Politics

There is not much more that needs to be said about the original Samuels/Rhodes kerfuffle, but Samuels’ attempt to defend himself merits a few more comments. Samuels disputes that he is the vocal opponent of the nuclear deal he has been made out to be, and complains that his words have been misinterpreted. He writes:

Here’s what I said at the opening of the panel — which hasn’t been tweeted or written about by anyone yet, so far as I can tell, even though it’s the very first thing I say in the video:

When we explained yesterday the next steps in the Dilma Rousseff impeachment process, we predicted that "Brazil's problems are only just starting" for several reasons, chief among them being that the man who is now Brazil's next active president, Michel Temer, is almost as unpopular as the president he is replacing, and is stained by scandals of his own.

At Bill Clinton's behest, a $2 million commitment for Energy Pioneer Solutions was placed on the agenda during a September 2010 conference of the Clinton Global Initiative. As it turns out, the commitment is a bit of an issue...

At the heart of the issue is the foundation sent funding to a company that had significant ties to the Clinton family according to the WSJ. The IRS website states that any 501(c)(3) should not be operated for the benefit of private interests.

The WSJ explains the connections

WikiLeaks has revealed that Michel Temer, who has taken over as Brazil’s interim president, was an embassy informant for US intelligence Temer, who was the vice president, replaced Dilma Rousseff  as soon as she was suspended from office earlier this week, after the Senate voted to impeach her. RT reports: According to the whistleblowing website, Temer communicated with the US embassy in Brazil via telegram, and such content would be classified as “sensitive” and “for official use only.” Two cables were released, dated January 11, 2006 and June 21, 2006.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen may be about to get even worse. The World Food Programme is about to run short of funds and won’t be able to provide aid to the country:

After thirteen months of fighting between Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabia-led coalition that has left more than 6,400 dead, this would be a major blow to a population already deep in the throes of a humanitarian crisis.