked and if I get injured, who’s gonna be there for me?’“We’ve got to address that,” Rubin said.Microwave weapons that could cause Havana Syndrome exist, experts sayRead moreRubin said that care was improving for US officials who have been affected, but that the AFSA was still encountering bureaucratic resistance.“We pushed really hard,” he said. “We did succeed, but it’s still case-by-case.”Kenneth Dekleva, a former state department medical officer and psychiatrist who is leading an effort at UT Southwestern to coordinate research on Havana syndrome, said that psychogenic explanations for the spread of the symptoms were not convincing.“Most diplomats – I would say 99% – want to be overseas, they want to serve their country with dignity and honor, and they want to be healthy,” Dekleva told the Guardian. “They don’t want to assume a patient role. And there’s no gain from it. The burden of illness and suffering is very real for the people. And I find that compelling.”TopicsUS foreign policyCubaAmericasUS politicsnewsReuse this content More