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      House Republicans divided over aid to Ukraine ahead of midterms

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      House Republicans divided over aid to Ukraine ahead of midtermsMcCarthy says Congress won’t ‘write a blank cheque’ while another senior Republicans says Ukrainians should ‘get what they need’ The Republican leader in the House of Representatives has said that Congress would not “write a blank cheque to Ukraine” if his party wins next month’s midterm elections, stoking fears in Kyiv that the flow of military equipment could be cut off.However, another senior Republican said that he thought that the Ukrainians should “get what they need”, including longer-range missiles than those the Biden administration has so far been prepared to supply. Analysts say the mixed messages reflect an internal debate between traditional national security conservatives and the Trumpist wing of the party, where pro-Russian sentiment is much stronger.Ukraine says 30% of its power plants destroyed in last eight daysRead moreKevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, told the Punchbowl News website on Tuesday: “I think people are going to be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank cheque to Ukraine.”“They just won’t do it,” McCarthy added. “It’s not a free blank cheque. And then there’s the things [the Biden administration] is not doing domestically: not doing the border and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing they do, and it can’t be a blank cheque.”A few hours later, however, the ranking Republican on the House foreign affairs committee, Michael McCaul, who is likely to run the committee in the event of a Republican win in November, argued that arms supplies to Ukraine should be stepped up.“We’ve got to give them what they need. When we give them what they need, they win,” McCaul said on the Bloomberg television channel. In particular he referred to the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which has a longer range than the missiles the administration is currently providing.The Biden administration has withheld ATACMS so far for fear that if they were fired into Russian territory it might lead to a sharp escalation that could end up entangling Nato. McCaul argued that the missiles would be useful for striking Russian missile and drone launching sites in Crimea, adding: “Last time I checked, Crimea is occupied illegally by Russians.”McCaul did add a caveat on US spending on Ukrainian aid, however.“I think you’ll see if we get the majority, more oversight and accountability in terms of funding and where the money’s going, and I think the American taxpayer deserves that,” he said.Elisabeth Braw, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the difference in tone reflected internal foreign policy tensions.“This is a good illustration of the two factions within the Republican party,” Braw said. “You’ve got the Trumpian side and then the more traditional Republican side, and on the Ukrainian issue, this has been played out in a very clear fashion.”In another example of the internal friction, the Twitter account of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), which is close to the pro-Russian Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, put up a post at the end of September asking when Biden and the Democrats would end the “gift-giving to Ukraine”. The tweet was accompanied by a graphic that mentioned the “official annexation” by Russia of four Ukrainian regions, which it described as “Ukrainian occupied”.The tweet was taken down a few hours later and replaced with another describing the original as an “unapproved” statement and one that “belittled the plight of the innocent Ukrainian people”.Who is Tucker Carlson really ‘rooting for’ in Ukraine? Read moreDonald Trump has a long record of admiration for Vladimir Putin and has suggested that the Ukrainians make a deal with him, highlighting the Kremlin’s nuclear threats.“We must demand the immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine or we will end up in world war three,” the former president said at a rally this month. “There will be nothing left of our planet – all because stupid people didn’t have a clue … They don’t understand the power of nuclear.”Far-right Trumpist Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene have echoed Moscow talking points, suggesting that the Ukrainian government “only exists because the Obama state department helped to overthrow the previous regime”.Victoria Coates, Trump’s former deputy national security adviser, said that such views were held by only a minority in the party.“There is broad bipartisan support for assistance to Ukraine among the American people, so there will be broad bipartisan support in Congress,” Coates said. But she added: “It has just seemed to many of us on the Republican side that the administration is throwing money at the situation … I think we desperately need congressional oversight of additional funds that are appropriated for this purpose.”Coates, now senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, argued that the negotiations that Trump was calling for would not mean putting pressure on Ukraine to make territorial concessions.She said: “I think we have the advantage right now and he would, I assume, agree with that, and that we should, if we do enter into a negotiation, press hard for terms that are favourable to Kyiv and Washington.”TopicsUS foreign policyRepublicansUkraineHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Bibi review: Netanyahu memoir is hard-eyed – if not where Trump is concerned

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      Bibi review: Netanyahu memoir is hard-eyed – if not where Trump is concernedThe former Israeli PM is under a legal cloud but fighting for office again. His book is well-written and self-serving Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, in office three times over 15 years, as he reminds us in his memoir. These days, he leads the parliamentary opposition and is on trial for corruption and bribery. His countrymen return to the polls on 1 November, their fifth election since 2019.Netanyahu used golf metaphor to turn Trump against Palestinians, book saysRead moreIsrael’s politics are fractious and tribal. The far right grows as the left is decimated by the failed dream of the Oslo peace accords. Yet outside politics, things there are less fevered and acrid. Start-Up Nation has supplanted the kibbutz. Technology makes the desert bloom.In his memoir, Netanyahu doubles down on his embrace of the Covid vaccine and regrets easing up too early on pandemic closures, in hindsight a “cardinal mistake”. Here, the divide between Netanyahu and the other members of the populist right could not be starker. For him, modernity matters.Based on the latest polls, he has a serious shot at re-election but is not quite there. A win could mean immunity from prosecution. That decision will rest with his coalition partners – if he wins.Washington is watching, particularly if Jewish supremacists should enter the government. One seeks appointment as defense minister.“If we get a lot of mandates, we will have the legitimacy to demand significant portfolios such as the defense and the treasury,” Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, declares.Bob Menendez is alarmed. He is a Democrat, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and a major supporter of Israel. He led the fight against the Iran nuclear deal. As so often in US politics, the red-blue divide is on display and Israel is there in the middle.Netanyahu wrote his memoir longhand. It is not the standard campaign autobiography. It has heft, and not just because it runs to 650 pages. Primed for debate, he conveys his point of view with plenty of notes. He paints in primary colors, not pastels. The canvas is filled with adulation, anger, frustration and dish. Bibi is substantive and barbed. It is interesting. Netanyahu has scores to settle and punches to land. At times, he equates his fate with Israel’s.Netanyahu was born in Israel but attended high school in Philadelphia and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Throughout his book, Netanyahu calls his dad, Benzion Netanyahu, “Father”. Netanyahu the elder taught at Cornell. His son respects the US but is not enamored by its culture.The civil rights movement did not leave a lasting impression. Facing electoral defeat in 2015, against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of the Selma march, Netanyahu warned that Israel’s Arabs, who are citizens, were voting “in droves”. To many, including Barack Obama, that 11th-hour campaign siren was reminiscent of the wail of Jim Crow. In his book, Netanyahu tries to explain away the episode. He comes up woefully short.Netanyahu is a former Israeli commando but also an ambassador to the UN. He catalogs differences with Obama, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton and, to a point, Donald Trump. James Baker, secretary of state to the first President Bush, barred Netanyahu from the state department. In 1996, Clinton reportedly exclaimed: “Who the fuck does he think he is? … Who’s the fucking superpower here?”Bibi recounts the episode but says his relationship with the Clintons was “civil”. He challenges Obama’s stances toward Iran and the Palestinians but stays mum about Trump aiming a tart “fuck him” his way, for congratulating President Biden.Netanyahu castigates Clinton and Obama for purported messianism and naivety but says nothing of his own bad calls. For instance, in September 2002, he testified before Congress in support of the Iraq war.“I think the choice of Iraq is a good choice, it’s the right choice,” he said, adding: “It’s not a question of whether Iraq’s regime should be taken out but when should it be taken out. It’s not a question of whether you’d like to see a regime change in Iran but how to achieve it.”The American war dead might disagree.Netanyahu laments that Obama vetoed his request that the US strike nuclear installations in Iran. He does not attempt to reconcile his demand for armed confrontation with hostility to “endless wars” on the Trumpist right.In a book published amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, Netanyahu repeatedly lauds Vladimir Putin for his intellect and toughness.“I took the measure of the man,” he claims. Once upon a time, George W Bush claimed to have looked into Putin’s soul. We know how that ended. In contrast, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney and Joe Biden got the Russian leader right from the off.Netanyahu says he understands Putin’s resentments: “The opening up of Russia …revealed that Russia had fallen hopelessly behind the west.”In a recently released transcript of an off-the-record conversation between Obama and a group of reporters, the then president charged that like the world’s strongmen and their future White House fanboy, Netanyahu subscribed to “Putinism” himself.Trump a narcissist and a ‘dick’, ex-ambassador Sondland says in new bookRead more“What I worry about most is, there is a war right now of ideas, more than any hot war, and it is between Putinism – which, by the way, is subscribed to, at some level, by Erdogan or Netanyahu or Duterte and Trump – and a vision of a liberal market-based democracy.”Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has wholeheartedly embraced Putin. Reportedly, the Biden White House is “very disappointed”.Meanwhile, Trump lashes out at American Jews for not showing him the love evangelicals do: “US Jews need to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!”Don’t expect Netanyahu or Trump’s Jewish supporters to say much – if anything at all.
      Bibi: My Story is published in the US by Simon & Schuster
      TopicsBooksBenjamin NetanyahuIsraelMiddle East and north AfricaUS politicsUS foreign policyDonald TrumpreviewsReuse this content More

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      Joe Biden calls Liz Truss tax cuts a ‘mistake’ as political fallout continues

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      Joe Biden calls Liz Truss tax cuts a ‘mistake’ as political fallout continuesUS president rejects ‘cutting taxes on the super-wealthy’ and says he is not the only world leader critical of abandoned plan00:39Joe Biden has called Liz Truss’s abandoned economic plan that sent financial markets into chaos and caused a sharp drop in the value of the pound a “mistake” as criticism of her approach continued.The US president hinted that other world leaders felt the same way about her disastrous mini-budget, saying he “wasn’t the only one” who had concerns over the lack of “sound policy” in other countries.Biden said it was “predictable” that the new British prime minister was forced on Friday to backtrack on plans to aggressively cut taxes without saying how they would be paid for, after Truss’s proposal caused turmoil in global financial markets.His comments on Sunday to reporters at an ice-cream parlour in Oregon marked a highly unusual intervention by a US president into the domestic policy decisions of one of its closest allies.“I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake,” Biden said. “I think that the idea of cutting taxes on the super-wealthy at a time when … I disagree with the policy, but it’s up to Britain to make that judgment, not me.”Labour leapt on the US president’s remarks. The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: “As well as crashing the economy, Liz Truss’s humiliating U-turns have made Britain’s economy an international punchline.“President Biden knows the dangerous folly of trickle-down economics. His comments confirm the hit our reputation has taken thanks to the Conservatives.”Biden has repeatedly poured scorn on so-called trickle-down economics and before his first bilateral talks with Truss in New York last month tweeted that he was “sick and tired” of the approach, which he claimed had never worked.Mini-budget went ‘too far, too fast’, says Jeremy HuntRead moreBiden’s comments came after weeks of White House officials declining to criticise Truss’s plans, though they emphasised they were monitoring the economic fallout closely.The US president was speaking during an unannounced campaign stop for the Democratic candidate for governor, Tina Kotek. Democrats face a tough US political environment amid Republican criticism of their handling of the economy.Biden said he was not concerned about the strength of the dollar – it set a new record against sterling in recent weeks, which benefits imports but makes US exports more expensive to the rest of the world.He claimed the US economy was “strong as hell” but added: “I’m concerned about the rest of the world. The problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries. It’s worldwide inflation, that’s consequential.”Truss’s own new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has said Truss and his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget went “too far, too fast” as he effectively signalled the demise of the prime minister’s economic vision.“We have to be honest with people and we are going to have to take some very difficult decisions both on spending and on tax to get debt falling, but at the top of our minds when making these decisions will be how to protect and help struggling families, businesses and people.”Hunt is expected to announce that plans to reduce the basic rate of income tax next April will be pushed back by a year. The cut to 19% will now take effect at the time previously proposed by Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor who was Truss’s main leadership rival.TopicsUS foreign policyJoe BidenLiz TrussEconomic policyUS politicsConservativesnewsReuse this content More

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      Democrats suggest shifting weapons from Saudi Arabia to Ukraine

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      Democrats suggest shifting weapons from Saudi Arabia to UkraineDemocrats call for suspension of transfer of Patriot missiles in wake of ‘turning point’ in relationship with Saudis Democrats on Capitol Hill have suggested transferring US weapons systems in Saudi Arabia to Ukraine and suspending a planned transfer of Patriot missiles to Riyadh in the wake of what they call a “turning point” in Washington’s relationship with the kingdom.Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California who is a leading supporter of a weapons freeze, said he believed that “at the very least” Congress would move to halt the transfer of Patriot missiles to the kingdom, and probably pause other defense initiatives.US-Saudi rift grows over decision to cut oil productionRead moreKhanna is a longtime critic of Saudi Arabia and was one of the original sponsors of a 2019 measure that received bipartisan support and would have forced the US to end military involvement in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. That resolution was vetoed by then-president Donald Trump.In an interview with the Guardian, Khanna said tensions had reached a boiling point that was comparable to US sentiment following the murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.The break in the relationship followed an announcement last week that Opec+, the oil cartel, had agreed to cut oil production by 2m barrels a day over the strong objections of, and lobbying by, the administration of Joe Biden. The move was seen as both a boost to Vladimir Putin and his war effort in Ukraine, and a stunning betrayal of Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the US, just weeks after the president had visited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.“I think President Biden is judicious and pragmatic by temperament but this was a real slap in his face,” Khanna said. While lawmakers like him have long advocated for a tougher response to Saudi on human rights grounds, Khanna said the Opec+ move had galvanized members across Congress.“This is a second moment like Khashoggi’s murder. I believe it is a total miscalculation by the Saudis,” he said, adding that there was still time for the kingdom to change course.Pressed on whether Democrats were likely to move beyond rhetoric, Khanna pointed to recent comments by his colleague Robert Menendez, a Democratic senator who as chairman of the foreign relations committee said he was prepared to halt Saudi weapons sales.“At the very least, the Patriot missiles will be suspended,” he said. “The fact that Menendez has spoken out means that at a minimum it is going to happen.”Meanwhile, Chris Murphy, an influential Democratic senator from Connecticut, said he believed the US ought to suspend the sale of advanced air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia and repurpose these missiles to Ukraine.“For several years, the US military had deployed Patriot missile defense batteries to Saudi Arabia to help defend oil infrastructure against missile and drone attacks. These advanced air and missile defense systems should be redeployed to bolster the defenses of eastern flank Nato allies like Poland and Romania – or transferred to our Ukrainian partners,” Murphy said in a statement.While physically transferring existing weapons systems in Saudi Arabia to Ukraine would not be particularly complicated logistically, experts said it could risk accusations that the Biden administration was escalating its support for Ukraine beyond levels that it considered appropriate, because the systems might require on-the-ground US personnel for support.William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute, said at a minimum, any such move to shift weapons would be met by serious debates within the White House and Congress. At the same time, he said, Russia’s continuing assault on Ukraine meant that “political considerations are shifting”.Changes to planned deliveries of Patriot missiles would probably cause “consternation” in Saudi Arabia, but changes to delivery of spare parts and maintenance could ground large parts of the Saudi air force, he said.Hartung said he believed the Saudis might be underestimating the impact of the sudden break in relations with Washington, given the relationship appeared to survive the Khashoggi murder. In that case, however, Trump was in the White House and steadfastly loyal to the Saudis. Hartung said he believed it was unlikely that Biden would veto a congressional resolution aimed at the kingdom, as Trump did in 2019.“It’s not a done deal, but the political tides are stronger against the Saudis than they have been – possibly ever,” he said.The Saudi foreign ministry this week rejected the criticism of its Opec+ decision and insisted the cartel had acted with unanimity and in its own economic interest. It also rejected any assumption that it could be forced into a policy U-turn.“The kingdom stresses that while it strives to preserve the strength of its relations with all friendly countries, it affirms its rejection of any dictates, actions, or efforts to distort its noble objectives to protect the global economy from oil market volatility,” it said.Khanna hit back at that claim.“The reality is that there is no economic case for what they are doing. This was punitive for Americans and it is aiding Putin,” he said.A spokesperson for the national security council said Opec’s decision last week to “align its energy policy with Russia’s war and against Americans” underscored Biden’s earlier call to set a “different sort of relationship” with Saudi Arabia.“We are reviewing where we are, we’ll be watching closely over the coming weeks and months, consulting with allies, with Congress – and decisions will be made in a deliberate way,” the spokesperson said.TopicsUS foreign policySaudi ArabiaUkraineDemocratsUS CongressUS politicsMiddle East and north AfricanewsReuse this content More

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      Democrat senators call for a freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid oil production cuts – video

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      Two Democrat senators have called for a freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia unless it reverses a Riyadh-led Opec+ decision to cut oil production. They said the decision to reduce production would help Russia’s war in Ukraine. 
      ‘The only apparent purpose of this cut in oil supplies is to help the Russians and harm Americans. It was unprovoked and unforced, as an error,’ the Connecticut senator, Richard Blumenthal, said. His statement was echoed by his Democrat colleague from California, Ro Khanna, who said: ‘When Americans are facing a crisis because of Putin, when we’re paying more at the pump, our ally, someone who we have helped for decades, should be trying to help the American people.’
      The Biden administration said it was reviewing its ties with the Gulf kingdom. 
      Speaking to CNN, however, a Saudi minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said: ‘Saudi Arabia does not politicise oil. We don’t see oil as a weapon. We see oil as our commodity. Our objective is to bring stability to the oil market.’ Riyadh is not partnering with Russia, he added

      Democrats issue fresh ultimatum to Saudi Arabia over oil production More

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      Trump a narcissist and a ‘dick’, ex-ambassador Sondland says in new book

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      Trump a narcissist and a ‘dick’, ex-ambassador Sondland says in new bookEx-EU envoy Gordon Sondland derides Democrats and Pompeo, and recalls fallout from testifying in Trump’s first impeachment In a new book, the former US ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland defends his conduct around Donald Trump’s first impeachment, derides Democrats for their investigation of Trump’s attempt to extract political dirt from Ukraine – and calls his former boss a narcissist and a “dick”.Sondland also takes aim at Mike Pompeo, Trump’s secretary of state, who is now a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.Confidence Man: The Making of Trump and the Breaking of America review – the vain sadist and his ‘shrink’Read moreSondland criticizes Pompeo for firing him over his impeachment testimony and allegedly reneging on a promise to pay his legal fees. Sondland also hits Pompeo for not inviting Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, to Washington but inviting the Russian foreign minister twice.Sondland, a hotelier, donated $1m to Trump after the 2016 election and became EU ambassador two years later. His memoir, The Envoy: Mastering the Art of Diplomacy with Trump and the World – “pause here to allow 10,000 career diplomats to roll their eyes”, the Washington Post quipped in May – will be published on 25 October. The Guardian obtained a copy.Retelling Trump’s first impeachment, Sondland describes efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Trump’s enemies, including the role of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney.He rejects criticism from the whistleblower, Alexander Vindman, and ex-Trump advisers John Bolton and Fiona Hill, who in her own impeachment testimony famously said Bolton, the national security adviser, mentioned Sondland was helping to “cook up” a “drug deal” regarding Ukraine.In testimony, Sondland described Trump’s attempted quid pro quo: a White House visit for Zelenskiy and the release of military aid in return for investigations of targets including Joe and Hunter Biden.Sondland now insists there was nothing unusual about this, writing “Quid pro quos happen all the time” and quoting – bizarrely – as evidence both the comedian Jerry Seinfeld and “studies that show when married men pitch in and clean the bathroom, they have more sex”.But his testimony earned the ire of Trump loyalists including Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, who Sondland suspects may have told Pompeo to fire him.As for Pompeo, “I knew that the second I had mentioned the secretary’s name in my testimony, he would be pissed that I had dragged him in. But for me to have testified in any other way would have amounted to a series of false statements. Once I made clear Pompeo’s knowledge of what was going on related to Ukraine, I surmise the secretary … wanted me out.”Discussing his time as ambassador, Sondland says Trump was “essentially right about many things, including how out of whack our relationship with Europe has become”.But he also attributes Trump’s shortcomings as a leader, including an “inability to clearly explain things”, to factors including his narcissism. On that score, Sondland describes reminding Trump in 2016 that “you were kind of a dick to me when we first met”. Trump, he says, said he hadn’t thought Sondland important enough to be nice to.Working for Trump, Sondland says, “was like staying at an all-inclusive resort. You’re thrilled when you first arrive, but things start to go downhill fast. Quality issues start to show. The people who work the place can be rude and not so bright. Attrition is a huge problem. And eventually, you begin to wonder why you agreed to the deal in the first place.”In the vein of tell-alls by bigger Trump players and accounts by Washington reporters, Sondland describes instances of bizarre behavior.Trump is shown baffling a group of German auto executives by complaining that the seats in their cars have become too hard to use.“There’s too many damned buttons and knobs,” Trump said. “… What’s wrong with the old-fashioned grab bar, under the seat? Forward. Back. That’s all you need!”Sondland says the outburst met with “awkward silence”, before Dieter Zetsche, of Daimler, mollified Trump by saying facial recognition technology would soon negate the need for twiddling with buttons, knobs or bars.More seriously, in describing preparation for meeting the president of Romania in August 2019, Sondland describes how Trump dodged briefings.“When I get to the Oval Office,” he writes, “the door is open, country music blasting from inside. Trump, sitting at the Resolute Desk, catches a glimpse of me … and beckons, ‘Get in here and tell me which song you like.’“An aide is … with him, her face like a deer in headlights. ‘He’s choosing which song to use for his walk-on,’ she manages to yell over the noise. He’s vetting the theme music for his next rally. Really. Trump does focus on some details, and this is an important one. Never mind that the Oval Office sounds like a country western bar, and we are supposed to be prepping for a visit with a foreign leader. He skips forward through a couple of tracks.“‘Mr President, [Klaus] Iohannis is showing up any minute. Don’t you want to be brought up to speed?’ I yell, scanning my briefing paper. At this moment, a group of officials and dignitaries are gathered in the Cabinet Room for an advance discussion, waiting for us. DJ Trump gives me little further response, so I walk down the hall to meet the others.”Later, Sondland gave Trump “a few quick tidbits about the president of Romania and how we’re friends with them because we’re both opposed to a natural gas pipeline that Vladimir Putin wants to build from Russia to Eastern Europe”.As the two men waited for Iohannis to arrive, Sondland says, Trump “pull[ed] out a box of Tic Tacs” and “scarf[ed] them down”.Sondland said: “Aren’t you going to share?”“Slightly sheepish, Trump pulls out the white mints and shakes some into my hand. When you call him out on not acting like a normal person, it catches him off guard – and then he kind of likes it. People do it too infrequently.”TopicsBooksDonald TrumpTrump impeachment (2019)Trump administrationUS politicsPolitics booksRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      Democrats issue fresh ultimatum to Saudi Arabia over oil production

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      Democrats issue fresh ultimatum to Saudi Arabia over oil productionMembers of Congress raise prospect of one-year sales ban unless kingdom reverses Opec+ decision to cut output Democrats in the US Congress have issued a fresh ultimatum to Saudi Arabia, giving the kingdom weeks to reverse an Opec+ decision to roll back oil production or face a potential one-year freeze on all arms sales.The threat came as Joe Biden reiterated his pledge to take action over Riyadh’s decision last week to cut oil output by 2m barrels a day, which Democrats have said would help “fuel Vladimir Putin’s war machine” and hurt American consumers at the petrol pump.The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters the US president was also looking at a possible halt in arms sales as part of a broader re-evaluation of the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, but that no move was imminent.On Capitol Hill, anger with the Saudi move was far more palpable, as was the desire for swift and specific retribution for what has been seen as a stunning blunder by a key ally in the Middle East.The tensions with Washington and vow to “rebalance” relations between the two countries could have ripple effects far beyond petrol prices, from determining the future of an apparent emerging alliance between Russia and the Saudi heir, negotiations over Iran, and Moscow’s financial strength in its continuing assault on Ukraine.Some analysts have pointed out that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman might have been seeking to tip the scales of next month’s critical midterm elections in Republicans’ favour, but Democrats downplayed the allegation that Riyadh was seeking to interfere in the polls.Instead, Democratic lawmakers emphasised that Prince Mohammed’s move bolstered Russia and would ultimately harm all US consumers in what they said was a brash betrayal after decades of support from Washington.“We provide so much not just in weapons, but in defence, cooperation and joint defence initiatives to the Saudis. They get almost 73% of their arms from the United States,” said Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California and longtime critic of the kingdom.“If it weren’t for our technicians, their airplanes literally wouldn’t fly … we literally are responsible for their entire air force.“What galls so many of us in Congress in the ingratitude.”Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic senator from Connecticut who is working with Khanna on the proposed legislation to cut sales, also pointed to broader security concerns.“We are selling highly sensitive technology, advanced technology, to a country that has aligned itself with an adversary – Russia – that is committing terrorist war crimes in Ukraine,” he said. “So there’s a moral imperative, but also a national security imperative.”He pointed specifically to sales of Patriot and anti-missile systems, air-to-air missiles, advanced helicopters, jet fighters, radar and air defences.“These continued sales pose a national security threat, and I am hopeful that the president will act immediately … and exercise his power on those sales,” he said.Blumenthal also suggested his proposed legislation was serving as a stick to prod Riyadh into action.“We hope that this legislation will provide an impetus for the Saudis to reconsider this and reverse,” he said. “There’s still time. The oil supply cuts don’t take effect until November.”If the Saudis did not reverse course, Blumenthal suggested the impact of defence cuts on US jobs and companies would be negligible.Any decision would likely have a ripple effect among other allies, including the UK and France, who are significant defence suppliers to Saudi Arabia.“There are issues of interoperability, of different weapon systems,” Blumenthal said. A freeze in US sales “will have an effect that could be supplemented by decisions by other countries. Certainly. They’re impacted by the economic effects of … oil supply cuts. They will make their own decisions … our allies like the UK and France may wish to join.”There was little evidence that tensions with Washington were having an effect on Prince Mohammed. A Saudi decree on Wednesday appointed an official alleged to have been involved in the cover-up of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was murdered by Saudi agents, as the president of the country’s counter-terrorism court.Dawn, a human rights group founded by Khashoggi, said the kingdom had also appointed other detectives and prosecutors who are loyal to the crown prince to serve as judges in the court.The appointments followed the arrest and removal of at least nine prominent judges by the State Security Agency in April, the group said..It is not clear whether the Democrats would be able to garner enough Republican support to pass legislation once Congress is back in session next month, but Blumenthal said he had reached out to Republican colleagues who were “receptive” and “favourable in remarks that there need to be consequences” for Saudi actions.The comments underscore that, while the his administration will ultimately determine the US stance on Saudi Arabia, Biden is facing considerable pressure from allies in Congress to move beyond rhetoric and take a tougher stance against the kingdom.Robert Menendez, the Democratic chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, suggested in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia had little choice but to re-evaluate its Opec+ decision if it wanted to maintain its security against regional foes.“Who are they going to rely upon to have greater security from Iran, which is an existential threat, than the United States? Russia? Russia’s in bed with Iran,” he said.“The bottom line is, Russia is not the bulwark against Iran … they have to understand that their actions have consequences.”TopicsUS foreign policyUS CongressOpecSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and north AfricaUS politicsDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      Biden open to re-evaluating Saudi relationship after Opec+ cuts, says White House – as it happened

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      President Joe Biden will consider working with Congress to change the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia amid outrage over its support for an oil production cut that was seen as partial to Russia, a White House spokesman said.The comments from John Kirby, spokesman for the Biden administration’s national security council, largely reiterate what the president said last week, when the Opec+ bloc of oil producers, in which Saudi Arabia plays a leading role, announced they would reduce production by 2 million barrels per-day, even as countries struggle with energy prices that have spiked since Russia invaded Ukraine. Asked in an interview with CNN about calls from Democrats in Congress to cut off weapons sales and security assistance to Riyadh over the decision, Kirby said Biden was willing to discuss those proposals with lawmakers.“This is a relationship that we need to continue to re-evaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit. And certainly, in light of the Opec decision, I think that’s where he is,” Kirby said.Here’s more from the CNN interview:White House’s John Kirby says “the timeline is now” for working with Congress to re-evaluate the US-Saudi relationship. “I think [President Biden] is going to be willing to start to have those conversations right away.” pic.twitter.com/y6Hkw2TXXP— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) October 11, 2022
      The United States and Saudi Arabia are at loggerheads, after Riyadh pushed Opec+ to cut its crude output and potentially drive gas prices higher, defying Washington’s pleas for a delay. Today, the White House confirmed that president Joe Biden is willing to re-evaluate his country’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, potentially upending a decades-long alliance.Here’s what else happened today:
      Tulsi Gabbard left the Democratic party. The former Hawaii congresswoman unsuccessfully stood for its presidential nomination in 2020, but has become increasingly conservative since departing Congress last year.
      Elon Musk says he did not talk to Russian president Vladimir Putin about how to end the war in Ukraine.
      The supreme court’s conservative majority rejected an appeal from a death row inmate challenging his conviction over some jurors’ opposition to interracial marriage. It also turned down an appeal from racist murderer Dylann Roof, as well as a case concerning so-called “fetal personhood”.
      Ohio’s Senate candidates faced off in a debate last night. The race is unexpectedly close, but the Democratic candidate Tim Ryan believes the party’s leadership has given up on him.
      The supreme court today declined to weigh in on the topic of so-called “fetal personhood” by turning away a challenge to a Rhode Island law codifying abortion rights, Reuters reports.Had it taken the case, the court’s conservative majority – which in June overturned Roe v Wade and allowed states to ban abortion – could have had the chance to decide the point at which fetuses are entitled to constitutional rights. Here’s more from Reuters:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in June’s ruling overturning the abortion rights precedent that in the decision the court took no position on “if and when prenatal life is entitled to any of the rights enjoyed after birth.”
      Some Republicans at the state level have pursued what are called fetal personhood laws, like one enacted in Georgia affecting fetuses starting at around six weeks of pregnancy, that would grant fetuses before birth a variety of legal rights and protections like those of any person.
      Under such laws, termination of a pregnancy legally could be considered murder.
      Lawyers for the group Catholics for Life and the two Rhode Island women – one named Nichole Leigh Rowley and the other using the pseudonym Jane Doe – argued that the case “presents the opportunity for this court to meet that inevitable question head on” by deciding if fetuses possess due process and equal protection rights conferred by the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
      The Rhode Island Supreme Court relied on the now-reversed Roe precedent in finding that the 14th Amendment did not extend rights to fetuses. The Roe ruling had recognized that the right to personal privacy under the U.S. Constitution protected a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy.The New York Times has published a story with more details about Christina Bobb, the lawyer for Donald Trump who may be in legal trouble for signing a document saying, incorrectly, that all government material requested by the justice department from the former president had been turned over.The news of Bobb’s meeting with the justice department was reported yesterday, and added to the intrigue surrounding the government secrets the FBI found when it searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in August, discoveries that contradicted the document Bobb signed months prior.Today’s story in the Times goes deeper into Bobb’s background, and her journey from the Marine Corps to the homeland security department to rightwing media and finally to Trump’s inner circle. Here’s more from their report:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The former president was in the midst of an escalating clash with the Justice Department about documents he had taken with him from the White House at the end of his term. The lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, met Ms. Bobb at the president’s residence and private club in Florida and asked her to sign a statement for the department that the Trump legal team had conducted a “diligent search” of Mar-a-Lago and found only a few files that had not been returned to the government.
      Ms. Bobb, a 39-year-old lawyer juggling amorphous roles in her new job, was being asked to take a step that neither Mr. Trump nor other members of the legal team were willing to take — so she looked before leaping.
      “Wait a minute — I don’t know you,” Ms. Bobb replied to Mr. Corcoran’s request, according to a person to whom she later recounted the episode. She later complained that she did not have a full grasp of what was going on around her when she signed the document, according to two people who have heard her account.
      Ms. Bobb, who relentlessly promoted falsehoods about the 2020 election as an on-air host for the far-right One America News Network, eventually signed her name. But she insisted on adding a written caveat before giving it to a senior Justice Department official on June 3: “The above statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.”Trump lawyer told to certify Mar-a-Lago document search she did not conductRead moreWhether they’re watching TV or reading this blog, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has found that Americans are losing sleep over politics.According to a survey by the academy, 58% of respondents lost sleep due to worries about the political situation, with about a third of Gen Zers saying they always, almost always or often lose sleep over what they read in the news.“Politics can be a charged topic for so many people—even more so when those topics hit close to home. The 24-hour news cycle brings us endless updates on both domestic and international events, conflicts, and opinions. This can weigh heavily on us both physically and emotionally,” said Seema Khosla, chair of the AASM public awareness advisory committee. “It is important to prioritize healthy, sufficient sleep, especially with the midterm elections coming up.”For all the uncertainty over the upcoming midterms, there are a few things that can be said for sure, including this: Madison Cawthorn, a conservative firebrand who has unreservedly embraced Donald Trump, will not be returning to Congress.The North Carolina representative lost his district’s Republican primary earlier this year, after being embroiled in a number of scandals that led the House’s Republican leadership to repudiate him.Is this the last we’ll hear of the 27-year-old lawmaker? The Washington Post has published a profile exploring that question, and taking a look at Cawthorn’s apparently unproductive days in office since he lost his primary:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Madison Cawthorn left his Capitol Hill office on a recent afternoon like a man with a purpose, though what that purpose is, exactly, has been something of an unknown since he lost his congressional primary five months ago.
      “I have to get to a floor speech real quick,” the North Carolina Republican said. Cawthorn, 27, who was partially paralyzed in a car accident in 2014, pivoted in his wheelchair and rolled out to the sidewalk, crossing Independence Avenue and heading toward the Capitol.
      Inside a nearly empty House chamber, Cawthorn read a one-minute speech in which he declared that “America cannot be saved through legislation.”
      “Christ, not Congress, will be what saves this country,” he said in an emphatic baritone.
      Cawthorn left the Capitol building, stopping at the corner of Independence and New Jersey avenues, a tin of Grizzly chewing tobacco on his lap. “I gotta grab my food real quick,” he told The Washington Post before heading to another nearby corner to await a delivery driver.
      As he lingered, a solitary figure in a stream of lunchtime passersby, the congressman spat tobacco juice on the sidewalk.
      What does Madison Cawthorn do, now that his days in Washington are numbered?
      At the Capitol, it seems, he has not made much of a mark. His standing among key Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, tanked after a series of missteps, perhaps the most consequential of which was his assertion in March that an unnamed colleague had invited him to an orgy and that he had seen another partake in a “key bump of cocaine.” Republicans who wanted to attack Democrats by talking about soaring gas prices and “Bidenflation” suddenly found themselves answering questions about whether the Capitol had turned into a swinger’s club.There are several races on the ballot this fall that will have profound consequences for American democracy. In several states, Republican candidates who doubt the election 2020 election results, or in some cases actively worked to overturn them, are running for positions in which they would have tremendous influence over how votes are cast and counted. If these candidates win, there is deep concern they could use their offices to spread baseless information about election fraud and try to prevent the rightful winners of elections from being seated.Here’s a look at some of the key candidates who pose a threat to US democracy:US midterms 2022: the key candidates who threaten democracyRead moreFurther evidence has emerged this afternoon that a significant diplomatic rift between Saudi Arabia and the United States is opening.Semafor reports that Washington is backing out of a meeting with the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council on air and missile defenses:SCOOP: A key US-Saudi meeting under review in the White House has been CANCELED, according to the contents of a letter obtained exclusively by Semafor. 1/7— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) October 11, 2022
      The Text of the Letter Reads:The Embassy of the United States of America presents its compliments to the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretariat and hereby informs the Gulf Cooperation Council that United States officials will not be able to participate in the planned meetings 2/7— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) October 11, 2022
      of the United States – Gulf Cooperation Council Working Group on Iran Integrated Air and Missile Defense.The point of contact is [REDACTED]The Embassy of the United States of America avails itself of this opportunity to renew the Gulf Cooperation Council of assurances of 3/7— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) October 11, 2022
      its highest consideration.The Embassy of the United States of AmericaRiyadhOctober 7Semafor made public that there was White House discussion of ‘possibly canceling’ the US-GCC Working Group on Iran Integrated Air and Missile Defense scheduled for Oct 17 in Riyadh but 4/7— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) October 11, 2022
      that no decision had been made. I was told by White House and Pentagon officials that this meeting ‘had not’ been canceled and that there was ‘no decision yet.’5/7— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) October 11, 2022
      BUT THEN we saw the above letter, which shows clearly that the cancellation of the meeting was made 2 DAYS before our inquiry of the WH, Pentagon & State Department. 6/7— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) October 11, 2022
      Meanwhile, Punchbowl News reports more senators are wondering why Washington should work with Riyadh.“I think we should look carefully at everything we’re sending. Because their inability to cooperate with the West and their willingness to cooperate with Russia is very disturbing,” said Democrat Jack Reed, who chairs the Senate armed services committee.“Why should we [send arms to Saudi Arabia]? If they don’t have any more concern for international security and the stability of the world economy, why should we be helping them?” Angus King, an independent senator who caucuses with Democrats, said. He sits on both the armed services and intelligence committees.Here’s what the White House National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, had to say earlier about reported geopolitical discussions between Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Obviously, he’s not representing the United States government in those conversations.”According to Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group, Musk spoke to Putin before tweeting a proposal to end the Ukraine war.According to Musk, though, Bremmer is mistaken. Asked if Bremmer’s report was true, the SpaceX and Tesla founder said: “No, it is not. I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space.”This one may develop.Here, meanwhile, is a recent report from Helen Davidson in Taipei about how people round there view Musk’s recent pronouncements on the delicate diplomatic matter of Taiwan and China…Taiwan politicians dismiss Elon Musk’s ‘ill-informed and belittling’ China comments Read moreHere’s a tweet from Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No2 Democrat in the US Senate, on matters concerning Opec+, oil production cuts and future US relationships and geopolitical priorities:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The Nopec Act passed in the judiciary committee with a bipartisan vote in May. Saudi Arabia’s collusion with Putin to fix prices will increase gas prices for Americans at a time when inflation is high. The Senate must take action against price fixing by Opec+ and pass this legislation.What is the Nopec Act, I hear you cry. Fortunately, our friends at Reuters are here to explain, including about how that characteristic congressional acronym came about:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (Nopec) bill … is intended to protect US consumers and businesses from engineered oil spikes. The bipartisan bill would tweak US antitrust law to revoke the sovereign immunity that has protected Opec+ members and their national oil companies from lawsuits. If signed into law, the US attorney general would gain the option to sue the oil cartel or its members, such as Saudi Arabia, in federal court.
      It is unclear exactly how a federal court could enforce judicial antitrust decisions against a foreign nation. The US could also face criticism for its attempts to manipulate markets by, for example, its planned release of 165 million barrels of oil from the emergency oil reserve between May and November.
      But several attempts to pass NOPEC over more than two decades have long worried Opec+’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, leading Riyadh to lobby hard every time a version of the bill has come up. Previous versions of the bill have also failed amid resistance by oil industry groups, including top US oil lobby group, the American Petroleum Institute (API).
      But anger has risen in Congress about gasoline prices that earlier this year helped fuel inflation to the highest level in decades.For more on this story: Cutting oil output risks global economy, warns US Treasury secretaryRead moreWe have a statement from Joe Biden about the breakthrough between Israel and Lebanon, about which Bethan McKernan reported the following for the Guardian earlier:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Israel and Lebanon have agreed a deal in a dispute over gas fields and the two countries’ maritime border, a groundbreaking diplomatic achievement that could boost natural gas production in the Mediterranean before the European winter.
      Yair Lapid, Israel’s prime minister, said months of US-brokered negotiations had resulted in a “historic agreement” between two nations technically at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. The deal would “strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border”, he added.
      A statement from the office the Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, said the latest version of the proposal “satisfies Lebanon, meets its demands, and preserves its rights to its natural resources”.
      The agreement is expected to enable Israeli production of natural gas from the Karish maritime reservoir … while relatively small in terms of global production, bringing Karish online is a welcome development for Israel’s western allies, as the invasion of Ukraine has sent energy prices soaring and left Europe searching for alternatives to Russian oil and gas.Here’s a taste of what Biden has to say, with perhaps the most pointed part bolded up:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I have just spoken with the Prime Minister of Israel, Yair Lapid, and the President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun, who confirmed the readiness of both governments to move forward with this agreement. I want to also thank President Emmanuel Macron of France and his government for their support in these negotiations.
      Energy – particularly in the eastern Mediterranean – should serve as the tool for cooperation, stability, security, and prosperity, not for conflict.Biden also says the deal “promotes the interests of the United States and the American people in a more stable, prosperous, and integrated Middle East region, with reduced risks of new conflicts”.Here’s Bethan’s full report:Israel and Lebanon reach ‘historic’ maritime border and gas fields dealRead moreThe United States and Saudi Arabia are at loggerheads, after Riyadh pushed Opec+ to cut its crude output and potentially drive gas prices higher, defying Washington’s pleas for a delay. Today, the White House confirmed that president Joe Biden is willing to re-evaluate his country’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, potentially upending a decades-long alliance.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Tulsi Gabbard has left the Democratic party. The former Hawaii congresswoman unsuccessfully stood for its presidential nomination in 2020, but has become increasingly conservative since departing Congress last year.
      The supreme court’s conservative majority rejected an appeal from a death row inmate challenging his conviction over some jurors’ opposition to interracial marriage. It also turned down an appeal from racist murderer Dylann Roof.
      Ohio’s Senate candidates faced off in a debate last night. The race is unexpectedly close, but the Democratic candidate Tim Ryan believes the party’s leadership has given up on him.
      US officials asked Saudi Arabia to hold off on pushing the Opec+ coalition of crude producers for a cut in their output, but Riyadh refused, The Wall Street Journal reports. The story suggests that relations between Riyadh and Washington are worse than they appear, even after president Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia in July to mend relations and potentially convince the country to pump more oil and, in turn, lower gas prices in the United States. The visit was criticized by many of the president’s allies, who wanted him to stick to a campaign promise to turn Saudi Arabia into a “pariah” for its human rights abuses.According to the Journal, Saudi officials viewed the Biden administration’s request to delay the Opec+ production cut by a month as an attempt to salvage their fortunes ahead of the midterm elections, where Democrats are fighting to retain control of Congress. Now, the White House is mulling ways to punish Riyadh for its decision, the Journal reports.Here’s more from their story:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}In one of its first responses, U.S. officials said, the Biden administration is weighing whether to withdraw from participation in Saudi Arabia’s flagship Future Investment Initiative investment forum later this month.
      U.S. officials said the OPEC+ decision was unhelpful as inflation driven by high energy prices threatens global growth and represents an economic weapon against the West for Russian President Vladimir Putin. It threatens to drive up American gasoline prices ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms.
      The one-month delay requested by Washington would have meant a production cut made in the days before the election, too late to have much effect on consumers’ wallets ahead of the vote.
      Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman, rejected Saudi contentions that the Biden administration efforts were driven by political calculations.
      “It’s categorically false to connect this to U.S. elections,” she said. “It’s about the impact of this shortsighted decision to the global economy.”
      Adel al Jubeir, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, said the kingdom is committed to ensuring oil-market stability and noted that OPEC+ had increased output through much of the year. He said global economic headwinds justified the decision to cut production.
      He blamed the Washington reaction on “the emotions that have to do with the upcoming elections,” in an interview that aired on Fox News on Sunday. “The idea that Saudi Arabia would do this to harm the U.S. or to be in any way politically involved is not correct at all.”Ed Pilkington reports that some candidates running to manage their state’s elections in the 8 November midterms have openly said they will use their position to ensure Donald Trump returns to power:The head of a US coalition of election deniers standing for secretary of state positions in key battleground states has made the most explicit threat yet that they will use their powers, should they win in November, to subvert democracy and force a return of Donald Trump to the White House.Jim Marchant, who is running in the midterms as the Republican candidate for secretary of state in Nevada, has vowed publicly that he and his fellow coalition members will strive to make Trump president again. Speaking at a Make America Great Again rally in Minden, Nevada, on Saturday night, he repeated the lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump.Marchant said he had investigated what he described as the “rigged election” and had discovered “horrifying” irregularities. He provided no details – an official review of the 2020 count in Nevada, which Joe Biden won by 34,000 votes, found no evidence of mass fraud.Nevada secretary of state contender pledges to secure Trump victory in 2024Read moreStudents at the University of Florida are not pleased by the news that Republican senator Ben Sasse has been selected as the new president, and told him so during a visit to the campus yesterday, Martin Pengelly reports:Less than a week after being revealed as the likely next president of the University of Florida (UF), the Republican senator Ben Sasse was met with protests when he appeared on campus in Gainesville on Monday.“Hey-hey, ho-ho, Ben Sasse has got to go,” protesters chanted, seeking to draw attention to the Nebraskan’s views on LGBTQ+ rights.According to the UF student newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, after Sasse left a student forum early, leaders of a crowd of around 300 called the senator “homophobic and racist in between yelling from the audience”. One protester called out “Get the fuck”, the crowd responding, “Out of our swamp!”Students protest Ben Sasse’s views on LGBTQ+ rights at University of FloridaRead more More