All posts tagged "Middle East"

Hundreds of diplomats are being forced out of their jobs by the Trump administration despite ongoing crises around the world, according to a new report.

According to CNN, the State Department finalized the firing of nearly 250 foreign service officers via email on Friday.

"Your reduction in force separation will be effective today," the email read. "Thank you again for your service to the Department."...

Russia has provided Iran with similar intelligence that the U.S. and Europe provide Ukraine, according to a new Wall Street Journal report published on Tuesday.

Iran has received information from Russia about the locations of American military forces and its allies across the Middle East, including satellite images and improved Shahed drone technology, an officer and Middle Eastern diplomat told The Journal.

"Russia is trying to keep its closest Middle Eastern partner in the fight against U.S. and Israeli military might and prolong a war that is benefiting Russia militarily and economically," according to The Journal. ...

WASHINGTON — A debate’s raging within the Republican Party over whether or not America’s at war with Iran.

"We're in a bombing," Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Raw Story. "We're bombing the hell out of them."

Despite the 2,000 targets reportedly hit, 17 naval ships allegedly destroyed and ongoing “24/7 strikes into Iran” — according to Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command — some of the more MAGA members of the Senate GOP refuse to use the “w” word. ...

Critics were quick to jump on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for re-nominating President Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize after a Ukrainian official withdrew his recommendation, and Pakistani officials considered doing the same following the president's bombing of Iran.

Netanyahu "surprised" Trump with the nomination at a White House dinner on Monday.

The White House posted the moment to social media, recounting Netanyahu's words: "President Trump is 'forging peace as we speak, in one country and one region after the other. So, I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee. It's nominating you for the peace prize, which is well-deserved.'"...

President Donald Trump saluted each Saudi Arabian general who greeted him during his visit to Riyadh Tuesday, causing critics to melt down over the spectacle.

Standing next to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump was seen saluting and shaking hands as the long line of generals waited to greet the American president.

Journalist and former UN diplomat Olga Nesterova pointed out, "Trump goes ahead and salutes every single Saudi official at the Royal Court in Riyadh." ...

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated support for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict and called for an immediate halt to Israeli settlement on the West Bank during a town hall meeting in his constituency on Saturday. "Our view is that there has to be a two-state solution," Scholz said in Nuthetal near Berlin. "There has to be the prospect of peaceful coexistence between Israel as state and a Palestinian state," he said. This is in Israel's own best interest, he added. Scholz expressed the hope that defeat of Hamas would boost the chance of peaceful coexistence in two states......