Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Iran Praises Oscar-Winner’s Stance Against Trump’s Travel Ban; Regime Critics Unimpressed

Iranian officials on Monday hailed the director of an Iranian movie that won an Academy Award for taking a stance against President Trump’s travel ban, but critics of the regime panned the filmmaker for not condemning repression at home. Read

Video Clip Shows IRGC Support For Terror Against America

As Iran’s government claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is widely known to be fighting terrorism in neighboring countries, a newly-emerged video clip purportedly shows an IRGC strategist threatening to unleash terror cells in the U.S., targeting nuclear missile launch facilities, among other things. Read

Monday, February 27, 2017

U.S. General Visits Egypt Following Murderous Terror Attacks on Christians

A top U.S. general is visiting Egypt at a time when the government is under fire for its response to an evidently orchestrated terrorist campaign of killings targeting minority Coptic Christians in northern Sinai. Read

Trump Administration Said to Be Mulling Withdrawal From UN Human Rights Council

The U.N. Human Rights Council opens a regular four-week session on Monday, amid reports that the Trump administration is considering withdrawing from a body which its predecessor chose to embrace despite acknowledging its many flaws. Read

Friday, February 24, 2017

Russian Foreign Ministry Defends Its ‘Fake News’ Project Targeting U.S. Media

(CNSNews.com) – Russia’s foreign ministry has launched an initiative to brand as “fake news” media reports with which it disagrees, but critics are mocking the name-and-shame effort, which at this stage includes no evident fact-checking of the identified articles. Read

Mexico: We’ll Go to the U.N. to Defend ‘Human Rights’ of Mexicans in U.S.

Mexico’s foreign minister says his government will seek the intervention of the United Nations if necessary to defend the human rights of its citizens caught up in the Trump administration’s tough new approach to illegal immigration. Read

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Iran Troubled by Signs of Emerging Israeli-Arab Reconciliation

As Israel’s government senses emerging, historic opportunities for understandings with former Arab enemies, the regime in Iran – whose regional actions are seen as a key catalyst in that rapprochement – is deeply troubled by the prospect. Read

Iran Hosts Terrorist Groups as U.S. Mulls Terror Designation for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

At a time when the Trump administration is considering designating the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, the regime this week brazenly hosted leaders from at least five FTOs at a quadrennial event celebrating terrorism against Israel. Read

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

US to Putin: Sanctions to Remain in Place Until Crimea Occupation Ends

The Trump administration threw its support unequivocally behind Ukraine Tuesday in that country’s ongoing conflict with Russia, informing the Kremlin that U.S. sanctions will remain in place until Russia ends its occupation of Crimea. Read

Global Rights Group Accuses Trump, Others of ‘Politics of Demonization’

A leading human rights group has accused President Trump and other “anti-establishment” politicians of “wield[ing] politics of demonization that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people to win the support of voters.” Read

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

U.S. May Withhold Funding for Leading U.N. Agencies With Questionable Leadership

Several United Nations agencies that are among the biggest recipients of U.S. taxpayer dollars have given leadership positions to U.S.-designated state sponsors of terrorism and countries with poor records on human rights and religious freedoms. That funding could be in jeopardy if a draft presidential executive order becomes a reality. Read

Lowered Annual Cap of 50,000 Refugees Will Likely Be Retained in Revised Immigration Order

President Trump’s revised immigration executive order will reportedly prohibit entry to most citizens of the same seven Muslim-majority countries as those targeted in the original one, and will also keep in place his cap of 50,000 refugees this year. Read

Monday, February 20, 2017

Sweden Looks Forward to Informing Trump About Its ‘Immigration and Integration Policies’

The Swedish government said Sunday it looks forward to “informing the U.S. administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies,” after a reference to Sweden in a speech by President Trump left the Scandinavian country bemused. Read

Buoyed by Washington Trip, Netanyahu Heads to Australia, Where Protests Await Him

On the first ever visit by an Israeli prime minister to Australia, Binyamin Netanyahu will this week be met both by heated protests and by the support of one of the world’s most pro-Israel governments. Read

Friday, February 17, 2017

GOP Sponsors of Bill to Force Arms-Control Treaty Compliance Say U.S. Won't Be 'Played by Putin’

A group of Republican lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday designed to compel Russia to resume compliance with a key arms-control treaty, saying the U.S. would no longer be “played” by a Russian leader who had been “emboldened” by the policies of the previous administration. Read

‘No More Restraint’: Pakistan Army Chief Vows to Avenge Deadly Shrine Bombing

Pakistan’s army chief warned there would be “no more restraint” and vowed to avenge the blood of more than 70 people, including dozens of women and children, killed in a suicide bombing in a Sufi shrine in the south of the country on Thursday. Read

Thursday, February 16, 2017

60% of Refugee Arrivals Since Judge Halted Trump’s Order Come From 5 Terror-Prone Countries

Sixty percent of the refugees admitted into the United States since a federal judge halted President Trump’s executive order designed to prevent “foreign terrorist entry into the United States” originate from five of the seven countries identified by the administration and its predecessor as most risky. Read

Applause, Anxiety in the Region Greet Trump’s Remarks on ‘Two-State Solution’

President Trump on Wednesday downplayed a “two-state solution” to the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, a day after the new U.N. secretary-general insisted that there was no alternative if what he called the “mother” of all conflicts across the region was to be resolved. Read