On Sunday 153 politicians signed an open letter urging outgoing President Francois Hollande to officially recognize the state of Palestine. The letter stated that “France must demonstrate its determination to break the deadlock on this conflict by solemnly reaffirming, in the name of the uniform right to self-determination, that the Palestinian people have the right to be granted the title of a State.
'Good cop' Mnuchin appeared to play expectations-manager this morning in an interview with FOX's Maria Bartiromo. After confirming the Trump administration is "not touching" entitlement programs, and having said this week that tax reform is expected by August, he appeared to walk back that hype by saying that President Trump "will be touching on tax reform" during his speech to Congress this week, which Reuters notes, is not an official "State of the Union" address.
A newly declassified Australian army report reveals that the government of Prime Minister John Howard joined the coalition in the widely unpopular 2003 war against Iraq, solely to enhance relations with George W. Bush‘s White House. RT.com reports: A report, written by Dr. Albert Palazzo of the Australian Army’s Directorate of Army Research and Analysis (DARA) between 2008 and 2011, was accessed by Fairfax Media and cited by the Sydney Morning Herald. DARA is a branch of the Australian Army Headquarters and serves as the Army’s think tank.
Via The Daily Bell
George W. Bush invaded Iraq to remove its – ultimately nonexistent – weapons of mass destruction. Barack Obama used cyber weaponry and sanctions to deter Iran from building its own atomic bomb. Now Donald Trump faces North Korea, but stopping its nuclear and missile program may prove impossible, creating what may be his first and perhaps defining international crisis. -Reuters
Three weeks after a poll found that the Trump administration was seen as more "truthful" than the news media, a new WSJ/NBC News poll has found that according to a majority of Americans, the media’s coverage of President Donald Trump has been too critical, although the margin is narrow and the split is once again largely down party lines. While 51% rate the media as too critical of Trump since the presidential election, 41% say the coverage has been fair and objective, while 6% say the media hasn't been critical enough.