Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Friday, April 27, 2018

Israel: Arms embargo needed as military unlawfully kills and maims Gaza protesters


27 April 2018,

Israel is carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them, Amnesty International revealed today, based on its latest research, as the “Great March of Return” protests continued in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military has killed 35 Palestinians and injured more than 5,500 others – some with what appear to be deliberately inflicted life-changing injuries – during the weekly Friday protests that began on 30 March.
Amnesty International has renewed its call on governments worldwide to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel following the country’s disproportionate response to mass demonstrations along the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel.
“For four weeks the world has watched in horror as Israeli snipers and other soldiers, in full-protective gear and behind the fence, have attacked Palestinian protesters with live ammunition and tear gas. Despite wide international condemnation, the Israeli army has not reversed its illegal orders to shoot unarmed protesters,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. 
“The time for symbolic statements of condemnation is now over. The international community must act concretely and stop the delivery of arms and military equipment to Israel. A failure to do so will continue to fuel serious human rights abuses against thousands of men, women and children suffering the consequences of life under Israel’s cruel blockade of Gaza. These people are merely protesting their unbearable conditions and demanding the right to return to their homes and towns in what is now Israel.” 
The USA is by far Israel’s main supplier of military equipment and technology, with a commitment to provide $38 billion in military aid over the next 10 years. But other countries, including EU member states such as France, Germany, the UK and Italy, have licensed large volumes of military equipment for Israel.
Protesters shot from behind
In most of the fatal cases analysed by Amnesty International victims were shot in the upper body, including the head and the chest, some from behind. Eyewitness testimonies, video and photographic evidence suggest that many were deliberately killed or injured while posing no immediate threat to the Israeli soldiers. 
Among the victims are 23-year-old football player Mohammad Khalil Obeid, who was shot in both knees as he filmed himself with his back towards the border fence at a protest east of al-Breij Camp on 30 March.
The video, published on social media, shows the moment he was shot. In the footage, he appears to be standing in an isolated area, far from the fence, and not seeming to pose any threat to the lives of Israeli soldiers. He is currently in need of a knee replacement operation to be able to walk again.
“As a Palestinian player my life has been destroyed... I was dreaming of playing football abroad, and to raise the Palestinian flag abroad [to show] that we are not terrorists,” he told Amnesty International. 
“We wanted to convey our message to all organizations, countries and heads of states so that they see what is happening to us, because no one would accept this anywhere in the world.”
Injuries not seen since the war
Doctors at the European and Shifa hospitals in Gaza City told Amnesty International that many of the serious injuries they have witnessed are to the lower limbs, including the knees, which are typical of war wounds that they have not observed since the 2014 Gaza conflict.
Many have suffered extreme bone and tissue damage, as well as large exit wounds measuring between 10 and 15mm, and will likely face further complications, infections and some form of physical disability, such as paralysis or amputation. Reports of the high number of injuries to the knees, which increase the probability of bullet fragmentation, are particularly disturbing. If true, they would suggest that the Israeli army is intentionally intending to inflict life-changing injuries.
Doctors also said that they have observed another type of devastating injury characterized by large internal cavities, plastic left inside the body but no exit wounds.
According to military experts as well as a forensic pathologist who reviewed photographs of injuries obtained by Amnesty International, many of the wounds observed by doctors in Gaza are consistent with those caused by high-velocity Israeli-manufactured Tavor rifles using 5.56mm military ammunition. Other wounds bear the hallmarks of US-manufactured M24 Remington sniper rifles shooting 7.62mm hunting ammunition, which expand and mushroom inside the body.
According to a recent statement by Médecins Sans Frontières, half of the over 500 patients admitted to its clinics were treated for injuries “where the bullet has literally destroyed tissue after having pulverized the bone”. This information has been confirmed by humanitarian NGOs as well as testimonies collected from doctors by Palestinian human rights groups in Gaza.
“The nature of these injuries shows that Israeli soldiers are using high-velocity military weapons designed to cause maximum harm to Palestinian protesters that do not pose imminent threat to them. These apparently deliberate attempts to kill and main are deeply disturbing, not to mention completely illegal. Some of these cases appear to amount to wilful killing, a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime,” said Magdalena Mughrabi.
“Unless Israel ensures effective and independent investigations resulting in criminal prosecutions of those responsible, the International Criminal Court must open a formal investigation into these killings and serious injuries as possible war crimes and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.”
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as of 26 April, the total number of injured is estimated at 5,511 – 592 children, 192 women and 4,727 men – with 1,738 injuries from live ammunition. Approximately half of those admitted to hospitals suffered injuries to the legs and the knees, while 225 sustained injuries to the neck and head, 142 others were shot in the abdomen and pelvis, and 115 were injured in the chest and the back. So far, the injuries have resulted in 18 amputations.  
Four children aged between 14 and 17 are among those killed due to injuries sustained during protests. Two journalists have also been shot dead, despite both wearing protective vests that clearly identified them as members of the press, while several others have been injured.
Gaza’s hospitals have struggled to cope with the large number of casualties due to shortages in medical supplies, electricity and fuel caused by the Israeli blockade and exacerbated by the intra-Palestinian divide. Meanwhile, Israel has been delaying or refusing the transfer of some patients in need of urgent specialized medical treatment available in other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories due to their participation in protests.
In one case documented by Amnesty International, 20-year-old journalist Yousef al-Kronz had his left leg amputated after the Israeli authorities denied him permission to travel to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank for urgent medical treatment. He was eventually allowed to leave for an operation to save his other leg following legal intervention by human rights groups.
Paramedics in Gaza have told Amnesty International of difficulties evacuating injured protesters due to the Israeli army firing tear gas canisters at them as well as near field hospitals.
Unlawful killings and life-changing injuries
The organizers of the “Great March of Return” have repeatedly stated that the protests are intended to be peaceful, and they have largely involved sit-ins, concerts, sports games, speeches and other peaceful activities.
Despite this, the Israeli army reinforced its forces – deploying tanks, military vehicles, soldiers and snipers along the Gaza fence – and gave orders to shoot anyone within several hundred metres of the fence.
While some protesters have attempted to approach the fence, threw stones in the direction of Israeli soldiers or burnt tyres, social media videos, as well as eyewitness testimonies gathered by Amnesty International, Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups, show that Israeli soldiers shot unarmed protesters, bystanders, journalists and medical staff approximately 150-400m from the fence, where they did not pose any threat. 
In a petition requesting that the Israeli Supreme Court order the Israeli army to stop using live ammunition to disperse protests, human rights groups Adalah and Al Mezan provided evidence of 12 videos published on social media showing unarmed protesters, including women and children, being shot by the Israeli army. In some cases, people were shot while waving the Palestinian flag or running away from the fence.  


Video footage widely circulated on social media shows Abd Al-Fattah Abd Al-Nabi, aged 19, being shot on 30 March as he was running away from the fence while holding a tyre, with his back turned to Israeli soldiers. He was shot in the back of the head and died. On Friday 20  April, 14-year-old Mohammad Ayyoub was also killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Background
 Over the last 11 years, civilians in the Gaza Strip have suffered the devastating consequences of Israel’s illegal blockade in addition to three wars. As a result, Gaza’s economy has sharply declined, leaving its population almost entirely dependent on international aid. Gaza now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world at 44%. Four years since the 2014 conflict, some 22,000 people remain displaced.
In January 2015, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary examination of situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, specifically looking into allegations of crimes committed since 13 June 2014.
Amnesty International has also been calling on all states to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, as well as on Palestinian armed groups, with the aim of preventing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by all sides. 
Since 30 March, in addition to the protesters, seven other Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes, artillery fire or live ammunition, including a farmer who was harvesting his land near the fence, and six members of Palestinian armed groups. 

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Israeli snipers targeting journalists in Gaza


Photographer wearing flak jacket marked as PRESS and wearing a blue helmet is seen from behind while taking photos of demonstrators
Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been injured while covering the Great March of Return protests in Gaza.
Mohammed ZaanounActiveStills

The Great March of Return series of protests have been bloody.
The Israeli military has reacted with deadly and purposeful force, killing and wounding at seemingly random. And still people have come from all over Gaza to demonstrate and protest their right of return to the lands from where they, their parents and grandparents, were once evicted.
With them we came, the journalists, watching and filming, bearing witness to the events as they transpired and talking to people to hear their stories and motivations.
For us, too, the protests have been dangerous. I was lucky to have a dermatologist father-in-law who could give me the required cream for a rash on my shoulder and abdomen that appeared hours after being exposed to tear gas on the day of the first demonstration on 30 March.
And from that relatively mundane example to the deadly, journalists have been very much in the line of fire.
So far, there have been two fatalities among those covering the protests. There have been a high number of injuries to journalists – as many as 66 over the four demonstrations held so far, according to Ashraf al-Qedra, a spokesperson for Gaza’s ministry of health – prompting calls for the protection of journalists and investigations into the violence. Human right organizations and international watchdogs like the Committee to Protect Journalists have been at the forefront of these calls.
These have had little effect on Israel’s behavior.

“Our duty”

Ahmad Abu Hussein, the latest journalist to die while doing his job in Gaza, was shot through the abdomen on 13 April during the third of the Great March of Return protests. The photojournalist was wearing a blue flak jacket that was clearly marked with the word “PRESS” emblazoned across the chest in capital letters.

Footage of his shooting shows he stood at a fair distance from the boundary – reported as “permissible” by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz – with a blue helmet and flak jacket amid a crowd of demonstrators:



وكالة شهاب
✔@ShehabAgency

تصوير يوثق قنص الاحتلال للصحفي احمد ابو حسين شرق جباليا شمالي قطاع غزة والذي وصفت حالته بالخطيرة
10:12 AM - Apr 13, 2018
The human rights group Al Mezan stated that Abu Hussein was some 200 meters from the boundary when he was shot.
Abu Hussein, 24, was rushed to a hospital in Gaza in critical condition, but was prevented by the Israeli military from leaving for better treatment in the West Bank or elsewhere for another two days.
He was eventually moved to the West Bank, but after several days in a Ramallah hospital, he was transferred to Tel Hashomer, an Israeli hospital, on 20 April to receive specialist treatment.


Protesters hold up a poster of Ahmad Abu Hussein and a blue helmet
Palestinian journalists in Gaza protest on 15 April to demand the right of their colleague Ahmad Abu Hussein to travel for treatment after he was shot and injured by Israeli forces while covering a Great March of Return protest.
 Ramez HabboubAPA images

It was there he died on Wednesday, 25 April, five days after his colleagues in Gaza went back again to cover the fourth mass protest.
They remain undeterred. The story, most said, had to be covered.
Israa al-Buhaisi, 32, suffered from tear gas inhalation on 13 April, but had no doubts about returning for the most recent protest, on 20 April.
“I am afraid of tear gas,” the reporter with the Iranian Al-Alam News Network told The Electronic Intifada. “But this will not hinder me from doing my job covering what’s happening in the field.”
Another photojournalist, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed’s Muhammad al-Hajar, 32, was injured on 13 Friday, a bullet strafing his shoulder, but also came back with his camera and blue vest for the next protest.
“This is our duty,” he told The Electronic Intifada. “We owe it to Yaser and Ahmad. It’s our duty to uncover the Israeli crimes against the peaceful march.”

Ridiculous accusations

Al-Hajar was referring to Yaser Murtaja, 31, the first fatality among journalists. Murtaja was shot in the abdomen while covering the demonstrations in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 6 April and died in hospital hours later.
Rushdi Sarraj, 25, was right next to Murtaja when he was shot.
“We were 300 meters away from the Israeli positions,” he told The Electronic Intifada. “Suddenly, I saw him fall to the ground bleeding. His camera, which was set to shoot video, kept recording.”
Sarraj, who co-founded the Ain Media company with Murtaja, is convinced his friend was intentionally targeted. He pointed out that Murtaja was shot through the unprotected part of his blue flak jacket – also clearly emblazoned with the word “PRESS” – suggesting a clear line of sight and therefore intent.
Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli defense minister, later suggested Murtaja’s killing was justified, claiming the young journalist was on the payroll of the military wing of Hamas.
“Once again we see how Hamas uses the media, ambulances and patients, including cancer patients who are sent to hospitals in Israel” to carry out “terrorist missions,” Lieberman said.
Murtaja’s local colleagues, like the International Federation of Journalists, derided Lieberman’s comments as “ridiculous.” And the Israeli minister’s remarks also conflicted with news that Ain Media had been cleared for a USAID grant by the US State Department, for technical assistance and equipment, such as computers.
Such a grant – normally only offered after a lengthy and exhaustive process – would not be forthcoming if there was any suggestion that either of the founders had links to Hamas, which the US State Department classifies as a terrorist organization.

“Like a brother”

Murtaja, the father of a 2-year-old, was a well-known figure on Gaza’s media scene and left many fond memories, not least among those with whom he came into contact as a result of his job.
Bisan Daher, 12, will never forget Murtaja. The journalist documented the girl’s rescue from beneath the rubble of her family house during the Israeli offensive of 2014.
The eventual film, Bisan, was a co-production between Ain Media and Al-Jazeera, but was far more than just work for all concerned. The hours-long rescue was traumatic and cathartic at the same time, and Bisan came to consider those involved, including the paramedic who pulled her out as well as Murtaja, who was filming, as her relatives.
The girl lost most of her family in the deadly strike on her house in the al-Shujaiya neighborhood and now lives with an older brother who had not been home at the time of the attack. And Murtaja, touched, like all those who came into contact with the girl, became more than just a cameraman. He helped her through the counseling she received and would visit and bring toys.
“He was like a brother to me,” Bisan told The Electronic Intifada, clutching a SpongeBob SquarePants doll that Murtaja had brought her.
Her brother, Emad, 27, said news of Murtaja’s killing had caused Bisan to relive traumatic memories from 2014.
“She doesn’t go out anymore and doesn’t eat well, just like in 2014.”

Deliberate targeting

The number of casualties among journalists suggests a deliberate violation of international humanitarian law. Journalists are considered civilians and therefore entitled to all the rights and protections afforded to civilians in war time.
That status was reaffirmed in 2006 by the UN Security Council, which unanimously adopted UNSC Resolution 1738 calling for an end to attacks on journalists in conflict areas.
The fact that in many, if not all cases, journalists were wearing clearly marked protective clothing, however, suggests that their wounding – and killing – by the Israeli military is deliberate policy.
That was also noted by the Committee to Protect Journalists in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The shootings suggest that Israeli authorities could be trying to suppress media coverage of the protests,” the watchdog stated.


Protesters wearing flak jackets display poster of Yaser Murtaja holding a kitten
Palestinian journalists in Gaza protest the killing of their colleague Yaser Murtaja, 9 April.
Sanad LatefaAPA images

Adham al-Najar is in little doubt that the number of injured journalists is a message from Israel.
The 32-year-old freelance photographer was shot in the leg a few hours after Murtaja’s fatal shooting on 6 April while taking photos of protesters in the Zeitoun area southeast of Gaza City and near the closed Karni crossing for goods.
“I was wearing my flak jacket, marked with ‘PRESS.’ All I was doing was taking photos of these youths,” al-Najar told The Electronic Intifada while waiting on a bed in the orthopedic department of Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital for a third surgery on his leg as a result of his injury.
“Israel is sending a message to all journalists that we’re a target,” al-Najar said. “They’re trying to frighten us. They want to hide the truth, but we won’t stop.”
Al-Najar is defiant. His doctor, Muhanad al-Ajramy, says he is unlikely to walk normally again. The bullet shattered his knee. Tendons and muscles have sustained permanent damage. He is lucky, al-Ajramy said, that his right leg wasn’t amputated.
But al-Najar says he will go back to reporting again.
“I’ll be back in the field, even if I have to do so on one leg.”
In another room in the same department, Khalil Abu Athra, 34, was recovering after an operation in which he had a metal brace inserted onto his left leg.
The veteran cameraman – in 14 years with al-Aqsa TV, this was the first time he had ever been injured, he told The Electronic Intifada – was wounded in the Rafah area, also on 6 April, despite wearing a clearly marked blue press flak jacket. Ebrahem Musalam, Abu Athra’s colleague, who was with him that day, said there was no doubt in his mind that the reporter had been deliberately targeted by a sniper.
Abu Athra, too, was adamant that there could be no other explanation for his injury.
“I didn’t even consider that I might be shot,” the father-of-three told The Electronic Intifada. “I was very far away from both soldiers and demonstrators. But it seems that media were a target on the second Friday.”
Hamza Abu Eltarabesh is a journalist from Gaza.
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House Intelligence Committee Republicans release final Russia report

 President Trump said April 27 he was “very honored” by a report by House Intelligence Committee Republicans from a probe into Russia’s influence campaign. (The Washington Post)


House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a redacted version of their final report from a year-long probe into Russia’s “multifaceted” influence operation, generally clearing President Trump and his associates of wrongdoing while accusing the intelligence community and the FBI of failures in how they assessed and responded to the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.

The report accuses the intelligence community of “significant intelligence tradecraft failings,”
suggesting that Russia’s main goal was to sow discord in the United States and not to help Trump win the election. It says investigators found “no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government” — even as it details contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians or Russian intermediaries.

Trump seized on the report to call for an end to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s criminal investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russia.

“Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. ‘No evidence’ that the Trump Campaign ‘colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia,’ ” Trump wrote. “Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!”

But committee Democrats quickly charged that their Republican colleagues had rushed to end their work prematurely in a “a systematic effort to muddy the waters and to deflect attention away from the President.”

They released nearly 100 pages of their own findings, asserting that Russian intelligence “used intermediaries and cutouts to probe, establish contact, and possibly glean valuable information from a diverse set of actors associated with President Trump and his campaign,” though more work needed to be done to determine whether and to what extent they were aware of or helped that effort.


A report from House Intelligence Commitee Republicans says there is no evidence that Donald Trump’s pre-campaign business dealings paved the way for election help from Russia, even though Trump’s financial dealings appear to remain under investigation by the special counsel. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg News)

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the GOP document demonstrates “the Majority’s fundamentally flawed approach to the investigation and the superficial and political nature of its conclusions.”

Collectively, the reports offered little in the way of new information but gave each political party ammunition to support their long held arguments about how Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Mueller’s probe, which is still ongoing, is thought to be far more revelatory, as he has law enforcement powers and far more investigative resources. The Senate Intelligence Committee is also pursuing its own investigation, which has been marked by far less partisanship than the one in the House.

The House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe took on the character of a boxing ring over the past year, as Republicans and Democrats repeatedly came to blows over whether GOP leaders were trying to end the investigation to paint the president in the most flattering possible light. The committee is led by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), one of Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress and a former adviser to Trump’s transition team. Nunes was forced to step down from involvement in large portions of the investigation while he was under an ethics probe that cleared him of wrongdoing.

The Republican report criticizes both the Trump and Clinton campaigns for “poor judgment and ill-considered actions,” such as Trump campaign officials’ decision to meet with a Russian lawyer offering compromising information on Hillary Clinton in Trump Tower in June 2016. It also criticizes the Obama administration for a “slow and inconsistent” response to mounting Russian threats.

President Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia.(Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

The report takes particular aim at the FBI and intelligence community, for failing to appropriately assess Russia’s intent and failing to notify the Trump campaign of possible threats in their midst.

The report asserts that while intelligence officials had concerns about Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in early 2016, the FBI did not give campaign officials a defensive briefing to alert them their worries.

“The FBI did not provide any such warning about Page, although it was again discussed by the administration’s most senior policymakers after [then-FBI] Director [James] Comey briefed the National Security Council principals about the Page information in ‘late spring’ 2016,” the report says, citing an interview with former attorney general Loretta E. Lynch.

The report says the intelligence community also did not warn the campaign of the Russian ties of other aides, including George Papadopoulos, who has admitted to lying to the FBI about his campaign outreach to the Kremlin.

The report makes an extensive case that allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin are unfounded. It devotes an entire chapter to alleged campaign links with Russia, and attempts to knock down many of the most damaging claims against the campaign or minimize the significance of the well-established interactions.

For instance, the report says that a meeting the candidate’s son, Donald Trump Jr., organized with a Russian lawyer and other key campaign advisers in June 2016 showed that he was “open to discussing derogatory information” about Democrat Hillary Clinton, including material potentially provided by the Russian government.

But the report concludes that there is no evidence any such material was provided, and says that a music promoter testified that he made up the claim about having damaging Clinton information to get the meeting.

The report concludes that the Russians found “willing interlocutors” in Page and Papadopoulos, two previously unknown aides named to the campaign because Trump had trouble recruiting from the Republican national security establishment, the committee found. But the report asserts that the two were “peripheral figures” and neither was “in a position to influence Trump or his campaign.”

The report also says there is no evidence that Trump confidante Roger Stone and others who publicly suggested advanced knowledge of WikiLeaks’s releases of hacked emails before the election actually had such knowledge.

However, the Republicans released a previously undisclosed email from former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn on July 15, 2016, in which he wrote, “There are a number of things happening (and will happen) this election via cyber operations (by both hacktivists, nation states and the DNC).”

The email came after news the DNC had been hacked and had been made public but before WikiLeaks had released those emails publicly on July 22. Committee Republicans concluded the email did “not necessarily indicate non-public knowledge.”

The report says that there is no evidence that Trump’s pre-campaign business dealings paved the way for election help from Russia, even though Trump’s financial dealings appear to remain under investigation by the special counsel. It also asserts that apparent efforts by the campaign and Russia to set up a “back channel” after the election were, counterintuitively, evidence that there was not earlier collusion.

The report disparages the infamous “dossier” compiled by a former British spy as full of “second and third-hand” information, and claims that the file was then used to justify putting Trump campaign associates under surveillance — an assertion vehemently disputed by the FBI. And it all but accuses intelligence officials of deliberately leaking damaging information about Trump to the media before and after the election. It devotes little attention to Trump’s often inconstant explanations of events, while accusing then-Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. of providing inconsistent testimony to the committee about his contacts with the media.

Much of the report’s section on intelligence leaks is redacted, so it is unclear exactly how they reached those conclusions, but the committee does single out reports by The Washington Post, New York Times, NBC and CNN as among those that raised concerns.

“Continued leaks of classified information have damaged national security and potentially endangered lives,” the report says, followed by several redacted paragraphs.

The Republican report also urges Congress to consider rescinding the Logan Act, the law that prohibits American citizens from undercutting the U.S. government by engaging in unauthorized negotiations with foreign leaders. It is the law that Flynn was suspected of possibly violating in his interactions with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, though the report curiously asserts agents “did not detect any deception during Flynn’s interview.”

The Democrats rebuttal, meanwhile, excoriates “a majority” of the GOP report’s conclusions as “misleading and unsupported by the facts and the investigative record.”

The GOP’s findings, Democrats charged, “have been crafted to advance a political narrative that exonerates the President, downplays Russia’s preference and support for then-candidate Trump, explains away repeated contacts by Trump associates with Russia-aligned actors, and seeks to shift suspicion towards President Trump’s political opponents and the prior administration.” They said they intended to continue their own work, exploring, among other things, financial dealings and efforts by Trump to interfere with the special counsel investigation.

“Congress has an obligation to find out the truth and inform the American people,” the Democrats said in their report. “To the best of our ability, we will continue to do so, until such time as the full Congress once again lives up to its oversight responsibilities.”
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China Threatens U.S. Airlines Over Taiwan References

Beijing is pressuring companies around the world to follow the party line on Taiwan sovereignty — or else.

United Airlines flight 897 lifts off from Dulles International Airport on its maiden flight from Washington, DC to Beijing, the first-ever nonstop flight between the two capitals, on March 28, 2007. (Paul J. RIchards/AFP/Getty Images)

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BY , -
  The Civil Aviation Administration of China has sent a letter to United Airlines and American Airlines demanding that their global operations follow China’s restrictions against “separatism,” meaning that any references to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau as countries independent from China must be removed.

The strongly worded letter demands that all public-facing content, across the world, must follow “Chinese law.” It gives the airlines a set timeline to comply with the demands, threatening that if not obeyed, the matter will be referred to “the relevant cyber-security authorities” for punishment, a source with access to the letter told Foreign Policy.

The websites of both United and American list airports in Taiwan only as “Taiwan,” without reference to China. Chinese officials have increasingly pressured foreign companies and international organizations to explicitly refer to Taiwan as part of mainland China.

An American Airlines spokesperson confirmed to FP that the company received the letter and is reviewing it. United Airlines did not provide a comment.

The status of Taiwan is one of the most consistent and sensitive red lines in mainland China, and tight linguistic rules are enforced. Within China, producing material deemed “separatist,” even accidentally — such as by using a map that shows Taiwan in a different color than China — can result in serious legal and political consequences, including fines, public castigation, and even potential jail time.

China’s demands to U.S. airlines are part of an increasingly coercive campaign by Beijing to bring foreign companies, including their operations outside of China, in line with the Communist Party’s official stance. By threatening to deny access to its enormous markets, China uses economic leverage to achieve foreign-policy goals.

In January, Beijing pulled the plug on Marriott’s website in China for an entire week after the hotel company included Taiwan and Tibet in a pull-down list of countries in an online survey sent to Chinese consumers. In response, Marriott apologized, ended its relationship with the contractor responsible for the survey, and fired a U.S.-based Marriott employee, Roy Jones, who had used a company social media account to “like” a post from the Twitter account of a Tibetan separatist group.

In late March, the Man Booker International Prize changed the nationality of Wu Ming-yi, a 2018 longlist awardee hailing from Taiwan, to “Taiwan, China” under pressure from the Chinese Embassy in London. After an international outcry, the organization changed Wu’s affiliation back to “Taiwan” but described it as a “country/territory” rather than a nationality.

China is projected to replace the United States as the world’s largest air travel market by 2022, according to a 2017 forecast by the International Air Transport Association. United Airlines operates 20 percent of all flights between China and United States. Airline traffic between the two countries is heavily regulated; bilateral agreements have limited the number of round-trip flights by U.S. airlines to China to 140 per week, while Chinese airlines are permitted 180 flights per week.

The Chinese aviation administration letter comes amid chilled relations between Taipei and Beijing.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has shunned her predecessor’s close ties to mainland China. Last year, China persuaded one of Taiwan’s last remaining allies, Panama, to cut ties with Taipei and establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.

This month, the Chinese navy, led by its aircraft carrier the Liaoning, carried out military drills near Taiwan and launched bombers to fly a circle around the small island nation.

Beijing has successfully blocked Taipei’s official participation in many multilateral organizations, or allowed it only on the condition that Taiwan be referred to as “Chinese Taipei” or other terms indicating Chinese sovereignty over the island.

The letter also comes amid a looming trade war between the United States and China, as U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped up to $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate against imports of U.S. goods including fruit, pork, and wine.

Under the auspices of Trump’s overarching “Buy American, Hire American” drive, the State Department has trumpeted international business deals for the U.S. aviation industry.

Robbie Gramer contributed reporting.
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North and South Korean leaders promise 'lasting peace' for peninsula

Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in pledge denuclearisation and end to decades of hostility after summit
Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in in Panmunjom. Their joint statement was a cause for optimism, but short on detail. Photograph: AP

 in Goyang, South Korea,  in Tokyo and 

The leaders of North and South Korea have promised after a landmark summit to bring “lasting peace” to the peninsula with a commitment to denuclearisation and to ending decades of hostilities.

Speaking at the end of an extraordinary day that began with a lingering handshake across the demarcation line separating their countries, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, issued a joint statement that was short on detail but offered cause for optimism as the world looks ahead to a summit between Kim and Donald Trump.

The US president, in his first comments on the declaration, tweeted: “Good things are happening, but only time will tell!” He later added: “KOREAN WAR TO END!”



Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump

Replying to @realDonaldTrump
KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!
6:55 AM - Apr 27, 2018

Speaking at the White House, Trump warned that the US was “not going to be played” by North Korea, later the US president said he was getting close to choosing a venue for talks with Kim. “We’re setting up meetings now,” he said. “We’re down to two countries... and we’ll let you know what that site is.”

At a joint press conference with Angela Merkel, Trump said: “Maximum pressure will continue until denuclearisation occurs. I look forward to our meeting, which will be quite something.”

The Panmunjom declaration, named after the truce village that hosted the talkson Friday, committed the two Koreas to seek the “complete denuclearisation” of the peninsula.

“South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean peninsula,” it said. “South and North Korea shared the view that the measures being initiated by North Korea are very meaningful and crucial for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and agreed to carry out their respective roles and responsibilities in this regard.”

The statement did not specify what Pyongyang expected in return for abandoning its nuclear weapons – the regime’s best deterrent against what it regards as a hostile US.

 Key moments from historic Korean summit – video report

Speaking outside the peace house on the southern side of the border that has divided the Korean peninsula for 65 years, the leaders also pledged to push for talks with the US, and possibly China, to formally end the 1950-53 Korean warwith a peace treaty to replace the uneasy truce that stopped hostilities.

Noting that more than a decade had passed since the countries’ leaders last met, Kim and Moon agreed to talk regularly by phone and meet more often, starting with a summit in Pyongyang in autumn.

They vowed to work more closely on a host of bilateral issues, including reuniting families divided by the Korean war and improving cross-border transport links.

Months after relations between the two countries sank to their lowest levelfollowing North Korean missile launches and its sixth nuclear test, Moon said he and Kim were aware that the hopes of 80 million North and South Koreans rested on their shoulders.

“We were able to stand together today and agree that we should denuclearise the Korean peninsula,” Moon said, according to a translation provided by South Korea’s Arirang TV.

With Kim standing nearby behind a separate podium, he said. “To completely denuclearise, we declare that we will cooperate to bring about an everlasting peace on the peninsula.”


The North Korean first lady, Ri Sol-ju, clinks glasses with Kim and Moon during a reception dinner. Photograph: EPA

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