Beijing’s Censors Block CNSNews.com in China

Chinese Communist Party’s censors appear to have blocked access in China to CNSNews.com, at a time when the website’s audience numbers in the country evidently have been increasing.  Read

In Translation of Leaked Tape, Zarif Says He Didn’t Know About Israeli Ops in Syria Until Kerry Told Him

Iran’s foreign minister says he did not know about covert Israeli attacks on Iranian targets in Syria before former Secretary of State John Kerry informed him about them – an additional twist to a simmering controversy that is drawing fresh calls by Republican lawmakers for the resignation of President Biden’s climate envoy.  Read

Biden: We Went Into Afghanistan ‘To Get Terrorists,’ Not For ‘Nation-Building’

U.S. forces went into Afghanistan “to get terrorists,” not to launch a “multigenerational undertaking of nation-building,” President Biden said in his speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night.  Read

Iran’s President Accuses Enemies of Leaking Audio Clip That Is Stoking Controversy for Zarif, Kerry

As Republicans continue to call for climate envoy John Kerry to resign or be investigated over allegations of improper interaction with Iran’s foreign minister, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani claimed Wednesday that Iran’s enemies had been responsible for the leak of an audio recording at the center of the controversy.  Read

Pelosi Cites ‘High Privilege and Distinct Honor’ As She Presents Biden; Last Year Was Different

As she introduced President Joe Biden ahead of his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not hide her enthusiasm.  What a difference a year makes. Read

Cruz to Democrats: Oppose ‘Rabid Anti-Israel, Conspiracy-Theory-Tweeting Radical’ for Pentagon Post

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted along party lines to confirm President Joe Biden’s pick for the third most-senior post in the Pentagon, after heated criticism over the nominee’s positions and statements, including on Israel and Iran.  Read

Chinese State Media Snipe As US Steps Up Help For COVID-Ravaged India

As India on Monday reported a sixth consecutive day of more than 300,000 new coronavirus cases, the Biden administration announced a series of measures designed to help it deal with the crisis, including diverting raw material to its Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.  Read

Kerry Denies Telling Iranians About Covert Israeli Operations; State Dept. Says It Was Public Knowledge

 Facing calls for his resignation, President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry on Monday denied as “unequivocally false” claims that he had informed Iran’s foreign minister about covert Israeli military strikes against Iranian facilities in Syria.  Read

New Reports Update China’s Five-Year Effort to Restrict Religion

Two new reports on religious freedom issued by U.S.-based bodies in recent days are drawing fresh attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s five-year campaign aimed at tightening the atheist ruling party’s control over religious faith.  Read

Turkey Fumes Over Armenian Genocide Recognition, Which Comes Amid Damaged Relationship

As anticipated, Turkey’s government reacted angrily to President Joe Biden’s decision to recognize the mass killings of Armenian Christians a century ago as “genocide,” summoning the U.S. ambassador for a reprimand and accusing the U.S. of having bowed to the Armenian American lobby for opportunistic reasons.  Read

Fauci: ‘Outdoor Risk Is Really, Really Quite Low,’ Especially for Vaccinated Americans

Two months after he said it was possible Americans may still need to wear masks in 2022, President Biden’s chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the risk of acquiring COVID-19 outdoors, especially for a vaccinated person, is “minuscule,” and indicated that updated guidance on mask-wearing outdoors would be coming soon.  Read

Russia, China Support UN Claim That US Is Violating Rights by Offering Rewards to Capture Terrorists

Russia and China are backing accusations by United Nations human rights experts that a U.S. State Department program offering rewards for information leading to the capture of terrorist suspects is violating the rights of those being targeted.  Read

Armenians Hopeful Biden Will Acknowledge ‘Genocide’; Turks Warn of Fraying Alliance

The Armenian community in the United States is cautiously optimistic following reports that President Joe Biden plans to recognize Ottoman Turkey’s mass killings of Armenians a century ago as “genocide.”  Read

Oppressive Iran, Pakistan Elected to UN Body That Promotes ‘Gender Equality,’ ‘Empowerment of Women’

In a secret ballot election, United Nations member-states have elected Iran and Pakistan to four-year terms on the world body’s top agency “dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”  Read

 

UN Rights Chief on Chauvin Verdict: ‘Move On From Talk of Reform to Truly Rethinking Policing’

The United Nations’ top human rights official on Wednesday welcomed the guilty verdict in the George Floyd case, and called for a “rethinking [of] policing, as currently practiced in the U.S. and elsewhere.”  Read

Biden State Dept. Won’t Embrace Pompeo’s 12 Demands for Changes in Iran’s Behavior

 State Department spokesman Ned Price on Tuesday would not respond directly when asked if the Biden administration has abandoned 12 requirements its predecessor set down for changes in Iranian behavior, instead referring dismissively to the demands as having been part of a failed “maximum pressure campaign.”  Read

Pelosi Thanks God – and George Floyd ‘For Sacrificing Your Life For Justice’

George Floyd’s name is now “synonymous with justice, and dignity, and grace, and prayerfulness – and prayerfulness,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a jury in Minnesota delivered a guilty verdict Tuesday in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin.  Read

UN Group Blasts UK Race Report Because It Didn’t Find Britain Inherently Racist

A British government-mandated report into racial disparities in the country has attracted the ire of a race-focused working group at the United Nations, who reject findings that do not neatly align with the dogma that racism is systemic and institutional in Britain.  Read

UN Rights Council Urged to Probe Atrocities in Xinjiang, But It Has Never Challenged China

A leading international human rights advocacy group in a report on Monday urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution setting up an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the Chinese state against minority Mulims in its far-western Xinjiang region.  Read

Biden Administration Backs Down on Refugee Admission Cap; Misleads on Allocations

After drawing fire from refugee agencies and some congressional Democrats, the Biden administration is reversing its decision announced on Friday to keep the number of refugees to be resettled in fiscal year 2021 at the record-low 15,000 cap set by President Trump last fall.  Read

Blinken: Taliban Will Have to Respect Women’s Rights If It Doesn’t Want to Be ‘Treated as a Pariah’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the Taliban will have to respect the rights of women and girls in a future Afghanistan if it has any hopes of winning international acceptance and “not being treated as a pariah.”  Read

Blinken: ‘It Would Be a Mistake … For The Taliban to See Afghanistan Through The Prism of 2001’

Visiting Kabul to sell the Biden administration’s troop withdrawal plan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday advised the Taliban that it would be a mistake “to see Afghanistan through the prism of 2001 or the 1990s.”  Read

‘Low to Moderate’ Intel Confidence on Bounties: Psaki Sidesteps on Whether Biden Regrets Slamming Trump

As it announced sanctions as part of the long-pledged “costs” and “consequences” for malign Russian behavior, the Biden administration on Thursday conceded that the intelligence community has only “low to moderate confidence” regarding one of the issues that has been under review – claims that Russia offered terrorists bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.  Read

US Ambassador to the UN: ‘Slavery Weaved White Supremacy Into Our Founding Documents and Principles’

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Wednesday said the U.S. re-engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council had to be approached in a spirit of “humility,” given the “imperfections” of the United States – a nation where white supremacy was woven into “our founding documents and principles.”  Read

Following Biden’s Lead, NATO Ditches ‘Conditions-Based’ Formula For Afghanistan Withdrawal

For many months NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has been insisting that the alliance’s ongoing military presence in Afghanistan was “conditions-based,” but after President Joe Biden on Wednesday repudiated that principle, Stoltenberg had to walk away from it too.  Read

‘Be Patient. Stay Tuned’ Administration Official Says of Pledged ‘Costs’ For Russia’s Malign Actions

The Biden administration has been pledging “costs” and “consequences” for malign Russian behavior for several months but at a time when a large troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders has sent tensions soaring, a senior State Department official on Tuesday called for patience, while suggesting that steps may be coming soon.  Read

McConnell: Biden Must Explain Why He Thinks ‘Retreating in the Face of the Taliban Will Make America Safer’

President Biden’s decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11 – a move that will not be conditions-based – brought strong, but mixed reactions Tuesday from prominent lawmakers, and not strictly along party lines.  Read

John Kerry Will Reportedly Be The First Senior Biden Administration Official to Visit China

Climate envoy John Kerry looks set to become the first senior Biden administration official to visit China, the country whose relationship with the U.S. has been described as the most consequential in the world.  Read

Lavrov Bristles at US Criticism About Troop Movements Near Ukraine: ‘This is Our Country’

Reacting to U.S. criticism of a buildup of Russian forces near its border with Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday the troops were there because it’s “our country.” Then he asked why it was that the U.S. engages in military activities in the area, “thousands of kilometers away from its territory.”  Read

Will US Defend Taiwan ‘Militarily’? Blinken Won’t ‘Get Into Hypotheticals’ But Cites Commitment

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday declined to “get into hypotheticals” when asked if the U.S. would respond militarily “if China does try something in Taiwan.”  Read

During Recess in Iran Nuclear Deal Talks, Mystery Blackout Hits Key Uranium-Enrichment Plant

 Days after Israel stepped up its warnings about Iran’s nuclear program – amid the Biden administration’s attempts to revive the nuclear deal – the regime in Tehran on Sunday called a blackout at a key nuclear facility an act of “terrorism” and “sabotage.”  Read

White House: More Russian Troops on Ukraine’s Border ‘Than At Any Time Since 2014’

Amid deepening Western concern over Russia’s actions and intentions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to reverse the recent massing of troops near the Ukraine border, where according to the U.S. government Russian has deployed more soldiers than at any time since the conflict began in 2014. Read

Iran Watches From the Wings as US, Iraq Reaffirm Plan to Withdraw Remaining Combat Troops

The word “Iran” does not appear once in a 1,230-word joint U.S.-Iraq statement confirming that “any remaining combat forces” will be removed from Iraq, although the announcement comes amid stepped up rhetoric and attacks by Iran-backed Shi’ite militias demanding their departure. Read

State Dept Won’t Say Directly That IRGC Terror Designation is ‘Not On the Table’ in Iran Nuclear Deal Talks

State Department spokesman Ned Price on Wednesday sidestepped an invitation to rule out the possibility that the Trump administration’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization could be up for negotiation as the U.S. looks to return to the Iran nuclear deal.  Read

Biden Administration Restores Funding to ‘Palestinian Refugee’ Agency; Trump Called it ‘Irredeemably Flawed’

How many of the Palestinians who benefit from international funding to a controversial U.N. agency are actually refugees?  Read

Psaki: Putting Ukraine on a Path to NATO Membership is ‘a Decision For NATO to Make’

Whether or not Ukraine is put on a formal path to NATO membership is “a decision for NATO to make,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, after President Volodymyr Zelensky called it the most urgent issue in its relationship with the transatlantic alliance.  Read

State Dept: ‘Not Going to Offer Advice to US Companies From This Podium’ on Boycotting Beijing Olympics

Less than a week after the State Department in its annual human right report reaffirmed that the U.S. believes the Chinese state is committing “genocide” in Xinjiang, spokesman Ned Price sidestepped when asked if major American companies sponsoring the Beijing Winter Olympics next year should reconsider.  Read

Vladimir Putin Signs Law That Could See Him Ruling Russia Into His 80s

Unless ill health or other circumstance intervenes, President Vladimir Putin could if he chooses continue to lead Russia until 2036 under a law he signed on Monday. That would make him one of the world’s oldest heads of state by the time he leaves office. Read

Amid Tensions, US, Allied and Chinese Navies Hone Capabilities in Indo-Pacific Waters

In a busy time for Indo-Pacific waters, recent days have seen a Chinese Navy carrier task group begin exercises in waters near Taiwan, Chinese and U.S. warships operate in different sectors of the contested South China Sea, and France invite the four nations of the Asia-Pacific “Quad” to join its annual exercise in the Bay of Bengal, east of India.  Read

Biden Team Ventures Into Iran Nuclear Deal Talks in Vienna; Regime Says Lift ‘All’ Sanctions First

As the Biden administration prepares to take part in talks in Vienna with some of the parties to the Iran nuclear deal, the regime in Tehran has made clear that it will not join any meeting with U.S. officials before “all” sanctions imposed by the Trump administration are lifted.  Read

Snubbed Prince Under House Arrest as Jordan Claims to Have Foiled Anti-Government Plot

Arab and Muslim leaders lined up to throw their public support behind Jordan’s King Abdullah on Sunday after authorities said they had foiled a conspiracy against the king, allegedly involving a displaced former crown prince – the king’s half-brother – and a senior former court official.  Read

Administration Now Looking at a ‘Mutual Return to Compliance’ With JCPOA Instead of Iran Complying First

The Biden administration is “ready to pursue a return to compliance with” the U.S. commitments under the Iran nuclear deal – “consistent with Iran also doing the same.” Read

US Pushes for American to Head UN Agency Where Russia, China Are Pushing for Int’l Internet Control

The State Department’s announcement of support for an American to become the next head of a crucial but obscure U.N. specialized agency comes after years of attempts by China and Russia to wrestle control of the Internet from U.S. hands.  Read

China: We Opened Our Labs and the Leak Theory Was ‘Basically Ruled Out'; Now Investigate U.S.

The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday implicitly rebuked World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for not definitely shutting down the so-called “lab-leak” hypothesis for the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.  Read

Psaki Dodges After Sen. Duckworth Says She Was Told, 'You Have Kamala...You Don't Really Need' More Asians

A push by Asian American lawmakers to have someone from the community have a secretary-level post in President Biden’s cabinet hit a snag when, according to one Democratic senator, an administration official told her, “You have Kamala [Harris] … you don’t really need any other Asians in the cabinet.”  Read