Politics

The New York Times digs into Clinton’s foreign policy hawkishness:

Her affinity for the armed forces is rooted in a lifelong belief that the calculated use of military power is vital to defending national interests, that American intervention does more good than harm and that the writ of the United States properly reaches, as Bush once put it, into “any dark corner of the world.” Unexpectedly, in the bombastic, testosterone-fueled presidential election of 2016, Hillary Clinton is the last true hawk left in the race [bold mine-DL].

Last week's decision by Angela Merkel to allow a Turkish criminal complaint against a German comedian is now causing serious problems within her coalition. As a reminder, German comedian Jan Bohmermann faces up to five years in prison for performing a satirical poem directed at President Erdogan.

The BBC’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday is “out of touch with reality,” according to the anti-monarchy group Republic. The group accuses the publicly funded broadcaster of ignoring corruption in its ‘gushing’ celebration of the royal family and failure to meet its own objectivity standards, which require “fair, balanced and proportionate” coverage. RT reports: Republic, which campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy, accuse the BBC of ignoring the “corruption and abuse of position” by the royals. Queen Elizabeth II turns 90 on Wednesday.

Britain is sleep-walking into an Orwellian surveillance state according to a new survey, which suggests most people are either unaware of or not interested in the far-reaching implications of the government’s Investigatory Powers (IP) Bill A broadband comparison site, Broadband Genie, conducted a poll which revealed the widespread confusion many Brits are experiencing with respect to the legislation known as the ‘snoopers charter’ which is soon to be implemented. The bill allows UK law enforcement bodies unprecedented access to the peoples online activities.

As Obama concludes his fourth and supposedly final meeting to Saudi Arabia as U.S. president, the White House was quick to explain where relations with the Saudi Kingdom lay, and as CNN reported this morning, moved to tamp down suggestions that ties with Saudi Arabia are fraying, with administration officials saying that President Barack Obama "really cleared the air" with King Salman at a meeting Wednesday.