Divide on Ukraine support emerges in early 2024 GOP field

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speak at midterm election rallies, in Dayton, Ohio, U.S. November 7, 2022 and Tampa, Florida, U.S., November 8, 2022 in a combination of file photos. (REUTERS)
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speak at midterm election rallies, in Dayton, Ohio, U.S. November 7, 2022 and Tampa, Florida, U.S., November 8, 2022 in a combination of file photos. (REUTERS)
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Updated 15 March 2023

Divide on Ukraine support emerges in early 2024 GOP field

Divide on Ukraine support emerges in early 2024 GOP field
  • Former Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, reflecting an establishment GOP view of the conflict, stressed the importance of a Ukrainian victory over Russia

COLUMBIA, S.C.: Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are emerging as leading rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. But when it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they are united in arguing that stopping the aggression isn’t a vital US strategic interest.
Trump and DeSantis were among the declared and potential GOP presidential candidates surveyed about the war by Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The answers from the group of Republicans revealed a divergence of opinions and underscored how the US response to the war in Ukraine is becoming a litmus test in the early phase of the Republican presidential primary.
But the responses from Trump and DeSantis were particularly notable, both because of their stature in the party and the similarities of their positions. They contended that American involvement had only drawn Russia closer to other adversarial states like China and condemned the tens of billions of dollars that the United States has provided in aid for Ukraine.
“We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland,” wrote DeSantis, who hasn’t yet announced a 2024 campaign.
“Europe isn’t helping itself. They are relying on the United States to largely do it for them. That is very unfair to us,” Trump said, calling on European countries to share more of the financial burden of defending Ukraine.
While the US has provided the majority of the aid, European countries have made substantial contributions, with several giving Ukraine far more than the US in terms of a percentage of their gross domestic product.
Former Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, reflecting an establishment GOP view of the conflict, stressed the importance of a Ukrainian victory over Russia. They cautioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t stop his aggression with Ukraine and warned that NATO countries were at risk.
“We support those who fight our enemies on their shores, so we will not have to fight them ourselves,” wrote Pence, who is considering a 2024 bid. Echoing a line he has used since the beginning of the war, Pence said, “There is no room for Putin apologists in the Republican Party” — a veiled criticism of Trump, who has called Putin “smart.”
In his first real articulation of a plan for Ukraine, DeSantis echoed a Russian talking point by referring to the war as a “territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia.” Ukraine’s borders are internationally recognized, including by the United Nations.
“​While the US has many vital national interests – securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party – becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis wrote.
Citing a goal of peace, DeSantis said the US should not provide any assistance that would lead to the deployment of American troops or “enable Ukraine to engage in offensive operations beyond its borders.
“F-16s and long-range missiles should therefore be off the table,” DeSantis said. “These moves would risk explicitly drawing the United States into the conflict and drawing us closer to a hot war between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. That risk is unacceptable.” The Biden administration has so far ruled out sending F-16 fighter jets and made clear to Ukraine that US weapons should not be used to strike Russian territory.
Trump, as he has before, noted that Russia’s invasion didn’t happen during his administration, casting the conflict as “due to a new lack of respect for the US”
With him as president, Trump said, “that horrible war would end in 24 hours, or less.” Previously asked how he would accomplish this feat, Trump said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference that “you need that office, that power, that whatever it is” of being US president, without providing any details.
As president, Trump disparaged Ukraine and made friendly overtures to Putin, including publicly siding with the Russian leader and his claims that Moscow didn’t meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump said opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine was of national strategic interest not for the US but for Europe, which “should be paying far more than we are, or equal.”
Haley, who declared her candidacy last month and posted her responses to Carlson’s questionnaire in an emailed statement, said US support for Ukraine was critical against an anti-American regime that is “attempting to brutally expand by force into a neighboring pro-American country.” A Russian victory in Ukraine, she said, would only make countries like China and Iran “more aggressive.”
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a potential 2024 candidate, called for “accountability for every single dollar spent” on aid to Ukraine. He also cautioned that the US should beware of the Chinese because of the “adversarial position they have taken against the American people” in “partnering” with Russia.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, another possible presidential contender, argued that the US “has come to rely far too heavily on financial sanctions as a weapon of deterrence” against Russia. She described the US aid sent to Ukraine as a “waste” and said it risked escalation of the conflict.
“This should be Europe’s fight, not ours. We should not waste taxpayer dollars at the risk of nuclear war,” she wrote.
Many of the survey respondents, including DeSantis, Haley and Pence, warned that the US shouldn’t write “blank checks” to Ukraine — a notion that Biden has strongly pushed back on, saying the administration hadn’t given Ukraine everything it had asked for.
US officials also say they have installed layers of oversight on how US money and other aid is disbursed, given Ukraine’s reputation for corruption.
In Washington, congressional Republicans have been setting up an aggressive effort to make the case for why the US should continue spending billions of dollars on the war effort, navigating a chasm between defense hawks and noninterventionists who mirror more of Trump’s approach.
The White House on Tuesday pushed back against the idea that assisting Ukraine was not a vital US interest.
“If we were just to lay back and let Putin take Ukraine ... where does it stop?” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. “And for those who are worried about the cost that this support that we have provided Ukraine amounts to, we would encourage them to consider the cost in blood and treasure — in American blood and treasure — should Mr. Putin succeed and continue to expand his goals.”
In a surprise visit to Washington just before Christmas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech at the US Capitol that the American aid to his country was “not charity” but rather an investment in global security and democracy. “This battle cannot be ignored, hoping that the ocean or something else will provide protection,” Zelensky said.
None of the GOP survey-takers backed the idea of regime change in Russia. DeSantis said ousting Putin “would greatly increase the stakes of the conflict” and argued that a successor “would likely be even more ruthless.” Pence said the decision on whether Putin should remain in power lies with Russian citizens.
Trump suggested the real regime change should take place closer to home.
“We should support regime change in the United States, that’s far more important,” Trump wrote. “The Biden administration are the ones who got us into this mess.”

 


Another powerful Pacific storm hits soggy, snowy California

Another powerful Pacific storm hits soggy, snowy California
Updated 27 min 40 sec ago

Another powerful Pacific storm hits soggy, snowy California

Another powerful Pacific storm hits soggy, snowy California
  • Damage since the onslaught began in late December includes buildings crushed by snow, flooding of communities and farm fields and homes threatened by landslides

SACRAMENTO, California: A powerful weather system from the Gulf of Alaska pushed into Northern California on Tuesday, bringing more wind, rain and snow to a state battered by months of storms.
Forecasters warned of heavy snow in coastal mountains and the Sierra Nevada, where accumulations up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) were possible, highway chain requirements took effect and a backcountry avalanche warning was issued for the greater Lake Tahoe area.
The National Weather Service said the storm was expected to pull a plume of Pacific moisture into California as it tracked south, but the rainfall was not expected to be as intense as the atmospheric rivers that impacted the state in recent weeks.
After a dozen previous atmospheric rivers and blizzards fueled by arctic air, the water content of California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack is more than double normal overall, and nearly triple in the southern Sierra.
Damage since the onslaught began in late December includes buildings crushed by snow, flooding of communities and farm fields and homes threatened by landslides.
Crews on Monday tore down a historic pier in Santa Cruz County that was in danger of collapse. The 500-foot-long (152-meter) wooden pier at Seacliff State Beach was severely damaged by big surf in January. Built in 1930, the pier connected the beach to SS Palo Alto, a grounded Word War I-era steamship known as the “cement ship.”
On the positive side, the storms have brought much-needed water. The state’s two largest reservoirs, Shasta and Oroville, have risen above their historical averages to date after being significantly depleted.
Cities and farmers that rely on the Central Valley Project, the federally managed water system, got a big boost in their allocations Tuesday.
More than 250 agencies — mostly irrigation districts — contract with the federal government for certain amounts of water each year, and the US Bureau of Reclamation announces each February how much of those contracts can be filled, updating as conditions change.
The storm boost in supply means that many providers of irrigation water supplied by the CVP will see the amount they can draw jump from as little as 35 percent of their contracted total to 80 percent. Providers for city and industrial uses will be allowed 100 percent of their historic use instead of just 75 percent, the bureau said.
In Southern California, the Metropolitan Water District is bringing water from the north to fill its massive Diamond Valley Lake, a reservoir that had diminished to 60 percent of capacity after three years of drought. It’s expected to be full again by year’s end.
“Nature gave us a lifeline,” MWD General Manager Adel Hagekhalil said Monday as officials watched water pour into the reservoir.

 


Russian embassy says US wants to play down involvement in Nord Stream blasts

Russian embassy says US wants to play down involvement in Nord Stream blasts
Updated 42 min 30 sec ago

Russian embassy says US wants to play down involvement in Nord Stream blasts

Russian embassy says US wants to play down involvement in Nord Stream blasts
  • The Russian embassy in the US said in a statement posted on its Telegram messaging platform that Washington is doing “everything possible” to prevent “impartial efforts” establish circumstances around the explosions

WASHINGTON: The Russian embassy in the US said on Wednesday Washington is seeking to play down damaging information about the alleged involvement of its intelligence services in last year’s blasts that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Moscow failed on Monday to get the UN Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into explosions in September that ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia and Germany and spewed gas into the Baltic Sea.
Russian officials reacted angrily and the Kremlin said on Tuesday it would keep demanding an international investigation.
The Russian embassy in the US said in a statement posted on its Telegram messaging platform that Washington is doing “everything possible” to prevent “impartial efforts” establish circumstances around the explosions.
“We see this as an obvious attempt ... to play down information from reputable journalists that is damaging for the United States about the likely direct involvement of American intelligence services,” the embassy said in the statement posted in Russian.
In a February blog post, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh cited an unidentified source as saying that US navy divers had destroyed the pipelines with explosives on the orders of President Joe Biden.
The White House dismissed Hersh’s report as “utterly false and complete fiction.” Norway said the allegations were “nonsense.”

 

 


Woman born in Syria makes history as first hijab-wearing Superior Court judge in the US

Nadia Kahf joins other community religious and political leaders at a news conference in Jersey City, New Jersey. (AFP)
Nadia Kahf joins other community religious and political leaders at a news conference in Jersey City, New Jersey. (AFP)
Updated 16 sec ago

Woman born in Syria makes history as first hijab-wearing Superior Court judge in the US

Nadia Kahf joins other community religious and political leaders at a news conference in Jersey City, New Jersey. (AFP)
  • Nadia Kahf took her oath with her hand on a copy of the Qur’an inherited from her grandmother when she was sworn in at the Passaic County Courthouse in New Jersey
  • A day later, another woman who wears the Islamic headscarf, family law attorney Dalya Youssef, was also sworn in as a Superior Court judge in Somerset County, also New Jersey

LONDON: Nadia Kahf, an attorney who was born in Syria, made history when she became the first Superior Court judge in the US who wears a hijab.

Kahf was nominated by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy last year, local media reported. Community leaders, including mayors, council members, school board members and leaders of the New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association, signed a letter in May calling on Senator Kristin Corrado to advance the nomination. More than 700 people also signed an online petition in support of her nomination.

Kahf, the third Muslim woman to serve as US Superior Court judge, took the oath during her swearing-in ceremony last week with her hand on a copy of the Qur’an she inherited from her grandmother.

“I am proud to represent the Muslim and Arab communities in New Jersey in the US,” she said during the ceremony. “I want the younger generation to see that they can practice their religion without fear that they can be who they are. Diversity is our strength, it is not our weakness”

As a lawyer, Kahf specialized in family law and also handled immigration cases. Since 2003, she has been on the board of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights organization.

The day after Kahf’s swearing-in ceremony another woman who wears the Islamic headscarf, family law attorney Dalya Youssef, was also sworn in as a Superior Court judge, this time in Somerset County, also New Jersey.

 

 


Pence must testify in Jan. 6 attack probe, judge rules -source

Pence must testify in Jan. 6 attack probe, judge rules -source
Updated 29 March 2023

Pence must testify in Jan. 6 attack probe, judge rules -source

Pence must testify in Jan. 6 attack probe, judge rules -source
  • In February, a source told Reuters Pence was preparing to resist a grand jury subpoena to secure his testimony

WASHINGTON: A federal judge has ruled that former US Vice President Mike Pence must testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with former President Donald Trump leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a source familiar with the ruling said on Tuesday.
In a ruling that remains under seal, the judge also said that Pence can still decline to answer questions related to Jan. 6, the source said, adding that Pence can still appeal the ruling. The appeal option is being evaluated, the source said.
The source, confirming reports by CNN and NBC, said the judge’s decision compels Trump’s former vice president, and potential challenger for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, to appear before the federal grand jury but shields him from testifying about Jan. 6, 2021, itself.
Asked during an interview on Newsmax on Tuesday as to whether he would appeal the order, Pence said there was a limited amount he could say on the proceedings.
“I’m pleased that the court accepted our argument and recognized that the Constitution’s provision about speech and debate does apply to the vice president,” he said.
“But the way they sorted that out and the requirements of my testimony going forward are a subject of our review right now and I’ll have more to say about that in the days ahead.”
In February, a source told Reuters Pence was preparing to resist a grand jury subpoena to secure his testimony.
Ahead of the Jan. 6 events, Trump had repeatedly lambasted Pence, publicly and privately, for refusing to try to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s win in the 2020 election, sources told Reuters at the time.
Representatives for Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who is leading the US Department of Justice’s investigation into Trump and his allies’ alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, could not be immediately reached for comment.

 


Reports that billionaire British Muslim brothers plan $9.8bn takeover of Subway

Billionaire British Muslim Issa brothers are considering an £8 billion ($9.87 billion) takeover of sandwich chain Subway
Billionaire British Muslim Issa brothers are considering an £8 billion ($9.87 billion) takeover of sandwich chain Subway
Updated 28 March 2023

Reports that billionaire British Muslim brothers plan $9.8bn takeover of Subway

Billionaire British Muslim Issa brothers are considering an £8 billion ($9.87 billion) takeover of sandwich chain Subway
  • Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who started their business empire with one petrol station in the Greater Manchester area in 2001, are said to be set to buy the chain

LONDON: The billionaire British Muslim Issa brothers are considering an £8 billion ($9.87 billion) takeover of sandwich chain Subway, according to media reports.

Mohsin and Zuber, who started their business empire with one petrol station in the Greater Manchester area in 2001, are said to be set to buy the chain, which had more than 37,000 outlets in over 100 countries in 2021.

The brothers co-own the Euro Garages firm, along with TDR Capital, which operates more than 6,600 petrol stations globally, and already has Subway outlets at 340 of its locations.

“EG Group have felt for a while that Subway treated them the same way as other franchise partners and their massive growth hadn’t been appreciated, so what better way to show who’s boss than owning them?” a source told British newspaper The Sun.

Another source told the newspaper it would “make good sense” for the brothers to complete the purchase.

The EG Group completed a £6.8 billion takeover of supermarket chain Asda in 2021 and is also KFC’s largest franchise owner in Europe.

It also owns the restaurant chain Leon and helped to launch the UK’s first drive-thru Indian street food outlet in the British town of Bolton.